What do you think of my build? $550-600

[Nicklovn]

Motherboard: ASRock Z75
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157304

CPU: Intel Core i3-2100
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0359809

PSU: Corsair CX600
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139028

RAM: Crucial 8GB DDR 1333
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148485

GPU: Radeon HD 6870 256-bit....
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150521

Case: Antec 300
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129066

HDD: I'm getting it from a friend for $60-70. Don't worry about it.



Total Price: Approx $590


_____________________________________________________________________


First of all. I'm sorry I keep posting and it doesn't seem much different, but I changed up a few small things form my previous post. And you can't blame me right? This is my first build and I really want to be sure to get the most for my money. I apologies again, but bear with me! I'm learning!


A Few Notes about my own setup:

*I would like to play games like ArmA 2, ArmA 3, all Total War games including future releases, Crysis games, Dirt games, and maybe Battlefield 4 in the future.

*I'm willing to clench my fists and pass up some overclockability options on the AMD (but this is something I really like! Emphasis on the clenching!).

*I much prefer the higher processors of Intel over those of AMD. Sorry AMD guys. But the path seems better.

*I'm buying a good SATA 6 HDD 1TB from my friend. I have to discuss the price since I don't want to rip him off but that's not important. We've been friends for...Well Hell, probably working on one decade!

*I'm not going to upgrade to the 6950 or the 7950 or the 7970.

*I might consider Nvidias.

*I probably won't change my PSU. I know someone who suggested I have the extra power. I expect it to last me through a couple of upgrades at which I might need the power. I DO NOT want to have to upgrade the PSU just to upgrade my components. I might be hard to sway in this field. That is, I probably won't go down. I might go up in Wattage. But you should have a good argument hehe!


__________________________________________________________________________


Mainly, I'm just asking for your critique. I doubt I would go under the Phenom II X4 965 or the i3-2100 as far as processing power goes.

What do you guys think!

Again, sorry I keep posting. I'm really excited to build this computer and I've been researching for almost a month (I don't have much of a choice because I'm away from home).

 

[DavidY]

Save $10 and get a H77 mobo.

Dave

 

[Nicklovn]

Alright I'll do some research. Thanks! What's the difference?

 

[DANWIN]

get better gpu if planning to run games on high or ultra settings
reccomend not insisted http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130768

 

[claysm]

Alright I'll do some research. Thanks! What's the difference?

http://www.techspot.com/guides/519-intel-z77-panther-point-chipset/page2.html

Not much. The Z75 enables CPU overclocking, which the i3-2100 doesn't support, while the H77 enables SRT, which is an SSD caching technology. In the end, the Z75 chipset is the better buy, since if you ever upgrade the CPU and want to overclock, it will allow for that without needing a new motherboard.

get better gpu if planning to run games on high or ultra settings
reccomend not insisted http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130768

The GTX 680 is triple the price of the 6870 he has listed, so I doubt it's in the budget .

 

[DANWIN]

ely psy coongaroo whatevs it was a great suggestion

 

[bigcyco1]

It looks great to me i would personally get a GTX 570 there is actually a top notch one for $249.99 right now that is a steal!I will link it just in case but if you can't afford it or rather not your good to go. GPU:MSI N570GTX Twin Frozr II GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127682#top

 

[claysm]

It looks great to me i would personally get a GTX 570 there is actually a top notch one for $249.99 right now that is a steal!I will link it just in case but if you can't afford it or rather not your good to go. GPU:MSI N570GTX Twin Frozr II GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127682#top

In that case though a Radeon 7850 would be the better buy. It offers 95% of the performance of the 570 for substantially less power draw and temperatures. It's even a little cheaper.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150617
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/549?vs=518

 

[bigcyco1]

XFX card no thanks!I would never buy a XFX card over MSI Twin Frozr come'on really you can't be serious at least i hope your not even in the benchmarks you provided it shows 570 out preforms the 7850 in over half those tests .I have two 570 and my wife has two 7850 they don't compare the temps are no different mine do draw more power but it's not a issue since hes already chose a 600W PSU he wouldn't need to change it GTX 570 is the faster card, hands-down. Bottom line... IDK why so many people have said they are identical performance wise The 7870 is more or less identical to the GTX 570 in terms of performance but not the 7850. Not stock vs stock or max OC vs max OC.At least not according to these benchmarks http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/HD_7850_HD_7870/26.html You see different benchmarks will say different things test benches differ from system to another system.

