new to building computers

[svdiablo979]

hey guys, im new to these forums but after asking around i have realized that no one knows enough about computers to help me out so im going to see if you can help. I want to build myself a good gaming computer here is what I plan to purchase:

newegg.com

mobo- gigabyte GA-MA785GMT-UD2H
2.6ghz FSB
pcie 2.0 x16
DDR3 1800(oc)/1666/1333/1066 max 16gb
cpu- amd phenom 2 x4 955 black edition
3.2ghz
am3 125w
$235

gpu radeon 5770 1gb 128bit DDR5 $155
ram DDR3 1800 4gb $140

the rest I.E. hard drive, cd-rom drives i plan to cannibalize off my current computer. do you think this is a good setup? (like is it overkill, underkill, or fine) if not what do you suggest? Thanks for the help guys.

 

[Sean W.]

if you are going to go with a AMD processor i suggest getting the AMD phenom II 965 black edition, its not a lot more and it is considerably more powerful. but if you arnt hard set on getting an AMD chip id suggest an intel, they are more expensive but you really do get what you pay for from intel. Intel i7 920 and 930 are both great processors.

what games do you plan on playing? and what is your budget?

 

[Trotter]

+$20 for only a 0.2GHz speed bump is not all that much of a change in my eyes.

Unless your case is a mATX case, I would go with the full ATX version of the mobo:
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-MA785GT-UD3H AM3 AMD 785G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard

 

[Yami]

+$20 for only a 0.2GHz speed bump is not all that much of a change in my eyes.

Indeed, especially when you can get that for free with a bit of very basic overclocking.

 

[svdiablo979]

what games do you plan on playing? and what is your budget?

well Im a big simulation fan and my main motivation behind the upgrade is being able to to play silent hunter 5 and flight sim x on max settings. my computer now is only a amd 64 2.2 ghz with a geforce 8500gt and 2gb ram so its kinda old school. The motherboard is what confuses me the most. i know the basic differences I.E. ram type support, pci express slots and what not but all the new stuff like SATA and RAID i must say im in the dark about. I know SATA is a hard drive thing but im not sure how important it is and I have no clue what RAID is. As far as budget I dont want to go over $1,000 but I also dont want to upgrade again for years. optimum price has to be about $700

 

[Trotter]

A little over the optimum, but nice nonetheless.

GIGABYTE GA-870A-UD3 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
&
AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor Model HDZ955FBGIBOX
$240 w/free shipping on both

Antec Three Hundred Illusion Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
&
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
$115 w/free shipping on PSU

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL8D-4GBRM
&
XFX HD-577A-ZNFC Radeon HD 5770 (Juniper XT) 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
$270 w/free shipping on both

Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD6402AAEX 640GB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
$80

Newegg.com - ASUS Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - CD / DVD Burners
$22

Total = $727 + ~$20 shipping

Note- does not include OS.

 

[CalcProgrammer1]

I have the EarthWatts 650W power supply and WD Caviar Black SATA6gb/s hard drive, both of them are great. The EarthWatts PSU can easily handle that build (handles my i7 930 + RadeonHD 5870 no problem) and is very efficient (always blows out cold air even when the system is stressed). As for the WD hard drive, I got it for the SATA 6gb/s compatibility, haven't had time to run intense speed tests yet but it loads Windows faster than my other PC's and game load times are pretty good.