Specific question regarding the 'dolphin' build on mmo-champ frontpage

[Grimgore]

I was looking to upgrade my current computer and was looking at incorporating some of the components currently listed under the 'dolphin' heading on MMO-Champion's frontpage build-of-the-month thing. Specifically the CPU, heatsink, motherboard, and RAM. I went to pcpartpicker.com and entered in the components I will be reusing, along with the ones I plan to upgrade to. I received the following message under 'compatibility issues'.

"Asus M5A99FX PRO R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard has an onboard USB 3.0 header, but the NZXT Source 210 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case does not have front panel USB 3.0 ports"

I'm a novice on pc builds (only things I've ever done were GPU, PSU, and RAM) and was wondering if using that M/B in that case was going to cause any issues. Is it worth it to seek out a different case to utilize the USB 3.0 ports or should I just ignore that message? For what it's worth, I wasn't actually going to get that NZXT Source case since I'll be reusing my current NZXT Gamma, but both the Gamma and the Source give that same compatibility message about the USB front ports. I'm not too concerned with utilizing the ports, and I'm 90% sure that I can just install that M/B into that case and make no use of those ports, but I wanted to make sure before I dropped a few hundred bucks on parts that won't work together properly.

[Deleted]

it just means that the mainboard has usb 3.0 headers u can use with the right case. u dont have to.

besides that, before ur purchasing stuff it may help u to fill out the sticky and tell us what your budget is, what u can reuse etc... people in here might come up with better parts for the same money.

[tielknight]

I was looking to upgrade my current computer and was looking at incorporating some of the components currently listed under the 'dolphin' heading on MMO-Champion's frontpage build-of-the-month thing. Specifically the CPU, heatsink, motherboard, and RAM. I went to pcpartpicker.com and entered in the components I will be reusing, along with the ones I plan to upgrade to. I received the following message under 'compatibility issues'.

"Asus M5A99FX PRO R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard has an onboard USB 3.0 header, but the NZXT Source 210 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case does not have front panel USB 3.0 ports"

I'm a novice on pc builds (only things I've ever done were GPU, PSU, and RAM) and was wondering if using that M/B in that case was going to cause any issues. Is it worth it to seek out a different case to utilize the USB 3.0 ports or should I just ignore that message? For what it's worth, I wasn't actually going to get that NZXT Source case since I'll be reusing my current NZXT Gamma, but both the Gamma and the Source give that same compatibility message about the USB front ports. I'm not too concerned with utilizing the ports, and I'm 90% sure that I can just install that M/B into that case and make no use of those ports, but I wanted to make sure before I dropped a few hundred bucks on parts that won't work together properly.

Yes you will be able to install the motherboard still and the only thing that will happen is a few connectors will go un-used. Basically all the usb headers are is connectors on the motherboard for the front-panel that some(most these days) cases have that usually house various slots(USB, various SD card slots, etc) for pluggable meadia.

[Grimgore]

it just means that the mainboard has usb 3.0 headers u can use with the right case. u dont have to.

besides that, before ur purchasing stuff it may help u to fill out the sticky and tell us what your budget is, what u can reuse etc... people in here might come up with better parts for the same money.

Thanks for the help you two. I really appreciate it. As per your suggestion, here's the sticky filled out:

Budget
$450, give or take $50
Resolution
1680 x 1050
Games / Settings Desired
I want to be able to play current AAA games on Ultra
Any other intensive software or special things you do (Frequent video encoding, 3D modeling, etc)
nothing, just gaming and internet browsing
Country
USA
Parts that can be reused
Hard drive: 1TB SATA II, Hitachi, not sure any more specifics than that
PSU: Corsair TX650M
GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 460 FPB EE (External Exhaust) 1024 MB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 2DVI/Mini-HDMI Graphics Card, 01G-P3-1371-TR
DVD: 24X DL DVD+/-RW Drive (not sure specific brand, this was a pre-built from iBuyPower)
Monitor: HP f2105
Speakers: built in to monitor, I almost always use headphones anyhow (Logitech G35 if it matters)
Case: NZXT GAMMA Gaming Tower
Keyboard: Razer Anansi
Mouse: Razer Naga
Do you need an OS?
No, I have a copy of Win 7 on my current HD that I'll be reusing
Do you need peripherals (e.g. monitor, mouse, keyboard, speakers, etc)?
No


