My first build. Is it good?

[redrum201]

I came here for suggestions and help for my build here it is

 

ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM 19.99$

Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, comes with Three Fans-1x Front Blue LED 120mm Fan, 1x Top 140mm ... (case) 49.99$

Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive 64.99$

SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity 134.99$

COOLER MASTER GX 450W RS450-ACAAD3-US 450W ATX12V v2.31 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply 59.99$

CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B 53.99%

COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO RR-212E-20PK-R2 Continuous Direct Contact 120mm Sleeve CPU Cooler Compatible with latest Intel ... 34.99$

Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 .. 219.99$

ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard 119.99$

 

So what do you guys think? I think I could do better on a graphics card but I'm not sure what tho. Please, any suggestions advice help would be greatly appreciated!

[Shurman292]

What's your budget?

 

I would get a little beefier PSU if I were you. I'd start with a 600-650 watt just to give it a little breathing room.

 

Really though everything else looks good. The HD 6850 is probably the best bang for your buck that you can get right now (unless you buy used ones). If you want, you could upgrade to an HD 7850 (current generation) or an Nvidia GTX 560.

[redrum201]

What's your budget?

 

I would get a little beefier PSU if I were you. I'd start with a 600-650 watt just to give it a little breathing room.

 

Really though everything else looks good. The HD 6850 is probably the best bang for your buck that you can get right now (unless you buy used ones). If you want, you could upgrade to an HD 7850 (current generation) or an Nvidia GTX 560.

Budget, I'm shooting for 900. Alright, better PSU it is. Any recommendations? There are so many lol. Yeah, I reviewed the card, from what i've seen it runs bf 3 ultra settings.

[wevsspot]

I'm down with everything except the power supply choice.

 

Also, if you or anyone you know lives near a MIcrocenter - they have a sale running on the i5 2500K for $169.99. Beg, steal or borrow to get someone to save you a ton of cash by buying it at MC..

[redrum201]

I'm down with everything except the power supply choice.

 

Also, if you or anyone you know lives near a MIcrocenter - they have a sale running on the i5 2500K for $169.99. Beg, steal or borrow to get someone to save you a ton of cash by buying it at MC..

I switched to a 550 watt PSU. I still need to buy windows 7 which is dumb expensive 200$ wtf. Closes micro center is about 40 mins from me.

[Shurman292]

I'm down with everything except the power supply choice.

 

Also, if you or anyone you know lives near a MIcrocenter - they have a sale running on the i5 2500K for $169.99. Beg, steal or borrow to get someone to save you a ton of cash by buying it at MC..

+1 You can save a ton of money by going this route.

 

As far as power supply, I have been recommending the Seasonic M12II 620 watt PSU. Unfortunately it is currently out of stock at the Egg, but if you can find it somewhere I would go that route. The fact that it is semi-modular is a very attractive feature, plus it is a very solid, reliable brand. I have had no problems with them.

 

I would also recommend Corsair PSUs but IIRC they are re-branded Seasonic PSUs. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. Something like this would work well though.

[Shurman292]

I switched to a 550 watt PSU. I still need to buy windows 7 which is dumb expensive 200$ wtf. Closes micro center is about 40 mins from me.

That 40 minute trip to Microcenter would be well worth the cost of gas

[vandreadstriker]

I'd get an Antec 650W Earthwatts Green instead for $79.99 ($64.99 if you take the discount in newegg). 80+ Bronze certified and a very solid unit from Seasonic. I'd suggest that you change the RAMs to G.Skill Ares 8GB 1600 Cl9 instead. Same spec and performance but $8 cheaper for the tradeoff of colour/aesthetics..Other than that, looks good to me! If you can, try grabbing that 2500K for $169.. A very sweet deal IMO. Sorry for the lack of spacing, typing on my phone and it ain't letting me skip lines.l

Edited July 17, 2012 by vandreadstriker

[wevsspot]

I'm just not a huge fan of the Cooler Master GX series power supplies. I like the other recommendations though, Antec, Seasonic, Corsair - any of them above 500W would be a fine choice. If you absolutely have to go with a second tier brand for pricing purposes you might consider XClio. I've used several of their units in "cost avoidance" builds and they have been a solid bargain. While others may sneer, I'll vouch based on personal experience.

