First time builder wanting feedback.

Here is my conceptual rig. Be brutally honest on how I did.

CPU - AMD FX 8120 8-Core Processor @ 3.1

GPU - XFX AMD Radeon HD 6950 800M 2 GB DDR5

RAM - Corsair XMS3 16GB (4x 4GB) PC3-10666 1333MHz DDR3

Motherboard - GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

HDD - Western Digital Caviar Green 2 TB

Case - Cooler Master HAF 912 Mid Tower ATX Case

PSU - OCZ ModXStream Pro 700W Modular High Performance Power Supply

Here is my conceptual rig. Be brutally honest on how I did.

CPU - AMD FX 8120 8-Core Processor @ 3.1

GPU - XFX AMD Radeon HD 6950 800M 2 GB DDR5

RAM - Corsair XMS3 16GB (4x 4GB) PC3-10666 1333MHz DDR3

Motherboard - GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

HDD - Western Digital Caviar Green 2 TB

Case - Cooler Master HAF 912 Mid Tower ATX Case

PSU - OCZ ModXStream Pro 700W Modular High Performance Power Supply

Schreek

What's your budget? If your budget is large enough, I would go with and Intel setup instead, but if you are on a tight budget there is absolutely nothing wrong with going the AMD route. I've got an i5 - 3550 and have been very pleased with it. But again, even though AMD is behind in overall performance, I still think you'll be pleased with the FX 8120 if you are on a budget. To save a little money, I would drop the 16 GB of RAM down to 8 GB - 8 is more than plenty if all you are doing is gaming. Everything else looks solid to me!

Nice choice on the HDD by the way! I have a 1 TB Western Digital Caviar Green myself, and I absolutely love it. It's almost dead silent and still has great performance.

EDIT: You may also want to add an opitcal drive for physical games and for installing your OS. I recommend this:

Asus 24xDVD-RW Serial ATA Internal OEM Drive DRW-24B1ST (Black)

Thank you for your feedback! Okay, so if I were to go Intel rather than AMD, would this work out better? Also, my budget is under $1,000.

CPU - Intel Core i5-2500 @ 3.3

GPU - EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti Superclocked 1024MB GDDR5

RAM - Corsair 16 GB Vengeance Blue Low Profile 1600mhz

Motherboard - ASUS LGA 1155 - Z68 - PCIe 3.0 and UEFI BIOS Intel Z68 ATX DDR3

HDD - Western Digital Caviar Black 1 TB SATA III 7200 RPM

OD - The ASUS drive

Case - Cooler Master HAF 912 Mid Tower ATX Case

PSU - OCZ ModXStream Pro 700W Modular High Performance Power Supply

Also, the reason I have 16 GB of RAM is I am kinda skimping out on the graphics card so the 16 GB of RAM will help compensate a little bit in making the system a little faster.

Thank you for your feedback! Okay, so if I were to go Intel rather than AMD, would this work out better? Also, my budget is under $1,000.

CPU - Intel Core i5-2500 @ 3.3

GPU - EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti Superclocked 1024MB GDDR5

RAM - Corsair 16 GB Vengeance Blue Low Profile 1600mhz

Motherboard - ASUS LGA 1155 - Z68 - PCIe 3.0 and UEFI BIOS Intel Z68 ATX DDR3

HDD - Western Digital Caviar Black 1 TB SATA III 7200 RPM

OD - The ASUS drive

Case - Cooler Master HAF 912 Mid Tower ATX Case

PSU - OCZ ModXStream Pro 700W Modular High Performance Power Supply

Also, the reason I have 16 GB of RAM is I am kinda skimping out on the graphics card so the 16 GB of RAM will help compensate a little bit in making the system a little faster.

Schreek

Great choice on the 2500. It's a fantastic cpu and one of the more popular processors used in gaming builds. To my knowledge, the system RAM works independently of the video RAM, so having 16 gigs over 8 gigs won't make a difference as far as your graphics are concerned (someone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong). Also, I would stick with the Caviar Green instead of the Caviar Black. I actually bought a Caviar Black initially for my build, but it was INSANELY loud, like an old-fashioned coffee pot percolating at it's highest point, so I swapped it out for a Caviar Green. The 1 TB version is about $90 on Amazon:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0053YKMGA/ref=oh_details_o04_s00_i00

Also, by dropping from 16 GB RAM to 8 GB, you'll save about $30 - $40, which you can then put towards a slightly more powerful video card, such as this:

EVGA SuperClocked 012-P3-1572-AR GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

or maybe even this if you have $20 to $30 extra:

MSI N660 Ti PE 2GD5/OC GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Alright, so what you suggest my changes be is go back to the Caviar Green and dial down on the RAM so I have 8GB rather than 16. So if I did that I cut down about $50-60. Should I appropriate these funds somewhere else or is it not worth spending it somewhere else on this build?