What I'm currently looking at purchasing:

CPU: AMD FD8350FRHKBOX FX-8350 FX-Series 8-Core Black Edition
RAM: 8GB G.Skill DDR3 PC3-12800 1600MHz Ripjaw Series (9-9-9-24) Dual Channel kit F3-12800CL9D-8​GBRL
Heatsink: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - CPU Cooler with 120mm PWM Fan (RR-212E-20PK-​R2)
M/B: ASUS M5A99FX PRO R2.0 AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

What I'll be adding sometime in 2014:

Monitor: ASUS VG248QE 24-Inch Screen LED-lit Monitor
GPU: Not sure yet, waiting on the new batch of AMD cards to be released since it'll be at least a few months before I can afford a new GPU

And MAYBE:
SSD: Samsung Electronics MZ-7PD128BW 840 Pro Series 2.5-Inch 128GB SATA 6Gbps Solid State Drive

~$450 budget is for CPU, RAM, Heatsink, M/B only
Open to suggestions for other upgrades, though it'll likely be 5+ months before I'll have the cash to even think about any other upgrades.
BTW, I chose the 8350 over the 8320 that was suggested in the 'dolphin' build b/c I don't know squat about overclocking and it's worth the extra $40 to me to not have to worry about it. I know people will probably try to talk me out of that CPU but I really have my heart set on 4GHz. My current video card is bottle necked by my CPU (AMD Phenom II X4 925 2.8GHz) and I don't want to be in that situation again for a long long time.

[Deleted]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H60 54.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Pro4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($114.99 @ Microcenter)
Memory: Team Vulcan 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($59.97 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $454.94
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-10-01 06:34 EDT-0400)

if u like 4 ghz that much, just go into bios and set the multipllier to x40. u dont even have to touch the voltage. if u want to get higher (which u should consider) there are plenty of guides on youtube etc.... it really isnt hard to oc and get a nice 4.2-4.5 ghz running.

further on, as u wrote yourself, u should save some more, add a new gpu and monitor first, and if u still have some cash left over u can consider a ssd.

[tielknight]

If you aren't looking to overclock at all, you don't need a aftermarket heatsink(you can always grab one later if you change your mind) as the stock heatsink will suffice until then.

Here is a AMD build I threw together and managed to squeeze in a HD 7870 as well.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor ($174.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock 990FX Extreme3 ATX AM3+/AM3 Motherboard ($94.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Team Vulcan 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($59.97 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7870 2GB Video Card ($155.66 @ Newegg)
Total: $485.61
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-10-01 09:03 EDT-0400)

[Biernot]

i5 vs FX: If you are only concerned about gaming performance, the i5-4670k will give you better results. However if you do other intensive things besides gaming (e.g. video encoding, 3d modeling, number crunching, ...), the FX-8350 will be the better choice (for the money).

Heatsink: If you operate those cpus at their respective stock clocks, they will both work fine with the stock heatsink they come with. Although under full load they can get a bit louder (especially the AMD). So an after market heatsink is not mandatory, but recommended.

4GHz: You can't compare different cpu architectures with just their clocks. The i5-4670k at 3.4 GHz will operate faster per core than the FX-8350 at 4GHz, because it's chip design is able to do more operations per clock cycle. Only if you can max out all cores, will the FX with it's 8 cores pull ahead. But almost no game does this... most games can saturate 2-3 cores and the rest will remain mostly idle.


