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Krosis
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I need opinions for this PC.

Sat Aug 09, 2014 7:39 pm

Greetings, I would like to know if this PC build could run games such as Skyrim on high-very high settings.

Case: Cooler Master Elite 430 Black
CPU: AMD FX 8320 eight-core
Graphics card: SAPPHIRE R9 270X 4GB GDDR5
RAM: 8GB DDR3 (2x4GB)
HDD: 1TB
Motherboard: ASUS M5A97 R2.0 OR ASUS M5A78L-M/USB3 (Please tell me which one works the best)
Power supply: 525W Cooler Master Extreme 2

Thank you.
 
LostCat
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Re: I need opinions for this PC.

Sat Aug 09, 2014 7:58 pm

Yes, as high as it goes.

I run pretty much all games at max detail unless they need a 3GB graphics card on a lesser machine.
Last edited by LostCat on Sat Aug 09, 2014 7:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Meow.
 
MadManOriginal
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Re: I need opinions for this PC.

Sat Aug 09, 2014 7:58 pm

Given that it seems like a mid-range price type of build, I take it your monitor is no higher resolution than 1920x1080? If so, that graphics card will run Skyrim acceptably well.
 
LostCat
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Re: I need opinions for this PC.

Sat Aug 09, 2014 8:02 pm

The M5A97 would be better as well, with a newer chipset.
Meow.
 
Krosis
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Re: I need opinions for this PC.

Sat Aug 09, 2014 8:04 pm

Savyg wrote:
The M5A97 would be better as well, with a newer chipset.


Alright, thank you. One last quetion though, is the PSU good for this build?
 
LostCat
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Re: I need opinions for this PC.

Sat Aug 09, 2014 8:07 pm

I usually recommend a 600 or higher, but 525 should work. That said, I haven't looked into the details for those specific parts.
Meow.
 
Krosis
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Re: I need opinions for this PC.

Sat Aug 09, 2014 8:22 pm

Savyg wrote:
I usually recommend a 600 or higher, but 525 should work. That said, I haven't looked into the details for those specific parts.


I've been told the Cooler Master Extreme 2 is not a good PSU, is that true?
 
LostCat
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Re: I need opinions for this PC.

Sat Aug 09, 2014 8:28 pm

The reviews are middling on Newegg so I'd look for a different one.

I've never had bad experiences with CM kit, but I haven't used much of it either.
Meow.
 
superjawes
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Re: I need opinions for this PC.

Sat Aug 09, 2014 8:40 pm

Welcome to TR, by the way, and have you take a look at the current System Guide?

Now I have to say...drop the AMD processor. Eight cores sounds nice, but check out the conclusions of the 8350 review. That's for a faster processor, and on the conclusions page, Scott notes that its gaming performance almost matches the i3-3225. The 3225's successor will only set you back $120, and it will almost certainly do better than the FX 8320. AMD just isn't very competitive on the CPU front...

Otherwise, the R9 270X should do very well at 1080p, and you shouldn't need more than 8GB of RAM. The last thing you should look into is an SSD. You'll still want a good mechanical drive for storage, but Windows will be much snappier if installed on an SSD.
On second thought, let's not go to TechReport. It's infested by crypto bull****.
 
Krosis
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Re: I need opinions for this PC.

Sat Aug 09, 2014 8:57 pm

superjawes wrote:
Welcome to TR, by the way, and have you take a look at the current System Guide?

Now I have to say...drop the AMD processor. Eight cores sounds nice, but check out the conclusions of the 8350 review. That's for a faster processor, and on the conclusions page, Scott notes that its gaming performance almost matches the i3-3225. The 3225's successor will only set you back $120, and it will almost certainly do better than the FX 8320. AMD just isn't very competitive on the CPU front...

Otherwise, the R9 270X should do very well at 1080p, and you shouldn't need more than 8GB of RAM. The last thing you should look into is an SSD. You'll still want a good mechanical drive for storage, but Windows will be much snappier if installed on an SSD.



Do you think an Intel Core i5 4440 would do better?
 
sschaem
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Re: I need opinions for this PC.

