building first desktop!

[wootwoot]

I'm compiling a list of parts for a new desktop. I'm running under a budget of about $650-700 before taxes. I need a monitor too, but I can probably get a refurb.'d one from Best Buy. I don't have any experience with building computers, and I'm unsure of what's compatible with what. How do I check if the mobo has enough slots/pins/whatever for CPU connections and RAM, etc...I want to be able to run Skyrim on medium settings at about 30-40 FPS (I'm praying here) and play D3 and DOTA2.

What I have so far:
MOBO: NCIX.com - Buy MSI P67A-G43 (B3) P67 ATX LGA1155 DDR3 2PCI-E16 3PCI-E 2PCI CrossFireX SATA3 USB3 Motherboard - MSI/MicroStar - P67A-G43 (B3) - in Canada
CPU: NCIX.com - Buy AMD Athlon II X4 640 Quad Core Processor AM3 3.0GHZ 2MB L2 Cache 95W 45NM Retail Box - AMD - ADX640WFGMBOX - in Canada
RAM: NCIX.com - Buy Kingston HyperX KHX1600C9D3K2/8GX 8GB 2X4GB DDR3-1600 XMP Dual Channel Memory Kit - Kingston - KHX1600C9D3K2/8GX - in Canada
GPU: NCIX.com - Buy Zotac GeForce GTX 460 Fermi 675MHZ 768MB GDDR5 Dual DVI Mini-HDMI PCI-E DX11 Video Card - Zotac - ZT-40401-10P (ZT-40404-10H) - in Canada
CASE: NCIX.com - Buy Coolermaster Haf 912 Black Mid Tower ATX Case 4X5.25 1X3.5 6X3.5INT No PS Front USB Sound - COOLERMASTER - RC-912-KKN1 - in Canada
PSU: NCIX.com - Buy OCZ ModXStream Pro 500W ATX 20/24PIN SLI Ready Modular Cables 135mm Fan Active PFC Power Supply - OCZ Technology - OCZ500MXSP - in Canada
HD: NCIX.com - Buy Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.C 500GB SATA2 Hard Drive 7200RPM 16MB Cache 3.5IN OEM - Hitachi - 0F10381 - in Canada
Cooler: ??

In total, this is about $580. I live in Vancouver and I'm intent on getting my parts straight from the stores.
Help?

 

[Yami]

MOBO: NCIX.com - Buy MSI P67A-G43 (B3) P67 ATX LGA1155 DDR3 2PCI-E16 3PCI-E 2PCI CrossFireX SATA3 USB3 Motherboard - MSI/MicroStar - P67A-G43 (B3) - in Canada
CPU: NCIX.com - Buy AMD Athlon II X4 640 Quad Core Processor AM3 3.0GHZ 2MB L2 Cache 95W 45NM Retail Box - AMD - ADX640WFGMBOX - in Canada

That motherboard is for Intel CPUs with the 1155 socket. The CPU you've picked is an AMD one that uses a completely different socket You'll either need to get a socket 1155 CPU instead, or a motherboard which has an AM3 socket for the AMD CPU.

Decent choices otherwise.

 

[RubeSmench]

• Great selection thusfar. You may want to look for motherboard/processor combo packages. Could possibly save you a couple of bucks, and the site should make sure the processor and mobo match up before hand.
• As to your question regarding "slots/pins/whatever", for each product, if you click on the 'specifications' tab on the page, it will bring you to a more detail oriented display of information regarding that product, such as for your listed motherboard, here are your memory technical specs: 4 x DIMM, Max. 16 GB, DDR3 2000(O.C.)/1600/1333/1066 ECC, - To break it down, 4 empty RAM slots which can hold DDR3 sticks, at either 1600, 1333 or 1066 (8533-10666-12800 MB/s respectively)
• I would also suggest taking a look at this Power Supply. More power, 80+ certified, same amount of connectors and close in price.
• My final suggestion would be getting a SATA3 hard drive as well, since your motherboard will support it. Transfer rates are double that of Sata2 and prices should be relatively close.

Happy Hunting - Rube​

 

[wootwoot]

Thanks for the input. How about this mobo+cpu combo?
NCIX.com - Buy NCIX Gaming Bundle Deal Gigabyte GA-870A-USB3 870A CrossFireX Motherboard and AMD Phenom II X4 955 - Bundle Deals - GA-870A-USB3&X4955 - in Canada

 

[Yami]

My final suggestion would be getting a SATA3 hard drive as well, since your motherboard will support it. Transfer rates are double that of Sata2 and prices should be relatively close.

While there's nothing wrong with that, there will be no performance difference between a SATA2 and SATA3 hard drive since there are no hard drives which saturate SATA2 (except perhaps small 15k server drives?). It is worth it with SSDs since they almost saturate SATA3.