Gaming Rig: First time Builder

[InsaneJester17]

Hey All! I was hoping you all wouldn't mind taking a look at a build I'm doing. I'm looking to build a great gaming rig that will last me some time. I'm also looking for ways to bring down price without sacrificing much in name of performance. Well, here it is:

Motherboard:
MSI NF750-G55 AM3 NVIDIA nForce 750a SLI HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard
Newegg.com - MSI NF750-G55 AM3 NVIDIA nForce 750a SLI HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - AMD Motherboards

Processor:
AMD Phenom II x4 955BE
Newegg.com - AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops

Power Supply:
Antec 650w
Newegg.com - Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V Ver.2.2 / EPS12V version 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC "compatible with Core i7/Core i5" Power Supply - Power Supplies

Ram:
4GB (2x2GB) OCZ AMD Black DDR3 1600
Newegg.com - OCZ AMD Black Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model OCZ3BE1600C8LV4GK - Desktop Memory

HSF:
Coolermaster Hyper 212
Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus Intel Core i5 & Intel Core i7 compatible RR-B10-212P-G1 120mm "heatpipe direct contact" Long life sleeve CPU Cooler - CPU Fans & Heatsinks

Graphics card:
Sapphire Radeon HD 5750 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 (Choose for Direct x11)
Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE Vapor-X 100284VXL Radeon HD 5750 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

Hard Drive:
WD Caviar Black 500 with 32mb cache
Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE Vapor-X 100284VXL Radeon HD 5750 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

My questions are, is Directx 11 worth it?
Do i need 32mb cache for my OS HDD? Or will 16mb be fine.

Open to any suggestions. Thanks!

 

[Yami]

All good choices.

32MB is preferable (and you get 64MB now) but AFAIK you're unlikely to notice much difference.

 

[Muffin Man]

my suggestion:
Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!
Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!
Newegg.com - ASRock M3A770DE AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - AMD Motherboards
Newegg.com - SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

excluding the cooler you listed, these total $671, which i think is only a few $$ cheaper than you current list.

if you dont like those choices, i can go cheaper if you want.

 

[InsaneJester17]

Very interesting. Is ASrock a good board maker? The only think I don't like about it is the coloring, as lame as that is.

That combo deal with the Chip and Ram is excellent. Thanks!

Is that video card that much better than mine for 150? I know it's a good savings with the power supply, but should I spend 300 instead of 250 that my set up is for PSU and GPU?

EDIT: I just noticed that is not quite the chip I want. I've read the one I posted (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103808&cm_re=955_be-_-19-103-808-_-Product) is slightly better. Bigger L3 and has C3 stepping.

 

[james.wired]

Yeah it's a great deal with the card and psu, you're basically buying a much better card than the one you picked out and getting the power supply for free. The 5850 will blow the 5750 out of the water, and last you longer in terms of perfomance...that's a REALLY great combo deal.

 

[Muffin Man]

the c2 and c3 x4 955's have the same amounts of l2 and l3 cache. the person in the reviews that said that the c3 version has more cache is wrong, they must have been adding the l2 + l3 cache.

c3 stepping does have some improvements though, so for $5 over the other combo, this one has the same ram but with the c3 instead.
Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!

and yes, the 5850 is a BEAST compared to the 5750, and the combo with the psu just makes it that much better.

also yes, asrock makes solid boards. you can read up on a review of that mobo i listed here
ASRock M3A770DE Motherboard - AMD's Discrete Value Chipset Introduction :: TweakTown

but if you just dont like it, you could spend a little more on this one
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3P AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - AMD Motherboards

 

[InsaneJester17]

Man you guys are good. Thanks a ton! I might go for that ASRock board since it's cheap and has 2 PCI express 2.0.

Any other suggestions? :-D

 

[Muffin Man]

the board does support crossfire, but i wouldnt use that mobo for it because the 2nd slot would only run x4.

im just pointin this out incase thats what you were thinkin since it has 2 slots.

 

[InsaneJester17]

OIC. The board I had chosen does SLI (Newegg.com - MSI NF750-G55 AM3 NVIDIA nForce 750a SLI HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - AMD Motherboards). Now I'm a noob in the Crossfire/SLI department. In order to SLI, do I need Nvidia GPU's? Or can 2 ATI's be SLI'd? How about the opposite?

I'm really not sure I'll ever run dual GPU's, but the option would be nice.

Thanks for your continuing help :-D

 

[Hefemeister]

SLI = Nvidia
crossfireX = ATI

The board you chose is SLI only so 1 or 2 nvidia cards or 1 ati card will work.