Runo + $1500 + Home-Built Desktop = ???

R

runo

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Nov 20, 2009
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So I've never once in my life BUILT a desktop from the ground up. I have a fair amount of experience taking most of the parts out and putting them back in but I have never done any wiring. With that said, I am confident I want to put my methods of ordering from computer companies behind me and finally build my own PC. I could really use some help, maybe a link to a step by step guide (pictures guides are even sexier)?

This build is just what I INTEND to get in a month or two, after I get a lump sum check for winning a social security check. The most I want to spend on a computer is $1400, but I can bump it up to $1500-1550 tops if needed. Obviously the parts will probably be at least marginally cheaper, so this thread is mostly a "HOW I SHOT WEB" and generally just checking in on how well the computer is put together, and how well it will perform.

Parts-wise;
*Case: Is a full-sized tower overkill?
*PSU: Again, overkill? It's 750W. It seems like I wouldn't lose much by dropping down to 650-700W.
*Motherboard: Just hoping it's sufficient and plays well with others...
*CPU: This seems to be their most powerful available 4-core. I'd rather not go into six cores because it seems pointless.
*AMD vs. Intel / ATi vs. Nvidia: TBH I don't see the point in being biased towards AMD/Intel or ATi/nVidia. I have a slight preference for AMD/ATi because of their partnership and because I use them a lot.
*Brands: I do lean towards EVGA for nVidia and Sapphire or XFX for ATi, however.
*Memory: Mushkin was a sort of 'spur of the moment' choice as I've heard they're the new dog on the block in terms of efficient memory for dekstops/gaming.
*HDD/Disc Drives: I don't like solid-states for obvious reasons. I play a lot of games and tend to never uninstall a game once it's installed unless I wipe the PC clean (usually once a year), but other than that I have a 500GB HDD of lesser quality and am still only using 200GB of games and music. I don't keep movies, but I would like to be able to watch BluRay on my PC with the fancy sound card
*Sound Card & Headset: I was iffy on these ones. It seemed logical to pair a 5.1 card with a 5.1 headset, but I don't know if I want a USB-interfaced sound card - I've never messed with them, honestly. I do intend to use the computer to put vocal tracks into for when I am singing, and am not sure if the USB bidniz will be problematic for that or in general. -- I wasn't positive on the headset either, but it looks big and beefy and that's what I'm looking for in a headset.
OS: Win7 Ultimate vs. Home Premium-- Are there that many more benefits to purchasing Ultimate over HP for a gamer/musician?

I've put together a list of parts that I intend to put into a full-size tower, with the problem being that I'm only 90% that they all match. I'm also not certain that I have every part that I need, and I think I need one (two?) anti-static wristbands for however much they cost. I'm also not sure if I could save myself money by ditching unnecessary parts, or maybe push a little extra dough into the build for nicer part(s). Sorry for the size of the image!

neweggjpg.jpg


The grand total is currently $1426.75 WITH shipping. Are there any parts that don't match, that I could switch out for something better and/or cheaper, any parts I'm missing?
 
Case: A mid sized tower is fine.
PSU: 750W is a bit overkill unless you plan on overclocking or you're running SLI or Crossfire. most computers will draw <550W.
Motherboard: It looks good, Asus has a great reputation when it comes to mobos, I myself own a Asus P6T for my i7 PC.
CPU: Why not trash the motherboard, get an i7 compliant mobo like the Asus P6T which rolls a bit more than the one you listed and get an i7 which is a bit more but vastly superior to the x4 Phenom?
AMD/ATI etc etc: I roll Intel/ATI and I haven't come across any issues.
Brands: You're correct there.
HDDs: If you're more conservative when it comes to hard drive size than trading that off versus the super fast Solid State Drives might be the right choice for you. If you're the guy who does a lot of file tranffering and want uber-fast write speeds then SSD is for you. If you're the guy that wants a million games on their HDD then a regular SATA drive is fine.
Memory: When it comes to RAM brands I tend to stick with OCZ but there are many that are vastly superior than it. I haven't heard of Mushkin so I can't make a point on that.
Soundcard: I'm pretty sure the onboard sound on Asus boards are quality and support up to 7 channels. In my opinion you don't really need one.
OS: If you're a office freak and want to do stuff like file transferring 24/7 and remote desktop (which there are third party applications for that) then Ultimate/Professional is for you. if you're not, then Home Premium is fine imo.

