Homebuilt Desktop Compatibility Check

First of all, what is the purpose of this build? For gaming, it's unbalanced. A 6970 isn't as good as the 6850 which is $130-$140 on Newegg and handily beats the 6790. 550Q is more than enough, but the PSU brand is unreliable. Get Corsair, Seasonic, Silverstone, Antec, etc. Sound cards are not needed unless you're an audiophile. Integrated sound cards are pretty decent now. Wireless and Bluetooth cards/USB adapters can be bought on Newegg.

The purpose of this build is heavy Photoshop work and medium gaming. Is the 6970 really that unbalancing to the machine?..I went and searched up some PSU's @500W, and found this new one..Actually, here's the whole build..

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($79.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 45.0 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($103.99 @ eCost)
Memory: Kingston 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($17.98 @ NCIX US)
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($77.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: HIS Radeon HD 6790 1GB Video Card ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case ($48.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Antec 500W ATX12V Power Supply ($45.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Asus BW-12B1ST/BLK/G/AS Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($61.98 @ NCIX US)
Keyboard: Microsoft E6K-00001 Wireless Standard Keyboard ($24.80 @ Amazon)
Total: $621.69
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-07-22 18:36 EDT-0400)

I don't understand what ATX12V and all of the other jibberish after the PSU means..is it applicable to the performance of the PSU in a big way? And do I need to look for a certain one?

I only thing I would change would be to increase your RAM to 8GB because its so cheap. Your PSU is fine for your build. You can get wireless cards, etc on newegg.com

Heavy Photoshop needs more RAM.

Ok, I've added another 4GB of Kingston..also switched out a couple of parts..will 500w PSU be good enough?..oh wait, that was already answered..I want to be totally sure, because it's one of the most important components.. And should I be concerned about cooling? I know that the HAF 912 comes with two 120mm fans..

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($79.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 45.0 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($103.99 @ eCost)
Memory: Kingston 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($17.98 @ NCIX US)
Memory: Kingston 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($17.98 @ NCIX US)
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($77.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 6850 1GB Video Card ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case ($48.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Antec 500W ATX12V Power Supply ($45.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Asus BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Keyboard: Microsoft E6K-00001 Wireless Standard Keyboard ($24.80 @ Amazon)
Total: $622.68
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-07-23 13:57 EDT-0400)

That Arctic Cooler is honestly no better than the stock fan - it's incredibly cheaply made and breaks easily. It makes no sense to get a BD-R burner on a $600 build when you can always get one later.

For that price I'd suggest a build like this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i3-2120 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor ($124.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Biostar TZ77XE3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($43.99 @ Newegg)
Hard Drive: Samsung Spinpoint F3 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 6870 1GB Video Card ($164.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case ($64.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair 600W ATX12V Power Supply ($61.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $668.89
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-07-23 14:21 EDT-0400)

A little bit more but better motherboard, CPU, video card, RAM, etc.

If it's no better than the stock cooler, than why do you not list one in your own suggested build?..And I'm not really willing to sacrifice a Blu-Ray player, I know well enough that I want it. In addition, a 500GB is too small, and a 6870 vs. a 6850 = not enough performance boost for the extra $40.

Actually, the performance difference is big. The 6850 runs BF3 on med., while the 6870 an run it on high/ultra at decent FPS. The 6850 is about $130, while the 6870 is $150. Definitely worth $20.

The reason I don't suggest a cooler is that instead of buying a junk fan you're actually better off using the included fan. It's not worth wasting money on something that will barely yield any sort of performance gain. Another reason is that the Core i3-2120 I suggested doesn't have an unlocked multiplier which means that you can't overclock it. And if you're not going to overclock it makes no sense to purchase an aftermarket fan.

You can always add a BD-R player later, most modern cases make it really easy to do so.

And yes there is quite a bit of difference between the 6850 and 6870, check out this benchmark: http://www.hwcompare.com/5999/radeon-hd-6850-vs-radeon-...

So instead of no CPU cooler, I should use the stock one?..how do you know if the cooler is good enough?..Also, I don't understand why swapping a potentially overclockable processor for a non-overclockable one is better, especially when the performance boost is underwhelming. There's a difference between every different graphics card, of course, but I can't really justify the extra 30-40 bucks. There's no denying that the 6850 is better than 90% of other cards in its range. The two things I'm most concerned about at this point isn't trivial upgrades, it's the PSU and cooling, the two things I'm still a complete novice at when it comes to desktops..or laptops, for that matter.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($89.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Xigmatek LOKI SD963 52.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($99.98 @ Amazon)
Memory: Kingston 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($20.98 @ NCIX US)
Memory: Kingston 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($20.98 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($77.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 6850 1GB Video Card ($134.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.49 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Antec 500W ATX12V Power Supply ($45.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Asus BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Keyboard: Microsoft E6K-00001 Wireless Standard Keyboard ($24.80 @ Amazon)
Total: $645.17
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-07-31 22:52 EDT-0400)

Sorry for the slow reply, derp..Anyways, I switched out for an Xigmatek CPU Cooler, and I also need to consider Sound, Wireless, and Bluetooth cards..I understand those are PCI (Wut), are they typically universally compatible or should I be checking?

Best answer selected by xxevilxp3nrxx.