First Gaming PC Advice Needed

[siz323]

Hello Toms Hardware I'm seeking advice on my first gaming build which is listed below:

Case: COOLER MASTER HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP Black Steel + Plastic and Mesh Bezel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119197

Cpu: Intel Core i5-760 Lynnfield 2.8GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80605I5760
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115067

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-P55-USB3 LGA 1156 Intel P55 USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128425

Graphics: SAPPHIRE 100312-1GSR Radeon HD 6950 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102921

Ram: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277

PSU: CORSAIR Enthusiast Series CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005

HDD: Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EADS 1TB SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136317

CPU Cooler: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 "Heatpipe Direct Contact" Long Life Sleeve 120mm CPU Cooler Compatible Intel ...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065

Everything else Monitor,OS,Mouse,etc... I have I plan to overclock my cpu and i think that cooler will do. I'm planning to buy this weekend I plan on only gaming on this and Microsoft Office 2007 for homework. I think this should be good for a first build. I know SB was recalled, but i can't wait that long flame if you want lol btw love the site and I'm open to any advice thx

 

[bavman]

A+, all except that hdd. Green = slow. Check out the spinpoint f3 1tb or cav black 1tb. I'd go for the spinpoint, i have 2; theyre nice and fast and havent let me down yet, plus theyre cheap compared to the cav blacks.

Make sure your remember an ODD and an OS so you can actually do something with your new computer

edit: just make sure you know that the mobo you chose wont work out well should you choose to crossfire in the future, and doesnt have sata 6.0 if you were planning on getting a sata6 ssd in the future.

 

[PudgyChicken]

I agree completely with bavman, the green drives are junk. I personally have 2 WD Caviar Black 1TB SATA III drives in RAID 0, and they perform admirably. I want to suggest getting an SSD for a boot drive, maybe an OCZ Vertex II 60GB or something similar in size. The best on the market at the moment would be the Crucial RealSSD C300, however that is a SATA III drive and the motherboard you've selected is SATA II.

Sandy Bridge was NOT recalled, in fact it was only the chipsets, which had a flaw in the SATA II controller. If I were you, I'd wait for a month or two, then pick up an i5 2500k and a new p67 motherboard.

Also, if I were you I'd go with the Nvidia GTX 560Ti, as it's a very good quality card. One of my friends just went through three (3) Radeon HD 6850s in a week, RMA ing each one of them for screen artifacts and complete freezes while playing older games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2007).

Just my two cents

 

[ukee1593]

Hi siz323

I think the green HDDs are fine ... as long as you only want them for storing libraries of vids or music. Otherwise I would get a black edition from Western Digital or a SSD for storing operative system and important programs. Also if you are going to install gratuitous amounts of games then getting an SSD + a black edition HDD would be the way to go.

I strongly suggest that you look at the AMD Phenom II x6 (1090T) or the AMD Phenom II x4 (965 Black Edition) because they are cheaper than the I5 760, overclock more easily and further than the I5, and even at clock speeds they are similar or better performance than the I5 760. Plus, I think that they work more "harmoniously" with the AMD/ATI GPUs aswell (see the ATI Radeon 5800 series bugs with the Intel P55 chipset)

The power supply is good and high quality, very good choice there!

I don't know about the CPU cooler, I'd be inclined to just stick with stock cooling personally.

For the case I'd go with the Cooler Master RC-692 as it is cheaper and still very good!

My suggested build would be

CPU -- AMD Phenom II x6 1090T Black Edition Thuban @ 3.2GHz http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103849

MotherBoard -- GIGABYTE 890GPA http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128435

Power Supply -- Same as yours http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005

Case -- Cooler Master RC-692 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119215

GPU -- Gigabyte AMD Radeon 6950 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125356

RAM -- Gskill RipJaws X series 2 * 4GB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231444

HDD -- Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black SATAIII http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136786

SSD(Optional) -- Corsair Nova 64Gb http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233108

$1100 APROX

You could probably shave a few more dollars off this by going with the Sapphire Video card, the AMD Phenom II x4 965 Black Edition, and by going with the other RAM you chose, BUT DO YOU REALLY WANT TO???

Hope this helps!

Luke

 

[bavman]

I strongly suggest that you look at the AMD Phenom II x6 (1090T) or the AMD Phenom II x4 (965 Black Edition) because they are cheaper than the I5 760, overclock more easily and further than the I5, and even at clock speeds they are similar or better performance than the I5 760. Plus, I think that they work more "harmoniously" with the AMD/ATI GPUs aswell (see the ATI Radeon 5800 series bugs with the Intel P55 chipset)

Theres bug with the 5800 series and p55 chipset? thats news to me. Also if you do decide to go the amd route, stick with the 955be. The x6 is a waste of money for gaming since no game will utilize that many cores.

I don't know about the CPU cooler, I'd be inclined to just stick with stock cooling personally.

The hyper 212+ is one of the best on the market in terms of air coolers. The stock heatsink wont stand a chance when you oc.

 

[aznshinobi]

1. Ukee I don't know where you find your info if you think that the 1090T's OC better than the 750/760. They OC about they same. And performance-wise the 760 beats out the 1090T in almost every single benchmark. Plus 1090T = 200$ i5 750 = 200$
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/146?vs=109
2. Also, P55 and 58xx having bugs? When was this. I've never heard of any problems especially from long time forum members who have a 5850 and a i5 750.
3. And if you do go with AMD the best budget chip for AMD would be the 955, but I think that'd be more for budgets below 800$ IMO.
4. As for cooling, Bavman is right with the Hyper 212+ being the best, but that's best of the budget coolers.

Your build looks sweet though, I would personally wait for SB to come back though if you can, but if you want any different suggestions you could refer to my website in my siggy.

Oh btw, WD Blacks aren't worth their price, if you get a HDD. Don't get the WD Blacks, they are price/gig way more than the price/gig for a Samsung F3. And with that said the Samsung F3 1TB is faster, cheaper and with a larger platter size. In fact that WD green isn't worth it either. "Green" Means less performance, barely the green, and it's still just as loud as any HDD IMO. WD likes to pull marketing schemes.

15$ cheaper. Get it off Amazon and it's 20$ cheaper.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185&cm_re=Samsung_f3_1tb-_-22-152-185-_-Product

 

[AstroTC]

The i5-760 beats AMD CPUs in game imo but only get if if you absolutely cnt wait for sandy-bridge setups to be back on the market

as everyone said green drive are better off as storage as they are normally slower and this is the card to get right now http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125362
http://www.guru3d.com/article/gigabyte-gtx-560-ti-soc-review/14

Good luck with your build!

 

[PudgyChicken]

I completely agree with AstroTC, the 1GHz GTX 560Ti is the best card on the market right now. It's on par with or even in some cases better than a 570, however with a far lower price tag.

 

[siz323]

wow thx for the opinions people i was gonna go with the 560, but i heard the 6950 1g was a little better so ill go with the 560 was thinking about this one

MSI N560GTX-TI Twin Frozr II/OC GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127565

It was between that and the EVGA one but i love that cooler on the GPU.