Help with $1500 Gaming PC

Thanks in advance to everyone who responds! I'm looking for opinions on the parts I have chosen as well as those that remain to be selected in order to complete my build. I also hope that maybe some of you Combo Deal bounty hunters can help me out.

I am upgrading from a Pentium 4 with HT and GeForce 7600 GT. As you can see, I tend to build a system and then milk it for as long as possible with minor upgrades.

I want a Phenom II X4 on an AM3 board for now. I plan to skip Thuban because it's more costly and has been shown to be less than or equal to Deneb in general. AMD's socket longevity should allow me to snag a Bulldozer CPU in the future.


APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: by Memorial Day (trying to decide if I should wait for that sale)

BUDGET RANGE: I don't really have a budget limit, but I'd like it as cheap as possible without sacrificing quality. 1200-1500 sounds good.

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: gaming, multi-tasking, surfing the internet, ripping/encoding/watching movies occasionally, etc

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: keyboard, mouse, OS (Win7 Pro 64)

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: NCIX US for the monitor (0 dead pixel return policy ), NewEgg for everything else

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA

PARTS PREFERENCES: AMD, ATI, quality

OVERCLOCKING: Maybe

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: No time soon, if ever

MONITOR RESOLUTION: not sure yet

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Must be an AMD system. If I can shave off some dollars without sacrificing quality, please let me know.


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CASE:
NZXT TEMPEST EVO Crafted Series TEVO-001BK Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

CPU:
AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor

HSF:
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus Intel Core i5 & Intel Core i7 compatible RR-B10-212P-G1 120mm "heatpipe direct contact" Long life sleeve CPU Cooler

MOTHERBOARD:
Debating 790FX vs 890FX. Leaning towards something with SATA 6Gbps and USB 3.0.

RAM:
G.SKILL ECO Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL7D-4GBECO

GPU:
5850. Leaning toward XFX because of the warranty, but I have read about some crashing problems with their cards.

PSU:
CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply
or
Antec TruePower New TP-750 750W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.3 / EPS12V V2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC

HDD:
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

OPTICAL:
LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 24X DVD Writer LightScribe Support

SPEAKERS:
Looking to spend up to about $100 here. Debating 5.1 vs 2.1 for gaming.

MONITOR:
Looking to spend up to about $200 here. Unsure about which resolution I should get (which will affect GPU choice) or if I should be concerned with pixel mapping. Has to be from NCIX US because I have OCD with dead pixels.

Welcome to the forum. Looks pretty good.
I'd get these Ripjaws instead
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231276

I would get a 5770 or 5850 depending on what monitor you choose.

Then this PSU is a bit better and it's cheaper (at least on newegg)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 63938&SID=

All three HDDs are great.

You shouldn't need extra TIM (thermal paste) because the Hyper+ comes with a tube.

Thanks, jbakerlent. I see that RAM has tighter timings than what I had selected. While browsing more, I also found G.SKILL ECO Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL7D-4GBECO which has the same timings as what you recommended, but they also operate at a lower voltage. This would translate to power savings and higher overclocking potential, correct? They don't have as many reviews, but G.SKILL seems to produce quality overall so I'm not too concerned if I were to get those.

Both PSUs seem to be pretty good. The Corsair I selected uses a single 12V rail, but the Antec you recommended uses four 12V rails. Doesn't this mean that I will have to manually balance the power between devices if I used the Antec? If so, I think I might stick with the Corsair.

Do you think the TIM will be sufficient if I plan to overclock the CPU? I also read in some reviews that it was kind of thick and hard to spread.

Thanks, ares. I have to agree with you. I found some [url=http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2009-3.5-desktop-hard-drive-charts/compare,1010.html?prod[3016]=on&prod[2770]=on&prod[2369]=on&prod[2367]=on&prod[2365]=on] benchmarks [/url] and I now plan to get the F3.

The board you recommend has a nice feature set for a decent price, but I'm concerned about this: "To reach DDR3 1866 MHz or above, you must install two memory modules and install them in the DDR3_3 and DDR3_4 memory sockets." Does this mean I could only use 2 modules when overclocking the memory?

I also found a similar quote from a TH article in 2009, but hopefully it's no longer accurate: "If you're using the X4 955 on... an AM3 platform, you can install DDR3-1333, though it should be noted that only one module per channel works at that frequency." Again, does this mean I am limited to only 2 modules, regardless of overclocking?

That is a sexy case! I see it has even more fans than the Antec 900 plus cable management. Due to shipping costs, it actually comes out to the same price as the Antec, though, assuming I actually get the rebate. I'm now leaning toward your recommendation, but I see a few people have complained about the quality/construction of the front panel ports and buttons. Do you have any experience with this case?

I don't know about the case - I really like my 900.

As for the mobo, I would recommend an 890GX.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131633

It gives you all the new features - USB 3.0, SATA 6Gb/s while still keeping the price down and allowing for crossfire.

Regarding the monitor look for a 1920x1080 LG or Samsung with a 2-5ms response time.

Either PSU is fine, the Antec gets my recommendation.

Of the graphics cards I would narrow it down to the 5770 and 5850. Between those two it depends on how high of settings you want to run and whether you would add a second 5770 in the future (your current build allows for it). The 5770 is fine imo, but adding everything up and throwing in a $200 monitor you still are only spending $1000 with the 5770.

I am very happy with my 900, the only thing is the 902 is actually about the same price right now after a rebate. If I was buying new I would get it instead.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] -_-Product

What do you mean when you say poor design? Did you see something on the Newegg reviews? I largely ignore them, unless there is a consistent repeating problem that I think might actually be legitimate. I doubt an Asus board would be poorly designed, though.

Regarding the monitor, here's a really good deal on a Samsung monitor - by chance I own a very similar one (2494).

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna [...] 1-1727683-

Enter both of these codes
TRVNZNW8XV279N
RSSZMZBJJB83M0

Edit: typo

They expire on 5/12 and 5/13.

You could always split the difference and get the 5830.

Here's the link again, hopefully it will work...
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna [...] 1-1727683-

Unfortunately, I do not know their dead pixel return policy.

^Agree.

Try clicking on the first link here
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/s [...] 10384.html

23.6" Samsung 2494LW 1080p LCD Monitor for $161.99 with free shipping (normally $229).