It's time to come back! Opinions on build

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vdragonlance

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 8, 2005
Messages
485
It's been a while so let's get down to it. Thanks in advance for the help!

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Mainly gaming
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
About $1,300ish
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Arizona, USA
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
GPU
CPU
RAM
Motherboard
Case
SSD
PSU
CPU cooler
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
I'll be using my old k/m and monitor
6) Will you be overclocking?
Oh yes!
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
Dell S2740L 1080p
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Within a weeks time
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
Excellent OCing ability?
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Yessum windows 7 64bit


This is what I came up with so far:

Corsair Graphite Series 230T $65
MSI Z97-Gaming 7 $175
SAPPHIRE TRI-X OC $410
SeaSonic X Series X650 $130
Intel Core i5-4690K $240
G.SKILL Sniper Series 8GB $81
SAMSUNG 840 Pro $170
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO $35
 
Since you're overclocking, you should be getting a better cooler. GO for the Seidon 120V instead:
$50 - Cooler Master Seidon 120V Liquid Cooling System

At $130, the Seasonic X-650 isn't really worth it considering that the higher quality SS-660XP2 is only $15 more:
$145 - Seasonic SS-660XP2 660W Modular PSU

Personally, I generally recommend Asus, GIgabyte, and MSI for video cards and only recommend Sapphire, HIS, or Powercolor for extremely low budget builds.
 
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Dangman said:
Since you're overclocking, you should be getting a better cooler. GO for the Seidon 120V instead:
$50 - Cooler Master Seidon 120V Liquid Cooling System

At $130, the Seasonic X-650 isn't really worth it considering that the higher quality SS-660XP2 is only $15 more:
$145 - Seasonic SS-660XP2 660W Modular PSU

Personally, I generally recommend Asus, GIgabyte, and MSI for video cards and only recommend Sapphire, HIS, or Powercolor for extremely low budget builds.
Click to expand...

Why's that? From what I've seen the Powercolor 290X has been keeping up with the Asus variant in nearly all tests.
 
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Dangman said:
Since you're overclocking, you should be getting a better cooler. GO for the Seidon 120V instead:
$50 - Cooler Master Seidon 120V Liquid Cooling System

At $130, the Seasonic X-650 isn't really worth it considering that the higher quality SS-660XP2 is only $15 more:
$145 - Seasonic SS-660XP2 660W Modular PSU

Personally, I generally recommend Asus, GIgabyte, and MSI for video cards and only recommend Sapphire, HIS, or Powercolor for extremely low budget builds.
Click to expand...

Thanks I'll look into the Seidon and switched out PSU.

Why's that? I've had pretty good experiences with Sapphire cards since the 9500 pro days.
 
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Dangman said:
Personally, I generally recommend Asus, GIgabyte, and MSI for video cards and only recommend Sapphire, HIS, or Powercolor for extremely low budget builds.
Click to expand...
Kane_233 said:
Why's that? From what I've seen the Powercolor 290X has been keeping up with the Asus variant in nearly all tests.
Click to expand...
vdragonlance said:
Why's that? I've had pretty good experiences with Sapphire cards since the 9500 pro days.
Click to expand...

QC and customer service. Though no vendor is perfect, more people (in the U.S.) have reported issues with Sapphire, HIS, and Powercolor than with Asus, Gigabyte, and MSI.
 
That AIO cooler that good ?

I had to ask looks a bit scarey to me.

but I'm an air type.

Haven't rebuilt in awhile but have a NH-D14 on the main and the AIO's have always seems a bit sketchy to me, even have an old TRUE copper on a HTPC even.

But I guess more pricey.

Just thought I'd ask, EVO 212's seem more a long run type of thing.
 
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MongGrel said:
That AIO cooler that good ?

I had to ask looks a bit scarey to me.

but I'm an air type.

Haven't rebuilt in awhile but have a NH-D14 on the main and the AIO's have always seems a bit sketchy to me, even have an old TRUE copper on a HTPC even.

But I guess more pricey.

Just thought I'd ask, EVO 212's seem more a long run type of thing.
Click to expand...