Sat Aug 09, 2014 9:04 pm

superjawes wrote:
Welcome to TR, by the way, and have you take a look at the current System Guide?

Now I have to say...drop the AMD processor. Eight cores sounds nice, but check out the conclusions of the 8350 review. That's for a faster processor, and on the conclusions page, Scott notes that its gaming performance almost matches the i3-3225. The 3225's successor will only set you back $120, and it will almost certainly do better than the FX 8320. AMD just isn't very competitive on the CPU front...

Otherwise, the R9 270X should do very well at 1080p, and you shouldn't need more than 8GB of RAM. The last thing you should look into is an SSD. You'll still want a good mechanical drive for storage, but Windows will be much snappier if installed on an SSD.


If you look at modern/recent games, the picture is different.
http://gamegpu.ru/images/remote/http--w ... proz_2.jpg
http://media.bestofmicro.com/J/V/437467 ... CPU-FR.png

For the GPU... give ebay a look. R9-290K are ~$230, and 7970 ~$150 (<thats the best deal for gamer on a budget)

I dont think you will be disappointed with the FX-8320 for gaming. Specially going forward. With an i3- you might need an upgrade in a couple of years, but the good thing is that you can.
With the FX you should be fine for the next 5+ years (specially with Dx12 and Mantle), also good because AM3+ is a dead end.

I personally wanted to build an FX-8350 gaming rig, but couldn't find any decent matx motherboard (a requirement in my case) so I went with a Z97 platform and cheap G3258 (that will be upgraded to a i7 from ebay in a few years)
 
JustAnEngineer
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Re: I need opinions for this PC.

Sat Aug 09, 2014 9:04 pm

Krosis wrote:
Greetings,
Welcome to the Tech Report.

superjawes wrote:
Welcome to TR, by the way, and have you taken a look at the current System Guide?
This is good advice.

Krosis wrote:
$150 AMD FX 8320 eight-core
$ 79 ASUS M5A97 R2.0
$ 87 8GB DDR3 (2x4GB)
$214 -10MIR SAPPHIRE R9 270X 4GB GDDR5
$ 60 1TB
$ 40 -12MIR Cooler Master Elite 430 Black
$ 55 525W Cooler Master Extreme 2
=====
$685 -22MIR

How about some of these components?

$70 -20 combo Intel Pentium G3258 unlocked dual-core LGA1150 CPU
or $117 Intel Core i3-4150 3.5 GHz hyper-threaded dual-core LGA1150 CPU
or $230 Intel Core i5-4690K unlocked quad-core LGA1150 CPU
A Haswell CPU on a Z97 motherboard provides excellent gaming performance.

$23 or $24 Arctic Freezer i11 CPU cooler
or $22 -5MIR CoolerMaster Hyper TX3
or $20 -5MIR Zalman CNPS5X Performa
or $28 Silverstone Argon AR02
or $25 CoolerMaster Vortex Plus
or $0 Included Intel heatsink & fan
The aftermarket cooler is quieter and more effective than the stock cooler. It would help with overclocking.

$115½ MSI Z97M-G43 micro-ATX LGA1150 motherboard
or $135 -10MIR Gigabyte GA-Z97MX-Gaming 5
or $142 -10MIR ASRock Z97M OC Formula
or $165 Asus Gryphon Z97
A good micro-ATX motherboard has four PCIe slots, which is sufficient for any single-GPU gaming PC.

$87 2x4 GiB PC3-14900 G.Skill Ares F3-1866C9D-8GAB (DDR3-1866, CAS 9, 1.5 V) memory

$218½ -20MIR Asus DirectCU II R9280-DC2T-3GD5 Radeon R9-280 3GB
Radeon R9-280 (HD7950) is significantly faster than the Radeon R9-270X (HD7870) that you selected, and it costs just $4½ more.

$113 0.256 TB Crucial MX100 SSD
You really want an SSD for your operating system and most-used programs.
$ 70 2.0 TB Toshiba DT01ACA200 hard-drive
It doesn't make sense to buy a mechanical hard-drive smaller than 2.0 TB. It's only $10 more than a 1.0 TB drive.