Edit: I think I will go with that GTX 660 you posted then.

Alright, so what you suggest my changes be is go back to the Caviar Green and dial down on the RAM so I have 8GB rather than 16. So if I did that I cut down about $50-60. Should I appropriate these funds somewhere else or is it not worth spending it somewhere else on this build?

Schreek

Haha sorry, edited my post. See above. :) I would spend that extra on a more powerful video card. I put two recomendations above.

Alright, so what you suggest my changes be is go back to the Caviar Green and dial down on the RAM so I have 8GB rather than 16. So if I did that I cut down about $50-60. Should I appropriate these funds somewhere else or is it not worth spending it somewhere else on this build?

Edit: I think I will go with that GTX 660 you posted then.

Schreek

I was about to recommend that one! Excellent choice!

So if I were to do this build, what settings would I be playing with good frames per second on a recent game such as Battlefield 3? Also, how long do you think this build would last before needing a major overhaul of updates?

So if I were to do this build, what settings would I be playing with good frames per second on a recent game such as Battlefield 3? Also, how long do you think this build would last before needing a major overhaul of updates?

Schreek

Well my video card is significantly underpowered compated to the 660 you chose, and while I haven't run BF 3 on my system, I can run almost everything on Ultra at about 45-50 fps. Nexuiz drops to about 25 fps on ultra, but a little overclocking pushed up to 40 no problem. The reviewes for your card say they are running BF3 and other more recent games on ultra and excellent frame rates.

As far as upgrading, I can only speculate since technology advances so fast, but my best guess would be between 3 and 5 years if you have to have to play everythign on ultra. If medium or high is acceptable to you, you may be able to go another 1 to 2 years past that. But again, that's just an educated guess, so don't hold me to it!

[QUOTE="Schreek"]

So if I were to do this build, what settings would I be playing with good frames per second on a recent game such as Battlefield 3? Also, how long do you think this build would last before needing a major overhaul of updates?

shufu7-11

Well my video card is significantly underpowered compated to the 660 you chose, and while I haven't run BF 3 on my system, I can run almost everything on Ultra at about 45-50 fps. Nexuiz drops to about 25 fps on ultra, but a little overclocking pushed up to 40 no problem. The reviewes for your card say they are running BF3 and other more recent games on ultra and excellent frame rates.

As far as upgrading, I can only speculate since technology advances so fast, but my best guess would be between 3 and 5 years if you have to have to play everythign on ultra. If medium or high is acceptable to you, you may be able to go another 1 to 2 years past that. But again, that's just an educated guess, so don't hold me to it!

[QUOTE="shufu7-11"]

[QUOTE="Schreek"]

So if I were to do this build, what settings would I be playing with good frames per second on a recent game such as Battlefield 3? Also, how long do you think this build would last before needing a major overhaul of updates?

Schreek

Well my video card is significantly underpowered compated to the 660 you chose, and while I haven't run BF 3 on my system, I can run almost everything on Ultra at about 45-50 fps. Nexuiz drops to about 25 fps on ultra, but a little overclocking pushed up to 40 no problem. The reviewes for your card say they are running BF3 and other more recent games on ultra and excellent frame rates.

As far as upgrading, I can only speculate since technology advances so fast, but my best guess would be between 3 and 5 years if you have to have to play everythign on ultra. If medium or high is acceptable to you, you may be able to go another 1 to 2 years past that. But again, that's just an educated guess, so don't hold me to it!

You're very welcome! Good luck!

Alright, so what you suggest my changes be is go back to the Caviar Green and dial down on the RAM so I have 8GB rather than 16. So if I did that I cut down about $50-60. Should I appropriate these funds somewhere else or is it not worth spending it somewhere else on this build?

Edit: I think I will go with that GTX 660 you posted then.

Schreek

the 7950 is a much better card than the 660ti, it even competes with the geforce 670, go with that instead it will last you longer and has 1gb more vram as well. The radeon 7870 costs $250 and is also a decent choice in video card. Instead of the i5 2500k go with ivybridge 3570k....they're the same price. For motherboard you can go with any z77 for $100 and you'll be fine. 4gb of ram is enough for anything you need to do, 8gb is overkill and anything more is just un necessary.

