Build Advice please!

[roguemonkey]

Hey everyone,

I built my first pc about 5 years ago and it's starting to feel its age, and I'm a huge blizzard fan so I want to make sure my computer is able to run starcraft 2 and diablo 3 with everything maxed out

With these thoughts in mind I've been doing some research the past few days picking out the components for my new rig, but before I make any final decisions I thought I'd run it by people much more knowledgeable than myself!

General Information:

I'm on a relatively tight budget (trying to stay under $1000 including the monitor) so what I'm most interested in is 'bang for your buck'. I'm not so much interested in fancy features as I am in stable performance, and I'm not a big overclocker. Here is the setup I'm currently eying:

Sony Optiarc SATA DVD/CD Rewritable Drive - OEM - $30

Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Internal Hard Drive - OEM - $75 http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16822136319

ASUS VH236H Black 23" 2ms(GTG) HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor - $160
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16824236059

GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3P AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - $80
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128392

OCZ Platinum AMD Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) - $90
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820227447

XCLIO Windtunnel Full Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811103011 - $150 bundle deal for it + the power supply

XCLIO GREATPOWER X14S4P3 550W ATX12V Modular Active PFC Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817189006

EVGA GeForce GTX 275 - $375 bundle deal for it + CPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814130475

AMD Phenom II X4 945 Deneb 3.0GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819103675

In total it comes out to $994 after shipping for all these items, what do you all think? I'm open to any advice! My main questions are:
1) Is there any new technology coming out in the near future that I should wait for to make a purchase?

2) Is the 550W power supply going to cut it? (There won't be much hooked up besides speakers/mouse/keyboard)

Any feedback is appreciated!

EDIT: fixed links

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

Links don't go directly to product. Ram is overpriced. Your motherboard doesn't use SB 750 or a 790 series NB. Look through this:http://www.newegg.com/Product/...yCodeValue=719%3A34372. Case/PSU combo isn't great for the price.

 

[roguemonkey]

Whoops sorry about the links, no idea why they do that as I did copy paste them all from the individual page for each product. Thanks for the motherboard advice I had a lot of uncertainty there - so I went with the cheapest I could find with decent reviews. Why do you say my case/psu is a bad deal? It's a $100 case with very good reviews all around and a $90 PSU for $150 ($40 off!). Is there a cheaper case/psu that would give better performance?

The RAM is overpriced because I was worried about compatibility with my AMD processor, and was the only RAM I could find that is clearly defined to be designed with an AMD processor in mind. Is this unnecessary? Would a random 4 gb DDR3 setup with the same speeds give equal performance?

Links should be fixed now!

 

[Silicon Spear]

I was curious to see what is wrong with the motherboard, but the link to it still does not work.

edit: I think I figured out the problem - when copy pasting, you must have missed a 2 at the end of your URL

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

Originally posted by: roguemonkey
Whoops sorry about the links, no idea why they do that as I did copy paste them all from the individual page for each product. Thanks for the motherboard advice I had a lot of uncertainty there - so I went with the cheapest I could find with decent reviews. Why do you say my case/psu is a bad deal? It's a $100 case with very good reviews all around and a $90 PSU for $150 ($40 off!). Is there a cheaper case/psu that would give better performance?

The RAM is overpriced because I was worried about compatibility with my AMD processor, and was the only RAM I could find that is clearly defined to be designed with an AMD processor in mind. Is this unnecessary? Would a random 4 gb DDR3 setup with the same speeds give equal performance?

Links should be fixed now!

OCZ StealthXStream 700W This psu might not have cables long enough for a large full tower otherwise it is very good.

Yeah, that's how they get you. You need to choose your motherboard first before I can help choose your RAM.

 

[roguemonkey]

Originally posted by: WaitingForNehalem

Originally posted by: roguemonkey
Whoops sorry about the links, no idea why they do that as I did copy paste them all from the individual page for each product. Thanks for the motherboard advice I had a lot of uncertainty there - so I went with the cheapest I could find with decent reviews. Why do you say my case/psu is a bad deal? It's a $100 case with very good reviews all around and a $90 PSU for $150 ($40 off!). Is there a cheaper case/psu that would give better performance?

