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Need Advice on New PC Build

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Hey guys i came up with this build today, and was wondering if there were any better options or adjustments that I could make. I'm a complete noob so some of these may not be compatible. Basically looking for the best for how much I'm paying!

Goal Price: Around $600

Used for: gaming such as bf3, sc2, etc.

GIGABYTE GA-Z77-DS3H Intel 7 Series Motherboard $99.99
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/ite...


Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30 GHz Quad Core $219.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...



Patriot Intel Extreme Master Viper 3 4GB Module $14.99
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/ite...


EVGA SuperClocked GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi) $114.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Seagate Barracuda 1 TB Hard Drive (Overkill?) $69.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...


575W ATX12V SLI Ready Power Supply (Is it sufficient?) $24.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Total: $545

P.S: I also need the smallest tower that wont sacrifice performance and overheating issues to fit all these components in, must be relatively cheap too!


Thanks in advance!

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I'd Barely call that a 400W PSU (only has 300W to the 12V rail).

I'd pay a bit more and get something with good reviews from someone like JonnyGuru or BigBruin.

http://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/psu_recommendations

I'd also recommend a beefier video card for modern games. A 560ti is basically twice as good as a 550, but I'd consider the 660 ti a much better value, as you should get a copy of borderlands 2 with it.

That would end up bringing the price up to 800 instead of 550 though.

I echo tiny on the video card but I am very much concerned about the PSU (Power Supply Unit). Over the years that I have been in this business that I have learned is that you always want to get a quality PSU. PSU are one of the most common items to go bad and they can be hard to troubleshoot and can even damage other components when they go bad. So I would advise that you spend a little more money and pick up a PSU like this XFX Core Edition Pro550w http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
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You will not get close to high end gaming, at decent resolution, using i5, with a budget of $600. The performance of i3, in most games, is not far behind i5, if at all. That will free up SOME funds to get a slightly better GPU, than that weak GTX550Ti, and a proper power supply, that may last longer than 5 mins.
Something will actually give you decent gaming performance, even at 1080p resolution, many times better than with GTX550Ti.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i3-3220 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor ($119.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock H77M Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7870 2GB Video Card ($209.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 431 Plus (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($44.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($15.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $575.92
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

If you REALLY want i5, with overclocking, you should be thinking of something like this.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($169.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($26.82 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($134.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7870 2GB Video Card ($209.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower Case ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec Basiq Plus 550W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($55.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($15.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $773.74
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

You could save over $50, at the moment, as Newegg have a $15 off deal, on that mobo, PLUS 8GB of free RAM, so you wouldn't need to get that separately.

First of all thanks for all the wonderful insight! I really appreciate the help

I found this link on youtube of a build similar to my original one that was able to max crysis 2 and bf3 on a lower resolution (1366x768).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkaTPhfcCPc

i5 2500K
8GB Ram
GTX 550Ti
1TB hard drive
Biostar motherboard
Thermaltake commander usb 3.0 case 600 w power suply


Do you guys recommend going with this build or sticking with malbluff's build at $575.92?
Thank you!

The drawback with UTube is anyone can virtually post any rubbish. If a couple of years ago, someone coupled i5-2500K, Biostar H61, GTX550ti, and 600w Thermaltake PSU, they would have been thought "strange". Today.... If you have a low monitor resolution, you don't necessarily need the power of HD7870. As tiny voices said, something like HD7770 would be adequate, for reasonable settings, in almost any game, but definitely better than 550Ti. Here's the benches, for HD7870.<a http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/548?vs=541 /a>

and comparing GTX550Ti, with HD7770.<a http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/536?vs=541 /a>
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