new budget build (this will be my first build in like 10 years)

[Tonyctattoo]

so im upgrading from a dell dual core 2.6ghz 2 gig ram geforce gtx old and heres what i plan on replacing it with (case wasent even worth salvaging)

case: COOLER MASTER HAF 912 RC-912-KKN1 Black SECC/ ABS Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
psu: COUGAR DX600 600W ATX SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply (link if you want to inspect it: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817553014 )

motherboard: MSI Z77A-G43 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS (im aware that this only has 1 pcie 3.0 slot and doesnt support sli or crossfire and im ok with that)

cpu: Intel Core i5-3550 Ivy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2500 BX80637I53550
gpu: HIS H785F2G2M Radeon HD 7850 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
ram: Crucial Ballistix sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model BLS2KIT4G3D1609DS1S00
SSD: Kingston SSDNow V200 Series SV200S37A/128G 2.5" 128GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) (Stand-alone drive) (its supposedly slower than other sata 3 drives but i assume its still faster than a 7k rpm mechanical drive)

and os will be win7 64 oem

most of it im pretty confident with, the psu has 2 good reviews and no bads so far and its 80+ bronze so ima give it a shot unless someone has a personal horror story about it, the SSD is slower than other sata 3 drives but like i said its probably still faster than a mechanical hdd. the memory im wondering about cause the motherboard supports 1600 in OC i dunno if it does this automatic or if i hae to adjust the bios for it. and i know alot of people have issues with the amd catalist drivers for the gpu but i assume that can be worked around right?

anyhow unless i hear some horror stories or a reason why i should re think one of these items ill probably order it from new egg tomorrow morning i just wanted to see if anyone had any input

and remember this is a budget build and is costing just shy of 900 bucks

[OneQuickSS]

I'm in no way an expert but I've built a few in recent years and my current rig is similar to the one you are proposing here. I have a couple suggestions and these are just my opinions so you can take them if you like.

Video card: I am not an AMD fan at all and the new nVidia GTX 600 series cards are awesome. I would suggest this one that is still close in price to the AMD card you listed but IMO a much better product which from what I've read recently also has much better drivers/support. GTX660 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130826

SSD: I'm using the exact same size ssd and can highly reccomend this one. Crucial M4, they are just the tops when it comes to anything memory related. You almost never hear any bad reviews of their products. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130826

Power Supply: I've never heard of that brand and I think a quality PS is important. Here is a Corsair priced the same and even has a $10 rebate making it cheaper that I believe is a far superior product to that Cougar. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139028

As for you question about the memory speeds. MSI makes great motherboards and I'd imagine it would most likely auto adjust to the proper speed but if not it's easily settable in the bios. Just follow the manual if your unsure how to do it, every MSI MB I've used has had great supporting literature with it.

[Tonyctattoo]

k decided to go with the corsair even with the few DOA reviews it had.. still contemplating the gpu that you sugested but ill probably run with the nvidia unless someone has a reason not to

---------- Post added 2012-09-22 at 07:10 AM ----------

been trying to find comparisons for the 660 and 7850 and most dont even seem close , for some reason it says the 7850 is a closer match to the 660 ti which is 100 dollars more

[Sevenfold]

Video card: I am not an AMD fan at all and the new nVidia GTX 600 series cards are awesome. I would suggest this one that is still close in price to the AMD card you listed but IMO a much better product which from what I've read recently also has much better drivers/support. GTX660 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130826

A 7850 can be had for ~$50 less than the card you recommended which is significant in a budget build. The 7870 is roughly the same price as the 660 after rebates and faster.

In any case, the 660 is not a "much better" product than the actual AMD card it's competing with. You also get a free copy of Sleeping Dogs with the 7870 if that has any value to you.

[Tonyctattoo]

nvm more googling found it, guess im sold.

[demonskies]

Asrock z77 pro3 $94
Seasonic 520w non mod $69
Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8Gb $39
i53570k $229
Asus 7870DC2 $249
WD Cav Blue 500Gb $59
NZXT Soruce $44
Samsung DVD burner $16
WIn7 64 $99

Total ~905

7850 vs 660

With the 7850 being 2Gb 256bit and around $190 over the 660 being 2g 192bit you will get for your money out of the 7850. Unless you were planning on going up to a 660ti and at that price you could just get a 7950 and still beat the 660 ti in most situations. In all honesty I would drop the SSD all together if this is a budget build and get a 3570k and like a 7870. Then get an SSD later down the line when you have 100 bucks sitting around. Also as pointed out above there is mail in rebate on the 7870 bringing it down to 229 and it comes with sleeping dogs.

Edited: Redid for whole budget build.

[Tonyctattoo]

the 7870 is faster? and by how much?

---------- Post added 2012-09-22 at 07:43 AM ----------

the ssd is closer to 74, which is 10 bucks more thn the caviar blue i was gonna get, im not saving much by eliminating it

[demonskies]

7870 vs regular 660

A 7870 will beat out the regular 660 in basically every situation except battlefield or games that are uber optimized for nvidia over amd.

If you were only planning on running a single SSD for your system a Samsung 830 or Crucial M4 would be much better than that Kingston.

[Tonyctattoo]

i appreciate it but im calling it quits after that 7870 maybe ill get another ssd later and make the better one the main drive but ill have to live with this one for now

---------- Post added 2012-09-22 at 07:57 AM ----------

now i only worry that the 600 watt psu might not power everything since the videocard requires 500 watts unless im reading this wrong

[oggyowl]

remember the radeons use far far less power than the 660's. Like $200~ a year in bills iirc. Could drop down to a 7850 too and just OC.

[Tonyctattoo]

i decided on the 7870, if i ever get the rebate thingy it ends up being cheaper than the 660

---------- Post added 2012-09-22 at 06:15 PM ----------

Ok this business is ordered and paments been processed all I can do is wait.. Wish me luck on nothing being DOA

[CheezusCrust]

Good luck!

And don't listen to the $200/year crap from Oggy, that's not possible by any stretch of the imagination.

[demonskies]

What did your final build order end up being Tony?

[Tonyctattoo]

The only things I changed was the psu to the Corsair 600w builders edition 80+ bronze and I changed the gpu to the hd 7870 2gb video card, everything else is exactly the same.

Eventually I will opt for a better ssd but for the price I don't have a problem with it being a little slower.

---------- Post added 2012-09-22 at 09:27 PM ----------

Well to be honest I'll probably end up upgrading everything anyway, but I'm impatient and I'm tired of gw2 playing like a slideshow on the dinosaur I'm using now so im just getting what I can with what I have to spend right now, then when I recover financially I'll start putting a little more time and money into each component.. But 6-12 fps is damn near unplayable And I don't do much better in wow raids.

[Tonyctattoo]

Super excited everything but the case shipped today