My £800 Build Completed

[Morgan314]

As requested, here is my build now it's finished! (You may remember my many questions a few days back)

http://pcpartpicker.com/b/DCG
(Same ish description to PCPartPicker, both communities have been helpful!)
Will try for better pictures soon

Thanks to everyone at Hexus, my build is complete. I found it a lot easier than I expected to build and took little over 3 hours excluding OS install. As far as cable management is concerned, I may need to tidy it up a little however I feel that what cabling I have left does not restrict the air flow. By buying components in conjunction with discound codes from Dabs, the system cost me around £805 to buy. In my opinion this isn't too bad a price for the performance I am getting. I am very pleased with the build and how it is running. i am able to max out every game I've thrown at it, not certain on the frame rates however everything is completely playable at 1080p. I have currently got the system clocked at 4.2GHz with a top core temp of around 60° C. I have had the system up to >4.5GHz however I am more comfortable running it at this lower clock. It offers excellent performance and handles everything I have tried!
I've included WEI scroes in the photos, which shows (according to windows) my build is somewhat balanced! (not that I'd ever believe WEI) I've also included a 3D Mark 11 however I do not know how my score compared using this tool.
I am very pleased with the processor, especially for the price that I paid. It saved me £50 on a FX8350 and I have managed to gain equal (ish) performance through overclocking.
After initial worries with the cooler, my temperatures are now good. It was easy to install and just required a little perseverance to set the cooler on the CPU correctly.
This motherboard seems to be very good, offering me good overclocks however I am struggling with the bios settings and am instead using AMD Overdrive and setting the overclock speeds at boot time. This works very well for me.
The SanDisk SSD offered me the best value solid state storage I could find, with reasonably good performance too. Although it is not up there with Samsung 840 Pro's it was also ~£60 cheaper. I have my OS and all programs and games on this drive and I have found that storage is ample.
I use the Seagate Barracuda 2TB for all my mass data needs, it works well and was the best value drive offering 7200rpm.
The Gigabyte GeForce GTX 760 OC Windforce is a very good graphics card and runs everything very well and very cool. After choosing between this and the 7870 LE for similar prices I chose this and am pleased with my decision.
I really do like the Crucial RAM. Although I have a minor issue with the LEDs on one stick, the other works perfectly (Amazon are replacing the defective stick). It is very fast and I found it to be very good value for high quality DDR3 1866MHz RAM.
After initially regretting my decision to buy Windows 8 over Windows 7, the operating system is growing on me. I just takes a little getting used to. The startup times are great ~10sec from POST and after disabling Metro at startup everything is quite straightforward.
I chose a GS600 PSU, purely because it was the correct capacity and priced to fit in with my discount codes. I could have bought a CX600M however because of how the codes fell this would have cost me £20 more. Although there is excess cable clutter I have mostly stored it in an unused drive bay. The blue LED fan fits in with the rest of the colour scheme and since it is downwards facing it casts a blue glow onto the desk.
Finally, the case. For £50 I feel it is great value, especially with all the features included. It has reasonably good cable management options and the blue colour scheme is very striking. The included fans are great and look good with the blue LEDs. All in all it has a feeling of quality but forhas a very low price.
All things considered I am very pleased with my build, and I feel that I have created a well balanced build that is the best I could design for my budget. Any feedback is appreciated, I know it isn't perfect so every suggestion helps!



-Morgan314

[teppic]

Looks like you've done a great job. Don't worry about overclocking the CPU. If it's stable at 4.5GHz and the temps are ok, use it - it'll push up frame rates. I knew things would be all right going for the 8320 instead of the 8350 - it's a nice saving.

[flearider]

good job on the build shame only 4.5 maybe next time ...but keep at the o/c in bios you'll get the hang of it ..

[kalniel]

In contrast to the above, I'd recommend not overclocking any more than you need to to get an enjoyable experience. Overclocking increases power consumption and heat, which will have a minor effect on component lifespan. If you don't need it, then why waste resources on it? We all need to do our bit to make this planet a little greener

[MrJim]

In contrast to the above, I'd recommend not overclocking any more than you need to to get an enjoyable experience. Overclocking increases power consumption and heat, which will have a minor effect on component lifespan. If you don't need it, then why waste resources on it? We all need to do our bit to make this planet a little greener

Agree with this. I've got my system to run at 2.4Ghz when idling or just web browsing in Windows, but then ramps up to 4.5Ghz in games or when encoding video. Best of both worlds

[flearider]

In contrast to the above, I'd recommend not overclocking any more than you need to to get an enjoyable experience. Overclocking increases power consumption and heat, which will have a minor effect on component lifespan. If you don't need it, then why waste resources on it? We all need to do our bit to make this planet a little greener

well if you want a greener planet then up the co2 o/c more ...co2 is a good thing
and we do it to push the limits you just need good cooling ...

[kalniel]

well if you want a greener planet then up the co2 o/c more ...co2 is a good thing

and we do it to push the limits

No *we* don't. Some people might, others are more interested in actually using computers rather than just a numbers game.

[teppic]

The processor will clock down to use the same power as it would not overclocked whenever it can - so you just get the boost when you need it. A 4.5GHz OC on an FX series isn't pushing it hard, and it would give a real increase in gaming performance.

(I do my bit by using a 92%+ efficiency PSU, and as I'm not gaming at the moment I'm using Intel HD graphics )

[Morgan314]

Just about reached 9000 in 3DMark11 using 4.5GHZ on the CPU (had it up to 4.8ghz but no significant improvement on performance) and 1175/1240 base/boost on the GPU with memory clocked at 6658MHz. Quite pleased Highest scores for my combo of hardware and for 760+8350 (I think?) Think I'll keep these setting for day to day use but I think I can push my GPU a little more.
***LINK: http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/6857247 ***

[teppic]

4.8GHz is brilliant for an 8 core one. You might find that some games give a bit of a boost there, but 4.5GHz is certainly not bad Try running Unigine Valley benchmark too.

edit: From your benchmark post I think your memory is only running at 1333MHz, you need to fix that

[Morgan314]

Is it? My BIOS says 1866 and AIDA64 seems to read it as 1867mhz.. is there any other setting I should be changing?


Edit: I think you are right, but I can't figure out how to change it! Is it my overlock affecting it?

[flearider]

nip over to hear and you can read how to set it up any problems they will help you sort it out .....http://rog.asus.com/forum/

[teppic]

Hmm. It may just be a wrong upload in 3dmark then (it says 667MHz, which would be 1333MHz). If your BIOS says your RAM is at 1866MHz, that's what it's at. You could try CPU-Z too, that will give your memory speed and timings.

Your overclock wouldn't affect your RAM speed.

[Morgan314]

nip over to hear and you can read how to set it up any problems they will help you sort it out .....http://rog.asus.com/forum/

That seems like a good idea! Just want to check that I actually have an issue first, I'm not sure what frequency it is running at.

CPU Z


AIDA64 RAM


And yet 3DMark1 says 133mhz.. hmm, any thoughts?

[teppic]

3dMark is lying

[Morgan314]

3dMark is lying

Ah good! Worth the check, thought I'd managed to do something rather wrong! Just ogt my replacement memory LED module for the faulty light so now I think everything is up and running as it should! (aside from the darn Epson printer drivers!) So all is good Thanks for your help by the way!