What are friends for?

[Advent]

So recently a friend of mine asked me what made a good gaming computer for new games. Knowing the little that I know, we discussed it and I noticed that his knowledge of these sort of things is slightly lacking. In the end, he asked me to build one for him if he bought the parts that I picked out. So I'm here to run it by you all because, well frankly, you know more than I do. His budget is ~$950 without S&H, and I'm giving him my full-tower Coolermaster HAF 932 for this setup. All of the other peripherals will be provided by me.

PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139021
HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822152185
CPU Cooler: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835103065
Mobo:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131702
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231314
CPU:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115072
GPU:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121446

[Deleted]

I just did a quick glance, not sure if I missed anything, but the only thing I'd change is the HDD. The motherboard you have supports SATA 6.0 Gb/s, whereas the HDD you gave only goes up to SATA 3.0 Gb/s.

Personally I'd go with this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136533

It has the Gb/s that the motherboard selected supports, and it has a bigger cache, only for about $20 more.

No casual HDD maxes out a 3Gb/s port, and most SSD's don't either. The one he picked is fine, and the cache doesn't matter as much as you'd think it does.

The "Thermal Armor" however on that motherboard has some negative impact on the temps of the motherboard, since there's no direct cooling on it, it tends to heat up components instead of cooling them down, or so I heard. It does look slick either way.

[Advent]

No casual HDD maxes out a 3Gb/s port, and most SSD's don't either. The one he picked is fine, and the cache doesn't matter as much as you'd think it does.

The "Thermal Armor" however on that motherboard has some negative impact on the temps of the motherboard, since there's no direct cooling on it, it tends to heat up components instead of cooling them down, or so I heard. It does look slick either way.

I haven't noticed any temp increases on my board with Speedfan/Realtemp and I bought it a month ago. Though, to be honest all I play is RIFT, Metro 2033 and WoW so my resources may be limited. Do you have a better motherboard to recommend? He wants to hear what I've scrounged up this afternoon.

[Deleted]

I haven't noticed any temp increases on my board with Speedfan/Realtemp and I bought it a month ago. Though, to be honest all I play is RIFT, Metro 2033 and WoW so my resources may be limited. Do you have a better motherboard to recommend? He wants to hear what I've scrounged up this afternoon.

Not saying it's a bad board at all, just saying the thermal armor might increase the motherboard temp by a tiny bit.

[D Brisc]

Could prolly cut back on your PSU. Its a little overkill imo. Unless, he wants to run sli later or something. Could save a little money there. Just my 2 cents. I need friends like you to give me peripherals lol

[Cantii]

Good setup, the Sabertooth P67 is actually one of the best overclockers that ASUS makes. With the PSU, though, it might be a good idea to drop down to a 650W, which would be the Corsair TX650 v2 OR for around the same amount of money, the Corsair HX650 is modular and well... it's modular, 'nuff said.

With the GPU, it might be a better idea to go with a Radeon HD6870. It's around the same performance as the GTX 560 (not the Ti version) for less money with the mail-in rebate. Though it's really kind of moot, one performs better than the other in some games, and vice-versa.

[Nightbliss]

One thing, that motherboard looks amazingly fucking sexy.
Also, I would get a GTX560Ti instead of the one you picked (~15% slower).

Rest looks solid.

[Advent]

One thing, that motherboard looks amazingly fucking sexy.
Also, I would get a GTX560Ti instead of the one you picked (~15% slower).

Rest looks solid.

What's the price vs. Performance of the 560 vs the 560ti? I honestly didn't know there was a variation between them until now. And finally, if he tries SLI, would he be able to run 2 of those on the TX750? I'm asking partially for myself as well.

[Bassman]

Hate the PSU because it's not modular.

[Nellah]

And finally, if he tries SLI, would he be able to run 2 of those on the TX750? I'm asking partially for myself as well.

Yes. My 750TX is driving a GTX275 at 100% load (Folding), a Radeon HD 6950, an overclocked 2500K at 100% load (also Folding), and two hard drives, and it never has remotely warm exhaust or has crashed due to power related issues.

As for the motherboard, that depends on your case cooling. My Storm Scout with both side fans keeps the internal components quite cool, but if the case isn't configured for mass air throughput (which mine is, and is a bit noisy because of it) then the motherboard MIGHT be cooled better. MIGHT. But I don't think two degrees more or less matters in the long run unless you're going for maximum overclocks for benchmark competitions (in which case you'd probably go for a different motherboard anyway).

[Nightbliss]

What's the price vs. Performance of the 560 vs the 560ti? I honestly didn't know there was a variation between them until now. And finally, if he tries SLI, would he be able to run 2 of those on the TX750? I'm asking partially for myself as well.

The GTX560Ti is definately the best allround GPU at the moment so it is worth getting. Specially if you can pay 10$ extra and get the Hawk/SOC versions of it, they are at GTX570 performance level for 240/250$.
And yes, that PSU will handle SLI/CFX just fine.