Maximum PC

I am a casual gamer looking to build a middle end gaming computer to play some of the newer games (looking to be able to play "Kingdom Under Fire 2" when it comes out. Kingdom Under Fire 2 Suggested Specs is what I am comparing it to). I am not huge on high or maximum graphics and I don't want to go too high for the budget. This will be my first built computer as well so I am not sure about compatibility between the parts so any help will be appreciated.

Optical Drive

ASUS 24X DVD Burner

HDD

Seagate SV35 Series ST1000VX000

Video Card

EVGA 02G-P4-3660-KR GeForce GTX 660 Ti

RAM

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB

Computer Case

APEVIA X-SUPRA G-Type X-SUPRAG-BL

CPU

AMD FX-4170 Zambezi 4.2GHz

Motherboard

GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3

Power Supply

CORSAIR HX Series HX850 850W

Operating System

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium

Once again I would like to state that this is my first built PC and I don't know much about whether these parts will work with each other or not. Any help with this will be most appreciated.

hello


i have some thoughts I shall share them with you


I realize hd prices are nutz atm however a 250 will seem too small pretty quickly in my view..


this hitachi 500GB will come with a free Sony DVD burner right now making it cheaper than the 250 you had listed when u figure not needing to buy the asus dvd burner

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817139004 $89.99

the video card you have listed is quite old and is only dx10 I think you'd be better off (depending on budget considerations with either a 6770 /6790 $110-140~ish) or a 6870 (more better )

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814150521 $179.99 ($20 rebate and free Dirt3 coupon) (lifetime warranty when registered w/in 30 days)


your ram selection is fine ..as a matter of personal preference I'd choose this corsair memory if it was me.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820233186 $49.99


computer cases are a matter of personl taste in many ways your choice appears to be fine.. if not exactly my taste i added it to cart as I assume you like it. however you probably want to buy a 2nd 120mm for the back at least

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811119227

i added this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835103060 $7.99 cm blue led 120mm fan


and now we reach the point I was kinda of dreading... cpu ..soooo AMD (for many years I had AMD rigs..but..) launched BD recently and the reviews have been rather tepid at best..Intel basically pounds on AMD right now and for awhile now. If you want to go AMD you may well be better off going with one of the older cpu's vs BD.

I have a Intel i5-2500K (running at 4.3Ghz ) if you can afford it i would have no problem suggesting one and the Z68 mainboard of your choice but @ newegg the i5-2500K is $224.99 at newegg now (it has gone up apparently since Bulldozers rather disappointing launch...lol ... however IF* you had a microcenter store nearby they have these cpus for cheaper than newegg ($179.99) so if there is one of those stores near you get on over there and get that.


if you decided to go with the FX-4100 your selected mb isn't going to work it isn't compatible with bulldoze (look at the cpu support list) you'd want to get a AMD 990FX chipset board (ideally... I'm sorry to say i have not been watching AMD stuff that close for awhile so there may be other options MB wise that would be cheaper..but from what I've seen if you got a different chipset 970 or what have you a bios flash may well be necessry before a BD cpu will work..which would be a problem if you didn't have another am3 cpu to put in temporarily to do the flash).. since the 990FX boards start at $129.99 at newegg this is worth thinking about ....

upon reflection I don't feel comfortable enough with AMD stuff these days to properly advice you on which mb to go with if you want to go the FX-4100


so i will add this i5-2500K and mb combo $374.99 ($15 mail in rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDeal ... mbo.763032


moving on i really hate the psu you had listed Diablotek has a horrid track record and sells some pretty asstastic power supplies. while there a round about 100million PSU's that would be better (corsair, seasonic,antec..etc)

these are new and are priced pretty nice with the rebate

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817703035 PCP&C Silencer Mark III 500Watt (which would be fine for the system above) $79.99 ($20 rebate) or there is a 600Watt version for $10 more if you wanted

and your os
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6832116986


so then all said and done this comes in at $942.91 before tax /shipping (i live in CA and have to pay tax from newegg ) there are $55 in rebates however w/ tax shipping i had $1022~


I realize I'm probably $250~ish over your orig target (before rebates) or right about $200 over if you got the rebate... I think it would be money well spent if you could afford it.

this system will pwn..... however ... if it is too expensive you could certainly look at less expensive cpus i3-2100 or the i5-2300 for example or going back to the amd route (keeping in mind you're going to need a different / more expensive mb if you want to go with that FX-4100)

Thanks for the information, I am still not sure how to gauge which motherboard to choose based on my other components. I looked around and did some more research for it and I believe this may work for what I need. ASRock 970 EXTREME3 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard. I took your advice and changed up the GPU to HIS H679F1GD Radeon HD 6790 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity as well as changing the the power unit to the one you suggested and using the HDD + DVD burner combo. Other than that I just need to know if the motherboard work for this set up and once again thanks for the information.

You should be good with what you have though your memory controller will have to be OC'd to achieve the 1600MHz speeds.

Alright, well I assume that is something I should avoid for longevity in my items. I am just using deductive reasoning here to figure out what you all are saying so what if I bump up the motherboard to GIGABYTE GA-990XA-UD3 AM3+ AMD 990X SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard which if I am reading it correctly clocks out much higher than the previous one. Would that keep me from overclocking the motherboard to reach the desired MHz? As well, thanks for the confirmation and replies. They are much appreciated.

looking good ... glad i could help out and hopefully help y'all get some nicer bits for the your new rig.. as wiked said you'll have to oc for the 1600 ram speeds but no big deal.


you'll have to post back about that psu...cause I'm kinda wanting one for myself...but I already have a Corsair TX650W soo.... i don't need it exactly just modular would be nice... oh well i got my corsair at bb on clearance for like $60 so i can't complain.

I agree with maddingo's ststement regarding the new AMD Bulldozers. The reviews ahve been rather tepid to say the least. I would look at an AMD Quad in the 965 BE to 980 BE range. They seem to be probably the best that AMD has come up with to date. Otherwise, the build looks good and there have been some very good suggestions. These days, the Hdd will eat up a budget for a build. Thde Hitachi drive that was sugeested is good, and you do get an Optical drive with it, so that should help soften things some.

:Necro Bump:

Has been awhile since I first posted this thread but I finally got the resources to make this computer. I have updated the parts as many were discontinued, I would like to know if the parts are all compatible so that I can order and start putting them together. Thanks once again for any help.