$800ish AMD Build, Help Me Avoid Buyer's Remorse

[vraeden]

Does anyone see any major problem with this build (besides the lack of a DVD drive)? Specially incompatibility/quality/reliability issues?

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: VERY SOON
BUDGET RANGE: $800ish

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: gaming, blog video editing (daughter), video streaming to living room
PARTS NOT REQUIRED: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers
PARTS STRIPPING FROM OLD BUILD: DVD/CD-RW drive, 2x240GB 7200RPM Drives in Mirrored Raid for media
PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg.com
COUNTRY/STATE: FLORIDA

PARTS PREFERENCES: AMD and Nvidia
OVERCLOCKING: Maybe, but not likely immediately.
SLI OR CROSSFIRE: No

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1440x900
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: I would like a quiet PC especially when idle

Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042

Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136073

GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3P AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128392

XFX GX260XADJC GeForce GTX 260 896MB 448-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150398

CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power ... - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL8D-4GBHK - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231189

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor Model HDZ955FBGIBOX - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103674

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116754

For a TOTAL of $866.88 with $18 in shipping. I wouldn't mind saving a little more money if it wouldn't screw the build quality up.


Thanks for your input in advance!

 

[DaKlokingDevice]

If your going to spend that much money on the graphics card I would suggest one of the ATI 5700 series cards, which would help increase the longevity of your build w/ DX 11 support. Plus the 5770 performs almost up to the level of a 4870 so on the majority of games nowadays it should perform more than adequate for your resolution at the highest settings except for maybe the most graphically intensive of games (like crysis, stalker, & what not). Also is it really worth spending 30 bucks extra for .2 Ghz of clock speed? check out the phenom ii x4 940 BE/945, for $30 less it doesn't differ much in performance & since the multiplier is unlocked you can easily overclock it w/o much effort but either way at stock speeds it'll perform great. Also, tho im not sure on this, but I think you could get away with a smaller power supply of say 600-650W w/ the new ATI card I mentioned above due to its amazingly low use of power! That last part is not for sure tho so I would do some research on it...

 

[vznoobie12]

I agree with DaKlokingDevice in getting a 5770, despite ur nVidia preference . You will be grateful in the future when you see its new technology in action. Or, I'd opt to get a 4890 for performance.

Also, stick to your 955. The "Black Edition" accounts for the unlocked multiplier, not the "phenom" in the name.

Seagate 7200.12 or Samsung Spinpoint F3 for ur HDD:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148395&cm_re=7200.12-_-22-148-395-_-Product
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152181&cm_re=spinpoint_f3-_-22-152-181-_-Product

PSU is nice but you don't need all that wattage since u dont plan to use xf/sli
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341022&cm_re=ocz_psu-_-17-341-022-_-Product
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139004&Tpk=corsair%20550w
Corsair over OCZ of course... but just listing since its dirt cheap.

For ur memory, I'd get these... $5 more but lower latency and timings
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231276

 

[aford10]

Ok, the 945 and the 955 are the same price. And the 940 is only $10 less, not $30.

I agree with the change to the 5770. ATI has much better price/performance than Nvidia.

With any single video card, this OCZ 550w PSU is perfect. It's quality and inexpensive. (Edit: looks like vznoobie12 beat me to it)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341022&cm_re=OCz_550w-_-17-341-022-_-Product

Drop the WD blue drive and get the 500GB spinpoint f3.

 

[vraeden]

Thanks for the input so far guys. I really do prefer Nvidia because of their driver support thus far in both Linux and vs Catalyst Control Panel on Windows...but I'm not gonna be running Linux on this soon and PhysX doesn't seem to be super important yet. I have also been running Tweakforce drivers anyway, so I'm not afraid to use better drivers when available. So I'll take a chance on a Sapphire 5770 for 164.99.

In addition, I'm swapping the memory to the Ripjaw as suggested.

I also downgraded my PSU to a Corsair 650 for 99.99. The Newegg PSU calculator recommended 650 though another calculator recommended 350. I want to leave some room for possible overclocking later.

For the drives, since I abhor drive failure, I swapped to the WD Black 640GB for an extra $20. It comes with a 5 year warranty rather than the Blue's 3.

New total: $845 + 17 shipping.

Dying to pull the trigger, but leaving y'all time to talk me out of my confusion/stubbornness.

 

[aford10]

The WD 640GB caviar black is a very solid drive. It's not as fast as the spinpoint f3, but if the 2 extra years warranty is important to you, you'll be happy with that drive.

For a single 5770, you don't need more than 450w PSU. The OCZ 550w vznoobie/I suggested will still leave some headroom. Overclocking won't put much more draw on the PSU. You may want to look at an aftermarket CPU cooler though, if you're looking to really OC.

 

[vraeden]

Does anyone see a problem with me switching from the Antec 300 to this?

COOLER MASTER Centurion 590 RC-590-KKN1-GP Black SECC / ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119152

The reasons I want to switch are primarily because the Antec lacks external 3.25 bays and front panel Firewire ports. I use my Firewire port on my current computer fairly often, for video transfers and external drives. I looked at adding a panel with the ports but they require the 3.25 bay.

 

[aford10]

The antec has better cooling. But either will get the job done. If the front firewire is that important, then you should switch.

 

[vraeden]

Thanks for all your help!

 

[aford10]

Good luck with the build.