800-900 Gaming Rig Build Critique Please

[iloverabbits]

PPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: This week/weekend

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming, watching movies, surfing the web

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Keyboard, mouse, monitor (asus vw266h), tower (antec 900), hard drive (samsung spintpoint f3 1tb), OS

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg, amazon, whatever

PARTS PREFERENCES: none

OVERCLOCKING: No
SLI OR CROSSFIRE: In the future

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1080 or whatever works best for the Asus vw266h

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: I have a legit windows xp pro that I will use to set up the computer than upgrade to 64 bit windows 7. I will also need a wireless card. Lastly, I am a bit confused as to which memory to use. Thank you guys for the help, I really appreciate it!

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CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor Model HDZ955FBGMBOX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103808

MOBO: GIGABYTE GA-790XTA-UD4 AM3 AMD 790X SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128416

GPU: HIS H585FN1GD Radeon HD 5850 (Cypress Pro) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card ...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161330

Power supply: Antec EarthWatts EA750 750W Continuous Power ATX12V version 2.3 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC "compatible with Core i7/Core i5" Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371026

Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL7D-4GBRM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231303

This comes out to just below 800 dollars on newegg.

 

[MadAdmiral]

Looks great. Don't forget to look at the combos, like this X4 955, UD4 and free game one and this 5850 and EA750 one. Those two will get you a free game and $70 off.

The RAM is just fine. The "Made for Intel i5/i7" is just marketing. It just means that you may have to manually set the specs for the sticks in the BIOS. You may need to overclock the CPU to get the sticks to run at the stated specs.

 

[iloverabbits]

Thank you. I just realized I purchased a heatsink for my previous build (like 8 years ago), do you recommend I purchase a heatsink for this build as well?

 

[MadAdmiral]

You're probably going to need a new one that supports the current sockets. You only really need one if you're doing a lot of overclocking. The overclock I mentioned above to get the RAM to run at the right settings is so slight that you likely won't need an aftermarket cooler.

If you do decided to get into overclocking, the Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus is excellent [strike]and fairly cheap[/strike]. Or at least it used to be cheap on Newegg. Look elsewhere if you decide to buy it. Newegg lists it at $60, but Amazon has it for $30...

 

[WR2]

@ Provantage Hyper 212 Air Cooling CPU Cooler $21.13 and the shipping isn't outrageous.
I almost skipped over this earlier because I didn't see the Plus in the item description.
But its the right part # 212P for the Plus model and the details match the Plus.

 

[iloverabbits]

If I were to crossfire in the future, would this build would support another 5850?

 

[WR2]

Yes it would.

 

[madass]

Get CL4 or 6 RAM at 1066 or 1333. Will be faster than those 1600 sticks.

 

[MadAdmiral]

Except that CL 4 is for DDR2. The fastest you can get in DDR3 is CL 6 (Mushkin's Enhanced Redline), but they're pretty expensive. Also, 1066 mhz sticks would be very slow. The current "sweet spot" for RAM speeds and latency is between 1333 mhz CL 7 and 1600 mhz CL 7, so the faster sticks are ideal.