Help choosing motherboard and CPU.

[Tsiap]

Hello once again.
So, this time I'm building a PC for a friend, and he choose to go AMD for mobo and CPU, cause of the budget. Since I've always used Intel stuff on my builds, i have literally no idea what to put in. What I'm looking for is the best and also most affordable combo I can find, which won't bottleneck an MSI GTX970 Gaming.
Thank's in advance.

 

[Caring1]

Start with the FX 8350 CPU, then select an AM3+ Motherboard in the price range you have, with the features he wants.
The Asrock 990FX Killer is good value with lots of features.
8Gb of 1866MHz DDR3 Ram is enough and can be picked up at a reasonable price.

 

[ne6togadno]

dont bother with amd. price difference isnt so big
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/K7qdrH
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/H97hMp

edit: if you have microcenter close to you you can have 4690k for 200$ with in store pick up

 

[GreiverBlade]

dont bother with amd. price difference isnt so big
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/K7qdrH
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/H97hMp

edit: if you have microcentere close to you you can have 4690k for 200$ with in store pick up

i hate to agree but i have to ... (and i see it from personal experiences. )

 

[Tsiap]

Forgot to mention something basic, I live in greece where most of these stores don't ship or the shipping cost make non-value to shop from there so I'm buying from ebay

 

[ne6togadno]

...I live in greece.....

this doesnt change anything. intel vs amd difference is the same - 20~30. intel performance is much better.
list is from computeruniverse.net you should check then out. i live just north of you and quite often it is cheaper for me to import from germany rather then buy localy. delivery is with dhl and i get my goods in 3 working days afte shipping.

 

[Schmuckley]

Nothing current AMD will not bottleneck a 970.True story.Nehalem architecture is better.
What's the budget and what site are you looking @?
One downside is the only Mobos for AMD are the newest expensive AsRock and CHV.
I have my CHV..and have for years..it's just a plain Formula.
If everything fails,I know it won't let me down
whoops..no I was gonna say I got it from Geeks.com,but that was a CH4
I got it open-box on Newegg.

 

[Tsiap]

I've checked the prices and it's kinda out of budget, would the previous model of these AMD series bottleneck the GPU?

 

[ne6togadno]

i have 8320 with 290x and i havnt seen problems with any of the games i play. i doubt you will have problems with 970 even if you go with 8320 instead of 8350.

 

[zo0lykas]

so maybe you looking for the new phone ? not pc ?
just tell him get asus

 

[Tsiap]

i have 8320 with 290x and i havnt seen problems with any of the games i play. i doubt you will have problems with 970 even if you go with 8320 instead of 8350.

That might do, checking now.

so maybe you looking for the new phone ? not pc ?
just tell him get asus

Well that was really helpful.

 

[ne6togadno]

you havent said what is budget but have a look on this

8320 will run w/o problems @4.2-4.3ghz

 

[Tsiap]

Sorry, I'm almost certain I did. Budget is 600€ for GPU/CPU/Mobo, and the GPU alone costs 380€ here. I think he can stretch the budget a bit but only if I have something to present to him to see. Also the purpose of this build is pure gaming, he won't overclock or anything.

 

[ne6togadno]

Sorry, I'm almost certain I did. Budget is 600€ for GPU/CPU/Mobo, and the GPU alone costs 380€ here. I think he can stretch the budget a bit but only if I have something to present to him to see. Also the purpose of this build is pure gaming, he won't overclock or anything.

hmmm and what about other stuff (psu, ram etc.) you will reuse it from old pc? if so what is the psu.

 

[Tsiap]

hmmm and what about other stuff (psu, ram etc.) you will reuse it from old pc?

Yeah, he has 16GB of DDR3 RAM @ 1333 and a cooler master GX 750W bronze PSU. Will they be sufficient?

