Double-Check £500-£600 AMD Gaming PC Build

[edd1234]

Some of you may remember my last post about a friend who was trying to upgrade a HP Desktop with a 7850, but wasn't sure if the CPU or PSU was good enough, or even if the case was big enough.
With enough pessimistic comments I've managed to convince him to build a new gaming rig and he's hoping we can get it done over Easter.

I've put together the following as a proposal:
CPU: AMD FX-8320 (£104 - Amazon) *Already bought
MB: Asus M5A97 R2.0 AMD 970 AM3+ (£64.76 - Scan)
RAM: Corsair Vengeance Jet Black Low Profile 8GB DDR3 1600 (£62.16 - Scan)
HDD: Seagate ST1000DM003 1TB SATA 3 Hard Drive 7200rpm 64MB Cache (£41.94 - Scan)
DVD: Samsung x24 DVD Writer Dual Layer 5.25" SATA Black (£11.98 - Scan)
Case: Undecided (About £40 ideally. Choices are CM K-350, CM K-380, CM N300, Corsair Spec-01 *new*, CM Force 500 or other...)
PSU: XFX PRO550W
GPU: MSI R9 270x 2GB (It's on sale at a few places for about £152 atm).
OS: Already got...
Fans: 2x120mm. Haven't chosen yet, but the Arctic F12s on Amazon for only £3 something seem fine to me.


Is there anything drastically out of place? If no, my two questions are:
1) Is the motherboard upto scratch? He's on a budget but I'm sure £10-20 for a motherboard upgrade (to 990fx?) wouldn't be a problem. I might have already quoted him the price for the "Evo" version instead, can't remember. The MSI 990FXA-GD65 was on Scan's today only for £79.19, about £5 more than the 970 Evo. I was tempted to tell him to buy it there and then, but I don't know what I'm looking for when it comes to motherboards, besides USB 3 and SATA III and that higher chipsets are better.

2) Which case? This may not be a great way of describing it, but ideally, (since I'll be building it), I'd like the most bogstandard gaming case I don't like think looks bother him, he's more excited about the prospect of 1080p ~60fps gaming. The Corsair Spec-01 looked nice (and it's new!) but I was hoping for someone's opinion first!

His aim is 1080p (single monitor), roughly 60fps on most games at the highest settings, but understands that he may have to cut down to "High" settings on newer ones such as BF4.

Thanks as always!

[HalloweenJack]

990FX has extra PCIE lanes , does CF/SLI and I think usually has more sata ports.

personally I would go for 1866 or higher ram , the 8250 supports 1866 and good timing ones do give a slight boost (I use team group 2400 cas 10@ 2133 with my 9590)

personally I would lean towards a GTX 760 - but I prefer NVidia over AMD.

[DanceswithUnix]

I couldn't justify the cost of the 990FX, but the EVO version of the board you are looking at is a major upgrade for just four quid more at Amazon

http://www.amazon.co.uk/M5A97-EVO-R2.../dp/B008RPZ5H8

Worth 4 quid just for the VRM, but it has other upgrades too.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I would get the Asus M5A97 EVO R2.0 as indicated previously. I would get this 1866MHZ RAM set as it is £60:

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

The BitFenix Merc Alpha can take long graphics cards:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/BitFenix-Mer...rds=alpha+case

You have to make sure you get a non-reference GTX760,as the reference one overheats.

This R9 270 is quite cheap considering it has BF4 included:

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

[edd1234]

Thanks for finding the Evo cheaper on Amazon, DancesWithUnix, and the better/cheaper RAM, CAT-THE-FIFTH.

Is there anything better about the Bitfenix Merc Alpha than the CoolerMaster N300? The N300 is big enough for the CPU Cooler and the GPU, and has USB 3 on the front.

[nepenthes]

I had a build with the Asus M5A97 R2.0 with a lower specced AMD cpu, I didn't need the extra ports/features on the Evo board so I went for the cheaper option. No problems with it, both seem to be popular choices

I went for the Corsair 200R on that build. Very basic, came with two case fans. I've never had any major problems with Corsair, and I think it's their cheapest case available.

[gamerprez]

I had a build with the Asus M5A97 R2.0 with a lower specced AMD cpu, I didn't need the extra ports/features on the Evo board so I went for the cheaper option. No problems with it, both seem to be popular choices

I went for the Corsair 200R on that build. Very basic, came with two case fans. I've never had any major problems with Corsair, and I think it's their cheapest case available.

Anyone have an update to this as I'm hoping to do a budget build in this price range with something like this:

[F2K8]

You definitely want a CPU cooler, especially if you're buying an AMD 8 core as they tend to go hot, and the stock cooler ends up sounding like a hoover!
Go for something cheap around the £15 mark, something like an Arctic Freezer, or spend a bit extra (around 25£) and get a Cooler Master Evo. Both great CPU coolers but the CM E is slightly better.

Other than that, everything looks fine. When you get a case, make sure it's branded. Non branded or 'lower' branded cases tend to be extremely loud, I see you have a few Corsair cases for choice, I'd stick to them as they use decently quiet fans. Good luck!

[DanceswithUnix]

Anyone have an update to this as I'm hoping to do a budget build in this price range with something like this:

Start a new review-my-build thread stating your budget, what sort of games you are hoping to play and whether you have any bits you can re-use from somewhere.

On a broad level though, I have had my M5A97 EVO R2.0 for almost a year now, and I think it is still a bargain. If you have the budget for a graphics card, that mobo and an FX-8350 make a superb start. I do have an aftermarket cooler though.

[flufflogic]

You can get an ASRock 990FX for around £70:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/ASRock-990FX...et+am3+%2B+990

Just, y'know, don't do any overclocking, because apparently it's terrible at it.

[Jtl2877]

As said the evo version I the motherboard would be a good step up for little cost.

I would maybe spend a little extra on a decent case. Maybe a corsair 300 or 230T bothe look like decent cases. Or if he can stretch his money the fractal design arc midi r2 looks very nice for features/budget.

[BradIey]

Asus M5A97 R2.0 AMD 970 AM3+ is a great motherboard there is a guy who now and then sells refurbished ones from Asus (manufacture refurbished) on ebay where I bought mine for £36.78

as far as PSUs go you might want to get something a tiny bit bigger 550W is fine but for the extra cost gold certification and more quiet features are definitely worth it.

[AKP]

Friend of mine bought this case recently:

http://www.dabs.com/products/zalman-...case-916G.html

Super cheap (£31.99) and came with four case fans.