Advice on planned build

So this is my first post here on OVC and also my first time attempting to build my own computer. I do have some basic knowledge after helping my brother assemble his computer and doing extensive online research, but I would still appreciate some feedback.

This is going to be primarily a gaming machine.

This is my build so far:

Asus Crosshair IV Formula ATX MB
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T
Corsair 650W TX-650 ATX Power Supply
Asus ATI EAH6950 PCI-E 2.1 2GB 256-bit GDDR5
Kingston KHX2000C9AD3T1K3/6GX DDR3 2000Mhz
Western Digital Caviar Black SATA2/SATA3 (1TB)
LG RET BH10LS30 BLK BluRay Burner
Asus Xonar D1 PCI soundcard
ASUS PCE-N13 Wireless N 300Mbps PCI-Express 11n Wireless Adapter
Antec TWELVE HUNDRED Full Tower Gaming Case
2 additional Antec "SmartCool" 120mm Case Fans

All of this adds up to about AUD$2,000 and I want to try not to exceed that.


I will likely to upgrade the video card to a 6970 if they are in stock and I'm still not entirely sure if I need a dedicated sound card.

My main concern is just the compatibility of the components, so please feel free to raise any issues or suggest alternatives. This is still a learning process.


EDIT

Build after changes:

Asus P8P67 PRO B3 MB
Intel Core i5 2500K Unlocked
Asus ATI EAH6950 PCI-E 2.1 2GB 256-bit GDDR5
Corsair 8GB (2x Vengeance 4GB) DDR3 1600MHz CL9
Corsair 750W HX-750 ATX Power Supply
2x Western Digital Caviar Green 500GB
Corsair Force Series 60GB SSD
LG CH10LS20 Black Blu-Ray Combo
ASUS PCE-N13 Wireless N 300Mbps PCI-Express 11n Wireless Adapter
Antec TWELVE HUNDRED Full Tower Gaming Case
2 additional Antec "TriCool" 120mm Green LED Case Fans
Deepcool Ice Blade Pro CPU Fan

About AUD$2,150 all up after tax (previous cost was before tax).

Intel 2500 or 2600K and a Gigabyte UD4 is faster for the same amount of money. A bit less if you go 2500K. Other parts look good.

The 2000Mhz RAM likely won't post at 2000Mhz on the AMD board without some serious fiddling. It'll be fine on an 1155 board though. Not so crazy about kingston. Gskill, Corsairr, Geil, Mushkin would be more the brands I'd look at first. Not really a significant price difference.

Get a HX650 instead. But stick with corsair either way. If you don't have any high-end sound equipment, it'd suggest spending money on a nicer set of speakers/headset first, rather than getting a soundcard straight off. The fact that you even mention that you're not sure if you need one suggests to me you don't need it .

Also, Why the 1100T? Do you need all those 6 cores for some reason? If it's a gaming machine, Go with Sandy Bridge 2500K and overclock it!

If you can afford it, add an SSD drive as your boot drive, and if you can do this, drop the Black to a Green and use for storage only.

Get a reference HD 6950 2GB if you can and unlock it to a 6970. Rather than spending money on the HD 6970... I assume you can still do this.

Theocnoob said:

Intel 2500 or 2600K and a Gigabyte UD4 is faster for the same amount of money. A bit less if you go 2500K. Other parts look good.

Click to expand...

Would a UD3 be acceptable? The only Gigabyte boards my retailer has are UD3 and UD5, as well as a bunch of Asus P8P67's.

The 2000Mhz RAM likely won't post at 2000Mhz on the AMD board without some serious fiddling. It'll be fine on an 1155 board though. Not so crazy about kingston. Gskill, Corsairr, Geil, Mushkin would be more the brands I'd look at first. Not really a significant price difference.

Click to expand...

I chose that memory simply because it was the only available memory on the Asus Qualified Vendor List. I'm sure I can probably ignore it, but I figured it's better than choosing at random.

What about Corsair 8GB (2x Vengeance 4GB) DDR3 1600MHz CL9?

Mjolnir said:

Get a HX650 instead. But stick with corsair either way. If you don't have any high-end sound equipment, it'd suggest spending money on a nicer set of speakers/headset first, rather than getting a soundcard straight off. The fact that you even mention that you're not sure if you need one suggests to me you don't need it .

Click to expand...

I was planning to get the HX650, but the availability isn't confirmed.

Also, Why the 1100T? Do you need all those 6 cores for some reason? If it's a gaming machine, Go with Sandy Bridge 2500K and overclock it!

Click to expand...

Going for the Sandy Bridge.

If you can afford it, add an SSD drive as your boot drive, and if you can do this, drop the Black to a Green and use for storage only.

Click to expand...

The cheapest SSD available is a 60GB Corsair for $160. Is it really worth it? Also, my current setup on my laptop allows me to keep the OS and other crap on one HDD and all my games on another. Are there any significant benefits to this or is it fine to just pile them all into one 1TB HDD?

Get a reference HD 6950 2GB if you can and unlock it to a 6970. Rather than spending money on the HD 6970... I assume you can still do this.

Click to expand...

Alright I'll stick to the 6950.

Case: Antec Dark Fleet DF-85 Case
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD4-B3
CPU: Intel Core i5 2500K
GPU: ASUS Radeon HD 6950 DirectCU II 2GB
PSU: Corsair HX-650
RAM: Corsair Vengeance CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3
HDD: Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB HD103SJ
Optical: Samsung SH-B123A 12X Blu-ray DVD Combo Drive
Wireless: ASUS PCE-N13 802.11 Wireless N PCI-Express Adapter
Additional Case Fan: Antec TriCool LED Fan 120mm Red
CPU Cooler: Zalman CNPS9900MAX


Pretty much 99% confirmed build. Just wanted any last minute feedback.

That HD 6950 is not a reference design. You can't unlock it. Otherwise great stuff =)

The cheapest SSD available is a 60GB Corsair for $160. Is it really worth it? Also, my current setup on my laptop allows me to keep the OS and other crap on one HDD and all my games on another. Are there any significant benefits to this or is it fine to just pile them all into one 1TB HDD?



An SSD gets you faster loading, and faster seek time especially. It's up to you whether you want it. I don't know if I'd go for a 60GB model. I have a 120GB that I have a win 7 install and about 6 games on as well as my page file and that works nicely. Any other stuff like photos, multimedia, goes on a hard drive.

You can use 1 HD or SSD for the OS and also the page file and install other programs and games on a hard drive if you want to. That'll make your Windows experience faster. I've noticed a big difference with windows on an SSD vs an HDD.

Pick a 6950 that says AMD above the PCIE connector to make sure it's reference design. The smaller stock cooler can cope with it without issue. You don't need a bigger cooler like the directCUII cooler. You can always add an aftermarket cooler later, of course.