New SB Build.

[breakthings]

Trying to piece together a sandy bridge build for under a grand.

Going to be doing some gaming [Left4 Dead/Call of Duty/GTA]
Also photoshop/lightroom. Would like to game on my HDTV.
Most likely will be OC'ing over time.
Running Windows 7/Ubuntu

Monitor/keyboard/mouse/optical drive not needed. I do have an old Lian Li-PC60 case. Should I upgrade that as well?

Here's what I have so far.

Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz
ASUS P8P67 LE (REV 3.0) LGA 1155
SAPPHIRE 100314SR Radeon HD 6870 1GB
CORSAIR Enthusiast Series CMPSU-650TX 650W
CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)

Don't really have any "brand" preference. Just whatever works best at a reasonable price. Any known issues with these products? Bottlenecks? Also anything you can suggest to save a little $$$ or improve the overall system would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[tynopik]

special deal on 6870 right now

XFX ATI Radeon 6870 1GB Video Card at Newegg $156 AR w/FS

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150506

XFX 6870 @ Newegg


Enter VG3TENOFF to receive 10% off $210.

$210 Subtotal
- $21 Coupon

= $189 at checkout
- $30 Rebate
- $3 Cashback

= $156 out-of-pocket

also no need for 1600 RAM

 

[breakthings]

Thanks for the heads up on the graphics card!

What would you/anyone recommend as far as RAM goes?

 

[tynopik]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820178333

PNY Optima 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666)

$65 after $20 rebate

 

[mfenn]

The 650W PSU is overkill. A 500CX for $40 AR will be more than sufficient.

Go with the RAM that tynopik suggested.

Nvidia cards generally work better in Linux than AMD cards. I'd grab a GTX 460 instead.