Gamer working on my second build - Need advice

[aliasxneo]

So, at this point of time I don't really have much of a budget. What really is determining my budget is whether or not the amount of money I spend is actually going to be worth it (I.E I don't need to have my hands on the latest stuff that's going to drop a couple hundred dollars in price in a few weeks).

This is indeed my second attempt at building a tower, and my first one was not too shabby. I'm still missing a few components in the build I've come up with right now, and if anyone has any suggestions for those that would be awesome. Here is what I'm dealing with at the moment:

Cooler Master HAF 932 (advanced full tower)
AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition (3.2 GHz)
Asus Crosshair IV Formula AM3 (Mobo)
G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (4 X 2 GB) 240-pin DDR3
CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V v2.2
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3R HE103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive

The case is up in the air. Yeah, it's mad expensive, but it also had mad potential. Do they make this case in a mid tower size? I'm not against full towers, but my last case was a mid tower so I'm not sure what problems I may run into. This case is not an absolute on my list, but it seems like I could run a couple of builds through it, which would end up saving me money in the long run.

I'm pretty excited to put the new AM3 chip to the test. Considering the last build I made was 2 years ago, I'm going from playing with a two core to a six core (jumped right over quad!).

My choice in the motherboard was solely based on previous experience. I've used the Asus ROG series before and have found them to be amazing. However, that was 2 years ago and I'm not sure how far they have come with the series since then.

The RAM and PSU are still up in the air. I've always had a thumbrule to go with G.SKILL, but I'm always willing to break it.

Finally, the Samsung is a given. Don't really have any intentions on changing it.

So, obviously the big question is, where the heck are the graphic cards? Well, this is where I'm lost (and just so happens was the area I got lost on with my last build). I feel like my choice in the last build was very poor, so I'm looking for a lot of input in this area. I fully intend on taking full advantage of Crossfire technology, and would love to run 2 GPU's (so long as I don't run into space problems like I did on my last board!). I absolutely love playing all my games on max settings, so I always try to allocate the most I can towards graphics. Any input in this area would be much appreciated.

One last thing, it has been 2 years since my last build and I'm a little shaky on common knowledge stuff, so keep that in mind. Thanks!

Cheers,
Josh

 

[boiler1990]

Full towers are much bigger than mid towers, but they give you a lot of extra room to work with, and generally have a lot of extra features like better cable management that just can't fit in a mid tower. The HAF 912 and 922 are the siblings to the 932, and they're still very big compared to most mid towers.

I'd STRONGLY reconsider the X6. Sure, you're getting 6 cores vs 4 cores, but you're still only using 2-4 during games. I'd recommend that you get the i5-2500K and a good P67 motherboard, because you won't need to upgrade it for several years. It is THE best CPU for the money in terms of gaming performance.
Plus, the AM3 socket is going to die off this year with AMD's Bulldozer CPUs that are slated to come out over summer-ish.

I'd switch from a 4x2GB kit to a 2x4GB kit; you'll get slightly better performance (not noticeable), but more importantly it will allow you to drop in another set in the future.

Your GPU(s) will be determined by your monitor resolution. The number of GPUs will consequently determine your power needs.

 

[aznshinobi]

^+1

Siggy, 1000$ build, it'll trump that build anyday.

ROG boards are overpriced and just aren't worth the cost in my opinion. Just my $.02

 

[aliasxneo]

Full towers are much bigger than mid towers, but they give you a lot of extra room to work with, and generally have a lot of extra features like better cable management that just can't fit in a mid tower. The HAF 912 and 922 are the siblings to the 932, and they're still very big compared to most mid towers.

I'd STRONGLY reconsider the X6. Sure, you're getting 6 cores vs 4 cores, but you're still only using 2-4 during games. I'd recommend that you get the i5-2500K and a good P67 motherboard, because you won't need to upgrade it for several years. It is THE best CPU for the money in terms of gaming performance.
Plus, the AM3 socket is going to die off this year with AMD's Bulldozer CPUs that are slated to come out over summer-ish.

I'd switch from a 4x2GB kit to a 2x4GB kit; you'll get slightly better performance (not noticeable), but more importantly it will allow you to drop in another set in the future.

Your GPU(s) will be determined by your monitor resolution. The number of GPUs will consequently determine your power needs.

Pretty sure the X6 has an idle feature that puts the 3 idle cores to use so that each core is always being used.

 

[Timop]

Pretty sure the X6 has an idle feature that puts the 3 idle cores to use so that each core is always being used.

As much as I love them, The Phenom IIs just cant beat the Sandy Bridges. "K10+" is one and a half generations behind architecturally and a process behind for the CPU.

If you really want AMD, wait for BD, (or get a AM3+ compatible Mobo and some cheap sempron), or SB is your best choice for now.