New Builder, Advice/Suggestions?

[jg3220]

Hello,

So I am a computer novice looking for any advice or suggestions on my plans for a future build. My two choices of systems are:

1)
AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition Callisto 3.2GHz (newegg.com item# N82E16819103846
ASUS M4A78LT-M LE AM3 AMD 780L Micro ATX AMD Motherboard (newegg.com item# N82E16813131619)
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) (newegg.com item# N82E16820231402)
EVGA SuperClocked 015-P3-1582-AR GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) (newegg.com item# N82E16814130590)
Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM (newegg.com item# N82E16822136533)
LITE-ON Black DVD Burner (newegg.com item# N82E16827106335)
APEVIA ICEBERG ATX-IB680W-BL 680W (newegg.com item# N82E16817148028)
NZXT Crafted Series Vulcan Black Steel / Plastic Gaming mATX Computer Case (newegg.com item# N82E16811146065)

or 2)

Intel Core i5-661 Clarkdale 3.33GHz (newegg.com item# N82E16819115217)
MSI H55M-E23 Motherboard (newegg.com item# N82E16813130301)
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) (newegg.com item# N82E16820231402)
EVGA SuperClocked 015-P3-1582-AR GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) (newegg.com item# N82E16814130590)
Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM (newegg.com item# N82E16822136533)
LITE-ON Black DVD Burner (newegg.com item# N82E16827106335)
APEVIA ICEBERG ATX-IB680W-BL 680W (newegg.com item# N82E16817148028)
NZXT Crafted Series Vulcan Black Steel / Plastic Gaming mATX Computer Case (newegg.com item# N82E16811146065)

So my question is, do each of these seem plausible? and if so, which would be better for moderate online gaming, multimedia? if either has components that are not compatible, what would be better? etc...

 

[obsidian86]

wait a week intel will be launching some new things early next year

 

[sadams04]

The only difference here being the CPU and MB... They are both fine builds with the faster system being the I5. However, for the price of the I5 you should be considering a Phenom X4 build for something more comparable. Something like the below combo...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.565004

PSU => If you are alright with the price on the APEVIA consider this Xion 1000W unit.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817190021&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=10446076&PID=3928400&SID=skim2157X567668

 

[MadAdmiral]

Neither is ideal for gaming. Really, you're creating a greatly unbalanced build with massive GPUs and tiny CPUs. If you were to give us a budget, and some other info (check the link in my signature), we could give you a lot more help.

Here's what I'd look at:

CPU: X4 955 ($145) or i5-760 ($205)
Mobo: ASRock 870 Extreme3 (AMD, $90) or Asus P7P55D-E Pro (Intel, $180)
RAM: Corsair XMS3 2x2 GB 1333 mhz CAS Latency 7 $40 after rebate. 8 GB is overkill for what you're doing.
GPU: HD 6870 ($205 after rebate) or HD 6950 ($300)
HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1 TB $70
PSU: Antec Earthwatts 750W $61 after promo and rebate
Case: Whichever one fits your budget or tastes: Rosewill Challenger, Rosewill Destroyer, Coolermaster 690, Antec 300 Illusion, HAF 912, Antec 900 (or 902), HAF 922 or anything from Lian Li. Don't spend more than what the HAF 922 costs, as it's easily the best case out there.
Optical: Cheapest SATA DVD burner you can find.

@sadams: Horrible advice on the PSU. Xion isn't a good quality brand, and 1000W is complete overkill for 99.99% of all builds. Also, bad advice on the combo. All the X4s that aren't the 955 aren't worth it, and that board isn't that great (no Crossfire) for the price.

 

[jg3220]

Well money's not really a problem, I'm looking for something solid that's gonna be almost flawless and seamless for my moderate gaming/multimedia, but I don't need top of the line everything if I don't need it.

 

[primedius]

If you want some really nice application performance, try grabbing 3 or 4 Samsung f4 hard drives. The 320 gig drives run 42.00 each at newegg. Since these are single platter drives, you can drop them into a RAID 0 array and get some killer performance from them. I wouldn't advise raid 0 for data, for as a game/OS drive it holds great promise.

 

[jg3220]

and on that corsair memory, the only cl i could find is 9 instead of 7, would that compromise performance much in my case?

 

[jg3220]

thanks primedius, but I don't wanna do a raid. just one drive, a second down the road, maybe, but I wanna stay away from raids.

 

[MadAdmiral]

I meant the CL 9. Typically, I recommend 1600mhz/CL 7 (G.Skill's Ripjaws are the cheapest at $70), but with the prices so different right now, unless you're a huge overclocker, there isn't going to be much of a difference.

@primedius: I also like the performance of the F4, but I find the pirce to be a tad inhibitive. The F4 is a little faster than the F3s (500 GB platters), but at nearly twice the cost per GB (compared to the 1 TB F3), I can't justify the slight speed bump.

 

[jg3220]

gotcha. ok then, that helps a lot, thanks! if i had to choose between the two systems you suggested, which do you think would be better for me? id rather have the amd configuration for the lower price, but would the intel one be better?

 

[MadAdmiral]

I'd definitely wait and see what happens with Sandy Bridge in a couple of weeks, but the Intel build will be a bit more powerful (assuming the same GPU) overall. If getting the Intel CPU means getting a weaker GPU, the AMD build would be more powerful for gaming, and about equal in other areas. It's really a toss up between the two.

 

[jg3220]

alrighty then, ill keep your build in mind but wait for intels new stuff. thank you very much madadmiral and others

 

[jg3220]

Best answer selected by jg3220.