Haven't built in a while, need some help!

[sleezeep]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? I will be playing some BF3, and possibly GTAV when it comes out, lots of HD video streaming, some VM work, as well as web development, and android development. Possibly some very light video editing.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included? $1350, and no tx and shipping do not have to be included into that.

3) Which country do you live in? Cameron Park, California

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, Mobo, RAM, GPU, HDD, SSD, PSU, Case, Monitor, Mouse, Speakers, optical drive, mabey an aftermarket CPU cooler?

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? My Keyboard

6) Will you be overclocking? No

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it? I need one, something above 21" would be nice

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC? This week

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? This is where i havent built a computer since the early 2000's so i dont know about all the new stuff.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit? No, I need a 64 bit Win 7

This is a parts list i have come up with already. I was always an AMD boy so thats why i chose that, plus the Intel just seemed very overpriced and bloated, but if im wrong please educate me!

CPU: AMD FX-8120 Zambezi 3.1GHz $159.99
Mobo: ASRock 990 FX Extreme4 $144.99
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaw X seriers 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1600 $114.99
HDD:Toshiba DT01ACA100 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s $89.99
SSD:OCZ Vertex Plus R2 VTXPLR2-25SAT2-120GB $79.99
GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD 6870 1GB $169.99
Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 $59.99
PSU:OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W Modular Power Supply $74.99
Optical Drive: Lite-On DVD burner $17.99
Monitor: ASUS VS248H-P Black 24" HDMI LED $204.99
Speakers: Logitech S-220 $25.99
Mouse: Logitech M500 $27.99
CPU Cooler: Coolermaster Hyper 212 EVO $30.99
OS: Win 7 Home 64-bit $99.99
sub-total: $1302.86

I was also wondering in the coolermaster 912 HAF case is better to run dual 120mm fans or a single 200mm?

All your help is greatly appreciated and i am excited about building a pc once again!

Edit for subtotal.

 

[E4g1e]

Forget about the FX-8120 or any other FX-series AMD for your use: In apps that are not-so-well multithreaded such as games, the FX-8120 is actually slower in performance than even a dual-core Intel i3 CPU, let alone a quad-core i5.

 

[sleezeep]

well is that doable in that price range? because i am starting completely fresh and it would take me a while to be able to raise my budget.

 

[FelixRussia]

I can't speak for the Intel side of things, but I recently purchased the FX-8120, and it handles virtual machines very well. I haven't load tested my machine with how many VMs it'll run, but it certainly trumps my old 955BE at virtualization hands down.

 

[xyexz]

Are you close to a MicroCenter or other comparable store?

A lot of times they have cpu/mobo bundles to save some cash on if you're tight on money.

 

[E4g1e]

well is that doable in that price range? because i am starting completely fresh and it would take me a while to be able to raise my budget.

Well, then, you'll have to decide which is more important: Gaming performance or VM performance.

 

[sleezeep]

The closest place to me is a frys, but its still a good 30 minutes from me. And if it comes down to that then VM performance most definately. so would you recommend going with an intel cpu, and going cheaper on the GPU? or where should i shave some cost?

 

[xyexz]

I think your build will be just fine for vms etc, if you can scout for a combo deal you'd possibly even save some cash.

 

[sleezeep]

Well, let me pose this question to you all. How much of a realistic difference are we talking about here? Although i will be using VMs but it wont be all that extreme, at most mabey an ubuntu, or android VM.
EDIT: also are my components fairly good quality/brands? obviously i know they aren't top of the line but im most nervouse about the RAM and the mobo, are GSkill and ASRock good brands?

 

[xyexz]

GSkill and ASRock are definitely decent brands, ASRock is a spin off of ASUS which I hold very highly in quality.

If you're only going to run one VM at a time on top of your OS you could knock your RAM down to an 8GB stick, however ram is pretty cheap these days.

Also get the mobo manual off of ASRock support page and check the RAM compatibility, it's not as big of an issue these days but sometimes there are picky boards out there still - I'm not an AMD man so I can't speak to these boards/processors.

 

[sleezeep]

Well, i just did and sure enough they arent on there, in fact there are only 2 8GB sticks listed on the support page. Is gigabyte really shoddy now? The reviews seem very 50/50. Or there are some MSI boards in that range.

 

[xyexz]

I personally had some bad experiences with Gigabyte boards in the past, their BIOS support just seems flaky and I always had a harder time locking in an OC on them, I have grown to really just stick with ASUS boards but at stock clock the Gigabyte board did ok but I seem to remember it not liking my XMP memory profile that the Corsair ram supported.

 

[Dangman]

Well, let me pose this question to you all. How much of a realistic difference are we talking about here? Although i will be using VMs but it wont be all that extreme, at most mabey an ubuntu, or android VM.

Since you're using Windows, you won't notice a difference, especially with that kind of light VM usage.

EDIT: also are my components fairly good quality/brands? obviously i know they aren't top of the line but im most nervouse about the RAM and the mobo, are GSkill and ASRock good brands?

G.Skill is a good brand. AsRock isn't a fairly trustworthy brand IMO. I avoid recommending OCZ in general due to their parts generally being on the low quality side and their poor customer support. In your case, that SSD is a total POS and the PSU isn't all that good. I only recommend Sapphire if the budget cannot be raised at all.

As noted above, you really don't want to go AMD here. In addition, since you're in California, buy as much of your parts as possible from Amazon.com since they do not charge CA residents tax.

$180 - Intel Core i5-2310 CPU
$113 - MSI Z77A-G43 Intel Z77 ATX Motherboard
$98 - 2 x Corsair CMV8GX3M1A1333C9 8GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$240 - Sapphire HD 7850 2GB PCI-E Video Card
$117 - Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2 2.5" 128GB SSD
$85 - Seagate ST1000DM003 1TB Hard Drive
$17 - Samsung SH-222BB/BEBE SATA DVD Burner
$80 - Corsair 650TX V2 650W PSU
$60 - Cooler Master HAF 912 RC-912-KKN1 ATX Case
$20 - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus HSF for LGA 1366 and LGA 1156
$130 - Windows 7 Professional SP1 64bit OEM
$179 - Asus VH236H Black 23" LCD Monitor
$22 - Logitech S-220 Speakers
$28 - Logitech M500 Mouse
---
Total: $1369 shipped.

A little over but you get the following improvements:
- Faster CPU & GPU
- Compatible OS: Windows 7 Home Premium is artificially limited to 16GB of RAM max. You'll need Windows 7 Pro to get more than 16GB of RAM support.
- More reliable and faster SSD
- Significantly higher quality PSU
- Better bang for the buck value.

Also, you want two fans with the HAF 912.

 

[sleezeep]

Danny Bui, Thank you very much that was exactly the kind of advice i was looking for, i put it together in an amazon cart and your right it came out much cheaper due to the lack of sales tax. So besides the addition of a couple of fans this will be a good build? Is it better to use one 200mm fan or dual 120's?

 

[Dangman]

So besides the addition of a couple of fans this will be a good build?

Yes.

Is it better to use one 200mm fan or dual 120's?

I answered that question already. But to elaborate more: You want two 120mm fans at the least. Three to be optimal. (one rear, top, and side)

 

[sleezeep]

I am sorry, i completely missed that last line. The reason i ask is the case comes with 2 i believe, but if i buy 2 200mm fans i could have 2 fans on the cooler, as well as a rear exhaust a top exhaust and a front intake. Once again thank you so much for your help.