I went ahead and put together a new system, and I think I'm ready to pull the trigger on it, but not before I get some feedback. My main goal was to build a system cabable of running SC2 on ultra at 1080p, but now I want it to do a bit more also 
My original budget was around $800, but I revised that to ~$1000. And, this is including everything except keyboard and mouse. Here's what I came up with:
AMD Athlon II X3 445 Rana 3.1GHz 3 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Desktop Processor $80.99
GIGABYTE GV-N460OC-1GI GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card $229.99
XFX P1-650X-CAG9 650W ATX12V 2.2 / ESP12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power ... + LIAN LI Lancool PC-K62 Black 0.8 mm SECC, Plastic + Mesh ATX Mid Tower Computer Case COMBO $139.98
GIGABYTE GA-880GMA-UD2H AM3 AMD 880G SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard + Windows 64 COMBO $189.98
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL7D-4GBRM $92.69 w/10% discount
ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 64 Pro 92mm Ceramic CPU Cooler $29.99
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive $54.99
LG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 5X DVD-RAM 12X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM SATA 22X DVD Burner $17.99
Acer P235Hbmid Black 23" 5ms HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 50000:1(ACM) Built-in Speakers $179.99
GRAND TOTAL AR : $1003.39
1. I originally was going to go with AMD Phenom II 455 black x4, but switched to the Athlon II after reading that overclocking and unlocking the 4th core would essentially give me the Phenom II at half the price. Is this accurate?
2. Speaking of overclocking, any opinions on the CPU heatsink? Will it fit into the case I selected?
3. Originally was going to go with the 768 MB gtx460, but read lots of opinions that the 1GB is critical for running at higher resolutions. For $30, I thought it was a pretty easy decision.
4. Is the PSU adequate? I plan on overclocking, and don't want to skimp on power. Should I go to 750?
My final question is, how would this build hold up playing more graphic intensive games? Crysis seems like the game that pushes hardware limits. How well could this build realistically play that game?
My original budget was around $800, but I revised that to ~$1000. And, this is including everything except keyboard and mouse. Here's what I came up with:AMD Athlon II X3 445 Rana 3.1GHz 3 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Desktop Processor $80.99
GIGABYTE GV-N460OC-1GI GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card $229.99
XFX P1-650X-CAG9 650W ATX12V 2.2 / ESP12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power ... + LIAN LI Lancool PC-K62 Black 0.8 mm SECC, Plastic + Mesh ATX Mid Tower Computer Case COMBO $139.98
GIGABYTE GA-880GMA-UD2H AM3 AMD 880G SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard + Windows 64 COMBO $189.98
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL7D-4GBRM $92.69 w/10% discount
ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 64 Pro 92mm Ceramic CPU Cooler $29.99
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive $54.99
LG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 5X DVD-RAM 12X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM SATA 22X DVD Burner $17.99
Acer P235Hbmid Black 23" 5ms HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 50000:1(ACM) Built-in Speakers $179.99
GRAND TOTAL AR : $1003.39
1. I originally was going to go with AMD Phenom II 455 black x4, but switched to the Athlon II after reading that overclocking and unlocking the 4th core would essentially give me the Phenom II at half the price. Is this accurate?
2. Speaking of overclocking, any opinions on the CPU heatsink? Will it fit into the case I selected?
3. Originally was going to go with the 768 MB gtx460, but read lots of opinions that the 1GB is critical for running at higher resolutions. For $30, I thought it was a pretty easy decision.
4. Is the PSU adequate? I plan on overclocking, and don't want to skimp on power. Should I go to 750?
My final question is, how would this build hold up playing more graphic intensive games? Crysis seems like the game that pushes hardware limits. How well could this build realistically play that game?
But, I did decide to go with the Phenom II x4 and 5850. I think I'm good to go here. The mobo looks like a steal, as far as I can tell. Is ASRock have decent reputation? The reviews seemed alright overall.
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