[QUOTE="Schreek"]

Alright, so what you suggest my changes be is go back to the Caviar Green and dial down on the RAM so I have 8GB rather than 16. So if I did that I cut down about $50-60. Should I appropriate these funds somewhere else or is it not worth spending it somewhere else on this build?

Edit: I think I will go with that GTX 660 you posted then.

blaznwiipspman1

the 7950 is a much better card than the 660ti, it even competes with the geforce 670, go with that instead it will last you longer and has 1gb more vram as well. The radeon 7870 costs $250 and is also a decent choice in video card. Instead of the i5 2500k go with ivybridge 3570k....they're the same price. For motherboard you can go with any z77 for $100 and you'll be fine. 4gb of ram is enough for anything you need to do, 8gb is overkill and anything more is just un necessary.

I'm with you on everything except the RAM part. 4 GB is okay, but you're really pushing there. While it's true that most games only require 2 GB minimum and 3-4 on recommended setting, don't forget about your OS and any other programs and processes running in the background. Windows 7 takes up about 1.5 to 2 gigs of your memory at any given time. For example, I have 8 GB on my rig right now, but when I check the system information, I have only 5.95 gigs available, and the only program I have open is my browser. If I had only 4 gigs of memory, I'd only have about 2 left for gaming, which is NOT enough. Stick with 8. You'll be glad you did.

[QUOTE="blaznwiipspman1"]

[QUOTE="Schreek"]

Alright, so what you suggest my changes be is go back to the Caviar Green and dial down on the RAM so I have 8GB rather than 16. So if I did that I cut down about $50-60. Should I appropriate these funds somewhere else or is it not worth spending it somewhere else on this build?

Edit: I think I will go with that GTX 660 you posted then.

shufu7-11

the 7950 is a much better card than the 660ti, it even competes with the geforce 670, go with that instead it will last you longer and has 1gb more vram as well. The radeon 7870 costs $250 and is also a decent choice in video card. Instead of the i5 2500k go with ivybridge 3570k....they're the same price. For motherboard you can go with any z77 for $100 and you'll be fine. 4gb of ram is enough for anything you need to do, 8gb is overkill and anything more is just un necessary.

I'm with you on everything except the RAM part. 4 GB is okay, but you're really pushing there. While it's true that most games only require 2 GB minimum and 3-4 on recommended setting, don't forget about your OS and any other programs and processes running in the background. Windows 7 takes up about 1.5 to 2 gigs of your memory at any given time. For example, I have 8 GB on my rig right now, but when I check the system information, I have only 5.95 gigs available, and the only program I have open is my browser. If I had only 4 gigs of memory, I'd only have about 2 left for gaming, which is NOT enough. Stick with 8. You'll be glad you did.

there is no game out there that uses 4gb of ram. Even battlefield 3, arguably the most demanding game out there recommends 4gb of ram. But I do agree that getting 8gb of ram can't hurt since its so cheap nowadays. My OS uses 1.5gb of ram when I have my browser open with 10 tabs open while yours uses 2gb of ram. The reason for this I believe is your computer doesn't create a page file. It doesn't make your computer faster than mine, and my games won't struggle any more than yours will due to lack of ram.

Drop the PSU to like 500w, you dont need 700w for a single card setup.V4LENT1NE

This makes sense, but keeping it at 700 watts will allow you some room to upgrade in the future.

Thank you for your feedback! Okay, so if I were to go Intel rather than AMD, would this work out better? Also, my budget is under $1,000.

CPU - Intel Core i5-2500 @ 3.3

Get the 2500k or the Ivy bridge comparable..

GPU - EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti Superclocked 1024MB GDDR5

Get the 7850 for pretty much the same price.. Uses less power, 2gb memory..

RAM - Corsair 16 GB Vengeance Blue Low Profile 1600mhz

Only need 8gb

Motherboard - ASUS LGA 1155 - Z68 - PCIe 3.0 and UEFI BIOS Intel Z68 ATX DDR3

DO not get a z68.. Get the new Z77 chip sets.. They are much better feature wise..

HDD - Western Digital Caviar Black 1 TB SATA III 7200 RPM

Not bad choice the only recommendation is get a small 40gb SSD for cheap.. The reason being is intel rapid storage technology.. It treats the SSD as a giant cache and significantly improves your hard drive performance..

OD - The ASUS drive

Case - Cooler Master HAF 912 Mid Tower ATX Case

PSU - OCZ ModXStream Pro 700W Modular High Performance Power Supply

Also, the reason I have 16 GB of RAM is I am kinda skimping out on the graphics card so the 16 GB of RAM will help compensate a little bit in making the system a little faster.

Its not going to make a difference if its for gaming..

Schreek