New Computer

[Souls]

Mostly looking to Weeble or Markb for this one, but just wanting a second (or third ) opinion on what I'm about to spend a bunch of money on.


Motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131398
ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO AM3 AMD 785G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - $99.99

Fairly run-of-the-mill, standard mobo. Didn't want to spend an extravagant amount on it, but didn't want to skimp out. Experience has told me that below $80 will get me a cheapo board that will just die.


Processor:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103808
AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor - $159.99

Couldn't see the sense in dishing out an extra $120 for 6-core when I doubt I'll be needing that much power. I'm on a budget, after all!


PSU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207002
XFX P1-650X-CAG9 650W ATX12V 2.2 / ESP12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power - $99.99

650W to give me the power that I need. Don't see the sense in buying a bigger one if I don't need the extra wattage.


GPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102873
SAPPHIRE 100283-3L Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card - $149.99

Pretty self-explanatory. I could've bumped up to a 5870, in theory, but I can take care of that if the time comes. 5770 should take care of me pretty well.


Memory:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211451
A-Data 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory - $139.99

Teh ramzzzzz. Mine don't shave their ass though


Hard Drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211412
A-DATA ASINTS-80GM-CSA 2.5" 80GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - $199.99

80GB for an operating system, and whatever games I plan on running on it. I have ~1.5TB in unused hard drives sitting around that I can throw in on the fly, and a 2TB external that is largely unused.


Have an extra case sitting at home, so unneeded expense. Thoughts, good sirs (and madams)?

 

[CFalcon]

I got my new computer a week ago, and I have that exact motherboard and a 1gb XFX Radeon HD5770 GPU. I have the AMD Phenom II X2 555 rather than the X4, and 4gb RAM rather than 6, running windows 7 64 bit. And it goes like an absolute dream. Can play Nap:Total War and Supreme Commander FA/2 on max graphics settings with no noticeable lag. Haven't tried anything else yet...

I've heard that motherboard recommended by quite a few as the best around without spending a great deal more. As to the CPU, are you mainly going to be using the machine for gaming? In which case 2 cores is a better choice than 4, and 6 I think is unneccesary unless you're doing some hardcore multitasking.

Final point: the motherboard only supports DDR3 RAM up to 1333 MHz as standard. It can take higher frequency memory, but you have to overclock it, so only wanna be doing that if you know what you're doing as it might throw up some problems along the way.

 

[Souls]

Cheers, CF. Gaming won't be the computer's only purpose, I plan on doing lots of other things and running a bunch of other things at the same time, so I felt the quad was a justified expense. Overclocking the motherboard won't be a problem, either.

Glad to know I'm shopping for quality parts still ;P

 

[Souls]

Another note: SSD, or WD Velociraptor? I can't seem to justify getting a $200 SSD for a few games, photoshop, and an OS. Someone change my mind?

 

[Polo]

I haven't been keeping up-to-date with hardware recently as I've been trying to save money rather than buying a new PC but I always check out Custom PC's buyer's guide here http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/buyers-guide/2010/07/13/pc-hardware-buyer-s-guide-july-2010/1 Might be an idea to read through it.

Also, I'd go for a i3 or i5, not a big fan of AMD anymore.

 

[Weeble]

No point getting a SSD at the moment as they're just not worth it. You can get a 1TB Samsung T3 drive for about 60 quid/$90. As Polo suggests as well, I'd go for an Intel i5 or i7 instead of the AMD as they just have the edge in my opinion (unless you want to pay premium, in which case AMD's top end are just above Intel).