$600 PC - check my work for errors before I order it?

[Levantes]

My ancient PC just bit it, so I'm ordering parts for a new one, hopefully this weekend. I'd like to keep it under $600.00 US. I've picked out most things based on a quite a bit of reading and browsing, these forums included.

It will be used for basic browsing, light gaming, and may transition some parts into the living room for Netflix and music playback and such, in a couple of years. The most demanding game I have right now is Fallout 3, but newer titles like Skyrim, SW:TOR and Diablo 3 are appealing.

Coming from the old machine are 19" 1440x900 display, mouse and keyboard, and one of my two cases - Thermaltake Soprano or CoolerMaster Elite 360.

PARTS:
*O/S is needed. Win 7 Home Premium is $90 on NewEgg, so unless you can point out a much better deal, there's about $500.00 left to spend.

*Hard Disk - Crucial M4 64gb SSD - I'll pick up a storage drive in a few months - $114.99 on New egg

*Power Supply - Corsair Builder Series CX500 V2 500W
- combo with 8gb Corsair Vengeance (2x4) 1.5V DDR3 - $91.98 for both, plus $20 rebate

*Motherboard - ASRock Z68-PRO3-M - $109.99
*CPU - i3-2105 (HD3000 preferred) - $134.99
- these two can be bundled for $229.99

*GPU - Sapphire HD 6850 $149.99 plus $15.00 rebate

I know, that comes in at $676.95 before rebate, and $640.95 after rebate, exceeding my own budget. I'm having trouble deciding what to trade out. Quad core i5 would have been nice, and I've considered a Phenom II X4, having always used AMD CPUs in the past, but I just don't see it happening. If the tradeoffs would cost a lot of performance, I can live with the $650.00 price.

Notes:
GPUs, also looked at ZOTAC GTX460 1GB - $149.99 plus $30.00 rebate and XFX HD 6870 - $169.99 plus $20.00 rebate. I'm not terribly demanding, so I might be satisfied with a much cheaper 6770, 6790 or 550ti.

If I go with a lower-powered GPU, there's a CoolerMaster GX450W PSU combo with 2x4gb G.Skill RAM for $73.98 plus a $15.00 rebate. Do I need two 6-pin connectors for a 6850?

Alternate CPU/motherboard consideration was AMD A6-3650 with Gigabyte GA-A75M-UD2H A75 MicroATX board.

I'm upgrading from (replacing, I suppose) a Socket 939 AMD Athlon 64 3500 on an ASUS A89-SLI, Nvidia 256mb 7600GS, 2GB PC3200 DDR, 80gb SATA HDD, old generation Thermaltake TR2-430.

Many thanks to anyone who takes the time. I know I'm asking questions that have come up numerous times before, but a little help putting all of that information together would be most welcome.

 

[lehtv]

It might even take half a year for the prices and supply of HDDs to return to normal. Since a budget build that's used for basic browsing and gaming doesn't immensely benefit from an SSD, I'd rather grab this 1TB drive for $100 while it's still in stock: http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=587...acture=Seagate. Can always add an SSD later.

The rest looks pretty good actually... But you could pair this Biostar H61 mobo with an i5-2400 for $240. You'd lose Sata6, USB3 and SSD caching, but the CPU would be a lot faster. If you intend to use the PC for a long time without upgrades, this'd be the way to go IMO. If you intend to upgrade every now and then, the Z68 mobo would probably be better as it should support Ivy Bridge (so you could upgrade the i3 SB to i5 IB). Theoretically H61 also supports Ivy Bridge but it's up to the manufacturer to release a BIOS update, and I'm not sure if they're going to release them only for Z68 or Gen3 motherboards. If you can afford it the best thing for longevity would be Z68 + i5.

Consider also MSI GTX 460 Hawk for $130 AR: http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=554...r&promoid=1316. Almost as fast as GTX470, will easily beat a 6850 but will also consume 80W more power at load. 6850 requires only one 6-pin connector so in fact you'd be fine with a Corsair CX430, while GTX 460 requires a CX500. Don't buy a crappy CM PSU.

HD3000 won't benefit you in the slightest when you have a discrete GPU. It wouldn't benefit you really even if you actually used it, HD2000 is fast enough for anything not gaming and both are terrible for gaming.

Despite the low monitor resolution, I wouldn't recommend skimping on CPU and GPU performance, you can upgrade the monitor to 1080p for less than $150 these days.

 

[Levantes]

Thanks, Lehtv, for showing me the light. I'm not crazy about H61, but it does everything I need at the moment, and does let me spring for an i5.

Thanks, also, for the ncix tip. I hadn't heard of them before.The 1tb Seagate is more than I need, but they do have a couple of 500GB drives cheaper than I've seen elsewhere. I'm still debating on SSD system drive and using my old 80GB SATA I drive for extra storage until prices drop again. A $60 mechanical drive would be more budget-friendly, though.

Last, the i5-2400 has a Newegg combo with an XFX 6870. After the $18 combo and $20 rebate, it's only $132. The MSI GTX 460 Hawx has a very nice factory overclock, but I think the 6870 should be similarly fast with lower power under load.

 

[mnewsham]

If you dont mind medium settings in games a 6770 is still a decent option, it is about the equal to my HD5870m in my sig rig. And I am getting 45FPS at high and 60FPS at medium in most games (at 1600x900 but should still deliver 45+ FPS at 1920x1080). Just an option if you really need to find some more money 😛

 

[Levantes]

I'd strongly considered a 6770. I have always contented myself with medium settings, and could do so, again. I think I'm willing to spend a little extra for something better.

Having read comparisons of a stock 6870 and the GTX 460, I think the 6870 has a slight edge, so will stick with that decision.

I've also decided on a cheap mechanical HDD instead of the SSD, for now.

I'm doing last-minute compatibility and discount checks, and should be ordering in about an hour.

 

[mfenn]

Sounds good. I would definitely get the i5 2400 and an H61. Those two extra cores are IMHO more useful than the Z68's extra feature set (which you likely won't use in this build).