First Gaming PC Build

[nparcel]

Approximate Purchase Date: Around Jan 2012

Budget Range: $800-900

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming > Surfing

Parts Not Required: Keyboard, Mouse, Display, OS, Possibly HDD

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Microcenter & Newegg

Country: USA

Parts Preferences: No preference

Overclocking: Not likely

SLI or Crossfire: Unknown

Monitor Resolution: Unknown, I'd like it to be usable with HDMI

Additional Comments: This will be used mainly for online MMO's (FFXIV, WOW) and maybe Skyrim. Very new to building, I have installed a GPU and a HDD in my day, I feel capable though. I haven't finished alot of my researching yet, but I have put some possible parts together and was looking for some advice. The advice I seek: Are these parts compatible and will the computer run well, if at all, with decent settings (I am not looking for the highest settings)? Are there any suggestions on better parts that may be better quality, or any of these parts listed suggested over the others? Alot of these parts seem very similar, is there much noticable difference between them?


CPU
AMD Phenom II X4 975 Black Edition Deneb 3.6GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Desktop Processor HDZ975FBGMBOX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103923

AMD Phenom II X4 970 Black Edition Deneb 3.5GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Desktop Processor HDZ970FBGMBOX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103894


Mobo
GIGABYTE GA-990XA-UD3 AM3+ AMD 990X SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128510

GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128514

GIGABYTE GA-970A-UD3 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128519


GPU
GIGABYTE GV-N560UD-1G GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125401

MSI N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II 2GD5/OC GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127608

EVGA 01G-P3-1561-AR GeForce GTX 560 Ti FPB (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130604

EVGA SuperClocked 01G-P3-1563-AR GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130610

*** I am not sure about the GPU, I read that one brand is more power hungry than the other. Old card is AGP type, so it will not be usable.


RAM
Kingston HyperX 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 Desktop Memory Model KHX1600C9D3/4G
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104244

CORSAIR Vengeance 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ4GX3M1A1600C9B
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145346


PSU
CORSAIR Professional Series HX650 (CMPSU-650HX) 650W ATX12V v2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139012

** This component is the part that I am most confused about. I don't know how many reviews I read that said it showed up DOA.
*** Not sure if too much is better than too little? I did a calculate power needed and it came out to around 530W, and I read about a 30% loss of power, so I shot for 650.


HDD
*** Unknown for now, looking for advice here, I'd like something 500GB to 1T. I may reuse the current one I have in my PC until priced drop or I find a deal.

Case
COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel , SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119068



Thanks!

 

[konfliict]

Get more ram

 

[r0aringdrag0n]

AMD System:
CPU: FX-4100 $120
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103996

Graphics: HIS H697F2G2M Radeon HD 6970 $329
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161356

MoBo: ASUS M5A97 AM3+ $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131767

PSU: CORSAIR Builder Series CX600 $70
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139028

Case: Rosewill Challenger black $50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147153

HDD: WD green 500GB $80
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Western+Digital+-+Caviar+GP+500GB+Internal+Hard+Drive/8682311.p?id=1197679235869&skuId=8682311

RAM: Team Elite 8GB Memory Model TED38192M1333HC9DC $28
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820313086

Heatsink+Fan: CM Hyper 212 EVO $35
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

DVD-ROM: Samsung 22x DVD-ROM $16
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151233

SSD: OCZ Agility 2 40GB (Boot) $85
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227607

Total: $913

Explanation: The CPU is a FX CPU, that AMD just released, and is overclockable. The gfx card is a Radeon 6870, which is comparable to the gtx 570. If you have mroe money later on, you can CF the GFX card. The motherboard is AM3+ ready, so you don't need another AM3 CPU to install drivers. Corsair is a reliable PSU company, my PSU is from them, and it's running great. The Challenger is a great case with a few fans included. The HDD is pretty cheap compared to NewEgg, so I would definitely go and buy from Bestbuy. 8GB of Team Elite RAM, nothing much to say about it....The Hyper 212 EVO will allow you to overclock your CPU to around ~4.5GHz and run stable. Finally the SSD to boot the OS from, you can save $85 and go wtihout the SSD, but your boot times will decrease if you have this in your system.

Intel system:

CPU: i5 2500k $225 ($210 special)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115073

Graphics: GIGABYTE GV-N560OC-1GI GeForce GTX 560 Ti $235
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125363

MoBo: ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z $170
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131759

PSU: Antec High Current Gamer Series HCG-620 620W $65
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371048

Case: COOLER MASTER HAF 912 $60
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119233

HDD: WD green 500GB $80
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Western+Digital+-+Caviar+GP+500GB+Internal+Hard+Drive/8682311.p?id=1197679235869&skuId=8682311

RAM: CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB Memory Model CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9R $40
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233180

Heatsink+Fan: CM Hyper 212 EVO $35
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

DVD-ROM: Samsung 22x DVD-ROM $16
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151233

Total: $926

Explanation: This includes the i5 2500k, one of the best gaming CPUs on the market, only surpassed by Intel's extreme CPUs and the i7 2600k, all of which are over priced. This time, we lowered the gfx card because of the better CPU, the 560Ti will still be able to perform great on games, you can SLI when you have more money. The MoBo is from ASUS, and allows for graphics cards to be SLI in x8 and x8, which is preferable when you SLI or CF. Antec is also a good PSU company, the 620W should be enough for SLI. The HAF case looks amazing, if you want to save $10, you can go with the Rosewill Challenger again. Same HDD, Heatsink and Fan, and DVD-ROM. The RAM is now a Corsair Vengeance series, running at 1600Mhz. The Heatspreaders should allow you to OC the RAM

 

[nparcel]

Ok, I did some more work and was hoping to get some input on this.. I am trying to steer more toward the low end of the price range, while maintaining a good pc.

Will the PSU be enough to support this? And I think the GPU will fit in this case, just looking for some confirmation.

Thanks for the help and advice.

CPU (microcenter) - $180
Core i5 2500K LGA 1155 Boxed Processor
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0354589
95W


Motherboard (microcenter) - $120
P8Z68-V LX LGA 1155 Z68 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0371775


GPU (newegg) - $200
ASUS ENGTX560 DCII OC/2DI/1GD5 GeForce GTX 560 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121446
170W


RAM (newegg) - $44
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231314

OR

RAM (microcenter) - $40
HyperX blu 8GB DDR3-1600 (PC3-12800) CL9 Dual Channel Desktop Memory Kit (Two 4GB Memory Modules)
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0360527


PSU (newegg) - $70
Antec BP550 Plus 550W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371016


DVD/ROM (newegg) - $18
SAMSUNG CD/DVD Burner 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model SH-222AB - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151233


Heat sink (newegg) - $26
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 "Heatpipe Direct Contact" Long Life Sleeve 120mm CPU Cooler Compatible Intel Core i5 & Intel Core i7
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065


Case (newegg) - $70
COOLER MASTER Storm Scout SGC-2000-KKN1-GP Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119196

 

[r0aringdrag0n]

Looks good! I would go with this gfx card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127592
$10 cheaper, and the same card or add $30 and get the560Ti, which is better:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130634

 

[nparcel]

Here is the final list that will be ordered soon. I am reusing an hdd until prices drop.
Thanks for all the help, hopefully it runs smooth when it is assembled.


COOLER MASTER Storm Scout SGC-2000-KKN1-GP Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Core i5 2500K LGA 1155 Boxed Processor

ASUS P8P67 (REV 3.1) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

MSI N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II 2GD5/OC GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Antec BP550 Plus 550W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL

Samsung SH-222AB DVD writer

120 GB SATA HDD

 

[nparcel]

Best answer selected by nparcel.