1,200 Dollar Custom Tower ;D

[Inf3rn0_44]

Alright! So I just made a Tom's Hardware account but I am and have been a fan of this website for quite some time. And I am hopefully trying to create the best system I possible can for about 1200 dollars.

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: April 1st hopefully.
BUDGET RANGE: $1200.00
SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming, surfing the web, movies, some video work
PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor, Speakers. PSU = ZALMAN ZM750-HP 750W ATX12V V2.2 / EPS12V V2.91
PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Newegg!
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: America.
Overclocking = Yes
SLI/CROSSFIRE = Maybe(Probably Not)
PARTS PREFERENCES: To make it simple this is what I generally want.


Case
Antec Nine Hundred Two Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

HDD
Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB

OR (I don't understand everything about HDD's but after some reseach I found that this 640gb HDD is one of the best. And this other 1Tb Sata 3.0 drive because I thought since the motherboard supports it I should give it a try.)

Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB

Motherboard
GIGABYTE GA-790XTA-UD4 AM3 AMD 790X SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

OR

GIGABYTE GA-890GPA-UD3H AM3 AMD 890GX HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

Processor
AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W New Stepping

GPU
SAPPHIRE Vapor-X 100281VX-2SR Radeon HD 5870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16
I have a 4870 1GB Toxic cooler that works fantastically so I want another one for the 5870 but, it's going up in price. First it was about 40 bucks more than a regular 5870 and now its 80 more! Its ridiculous. Also the cooler looks the same as this one.
XFX HD-587X-ZNFC Radeon HD 5870 1GB 256-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16
Yeah I also noticed that a new PCI Express x16 2.1 came out, so I do want that and a good cooler. I guess I will just have to wait.

Memory
A-DATA Gaming Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
Not really too sure either..

CPU Cooler
ZALMAN CNPS9900 NT 120mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler

DVD Burner
LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R.....ect.

Grand Total = $1,166.39 Thats with the XFX card (-$75) because, at the moment the Sapphire card is out of stock. Also thats with the Terabyte HDD too. My general plan is wait out until Nvidia releases their competition for the 5xxx series nearing the end of March. I think its the 26th that those cards will be released. Hopefully prices will go down then.

So I would like to know what you guys would think of this tower build, what you would change and ect.

 

[the last resort]

To start, I would recommend the Samsung F3 drives. A little cheaper and faster than WD Blacks.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

There are a few CPU coolers that would offer similar or better performance for a lower price. The Xigmatek comes to mind, as well as the Sunbeam Core Contact Freezer.

For valuable heatsink info: http://www.frostytech.com/top5heatsinks.cfm

For the motherboard, I would say stay with the 790x, rather than the 890GX since you are looking for an add-in GFX card. Toms and Anand's reviews said that there was almost no difference in performance between the two.

The RAM is practically personal choice. Some people will recommend a certain set for personal reasons; sometimes there will be quantifiable differences in performance. One thing to try for is lowest latencies for the money. (The 9-9-9-24 thing. Lower is better; whether you will see a difference, IDK)

Everything else I would say is good. Check to see if there are any money saving combo deals. My $.02.

 

[shineon2010]

My general plan is wait out until Nvidia releases their competition for the 5xxx series nearing the end of March. I think its the 26th that those cards will be released. Hopefully prices will go down then.

Prices wont go down, Fermi will be way too expensive and ATI's mid range 5xxx cards will stay put and if anything will go up!

 

[Inf3rn0_44]

Do you really think that? 5870 is just a little weaker than the 480. It should create some sort of competition at least from ATI.

 

[Inf3rn0_44]

To start, I would recommend the Samsung F3 drives. A little cheaper and faster than WD Blacks.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

There are a few CPU coolers that would offer similar or better performance for a lower price. The Xigmatek comes to mind, as well as the Sunbeam Core Contact Freezer.

For valuable heatsink info: http://www.frostytech.com/top5heatsinks.cfm

For the motherboard, I would say stay with the 790x, rather than the 890GX since you are looking for an add-in GFX card. Toms and Anand's reviews said that there was almost no difference in performance between the two.

The RAM is practically personal choice. Some people will recommend a certain set for personal reasons; sometimes there will be quantifiable differences in performance. One thing to try for is lowest latencies for the money. (The 9-9-9-24 thing. Lower is better; whether you will see a difference, IDK)

Everything else I would say is good. Check to see if there are any money saving combo deals. My $.02.

Yeah I looked at the Samsung drives they seem good. I am still not to sure about the memory though.. I can see its good, I don't know the brand A-Data very well but they have won the 1x Winner of Customer Choice Award - Desktop Memory. So I assumed it was very good low priced memory. Does anyone have any good recommendations for a brand? Or a specific memory configuration of DDR3 2 x 2Gb?

 

[Inf3rn0_44]

Oh and Antec Nine Hundred Two $15 off w/ promo code EMCYPYS39, ends 3/11.

 

[Inf3rn0_44]

Best answer selected by Inf3rn0_44.