$750 Build Help. Intel Build or AMD Build

[TheCrayonMan529]

Approximate Purchase Date: this weekend

Budget Range: $750 no more than that( Got less money than I thought I would get)

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

Parts Not Required: Monitor, Keyboard, Mouse, Speakers

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg

Country of Origin: USA (Illinois)

Parts Preferences: by brand or type :none

Overclocking: I dont know

SLI or Crossfire: I dont know

Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080

Games: Crysis, Battlefield, Fallout, ect.

Last week I posted a build but I got less money then I thought for graduation so here are the 2 new builds. I dont know which one to choose.

Intel Build:

CPUIntel I5 2400$194.99
Motherboard: ASRock H61M-VS LGA 1155 Intel H61 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard$59.99
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 4GB $30.99
Graphics Card: Radeon HD 6870$179.99
Hard Drive: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB$59.99
Case: Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower$49.99
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts EA-650 GREEN 650W$59.99
Cooling:NONE
DVD Burner: ASUS 24X DVD Burner $20.99
Windows 7 64bit oem $94.99
Total: 751.91

AMD Build:
CPU:AMD Phenom ll X4 955 Black$119.99
Motherboard: ASRock 970 EXTREME4 AM3+ $104.99
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 4GB $30.99
Graphics Card: Radeon HD 6870$179.99
Hard Drive: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB$59.99
Case: Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower $49.99
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts EA-650 GREEN 650W $59.99
Cooling: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212$29.99
DVD Burner: ASUS 24X DVD Burner $20.99
Windows 7 64bit oem $94.99
Total: 751.40
Will I be able to Crossfire the 6870 with the 650 watt PSU? I was going to overclock the 955 to about 4.2 ghz

I like both builds but I am stumped on which one to pick up. One build has a Sandy Bridge CPU and the other one has Crossfire/Sli and CPU overclocking plus a am3+ socket for future bulldozer CPU needs.

Please help me pick out which one is the better build, I don't want to be dumb, just want to make sure I spend money on good stuff. Also I am kinda scared to overclock my CPU, how safe can it be and is crossfire/sli necessary?

 

[Why_Me]

I know this is over your budget, but it's all free shipping and it's something to think about if you can squeeze another $30.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.683241 $254.98 save: $15.00 FREE SHIPPING
Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, comes with Three Fans-1x Front Blue LED 120mm Fan, 1x Top 140mm Fan, 1x Rear 120mm Fan, option Fans-2x Side 120mm Fan
Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500K

http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-Z68A-D3-B3-Intel-Motherboard-GA-Z68A-D3-B3/dp/B00518M78O/ref=sr_1_9?m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1312110977&sr=1-9 $79.99 & this item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping
Gigabyte Z68A-D3-B3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard GA-Z68A-D3-B3

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371047 $58.99 FREE SHIPPING 10% off with promo code Julsv10, ends 7/31
Antec High Current Gamer Series HCG-520 520W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V v2.91 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231425 $30.99 FREE SHIPPING
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-4GBXL

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-SATA-Internal-Drive-AD-7260S-0B/dp/B003MRHOQG/ref=dp_cp_ob_pc_title_2 $19.99 Free Standard Shipping (3-5 days)
Sony 24X SATA Internal DVD+/-RW Drive AD-7260S-0B - Bulk (Black)

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Spinpoint-3-5-Inch-Internal-HD103SJ/dp/B002MQC0P8/ref=sr_1_1?m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1312081809&sr=1-1 $59.99 & this item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping
Samsung Desktop Class Spinpoint F3 1 TB SATA 3.0 Gb-s 32 MB Cache 3.5-Inch Internal Bare-OEM Drives, HD103SJ

http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-DL-DVI-I-SL-DVI-D-PCI-Express-100314-2SR/dp/tags-on-product/B004E0KV3I $179.99 & this item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping
Sapphire Radeon HD 6870 1 GB DDR5 DL-DVI-I/SL-DVI-D/HDMI/Dual Mini DP PCI-Express Graphics Card 100314-2SR

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986 $94.99 FREE SHIPPING
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - OEM

Total: $779.91 *not including mail in rebates and promo codes

 

[TheCrayonMan529]

i think ive gone with the amd build, is it a good build?

 

[pat]

The AMD build will give you better expansion in the future than the weaker motherboard in the Intel build. I would go for the AMD.