New guts for my computer

[morbidman]

Hello everyone, I would like some help putting together a new computer as soon as possible to play new titles such as Crysis 2, Battlefield 3 and Rage at 1920x1080.

Currently, I have a Phenom II X3 720, 4 gigs of ddr2 800, a GA-MA785G-UD3H785G motherboard, a 550 watt PSU (I think I would need a new one to accommodate new parts?) and a hd4870 all running at stock speeds.

I'm looking to spend around $1000 to replace these parts (I plan to keep my case; an Antec 300, my optical drives and my 1TB hd.)

I am buying my parts and shipping my parts within the United States and I have no brand preference so long as it's a reputable manufacturer.

Here are some parts that I've found; most taken from the system builders 2011 sticky:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128476
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.614708
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231314
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130613

I'm also looking for advice on a new monitor as the one I have is 1680x1050. I would be greatly appreciative of any advice anyone could offer in regards to better prices or choices. Thanks.

 

[mfenn]

What you've picked out looks fine, though I'd probably go with a less expensive Galaxy GTX 570 since they're all reference cards anyway. A GTX 570 system draws about 360W while playing Crysis, so you should be fine with your current 550W PSU as long as it is of decent quality.

As for the monitor, here's a pretty good (for a TN panel) 23.6" 1080P ASUS.

 

[morbidman]

Thanks for the reply. I think the evga card has a display port and a better warranty though. Does anyone have a second opinion on the matter? Do I need a 2ms monitor too?

Also, will my case have proper airflow? I guess it's a bit small. I forgot to mention I added another 120mm fan to the side panel.
My PSU is this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817182017
Not sure of the quality though it has served me well for two years.

Apart from power and cooling, I was wondering what kind of benefits I should expect from overclocking. I've never done it before but am open to learning.

Finally, I was looking around and it seems a lot of people are building Sandy Bridge configurations with 4gigs of memory. Is that optimal for the games that are being released?

Thanks again for the info mfenn.

 

[mfenn]

I don't think that a DisplayPort connection or the EVGA "lifetime warranty" is worth the extra cost. Feel free to encourage EVGA to coast a little longer on their overinflated reputation though. :awe:

The Antec Three Hundred is a very good case, and you should keep it. The Rosewill PSU, not so much. Grab this XFX 650W for $50 AR AP.

Overclocking makes your CPU faster. That's pretty much all there is to it. Expect linear gains with clock speed.

4GB of RAM is perfectly fine for current and future games (basically until the consoles refresh). Many people are going with 8GB simply because it is so cheap right now.

 

[morbidman]

Thanks mfenn, good to know. I'll be sure to check out some guides on overclocking and pick up a new PSU. If I might want to install a second card in the future, should I get something heavier like a 750W unit? Still waiting for an answer on the 2ms monitor.

 

[mfenn]

Thanks mfenn, good to know. I'll be sure to check out some guides on overclocking and pick up a new PSU. If I might want to install a second card in the future, should I get something heavier like a 750W unit? Still waiting for an answer on the 2ms monitor.

I don't recommend upgrading to SLI at some point in the "future". In 18 months you'll find that the single cards will offer about double the performance of today's cards while using less power and producing less heat/noise than an SLI setup. Then there are all the little SLI gotchas to deal with (negative scaling, profile issues, microstutter, etc.) Not to mention the fact that you'll end up spending a lot more up front on the motherboard (the UD3 doesn't support SLI) and the PSU up front for potentially no gain if you don't SLI.

As for the monitor, response times are so easily distorted by manufacturers that it's a useless spec to use for comparison. If you want a more fluid experience than your standard TN or IPS panel, you'll need to get a true 120Hz panel.

 

[morbidman]

Wow I never looked at it that way. Well I guess I'll go with a single card then. 120hz monitors are out of my budget it looks like, oh well. Can anyone recommend a good heat sink/thermal compound for this application if I plan on overclocking? One more thing, I heard that my performance will dip considerably if I run two monitors off of the same card with different resolutions. Will this be very prominent in the configuration I am looking to run? Thanks!

 

[mfenn]

Wow I never looked at it that way. Well I guess I'll go with a single card then. 120hz monitors are out of my budget it looks like, oh well. Can anyone recommend a good heat sink/thermal compound for this application if I plan on overclocking? One more thing, I heard that my performance will dip considerably if I run two monitors off of the same card with different resolutions. Will this be very prominent in the configuration I am looking to run? Thanks!

The Hyper 212+ is the go-to standard for budget overclocking. The TIM that comes with it is pretty good as well.

I've never heard of running two monitors at different resolutions affecting framerates. In fact, the second monitor shouldn't really affect anything as long as you have enough VRAM to hold the contents of both displays. The 1.25GB of the GTX 570 should be plenty.

 

[morbidman]

Ok, I'm sold. Unless I can find any cheaper parts I'll go with the stuff you suggested. Thanks for your help.

 

[mfenn]

Ok, I'm sold. Unless I can find any cheaper parts I'll go with the stuff you suggested. Thanks for your help.

No problem, glad to help. Be sure to update this thread if you run into any issues.