Opinion on my new system

[finalepiphany]

Hi, I just built my new system and would like opinions on the parts as well as any compatibility issues that I may run into.

My budget was around C$1000 (Canadian Dollars) and my goal is to use the system to play all the latest games but namely Starcraft 2. If you think I'm getting my parts on the expensive side, that's because I live in Canada and computer parts are more expensive up here

Anyways, here are the parts:

Case: Antec Nine Hundred Mid Tower Gamer Case 900 ATX 9 Drive Bay - $99.99
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Quad Core Processor 3.2GHZ AM3 - $184.82
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-770TA-UD3 AMD770 ATX AM3 DDR3 1PCI-E 4PCI - $98.99
RAM: G.SKILL F3-10666CL7D-4GBRH Ripjaws PC3-10666 4GB 2X2GB DDR3-1333 CL7-7-7-21 - $102.99
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA2 3.5IN 8.5MS 7200RPM 32MB Hard Drive - $79.99
DVDRW: ASUS DRW-24B1ST 24X SATA DVD Writer Black Retail Box - $36.99
Graphics Card: XFX Radeon HD 5770 850MHZ 1GB 4.8GHZ GDDR5 2XDVI HDMI Display Port DIRECTX11 PCI-E Video CARD - $179.99
Power Supply: BFG GS-550 550W Power Supply ATX V2.2 EPS12V 24PIN 6PIN & 8PIN PCI-E 140MM Fan 1 Year NCIX Warranty - $44.99
Assembly: PC Assembly and Testing with 1 Year Limited NCIX System Warranty - $50.00
Environmental Fee: $8.60
SUBTOTAL: $848.52
HST(13%) $110.31
TOTAL: $958.83
ALL PRICES IN CANADIAN DOLLARS

 

[Gigantopithecus]

Looks great aside from the hard drive...Those 7200.12s have a terrible rep. I'd recommend going with a Samsung F3 or WD Black instead.

 

[wtmjake]

Hmm with a budget like that I'd strongly recommend that you get a GTX 460 for SC2. You can compare the two here. If you're looking to shave off some money to compensate for that, you could try shopping from DirectCanada. Their prices are almost always cheaper than NCIX (I assume you're buying from NCIX). NCIX also has a price match feature where you can get DC's prices but still order from NCIX.

 

[mfenn]

I agree on the 7200.12 and the GTX 460 1GB. The GTX 460 is a bit more expensive, but it pretty close to being on par with a 5850. I would also try to pick up the GA-870A-UD3 because it should be around the same price as the board you picked up, but is using the newer chipset and thus has native SATA 6Gb/s.

 

[finalepiphany]

thanks for the heads up on the GPU. My question is does Geforce GTX 460 go well with my AMD setup? Also will there be any compatibility issue with my G-Skill ram sticks (which I read is more suitable for a Pentium setup) and my current AMD setup?

 

[wtmjake]

The GTX 460 will go as well with your setup as any other. As for the RAM, check this site out and scroll down. Your motherboard is listed so it should be fine. If you still don't feel confident see if anybody else has the same mobo/ram combo.

 

[mfenn]

thanks for the heads up on the GPU. My question is does Geforce GTX 460 go well with my AMD setup? Also will there be any compatibility issue with my G-Skill ram sticks (which I read is more suitable for a Pentium setup) and my current AMD setup?

The GTX 460 will work great in with an Intel or AMD based processor. The G.Skill is also fine with an AMD.

 

[finalepiphany]

Thanks a lot guys, I listened to most of your advices and changed my specs to the following (bolded are changes):

Case: Coolermaster CM 690 Mid Tower Black ATX Case 5X5.25 5X3.5INT No PS - $59.99

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Quad Core Processor 3.2GHZ AM3 - $161.90

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-770TA-UD3 AMD770 ATX AM3 DDR3 1PCI-E 4PCI - $89.99

RAM: G.SKILL F3-10666CL7D-4GBRH Ripjaws PC3-10666 4GB 2X2GB DDR3-1333 CL7-7-7-21 - $102.99

Hard Drive: Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB SATA2 7200RPM 32MB Cache 3.5IN Hard Drive - $72.99

DVDRW: ASUS DRW-24B1ST 24X SATA DVD Writer Black Retail Box - $28.99

Graphics Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 460 Fermi 715MHZ 1GB GDDR5 2XDVI Mini-HDMI PCI-E DX11 - $236.99

Power Supply: Seasonic S12II 620W EPS12V 20/24PIN ATX Power Supply Active PFC 80+ Bronze - $72.99

Assembly: PC Assembly and Testing with 1 Year Limited NCIX System Warranty - $50.00

Environmental Fee: $8.60
SUBTOTAL: $885.43
HST(13%) $115.11
TOTAL: $1000.54
ALL PRICES IN CANADIAN DOLLARS

 

[mfenn]

Looks good to me.