The RAM is overpriced because I was worried about compatibility with my AMD processor, and was the only RAM I could find that is clearly defined to be designed with an AMD processor in mind. Is this unnecessary? Would a random 4 gb DDR3 setup with the same speeds give equal performance?

Links should be fixed now!

OCZ StealthXStream 700W This psu might not have cables long enough for a large full tower otherwise it is very good.

Yeah, that's how they get you. You need to choose your motherboard first before I can help choose your RAM.

Thanks for the PSU suggestion, only $10 for a more trusted brand name and better overall reviews as well as higher wattage. With regard to the motherboard, you mention that mine doesnt have SB 750 or a 790 series NB, if you don't mind explaining what is bad about not having that?

Also, It's safe to assume I'll be getting a socket AM3 motherboard with an AMD CPU, do you reckon the AMD designed RAM is necessary? Or am I better off just saving $30 and getting random RAM that doesnt specify AMD compatibility.

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

Read this:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD_700_chipset_series.

Choose your mobo first, then we'll pick the ram.

 

[roguemonkey]

As far as I can see the only thing I lose with that mobo is ATI overdrive, a bunch of extra expansion stuff that I don't need, and RAID 5, which I don't need. Am I missing something?

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

Originally posted by: roguemonkey
As far as I can see the only thing I lose with that mobo is ATI overdrive, a bunch of extra expansion stuff that I don't need, and RAID 5, which I don't need. Am I missing something?

Well it's up to you but paying a little extra for the best mobo might come in handy later on.

This is only $35 more but it's up to you. http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813186168

 

[roguemonkey]

Yeah I'll definitely consider it, just comes down to money. One more question before I forget. Right now I have windows xp 32 bit from my old computer; is there a big performance difference between that and xp 64 bit? I plan on upgrading to windows 7 once that comes out so if the difference is small its not a big deal(the $50 upgrade deal on newegg DOES work with xp right?).

 

[Silicon Spear]

Originally posted by: roguemonkey
Yeah I'll definitely consider it, just comes down to money. One more question before I forget. Right now I have windows xp 32 bit from my old computer; is there a big performance difference between that and xp 64 bit? I plan on upgrading to windows 7 once that comes out so if the difference is small its not a big deal(the $50 upgrade deal on newegg DOES work with xp right?).

XP 64 bit is unreliable, and XP 32 bit will limit you to about 2.5-3GB RAM due to the size of your graphics card. I'd recommend going with Windows 7 RC 64 bit for now, and Windows 7 64 bit later.

 

[roguemonkey]

Cool, thanks for the advice! Didn't realize Windows 7 RC was available to the general public atm. Does anyone know how the windows 7 upgrade works(the $50 preorder deal on newegg)? Do you just need a valid windows xp/vista cd key? Or do you actually need vista/xp installed on the computer your trying to upgrade.

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

Most sources say you need a restore point from Vista or XP.

 

[roguemonkey]

Ah I see, so I could just install windows xp when it came out, and use a restore point from that to install it?

Also, from what I hear the DX11 cards are coming out in the near future (september/october). I know it's all guesswork, but do you think:
a) There will be a directx 11 card in the $200-250 price rance?
b) The performance boost over what's available now will be substantial

again I'm aware no one really knows at this point, but I trust your guesses more than mine

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

Waiting doesn't hurt.

 

[roguemonkey]

Originally posted by: WaitingForNehalem
Waiting doesn't hurt.

Yeah, but I only want to wait if I'll see a big performance boost in the dx11 cards.

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

Originally posted by: roguemonkey

Originally posted by: WaitingForNehalem
Waiting doesn't hurt.

Yeah, but I only want to wait if I'll see a big performance boost in the dx11 cards.

Well, you'll have to wait for the benchmarks.

 

[roguemonkey]

Yeah, I think I'm just going to go for it. With my AM3 socket mobo I should be relatively future proof, so in 6 months or so when the DX11 2nd gen cards are coming out I'll decide if I want to grab one of those. Thanks for the advice everyone really appreciate it; I'm sticking with my mobo but I'm going with a different case/power supply.