$48 -5MIR Silverstone PS09B micro-ATX case
or $60 Corsair Carbide 200R ATX
You can install a micro-ATX motherboard in a regular ATX case if you want, but the smaller motherboard allows a smaller case.

$55 -20MIR Corsair CX500M power supply
or $50 -20MIR Corsair CX500
or $55 -20MIR Corsair CX600
or $66¼ SeaSonic S12II 520
or $71 SeaSonic S12II 620
or $75 SeaSonic S12G 550
======
$780 -45MIR
· R7-5800X, Liquid Freezer II 280, RoG Strix X570-E, 64GiB PC4-28800, Suprim Liquid RTX4090, 2TB SX8200Pro +4TB S860 +NAS, Define 7 Compact, Super Flower SF-1000F14TP, S3220DGF +32UD99, FC900R OE, DeathAdder2
 
Krosis
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Re: I need opinions for this PC.

Sat Aug 09, 2014 9:12 pm

sschaem wrote:
superjawes wrote:
Welcome to TR, by the way, and have you take a look at the current System Guide?

Now I have to say...drop the AMD processor. Eight cores sounds nice, but check out the conclusions of the 8350 review. That's for a faster processor, and on the conclusions page, Scott notes that its gaming performance almost matches the i3-3225. The 3225's successor will only set you back $120, and it will almost certainly do better than the FX 8320. AMD just isn't very competitive on the CPU front...

Otherwise, the R9 270X should do very well at 1080p, and you shouldn't need more than 8GB of RAM. The last thing you should look into is an SSD. You'll still want a good mechanical drive for storage, but Windows will be much snappier if installed on an SSD.


If you look at modern/recent games, the picture is different.
http://gamegpu.ru/images/remote/http--w ... proz_2.jpg
http://media.bestofmicro.com/J/V/437467 ... CPU-FR.png

For the GPU... give ebay a look. R9-290K are ~$230, and 7970 ~$150 (<thats the best deal for gamer on a budget)

I dont think you will be disappointed with the FX-8320 for gaming. Specially going forward. With an i3- you might need an upgrade in a couple of years, but the good thing is that you can.
With the FX you should be fine for the next 5+ years (specially with Dx12 and Mantle), also good because AM3+ is a dead end.

I personally wanted to build an FX-8350 gaming rig, but couldn't find any decent matx motherboard (a requirement in my case) so I went with a Z97 platform and cheap G3258 (that will be upgraded to a i7 from ebay in a few years)



Right, so I guess I can keep the FX. Now for the PSU, do you recommend any for a similar price to the Cooler Master Extreme 2?
 
LostCat
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Re: I need opinions for this PC.

Sat Aug 09, 2014 9:35 pm

Personally I'm planning on getting a Fractal Integra R2, but I can't personally speak for the manufacturer...they just seem to have some good ****.
Meow.
 
MadManOriginal
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Re: I need opinions for this PC.

Sat Aug 09, 2014 10:26 pm

Get a Seasonic PSU ~500W. It will run any sane single GPU system (sane meaning not balls-to-the-wall overclocked AMD CPU and high-end GPU) perfectly well.
 
Krosis
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Re: I need opinions for this PC.

Sat Aug 09, 2014 10:35 pm

MadManOriginal wrote:
Get a Seasonic PSU ~500W. It will run any sane single GPU system (sane meaning not balls-to-the-wall overclocked AMD CPU and high-end GPU) perfectly well.


Looked it up, seems like a very nice PSU, thanks.
 
superjawes
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Re: I need opinions for this PC.

Sun Aug 10, 2014 6:06 pm

sschaem wrote:
If you look at modern/recent games, the picture is different.
http://gamegpu.ru/images/remote/http--w ... proz_2.jpg
http://media.bestofmicro.com/J/V/437467 ... CPU-FR.png

For the GPU... give ebay a look. R9-290K are ~$230, and 7970 ~$150 (<thats the best deal for gamer on a budget)

I dont think you will be disappointed with the FX-8320 for gaming. Specially going forward. With an i3- you might need an upgrade in a couple of years, but the good thing is that you can.
With the FX you should be fine for the next 5+ years (specially with Dx12 and Mantle), also good because AM3+ is a dead end.

