Just going through my Amd build one more time...

[Jellyfish]

Hey guys,

Well it's been a long story with my pc deteriorating and looking to buy a rig since about October time. I was reading alot before, and my head was going with numbers. I was for a while set on an Amd build, but then started to consider Intel at the same price bracket (i was waiting mainly to see what Kaveri was like if i could hold out in comparison to Am3+)

I knew i should've gone amd, but started looking at the locked (yet more expensive) Intels. Anyway, after much reading and helpful voices along the way i have gone back to my original plan! But with a Gpu aswell (i was thinking i could only get a new gpu after a while and use my current - not brilliant card) I am worbling on, not had much sleep!

The last major part i was in two minds about was the motherboard, but i'm pretty sure i'm going to go with the Asus, rather than the Gigabyte (even though asus rma scares the hell outta me lol )

Though i do have a couple of dilemmas still.


My build would consist of :

Amd 6300 £80
Asus M5A97 evo £68
Kingston hyper blue (2x4gb/1600) £60
WD blue 1tb £42
Dvd drive £12
Gigabyte r9 270 £130
Windows 8.1 £70

The total cost for this is... £515

The case i have sat downstairs atm, and is the Arc midi v2 so i don't have to worry about that (I spent months deciding on a case, i was bad )

The question is, to try and put £30 for the 8320, or just go for the 6300 at £30 cheaper. Or i could hypothetically Spend £30 on a cooler with the 6300 to keep the price as if i was going for a 8320. Or it could be £30 saved (Although i realise i will have to get that cooler at somepoint)

I had been looking at (thermalright, alpenföhn etc...) a few, but thought and wanted to ask with the Coolermaster evo, can the clips be lowered so the fan was blowing under the heatsink by that inch say and cool the Vrms aswell? As the other coolers were using metal pins i didn't think they would really blow over them... not sure!

I have pushed the cost of the build up a bit, but with a graphics card that i didn't think i'd be able to get i can put that in as i don't have the worry of purchasing a gpu.

A 6300 will be great, i was just looking at the 8320 as it was not a huge jump and with some games starting to use more cores (such as watchdogs/bf4/thief etc...)

That is the main last thing i'm torn on the £80 6 core, or the £109 8 core. My head tells me to go 6300 and oc that when i can and save £30, with bills, a few other things to grab and going away with my other half at somepoint soon.

Thanks for reading though, thought i would post this as it's before i've bought it and pretty close to doing so (hoping, if i don't start procrastinating again )

/random gibberish ending

[Bonebreaker777]

...
My build would consist of :

Amd 6300 £80
Asus M5A97 evo £68
Kingston hyper blue (2x4gb/1600) £60
WD blue 1tb £42
Dvd drive £12
Gigabyte r9 270 £130
Windows 8.1 £70
...

If I were you I would go for the octa-core option (even if you don't overclock now, will still have 8cores to the future and the option to overclock AMD FX8320 Black Edition 8 Core for £109.90.

Pass on MoBo, AMD is not really my turf ;-)

As RAM goes, FX-8320 supports 1866Mhz DDR3 on default, you might as well go for these GeIL Evo 8GB (4 x 2048MB) 1866MHz for £60.99 for £1 extra.

As HDDs go, you could but don't really have choose a Seagate and save a quid Seagate ST1000DM003 for £40.99 with 24months of Seagate direct warranty (according to Scan).

The optical drive is your choice.

GPU from Amazon and Gigabyte was your choice probably as well Gigabyte AMD R9 270 for £128.71.

The operation system is your choice as well, if Windows 8.1 wouldn't be comfortable for you (or you may think so) for similar price you can pick up Windows 7 as well.

[The Hand]

I personally would go for the FX6300, but I'm not an overclocker and prefer lower power consumption. Mantle API is showing a lot of promise too, so it might not be a problem going for the 6 core chip instead of FX8320 on Mantle enabled games at least such as BF4.
On the graphics card, I would certainly take look at the MSI R9 270, which got a good review on LinusTech tips here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLQrZseRlew
I would also go for a 2GB HD, since whats an extra £15-£20 nowadays:
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2tb-s...he-8ms-oem-ncq
Maybe at a later date, you'll want to put in an SSD, since they are falling in price now and meant to be throughout 2014 and use the HD for storage etc.

