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sdillow

sdillow

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I've decided to help my 13yo son build a desktop computer as a Christmas gift. He wants one for gaming and for schoolwork. I know enough to be dangerous, but I think it would be a good experience for him. My brother has built one and will be helping on the build. I'm sure there must be someone on here that can provide a little feedback (pcpartpicker.com has been a great resource thus far).

Here's what I'm looking at for components:

CPU: AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler

Motherboard: ASRock 970 EXTREME4 ATX AM3+ Motherboard

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory

Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive

Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 270X 2GB Double Dissipation Video Card

Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case

Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply

Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 OEM (64-bit)
 
anandtech.com is a good review site. I also take a good hard look at the reviews at newegg.com before I purchase (I buy almost everything from newegg) and that site has served me well.
 
Just a suggestion, I'd go with a 250 or 500 gb SSD, with more recently released games 120 will fill real fast.
 
I used this site - http://www.logicalincrements.com - went with a "Great" build, but upgraded the CPU to an intel i5 quad core. Works great, spent about $1000. Not as current with the computer HW as I used to be, but this seemed like a good basis for matched components. Then just pulled up each component on Amazon and Newegg, and purchased depending on the best deal (Amazon Prime for free shipping, but some prices were better on Newegg)
 
mikeasu said:
I used this site - http://www.logicalincrements.com - went with a "Great" build, but upgraded the CPU to an intel i5 quad core. Works great, spent about $1000. Not as current with the computer HW as I used to be, but this seemed like a good basis for matched components. Then just pulled up each component on Amazon and Newegg, and purchased depending on the best deal (Amazon Prime for free shipping, but some prices were better on Newegg)
Click to expand...

Thanks! Looks like another great resource.
 
jeff62217 said:
Just a suggestion, I'd go with a 250 or 500 gb SSD, with more recently released games 120 will fill real fast.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I think you're spot on from what I've been reading. About how many games can fit on a 250GB?
 
sdillow said:
Thanks. I think you're spot on from what I've been reading. About how many games can fit on a 250GB?
Click to expand...

I have about 6 on mine and it's using almost 150 incuding OS.

A good idea would be to include a 1-2 tb regular HD (pretty inexpensive) for your older games/bulk storage, then put the games that demand more system resources on your SSD.
 
I would highly recommend to pony up the extra cash for a 4 GB video card. Your eyes will thank you. The 270X doesn't offer a 4 GB option, if you you want the same range on the hierarchy, an nVidia 660ti or a GTX 760 will offer similar performance (maybe higher) for 150 bucks more.

One step up is the 280X which has a 3 GB option for about 50 bucks more. Plus better performance.
 
Wise idea on upgrading the CPU fan. The stock fans can be a little weak. Gaming will drive up the CPU temps. I didn't look at the specs for the one you chose, but make sure it's the type that bolts onto the CPU. Some fans have cheesy little snaps that just pop into the holes and they can come loose. (I found that out the hard way when mine worked loose and my CPU temps shot up to above 85C in no time. Luckily, I caught it quickly before it got out of hand.)

Ditto on the 250GB SSD. The prices on those have really come down.
 
A few notes...

As other have stated, get a bigger SSD. Most games these days can take 20+ GB of space. Some are significantly more than that. For example, I have Titanfall installed on my machine and it takes up 63GB of space for one game! You will chew through a small drive quickly. Look at the Crucial BX200 480GB SSD. Unless you are running benchmarks to compare the two, in the real world you won't notice any performance hit going with the Crucial. You can get a 480GB Drive for less than the 120GB Samsung.

I'm not sure what your budget is but price out some configurations with an Intel CPU as well. They aren't that much more money than AMD and they are much better processors.

The CM 212 EVO is an amazing air cooler. Its one of the best there is and its cheap, but the thing you have to watch out for is the size of it. Make sure your case is big enough to fit it.

Avoid Windows 8. Go with either Win 10 or Win 7.
 
I'd look closer on the CPU fan also, sleeve bearings are going to be a lot louder than ball bearings and will wear out faster. 89 CFM means that thing is gonna be loud; like a leaf blower.
I know he's gonna be gaming, but I try to go for CPU fans that are ball-bearing and say "quiet" tech or something. you'd be surprised how many fans were designed for server rooms where no humans actually enter without hearing protection.

Also, good choice on the power supply, many people overlook that or design the base system to use the full watts--bad idea. I would read the reviews on it and find out how loud it is. just my $0.02. I really hate loud computers.

source: I have built three of my own when u was a teenager. made a few of these mistakes for myself.
 
bkboiler said:
I'd look closer on the CPU fan also, sleeve bearings are going to be a lot louder than ball bearings and will wear out faster. 89 CFM means that thing is gonna be loud; like a leaf blower.
Click to expand...

It really isn't loud. Just the same as a typical 120mm fan. Nowhere remotely like a leaf blower. The case is going to have fans in it and you won't be able to distinguish between the CPU cooler and the case fans.
 
jeff62217 said:
I have about 6 on mine and it's using almost 150 incuding OS.