So, with your requirements profile, an i5 bundle is probably the better choice. And if you do not want to overclock, you can ditch the extra heatsink and take one step down with the motherboard (don't need a z87 chipset):

PCPartPicker part list

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($204.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus B85M-G Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($68.46 @ NCIX US)
Total: $353.44

[Deleted]

he wont be doing rendering and stuff, he mentioned that the budget right now is planned only for the mobo, cpu, ram and heatsink. think that implies he will be upgrading that system slowly to a beasty machine by saving another amount for a graphics card and monitor.
overclocking is so easy, so op shouldnt worry about it. the 4670k will definitely be superior over an fx or non k. really shouldnt cheap out on that.

[Grimgore]

I'll probably do a slight overclock. I watched a video on youtube last night that walks you through a CPU overclock and it seemed fairly straightforward. One thing I'm worried about however is the heat. I really would like to stick with air cooling over liquid b/c I've heard a lot of horror stories of liquid cooling systems (even from respectable companies) leaking all over expensive components and ruining them.

I suppose it couldn't hurt to push it up a little. I'll likely OC it until the first core fails and then dial it back a little, w/o adjusting any voltages.

I'm now considering the i5 based on what Biernot had to say about operations per clock cycle. I always assumed that more GHz = better performance but if that isn't true then I'm not opposed to paying a little more for an Intel CPU. Whatever will give me better performance overall is what I'd prefer.

And Flens is correct, my goal here is to get the 'difficult' stuff installed (yes, I'll be paying a shop to do the install, I don't want to risk screwing something up b/c I misused some thermal paste or something) and have the framework to add the easy stuff piecemeal later on as I save up some cash. The components I'm talking about replacing soon will be Christmas presents that I'll ask for from some family members. Once those items are bought and installed I'll buy a new GPU (likely in February with my income tax returns) and then a new monitor some months after that. What's considered the 'go-to' Nvidia GPU at the moment? And by that, I mean it's powerful without being ridiculous overkill for gaming purposes (i.e. what the i5 is to the i7, what GPU is the 'powerful but sensible' alternative to something like the Titan). I'm looking to drop around $300 (again, give or take 50 bucks) for the card alone.

The monitor will be the ASUS VG248QE, to be purchased sometime after the vid card. I've done my research on that one and it's one I'm happy with.

One other question for those who are 'in the know', what's the advantage of adding an SSD to my build? I understand that it loads much faster and quieter, but if the current large SSDs on the market are only @ 128 GBs at the moment, I'm still going to have the bulk of my gaming collection on my regular HD, no? I feel like I must be missing something b/c to me SSDs seem like they'd be wonderful if only they could come in a size large enough to completely replace the HD with entirely.

Thanks to all who have posted so far, I appreciate your help and patience.

[Deleted]

well if i´m really correct as u said nah thats wrong ofc im right haha:P then go for my suggestions... if ur not comfortable at all with a liquid cooling system (even though it really isnt hard to install) you can exchange the h60 for an evo 212. the evo will allow a slight overclock to 4.0 - 4.2 ghz (depending on the chip u get) a noctua d14 may get u a little higher.
u really shouldnt be afraid of overclocking and i really recommend to assemble the build yourself... its just adult lego and parts really can only fit in one place so theres no worries cuz u cant misplace parts (well gpu maybe, but on a single card always get the pci slot nearest to the cpu).
talking bout the ssd, well its a "luxus" quality part that doesnt give any fps performance in games. but the game experience (load times) combined with booting up ur system, response of programms in generell, will just blow u away if u never had one before. but it is not necessary at all and i would recommend adding that later on (only if u have money left over but if u have: its a must)

p.s.: if u will buy your gpu in february, noone can and hopefully will give u a suggestion as prices will drop on current stuff and we dont know what computer business is up to until then. so ask again when u are ready to upgrade.

[Biernot]

About the cooling:

Good air coolers have about the same cooling performance as similar priced closed-loop systems. So if you want to avoid a water-cooled system, get a good air cooler instead. Good high-end air coolers are:
- BeQuiet Dark Rock Pro 2
- Noctua NH-D14
- Thermalright Silver Arrow