I also want to note on your parts. Take away the 5830 and get a 5850 for a few bucks more. I don't even have to explain why lol.

For my soundcard post. It's been dully noted that you're a musician and I hear that the Sound Blaster has been aimed especially at them so if you don't trust onboard sound for Asus motherboards then I guess you can stick with it.

As for the Cooler. I suggest you REALLY REALLY get a Cooler Master Hyper 212. It's cheaper and cools much more effectively than the Corshair. But that's only if you take my suggestion and go with an i7 mobo.

Now here's where I have to be stern. I really suggest you just take the build that my good friend from a different community Tinkerbell has put together.

Case:Antec Twelve Hundred
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129043
$159.99

MoBo:ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 LGA 1366
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131365
$289.99

CPU: Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202
$288.99

HSF:ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134
$24.48

RAM:CORSAIR DOMINATOR 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145224
$258.99


PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010090058 50001459&name=Corsair Memory
$109.99

HDD:SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185
$84.99

GFX: GIGABYTE GV-N295-18I-B GeForce GTX 295
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125254
$509.99

or

DIAMOND 5970PE52G Radeon HD 5970
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814103088
$599.99


Subtotal: $1,737.41 GTX295 || $1,827.41 ATI 5970
Click to expand...

He built it for a 5970 or 295 GPU. Personally. You can easily cut it down to $1500 if you can find a cheap 5850 like http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150477&cm_re=5850-_-14-150-477-_-Product. Trust me, he knows his stuff and even with a 5850 it'll preform amazingly.
 
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Don't get the 965be, it's not worth however much more it is than a 955be.
And don't get the 5830, either, unless you absolutely have your heart set on it or if you must. But I would definitely not get it.
 
Reading the advice from both of you, it all sounds solid and sound. I am switching up the parts on the build as we speak and will submit the new build for your review at the bottom of this post! :>

@andre1028: Awesome advice. I think I will switch over to Corsair honestly, I know for a fact that they are a reliable brand (whereas I know nothing but hearsay about Mushkin), and the speeds on the Dominator series are pretty sexy. I'm gonna chop down the PSU to 550-600W and am considering switching over to Intel, but - while I know the clock rates are well - 'clocked' differently between companies - are the differences that big as to warrant the price change, I.E. will 3.4GHz AMD compare to 2.66GHz Intel (what with the 2.66GHz Intel being a lot more expensive)?

@Phobus:
Ph?bus said:
Don't get the 965be, it's not worth however much more it is than a 955be.
And don't get the 5830, either, unless you absolutely have your heart set on it or if you must. But I would definitely not get it.
Click to expand...

Great advice, thanks! Out of curiosity, the 965 seems to be a standard clockrate of .2 GHz higher than the 955 for only $20 more - what makes it not worth it? ;O I changed the new build to be Intel/ATi, and upped it from a 5830 to a 5850 as well as some other sleeker changes. This new build seems a lot beefier.


Overall--
I think I am going to mess around with some parts and shear off some unnecessary additions to save money. Here's what I was eying as a complete replacement to my original list, taking from Andre's advice and modifying Tinkerbell's list. It's just shy of $1700, which is something I think I can manage and if I can't, I can probably mess with some of the remaining parts (ditch the headset, alter the RAM brand/type/number, et cetera). I changed the case to a mid-sized tower, and the rest of the system - especially the GPU, CPU, memory and mobo - seem much, much more powerful.

Thoughts?:
neweggINTEL.jpg
 
You could save even more on just getting an i5 750. Hyperthreading does absolutely nothing for gaming. And I'd pick up a better powersupply. Hold on, I'll link one in a sec.

