What do you think of this $550 gaming build?

[bsod74]

Hey guys. Im going to make a gaming/general use pc, for about 550 dollars. I came up with this build; any thoughts/suggestions? Oh, and dont worry about OS, monitor, mouse, and keyboard.

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black edition $120
Mobo: ASRock M3A770DE $65
GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD 6850 $155
HDD: Seagate Barricuda ST500DM002 $44
RAM: G.SKILL 4gb DDR3 1600 MHz $33
PSU: Antec Earthwatts EA-500D 500W $60
Case: Rosewill Challenger $60
Optic Drive: Sony Optiarc Black SATA Model $20

This all comes out to about $557, not including rebates.
Thanks!

 

[Outlander_04]

Drop the cpu to a 955. Its the exact same part , and its easy to overclock it to 965 speeds [ and beyond ] .

Id spend a little more and get a motherboard with a 970 series chip set . That will give you USB3 and a chance for upgrades to AMD's next generation processors

 

[ScrewySqrl]

An alternative build:

i3-2100: $125
AS Rock H61M/U3S3: $75
GSkill 8 GB DDR3-1333: $44
Sapphire HD 6850: $154
Seagate 500GB: $40
Xigmatek 400W: $35
DVD: $19
Rosewill R102: $30
Rosewill Blue LED 120mm fan: $8

$530.

Better gamer than the AMD

 

[bsod74]

Thats seems like a pretty good build Nutty. How is the case and the PSU, though?

 

[ScrewySqrl]

I use the case myself. Its a solid Mini-tower.

the PSU is fairly reliable and got a great review here on Tom's in October, 2010.

 

[bsod74]

Oh, alright. I might just get a bit stronger PSU though, just incase i want to OC. Thanks

 

[bsod74]

Best answer selected by bsod74.

 

[Outlander_04]

An alternative build:

i3-2100: $125
AS Rock H61M/U3S3: $75
GSkill 8 GB DDR3-1333: $44
Sapphire HD 6850: $154
Seagate 500GB: $40
Xigmatek 400W: $35
DVD: $19
Rosewill R102: $30
Rosewill Blue LED 120mm fan: $8

$530.

Better gamer than the AMD

Unfortunately this is not good advice . The 2100 is marginally better gamer in benchmarks on clean systems , but I doubt it will perform better on a real computer in regular use . Even if it did the 955 phenom can be over clocked to compensate for the very small difference , and the 2100 cant be overclocked at all .

Add in that the phenom will spank the 2100 everywhere else , and by a decent margin , I dont think going with this build was the better choice