Help with mid-range gamer

[paJAMbla]

Intel Core i5-650 Clarkdale 3.2GHz LGA 1156 73W Dual-Core Desktop Processor Model BX80616I5650 - Retail

ASUS P7P55 LX LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

OCZ Fatal1ty OCZ550FTY 550W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Modular Active PFC Power Supply - Retail

ASUS CuCore Series EAH5770 CuCore/2DI/1GD5 Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card - Retail

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBNQ - Retail

Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM

(I have a dvd burner I can use)

This brings me in under $1000 which was my goal. It will be used to play sims and games such as IL2 Sturmovik and Battlefield Bad Company 2. Maybe eventually hook up to my plasma tv.

My concerns are...the psu goes on the bottom of this case. I'm hoping that this psu has long enough cables. I chose this one because its on the pcmech "good" list, good reviews, is modular, and is priced nicely with discount and rebate. I went back and forth between this and Corsair....but couldn't pass on the 44.99 price after discount and rebate. The Corsair modular put me over budget. If there is a better psu that takes advantage of the bottom opening for air flow, I'll change it.

Regarding the video card....a couple of ppl in the IL2 community have told me to go with Nvidia...ATI is more problematic with the sim (drivers?). I have had driver problems with an older ATI card. But what I'm reading here is that ATI is superior at this time. Any thoughts? Also, I see that the motherboard has a slot for a 2.0 card and the card I chose is 2.1. I wasn't sure if this would be a compatibility issue.

Finally, this is my first build since my initial single core, budget builds...I believe in 2006. Are there any up to date "how to" sites you can recommend for this particular processor and motherboard?

Thanks for the help once again!

[triquee]

I've had no issues whatsoever with my ATI GPU with Sims 1-3.

[glc]

Read the PSU reviews - someone has probably commented on cable length. Make sure it has an 8 pin aux connector, not just a 4 pin.

Tom's Hardware rates the 5770 as best in its price range. 2.0/2.1 is not an issue.

[paJAMbla]

Originally Posted by glc Read the PSU reviews - someone has probably commented on cable length. Make sure it has an 8 pin aux connector, not just a 4 pin.

Thanks

Specs say it has an 8 pin 12v. I did read a couple of comments about cable length but general comments can be subjective based on their case, etc. I didn't read anything negative about length.

Everything else look good?

Any relatively new DIY sites for Intel builds?


EDIT: I did read one reviewer who said he had to buy an extension for his 8 pin ATX because his psu was mounted at the bottom.

Also, had to change the motherboard to this:
ASUS P7P55D LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

The other one didn't have an IEEE port which I need. Also, this case accepts an IEEE connection in the front panel...how do I know this board will accommodate this.? It would be very convenient for my video editing so I'd like to have this feature.

[paJAMbla]

Sorry to post again....but I want to make sure everything looks good. Thank you for answering some of my questions....hoping to get the last of my questions answered. Want to place my order hopefully by tomorrow. Really appreciate it.

[glc]

Yes, the P7P55D has a header for the front Firewire. If you can spend another $10, the P7P55D-E has SATA 6.0 and USB 3.0.

[paJAMbla]

Thanks GLC. Yeah no problem upgrading the motherboard. Thanks for the heads up on that.

I started second guessing myself on my cpu selection. I know you, and many others here, use the i5 750. I debated on using it on this build but I don't really multi-task and didn't think it was worth it. I would never be working with two or more major programs at the same time. The most I might do, at least it would be nice to do, is listen to some music while I'm flying around in a P51 or Spit. I figured the i5 dual core can handle that. Which brings me to other questions...for my purposes (the most demanding being gaming, occasionally moving video to DVD, and streaming movies) I was wondering if I even need the i5. Perhaps I could save a little and go with the i3. Would there be any major disadvantages to that? If you do recommend that I stay with the i5 which one is going to give me the best performance for gaming? It sounds like the most power 661 is not really built for gaming but an HTPC set-up which really isn't my goal. But I want the right cpu for any possible single application I may throw at it--especially gaming.

Sorry to keep this thread going, but this is my first build for myself and I want to get it just right.

[glc]

The i3 would be fine for a gamer. You can always upgrade to a quad later if you need it.

[paJAMbla]

GLC....I'm in a holding pattern cuz I'm reading a lot of stuff like this in regard to that motherboard:

"high-pitched whine."

(read a lot off comments like this in reference to Asus P55 boards).

"SATA 6 is based on a add on bios that runs after the main BIOS. You can not select the SATA 6 controller drive in the boot menu in a multi-drive situation. Disappointing after paying extra for the "-E" model specifically for SATA 6."

"Enabling SATA6G/USB3 cuts PCI-E x16 bandwidth by half."

Would it be a good idea to get a board without these features until the problem is resolved or is this something I don't need to worry about?

[glc]

You can get the base P7P55D.