$700 gaming build, good overclocker preferred, no previous parts AMD II X4 or i5

[0x5andlaughter]

Approximate Purchase Date: Before Black Friday, otherwise, will postpone purchase

Budget Range: $750 or LESS Before Rebates

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, Computational simulations (Folding@home)

Parts Not Required: Already have Win 7 Professional; Will buy a monitor on a separate budget, please suggest a resolution for the monitor.

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg.com, Microcenter

Country of Origin: US

Parts Preferences: AMD Phenom II X4 BE or i5 750; preferably Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, or ASRock for Mobo

Overclocking: Yes, but don't know what to look for when choosing parts

SLI or Crossfire: No, can't afford or plan on getting another gfx card, maybe if there is a good xfire or sli board that fits in the budget.

Monitor Resolution: No monitor, will buy with a separate budget. Please indicate what kind of resolution I can play (Crysis, max settings if possible) at so I can get an appropriate monitor

Additional Comments: Experience assembling, but no experience with overclock. Need help choosing parts for an overclock

There is a Microcenter nearby where I can get the PROCESSOR for cheap.

Would like to build a better system than this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.549053

Willing to skimp out on harddrive and case.

First time posting, sorry if I left out any details.

 

[Twoboxer]

The combo is pretty good performance-wise, with a 10% discount across the board. It's geared to gaming at 1920x1080, so that's your target resolution (working backwards lol). So lets see where we can save some money, and spend it elsewhere.

Memory: You won't notice the difference in gaming using 1333 cl9, so a 2x2GB 1.5V kit from Mushkin or G.Skill will save you $29.

Case: You can use a HAF 912 instead of the 922 . . . saving $30.

CPU: Substitute a 955BE and save $13.

HD: Substitute the faster Samsung Spinpoint f3 500gb for $55, saving $5.

PSU: Substitute the Seasonic S12II 520 Bronze saving $30. High quality, plenty of power for this rig.

Now we've "saved" $107 . . . IOW, we are now $36 lower than the combo without giving up any real gaming performance

So unless you can find combos using the above parts and what remains of the original combo . . . oh, and add a $100 OS to it . . . you're not going to save eough money to get a noticably better video card. Which you prbably don't need anyhow.

The other upgrade that will add some performance is to use an i5 750 and mobo for ~$310, vs $263 for the 955BE we are now using. That will put you $11 higher than the original combo cost.

 

[0x5andlaughter]

EVGA 768-P3-1360-TR GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 768MB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card $169.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130562
Free game too!

Mushkin Enhanced Silverline 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model 996770 $114.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226095

ASRock H55M-LE LGA 1156 Intel H55 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard $61.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157190

COOLER MASTER HAF 912 RC-912-KKN1 Black SECC/ ABS Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
SAMSUNG CD/DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S223C - OEM
$66.98
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.548329

CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 ...
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
$124.98
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.556746

Core i5 760 Processor Boxed $169.99
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0341729


Before Rebates: $727.28 with shipping and taxes
After Rebates: $672.28
Should I get a better cpu cooler if I'm not OCing?

 

[zooted]

^one thing I would suggest, I would get the 1gb version of the 460 if you plan you gaming in 1080p. If you are not oc'ing the stock should suffice