[guanton]

Hey guys, first time PC builder here. I've been doing research and trying to get the hang of things, think I've covered enough to post a build for input/feedback. This may be a long post, so sorry in advance.

Firstly, several things:
•I'm a third-year college student, I'm very into gaming. Games that I play/potentially will play: Heroes of Newerth, Starcraft 2, CS 1.6, CS Source, WoW, Rift, Battlefield3 (looking forward to this), Diablo3 (and this). Other than gaming: torrenting, music, movies, the usual.
•Budget: I'm aiming for around $1000. Though this can be a little flexible as I'll be working over the summer.
•I want to build a PC that I will be able to upgrade over the years.
•Overclocking: This is something I'm not entirely too sure about. This influences my build - P or H chipset, 2600k, etc. Will I see a significant increase in performance when playing games? Is the performance gain worth the heat/instability/degradation of hardware? Do I benefit more from CPU or GPU overclocking?
•Will most likely be building this in a month after the current semester is over, when summer is starting.
• Will get Windows 7 through my school via student discount.

So, with that being said, here is an initial build I've constructed. Some things may be up in the air, influenced by my questions above. I'm open to what you guys recommend, because you all have experience. Wherever I can save money is a PLUS.

PSU: $70
Antec NEO ECO 620C 620W Continuous Power
Is this too much power? Would 520W be enough?

Case: $60
Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Mobo: $140
MSI P67A-G45 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
OR the other few that are comparable on this page; i.e. the ASUS ones for around $140ish: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...CE&Pagesize=20

CPU: $225
Intel Core i5-2500K

CPU Cooler: $35
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 "Heatpipe Direct Contact" Long Life Sleeve 120mm CPU Cooler Compatible Intel Core i5 & Intel Core i7

Memory: $40
G.SKILL NS 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666)

HDD: $65
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5"
Or http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822145304

GPU: $245
SAPPHIRE 100312-1GSR Radeon HD 6950 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

Monitor: $180
ASUS VH236H Black 23" 2ms(GTG) HDMI Widescreen Full HD 1080P LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 20000 :1 (ASCR) Built-in Speakers

Total: $1060 not including shipping/taxes

Any feedback is appreciated. Once again, if you see a way that would save me money, that would be great.

Thanks!

 

[MRoFlare]

245$ fpr the 6950 1 gb is a bit much. the 1gb is usually around 225$ and often. If you can wait im sure it will go down in price in next few days. I just bought a 6950 2gb asus reference card if you are willing to pay 260$ shipped I will send it to you. I returned it for RMA because I bought the 570 GTX for 275$ on sale. The asus card was installed but havnt even been used in gaming yet. I did however registered it so I will assist with rma if need be. Its the reference card that can unlock into 6970 but I havnt touched it yet.

On the side note: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161361&cm_re=6950-_-14-161-361-_-Product 219.99 $

 

[appleg33k85]

Pretty good overall build - you could certainly use a quality 520w PSU, the only thing I would really change would be the memory - Grab 1600mhz memory that way you aren't limited by memory speed for overclocking. I made the mistake of grabbing 1333mhz memory and constantly had to set it on the lowest divider in order to get a decent overclock (ended up being like 1208mhz as the memory wouldn't overclock over 1333mhz for anything) - now with 1600mhz memory it actually overclocks to 2000mzh +

 

[guanton]

Hey guys, thanks for the quick informative replies.

Yeah I wasn't sure if 620W is too much for my build. Can anyone suggest quality 520W or 550W PSU's that aren't too pricely?

I'm buying this build in about a month, so prices will probably drop for the 6950 1gb.

I guess I will upgrade to 1600mhz memory: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277

 

[Thebig123]

That 1600 RAM looks great to me. I think that 620w Antec looks alright to me. Dont know how much cheaper you can get and find a quality PSU

 

[juryben]

Don't get that monitor. It's old.

I recommend getting a 120hz.

Get a cheaper CPU and Mobo (AMD)

Remove the CPU cooler and get a better PSU