I personally wanted to build an FX-8350 gaming rig, but couldn't find any decent matx motherboard (a requirement in my case) so I went with a Z97 platform and cheap G3258 (that will be upgraded to a i7 from ebay in a few years)

I'm always hesitant to trust reviews that use FPS without some sort of time-sensitive metric. FPS is a good overview, but it doesn't tell the whole story.

And even then, both the 8320 and 8350 are eight-core CPUs, and in the TR reviews, the 8350 can barely keep up with the i3-3225, which only has two cores. If you want something beefier than an i3, get a quad core i5 for a little more, like the i5-4460. That one will do more per core and run cooler than AMD alternatives.
On second thought, let's not go to TechReport. It's infested by crypto bull****.
 
LostCat
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Re: I need opinions for this PC.

Sun Aug 10, 2014 8:37 pm

superjawes wrote:
And even then, both the 8320 and 8350 are eight-core CPUs, and in the TR reviews, the 8350 can barely keep up with the i3-3225, which only has two cores. If you want something beefier than an i3, get a quad core i5 for a little more, like the i5-4460. That one will do more per core and run cooler than AMD alternatives.

The only game benchmark I noticed you had a point on was Skyrim. From what I saw anything using a modern engine did much better on the 8350 than the i3.
Meow.
 
NovusBogus
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Re: I need opinions for this PC.

Sun Aug 10, 2014 9:35 pm

In all honesty, while i3s had their day it's tough to recommend a dual-core these days for anything more than light-duty use. I'd take an i5 over an 8350 any day though, and both of them hover around the $200 mark.
 
JustAnEngineer
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Re: I need opinions for this PC.

Sun Aug 10, 2014 9:38 pm

I looked up prices for the OP's components in my earlier post in this thread. He had $229 for CPU and motherboard. That's $1 less than the Core i5-4690K costs before we add $115½ for a Z97 motherboard.
· R7-5800X, Liquid Freezer II 280, RoG Strix X570-E, 64GiB PC4-28800, Suprim Liquid RTX4090, 2TB SX8200Pro +4TB S860 +NAS, Define 7 Compact, Super Flower SF-1000F14TP, S3220DGF +32UD99, FC900R OE, DeathAdder2
 
Krosis
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Which components should I get for my build?

Mon Aug 11, 2014 5:42 pm

Greetings, I am going to build my own gaming PC and I've already chosen my parts. However, I need suggestions for my CPU. I am thinking of getting an AMD FX 8320 8-Core, although I would like to know if there are any other CPU's that are better and have a very similar price.

I also need suggestions for good, cheap PSU's.

Thank you.
 
geekl33tgamer
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Re: Which components should I get for my build?

Mon Aug 11, 2014 5:49 pm

Krosis wrote:
Greetings, I am going to build my own gaming PC and I've already chosen my parts. However, I need suggestions for my CPU. I am thinking of getting an AMD FX 8320 8-Core, although I would like to know if there are any other CPU's that are better and have a very similar price.

I also need suggestions for good, cheap PSU's.

Thank you.


Unless you already have a motherboard for an FX CPU, don't bother with one. They perform pretty poorly overall (with the exception of perhaps a few workloads, such as encoding) and run very hot. For the same money (here) you can get something around the i5-4440 area, and it will quite handily give that FX a run for it's money. Personally, I would stretch a bit more to one of the K series i5's and overclock it (i5 4690K is best of the pack at the moment). Look for a nice Z97 based board to go with it, and you will have the basis of a system a lot faster (and cooler running) than the AMD equivalent.
Mega Beast - Intel i7 4790K | Gigabyte Z97X-UD3H-BK | 32GB DDR3 | SLI GTX 1070 | Samsung 850 Evo 1TB
Mini Beast - Intel C2E QX9770 | Gigabyte X48T-DQ6 | 16GB DDR3 | KFA2 LP GTX 750Ti | Seagate 2TB SSHD
 
Krosis
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Re: Which components should I get for my build?

Mon Aug 11, 2014 5:53 pm

geekl33tgamer wrote:
Krosis wrote:
Greetings, I am going to build my own gaming PC and I've already chosen my parts. However, I need suggestions for my CPU. I am thinking of getting an AMD FX 8320 8-Core, although I would like to know if there are any other CPU's that are better and have a very similar price.