E/ SeaSonic X650
I know it's expensive, but it's more than worth it. It's the PSU I plan on getting soon-ish. Once I get enough money. lol
 
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Ph?bus said:
You could save even more on just getting an i5 750. Hyperthreading does absolutely nothing for gaming. And I'd pick up a better powersupply. Hold on, I'll link one in a sec.

E/ SeaSonic X650
I know it's expensive, but it's more than worth it. It's the PSU I plan on getting soon-ish. Once I get enough money. lol
Click to expand...

Yep I agree.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You can save nearly 100 bucks by overclocking it to match some of the higher clocked i7 models (860,920,930 etc etc). But if you're not too keen and hate taking risks, even though overclocking on the new i5/i7 models has been made extremely simpler in the past decade, the i5 750 will still do fine on stock with the right card to pair with of course... which the 5850 is probably good for I guess.

http://namegt.tistory.com/224

Just make sure if you DO plan on overclock you get a power supply within the 500-700 watt range with a good amp number but I guess you could worry slight less about overdrawing because of how power efficient the 5850 is.
 
Unclear on a good RAM selection, help wanted

So I took some advice from this thread and from some of my tech-head-y expert friends as well. I think I've narrowed my PC parts "shopping list"... I ultimately dived into an AMD/ATi build that is just barely over $1500. Now that I know what parts I wanted to put into the build, I shaved off a lot of the costs and actually managed to make it a MUCH, MUCH BETTER build for a lot less. Uh, I think.

Versus the earlier builds I listed, this is what I have now:
COOLER MASTER HAF 922 w/ Cooler Master 600W PSU (pre-mounted)
WESTERN DIGITAL Caviar Black 500GB 7200 RPM 3.0GB/s (though I almost went for the 1TB 6.0GB/s SATA-3 w/ 64MB cache... or maybe I'll shell out a little extra for the 300GB VelociRaptor?)
ASUS Crosshair IV Formula AMD-AM3 890FX
CORSAIR Dominator 6GB SDRAM DDR3 1600 [PC3 12800] Triple-Channel Kit
SAPPHIRE Vapor-X 5870 2GB (though I MIGHT go for the 5850 and overclock it)
AMD Phenom II X4 955BE [3.2GHz per core, intent is to overclock to the 965BE's stock rate of 3.4/core]
SONY Black SATA DVD-ROM Disc Drive
CORSAIR Cooling Hydro Series 120mm
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit [OEM]
Total: $1493.91 + S&H





But since I went for the ASUS Crosshair IV 890FX mobo, I'm not sure what kind of memory to grab. I know it's 240-pin and accepts a multitude of memory standards (DDR3 -- 2000, 1800, 1600 and others, as you can see), but that's where the problem lies; I'm NOT clear on if it accepts triple-channel memory or if I'm just ripping myself off. All that seems to be available in terms of high-performance / 'gaming' memory are sets of triple-channel kits.

How are these choices for memory? Which sticks would you go for, if either?
Mushkin Enhanced Blackline-series [6GB DDR 1333]
versus
Corsair DOMINATOR-series [6GB DDR3 1600]
versus
Corsair DOMINATOR-series [6GB DDR3 2000] (out of stock)

I wasn't clear on if there's a huge jump in performance between DDR3 1333 vs. 1600 vs. 2000. ;<
 
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I personally can't justify the price increase to going Intel over AMD. I've built about a dozen systems in as many years, about equal amounts of AMD and Intel processors. Currently I'm running the phenom IIx4 965 black edition, which is going for $180 on newegg right now, with the crosshair III Asus mobo. My scores are easily equaling and in some cases surpassing the i5's. It would be even better if I got the new Crosshair IV mobo, as it's running the 890 chipset, whereas my cross III is the 790fx chipset. If you want to get it back under budget, I'd consider that option.
 