A good idea would be to include a 1-2 tb regular HD (pretty inexpensive) for your older games/bulk storage, then put the games that demand more system resources on your SSD.
Click to expand...

This is what I do. I have 250GB SSD and a 1TB 7200rpm drive where I keep my documents and games. I keep chrome, steam, and a few other programs on the SSD, but use the spinning drive for everything else. I also have a 2TB external hooked up for backup purposes and for anything that I can stand to have transferring at USB 2.0 speeds (my mobo doesn't support USB 3.0+ :( )

As for the build, it looks pretty good. The other thing I can recommend is if you're getting close to your price ceiling, drop the RAM to 8GB and bump the video card a little. the 270 is pretty good, but there are going to be good deals on R9 280's and GTX 960's this week. With both, it is advantageous to go with 4GB of RAM. The newest games that are out, like Shadow of Mordor (a year old), CoD, GTA-V, Fallout 4, Star Wars Battlefront, really benefit from 4GB+ of video card RAM. The explanation i've seen for this is because the new consoles (somehow now 2 years old) have much more video RAM so they're no longer holding back the multi-platform games (every game I listed above).

As with everything with computers, there are lots of trade-offs, and it all comes down to personal preference and budget.

Enjoy!

:mug:
 
sdillow said:
I've decided to help my 13yo son build a desktop computer as a Christmas gift. He wants one for gaming and for schoolwork. I know enough to be dangerous, but I think it would be a good experience for him. My brother has built one and will be helping on the build. I'm sure there must be someone on here that can provide a little feedback (pcpartpicker.com has been a great resource thus far).

Here's what I'm looking at for components:

CPU: AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler

Motherboard: ASRock 970 EXTREME4 ATX AM3+ Motherboard

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory

Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive

Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 270X 2GB Double Dissipation Video Card

Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case

Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply

Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 OEM (64-bit)
Click to expand...

As others have said, upgrade the ssd to 200+ gb and include a 1tb normal hdd, also for swap-space and data-storage such as video, pictures etc.

For the videocard i'd personally go for either a nvidia gtx 960 or radeon R9 380 instead, don't go cheap on the graphics card for a games-pc.
 
Sleeve bearing fan caught my attention right off. I'd recommend a ball bearing type. Look at reviews. I can't remember the model I use, but it's got two fans, one on each side of the heatsink and it pushes straight through. It has adjustable speed knobs so I can dial it down if I want a little less noise, or crank it when I'm gaming. I usually leave it on low because I play WoW and the temps are never a problem.

Also, I prefer Nvidia over ATI. It's a personal choice, but I STILL sometimes see driver issues with ATI. I've not really had a problem with nvidia. Just seems a bit more intuitive to make tweaks, IMO. The performance between the two brands is very comparable, though.

And yeah, at LEAST a 250GB SSD. Consider adding a cheap TB drive in the future for data storage, but the games and apps will definitely be better on the SSD.

Also, a nice monitor can be a huge plus for a gamer. As will a nice headset. Several years back my wife bought me an HP 25" LCD. That was huge at that time. I can't imagine what she spent, but that thing is STILL a wonderful screen, and I still get compliments from my buddies when we get together. And it's got an HDMI input (Pretty common these days, but back then it was still pretty new.) Built in speakers is nice for going somewhere and sharing sound, but for gaming you WILL need some decent speakers and a headset for Voice Chat.
 
Hi, I built a rig for my son several years ago for a Xmass present, and this year his present will be some upgrades. It will be a great experience for both of you.

I have used Asrock motherboards before and not only have they been reliable they seem to provide the most performance/features for the money. The I'm not sure about that specific PSU but Corsair make some great models. Be sure to look at reviews for these specific models on both Newegg and Amazon, these two components are the foundation of your system so reliability is important. I would also check out http://outervision.com/power-supply-calculator be sure to fill out all the components plus any upgrades you may want down the road to be sure you have the power for any future upgrades.

As everyone has said the 250 range SSD and a 1TB HDD will be plenty of space unless you have a ton of video. The key is setting up windows to store data and file on the HDD and keep the SSD for certain games and Widows.

I built a HTPC without an optical drive, so if you don't need it you could toss that money toward something else.

I'm not familiar with AMD CPUs or GPUs so I can't comment on their performance.

I have the original version of that CPU cooler and has performed extremely well for a long time and the new unit is suppose to be better. Also, unless you plan on overclocking you CPU you MAY not need an aftermarket cooler. If your case has adequate ventilation and you are in a cool environment you could put that money to something else too. AMD may be a different story though so I would look into it.

The video card you chose will have a big impact on gaming performance, it's not so much what games you want to run but also what resolution you want to run them at. If you run a standard 1080P monitor then the video memory is not as important. If you go to higher resolution (2K and 4K monitors) then it become more of an issue. Here is a good place to get a comparison of GPUs http://www.anandtech.com/bench/GPU15/1248 you can plug in the ones you looking at and see how they will perform. Notice how the benchmarks all have the resolution they run at. As I said I don't know about AMD but if I were buying Nvidia if the budget were tight a GTX960 would work, If not I would go for a GTX 970.