I also need suggestions for good, cheap PSU's.

Thank you.


Unless you already have a motherboard for an FX CPU, don't bother with one. For the same money (here) you can get something around the i5-4440 area, and it will quite handily give that FX a run for it's money. Personally, stretch a bit more to one of the K series i5's and overclock it (i5 4690K best of the pack at the moment). Look for a nice Z97 based board to go with it.


My motherboard is the ASUS M5A97 R2.0.
 
Captain Ned
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Re: Which components should I get for my build?

Mon Aug 11, 2014 5:53 pm

A modular PSU from Corsair in the 550W/650W range will be all that you need and then some. Spend the extra dosh for the modular because it makes life so much easier.
What we have today is way too much pluribus and not enough unum.
 
geekl33tgamer
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Re: Which components should I get for my build?

Mon Aug 11, 2014 5:57 pm

Krosis wrote:
My motherboard is the ASUS M5A97 R2.0.

Oh. Well in that case, possibly scrap what I said? A quick Google shows with a BIOS update, your board supports up to an FX-8350. Depending on the CPU you are using at the moment, it may be worth the upgrade. What I said about Intel being faster and cooler running at the same price point is still correct, but as you already have an AM3+ board...
Mega Beast - Intel i7 4790K | Gigabyte Z97X-UD3H-BK | 32GB DDR3 | SLI GTX 1070 | Samsung 850 Evo 1TB
Mini Beast - Intel C2E QX9770 | Gigabyte X48T-DQ6 | 16GB DDR3 | KFA2 LP GTX 750Ti | Seagate 2TB SSHD
 
Krosis
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Re: Which components should I get for my build?

Mon Aug 11, 2014 6:00 pm

Captain Ned wrote:
A modular PSU from Corsair in the 550W/650W range will be all that you need and then some. Spend the extra dosh for the modular because it makes life so much easier.


Is the Corsair CS550M 550w good?
 
Krosis
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Re: Which components should I get for my build?

Mon Aug 11, 2014 6:06 pm

geekl33tgamer wrote:
Krosis wrote:
My motherboard is the ASUS M5A97 R2.0.

Oh. Well in that case, possibly scrap what I said? A quick Google shows with a BIOS update, your board supports up to an FX-8350. Depending on the CPU you are using at the moment, it may be worth the upgrade. What I said about Intel being faster and cooler running at the same price point is still correct, but as you already have an AM3+ board...


So I guess the FX 8320 is a good choice?
 
geekl33tgamer
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Re: Which components should I get for my build?

Mon Aug 11, 2014 6:13 pm

Krosis wrote:
So I guess the FX 8320 is a good choice?

If you already have any of the Phenom II X6 CPU's, the upgrade is negligible IMO and I would look for a platform change. What processor are you using at the moment?
Mega Beast - Intel i7 4790K | Gigabyte Z97X-UD3H-BK | 32GB DDR3 | SLI GTX 1070 | Samsung 850 Evo 1TB
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Krosis
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Re: Which components should I get for my build?

Mon Aug 11, 2014 6:14 pm

geekl33tgamer wrote:
Krosis wrote:
So I guess the FX 8320 is a good choice?

If you already have any of the Phenom II X6 CPU's, the upgrade is negligible IMO and I would look for a platform change. What processor are you using at the moment?


I have not built the PC yet, I just need to buy my last parts which are the CPU, PSU and case.
 
geekl33tgamer
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Re: Which components should I get for my build?

Mon Aug 11, 2014 6:20 pm

Ahh, I assumed you was using the board already, sorry. So yeah, get the FX 8320 or 50 as it's the fastest CPU's the board takes.

I echo what Captain Ned says about PSU's too. Corsair is a solid brand, and you will defiantly want a modular supply. Other quality brands are SuperFlower, Seasonic and Enermax that you may want to look at. The power supply is one area you don't want to cheap out on, so get a good quality unit from any of the suppliers listed.

Edit: The corsair RM 550 gives you enough power, and is modular with good efficiency for example
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