New Build - Newbie - Ambition Too High?

[irishred]

I get teased a lot from family members who make their living as computer techs for being someone who don't know squat about computers. Well, it's true but after reading for weeks in forums about computers, I now feel comfortable about building my own pc from scratch and then show them. I will humbly ask them for help as I've always done if I get to the point where I might do more harm then good to my pc. I will however check with you guys first. Thank You!
I like this site. Lots of Infor and generous help. So how did I do with what I picked? Would appreciate suggestions and open to changes. I like to buy soon to take advantage of sales.
I like newegg and amazon although open to other trusted sites. Live in U.S.
Already have:
1920 x 1080 23" monitor
G19 keyboard and mouse
5.1 speakers
kington 128gb ssd only for os windows 7x64 and applications. Are there issues using both ssd and usb 3.0?
720gb wd black hdd
Reusing older 500gb hdd
possibly adding 1TB hdd later.

Purpose: light gaming, multi-tasking, research work and downloading, listening to music, watching movies.
Slight Overclocking, No Sli or Crossfire.

Goal: A Quality High Performance Computer that won't break my bank account and will last a long time with a couple of upgradeables. I'd rather not look into sandybridge or bulldozer.

GIGABYTE GA-890FXA-UD5 AM3 AMD 890FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
$179.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128441

XFX Black Edition P1-750B-CAG9 750W ATX12V v2.2 / ESP12V v2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular ...
$30.00 Mail-in Rebate
$129.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207003

Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model 996782
$64.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226103

HIS H687F1G2M Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity
$20.00 Mail-in Rebate Card
$214.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161349

Or

HIS H695F2G2M Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity
Which Choice? Is the 6950 too much for what I do? Great Price though I think.

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ955FBGMBOX
$30.00 Mail-in Rebate Card
$399.98 combo deal
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.601761

Antec-Mid-Tower-Gaming-Hundred-V3 - Will all of my choosen picks fit into this case. Need a mid tower and like usb front. would rather not mod unless easily removing a hdd bay to make room.
109.00 include free shipping
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004ALI5KC/ref=ord_cart_shr?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Total:
887.00 not including $60.00 rebates. Is it true if using rebates, won't be able to send back defective parts?

 

[WR2]

Ambition Too High? Never.
Budget? Can be a different story.

The 'last a long time' ambition is tricky right now.
There isn't really good CPU upgrade path in AM3 (or P55/1156 & X58/1366 either)

Have you checked into the Core i5-2500K & P67 motherboard option? That's the way to get RESPECT from a tech family.

HD 6950 is an excellent match with the 1920x1080 resolution.

 

[WR2]

Core i5-2500K $230
ASRock P67 Extreme4 review ~$140 or so when it's available again.

 

[jprahman]

Overall I have to say that you have a pretty good set of parts picked out. I don't see any obvious compatibility issues.

One thing would be to get a different set of RAM. You can get 4GB of G.Skill 1600MHz RAM for only $40-$50, and there are other brands of memory with similar pricing and specs at lower prices.

You'll still need to pick out an optical drive. Here's one optionSony DVD-ROM, CD-ROM SATA Optical Drive

6870 vs. 6950: depends on what games you want to play. Unless you are playing more graphically intense games the 6870 may still be overkill. What games are you interested in playing?

WR2 has a good point about the i5-2500K. Right now it's top dog as far as gaming CPUs are concerned. It's only ~$70 more than the Phenom and is quite a bit more powerful. Definitely would earn you more street cred with your relatives, especially if you overclocked it to 4+GHz. lol

Obviously the i5-2500K would require a new motherboard pick, and that would have to wait until mid-March when the P67 motherboards relaunch. There is talk that we will see a few P67 motherboards reappear in the next week or two, but availability will be so sparse that it won't be until early-April that we will see full availability. All your other components will still work with a P67 motherboard.

 

[WR2]

... they've been spotted in some Asian stores already. Don't expect a smooth rollout over here. Lots of pent-up demand.