Other than those points, you're build looks good and I wouldn't worry too much about the CPU, but if you want the FX8320 then go for it.

EDIT: As Bonebreaker777 said on the ram, go for 1866mhz as the price difference is insignificant.

[Jellyfish]

If I were you I would go for the octa-core option (even if you don't overclock now, will still have 8cores to the future and the option to overclock AMD FX8320 Black Edition 8 Core for £109.90.

Pass on MoBo, AMD is not really my turf ;-)

As RAM goes, FX-8320 supports 1866Mhz DDR3 on default, you might as well go for these GeIL Evo 8GB (4 x 2048MB) 1866MHz for £60.99 for £1 extra.

As HDDs go, you could but don't really have choose a Seagate and save a quid Seagate ST1000DM003 for £40.99 with 24months of Seagate direct warranty (according to Scan).

The optical drive is your choice.

GPU from Amazon and Gigabyte was your choice probably as well Gigabyte AMD R9 270 for £128.71.

The operation system is your choice as well, if Windows 8.1 wouldn't be comfortable for you (or you may think so) for similar price you can pick up Windows 7 as well.

Hey guys, thanks for the replies! Sorry for the late reply as i've been a bit hectic/tired and slept like a log. Yeah, i was in two minds about the 6/8 core (mainly on price - although both are great for the cost) The mobo i've read so much into, in regards to powerphases/stability so it was down to those two pretty much. The Ram i (crazy i know) spent so long reading up on as i heard some didn't play well with some of those mobo's (not posting etc...) but also trying my best to avoid high profile for the cooler at somepoint. I stuck to WD mainly for me being paranoid I'll have a quick ganders at the 1866 ram though, thanks guys!

Windows 8, im on the fence about, i'm not a huge fan of it but if they offered an upgrade path to 9 (who knows) for cheap and with it handling 4core+ better for the os (although 7 has a few patches to address that i think)

I personally would go for the FX6300, but I'm not an overclocker and prefer lower power consumption. Mantle API is showing a lot of promise too, so it might not be a problem going for the 6 core chip instead of FX8320 on Mantle enabled games at least such as BF4.
On the graphics card, I would certainly take look at the MSI R9 270, which got a good review on LinusTech tips here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLQrZseRlew
I would also go for a 2GB HD, since whats an extra £15-£20 nowadays:
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2tb-s...he-8ms-oem-ncq
Maybe at a later date, you'll want to put in an SSD, since they are falling in price now and meant to be throughout 2014 and use the HD for storage etc.

Other than those points, you're build looks good and I wouldn't worry too much about the CPU, but if you want the FX8320 then go for it.

EDIT: As Bonebreaker777 said on the ram, go for 1866mhz as the price difference is insignificant.

Yea, for the price increase i was torn between those two! I'm sure either will be great, im just being so indecisive The 6300 does perform great esp in BF4 etc...(and oc very nicely) I was looking at either the Gigabyte or the Msi, the only thing that made me think twice for the Msi was recently people had oil from the fan bearings spitting around the shroud or motherboard (msi said it was a bad batch) but not sure what stock would be sent out. Otherwise Msi would have been a real consideration as it's a very nice card for £130ish.

I've had some great advice along the way (many many months of reading rubbish ) and the first time in about 6 years of spending this kind of money just made me hesitant. For the hdd capacity i'd prob stick to the 1tb mainly for keeping that cost down (currently have a 500gb crammed with music- so cant format) I will probably though grab a ssd down the line and put my os on it most probably.

Thanks for your replies though guys, appreciated!

And last night i was suddenly looking up the Gigabyte board again (doh ) my mind works in crazy ways. The main reasons for being torn on those motherboards are: gigabyte has dual bios incase i fluff it, is a bit newer, has a nicer rma procedure... but also read (it will handle the chips) that if you oc it can sometimes boot twice (like say 6 seconds, power down then start) Also read someones locking up (but that could be due to *possibly* low volts if they oc'ed) bios being a bit clunky (although a bios update might fix those) For the Asus being out longer has alot more people getting stable oc on, slightly better vrms but the main thing was the way Asus dealt with the rma procedure (6 weeks or so, and also read people recieving damaged refurbished mobo's back) otherwise i wouldn't have questioned that mobo at all!