I actually updated my post just as you posted yours. LOL

I went back to AMD/ATi and officially have it just shy of my budget now. :>
 
runo said:
So I took some advice from this thread and from some of my tech-head-y expert friends as well. I think I've narrowed my PC parts "shopping list"... I ultimately dived into an AMD/ATi build that is just barely over $1500. Now that I know what parts I wanted to put into the build, I shaved off a lot of the costs and actually managed to make it a MUCH, MUCH BETTER build for a lot less. Uh, I think.

Versus the earlier builds I listed, this is what I have now:
COOLER MASTER HAF 922 w/ Cooler Master 600W PSU (pre-mounted)
WESTERN DIGITAL Caviar Black 500GB 7200 RPM 3.0GB/s (though I almost went for the 1TB 6.0GB/s SATA-3 w/ 64MB cache... or maybe I'll shell out a little extra for the 300GB VelociRaptor?)
ASUS Crosshair IV Formula AMD-AM3 890FX
CORSAIR Dominator 6GB SDRAM DDR3 1600 [PC3 12800] Triple-Channel Kit
SAPPHIRE Vapor-X 5870 2GB (though I MIGHT go for the 5850 and overclock it)
AMD Phenom II X4 955BE [3.2GHz per core, intent is to overclock to the 965BE's stock rate of 3.4/core]
SONY Black SATA DVD-ROM Disc Drive
CORSAIR Cooling Hydro Series 120mm
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit [OEM]
Total: $1493.91 + S&H





But since I went for the ASUS Crosshair IV 890FX mobo, I'm not sure what kind of memory to grab. I know it's 240-pin and accepts a multitude of memory standards (DDR3 -- 2000, 1800, 1600 and others, as you can see), but that's where the problem lies; I'm NOT clear on if it accepts triple-channel memory or if I'm just ripping myself off. All that seems to be available in terms of high-performance / 'gaming' memory are sets of triple-channel kits.

How are these choices for memory? Which sticks would you go for, if either?
Mushkin Enhanced Blackline-series [6GB DDR 1333]
versus
Corsair DOMINATOR-series [6GB DDR3 1600]
versus
Corsair DOMINATOR-series [6GB DDR3 2000] (out of stock)

I wasn't clear on if there's a huge jump in performance between DDR3 1333 vs. 1600 vs. 2000. ;<
Click to expand...

A couple comments.
Why are you getting the 2GB version of the 5870? Do you plan on having a multi-monitor set up? To put the amount of ram in context, I've had MSi Afterburner monitoring my GPU for about a week now, and I've played quite a few games, and I've only used a max of 950MB at any given time, and I play at 1920x1080. You only need more than 1GB of vram if you plan on having multiple monitors.

And that ram will not work with that motherboard.
You picked up a tri-channel kit when AMD motherboards can only use dual-channel kits. And since you won't be overclocking using the HTT, just get the cheapest ram, they will all perform within 2% of each other.

Also, do you know what PSU exactly comes with that case? It is important.
 
I say there is never overkill on power supplies. stay with your original and get the 750w or even go higher. that way you won't be limited upgrading later. or even worse having to rebuy a power supply and redo cable management.
 
Maj.Emish said:
I say there is never overkill on power supplies. stay with your original and get the 750w or even go higher. that way you won't be limited upgrading later. or even worse having to rebuy a power supply and redo cable management.
Click to expand...

Not if you have/get a modular power supply! ;)
 
A couple comments.
Why are you getting the 2GB version of the 5870? Do you plan on having a multi-monitor set up? To put the amount of ram in context, I've had MSi Afterburner monitoring my GPU for about a week now, and I've played quite a few games, and I've only used a max of 950MB at any given time, and I play at 1920x1080. You only need more than 1GB of vram if you plan on having multiple monitors.

And that ram will not work with that motherboard.
You picked up a tri-channel kit when AMD motherboards can only use dual-channel kits. And since you won't be overclocking using the HTT, just get the cheapest ram, they will all perform within 2% of each other.

Also, do you know what PSU exactly comes with that case? It is important.
Click to expand...

Wow, I think you just saved me some moolah!

