Please critique this gaming build. Thanks for your help in advance.
Intel Core i7-950 Bloomfield 3.06GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor - $299
MSI Big Bang-XPower LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard - $299 I'm interested to hear some feedback on this motherboard because I don't see too many people using it in new builds. However, I read a really good review of it on HardOCP and Tom's gave it a pretty good review as well. I'm not planning to use the 4 x SLI which is one of the only negatives that has been mentioned.
G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit - $135
2 X GIGABYTE GV-N460OC-1GI GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Video Card - $460 I know that many people are choosing the Palit 460 over this card because the Palit is overclocked and has been very fast in tests. However, the Palit brand and warranty worry me. I am planning to OC these cards anyway and my hope is that they are quieter/cooler than the Palit. Also, I considered the 5870 but I like the performance of the SLI 460s better and I really wanted to use SLI or Crossfire in this build. I know the 5870 gives me more flexibility for future proofing but I'm ok without that.
CORSAIR HX Series CMPSU-850HX 850W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply - $150 (after mail-in rebate) This one seems like a no-brainer. Everyone seems to agree that this is a great power supply.
Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC128MAG-1G1 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - $276 I know that the Sandforce SDDs are a bit faster but I really wanted the SATA 6 and couldn't afford the 256GB version which performs even better.
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive - $75 Honestly didn't do much research on this one because so many people have it in their builds that I figured it must be good.
LITE-ON Black Blu-ray Disc Combo SATA Model iHES208-08 LightScribe Support - $99 Is there a better option for a DVD burner/Blu Ray player?
COOLER MASTER HAF X RC-942-KKN1 Black Steel/ Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case - $199
Thermalright U120eXtrem1366RT R-C 120mm Fluid Dynamic CPU Cooler - $60
Dell 24 inch UltraSharp U2410 Monitor - $450 (with Dell coupon) If I could spend less on a 24 inch monitor with 1900 x 1200 resolution I would like to but I can't seem to find a great recommendation on a monitor.
- Budget is roughly $2500
- Purchase in the next 2 weeks
- Primarily used for gaming (1900x1200), internet and movies
- Planning to overclock CPU and GPUs (my first overclock)
- Low noise is important to me
Intel Core i7-950 Bloomfield 3.06GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor - $299
MSI Big Bang-XPower LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard - $299 I'm interested to hear some feedback on this motherboard because I don't see too many people using it in new builds. However, I read a really good review of it on HardOCP and Tom's gave it a pretty good review as well. I'm not planning to use the 4 x SLI which is one of the only negatives that has been mentioned.
G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit - $135
2 X GIGABYTE GV-N460OC-1GI GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Video Card - $460 I know that many people are choosing the Palit 460 over this card because the Palit is overclocked and has been very fast in tests. However, the Palit brand and warranty worry me. I am planning to OC these cards anyway and my hope is that they are quieter/cooler than the Palit. Also, I considered the 5870 but I like the performance of the SLI 460s better and I really wanted to use SLI or Crossfire in this build. I know the 5870 gives me more flexibility for future proofing but I'm ok without that.
CORSAIR HX Series CMPSU-850HX 850W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply - $150 (after mail-in rebate) This one seems like a no-brainer. Everyone seems to agree that this is a great power supply.
Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC128MAG-1G1 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - $276 I know that the Sandforce SDDs are a bit faster but I really wanted the SATA 6 and couldn't afford the 256GB version which performs even better.
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive - $75 Honestly didn't do much research on this one because so many people have it in their builds that I figured it must be good.
LITE-ON Black Blu-ray Disc Combo SATA Model iHES208-08 LightScribe Support - $99 Is there a better option for a DVD burner/Blu Ray player?
COOLER MASTER HAF X RC-942-KKN1 Black Steel/ Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case - $199
Thermalright U120eXtrem1366RT R-C 120mm Fluid Dynamic CPU Cooler - $60
Dell 24 inch UltraSharp U2410 Monitor - $450 (with Dell coupon) If I could spend less on a 24 inch monitor with 1900 x 1200 resolution I would like to but I can't seem to find a great recommendation on a monitor.