First Desktop Ever

[tatelee69]

Hi there!

 

  I'm building my first desktop ever and my setup is going to be the NZXT S340 ATX Mid Tower Case. With the RAM I decided to go with CORSAIR Vengeance Pro 16GB (2x8GB). For the Processor I decided to go with the AMD 8 core FX-8320 and a NZXT Kraken X61 all in one liquid cpu cooling solution. The motherboard is going to be the MSI Gaming 970 AM3+

(slightly on a budget will invest into a better one later). For my graphics card I will be using the ASUS STRIX GeForce GTX 980 Overclocked 4 GB (the motherboard supports 2.0 PCIE where as the gtx 980 used 3.0 so again another reason why to invest into a better motherboard in the future ). For my PSU I will be using the EVGA SuperNOVA 650 G1 80+ gold 650w continuous power. For my OS I decided with Windows 8.1 because it's what I'm familiar with and also because so much was changed in windows 10 that I found myself pulling my hair out trying to use it. For my storage I went with a Seagate 1TB Desktop HDD SATA 6Gb/s, I wanted to get a SSD but it just wasn't in the budget this time will buy one later on. Since the NZXT S340 doesn't have a optical disk drive i decided to go with a inexpensive LG electronics one that I found on amazon for around 25 dollars. For my thermal compound I went with Arctic Silver 5 high density thermal compound (again a high rated inexpensive one that I found on amazon for 8 dollars). My monitor I will be using will just be my Samsung syncmaster P2770HD full hd TV I use for gaming already. It's able to go up to 60hz so I will be investing in the future to a 1440p tv that can go up to 120/144hz since my graphics card will have power to do so. And then for my keyboard i went with a AULA LED Backlit Gaming Keyboard it was the highest rated on amazon and it was relatively cheap. My desktop will need wifi from time to time so I went with a Edimax EW-7811Un 150 mbps nano usb adapter (already tested it out managed to double wifi speeds on my Laptop so I highly recommend it). That's my whole build please feel free to leave comments and if anyone has any recommendations on the best airflow setup since I will be for now using the stock fans that come attached to the case I'd love to hear them. I think for now the best set up would be to use the kraken water cooler as an intake and the other 2 fans as outtake but again please feel free. 

 

Cheers

[Digital_]

Welcome to the master race!

[dizmo]

Have you already built it?

[Allshevski]

It's good, but hm.. Could you mount the radiator as an exhaust on the top? It doesn't really matter but your GPU will get 100% fresh air.

[roctrebira]

3 minutes ago, tatelee69 said:

Hi there!

 

  I'm building my first desktop ever and my setup is going to be the NZXT S340 ATX Mid Tower Case. With the RAM I decided to go with CORSAIR Vengeance Pro 16GB (2x8GB). For the Processor I decided to go with the AMD 8 core FX-8320 and a NZXT Kraken X61 all in one liquid cpu cooling solution. The motherboard is going to be the MSI Gaming 970 AM3+

(slightly on a budget will invest into a better one later). For my graphics card I will be using the ASUS STRIX GeForce GTX 980 Overclocked 4 GB (the motherboard supports 2.0 PCIE where as the gtx 980 used 3.0 so again another reason why to invest into a better motherboard in the future ). For my PSU I will be using the EVGA SuperNOVA 650 G1 80+ gold 650w continuous power. For my OS I decided with Windows 8.1 because it's what I'm familiar with and also because so much was changed in windows 10 that I found myself pulling my hair out trying to use it. For my storage I went with a Seagate 1TB Desktop HDD SATA 6Gb/s, I wanted to get a SSD but it just wasn't in the budget this time will buy one later on. Since the NZXT S340 doesn't have a optical disk drive i decided to go with a inexpensive LG electronics one that I found on amazon for around 25 dollars. For my thermal compound I went with Arctic Silver 5 high density thermal compound (again a high rated inexpensive one that I found on amazon for 8 dollars). My monitor I will be using will just be my Samsung syncmaster P2770HD full hd TV I use for gaming already. It's able to go up to 60hz so I will be investing in the future to a 1440p tv that can go up to 120/144hz since my graphics card will have power to do so. And then for my keyboard i went with a AULA LED Backlit Gaming Keyboard it was the highest rated on amazon and it was relatively cheap. My desktop will need wifi from time to time so I went with a Edimax EW-7811Un 150 mbps nano usb adapter (already tested it out managed to double wifi speeds on my Laptop so I highly recommend it). That's my whole build please feel free to leave comments and if anyone has any recommendations on the best airflow setup since I will be for now using the stock fans that come attached to the case I'd love to hear them. I think for now the best set up would be to use the kraken water cooler as an intake and the other 2 fans as outtake but again please feel free. 

 

Cheers

What is your budget?

[tatelee69]

No I haven't the parts will all be here by tomorrow night so I will start building it tomorrow I'll make sure to post pictures of it when I do.

[Moonzy]

Just now, tatelee69 said:

No I haven't the parts will all be here by tomorrow night so I will start building it tomorrow I'll make sure to post pictures of it when I do.

well if you already bought the parts then sure

but depending on what you do, you might not need those multicores and might want to consider getting one with better single core performance?

[tatelee69]

1 minute ago, Allshevski said:

It's good, but hm.. Could you mount the radiator as an exhaust on the top? It doesn't really matter but your GPU will get 100% fresh air.

I can't the fan on top only fits one 120 or 140 mm fan so the only place to put the radiator is one the side

[Allshevski]

2 minutes ago, tatelee69 said:

I can't the fan on top only fits one 120 or 140 mm fan so the only place to put the radiator is one the side

Oh, yeah, my bad... Um.. S340 doesn't have a great intake from what I heard.. Why not Define S?

