First build

[haru-]

This will be the first computer I have built myself. I just need some assurance on whether or not these parts are all good choices or if I could make my build cheaper/better in some places. £650 is my limit and I have and older 3TB HDD to put in this build. Peripherals and monitor are covered for. I plan on getting a second monitor further down the road which is the reason for the larger than needed PSU. Any advice or constructive criticism is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor  (£125.59 @ Aria PC) 

Motherboard: Asus M5A97 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard  (£65.96 @ Scan.co.uk) 

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  (£61.99 @ Amazon UK) 

Storage: Kingston HyperX 3K 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (£59.20 @ Amazon UK) 

Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 280X 3GB Black Edition Double Dissipation Video Card  (£185.99 @ Scan.co.uk) 

Case: NZXT H440 (White/Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  (£85.00 @ Aria PC) 

Power Supply: Corsair CSM 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£65.94 @ Aria PC) 

Total: £649.67

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-30 20:20 GMT+0000

 

PC will be used primarily for gaming, running windows 7.

[WoodenMarker]

What's the system being used for?

[Black Jeff]

if you can, get windows 8.1. it's no way near as good as windows 7 but it does improve in game fps on most games and if you are gaming those fps will matter.

 

also, don't pay for the OS just look it up on YouTube on how to get it for free. saves a lot of money you can put back into your pc.

 

 

what's your cpu cooler? using stock is fine but most aftermarket coolers will allow you to overclock cpu.

[Faceman]

Since your primary focus will be gaming, here is a much better build:

 

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/dGGv23
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/dGGv23/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£129.99 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: ASRock H81 Pro BTC ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  (£31.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  (£59.79 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: A-Data Premier Pro SP600 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (£45.50 @ Ebuyer)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB ACX Video Card  (£258.08 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case  (£88.33 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  (£35.82 @ Amazon UK) <-- Adding a 2nd monitor doesn't require a stronger PSU.
Total: £649.50
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-31 05:00 GMT+0000

 

Benchmarks:

http://www.hardcoreware.net/intel-core-i3-4340-review/2/

http://www.hardwarepal.com/best-cpu-gaming-9-processors-8-games-tested/

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-fx-8370e-cpu,3929-7.html

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8427/amd-fx-8370e-cpu-review-vishera-95w/3

 

Don't buy FX for gaming.