 

[claysm]

If you read my post, I never said that the 7850 was more powerful than a 570, but that it is the better overall choice. In the link you posted, the 7850 performs on average ~8% less than a 570, for a lot less power. So my original estimate of 95% is was pretty close. Best advice is to wait for the GTX 660 Ti next month, and see if prices come down.

And to the OP, there is nothing wrong with XFX cards. They have a great record for customer service and they give a limited lifetime warranty on all of their cards.

 

[bigcyco1]

If you read my post, I never said that the 7850 was more powerful than a 570, but that it is the better overall choice. In the link you posted, the 7850 performs on average ~8% less than a 570, for a lot less power. So my original estimate of 95% is was pretty close. Best advice is to wait for the GTX 660 Ti next month, and see if prices come down.

And to the OP, there is nothing wrong with XFX cards. They have a great record for customer service and they give a limited lifetime warranty on all of their cards.

I agree it's best to wait for 660.

 

[Nicklovn]

Oh I see I started a post that led to an argument haha!

UNFORTUNATELY, the argument does not and WILL NOT pertain to me. You guys suddenly went from the $200 card (which was painful to buy to begin with) to the $250 and one guy suggested a $500 card. My whole computer is going to be that! Unless I can get the CPU, RAM, case, MOBO etc. for $50-100, I wouldn't even think twice about that GPU.

I'm not going to go over 6870. Thanks for the help on the GPU, but unless you have a better card for $175 or less I won't consider it.

I'm still considering the AMD route with the Phenom II X4 965 BE....I suppose I'll have to do some thinking!

 

[bigcyco1]

No argument just debates and things needed to be cleared up lol.No there is no better card at $175 that i am aware of so stick with it i guess.And,yes i thought the same thing when the $500 card was suggested took me a second to catch on then i thought wait a minute that is almost as much as the poster is paying for his whole rig lol.

 

[Proximon]

I don't mean to gang up on you claysm, as I think you have a good argument.

I would side with the GTX 570 I think. Lifetime warranties sound nice, but in reality most users replace the GPU in 2-3 years. MSI has built a good rep in the last few years and the dual fan design is usually quiet.

If there was a lower power PSU already in place or the case had poor cooling, I would have said the 7850.

Now on to the PSU

Rosewill Hive 650W, $60 after promo code:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182132

Review
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Rosewill-HIVE-650-W-Power-Supply-Review/1460

The Corsair is fine is you want the lights

 

[claysm]

Well, I agree. Power and temps no object, I'd choose the 570 as well.
And I agree that the 6870 is the best card in that range as well.

 

[Nicklovn]

By the way, between the two processors, is there a difference when recording with fraps? I've read that there might be a bit of a difference?

 

[Proximon]

What two processors?

 

[Nicklovn]

Phenom II X4 965 BE
i3-2100

 

[claysm]

No, Fraps won't affect performance almost no matter what you are using.

 

[nekulturny]

Nobody that I know has actually benched it, but it stands to reason (at least from my logic) that if you're playing an intense game thats got your CPU usage up pretty high on a dual core that introducing another program like HyperCam or Fraps video recording on top of that would have a detrimental effect, as at least in my experience Hypercam tends to use a lot of CPU power on it's own. Fraps video recording as well, although unless you pay for Fraps I think it only lets you record for like a minute.

If someone has actual bench results on it, I'd gladly consider myself "standing corrected" however.

 

[Proximon]

I wouldn't expect huge differences. I would expect the i3 to do better though as Fraps does not use multiple cores.

Here's some good tips for Fraps
http://frapsforum.com/threads/best-fraps-performance-tips-afaik.559/

 

[nekulturny]

No, Fraps won't affect performance almost no matter what you are using.

I think hes talking about using the FRAPs video recording function, as I'm the one that brought it up in another thread.

 

[nekulturny]

Hypercam does use multiple cores however.

 

[Nicklovn]

OK thank you for your help. I think I'll change motherboard as well based on earlier suggestion to H77

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157303

My only problem is that is says the PCI express x16 is only supported up till 2.0? I know they're supposed to be backward and forward compatible, but what does it mean by this?

 

[Proximon]

Well, that's a point, if you are working with a heavily multithreaded game and you have overclocked your Phenom it just might perform better with Fraps... there are other factors with the platform that might make a difference too... benchmarks would be nice.