Looking for a few suggestions.

[zombiecrew]

Its been about 6 years since I've purchased a computer and about 10 since i've built my own. It is time for a new one. I've been doing some research on the boards and built a shopping list, but I'm not sure if it all fits together well. Am I over doing it on certain parts? I'd like to trim this down to about $1000, but its not essential. I'm sitting at 1150 after discounts.
Some info:
This is intended to be a gaming machine and I play SC2 and Modern Warfare mostly.
I prefer AMD and I have an AM3+ for a new chip later.
I may eventually get crossfire, but if these games do well with just one vid card, I doubt it.
I also will not buy western digital HDs. I've had nothing but bad luck from them for years. I know those caviar HDs are cheap, but I can't bring myself to buy another WD product again.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Motherboard:
GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard $149.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128514&Tpk=GA-990FXA-UD3

OR

GIGABYTE GA-990XA-UD3 AM3+ AMD 990X SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard $139.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128510&Tpk=GA-990XA-UD3

CPU:
AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ965FBGMBOX $129.99 code -15$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727

Memory:
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL $51.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231428&Tpk=F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL

GPU:
HIS IceQ X Turbo H695QNT2G2M Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity $269.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161372&Tpk=H695QNT2G2M

POWER:
LEPA G900-MA 900W SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply $179.99 - 50$ rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817194083

Hard Drives:
Crucial M4 CT064M4SSD2 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) $114.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148441

Seagate Barracuda XT ST32000641AS 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive $139.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148506&SortField=0&SummaryType=0&PageSize=10&SelectedRating=-1&VideoOnlyMark=False&IsFeedbackTab=true#scrollFullInfo

DVD
LG CD/DVD Burner $16.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136238

Fan:
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 "Heatpipe Direct Contact" Long Life Sleeve 120mm CPU Cooler $29.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065

Case:
COOLER MASTER HAF 932 Advanced RC-932-KKN5-GP Black Steel ATX Full Tower Compucase Case with USB 3.0, Black Interior and Four Fans-1x 230mm front RED LED fan, 1x 140mm rear fan, 1x 230mm top fan, and 1x 230mm side fan $159.99 20MIR

Total: 1234 not including discounts.

 

[Outlander_04]

Just buy the Phenom 955 . Same part clocked a bit lower and simple to OC to 965 [ and higher] speeds

I like that FXA-UD3. Very nice for crossfire or SLI


The Lepa psu is something we dont see too often here . I have no idea if its a quality unit or not . Have you searched for reviews ?

 

[hellfire24]

you have done an xellent work man!!!!!!!!!!
suggetions-
change hdd to 2Xsamsung spinpoint in RAID 0 for large and fast storage
change psu to coolermaster silent pro 850w(still overkill for dual 6950)
OR
corsair enthusiast series 750w
for mobo your first choice is pretty good and reliable.

 

[AdrianPerry]

Wow you've put together a very very nice build there. Don't often see such well thought out parts from an initial build idea

Firstly, stick with the first motherboard you listed (GA-990FXA-UD3), it looks much nicer in black than the cheaper Blue Gigabyte board you listed 😛

Ok so cost cutting. Here's a few options worth considering:

PSU - 750w-800w is more than enough for an SLI 6850 build. $179 is very overkill for what your build needs. Any of these 750w Units would be perfect:
XFX: $99 (after rebate) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207016
Corsair: $130 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139030
Antec: $114 (after rebate) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371052

The Antec is probably the best of the bunch there with a great rebate price and 80PLUS GOLD rated.

GPU: $239 after rebate MSI 6950 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127604

Should provide better, quieter cooling than the HIS you listed previously. And comes in at $10 cheaper.

HDD's - Well you'll be using your Crucial M4 for OS I presume 😛 so buying two single 1TB drives and either running them as seperate drives, or in a RAID0 set up would work well. Samsung SpinPoint F3 or SeaGate Barracuda or even WD Caviar Blacks recommended here if they can fit into budget.

 

[zombiecrew]

Outlander_04
I saw another LEPA model recommended in a few articles on another site and it had a 50$ rebate. It doesn't have many reviews on newegg unfortunately.


Hellfire24:
The samsung spinpoints have 32mb cache and sata 3.0gb while the seagate has a 64mb cache sata 6.0gb. Is there a noticable difference in this?


Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[AdrianPerry]

Outlander_04
I saw another LEPA model recommended in a few articles on another site and it had a 50$ rebate. It doesn't have many reviews on newegg unfortunately.


Hellfire24:
The samsung spinpoints have 32mb cache and sata 3.0gb while the seagate has a 64mb cache sata 6.0gb. Is there a noticable difference in this?


Thanks for the suggestions!

The cache size will make a difference, maybe not very noticeable since its of a fairly small size anyway - but the SATA II/SATA III makes no difference what so ever in terms of mechanical HDD's. SSD's are the only storage device that will actually benefit from SATA III speeds.

 

[hellfire24]

GPU: $239 after rebate MSI 6950 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127604

Should provide better, quieter cooling than the HIS you listed previously. And comes in at $10 cheaper.

you got any proof (no offence)just curious.
by the way i dont think that twinfrozer III worth the extra cash
it is only a few clocks higher and slightly just slightly better looks.
you can save a few bucks by going with twinfrozer II and using msi afterburner to overclock

 

[AdrianPerry]

GPU: $239 after rebate MSI 6950 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127604

Should provide better, quieter cooling than the HIS you listed previously. And comes in at $10 cheaper.

you got any proof (no offence)just curious.
by the way i dont think that twinfrozer III worth the extra cash
it is only a few clocks higher and slightly just slightly better looks.
you can save a few bucks by going with twinfrozer II and using msi afterburner to overclock

HIS 6950 - "Temperatures remained excellent throughout testing. At idle, the card sits around the 47C area. Under load, the usual number is 69C, and this didn’t change when overclocking. The highest recorded temperature I saw was only 72C, and the fan speed remained very quiet as well. It did in fact stay quieter than the 6850 IceQ X we reviewed a little while ago, and that was not a loud card by any standard." Taken from this article: http://www.viperlair.com/2011/his-6950-iceq-x-turbo-x-2gb-graphics-card/6/

MSI 6950 - Idle temps of 32, load temps of 60 http://www.guru3d.com/article/msi-r6950-twin-frozr-ii-oc-review/10

 

[AdrianPerry]

Apologies, i've just noticed the HIS 6950 you listed was 2GB and the MSI i listed was only 1GB - this should'nt make a difference at 1920x1080 resolution, but any higher and you'll be wanting a 2GB card.

This is slightly ($10 cheaper) XFX 2GB 6950 $240 after rebate http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150550

MSI's 2GB version comes in at about $260 (after rebate) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127588

 

[zombiecrew]

Best answer selected by zombiecrew.