Build help :)

[McRackin]

I've slapped something together, looking for some criticism. Planning on spending $1500 after taxes, and I'm only willing to shop at http://www.a-power.com because its right outside my house and they don't have horrible prices.

Gigabyte GA-X58-USB3 ICH10R LGA1366 6xDDR3 SLI Motherboard
Intel Core i7 960 Quad Core Processor LGA1366 3.2GHZ Bloomfield 8MB 4.8GT/S
Antec Kuhler Box Heatsink LGA1366 Dual Tower Heatpipe Cooler Fan
eVGA 012-P3-1470-TR nVidia Geforce GTX470 Fermi 320bit 1280MB GDDR5
Patriot Viper II Sector 7 12GB DDR3 1600Mhz PC3-12800 (3x4GB)
OCZ Solid 3 60GB SATA3 TRIM MLC NAND 2.5" SSD - 500/Read / 450/Write
Seagate Barracuda Green 5900.3 1.5TB 3.5" SATA 6Gb/s 64MB HD
ASUS DRW-24B1ST 24X SATA DVD Writer
Cooler Master GX 650W Power Supply
Antec Three Hundred PC Tower Gaming Case
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit

This setup totals $1375 before taxes.
I'll fill out the build help questions anyway....

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming, school work (finance related apps).
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$1500 after tax
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Vancouver, Canada
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
MOBO,CPU,RAM,VCARD,CASE,PS,SSD,HDD,DVD,FAN,WINDOWS
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
None
6) Will you be overclocking?
No
7) 7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
1920x1200 24"
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
next week
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? etc.
no pref
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
have vista 64, but want 7



Like I said earlier, I'd like an upgrade from my current pc (you can see the specs in my sig) - its almost 3 years old now. I want it up to speed for the next gen games and beyond. I'm looking for any help in identifying waste in my build because I really don't have much experience, and any help/advice in switching parts up. Thanks

 

[David_CAN]

Given the components you want and the price you're willing to pay, is there a reason you're buying an old Bloomfield processor instead of a Sandy Bridge (1155) 2500k or 2600k, both of which should be faster (even before the easy overclock) at a cheaper price?

 

[tiraides]

Yeah, you need to go Sandy Bridge.

But what games are you playing? What "financial programs" are you using?

 

[munkle]

Sandy bridge! And something newer than a 470! No ocz ssds, just say no to ocz.

 

[Forceman]

Try this out instead:

$137.99 MSI P67A-C43 B3
$199.98 Intel Core i5-2400
$369.99 EVGA GeForce GTX570
$130.99 Crucial M4 64GB SSD
$107.99 Corsair CMPSU-650TXV2 [also quite a bit cheaper at Newegg]
$29.98 Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus

Their RAM is very overpriced (and I didn't even see any 1.5V stuff), so if you can deal with Newegg, you can get this:
$47.99

 

[McRackin]

is there much of a difference between the i5 and i7?
ive heard this a few times that i should use an i5 instead

 

[Dangman]

is there much of a difference between the i5 and i7?
ive heard this a few times that i should use an i5 instead

For gaming, no.

Yeah don't go with the list you posted. There's a ton of issues with that setup. In fact, other of that entire list, only the DVD drive and the OS are good to buy. The rest are just bad buys. Forceman's build is a good place to start from.

 

[Forceman]

The only difference is that the i7 has hyper-threading, which is not really needed for gaming, and an extra 2MB of cache, which is of limited benefit. So unless you are doing something that really benefits from the hyperthreading, like video encoding, then the i7 isn't worth the price difference.

 

[munkle]

The only difference is that the i7 has hyper-threading, which is not really needed for gaming, and an extra 2MB of cache, which is of limited benefit. So unless you are doing something that really benefits from the hyperthreading, like video encoding, then the i7 isn't worth the price difference.

Don't forget the sticker! You get an i7 sticker! (Proud owner of a 2600k, it was only $30 more than the 2500k when I bought it)