Novice desktop build - help wanted

[theshermanator]

I am in the planning stages of building a desktop for watching movies, playing mainstream games, and would like to have a decent lifespan (hopefully 5+ years). A couple friends have helped me gather some info on parts, but I figured why not see what the experts have to say. Here's what I have so far:

Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield (LGA 1156)
ASUS P7P55D LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX mobo
SAPPHIRE 100283L Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5
CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX 550W power supply
A-DATA 2x2GB SDRAM DDR3 1600 mem
Western Dig. 640GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0GB/s HD
Windows 7 OS

I'm considering adding a bit more memory.

Looking to spend between 1,000 and 1,200.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Nikon]

not a bad looking build if i say so myself. i am planning on the same mobo as it comes highly reccomended and asus is just a good brand for mobos.

glc reccomends a-data ram, and you checked compatability (good boy =D lol)

good card, with xfire ability which is supported by the board.

i see no changes needed, except perhaps making sure the HDD is a black edition, especially for gaming.

else looks good to me, should keep you happy for quite some time.


PS: dont forget CD drives etc.

[ryuk999]

If it's not a big deal to wait a bit, I'd get a WD Caviar black 640GB SATA III

As an alternative that'd go perfectly with the SATA III drive, you could get this ASUS P7P55D-E LX. The advantages to this board over the one you picked out is that it has USB 3.0 and SATA III, however it can't crossfire and less overclocking potential. If you don't know what overclocking is, it's just basically pushing your hardware past it's manufacturing limit to get the absolute most performance for your money.

If your willing to spend up to $1200 I'd recommend you get a ASUS 5830 for the biz nasty of gaming.

[Doom]

To be absolutely sure about recommendations, I'd have to ask what you mean by "mainstream gaming." If you want to run the newest stuff in five years at the highest settings it's different than playing WoW casually. Anyway...

- The movie playback can be done w/ just about any card. I've got a GeForce 210 in my HTPC and it does HD with no problems.
- There shouldn't be a need to move to a higher PSU unless you eventually want to run multiple graphics cards. Crossfire and SLI are neat...but in my experience (used to have an SLI rig) the increase in performance doesn't justify the cost of a second card.

[Anomo]

By first glance everything looks ok, but ONE thing is missing. LINKS so we can check their comparability It saves a lot of time and makes the whole process allot easier.

[Nikon]

you CAN copy/paste what he posted into newegg search and it will take you to the exact part he picked... on everything except the HDD, which is why i said "make sure it is a black edition".

everything looks good by my eye

[Anomo]

Originally Posted by Nikon you CAN copy/paste what he posted into newegg search and it will take you to the exact part he picked... on everything except the HDD, which is why i said "make sure it is a black edition". everything looks good by my eye

we CAN do that, but seeing that there are about 10-15 new BYOP threads every week that gets "old" after a while. Anyways, as I said before it looks good at first glance

[theshermanator]

Originally Posted by Nikon not a bad looking build if i say so myself. i am planning on the same mobo as it comes highly reccomended and asus is just a good brand for mobos. glc reccomends a-data ram, and you checked compatability (good boy =D lol) good card, with xfire ability which is supported by the board. i see no changes needed, except perhaps making sure the HDD is a black edition, especially for gaming. else looks good to me, should keep you happy for quite some time. PS: dont forget CD drives etc.

Nikon,

What do you mean by "black edition?"

[theshermanator]

Doom,

By mainstream gaming I'm referring to typical popular games found in stores. Starcraft, Total War series, etc. I'm a fan of RTS games and I would like to be able to play games for a few years at high settings. I've been the guy the last ten years who buys the cool new games and then can only play them at medium or low settings due to subpar hardware. I'm trying to avoid this problem...

Thanks for your input.

[theshermanator]

Originally Posted by ryuk999 If it's not a big deal to wait a bit, I'd get a WD Caviar black 640GB SATA III As an alternative that'd go perfectly with the SATA III drive, you could get this ASUS P7P55D-E LX. The advantages to this board over the one you picked out is that it has USB 3.0 and SATA III, however it can't crossfire and less overclocking potential. If you don't know what overclocking is, it's just basically pushing your hardware past it's manufacturing limit to get the absolute most performance for your money. If your willing to spend up to $1200 I'd recommend you get a ASUS 5830 for the biz nasty of gaming.

This model of graphics card worries me a bit due the a lack of reviews on newegg. What kind of perks does this one have over the Radeon 5770?

[theshermanator]

I'm planning on getting a Panasonic 42" LCD TV this summer and would like to occasionally use it for a monitor. Would I need a DVI or VGA for this?

Thanks a lot for everyone's responses! And sorry for no links.

[glc]

You will need a HDMI to use a TV as a monitor.

"Black Edition" = Western Digital Caviar Black.

The Asus 5830 is a major step better than a 5770, and the HIS/Sapphire/Powercolor versions are considerably cheaper and essentially the same thing.

[Nikon]

lol, i see his confusion now. thanks glc =D

i was thinking of the phenom II 965 for some reason.... in another thread perhaps....

[Fifthman]

Originally Posted by theshermanator Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield (LGA 1156) ASUS P7P55D LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX mobo SAPPHIRE 100283L Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX 550W power supply A-DATA 2x2GB SDRAM DDR3 1600 mem Western Dig. 640GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0GB/s HD Windows 7 OS I'm considering adding a bit more memory.

Unless you're getting Win 7 64 bit you won't need more memory as 32 bit os tops out at 4 gigs.

[theshermanator]

Originally Posted by Fifthman Unless you're getting Win 7 64 bit you won't need more memory as 32 bit os tops out at 4 gigs.

That was my intent (64-bit OS), unless it really IS unnecessary. My thought process was that 64-bit was sort of "the near future" and I would like to be a step or two ahead of the average PC. Please correct me if this is off base.