Budget PC - Gaming Unit, Hardware & Q's

[CKay]

Approximate Purchase Date: ASAP (Soon as I know what I'm getting)

Budget Range: $760 after rebates
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Wow on ultra in 25m with a ton of addons, OR running photoshop, lightroom, firefox concurrently with little to no lag.

Parts Not Required: Monitor Keyboard & mouse, reusing my Barracuda 7200.7 SATA hd (7200rpm) **Include Power Supply Make & Model If Re-using**

Preferred Website for Parts: NewEgg

Country: live in the us

Parts Preferences: intel chipset, normally id use nvidia for my vid card but im willing to give amd a shot.

Overclocking: If its easy, and im confident I can do it myself.

SLI or Crossfire: I think some of the stuff is crossfire compatible

Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080

Parts:

Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, comes with Three Fans-1x Front Blue LED 120mm Fan, 1x Top 140mm
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147153

HIS IceQ X Turbo H679QNT1G2M Radeon HD 6790 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161371

Antec EarthWatts EA-650 GREEN 650W ATX12V v2.3 SLI Ready CrossFire Certified 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371044


Rosewill RCR-IC001 40-in-1 USB 2.0 3.5" Internal Card Reader w/ USB Port / Extra Silver Face Plate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820223103

Team Elite 2GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Desktop Memory Model TED32048M1333C9
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820313101

Pareema 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Desktop Memory Model MD313C81609L1
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820576002

MSI PH61A-P35 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel H61 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130609

Intel Core i5-2400 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz (3.4GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2000
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115074

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - OEM
(This is 99 on newegg, does anyone know where i can get it cheaper?! Lowest I can find is 94 incl shipping.)http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986

OCZ Agility 3 AGT3-25SAT3-60G 2.5" 60GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227725





Questions:

Opinions of this setup?! If someone can suggest a part that works equally well for less money that would be great. Conversely, if something I have here really blows, please let me know. LOL!



I can swap the Roswill case for a slightly cheaper on with a 120 top fan instead of a 140 or get a case with less fans. Considering that the cpu, power supply, and video card all have their own fans, how much MUST I have in addition? Having that many fans going seems like a lot to me.

Is my power supply big enough? Really, I’m looking to get the sufficient level without going over. Every penny counts!

Can I get away with using the factory heat sink? Is my unit going to suffer a lot?

I decided to go with a ssd. What would be the overall dif between this drive and simply re using my 7200 rpm barracuda drive?

Something I didn’t get was why tom suggested (in the 600 article) a regular 99$ Seagate 7800 rpm hd over reusing a sata drive and adding a ssd. Aren’t ssds much faster? I tried to see if I could get a similar speed 30gig ssd, but from what I saw it didn’t seem like it was any cheaper. Thoughts on this? Since im reusing my sata drive can i get away with a 30gig drive with windows 7 or no?


Additionally, this will be my first time assembling the entire unit myself and I’m a touch nervous. I’ve replaced parts, but never done any soldering or things like that. Any tips on a good tutorial or two would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance for the feedback!
CKay

 

[blazorthon]

Intel H61 motherboard chipset does not support overclocking at all. You need the P67 or Z68 motherboards for overclocking.

Your chosen CPU also doesn't support overclocking regardless of chipset. Only K edition (i5-2500K, i7-2600K, i7-2700K) support overclocking more than about 5%. If you do not overclock your CPU then the CPU cooler that came with the CPU is adequate.

Gaming today is better done with 8GB of RAM instead of 4GB. 16GB is excessive. Mixing RAM kits is not guaranteed to work and much less likely to work than a single memory kit that fits your needs/desires. If possible it is best to get a 2x4GB memory kit preferably running at 1600MHz with 9-9-9-24 or so timings for budget systems.

If you already have a good enough HDD than an SSD would be the next logical choice instead of another HDD. 30GB is the minimum I recommend for a Windows 7 or Vista installation. 30GB would be enough for Windows alone but 40-64GB would mean room for programs and other stuff on the SSD in addition to Windows.

Your machine does not look like it will generate nearly enough heat to need additional case fans besides the rear exhaust fan and maybe an intake fan in the side/front.

Your power supply is more than good enough even if you also get an i5-2500K and overclock it considerably.

That's all I have to say here, good luck.

 

[Proximon]

Nope, an SSD will do very little for you at that budget. You have other priorities

■LG 22X Super-Multi DVD Burner Black SATA Model GH22NS90B - OEM
■Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, comes with Three Fans-1x Front Blue LED 120mm Fan, 1x Top 140mm ...
■XFX Double D HD-687A-ZDFC Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with ...
A far stronger GPU
■OCZ ModXStream Pro 500W Modular High Performance Power Supply compatible with Intel Sandybridge Core i3 i5 i7 and AMD Phenom
More than enough for this build
■Mushkin Enhanced Silverline 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model 997002
■Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - OEM
That's what you pay.
■COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 "Heatpipe Direct Contact" Long Life Sleeve 120mm CPU Cooler Compatible Intel ...
You need a good cooler to overclock
■Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 ...
■MSI P67A-C43 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Yeah the board is cheap but should get you an OK beginner's OC and has SATA 6GB and USB 3... two things you should always have.
TOTAL: $795.96

$40 in rebates and a $10 promo code on the PSU.