First Gaming PC Build

J

jasperGT

New Member
Hey guys, I'm new to the forum, and I'm looking to build a PC from the ground up. I'm more of a car guy than a computer guy, but for the time being, I'm done putting money into the car. I plan on buying all the parts a week or two from now, and I plan to buy all the parts from New Egg out of convenience.

I would like to have a nice gaming PC that can play the newest FPS games that are out on the market as well as future ones as well. I will also be using this system to watch Blu Ray movies, and it would be great if I could hook it up to my plasma TV via HDMI. I also like to create FPS maps with in game map editors if that makes any difference. Basically, I would like you opinions on how this rig will perform once I fire it up for the first time with some current FPS games (Crysis, MW2, etc.) on high or ultra high settings with high resolution, how it will hold up for the next year or two or so, ease of upgrade-ability, if the system is balanced or if it has a huge bottleneck compared to the other parts, and obviously any component changes that will save me $$$ (click link for price).

Anyways, here she is! Total Price without any combo deals, taxes, shipping etc: $1,792.81

CASE: Antec Nine Hundred Two Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129058

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ965FBGMBOX http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727

MOBO: GIGABYTE GA-890FXA-UD5 AM3 AMD 890FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128441

GPU: SAPPHIRE TOXIC 100282TXSR Radeon HD 5850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102881

RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL7D-4GBRM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231303

SSD (For OS): G.SKILL Phoenix Pro Series FM-25S2S-60GBP2 2.5" 60GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231377

HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black WD7501AALS 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive -Bare Drive http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136283

PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-850TX 850W ATX12V 2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139009

Optical Drive: SAMSUNG Black Blu-ray Combo Drive - Bulk SATA Model SH-B083L/BSBP LightScribe Support - OEM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151199

OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116754

Monitor: LG W2486L Black 24" 2ms HDMI LED Backlight LCD Monitor Slim Design http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824005134

Keyboard: Logitech G110 Black USB Wired LED Backlighting Gaming Keyboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823126087

Mouse (already own :D): Logitech MX518

Additional Questions:

1 - Is 4GB of RAM good enough for what I'm planning, should I double up and get 8GB?

2 - I think I understand the ins and outs of most of the components that go into building a PC, at least enough to make a good purchase, but when it comes to MOBOs I just can't seem to wrap my head around the specs. Anything worth changing in that department?

Thanks for your help in advance. I really do appreciate it!

And if any of you care, here is where all my money has previously gone :cool:: http://mustangforums.com/forum/garage/2007-Ford-Mustang-1659-JasperGT.html
 
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that's the motherboard i have and i love it. good choice for a medium budget build i think.

do you plan on overclocking at all? if so, you should consider an aftermarket heatsink.

i'd just go with the phenom ii 955. basically the same as the 965 only lower clock speed (which overclocking can easily remedy).

4gb should be fine. down the road if you decide to get more you can :) but for now 4gb is plenty. and that is a good set of ram (actually the ones i would've recommended had you linked something else).

do you plan on doing a crossfire/sli setup in the future?

you don't REALLY need an ssd for just gaming. load times will be shortened but actual gameplay won't be affected. i would just go with a single big drive or even a smaller one for the os and another for other files.
 
Wow you guys are fast!

I think I will overclock eventually, but for first use I will keep it stock. What heat sinks would you recommend?

The price difference from the 955 to 965 is $13 which isn't the biggest deal to me considering the overall price of the build. What could I reasonably OC the 965 to as compared to the 955? But that brings up the next point in cash terms.

What kind of load time differences are we talking about when comparing the SSD to a single HDD? If I drop the SDD would it be worth upgrading to a 10,000 rpm HDD from the 7,200 rpm that is currently in the build?

I do plan to crossfire in the future which is why I opted for the 5850 and 850W PSU as opposed to a 5770 GPU and 650W or 750W PSU. For the time being, I think the 5850 will work just fine for me.

My target budget is around $1500 for everything from the ground up, but I'm not really strapped for cash. I just can't justify in my mind spending too much more for a computer. I went higher to almost $1800 and I don't want to pay any more than that.
 
windows can load in about half the time compared to a standard 7200 rpm one. if you don't transfer files very much from one hdd to another and don't care about load times i would just stick with the 750gb for os and files and put the extra towards other stuff, maybe like a 5870 or a hex-core cpu.
 
Personally, with your budget, I would go somewhere along the lines of this :D

Case ($89.99)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133074

Hard Drive ($59.99)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136040

Blu-Ray Combo Drive ($69.99)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151199

Motherboard + CPU ($364.99, $344.99 after rebates)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.480248

Video Card ($269.99)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150477

Power Supply + Memory ($194.98, $164.98 after rebates)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.469105

OS ($99.99)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...116754&cm_re=Windows_7-_-32-116-754-_-Product


Before rebates, tax, and shipping.

Leaves you around $350 for monitor and other stuff, if you want to change some parts.
 
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Thanks for the help so far guys. Looks like I probably drop the SSD. I'll have to think about the X6 and the GPUs and MOBOs for a little bit longer I guess. Although in all honesty, I will probably just use the savings to reduce the overall cost.

The main thing that I was worrying about was having an unbalanced system or having parts that were not compatible, but that does not seem to be the case. I'll check back up and see what others have to say, and I'll post my purchase list once I'm ready to buy.

Thanks again!
 
good ram, mobo, and gpu.

for the cpu, i'd go with the 955 BE. same as the 965 only cheaper and a slightly lower clock speed.
 
Yeah, I went ahead with with the 965, because my friend just recently built a computer (within the past month) and he loves his 965.

Also, the 902 case and the 965 CPU were a combo and I got $40 off. The 955 didn't have that particular case as a combo.

Actually it was a pretty good deal overall IMO.

3 combos totaling $90

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.492823

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.437524.13-128-441

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.493000

$15 promo code on the HDD

$50 in mail in rebates

$20 for keyboard

$10 for GPU

$20 for PSU
 
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