Advice for gaming build

[attackllama]

So I am desperately in need of an upgrade, my old Pentium 4 computer can no longer handle games. I have pretty throughly researched parts and such and would like some other opinions.

Approximate Purchase Date: most likely within the next few weeks

Budget Range: around 700$

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming (games like Black ops, TF2, battlefield 3), browsing, light CS5 and WMware use

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

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg, amazon

Country of Origin: United States

Parts Preferences: AMD for price

Overclocking: Yes

SLI or Crossfire: possibly sometime in the future

Monitor Resolution: 1600x1200

Additional Comments: I plan to use this computer until late this year and give it to my brother when I make a LGA 2011 rig. I want it to be able to last for a couple years after.



What i have come up with

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz - $139.99

ASRock 890GX Extreme3 AM3 AMD 890GX - $117.99

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) - $40.99

CORSAIR Builder Series CMPSU-600CX 600W ATX12V v2.3 Active PFC Power Supply - 59.99 (44.99 after rebate)

Rosewill DESTROYER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - $49.99

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive - $54.99

ASUS EAH6850 DC/2DIS/1GD5/V2 Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity - $179.99 (159.99 after rebate)

ASUS Black DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM - $18.99

COOLER MASTER Hyper N 520 RR-920-N520-GP 92mm Sleeve CPU Cooler Intel Core i7 compatible - $34.99

COOLER MASTER R4-S2S-124K-GP 120mm Case Fan - $14.99

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM - $9.99

Total after tax, shipping, and before rebates: $803.80

I have considered waiting for Bulldozer or getting a lower priced SB option, but i am pretty sure this is the best choice. Tell me what you think.

 

[WR2]

Hello AL;

Good job there. A few weeks is a long time. So you'll want to check back to make sure prices are the same, check for any combo deals, etc., just before you're ready to haul out the credit card.

A couple suggestions.
That Destroyer case has ALL the fans you need out of the box. You really don't need that extra $15 case fan.
Leave out the AS5 too. The Hyper N 520 has thermal compound in the accessory pack. Maybe not quite up to AS5 spec but the difference won't be huge enough to justify the extra $10 cost (more than 25% of the whole HSF).

ASRock 890GX is $30 more than Asrock 870 Extreme 3. Is there any feature of the 890GX (onboard video maybe?) that you need enough to pay $30 for?

 

[attackllama]

Thanks for the quick reply
I didnt realize the HS included the thermal compound
But the case fan is a pack of 4, and i saw some reviews saying the included case fans were a bit noisy
I thought it be best to have the latest chip set but i probably wont ever use onboard video
thanks again for your help

 

[WR2]

You can probably run those case fans slower.
Or now that you've saves a few buks combine the Case and case fan prices and get something nice and quiet to begin with.

Antec 600 Black $70 a/r and free shipping (other case & fans were $7 shipping)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129073

 

[attackllama]

Hmm good idea... Im thinking this HAF 912 instead
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=11-119-233

 

[batuchka]

$710AR?

 

[attackllama]

A 6950 is probably overkill for my purposes but good find on the ram and case

 

[WR2]

Nice work on the combo deals there.
If you ever want to add a 2nd HD 6850 that system would handle it nicely.

I know the 'HD 6850' conjurs up the image of HD 5850/5870 but its actually a bit more of an upgrade to the HD 5770 in terms of performance.
THG Graphics Cards > 2011 Gaming Graphics Charts > Gamer Index

 

[WR2]

 

[batuchka]

Yep HD 6950 2GB is a tad overkill but once u thinking CF it is near top of the food chanin and preety much offer unmatched performace-to-watt numbers as well ^^


HD6950 CF Toms
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-6970-radeon-hd-6950-cayman,2818-22.html

But wait, there’s more. What about the Radeon HD 6900s in CrossFire? After all, AMD claims to have made some notable improvements to its scaling.
You’re only going to buy two high-end graphics cards if you’re running at the top resolutions with visual details maxed out. That’s where the 2 GB frame buffers featured on both 6900-series cards come in handy. In many cases, two $300 Radeon HD 6950s outperform a pair of $350 GeForce GTX 570s, saving you $100 total for better frame rates.

 

[WR2]

HD 6950 charts here
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4137/amds-gtx-560-ti-counteroffensive-radeon-hd-6950-1gb-xfxs-radeon-hd-6870-black-edition/5

Another popular option is 2x HD 6850 CrossfireX which gets you performance to almost match (or even exceed) HD 6970.
And you do work on a 1 now - 1 later plan.

 

[attackllama]

Best answer selected by attackllama.