Omg i nearly fluffed my replies up, thank god for autosave!

Apologies for writing another huge amount of stuff!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

This RAM would do the job:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Crucial-BLT2...s=1866mhz+ddr3

OcUK has some higher speed stuff,but it will cost more once postage is included plus it will make no difference in performance IIRC.

Also,there is this Gigabyte R9 270 BF4 Edition:

http://www.dabs.com/products/gigabyt...ics&origin=pla

It comes with a copy of BF4,which you can sell(or keep).

[Jellyfish]

Hey CAT-THE-FIFTH! I was checking out that ram while looking up a few of the kits, i should investigate that more (i remember checking out the tactical tracer ones too, though the prices went up like crazy on those lit ones)

Yea, i was checking out Amazon for the bf4 version, but i think i left it too late from them. I'd so end up keeping a copy of Bf4 if i could

I also think i've pretty much swung 180, and now might go for the UD3P. The Asus board i know is pretty rock solid, and would probably have no problems but i was reading/googling rma's and it's made me think i should go for GB, i think from reading so much i've made myself paranoid

Thanks for your input CAT-THE-FIFTH!

Also can i ask, if/when i do get an extra case fan (would be a sp120 for the hdd bay and dust filter) would it matter if i got a PWM fan to connect to the motherboard or just the (Cheaper) normal 3 pin version?

[Jellyfish]

Ok, i thought i'd put this out there incase anyone else was as paranoid as me I talked to Amazon today and asked if they covered the first year of the 3 year motherboard warranty... i had a reply saying that basically from today (crazy huh? the day i contacted them) that from today all asus motherboards warranties will be covered by them fully for the full 3 years! So if it goes wrong, then either a replacement or refund. Bear in mind this is for 3 year warranties, anything over (Such as the sabertooth 5 year warranty) then you would have to go directly through ASUS. Now this has put me in a position to decide what to do!

[DanceswithUnix]

I have built a lot of Asus board machines, and of those I have had a couple that were dead from day one, and so went back to the vendor rather than Asus.

The others have outlasted the warranty period, and the more expensive ones just don't ever seem to die.

Asus technical support is awful, thankfully it seems rare that you need them.

I prefer the BIOS on the Asus boards, and just generally find I like them more. Nothing wrong with a Gigabyte board though, either will do you fine. Sounds like you are stressing too much over this

[Jellyfish]

I have built a lot of Asus board machines, and of those I have had a couple that were dead from day one, and so went back to the vendor rather than Asus.

The others have outlasted the warranty period, and the more expensive ones just don't ever seem to die.

Asus technical support is awful, thankfully it seems rare that you need them.

I prefer the BIOS on the Asus boards, and just generally find I like them more. Nothing wrong with a Gigabyte board though, either will do you fine. Sounds like you are stressing too much over this

Your right DanceswithUnix, i am stressing out too much over this hehe The Asus motherboard is a great board and read so many good things about it for being stable/overclocking. I mainly started to freak out when i spent a night googling Rma and i was like... omg... Thank you for your reply man The bios for the Asus also made me really think it was the one to get aswell.

When i spoke to Amazon today i was quite taken back when they said they cover the entire 3 years, pretty much the only thing making me think twice! With that newer GB board coming out it really made it tougher for me to decide I think now i can 100% go for ASUS, and not be worried at all. (i was mainly freaking out, thinking of worst possible situation... i swear if a bird poohed over a 1000 people i'd be the one with it on me lol, though that's never the case for the lottery...)

I think reading so much has made me stressed, i need some caffeine and nicotine

[mikeo01]

If that board on your original post is the one you are talking about then I can only say it is rock solid

Achieved 300 FSB with my locked Phenom (X6 1045T), took it straight up to 4.0Ghz with no issues. It has superb power delivery I can say that much.