The reason why I'm a big fan of the Seidon 120V is that its cooling performance is extremely good for a $50 liquid AIO as you can see here:
http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2744&page=5

It actually outperforms your $79 NH-D14. With that said, the Seidon 120V is pretty loud.

tiraides said:
QC and customer service. Though no vendor is perfect, more people (in the U.S.) have reported issues with Sapphire, HIS, and Powercolor than with Asus, Gigabyte, and MSI.
Click to expand...

Bingo.
 
How's the Corsair Hydro H60 compared to the Cooler Master Seidon 120V? Newegg has the H60 for $40. It's refurbished though so not sure if it's worth saving $10 over the Seidon.
 
The CM Hyper 212 is plenty of cooling for you. I personally wouldn't trust a cheap, all-in-one watercooler that I hadn't assembled myself. Too much potential for catastrophic failure. You can get a better air cooler if you really need more cooling.

As far as Sapphire being a bad manufacturer...they make by far the best 290x in the Tri-X OC. Check the [H] review.

Your build looks good. I might even try to get last-gen or even SB used though, Haswell isn't bringing much to the table. Especially for gaming, you'll save some money without any lost frames.
 
Whoa most of the parts were unexpectedly delivered today luckily someone was home.

iOmkFJwh.jpg


Still waiting on the SSD which I ordered from amazon because it was a couple bucks cheaper
 
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vdragonlance said:
How's the Corsair Hydro H60 compared to the Cooler Master Seidon 120V? Newegg has the H60 for $40. It's refurbished though so not sure if it's worth saving $10 over the Seidon.
Click to expand...

The Seidon is better than the H60.
 
Small update on this build! My R9 290x arrives tomorrow! And I just ordered the Cooler Master Seidon 120V, completing the build :D :D

Thanks for the help everybody!! :)
 
Two questions:
1) What is your video card all the way down on the bottom slot?
2) Why is the PSU fan facing up? It's going to compete with the video card for air. Not to mention there's the potential that the PSU is drawing warm air from the GPU.
 
Dangman said:
Two questions:
1) What is your video card all the way down on the bottom slot?
2) Why is the PSU fan facing up? It's going to compete with the video card for air. Not to mention there's the potential that the PSU is drawing warm air from the GPU.
Click to expand...
Mainly for looks, does it actually affect the speed of the card? I haven't noticed anything wrong running it down there.
I'm planning on getting a 140mm fan to pull fresh air up into the card and PSU,
 
Last edited:
vdragonlance said:
Mainly for looks, does it actually affect the speed of the card? I haven't noticed anything wrong running it down there.
I'm planning on getting a 140mm fan to pull fresh air up into the card and PSU,
Click to expand...
It's the cooling I'm more worried about than the performance: That 140mm fan won't help out at all. Just flip the PSU so that the fan is drawing air from the bottom of the case. There's a reason why the case has openings right underneath the PSU: For better PSU cooling.

It costs you no money and is more effective long-term than a single extra floor fan. Outside of leaving your PC on carpet (which you shouldn't be doing in the first place), there is no benefit in the configuration you've set up and plenty of downsides.

EDIT: Though you should move the GPU up to the first PCI-E x16 slot anyway since it'll be directly in the path of the front 120mm fan that doesn't have obstructions in front of it. That means it's going to get better cooling.
 
Dangman said:
It's the cooling I'm more worried about than the performance: That 140mm fan won't help out at all. Just flip the PSU so that the fan is drawing air from the bottom of the case. There's a reason why the case has openings right underneath the PSU: For better PSU cooling.

It costs you no money and is more effective long-term than a single extra floor fan. Outside of leaving your PC on carpet (which you shouldn't be doing in the first place), there is no benefit in the configuration you've set up and plenty of downsides.

EDIT: Though you should move the GPU up to the first PCI-E x16 slot anyway since it'll be directly in the path of the front 120mm fan that doesn't have obstructions in front of it. That means it's going to get better cooling.
Click to expand...
Temps are all fine in this setup, but I will switch the PSU and move up the GPU maybe they'll run slightly cooler.
 
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