Noob Here: Will this gaming/htpc build work?

[Bobstrauss]

I'm wanting to build a HTPC/gaming desktop, and I've never done anything like it before. Haven't even built my own PC, but I like to think of myself as halfway intelligent and capable.

Anyway, I have an idea for a build using the following parts. Seems like everything should line up right. The case is built for ATX mother boards, and seems to be sized right to fit all I want to cram in there. I'm just worried I'm overlooking something critically important.

Any ideas or tips from the experts? Think I should be able to play games like Fallout and GTA IV at high/ultra settings?

What I'm thinking about is listed below:


Silverstone LC 10 S-E Case ($140 on Amazon)
Gigabyte GA970 mobo ($70 on NewEgg)
G.Skill Ripjaws 8 GB (2x4) DDR3 ($25 through NewEgg)
LG Black 12x Blu Ray Drive ($35 through NewEgg)
Seagate Momentus XT Hybrid Drive ($72 through Outlet PC)
Ultra Limited Edition 550W Power Supply ($45 shipped through TigerDirect)
EVGA GTX 660 Graphics Card ($220 on NewEgg)
AMD FX 8150 CPU ($160 on NewEgg)

 

[Bobstrauss]

Now I'm thinking of going with the Radeon 7870 instead of the GTX 660. Found one that was even $10 cheaper than the 660.

Also, I just realized that the Seagate Momentus XT is a laptop drive, and therefore a 2.5" drive. It looks great for the price though. Should I still get it and just use an adapter to install it? Will this be too complicated?

 

[tromak]

Bob,

There are a few things that I wanted to comment on. While you can use a laptop drive and use an adapter, you can usually get a 3.5" drive with the same capacity for about the same price. If you do get the drive and the adapter, it should work.

For the power supply, I feel that it might not supply enough power to get the job done. EVGA says that for that card, you should have at least 450W with 24 amps on the 12V rail. If you can get an image of the label on the power supply, you can see what the output is for the 12V, 5V and 3V rails. So you've got at least 450W taken up with the video card. The AMD APU is at least a 100W part, actually AMD says it's 125W, so you're over at the advertised capacity of the power supply. When you add in the hard drive, Blu-Ray drive, RAM and such, you're probably looking closer to an 800W power supply. You can play with the numbers by using a power supply calculator, such as the one at Newegg. http://images10.newegg.com/BizIntell/tool/psucalc/index.html

On your Blu-Ray drive, if you plan on watching Blu-Ray movies on it, you may want to check to see if it comes with any decent player software. Otherwise, you may have to budget for some software. You'll also need to make sure that the monitor is HDCP-compliant. Otherwise the player won't work properly.

I hope this helps.

 

[cutebeans]

-__-. EVGA meant that the whole build should have at least 450w.

It doesn't say that the whole card should have 450w of power.

don't get a laptop HDD. just get a good 3.5 drive.

 

[Bobstrauss]

Thanks for the replies. How about I swap out my existing choice for a PSU with the Corsair CX 600, a bronze-certified efficient unit that should pack a little more punch. Then I could swap out the hybrid drive with a standard 7200 rpm one and maybe save a couple bucks in the process?

 

[cutebeans]

Yeah, that would be great.