re: Okay, so now I'm serious about building a PC...

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Unless he is using an APU, you will not notice the difference in 1600 vs 1866 ram outside of maybe scores on passmark. You can also OC that 1600 to 1866 if you truly wanted to.

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That's all fine and dandy as long as the 1600 ram is good. I honestly havent checked price differences in 1866 and 1600 ram recently. If it's not more than $10 I'd still go 1866. If it's $20, then the 1600 would make sense.

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That mobo I linked has all he needs and is Crossfire ready if he wants to do so in the future. If he goes Nvidia and wants to SLI than a different board would be needed. He can spend more on one if he wishes but that board I linked is a step above basic that fills all current and future needs without breaking the bank. What features does that Gigabyte have that makes it worth $50 more?

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The 990FX has 2 PCI-E that can run at full 16x speed. The 970 has 1 that runs 16x and the other 4x. That alone is why I would go 990FX like as I said if he wanted to add another GC in the future. He wont be limited by running the 2nd card in a 4x lane. I'm thinking long term here, a 990FX board is just much more flexible.

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That's not to mention the 8350 will reach 4.4 on air fairly easy.

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And the 8320 almost alaways will overclock right up on the heels of an 8350. When you O/C both the 8350 gets diminished quickly. Usually you arent going to see over 200mhz more when both are overlocked going from the 8320 to 8350...that's when I feel the 8350 is not worth the extra 25% over the 8320. 500mhz difference, sure, the extra money well wroth spent. Overclock both, you see typically only 200mhz more with the 8350. Not worth the extra 25% at all.