Need help picking out a new PC build

So, I’ve been sketching out a build on my own, but I’m still a bit stuck on a few things. If anyone here knows their way around hardware a little better than I do, I could really use some help checking if everything is actually compatible. My goal is to put together a machine that can handle most modern games without breaking a sweat. I’m aiming to keep the budget around $2167, and I was leaning toward an AMD-based setup. Here’s what I’ve got so far:

CPU: AMD FX 8350 ~$500
GPU: Sapphire AMD R9 290 4g tri-x OC 2500-$1000
MBO: Asrock 970 extreme 600-$233
HDD: Toshiba 1tb 7200rpm 400-$167
PSU: Corsair VS650 650W $167
RAM: Kingston HyperX Fury Black DDR3 1866 Mhz 8 GB $167

I already have a Zalman Z3 Plus case, so I don't need to worry about that. Also, the specific brands don't have to be set in stone—for example, if you think an MSI card would be better than the Sapphire one, or an ASUS board instead of Asrock, I'm totally open to those suggestions. Any advice is welcome, really. My biggest hesitation is definitely the graphics card. Since AMD just released their new series, I’m feeling a little lost. I did come across this Sapphire R9 390 nitro tri-x, and I was wondering if there’s actually a significant difference between that and the 290, aside from the obvious jump to 4GB of VRAM? Here is the link for that card if anyone has experience with it (
Anyway, feel free to jump in with whatever tips or critiques you have. 😁 😁 Thanks in advance! 👍

Arctic Cooling Freezer 13 CO, fits 775/1155/1150/1156/754/939/AM2/AM3/FM2/FM1
550W power supply, ANTEC True Power Classic TP-550C, ATX, 120mm fan
PC-14900 memory, 8 GB, Kingston HyperX Fury Black HX318C10FBK2/8 DDR3 1866MHz, 2x4GB kit
XFX AMD RADEON R9 390 DD graphics card, 8GB DDR5, DP, DVI, HDMI
ASUS M5A97 R2.0 motherboard, AMD 970/SB950, DDR3, audio, SATA, G-LAN, PCI-E, CrossFireX, USB 3.0, ATX, socket AM3 / AM3+
1000.0 GB SEAGATE ST1000DM003 hard drive, SATA3, 64MB cache, 7200 RPM, desktop
AMD FX X8 8320 box processor, socket AM3+, 3.5GHz, 16MB cache, Eight Core total

Total: $2148 Newegg

MagazinRS is pretty pricey... I guess Newegg changed their pricing strategy about two months ago, so now they're actually among the cheaper options in the US, though they probably need to beef up their inventory a bit.

Everything I just listed was sourced from Best Buy and would cost about $2160, but I’m curious to get your take on something. Between the R9 290 and the R9 390, is there actually a meaningful performance gap? It seems like the price difference isn't even that huge, so maybe it's not worth the jump, I guess.

There’s a pretty big gap here. Your motherboard and power supply just aren't cutting it, whereas mine are both a step up in quality. Plus, I've got a really solid cooler in there because AMD's stock one is honestly unbearable—it can barely keep that FX from overheating...

So, I’ve been wondering about the actual performance gap between the fx 8320 and 8350. From what I gather, it’s basically just the jump from 3.5GHz to 4.0GHz, though I guess if I picked up a decent enough cooler, I might be able to overclock my way out of that. Also, I was just checking out the specs on that XFX card, and it looks like the recommended power supply should be somewhere around 750W. You guys listed 550W, so I just wanted to double-check—is that actually going to be fine, or am I asking for trouble?

The only real difference is the factory overclock, so it isn't worth the extra cash. You're going to need a solid aftermarket cooler anyway, then you can just overclock an fx-8300 to 4GHz without any issues (some people even push them to 4.8GHz if they have heavy-duty liquid cooling 😬)... plus, the price gap between the fx-8300 and the fx-8350 is like $60 😵.

Buying an 8350 is a complete fail—you're paying 40-50% more than you would for an 8300 just to get a slightly higher clock speed, even though every single one of these chips is unlocked anyway. It’s honestly frustrating that so many big hardware YouTubers still don't seem to grasp this; they keep peddling the "8350 is a super processor for its price" narrative. I can only imagine what they'd say about the actual value found in the 8300, 8320, or 8320E
. When it comes to clock speeds, you won't even notice the difference in most games or applications 4ghz vs 4.7ghz. Whether you overclock them or not is secondary; the real work is undervolting them, and it's a shame people aren't doing that instead.

So, after some thinking, I’ve finally landed on this list:

AMD FX 8320 (hopefully I can push it to 4.0)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 13 CO, I guess.
A 550W power supply, specifically an Antec True Power Classic TP-550C, ATX, with a 120mm fan.
PC-14900 memory, 8 GB, Kingston HyperX Fury Black DDR3 running at 1866MHz, a 2x4GB kit.
Sapphire R9 390 nitro tri-x
ASUS M5A97
A 1000.0 GB Seagate hard drive

Huge thanks to crimsonstag84, because most of this is basically just what he put together. 🙂

Where are you planning to pick up the nitro? That XFX model over at Newegg has an incredible online price, which is likely why they included it in your build list here.

Why is everyone attacking the Arctic Cooling Freezer so hard? It's a solid cooler if you're just looking to swap out a crappy stock heatsink, but I wouldn't count on hitting massive overclocking numbers with it. Plus, once you crank the fan speeds up, it isn't exactly silent either...

Anyone who actually had the chance to test the Freezer against a decent aftermarket cooler is going to tell you the exact same thing...

The LC-CC-120 has finally arrived!

So, I ended up pulling the trigger on the Nitro because the price gap compared to the XFX over at Newegg was only about $33, which felt worth it. From what I’ve gathered through my reading, MSI supposedly made the best 390, followed closely by Sapphire—and apparently, Sapphire has the edge on cooling since they use those three separate heatsinks, so there you go. Though, if you guys are all convinced the XFX is actually the superior card, I might have to reconsider that. As for the cooler, my first instinct was to grab the RAIJINTEK EreBoss, but then crimsonstag84 suggested the Arctic Cooling Freezer, and honestly, it was a bit easier on the wallet. I haven't really messed around with overclocking much in the past, so I don't pay a ton of attention to heatsink specs; I'm probably not the most well-informed on that front. And regarding noise? Like I said before, I couldn't care less. I'm definitely not one of those people who gets bothered by the sound of a machine running right next to them, haha.😛

Grab the LC-CC-120; looks like it showed up today.