Maximum PC

Old plan, I had the small but mighty build
Case- Thermaltake ARMOR A30 VM70001W2Z Black SECC MicroATX Mini Tower Computer Case

GPU- MSI N660TI TF 3GD5/OC GeForce GTX 660 Ti 3GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

PSU- Athena Power AP-MP4ATX55FEP8 550W Micro ATX SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply

Ram- G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) Desktop Memory Model F3-14900CL10D-16GBXL

MOBO- Intel BOXDZ75ML-45K LGA 1155 Intel Z75 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

CPU- Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I53570K

SSD- Corsair Force Series GS CSSD-F180GBGS-BK 2.5" 180GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

For now I have a 600Gb hard drive that I will keep from my old PC, it is the only thing worth keeping. I will also add a blue-ray player, I have not picked one out yet.

New Plan

Thermaltake SOPRANO VO900M1N2N Black SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
$119.99

Western Digital WD Green WD20EZRX 2TB IntelliPower SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
-$20.00 Instant
$129.99
$109.99

MSI N660TI TF 3GD5/OC GeForce GTX 660 Ti 3GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
$25.00 Mail-in Rebate Card
$329.99

CORSAIR CX750M 750W ATX12V v2.3 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
$10.00 Mail-in Rebate Card
$99.99

G.SKILL Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) Desktop Memory Model F3-14900CL9D-8GBSR
$54.99

GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UP4 TH LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with Dual Thunderbolt
$184.99

Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I53570
$229.99

COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO RR-212E-20PK-R2 Continuous Direct Contact 120mm Sleeve CPU Cooler Compatible with latest Intel 2011/1366/1155 and AMD FM1/FM2/AM3+
-$3.00 Instant
$37.99
$34.99

ASUS Black Blu-ray Burner SATA BW-12B1ST/BLK/G/AS
$20.00 Mail-in Rebate Card
$79.99

OCZ Agility 3 AGT3-25SAT3-240G 2.5" 240GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
-$40.00 Instant
$199.99
$159.99

Good choice, the athena PSU and Intel board were less than optimal choices.

Lookin' good now

shows what you know, athena makes server power supplies, I used them for years with dual zeon setups and never had a problem.

ok mr know-it-all - so the consumer and server grade units are held to same standard? and the same QA process?

Not from my experience - have seen a few purchased and fail in short order - didn't quite cut the infancy mortality phase. Specifically the micro-atx units.

Oh wait, my bad - is everyone supposed to have the same experience you have had with server grade units? Heh, that shows what you know....

The reason that I was going to use the micro atx was that I wanted a full power pc that would fit in my entertainment stand and I cant find a case that is small enough that would still let me fit what I want into it. I need a good pc, mine is broke and I am using a net-book that I had to borrow. I want a quiet pc, my last one got very noisy.

I looked up the 7950 and from what I saw I think the 660ti is better.
http://techreport.com/review/23981/rade ... -revisited

According to Maximum PC the 660TI is better.
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/%5Bpri ... oc_version

I do like your other suggestions. I am checking up on everything from multiple sites, I know that anyone can make a test to show what they want it to show. So the more sites I can find the better.

I am still in the air about which GPU I should get. I used to like AMD but I like what i have been seeing from the 660 ti and 670. The only thing i am concerned about is the 192 bit. In a year or so i think i would get a second card when they are cheaper and go for SLI.

SLI works better than CrossFire and I plan to use two cards in a year. This is going to be a slow build and the price of the cards will come down before I am done. The main build will take place over the next 3-4 months.

My only problem with going CrossFire or SLi in a build is if you choose to do it down the road rather than when the build is initially assembled. The GPU market is one of the more volatile markets in PC components and it's quite likely a year from now that a single card solution from either AMD or nVidia is going to be faster than a pair of GTX 660Ti cards. For example the GTX 680 came out last year in March. The new GeForce Titan GK110 based card that is rumored to be coming out potentially as soon as this February/March and is rumored to have 85% of the performance of a GTX 690 (which is based on a pair of the GK104 GPUs that power the GTX 680). That and both SLi and CrossFire do both sometimes suffer from the microstutter issue. Personally I would go with the best single card solution that you can afford but it is your money.

I wont be buying a GPU for 3 months it will be one of the last items I buy for my build. My budget will be around $300, and I will get the best card for the money right now that would probably be the 7950. who knows what it will be when I am ready to buy one. My last two PCs was never upgraded and my last one broke, mobo, now it is two old to try to upgrade. Had I been upgrading a little at a time, I would not be planning my first build. My old PC was a gateway running a phenom x4 9100e 4-core, 4GB memory, 640GB hard drive, ATI integrated HD 3200 graphics. I know this is making you all laugh to see what I had been using, but this is what I bought in 2008.

It was also running vista

ok i have started buying parts. Just picked up the Corsair TX750 and Cooler Master evo for 126 at newegg.

I am going to order a motherboard I plan to pick one of the following:

GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD5H LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UP4 TH LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with Dual Thunderbolt

GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD4H LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

MSI Z77A-GD65 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

MSI Z77A-G45 Thunderbolt LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

ASUS P8Z77-V LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

ASUS P8Z77-V LE PLUS LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

ASRock Z77 Extreme6 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Will probable go with the one that comes with free ram. I think they are all good boards, but I have heard that the ASRock's board is week and an air cooler can bend it. Any suggestions? With the price of RAM going up, I may go with 16Gb especially if the board that I buy comes with a single 8gb chip.

Can i test the psu and cpu cooler to make sure that they work before i get the rest of my parts