1. 2GB edition of the 5970: I was under the (mistaken) impression that 2GB is always better on the GPU because certain games can be serious memory hogs. I wasn't aware that it was fruitless if I wasn't running two or more monitors! ;O However, considering that your readouts indicate that most maxed-out games don't even use one gig of GPU memory, it seems that by the time games actually DO utilize that much dedicated GPU memory, I'll either need to upgrade a few parts - namely the viddyjah card - or rely on my ACTUAL dedicated RAM. That doesn't sound too bad.
2. Dual-channel: I changed the RAM up to two sets of dual-channel that SHOULD match my mobo; see below and tell me what you think, please!
3. PSU: Yeah, it just said "Cooler Master 600W" so I haven't got a clue as to what model it is. I opted instead to modify the build and toss in the SeaSonic X650.

My updated plan means I will ditch the triple-channel kit for 4GB dual-channel and grabbing two 1GB sticks or one 2GB stick (I am currently thinking of this: 4x2GB Mushkin Ridgeback DDR3 1600) -- I am told I should aim for CL7 or lower; this is CL6 6-8-6-24.
I don't know if these will play well together, but I have this 2x1GB Corsair DOMINATOR DDR3 1600 which is-- 9-9-9-24-- this is lined up for the other 2GB, totalling 6GB on 64-Bit Windows 7. They're all 240-pin DDR3 1600, so they should work and work well, right?

The good news is all these changes changes mean I have saved a lot of cash, and I'm going to use the cash I saved to up the PSU to 650-700W (I was drooling over the fact that I can probably fit this SeaSonic X650 into my build now).

Unfortunately, I'm at a loss as to WHICH new video card to choose. I like Sapphire AND XFX both, so I am thinking of 'down'-grading (when it's really just more like evening things out) to the XFX 1GB 5870 as I can't find a 1GB version of the Sapphire 5870. Are there any other DX11-capable cards in the range of $300-$500? ATi or nVidia, I'm not picky!
I like to run games on max settings with a solid framerate (who doesn't). ATM I mostly run Champions Online, a lot of Source engine games, and may pick up EQ2 or Aion again-- I'm not really looking forward to any especially hard-to-run games but I like to plan in advance, as I pick up games as they come out.
I run 1240x1028 on a single 19" DELL monitor, so I'm not into multi-monitor setups, but I'm not against dual GPUs if that'll save me money and/or increase the power of my future rig. Any input on that?

Lastly, I think I'm going to choose the WD 300GB VelociRaptor as my HDD. I only ever use maybe 200GB of drive space at most, and that's if I install all my games and programs I use and NEVER uninstall them (right now this PC is sitting on 8 months old and I've used 198 gigs of space on one single drive... without ever uninstalling anything I've installed to date). Even 500GB is wasted on me, so I'm thinking maybe:
a. one Western Digital VelociRaptor to store my games on, and a back-up/program internal 250-300GB HDD with high seek rates (maybe SamSung or pair it with a standard internal WD),
or
b. one SSD drive to store my games on, and one SSD WD Raptor HDD to store all my gaming programs (like addons for MMOs and talent builders etc.) and usual programs (antivirus, FRAPS and the likes) music, etc. on since the high RPM/seek rates on a Raptor should make for nice
OR
c. one SSD HDD and a standard internal HDD with high seek rates.

Thoughts? I am personally thinking I want to do A -- one WD 300GB VelociRaptor and a smallis backup HDD in case my Raptor ever fails me. I don't think I can keep the SSD/Raptor combo under-budget, but there's always upgrades.

Right now I updated the build toooooooo--
COOLER MASTER HAF 922 (no pre-mounted PSU this time)
WESTERN DIGITAL VelociRaptor 150GB + WESTERN DIGITAL Caviar Black 750GB
ASUS Crosshair IV Formula AMD-AM3 890FX + MUSHKIN 4GB (2x2GBs) Enhanced Redline 240Pin SDRAM DDR3 1600
AMD Phenom II X4 955BE (over the 965BE due to unlocked multiplier on the same chipset) + CORSAIR Cooling Hydro Series 120mm
XFX Radeon HD 5870 1GB
SONY Black SATA DVD-ROM Disc Drive
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit [OEM]
TOTAL: $1558.89+$8.13S&H

As you can see, it seems to work out even BETTER than the last build if I cough up just a little more dough. I'm BARELY over budget, and I think an extra $60 is something I can afford to go from the 'Budget Beast' I'm typing to you guys from now to what I hope is going to be a gaming god.

