$1000 budget/gaming build

[edanomelknip]

Approximate Purchase Date: (this weekend? next weekend?)


Budget Range: Would like to keep it under $1000


System Usage from Most to Least Important: gaming, watching movies, internet surfing


Parts Not Required: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers,


Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.com tigerdirect.com



Parts Preferences: Looking to go amd, as budget is an issue


Overclocking: Maybe, probably not


SLI or Crossfire: Yes possibly in the future


Monitor Resolution: TBD I have an old moniter atm, depending how much I spend, we will see how soon I get a new one - probably a 20"-24" lcd/led or something


Additional Comments: Looking for some upgrade capability for the future, nothing too fancy but capable to handle more recent games

ASRock 870 EXTREME3 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157198

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ955FBGMBOX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103808

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231314

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

XFX Black Edition P1-750B-CAG9 750W ATX12V v2.2 / ESP12V v2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207003

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.591429

COOLER MASTER HAF 912 RC-912-KKN1 Black SECC/ ABS Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119233

Cooler Master RR-B10-212P-G1 Hyper 212 Plus 775/1156/1366/AMD/AM2/AM3 Universal Direct Contact Heat-Pipe 120mm Fan CPU Cooler
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002G1YPH0/ref=ord_cart_shr?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER


Looking to build for the first time. Not a huge budget to work with, just about time to upgrade from my 6 year old single core computer. Will use it mostly for some gaming, and other media/entertainment.

Just looking for opinions/suggestions

 

[MadAdmiral]

Looks pretty good, but I'd upgrade the GPU to the 2 GB version. Then you'd be able to flash the BIOS and turn it into a 6970.

I personally don't like the HAF 912. It's pretty expensive for the fact that it has only two fans included. Instead, I'd look at the Rosewill Challenger, Antec 300 Illusion, or Coolermaster 690.

Something else I'd highly recommend is waiting for Intel's Sandy Bridge to be re-released. The new motherboards are supposed to be out in about a month, so you might not be able to wait. If you can, you'll be able to get a good 50-75% (or more) performance gain. The i5-2500K runs $225, while a good board is the ASRock P67 Extreme4 at $150. You would have to trim $145 from somewhere else. My first suggestion would be to drop the RAM to a 2x2 GB kit. Corsair's XMS3 sticks are only $40 after rebate. To get the other $80, I'd then drop out the HSF until you actually decide to overclock. The last $50 (assuming you were at $1,000 already) would need to come from a GPU downgrade or combos. I'd look at dropping to the GTX 560 first, then the HD 6870, then the HD 6850. You shouldn't have to go lower than that.