New rig help

[dluxking]

Hi I am building a new system and I need help. So far I have just about everything (specs below). I got $430 for Christmas and I am not sure what parts to buy with it. I still need the GPU but I want to get an aftermarket heat sink (I have the stock one) ,and a new hard drive. I have two hard drives already. One is a 120gb Sata hard drive I got from a 7 year old computer and the other is a new 160gb IDE hard drive I found at a garage sale for $2. I will be using this rig for gaming so I'm looking for the best performance without having to spend any more money after this to upgrade anything for a while. Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks.

specs (so far)
CPU: am3 phenom ii x4 955 be
ram: 4gb pny 1333 mhz
power supply: ultra 600w
case: Rosewill challenger u3 gaming edition
motherboard: Asus am3+ m5a97 r2.0

So far i really like the sapphire 7950 oc edition for $300: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202006

I also found a 1.5 tb hard drive for $75: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236380

 

[tiny voices]

The 955BE will likely bottleneck the 7950 a little.

People will tell you the WD Green drives suck. I use one and don't notice any difference between it and my old 7200rpm drive.

 

[dluxking]

well i plan to play at 1080p and if i get a good heatsink, overclock. would that make very much of a difference

 

[tiny voices]

I would say to go for an i3 3220 instead.

 

[dluxking]

i have already bought it. aren't all i3's dual core?

 

[tiny voices]

Yes they are dual core CPUs. They will outperform a 965be on a core to core basis (which matters for gaming) very much.

Take a look here:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106-5.html

 

[dluxking]

now i kind of regret buying amd now. It's to late now

 

[tiny voices]

Your best bet is to grab a coolermaster hyper 212 evo and overclock your CPU.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

 

[dluxking]

sounds good but what about the gpu? also i noticed your specs and am wondering how well it plays games like crysis 2 and metro 2033

 

[tiny voices]

I haven't played either of those but I get about 45 fps on skyrim on ultra with FXAA enabled and all distances set to furthest.

Funny story, tomorrow or the next day I am going to be getting an i3 3225 and an msi z77 motherboard from microcenter because they have a clearance sale and I get the board for free.

 

[dluxking]

wow thats pretty good. also does microcenter have better deals than newegg?

 

[tiny voices]

On processors and motherboards, ALWAYS. With certain CPUs (3225, 3570k, 3770k, and every AMD CPU) you get $40 off any compatible motherboard.

Their CPU prices are also usually $20 to $40 cheaper then newegg.

 

[dluxking]

do if i buy the 212 how much of an overclock do you think i can get?

 

[tiny voices]

https://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=0Atid2icGx257dFc1MnRteTlMb3VOMy13WklIRWRITXc&hl=es&output=html

This should be helpful.

 

[dluxking]

the 212 is a lot better cooler than i thought and its only $30. thats definetly in my cart. should i just buy the sapphire 7950 or is there something better for around the same price?

 

[tiny voices]

I would say to go for it. I like AMD cards and its a good price.

 

[dluxking]

thanks for the help man. i'm going to leave the thread open just in case anybody else wants to add anything.

 

[tiny voices]

Anytime.

 

[dluxking]

Best answer selected by dluxking.