Another place to get some good information is http://www.maximumpc.com/ The have reviews and parts lists for different budgets.

Good luck with the build.
 
short list of things to consider:
- Figure on upgrading GPUs about every 2 years and find a sweet spot for speed and value accordingly.
- GPU is highest priority, then Memory, CPU, motherboard. (also order of selection)
- When you upgrade later you will be moving those components to a secondary computer build. (I eventually had a chain of 4 computers in the "Computer room" networked together. Great for when he has friends over.)
- Always buy ball bearing fans, but they still wear out since the computer will probably be running 24/7. mark my words :) .
- Consider OpenDNS.com as your first line of defense for kids. Then build on that as you see fit.
- SSD hardrives are luxury item. Consider 6 Gb/s SATA drive and put the extra money in GPU. (MB needs to support this)

Have fun!

EDIT: +1 on newegg and tomshardware. Even if you don't buy from newegg it's a good place to get reviews of components.
 
Lots of great advice! Thank you all.

I decided to bump up to a 250GB SSD and a GTX 960 4GB video card, and downsize memory to 2x4GB.

I left the PSU and fan as I had originally. I don't think overclocking is in our immediate future.

And picked up a 24" Dell monitor for $100. This pushes me right to my budget.
 
sdillow said:
Lots of great advice! Thank you all.

I decided to bump up to a 250GB SSD and a GTX 960 4GB video card, and downsize memory to 2x4GB.

I left the PSU and fan as I had originally. I don't think overclocking is in our immediate future.

And picked up a 24" Dell monitor for $100. This pushes me right to my budget.
Click to expand...

There are a TON of options you could pick from, but I think you will be happy with what you are putting together.
 
sdillow said:
Lots of great advice! Thank you all.

I decided to bump up to a 250GB SSD and a GTX 960 4GB video card, and downsize memory to 2x4GB.

I left the PSU and fan as I had originally. I don't think overclocking is in our immediate future.

And picked up a 24" Dell monitor for $100. This pushes me right to my budget.
Click to expand...

Great picks. I think it'll be a nice box.
 
Thanks for choosing an AMD cpu instead if Intel. You will hate yourself for getting an asrock board. The overclocking features of most Biostar boards are disgustingly awesome! Spend the extra dough and get a NVidia based gpu from EVGA. And always get a fully modular psu :)
 
obie said:
Thanks for choosing an AMD cpu instead if Intel. You will hate yourself for getting an asrock board. The overclocking features of most Biostar boards are disgustingly awesome! Spend the extra dough and get a NVidia based gpu from EVGA. And always get a fully modular psu :)
Click to expand...

This may no longer be true, but about 3 years ago when I priced out some builds the AMD CPUs with integrated video were the best bang for buck when compared to Intel with integrated graphics.

On the other hand, if you are using a discrete Video Card and really only care about performance, the Intel CPUs generally blew away the AMD chips.

I'd have to run comparisons again now to know where they each stand.
 
sdillow said:
Lots of great advice! Thank you all.

I decided to bump up to a 250GB SSD and a GTX 960 4GB video card, and downsize memory to 2x4GB.

I left the PSU and fan as I had originally. I don't think overclocking is in our immediate future.

And picked up a 24" Dell monitor for $100. This pushes me right to my budget.
Click to expand...

I would still get a real hdd in the box, they cost very little, only 30-50 dollars for a 1tb one and especially for storing music/video, ssd's aren't very practical.
 
Kharnynb said:
I would still get a real hdd in the box, they cost very little, only 30-50 dollars for a 1tb one and especially for storing music/video, ssd's aren't very practical.
Click to expand...

I disagree. If the user already has a ton of music, videos, pictures, etc. then a platter drive is worth the cost now.

If they don't have that much now, then it's something that can be added later.

And a second platter drive at that time as a backup location is not a bad idea. This coming from a guy who has had to tell friends, family, and coworkers, "I'm sorry I can't get your files back. The drive is completely unreadable."

If only they had gotten around to buying that backup storage drive the first time I recommended it...
 
Kharnynb said:
I would still get a real hdd in the box, they cost very little, only 30-50 dollars for a 1tb one and especially for storing music/video, ssd's aren't very practical.
Click to expand...

I agree, but this is a gift. If the recipient has a lot of files, he/she can add a conventional drive for cheap. The OP has done more than enough to set this person up with an excellent mid-level gaming computer.
 
I"m sure the build will work great, I hope you and your son enjoy the experience.
 
He's only 13, so he doesn't have the video and audio files (and may never). I already have a 1tb external I use for backing up stuff, i guess I could let him use this or buy another one should he reach that point.
 
the reason i suggested it is also because the write/rewrite cycles will degrade an ssd much faster than a hdd, so documents etc. are better stored on a hdd than ssd.
 
SSDs (At least the Samsung EVOs I've bought) have an expected lifetime of around 10 years of average use. The rewrite cycles are far less likely to be a problem than the potential mechanical issues a platter drive has.

That said, make sure you turn OFF the defrag in Windows for an SSD. They don't require it, and it will only produce more read/write cycles.
 

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