One of the best boards I have used. Only thing I hate is the blue colour scheme the ASUS BIOS is definitely nicer I can agree on that. Their software is nothing short of amazing (my current Gigabyte's software is pants, especially the fan control). That ASUS board is flexible, I likey

[Jellyfish]

If that board on your original post is the one you are talking about then I can only say it is rock solid

Achieved 300 FSB with my locked Phenom (X6 1045T), took it straight up to 4.0Ghz with no issues. It has superb power delivery I can say that much.


One of the best boards I have used. Only thing I hate is the blue colour scheme the ASUS BIOS is definitely nicer I can agree on that. Their software is nothing short of amazing (my current Gigabyte's software is pants, especially the fan control). That ASUS board is flexible, I likey

Yeah the evo board i was mainly looking at but then GB released that ud3p and i started to read up on that Googling rma stuff probably didnt help my fragile brain, but i'm glad i did it tbh. The blue is certainly colourful, though once all the gubbins are in i imagine it will be quite tough to see. That newer GB mobo with like a dark brown/black pcb is rather fetching too though, i thought

I think i spent the past 2 weeks solid reading up on individual rma procedures, a bit like me trying to diagnose some horrible injury i got or something on google Was pretty awesome Amazon telling me they cover it completely! Thanks for the reply Mikeo01!

[Jellyfish]

Ok! right! After now knowing the mobo is covered (by my crazy, paranoid mind) I will 100% go for the Asus evo Now i have one last dilemma here. I've been constantly looking at both builds and the last choice of either the 6300 or the 8320 for £25 difference. I would be mainly gaming on intensive things with say skype/steam etc...

It made me wonder as some of the newer games using a few more cores (i think Watchdogs/bf4 etc thief?) I wouldn't be upgrading for a fair old while, and would be probably playing various genres. The 6300 is a great chip aswell and that's what i find makes it quite hard to put my finger on.

So, it would be a 6300 and say a cooler straight away or an 8320 and wait a few weeks for a cooler. It so doesn't help my headphones kicked the bucket though and have to grab a new pair Although i could get them before the cooler. It's just if i should just lay that £25 to get the extra 2 cores or not.

I am actually quite close to getting this, (even though as you can all attest) that im procrastinating so much

[The Hand]

Yea, for the price increase i was torn between those two! I'm sure either will be great, im just being so indecisive The 6300 does perform great esp in BF4 etc...(and oc very nicely) I was looking at either the Gigabyte or the Msi, the only thing that made me think twice for the Msi was recently people had oil from the fan bearings spitting around the shroud or motherboard (msi said it was a bad batch) but not sure what stock would be sent out. Otherwise Msi would have been a real consideration as it's a very nice card for £130ish.

Ouch yes, I've just been reading up on the MSI AMD card fan oil situation; I formerly withdraw my MSI R9 270 statement, so much for the MSI "Military grade" image! I'm probably looking at the Powercolor R9 270 now myself as it only needs one 6 pin PCIe lead though the Gigabyte I'm sure will be be fine. Hope the build goes well!

[DanceswithUnix]

I think it comes down to how you feel about overclocking.

You can probably overclock the 8 core into an 8350, but you can never unlock the missing 2 cores in the 6 core.

[Jellyfish]

Hey guys! Yeah, thehand the oil leakage put me off or i would have really considered the 270 msi off scan for £130 (a pretty nice price!) I will say quickly, the powercooler rma can be a bit of a pain from reading, but (you'll have to check to make sure) if its with Ocuk they will deal with all rma problems (Although its £130 there and not £120)

Hey Dances! I've never overclocked before but i'm very willing to try and knowing i will have a board that can handle one i will def try! In the end i've gone for the 8320 With the Asus evo board

[DanceswithUnix]

Hey guys! Yeah, thehand the oil leakage put me off or i would have really considered the 270 msi off scan for £130 (a pretty nice price!) I will say quickly, the powercooler rma can be a bit of a pain from reading, but (you'll have to check to make sure) if its with Ocuk they will deal with all rma problems (Although its £130 there and not £120)

Hey Dances! I've never overclocked before but i'm very willing to try and knowing i will have a board that can handle one i will def try! In the end i've gone for the 8320 With the Asus evo board

I'm sure you will be delighted with it

I don't usually bother with overclocking myself, but given they sell the 8350 the chances of the 8320 managing the same speed is really good so I still do that sort of small bump in speed sometimes.