First Build, need some help!

[Rapthorne]

Hello everybody. As the title says, this is gonna be my first build and I need help with a couple of things. I'm not computer savvy at all so some items I have picked out may not be right. First, I have a budget of $1100 but would like to keep it as cheap as possible with good performance. I'd like to play games like Guild Wars 2, Dark Soul, Skyrim, Far Cry 3 and future games with high-max settings and I'm fine with turning down some settings like shadows to increase performance.

My monitors resolution is 1680x1050 and here's my Newegg cart just to show what I've been trying to go for:

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz
Motherboard: ASUS P8Z77-V LK LGA 1155 Intel Z77
Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
Video Card: SAPPHIRE 100355OCL Radeon HD 7850 2GB
HDD: Western Digital WD Black WD5003AZEX 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Case: COOLER MASTER HAF 922
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 520 Bronze 520W ATX12V V2.3 / EPS 12V V2.91 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified
Optical Drive: ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner
CPU Cooler: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit
Total: $1039.25

So pretty much, are there any parts that don't work together, aren't good, or could be replaced to lower the price? Kthx!

[demonskies]

You are missing a HDD unless you purposely left it out. If you are trying to save money you could drop to an Asrock Z77 pro 3 board and save a little more than 50 bucks or put that to getting a stronger video card like a 7870. However with the resolution you are running a 7850 should have no issues running those games and decent settings. In regards to the question if they are "right" or compatible so all those pieces will work together just fine.

[Rapthorne]

Oops, thanks for letting me know! I did have one in my cart, just forgot to mention it.

[chazus]

Seconded. That system is pretty much identical to the one I got about two months ago. I chose the geforce 660 over the 7850, and am still using the stock cooler and MSI board. Runs like a beast. I dont play Dark Souls or Far Cry 3 yet, but it runs GW2 and Skyrim smoothly.

[Rapthorne]

Alright I replaced the ASUS p8z77 with an ASRock z77 pro3 and im thinking about replacing the graphics card with a 660 (was my original choice but decided to try and be a cheapass ).

Just having trouble deciding between a couple of 660s
So, EVGA SuperClocked 02G-P4-2662-KR GeForce GTX 660 2GB 192-bit
GIGABYTE GV-N660OC-2GD GeForce GTX 660 2GB 192-bit GDDR5
ZOTAC ZT-60901-10M GeForce GTX 660 2GB 192-bit GDDR5

Somebody help me decide? After that this bad boy will be on its way

[Deleted]

Not a fan of Zotac.

Don't go reference cooler (EVGA)

I'd recommend the Gigabyte card, they usually quite solid.

Also for your CPU heat sink I'd recommend switching to the XIGMATEK Gaia it's cheaper and slightly better performance and quieter.

[chazus]

I would have bought the Gigabyte at the time, but the MSI at the time had a $35 rebate, and I like MSI anyway.