The usual players would be P67 Extreme 4 Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD4 or Asus P8P67 Pro
THG: P67 MB roundup

 

[irishred]

One thing I would like to know is what's the companies going to do with the first motherboards that will be exchanged for the fixed b3 boards. Sell them as recertified, refurbished or new?

 

[jprahman]

No clue, but I wouldn't be shocked to see some of them sold in secondary channels with the potentially faulty ports disabled, and/or without a warranty along with a notice about the potential problems.

 

[irishred]

Overall I have to say that you have a pretty good set of parts picked out. I don't see any obvious compatibility issues.

One thing would be to get a different set of RAM. You can get 4GB of G.Skill 1600MHz RAM for only $40-$50, and there are other brands of memory with similar pricing and specs at lower prices.

You'll still need to pick out an optical drive. Here's one optionSony DVD-ROM, CD-ROM SATA Optical Drive

6870 vs. 6950: depends on what games you want to play. Unless you are playing more graphically intense games the 6870 may still be overkill. What games are you interested in playing?

WR2 has a good point about the i5-2500K. Right now it's top dog as far as gaming CPUs are concerned. It's only ~$70 more than the Phenom and is quite a bit more powerful. Definitely would earn you more street cred with your relatives, especially if you overclocked it to 4+GHz. lol

Obviously the i5-2500K would require a new motherboard pick, and that would have to wait until mid-March when the P67 motherboards relaunch. There is talk that we will see a few P67 motherboards reappear in the next week or two, but availability will be so sparse that it won't be until early-April that we will see full availability. All your other components will still work with a P67 motherboard.

I got a pioneer blu ray dvd/cd burner.
$70 more then which Phenom? Does intel cpu's last longer at higher performer than an overclock AMD or maybe judging by what I would like in a computer, a powerful performance system would be an overkill, right?
Yeah, no kidding! I should known better from reading forums to asked which do they think is the better system. Intense debates at times, methinks perhaps a little ego trip comes into play, eh?

 

[jprahman]

The Phenom II X4 955 costs about $150, while the i5-2500K goes for about $220-230. Both CPUs are plenty for your needs, but the i5-2500K will last you longer. The architecture that the Phenom II is based on is about three years old and showing it's age. Sandy Bridge was just released and will remain a capable CPU for a few years. Also, AM3 is about to be outdated when AM3+/AM4 is released in a few months, while LGA1155 will support the next generation of Sandy Bridge codenamed Ivy Bridge, which will be released early next year according to Intel. AM3 is a dead end in the long term while LGA1155 will have some life going forward.

 

[irishred]

jprahman wrote: "6870 vs. 6950: depends on what games you want to play. Unless you are playing more graphically intense games the 6870 may still be overkill. What games are you interested in playing??

I'm not a hard core gamer. I don't exactly pound the desk when I get killed Plays WoW, Call of Duty, . Would like to try some of the newer games like star wars. Any suggestio

 

[irishred]

The Phenom II X4 955 costs about $150, while the i5-2500K goes for about $220-230. Both CPUs are plenty for your needs, but the i5-2500K will last you longer. The architecture that the Phenom II is based on is about three years old and showing it's age. Sandy Bridge was just released and will remain a capable CPU for a few years. Also, AM3 is about to be outdated when AM3+/AM4 is released in a few months, while LGA1155 will support the next generation of Sandy Bridge codenamed Ivy Bridge, which will be released early next year according to Intel. AM3 is a dead end in the long term while LGA1155 will have some life going forward.

Some of this site's suggested builds like well-tested parts. The ones that are just coming out don't really have all the bugs out. I would like my computer to last long due to quality parts not whether it will be upgradeable every three months. I just don't know. I would really like this to be a one time build for awhile. It is really difficult to see good sales on some now and hopefully the rest get on sale later when you have to put together a build to see if anything defective or not.

 

[jprahman]

In that case I'd recommend the 6870. AT 1920 X 1080 a 6870 will do well, and down the road if it ever starts to be too slow you could always add a second in Crossfire.

A GTX 460 1GB is another option that costs a little less and has plenty of performance. Again, you could add a second card down the road if a single card ever start dragging.