I think this is solid, but what do I know....

[powerej6484]

I currently have a p4 1 gig ram machine. I want to play sc2 on the highest settings I can for the cheap cheap. I recently purchased an ATI 4650 Sapphire (don't remember mem sizes). I want to be able to overclock the heck out of everything (GPU, CPU, and RAM if possible). I am very new to the overclocking scene but am willing to put the research in and make it happened correctly. I want to have a board that I can keep and upgrade for a while so Crossfire the 4650, SATA 6, DDR 3, and USB 3.0 IS the right direction, correct? Or is this going to take too many years so its not even a viable solution? Here is what I have put together, please suggest anything better and more importantly suggest what I should do for the overclocking, such as cooling or if this board/ram/cpu I suggested is the best possible path. Thank Q for your help. Oh and when I make the purchases I will use Newegg and I will search my damndest for the best possible combos I can find, I just really want to know if my balance of power vs price is correct and what to do about overclocking.

Case: Rosewill TU-155 Black 0.8mm SGCC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case with 400W(20+4 pin) Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147001

Board: ASUS M4A87TD EVO AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131647&Tpk=ASUS%20M4A87TD%20EVO%20AM3%20AMD%20870%20SATA%206Gb%2fs%20USB%203.0%20A

CPU: AMD Athlon II X3 Rana 445 3.1

GPU: ATI 4650 Sapphire (don't remember mem sizes) but if they are needed I will get them.

RAM: Patriot G Series ‘Sector 5’ Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) -- just b/c of the nice rebate, is this good ram for overclocking? Should I go with a little bit faster like 1600 or does it matter?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220435&cm_re=Patriot_G_Series_%u2018Sector_5%u2019_Edition_4GB_%282_x_2GB%29-_-20-220-435-_-Product

PSU: Case comes with 400W power supply, is it garbage?

HDD: currently have Western Digital Caviar Black WD5001AALS 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive -- will get a sata 6 later

Cooling: ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 64 Pro 92mm Ceramic CPU Cooler
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185125

 

[dndhatcher]

Rosewill has a few good power supplies, but the one in that case is likely not one of them. Since Rosewill contracts everything, quality varies alot. Some models have a bad rep for destroying motherboards. Rosewill PSUs are not to be trusted without seeing a professional review that checks power stability.

Cas 7 Ram is preferable to Cas 9, especially for overclocking. Normally the prices are not very different. Skip OCZ RAM, lately they have been producing junk that wont even work at rated specs and is a pain to get stable when overclocking.


That motherboard wont crossfire well. The second PCIE slot is only x4. You want to get a motherboard that will at least do x8/x8 mode for crossfire.

 

[powerej6484]

Any suggestions on a good cheap Rosewill (or other) case with a quality power supply? Should I just get the case and power supply separately?

Any suggestions on some Cas 7 Ram that overclocks nicely? Can you overclock Ram, I mean is it worth it to overclock Ram?

I was using my laptop when I posted this and could not remember the motherboard I wanted. This is the board I wanted -- MSI 770-G45 AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard -- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130250 -- Is this a good mobo for crossfiring and overclocking?

Thank you very much for your help.

 

[powerej6484]

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

Is this better RAM? Will you see a notable difference in 1600 vs 1333?

 

[tecmo34]

RAM.... G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL7D-4GBRH or go with yours...

MOBO... The MSI 770 still isn't a good motherboard for crossfire since it is x16,x4. I would go with either GIGABYTE GA-890XA-UD3 AM3 AMD 790X SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard or ASRock 870 EXTREME3 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

 

[tecmo34]

You can look at this combo for your case and PSU (Antec 300 and Antec BP550). You are going to be spending close to another $50 for a more reliable PSU.