 

Here is an example ;

http://www.newegg.co...#scrollFullInfo

 

And for the naysayers.,..... I've got an older 500W XClio unit working her little heart away in a secondary rig I built at least three years ago, and it works as good as the day I installed it. This PC is on 24/7 too. That rig has been upgraded a couple times and now includes Asus AM3 motherboard, 720BE processor, 8Gb DDR3 and an 8800GTS 512 video card. A couple hard drives, one optical drive and some case fans.

[Tjj226_Angel]

Honestly, for a gaming PC on your budget, I would do a total overhaul on the list.

 

MSI Z77 micro atx mobo....$115-$100after rebate

 

i5 3450...$150

 

Any DVD drive.....it really doesn't matter. $20

 

8GB Gskil Ares RAM (1600mhz)...$45

 

Power and Cooling 500 watt modular PSU 80 plus bronze and a single 12v rail...$80-$60 after rebate- $55 when you apply the promotional gift card to your purchase

 

windows 7 home premium 64 bit full version for system builder....$100 (no idea how you figure it is 200 bucks.

 

Silverstone Case (basically the same thing as your rosewill case except it has usb 3.0 headers and it is the same price as the rosewill case after rebate)...$55-$40 after rebate-$50 after shipping

 

Seagate 1TB HDD (I figure 25bucks more for double the storage, and it is a bit faster)...$90

 

Gigabyte AMD 7770 Ghz edition (clocked to 1.1GHZ)...$110-$90 after mail in rebate.

 

 

This is where things get interesting. You can break you 900 budget by just a tad and get a second 7770 for crossfire which is about the same performance as a 7950, or you can get a 60 GB SSD for SRT caching and stay within your budget.

 

I will let you and the rest of the members decide on that.

[redrum201]

Honestly, for a gaming PC on your budget, I would do a total overhaul on the list.

 

MSI Z77 micro atx mobo....$115-$100after rebate

 

i5 3450...$150

 

Any DVD drive.....it really doesn't matter. $20

 

8GB Gskil Ares RAM (1600mhz)...$45

 

Power and Cooling 500 watt modular PSU 80 plus bronze and a single 12v rail...$80-$60 after rebate- $55 when you apply the promotional gift card to your purchase

 

windows 7 home premium 64 bit full version for system builder....$100 (no idea how you figure it is 200 bucks.

 

Silverstone Case (basically the same thing as your rosewill case except it has usb 3.0 headers and it is the same price as the rosewill case after rebate)...$55-$40 after rebate-$50 after shipping

 

Seagate 1TB HDD (I figure 25bucks more for double the storage, and it is a bit faster)...$90

 

Gigabyte AMD 7770 Ghz edition (clocked to 1.1GHZ)...$110-$90 after mail in rebate.

 

 

This is where things get interesting. You can break you 900 budget by just a tad and get a second 7770 for crossfire which is about the same performance as a 7950, or you can get a 60 GB SSD for SRT caching and stay within your budget.

 

I will let you and the rest of the members decide on that.

Thank you everyone who has replied with detailed and very helpful information!

 

To Angel: You saying my budget is high or low? Not quite sure where you're getting at haha I will take a look at the components tho, thanks

Edit: The 64bit Windows 7 link doesn't work.

Edited July 17, 2012 by redrum201

[My_Inner_Fred]

Hmm very good suggestions so far. What Angel was saying was for a gaming pc with your budget you should make a whole new list of components instead of sticking with your current list of parts.

 

You know if you want to cram more stuff into your build you could always get a cheaper copy of windows 7. If your a student I know there are certain places where you can buy Win 7 for a lower price. Getting windows 7 for free isn't to hard either. Look around maybe you can find a deal.