Advice on this gaming rig?

[SSUSeaWolf]

Running at 1920x1200 and looking to upgrade. I have no brand preferences or specific budget constraints. Computer will be used for gaming. Starcraft 2 and I'm probably end up checking out some FPS games.

I'm trying to build the rig so that there's no blaring bottlenecks. I was hoping the following would be a good balance, assuming I can unlock the 2 cores on the CPU:

CPU - AMD Phenom II X2 555
$102 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103846

Mobo -ASRock M3A770DE AM3 AMD 770 ATX
$62 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157176

Ram - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
$105 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231193

Video Card - POWERCOLOR AX4850 1GBD3-PH Radeon HD 4850 1GB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16
$100 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814131163

Hard drive - Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb
$100 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136284

Random optical drive - $25

I already have the following:
PSU - OCZ Fatal1ty OCZ550FTY 550W ATX12V / EPS12V
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817341022

Case - Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129021

Comes out to be around $500 pre tax.

I need advice on every part, but the motherboard, video card, and ram are the 3 things I'm most clueless about.

Thanks!

 

[Blain]

Good time to build?

Yes

 

[SSUSeaWolf]

Yes

Thoughts on the above setup?

 

[Dasda]

Yes

Everything is good except for RAM. I asked my friend who built a system last year just find out the prices of last year cause I am looking for RAM to go with my 920system. He had gotten 8gigs of DDR3 kingston hyperx 10666 for $70cdn. Now I am looking at $170cdn for the g.skill NQ series 12800. Now that is insane!

But build now cause ram prices probably will fall but not over a week it will take a couple of months. You would probably loose out on countless hours on your new system which is priceless. waiting will probably save you about $40-50 on ram and everything is else is priced good atm.


This might be a better CPU choice as you can probably unlock the 4th core too.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...52&cm_re=amd_phenom_ii-_-19-103-652-_-Product

 

[SSUSeaWolf]

Everything is good except for RAM. I asked my friend who built a system last year just find out the prices of last year cause I am looking for RAM to go with my 920system. He had gotten 8gigs of DDR3 kingston hyperx 10666 for $70cdn. Now I am looking at $170cdn for the g.skill NQ series 12800. Now that is insane!

But build now cause ram prices probably will fall but not over a week it will take a couple of months. You would probably loose out on countless hours on your new system which is priceless. waiting will probably save you about $40-50 on ram and everything is else is priced good atm.


This might be a better CPU choice as you can probably unlock the 4th core too.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-652-_-Product

They seem pretty similar: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?p=83&p2=120&c=1

The 555 loses to the multithreaded apps, but the gap would probably be non-existent with all 4 cores unlocked.

 

[Blain]

If you need a new rig, now is a fine time to build.
Why play the waiting game, trying to save a couple of bucks.
If your budget is so tight that those couple of bucks will make or break you, you should wait until you save up some more cash.

 

[SSUSeaWolf]

If you need a new rig, now is a fine time to build.
Why play the waiting game, trying to save a couple of bucks.
If your budget is so tight that those couple of bucks will make or break you, you should wait until you save up some more cash.

I'll go ahead and buy parts. I just need advice on which ones.

 

[jae]

It is not a good time for gamers to build.

 

[SSUSeaWolf]

It is not a good time for gamers to build.

Care to elaborate?

 

[CraigRT]

I just came from a 4850... I'm not sure it will push the FPS you want at that resolution.

You might be better off with a 5770 or a used 4890, or something with a bit more balls.

My 4850 can run L4D2 at 1920x1080 with 4xAA, but its not great. (frames dip below 30 quite often) And that game is not very demanding on hardware either!

My 4890 is a monster. I run max res, max AA, and its smooth all the time.

I know you said you're just playing starcraft2 for now, and that's fine, but the 4850 is EOL, i would get something a bit better for your future endeavors into FPS, even if it means saving up a bit more.

 

[SSUSeaWolf]

I just came from a 4850... I'm not sure it will push the FPS you want at that resolution.

You might be better off with a 5770 or a used 4890, or something with a bit more balls.

My 4850 can run L4D2 at 1920x1080 with 4xAA, but its not great. (frames dip below 30 quite often) And that game is not very demanding on hardware either!

My 4890 is a monster. I run max res, max AA, and its smooth all the time.

I know you said you're just playing starcraft2 for now, and that's fine, but the 4850 is EOL, i would get something a bit better for your future endeavors into FPS, even if it means saving up a bit more.

I concur. I found a 5750 for $130 on newegg, but of course it's sold out. I can't find anything else near that price at the moment. 5770 seems good, but it's coming in around $160+, which is getting a little pricey compared to the ~$100 4850.