EDIT: now that I looked around, I put myself back under budget by grabbing a SamSung SpinPoint 1TB for my local disk drive and backing it up with a 500GB Western Digital Caviar Black (I actually managed to literally multiply the space I had by five for about HALF the price -- with the 150+150GB HDDs I had lined up, I was up to 300GB for $260ish, and the new drives are $70x2 for 1TB+500GB for up to 1.5TB), which brought it all down to a total of $1478.89.I also switched my HAF 922 with the Cooler Master CM690 Advanced case (same price and same ship cost). Thoughts?
 
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runo said:
Wow, I think you just saved me some moolah!

1. 2GB edition of the 5970: I was under the (mistaken) impression that 2GB is always better on the GPU because certain games can be serious memory hogs. I wasn't aware that it was fruitless if I wasn't running two or more monitors! ;O However, considering that your readouts indicate that most maxed-out games don't even use one gig of GPU memory, it seems that by the time games actually DO utilize that much dedicated GPU memory, I'll either need to upgrade a few parts - namely the viddyjah card - or rely on my ACTUAL dedicated RAM. That doesn't sound too bad.
2. Dual-channel: I changed the RAM up to two sets of dual-channel that SHOULD match my mobo; see below and tell me what you think, please!
3. PSU: Yeah, it just said "Cooler Master 600W" so I haven't got a clue as to what model it is. I opted instead to modify the build and toss in the SeaSonic X650.

My updated plan means I will ditch the triple-channel kit for 4GB dual-channel and grabbing two 1GB sticks or one 2GB stick (I am currently thinking of this: 4x2GB Mushkin Ridgeback DDR3 1600) -- I am told I should aim for CL7 or lower; this is CL6 6-8-6-24.
I don't know if these will play well together, but I have this 2x1GB Corsair DOMINATOR DDR3 1600 which is-- 9-9-9-24-- this is lined up for the other 2GB, totalling 6GB on 64-Bit Windows 7. They're all 240-pin DDR3 1600, so they should work and work well, right?

The good news is all these changes changes mean I have saved a lot of cash, and I'm going to use the cash I saved to up the PSU to 650-700W (I was drooling over the fact that I can probably fit this SeaSonic X650 into my build now).

Unfortunately, I'm at a loss as to WHICH new video card to choose. I like Sapphire AND XFX both, so I am thinking of 'down'-grading (when it's really just more like evening things out) to the XFX 1GB 5870 as I can't find a 1GB version of the Sapphire 5870. Are there any other DX11-capable cards in the range of $300-$500? ATi or nVidia, I'm not picky!
I like to run games on max settings with a solid framerate (who doesn't). ATM I mostly run Champions Online, a lot of Source engine games, and may pick up EQ2 or Aion again-- I'm not really looking forward to any especially hard-to-run games but I like to plan in advance, as I pick up games as they come out.
I run 1240x1028 on a single 19" DELL monitor, so I'm not into multi-monitor setups, but I'm not against dual GPUs if that'll save me money and/or increase the power of my future rig. Any input on that?

Lastly, I think I'm going to choose the WD 300GB VelociRaptor as my HDD. I only ever use maybe 200GB of drive space at most, and that's if I install all my games and programs I use and NEVER uninstall them (right now this PC is sitting on 8 months old and I've used 198 gigs of space on one single drive... without ever uninstalling anything I've installed to date). Even 500GB is wasted on me, so I'm thinking maybe:
a. one Western Digital VelociRaptor to store my games on, and a back-up/program internal 250-300GB HDD with high seek rates (maybe SamSung or pair it with a standard internal WD),
or
b. one SSD drive to store my games on, and one SSD WD Raptor HDD to store all my gaming programs (like addons for MMOs and talent builders etc.) and usual programs (antivirus, FRAPS and the likes) music, etc. on since the high RPM/seek rates on a Raptor should make for nice
OR
c. one SSD HDD and a standard internal HDD with high seek rates.

