First-time build, feedback appreciated

[conradbloom]

Approximate Purchase Date: this week
Budget Range:aprox 550 - 650
System Usage from Most to Least Important:gaming, media

Parts Not Required: OS, monitor, keyboard/mouse
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg
Country of Origin: USA
Parts Preferences: none
Here is what I have selected so far. The base build was suggested by a friend, who has done his own builds, but not for some time.








AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103808


COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835103065


ASRock M3A770DE AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157176


G.Skill 4 GB (2 x 2 GB) DDR3-1333 (PC3 10600) Model F3-10666CL9D-4GBNS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231253


Sapphire 100315L Radeon HD 6850 1 GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102908


Western Digital Caviar Black WD5001AALS 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136320


HEC Blitz Black Steel Edition ATX Mid Tower Computer Chassis Gaming Case w/ Front Blue LED 120mm Fan & Top 120mm Fan
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811121096


Antec EarthWatts Green EA380D 380 W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371033

Lite-On 24x DVD Burner SATA iHAS 124-04
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106289



Please let me know if you have any suggestions/advice. Thanks!

 

[Quiksilver]

Your missing an operating system

...Slightly less awful looking case for a few bucks more.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129069

 

[conradbloom]

Gotta say that is an aesthetic improvement

 

[honj90]

I'm not quite sure about the PSU. I'm not saying it won't work and it's a very good PSU, but I think AMD is suggesting a 500W PSU for this graphics card.

Of course, they have to estimate other system components and they have to take people who will buy a crappy PSU (=low efficiency) into account, but as there is a big difference in your place I'd probably try an online wattage calculator just to make sure.

PS. This review has a nice power analysis for the GPU if you're interested
http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-6850-6870-review/10

 

[infoiltrator]

The Antec 300 is a better case than the 200, worth the difference, the rest well, why make it easy..
Antec 300
Antec 300 Illusion
Zalman Z9
Zalman Z9 Plus

 

[conradbloom]

sorry, and the operating system is Win7

 

[Davidh373]

$60 is way too much to spend on 500GB

Get a Samsung F3 1TB for a few $'s more

Other than that and the case everyone has been mentioning you are golden sir!

 

[mfenn]

I'm not quite sure about the PSU. I'm not saying it won't work and it's a very good PSU, but I think AMD is suggesting a 500W PSU for this graphics card.

Of course, they have to estimate other system components and they have to take people who will buy a crappy PSU (=low efficiency) into account, but as there is a big difference in your place I'd probably try an online wattage calculator just to make sure.

PS. This review has a nice power analysis for the GPU if you're interested
http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-6850-6870-review/10

The 6850 will cause the system to draw ~250W when playing Crysis, so the 380W will be fine.

As for the build, what the OP has looks fine as a budget gaming rig.

 

[honj90]

The 6850 will cause the system to draw ~250W when playing Crysis, so the 380W will be fine.

As for the build, what the OP has looks fine as a budget gaming rig.

My bad, thanks for the correction. I hadn't checked anandtech benchmarks and based my comment on this review
http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon...6870-review/10 (recommends 450W)
but it's obvious that with 250W you won't have any problems.


Other than that, I'd agree with the comment about an 1TB drive like
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822152185
I don't really think a Caviar Black drive is needed for a budget rig. At any rate, if you really don't need the extra storage, why not go with a cheaper 500GB drive (except if you want a particular feature of this one)?

 

[betasub]

AMD's 500W figure is clearly an ass-covering exercise for POS power supplies. The 6850 only requires a single six-pin PCIe connector, and AnandTech's review shows that it's somewhat frugal on power draw for the performance/mid-range sector.

As for the HDD, there's not much money to be saved here (other than the big $ step up to a good SSD), so it makes sense to get a large fast drive (F3 or Black) for boot/OS, with room for much, much more. The combination of 7200rpm and high-density platters gives a good balance of price, performance & storage space.

 

[mfenn]

AMD's 500W figure is clearly an ass-covering exercise for POS power supplies. The 6850 only requires a single six-pin PCIe connector, and AnandTech's review shows that it's somewhat frugal on power draw for the performance/mid-range sector.

As for the HDD, there's not much money to be saved here (other than the big $ step up to a good SSD), so it makes sense to get a large fast drive (F3 or Black) for boot/OS, with room for much, much more. The combination of 7200rpm and high-density platters gives a good balance of price, performance & storage space.

:thumbsup:

 

[conradbloom]

Thanks for the quality feedback everyone. Definitely going to make that change on the case and upgrade the hard drive to a SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB.

For a first-time builder this info was a huge help!

 

[betasub]

^ Good luck! Do post back to let us know about your delivery/build experience.