[tatelee69]

8 minutes ago, roctrebira said:

What is your budget?

It wound up costing me around 1500 dollars so I could say that was my budget lol

[brob]

@tatelee69, in the future, could you please make it a little easier to read long posts by breaking things up into paragraphs. I would suggest you check out pcpartpicker.com. The site allows one to easily create build lists and does some basic compatibility checking.

4 minutes ago, tatelee69 said:

I can't the fan on top only fits one 120 or 140 mm fan so the only place to put the radiator is one the side

 

Do you mean in front?

[tatelee69]

3 minutes ago, Allshevski said:

Oh, yeah, my bad... Um.. S340 doesn't have a great intake from what I heard.. Why not Define S?

I saw linus review it on youtube and recommended it and it was within my budget so I went with it

[tatelee69]

Just now, brob said:

@tatelee69, in the future, could you please make it a little easier to read long posts by breaking things up into paragraphs. I would suggest you check out pcpartpicker.com. The site allows one to easily create build lists and does some basic compatibility checking.

Do you mean in front?

Sorry lol yeah I meant front, the window is on the side. I just joined the forum since I just got into pc building so in the future I will make sure to have it more organized.

[tatelee69]

10 minutes ago, Moonzy said:

well if you already bought the parts then sure

but depending on what you do, you might not need those multicores and might want to consider getting one with better single core performance?

The amd fx 8320 has more overclocking capabilities and more clock speeds and my laptop has intel right now and it hasn't always been the most consistent so I decided to switch it up. 

[tatelee69]

Based on my Rig setup do you guys think it will be able to crank games out relatively well or do you think I should return the fx 8320 and look into intel?

[Moonzy]

11 minutes ago, tatelee69 said:

The amd fx 8320 has more overclocking capabilities and more clock speeds and my laptop has intel right now and it hasn't always been the most consistent so I decided to switch it up. 

well yea, but it still depends on whether you're using all dem cores or not
rendering? gaming? facebook machine? it depends  

5 minutes ago, tatelee69 said:

Based on my Rig setup do you guys think it will be able to crank games out relatively well or do you think I should return the fx 8320 and look into intel?

depends if the games you play. are they capable of utilising all those cores? for now i'd say intel's skylake is a good single-core performer
i doubt you can wait but AMD is coming out with zen soo.... 

[TheRandomness]

16 minutes ago, tatelee69 said:

The amd fx 8320 has more overclocking capabilities and more clock speeds and my laptop has intel right now and it hasn't always been the most consistent so I decided to switch it up. 

Except an i5-4460 can outperform it.

[tatelee69]

5 minutes ago, Moonzy said:

well yea, but it still depends on whether you're using all dem cores or not
rendering? gaming? facebook machine? it depends  

depends if the games you play. are they capable of utilising all those cores? for now i'd say intel's skylake is a good single-core performer
i doubt you can wait but AMD is coming out with zen soo.... 

It's going to be used for gaming, I don't play Skyrim or Blizzard games that often so it doesn't really matter for that I mainly play FPS as well as free roam games. 

 

3 minutes ago, TheRandomness said:

Except an i5-4460 can outperform it.

The water cooling I am going to pair it with will make it more overclockable and plus I just didn't have room in the budget for it this time. 

[tataklee]

Just now, tatelee69 said:

It's going to be used for gaming, I don't play Skyrim or Blizzard games that often so it doesn't really matter for that I mainly play FPS as well as free roam games. 

 

The water cooling I am going to pair it with will make it more overclockable and plus I just didn't have room in the budget for it this time. 

You won't need the Kraken if you were to use an i5, so you'd have more money to spend on the CPU. I know, it's an 8320E, but take a quick look at these benchmarks.

 

http://www.techspot.com/review/1087-best-value-desktop-cpu/page4.html

[TheRandomness]

2 minutes ago, tatelee69 said:

It's going to be used for gaming, I don't play Skyrim or Blizzard games that often so it doesn't really matter for that I mainly play FPS as well as free roam games. 

 

The water cooling I am going to pair it with will make it more overclockable and plus I just didn't have room in the budget for it this time. 

Alrighty then. Just saying, the PSU you picked isn't the best... The G2/GS/GQ variant is much better.

[Moonzy]

10 minutes ago, tatelee69 said:

The water cooling I am going to pair it with will make it more overclockable and plus I just didn't have room in the budget for it this time. 

 

8 minutes ago, tataklee said:

You won't need the Kraken if you were to use an i5, so you'd have more money to spend on the CPU.

you shouldnt spend on luxury items but sacrifice performance,
and the i5 have more headroom (if u get a K series and a OC mobo) for you if u plan to watercool it in the future

[tatelee69]

2 minutes ago, Moonzy said:

 

you shouldnt spend on luxury items but sacrifice performance,
and the i5 have more headroom for you if u plan to watercool it in the future

Do you think I should return the processor and the water cooler in that case then?

[Moonzy]

Just now, tatelee69 said:

Do you think I should return the processor and the water cooler in that case then?

if you go i5, you need to change the motherboard

but in that sense its not a better computer, it's a different one already :I

[Moonzy]

currently i think your system's GPU is overpowering the rest...
perhaps cut down your gpu and invest the money in other criteria?

[brob]

1 minute ago, tatelee69 said:

Do you think I should return the processor and the water cooler in that case then?

The cpu is not awful and has performance that benchmarks better than an i5-4960K. If you wanted to return it you would need to return the motherboard as well. Not sure why one would want to return the Kraken X61. It is a great cpu cooler and works well on both AMD and Intel cpu.

 

You have bought the stuff. I doubt it is worth incurring additional cost to trade it in for something that will have roughly the same gaming performance.