Thoughts? I am personally thinking I want to do A -- one WD 300GB VelociRaptor and a smallis backup HDD in case my Raptor ever fails me. I don't think I can keep the SSD/Raptor combo under-budget, but there's always upgrades.

Right now I updated the build toooooooo--
COOLER MASTER HAF 922 (no pre-mounted PSU this time)
WESTERN DIGITAL VelociRaptor 150GB + WESTERN DIGITAL Caviar Black 750GB
ASUS Crosshair IV Formula AMD-AM3 890FX + MUSHKIN 4GB (2x2GBs) Enhanced Redline 240Pin SDRAM DDR3 1600
AMD Phenom II X4 955BE (over the 965BE due to unlocked multiplier on the same chipset) + CORSAIR Cooling Hydro Series 120mm
XFX Radeon HD 5870 1GB
SONY Black SATA DVD-ROM Disc Drive
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit [OEM]
TOTAL: $1558.89+$8.13S&H

As you can see, it seems to work out even BETTER than the last build if I cough up just a little more dough. I'm BARELY over budget, and I think an extra $60 is something I can afford to go from the 'Budget Beast' I'm typing to you guys from now to what I hope is going to be a gaming god.

EDIT: now that I looked around, I put myself back under budget by grabbing a SamSung SpinPoint 1TB for my local disk drive and backing it up with a 500GB Western Digital Caviar Black (I actually managed to literally multiply the space I had by five for about HALF the price -- with the 150+150GB HDDs I had lined up, I was up to 300GB for $260ish, and the new drives are $70x2 for 1TB+500GB for up to 1.5TB), which brought it all down to a total of $1478.89.I also switched my HAF 922 with the Cooler Master CM690 Advanced case (same price and same ship cost). Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Oh. Your monitor is only 1280x1024? You may want to get a new one. Trust me, it makes gaming so much more enjoyable, I went from a small monitor exactly like yours to this 24" HD beast, and I love it.

For your graphics card:
You could get a GTX 470, they are pretty beastly once you overclock them a little, the 470 SC (Super Clocked) which has barely a 3% overclock can compete with the more expensive 5870, and beats the 5850 in almost everything.

For your harddrive:
Why not get either a tiny little 32GB SSD for your boot drive (meaning it has your OS on it) and a few other applications, and get a WD Caviar Black what ever size you want as storage?
Or, you could get two WD Caviar Black's and run them in Raid 1,
Orrr you could get three Blacks and run two in Raid 0, and the other is storage!!
/harddrive rant

For the memory:
Yes, any one of those that you picked worked. But you don't need 6GB for gaming. It barely uses 3GB. If you want proof, I can dig up the article to show you. But from my experiences, my performance from 4GB to 8GB didn't change AT ALL. But that's mainly because most games (and I mean like 99%) are 32-bit, but their program scripts only allow them to use 2GB of ram. But in that <1% margin of games that use more than 2GB of ram, you would only get slightly better performance.

For the case:
That is purely your opinion. I prefer the HAF 922, but if you want the CM 690 II, that is your choice.
 
Find a different set of Ram. AMD CPU's have a bit of a issue running 1600mhz Ram at stock, look for 1066mhz or 1333mhz sets.
I also agree about a new monitor. I went from a 1280x1024 to a 1980x1080 and it makes a HUGE difference.
 
A few thoughts coming.

If you act before the end of the month, you can get a reasonable 750W PS and a 500g HDD for $75

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.413537


Combo Price: $94.98
$20.00 Mail-In Rebate Card pdf
Price After Mail-In Rebate(s): $74.98

Thermaltake TR2 TRX-750M 750W
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3500418AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb

Tis a resonable PS, and a good enough HDD for data.
 
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