Help with my 1st build

[garretth9090]

Approximate Purchase Date: Within the next 2 weeks

Budget Range: 800-1000 Before Rebates

System Usage: Gaming

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

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg, tigerdirect, amazon

Country of Origin: United States

Overclocking: Yes

SLI or Crossfire: Not at the moment, but probably in the future

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CPU: i5 2500k
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072&cm_re=i5_2500k-_-19-115-072-_-Product

Motherboard: ASRock P67 EXTREME4
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157229R&cm_re=asrock_p67_extreme_4-_-13-157-229R-_-Product

Ram: CORSAIR XMS3 4GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145218&cm_re=corsair_xms3_4gb-_-20-145-218-_-Product

GPU: XFX Radeon HD 5850
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6078264&CatId=3669&SRCCODE=LINKSHARE&cm_mmc_o=-ddCjC1bELltzywCjC-d2CjCdwwp&AffiliateID=iFudSkud_Rc-z5Ppt3N7hGevS2cOT6oHtQ

Case: COOLER MASTER HAF 912
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119233&Tpk=coolermaster%20haf%20912

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black WD5002AALX 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136795&cm_re=western_digital_caviar_black_500gb-_-22-136-795-_-Product

DVD Drive: ASUS Black DVD Burner
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204

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Does this look like a good build? I could use some advice on especially the motherboard and video card. Also, what PSU would you reccomend for this build?

 

[IH8U]

Looks fine so far, don't skimp on the PSU tho. Look into at least a 750W (Or 1000W as you wanted SLI, or X-Fire later) Antec, Silverstone, OCZ, Corsair, and PC Power and Cooling would be the ones to look at. I'd also go ahead and replace the RAM with 8GB. Swap the Vid for a 6850 (less than $30 more).

RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226095
Mushkin DDR3 1333 2x4GB $70

Vid: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150505
XFX 6850 $167

 

[eightdrunkengods]

You can save some money if you build off of an equivalent AMD platform. You just save it or could put the extra $$ toward a better video card. I only say this since you're on a budget. The Phenom II 955 BE ($120 on newegg today) is a good place to start.

Get an aftermarket CPU cooler. It will help a lot with general stability and will allow you to overclock.

For the PSU: Don't skimp on it and make sure you get enough amperage off of the 12v rail to run your video card (you need to look up the requirement in the video card's specs). OCZ and Antec generally make good PSUs. You're probably looking at 500W minimum. I would do 600W to be safe - more if you want to do Crossfire eventually. It's ok to have more than you need (just costs more) but not ok to have too little.

The RAM looks fine but you can get slightly faster RAM for the same price. I can vouch for this RAM (and it has 5 stars on newegg) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...m_re=adata_pc_1600_ram-_-20-211-409-_-Product

 

[aznshinobi]

I have a build in my siggy for 1000$ that should supply you with plenty of power and give even more performance graphically and just in general.

By the way, the Black WD's are loud and more expensive than the Samsung F3 1TB for less space and practically the same performance. The reason I say same is because SATA III vs SATA II is no different if the products are mechanical hard drives, the only difference can be seen in SSDs which is not the case. So you can save there.

 

[striker410]

Looks fine so far, don't skimp on the PSU tho. Look into at least a 750W (Or 1000W as you wanted SLI, or X-Fire later) Antec, Silverstone, OCZ, Corsair, and PC Power and Cooling would be the ones to look at. I'd also go ahead and replace the RAM with 8GB. Swap the Vid for a 6850 (less than $30 more).

RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226095
Mushkin DDR3 1333 2x4GB $70

Vid: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150505
XFX 6850 $167

Dude the 5850 outperforms the 6850 for less. Also, he would only need a 500w tops for a single card, and he could easily run a Xfire setup on 750w.

 

[mjmjpfaff]

the samsung spinpoint f3 1tb hard drive is the less than that 500gb hard drive. it is on amazon and it comes with free shipping

 

[IH8U]

Dude the 5850 outperforms the 6850 for less. Also, he would only need a 500w tops for a single card, and he could easily run a Xfire setup on 750w.

However the 6850 supports Tesselation (future games, such as Skyrim), and the 6xxx series is much better optimized for crossfire. Clock for clock though they are similar (single card till OC anyway, then the 5850 pulls ahead by a couple frames), with crossfire which the OP plans to use the 6850 is the better choice.

 

[striker410]

However the 6850 supports Tesselation (future games, such as Skyrim), and the 6xxx series is much better optimized for crossfire. Clock for clock though they are similar (single card till OC anyway, then the 5850 pulls ahead by a couple frames), with crossfire which the OP plans to use the 6850 is the better choice.

The 5850 also has tesselation support... I think what you mean is that the 6 series is better OPTIMIZED for DX11 tesselation. Also the 5850's perform just as good as the 6850's in crossfire. I was corrected by Shinobi on that one. They are similar cards to be sure, but for me the $40 savings and better performance make the 5850 a clear winner.

 

[aznshinobi]

^ yup.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/303?vs=302
Drivers brah, they make all the difference.