Upgrade plans - overclocking 8350 on 990FXA-UD3

[Tadgh]

Hey fellas,

 

So I'm getting some money in soon and I kinda can't decide where to go with my next upgrade.

 

I have about 300 euro (now only like 340 USD) to spend on upgrading my rig. Here are the upgrades I have planned:

 

NH-D14 for my 8350, so I can overclock the buggery out of it (air I know, but noise is a concern)

Fractal Design R5 to replace my Ethnoo Pro (I know, I know, sidegrade - but the build quality of the Ethnoo Pro has really been bugging me)

16 GBs of RAM @ 2400MHz

 

 

 

I have three questions:

 

 

What kind of overclocking potential do I have with my Mobo?

 

Is it cost effective to overclock the 8350, or would I do better to do a platform switch?

 

Guise, GTA V is out, should I just bite the bullet and buy a beefier GPU? Again I was waiting for the AMD 300 series to launch to purchase my next GPU but agh, indecision.

 

 

 

Now I should clarify two things as well:

 

 

This PC is NOT a gaming rig only. Gaming performance does matter, but it's also necessary as a workstation for: Video editing and encoding (Premiere Pro, and After Effects), VMs, some 3D Rendering, and ofc, Folding .

 

I CAN up the budget to 400 euroish (like 460USD) if I would recieve a tangible performance boost. But I was planning on waiting for Skylake to get cheaper to do my next platform switch. 

 

 

Please help me decide!

[WoodenMarker]

What issues are you having with build quality on the Enthoo Pro?

Getting an aftermarket cooler to oc could be worth it for your usage. However, something cheaper than the NH-D14 might be a better value.

I'd suggest waiting for the new cards to come out to see what's worth getting if you're not in a hurry. 

 

Moving thread to New Builds and Planning.

[Tadgh]

What issues are you having with build quality on the Enthoo Pro?

Getting an aftermarket cooler to oc could be worth it for your usage. However, something cheaper than the NH-D14 might be a better value.

I'd suggest waiting for the new cards to come out to see what's worth getting if you're not in a hurry. 

 

Moving thread to New Builds and Planning.

Oh damn, my bad, didn't see that category, thanks for the move!

Call me fussy, but the power button is slanted, looking very obviously off (on the backlit backing), the window is warped and VERY scratch prone, the build feels flimsy and VERY plastic, the front panel occasionally comes off when I hit my hair off it. It's a dust magnet, and while my build is hardly silenced, the case isn't helping much and noise is a concern for me. Also, fingerprint magnet. I've also electrical taped around the unfiltered air intakes on the front due to v.dusty environment. 

Possibly, could you recommend anything of similar silence and performance?

Yeah I'm in no hurry, just really itching to buy GTAV and my 280 isn't gonna totally destroy it like I'd like to think it would. 

[WoodenMarker]

Oh damn, my bad, didn't see that category, thanks for the move!

Call me fussy, but the power button is slanted, looking very obviously off (on the backlit backing), the window is warped and VERY scratch prone, the build feels flimsy and VERY plastic, the front panel occasionally comes off when I hit my hair off it. It's a dust magnet, and while my build is hardly silenced, the case isn't helping much and noise is a concern for me. Also, fingerprint magnet. I've also electrical taped around the unfiltered air intakes on the front due to v.dusty environment. 

Possibly, could you recommend anything of similar silence and performance?

Yeah I'm in no hurry, just really itching to buy GTAV and my 280 isn't gonna totally destroy it like I'd like to think it would. 

Wow, those are quite a few qualms. In that case, the Define R5 seems right up your alley. Any other decent case with quiet fans would work as well. 

[Tadgh]

Wow, those are quite a few qualms. In that case, the Define R5 seems right up your alley. Any other decent case with quiet fans would work as well. 

The case is very watercooling friendly. Which I'm not interested in. Very easy to build in, which I don't need it to be. Other than that, yeah, not ideal for me