Help with first build - gaming rig

[Clayman]

Hey,

My old computer is broken and it's old enough that I don't see much point in trying to fix it, so time for a new one. I'm a bit of a noob at this. It's been a long time since I payed any attention to hardware and this will be the first time that I'm putting it together myself.

It will primarily be a gaming PC. I guess the goal is to run all modern games at max/near max settings and hopefully to future proof it a bit. I don't plan on overclocking. I don't plan on making any major upgrades in the near future. There's not really any set budget, but I'd prefer that it doesn't go all that much higher than what it's at now. I'm not actually buying it off of Newegg, but I linked the Newegg pages so there would be no confusion about what part I'm talking about.

Here's what I have so far:

CPU - AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor

I was thinking of going with the Phenom II X6 1090T, but it seems sort of pointless seeing as there's no games that utilize six cores. If there's some other reason that a six core is a better choice, I'll be willing to reconsider.

GPU - XFX HD-587X-ZNFV Radeon HD 5870 (Cypress XT) 1GB 256-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

The one component that I'm not being cheap on. I was planning on a 5850 at first, but now I'm thinking I'll go with the 5870 since it's within my budget. How much of a difference is there between the two? Do you think the difference justifies the price?

Motherboard - GIGABYTE GA-870A-UD3 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

I don't know very much about motherboards and this is the part I'm having the most trouble with. The one I linked to there is cheap, seems to do everything I want it to, and has a lot of positive reviews. I'm certainly not decided on it yet, though. All I'm looking for is a motherboard that will support all my hardware and is high quality/unlikely to break. I'm willing to spend more money, but I don't want to waste money on features that I'll never use. I'd appreciate any input you have on this topic.

Memory - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL

I've been having a bit of trouble choosing memory as well. A lot of memory seems to be intended for Intel builds, and I want to make sure the memory I pick is compatible.

Case - Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

PSU - Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V Ver.2.2 / EPS12V version 2.91

HDD - Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive


Keeping in mind that I'm not overclocking, do you think I'll need any aftermarket cooling, or will the stock fans/heatsink be enough?

I've also been considering a somewhat higher end and more expensive Intel build with an i7 CPU and 6GB triple channel memory. How much of a difference in performance and future proofing do you think I'd be seeing with this?

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Yami]

All good choices on the parts. Though I can't guarantee that the HD5870 will fit in the Antec 300 - it's possibly too long.

How much of a difference in performance and future proofing do you think I'd be seeing with this?

Performance will be a fair bit better; future-proof too since future CPUs are meant to be using the 1336 socket, I believe.

 

[DerekC1990]

If you want the absolute best graphics card you might be interested in looking at this one. Its 80 dollars more but doubles your GPU's ram, everything else stays the same. I know there are better ones, but I'm trying not to post one that costs 1,500+ dollars LOL.

Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100290SR Radeon HD 5870 (Cypress XT) 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Eyefinity 6 Edition Video Card

 

[Sean W.]

the 5870 2 gig version will not give you any better performance in gamming. it is deffinatly not worth $80 more.


and no the 5870 will not fit in the antec 300

whats your budget and what do you need and somene here will put together a build for you.

 

[Muffin Man]

yes, a 5870 will fit in an antec 300.

yiu might not be able to install a hdd right across from where the card is installed (especially if you get a non-reference version that has the pci-e power connections at the end of the card instead of at the top), but it will fit that case.

 

[Clayman]

Thanks for the replies.

I didn't realize there were going to be issues with room in the case. Any ideas as to what a better case would be? I just want one that has good ventilation and will fit all my hardware. I'm not looking for anything fancy. Preferably lights and other flashy stuff will be kept to a minimum.

whats your budget and what do you need and somene here will put together a build for you.

There's not really any set budget. For the AMD build that I listed in my first post, I'd prefer not to go much higher. I'm also considering going with a more expensive Intel i7 build that would cost around $250 more than the AMD one. Basically I'm just trying to make a powerful gaming PC without wasting too much money on top of the line hardware that will significantly drop in price within the next year. The exact budget isn't all that important, but a rough estimate would put it somewhere in the $1400-$1500 range (including OS and DVD drive).

I should add that I'm not buying from Newegg, so the prices and combo deals there aren't going to apply to the cost of my build.

 

[Sean W.]

yes, a 5870 will fit in an antec 300.

yiu might not be able to install a hdd right across from where the card is installed (especially if you get a non-reference version that has the pci-e power connections at the end of the card instead of at the top), but it will fit that case.

when i was looking at the anted 300 for my build i emailed Anted and they said the 5870 wont fit...

 

[Muffin Man]

 

[S0ULphIRE]

^wow that guy is hopeless with a camera

 

[Njord]

Well the only thing i was told over and over when picking my parts was don't get the black edition if you don't plan on overclocking. Instead upgrade to the Newegg.com - AMD Phenom II X6 1055T Thuban 2.8GHz 6 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Six-Core Desktop Processor HDT55TFBGRBOX although has a lower clock speed its 6 cores which is the future. And if you don't like it downgrade to a 4 core no black edition.