How does my ~500$ build look?

[GoingBzerk]

Hello! I'm looking for some advice on my first build. So, without further ado, here is the format.



Approximate Purchase Date: Within 3 months

Budget Range: About 500$ Before rebates

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, Folding@home, Movies, Basic (very basic) photo and video editing.

Are you buying a monitor: No

Parts to Upgrade: Everything

Do you need to buy OS: Yes

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.com However, any reputable website will work.

Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

Parts Preferences: No Preference

Overclocking: Yes, but it is not vital.

SLI or Crossfire: Yes, in the future

Your Monitor Resolution:Currently I am at 1680x1050, however sometime in the future I would like to upgrade to 1920x1080.

Additional Comments: The primary games I would be running are Skyrim, Total War Shogun, and Minecraft. Maxing out settings is not important, but i'd like to be able to run on medium-high settings.

Why Are You Upgrading: I don't own any computer that has enough power to run any recent games (total war Shogun, Arma) on anything but low.




I have a few part selected out at the moment, however before I go buy them I'd really like an expert's opinion.

CPU - Intel Pentium G860 75$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116405

Motherboard - ECS P67H2-A3 80$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135279

PSU - Sunbeam PSU-ECO650-US 650W 60$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817709016

RAM - G.SKILL Value Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1333 33$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231424

HD - Western Digital WD Blue 500 GB 7200 RPM 70$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136769

Gpu - Asus 550 ti I can buy this from a friend for 75$

Case - COOLER MASTER Elite 330 I can also buy this from my friend for 10$

OS - Win 7 premium 64 bit OEM - 100$


Total- 503$




What do you guys(and gals) think? Any suggestions? Comments? Changes?

Thank you very much in advance!

 

[Dingleberg]

Have a look at this man

LITE-ON DVD Burner
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106289

Rosewill HIVE Series HIVE-550 550W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182131

Intel Core i3-3220 Ivy Bridge 3.3GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116775

ASRock H61M/U3S3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157236

Everything else just keep the same. All together it comes to $573.93 with the case and gpu. Its probably the best you can do and I am sorry its about 30 over your stated budget but it is definitely worth it.

 

[GoingBzerk]

Have a look at this man

LITE-ON DVD Burner
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106289

Rosewill HIVE Series HIVE-550 550W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182131

Intel Core i3-3220 Ivy Bridge 3.3GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116775

ASRock H61M/U3S3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157236

Everything else just keep the same. All together it comes to $573.93 with the case and gpu. Its probably the best you can do and I am sorry its about 30 over your stated budget but it is definitely worth it.

Three questions.

1) Will 550w be enough if I decide to Sli in the future?

2) Do you really think that an ivy bridge i3 will be enough of an upgrade to justify the 50$ price increase?

3) The motherboard you have there only have 1 pci-e slot, as I may do sli in the future I would like two.

 

[BreadWhistle]

Better RAM for only $4 more Here

 

[BreadWhistle]

Three questions.

1) Will 550w be enough if I decide to Sli in the future?

2) Do you really think that an ivy bridge i3 will be enough of an upgrade to justify the 50$ price increase?

3) The motherboard you have there only have 1 pci-e slot, as I may do sli in the future I would like two.

1.) It should be enough, but You'd be better to upgrade to a 7850 or GTX 660 and get better performance than SLI 550ti's

2.) YES! And for another $50 you can upgrade to an i5 with 2 more cores, 3mb more cache, and maybe more speed!

3.) Like I said, it'd be much better just to upgrade the video card than to SLI them. But i can search for another motherboard for you if you would like.

 

[GoingBzerk]

Better RAM for only $4 more Here

Nice find! Thanks.

 

[GoingBzerk]

1.) It should be enough, but You'd be better to upgrade to a 7850 or GTX 660 and get better performance than SLI 550ti's

2.) YES! And for another $50 you can upgrade to an i5 with 2 more cores, 3mb more cache, and maybe more speed!

3.) Like I said, it'd be much better just to upgrade the video card than to SLI them. But i can search for another motherboard for you if you would like.

Hm, i suppose you are correct! In that case, i'll go with the items you suggested rather than plannin on doing sli with two 550tis.Thanks a lot for the help!

 

[BreadWhistle]

Also I found this basically the same HDD but with twice the Space for $9 more
http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barracuda-3-5-Inch-Internal-ST1000DM003/dp/B005T3GRNW/ref=dp_ob_title_ce

 

[GoingBzerk]

Best answer selected by GoingBzerk.