Gaming On the fence about building a new desktop...

[silverbullet1080]

CPU
AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Quad Core Processor AM3 3.4GHZ 8MB Cache 125W 45NM Retail Box

GPU
XFX Radeon HD 5770 850MHZ 1GB 4.8GHZ GDDR5 2XDVI HDMI Display Port DIRECTX11 PCI-E2.0 Video Card

Motherboard
MSI 870A-G54 ATX AM3 870 DDR3 2PCI-E16 CrossFire 1PCI-E1 3PCI SATA3 USB3.0 GBLAN

Memory
G.SKILL F3-10666CL9D-4GBNQ PC3-10666 4GB 2X2GB DDR3-1333 CL9-9-9-24 240PIN Dual Channel Memory Kit

HDD
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA2 3.5IN 8.5MS 7200RPM 32MB Hard Drive OEM

Power Supply
BFG GS-550 550W Power Supply ATX V2.2 EPS12V 24PIN 6PIN & 8PIN PCI-E 140MM Fan

Fan
Noctua NF-P12-1300 120MM Ultra Quiet Cooling Fan 1100-1300RPM 63-92M3/H 12.6-19.8DBA Molex

Bluray Reader
Liteon IHOS104 4X BLU-RAY Reader BD-ROM Drive SATA Black OEM

Tower
Antec Three Hundred Mini Tower Gaming Case 300 ATX 3X5.25 6X3.5INT No PS Front USB & Audio

Total comes down to $762 CAD, though it's $812 if I choose to get assembled and tested with 1year warranty on all the parts.

 

[FAST6191]

All the parts should have a warranty of that length if not more from the manufacturer and the retailer should not be far behind so pay no attention to that.

$50 CAD is possibly a bit steep- generally if you can pick out parts you can put it all together and that $50 bumps can quite easy jump you into the next range bracket for any of those components (although aside from the single network port that motherboard looks to be quite good so maybe not that).

550W will probably do for all that (I will need to have a closer look before I call definitely or not) but know that it will probably have to be upgraded for the newer fancier graphics cards (or go crossfire- your motherboard choice supports it) as and when you upgrade.
That looks to be more of an high end office or HTPC power supply than true high end grade.

Unless it is a noise thing the stock cooler should be good enough, also if you are concerned about noise do make sure to turn the internal case fans down a notch or two as that will probably make a bigger difference.

A nice setup and while it is never a good time to buy a new PC (something new is always 3 months away) that one should serve you well for quite some time.

 

[silverbullet1080]

550W will probably do for all that (I will need to have a closer look before I call definitely or not) but know that it will probably have to be upgraded for the newer fancier graphics cards (or go crossfire- your motherboard choice supports it) as and when you upgrade.
That looks to be more of an high end office or HTPC power supply than true high end grade.

Yeah, I was a bit sketchy on the power supply, though it IS only $44.99 which is a nice price for 550W imo. And As for crossfire, I haven't been in the PC game for ages, so I'm not really sure how to crossfire it. I can probably figure it out on my own but would it require adding anything to the list?

EDIT- I should add that I probably won't overclock it.

 

[Joe88]

550W will probably do for all that (I will need to have a closer look before I call definitely or not) but know that it will probably have to be upgraded for the newer fancier graphics cards (or go crossfire- your motherboard choice supports it) as and when you upgrade.
That looks to be more of an high end office or HTPC power supply than true high end grade.

Yeah, I was a bit sketchy on the power supply, though it IS only $44.99 which is a nice price for 550W imo. And As for crossfire, I haven't been in the PC game for ages, so I'm not really sure how to crossfire it. I can probably figure it out on my own but would it require adding anything to the list?

EDIT- I should add that I probably won't overclock it.

all you need for crossfire is another one of the same gfx cards and a stronger psu then the one you have listed

 

[silverbullet1080]

550W will probably do for all that (I will need to have a closer look before I call definitely or not) but know that it will probably have to be upgraded for the newer fancier graphics cards (or go crossfire- your motherboard choice supports it) as and when you upgrade.
That looks to be more of an high end office or HTPC power supply than true high end grade.

Yeah, I was a bit sketchy on the power supply, though it IS only $44.99 which is a nice price for 550W imo. And As for crossfire, I haven't been in the PC game for ages, so I'm not really sure how to crossfire it. I can probably figure it out on my own but would it require adding anything to the list?

EDIT- I should add that I probably won't overclock it.

all you need for crossfire is another one of the same gfx cards and a stronger psu then the one you have listed

Figures. Though, screw it- I'll grab another card and a better psu next summer, What I have should carry me for at least a year no?

 

[FAST6191]

Probably longer- with consoles that apparently will not be replaced that soon being the main focus of games (they are based on directX9 tech) and DX10 (and beyond) still not having a great footing as far as being mandatory goes the system requirements race for games has slowed to a near unnoticeable level compared to how it was 5 or 10 years ago if just playing games is what you want- if you want to get the highest FPS you can on max settings/resolution and beyond then you will you can spend silly money.

SLI/crossfire as a means of a "cheap upgrade" in a year is perhaps not the best thing either if that is what you meant. If you meant lose the current card and stick in another then ignore this paragraph.

 

[Joe88]

your might want to wait just a bit longer to purchase though
price drops are coming on gfx cards since the 6000 series is launching this nov

 

[silverbullet1080]

The problem with jumping on the 6000 series is that the 5800 and 5900 go for at least $300 and $700 respectively. With nVidia jumping back in with the GTX460, they might force ATi to lower their prices... but I don't really want to spend more than $200 on a GPU. In any case I switched the psu for a 600W one. Though I'm curious what would be wrong with going for a crossfire with the same card in a year?

 

[seedvt]

NCIX.com right?

Make sure you do some price matching. http://pricecanada.com and http://pricebat.ca are good resources.

 

[silverbullet1080]

NCIX.com right?

Make sure you do some price matching. http://pricecanada.com and http://pricebat.ca are good resources.

Of course

Though I should add that shopbot.com is pretty effective too imo.

Total BEFORE Price Match $840.09
YOUR TOTAL $742.07

Though this doesn't include the monitor I'm going to have to get... or keyboard.

 

[seedvt]

NCIX.com right?

Make sure you do some price matching. http://pricecanada.com and http://pricebat.ca are good resources.

Of course

Though I should add that shopbot.com is pretty effective too imo.

Total BEFORE Price Match $840.09
YOUR TOTAL $742.07

Though this doesn't include the monitor I'm going to have to get... or keyboard.

Right on.

I'd be a bit suspect of the power supply if you happen to get a more powerful video card in the future though.

 

[silverbullet1080]

Yeah I swapped it for a 600W psu. Next is the monitor...

 

[Deleted User]

I had the same battle about price (mine came down to about the same in USD) but it's completely worth it. You'll have a faster computer, one you can upgrade indefinitely, and you'll feel better about it. It's like a penis extension.