 

[ne6togadno]

Yeah, he has 8GB of DDR3 RAM @ 1333 and a 750W PSU. Will they be sufficient?

psu yes ram is too slow. it will hold back any high end cpu (even capped at 1600 intels). do you know brand and model of psu. just saw edit ya psu should be fine
if you cut down other stuff. here how it look like (with ram). ofc you can delay ram purchase with few monts. it will work with 1333 bit wont show best performance

you can squize a bit more if you go with 970 but i personaly would prefer 290x over 970

 

[Tsiap]

Yeah PSU model is cooler master GX 750W bronze

 

[ne6togadno]

what about m-atx board. you can have m-atx board with with 970FX for 67 euro http://www.computeruniverse.net/en/products/90588751/asrock-970m-pro3.asp this will cut cpu oc and other expansion cards as option but will save you also about 10 euro from cpu cooler cause if you dont oc you can go with 212 evo instead macho

 

[Tsiap]

I think that would be perfect. So, the final build will be:
MSI's GTX970 Gaming Edition + Asrock 970M Pro3 + CoolerMaster Hyper 212 EVO + New AMD FX-8320 (All these for 630€)
Plus the already there 18GB DDR3 1333Mhz RAM + GX 750W PSU. Will there be any incompatibilities or bottleneck? (apart for the bios update of the motherboard in case it's needed)

Ram purchase will happen eventually but not now, will there be a problem in his gaming experience?

 

[ne6togadno]

i am sure that @cadaveca has review of cpu performace depending on ram speed but i cant find it atm. it show that up to 1866mhz on ram FX cpus have good performace boost with higher memory speed but cant remember exact %.
it will work with 1333 ram. it will be better with 1866mhz (if you go with 212 evo you dont need that ram from my list you can go with 1866 ram price difference is so small though that you'd better go with trident).
you should consider intel cpu as well. with it you can keep ram and oc it to 1600 for about 50 more and you will have much more powerful cpu. you can compansate most of those 50 euro if you go with B85 or H87 mb

edit: intel build with b85 mb

 

[GreiverBlade]

Also the purpose of this build is pure gaming, he won't overclock or anything.

well the point of overclocking is also to get better ingame performances ... (specially with AMD) and not only a "sport" reserved to "techg33k" and "LN2 freaks"
so even if it's a pure gaming setup, he will need to OC it and therefore need a adapted cooling for it .

on a budget of 600€ for a full build indeed only AMD will do. the only 600-700€ non 2nd hand build i did was a Fm2+ X4 760K + a R9 270X but it was a bit back when the price of the AM3+ and 290 was higher i also got my 990X + FX6300 + R9 290 for around that price but mostly 2n hand and it was not by any mean a lot slower than my current Z97 + 4690K+ 290 (slower than the same build with a 980 on the contrary... but the card alone is around 600€ for me xD)
also for GPU taking a 970 is already 1/2 of the budget .. seek a deal or a 2nd hand 290/290X they are not far away from a 970 (or even on par for the X ) and still hold quite well in any game

 

[Tsiap]

well the point of overclocking is also to get better ingame performances ... (specially with AMD) and not only a "sport" reserved to "techg33k" and "LN2 freaks"

No, you misunderstood me. I mean that he doesn't know how to do it, nor he cares.

seek a deal or a 2nd hand 290/290X they are not far away from a 970 (or even on par for the X ) and still hold quite well in any game

He want to take advantage of any nvidia gameworks features, he is one of the "but can it run crysis in ultra?" guys, so it's nvidia for him.

 

[GreiverBlade]

No, you misunderstood me. I mean that he doesn't know how to do it, nor he cares.

he will learn it's pretty easy nowadays


and that's also why TPU is here

 

[Tsiap]

he will learn it's pretty easy nowadays


and that's also why TPU is here

Yeah indeed, but take into consideration that he wont even ask for something as simple as the initial build, let alone overclock

i am sure that @cadaveca has review of cpu performace depending on ram speed but i cant find it atm. it show that up to 1866mhz on ram FX cpus have good performace boost with higher memory speed but cant remember exact %.
it will work with 1333 ram. it will be better with 1866mhz (if you go with 212 evo you dont need that ram from my list you can go with 1866 ram price difference is so small though that you'd better go with trident).
you should consider intel cpu as well. with it you can keep ram and oc it to 1600 for about 50 more and you will have much more powerful cpu. you can compansate most of those 50 euro if you go with B85 or H87 mb
View attachment 66450

I will ask him if he's willing to spend 100 more, IMHO opinion intel's surely worth the difference.

 

[GreiverBlade]

nvidia gamework is trivial, and also can it run crysis3 ... well a 290/290X is more than enough for any modern game, i did run C3 in ultra ... and even more demanding games, Ark: Survival Evolved in mind, who is a Gamework title (i switched to a 980 because i won one on a giveaway) even in nvidia gamework title i had no problem with my previous 290 ... and a 970 would not have been a upgrade for me.