Need advice about case, GPU and PSU

[elheriel]

Choosing parts for this new system of mine is proving to be a lot more difficult than I anticipated and I would like to have some opinions. Anything to help me make up my mind. I'm from Canada so all the prices will be in CAD dollars.

Let's start with the case. I originally intended to get an NZXT Phantom 410 which sells for around 120$ here. Shopping for a less expensive option without sacrificing key was disappointing, but I did come across a great deal on a Bitfenix Raider for 70$ Anyone ever tried this case ? How does it compare to other, more expensive cases like the Phantom, HAF or Antec's 1100 ?

Now the GPU... Up until yesterday the plan was to get a sweet GTX 670 in that new build, but that is now out of the question. Something came up, I need to cut at least 100$ in the budget. That leaves the GTX 580, GTX 660ti or the Radeon 7870. Which one of those would be the price/performance winner ? I'm intending to overclock the GPU if the makes any difference.

Last but not least PSU. There's a nice deal right now on NCIX.ca, they're selling an XFX 550W 80+Bronze for 70$, and they're giving away Dirt 3 with it. Really cheap, PSU seems reliable enough. Is this going to be enough to safely power my build if I put a core i5 in there ? If not I guess I'll grab a good old modular Corsair 750 for 115$ I know this is a bit of a wall of text... thanks for taking the time guys.

 

[malbluff]

Case: Antec are quite good, and HAF's aren't bad. Corsair Carbide's are very good quality, it's a question of which Carbide you need to allow for any expansons, as to whether it's economic.
GPU: Forget the 580, last year's news. The Radeon 7870 is probably the best value, overall. The 660Ti is more expensive but better at certain games, like BF3. You really need to look at benchmarks for both, in games you like, to determine which is better, for YOU. The HD7870 overclocks quite well.
PSU: 550W is fine, providing you are not going to use the GTX580, and not planning to use additional GPU's, at some stage, in SLi/crossfire.

Have you got other items sorted. Obviously would need idea of budget, if you want suggestions, for other items (also if you have any other needs, besides gaming)

 

[elheriel]

Yeah that's the problem... I used to have a budget that would have been between 750$ and 1000$. Since the recent bad news I received there is no budget anymore... I simply need to spend to least possible on it without sacrificing too much performance. The only thing I have already figured out is my SSD - 128 gb samsung

The original wishlist had a GTX 670, a Corei5 3570K and a thunderbolt mobo.

Now I'm down to considering a lowly pentium or a sandy bridge core i3 and a Biostar z77 motherboard. Ah money...

Thanks for your advice, I'll get the 550W and try to make my mind about the GPU. Gonna order all the parts tomorrow morning after I check the benchmarks.

 

[malbluff]

There's no point in getting a Z77 mobo with SandyBridge i3, unless you are planning to upgrade to i5-3570K later. If you are thinking of upgrading to better processor, in year or so, it may even (tough call) be worth, getting something like AMD Phenom ll x4 965, and minimal mobo. Then upgrade to Haswell (due out 2nd quarter 2013), which would need another board, anyway (different pin number, even to Ivybridge.) If you want to have i3, and stick with it a while, Ivybridge i3 is due to be launched, in next few days, in USA.