Building new gaming PC

[DJAcidice]

I am new to this but my friends have experience putting PC's together and will help me assemble it. I prefer Newegg and Tiger Direct but I will go to Microcenter if it will save money. I want a quad core processer.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming, StarCraft II, Crisis 2, The old Republic (when it comes out), Mass Effect 3. Prefer all on high settings.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$600-700
3) Where do you live?
Longmont, CO
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.
HDD (Spinpoint F3 1TB?), CPU(Phenom II x4 or i5 750?), GPU (want HDMI or mini HDMI out), DVD burner, Case (needs lights for showing off), RAM (4gb DDR3), MoBo, PSU, WiFi card (as fast as possible).
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
I have no parts to reuse
6) Will you be overclocking?
Probably to 3.6Ghz.
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
42" Plasma (720p) May get a 1920x1080 one in 6 months
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
By mid February
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? etc.
I only want one video card at a time and have no other preferences
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
I have Win7 64 bit

 

[Dangman]

$205 - Phenom II X4 965 CPU + Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H Socket AM3 880G mATX Motherboard combo
$40 - Patriot Signature PSD34G13332 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$175 - Sapphire Radeon 100315L Radeon HD 6850 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$60 - Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$17 - LG GH22NS50 DVD Burner
$73 - Antec NEO ECO 620C 620W PSU
$60 - Cooler Master HAF 912 RC-912-KKN1 ATX Case
---
Total: $630 plus tax and shipping.

 

[DJAcidice]

I like the set up. I ran it by my friends and they said it was perfect for the price. What about a wifi card?

 

[Godmachine]

Just to let you know since you have a 720p plasma , avoid Nvidia cards as there overscan scaling program sucks quite a bit with plasmas in general (I know this from personal experience).

I know you listed an AMD card but just wanted you to know the state of Nvidia's drivers in this respect. AMD overscan options are excellent.

 

[Dangman]

I like the set up. I ran it by my friends and they said it was perfect for the price. What about a wifi card?

Just get the cheapest Wifi card you can find.

 

[DJAcidice]

Well, one of my friends said that he would prefer a Intel Core i5-760 Lynnfield 2.8GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80605I5760 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115067) and a ASRock P55 PRO/USB3 LGA 1156 Intel P55 USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157203).

Any ideas on that set up vs the Phenom II X4 965 CPU + Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H Socket AM3 880G mATX Motherboard combo ‎(http://www.microcenter.com/specials/promotions/AMDbundlePROMO.html)

 

[bastage]

Well, one of my friends said that he would prefer a Intel Core i5-760 Lynnfield 2.8GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80605I5760 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115067) and a ASRock P55 PRO/USB3 LGA 1156 Intel P55 USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157203).

Any ideas on that set up vs the Phenom II X4 965 CPU + Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H Socket AM3 880G mATX Motherboard combo ‎(http://www.microcenter.com/specials/promotions/AMDbundlePROMO.html)

The i5-760 combo is complete trash for the price. a better performer then the 965 sure, but when you can get a SB combo at MC for 20 bucks more the 1156 CPU's are surely outclassed.

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0354589
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0354231

328 including tax.

 

[Dangman]

Well, one of my friends said that he would prefer a Intel Core i5-760 Lynnfield 2.8GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80605I5760 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115067) and a ASRock P55 PRO/USB3 LGA 1156 Intel P55 USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157203).

As bastage noted: That's a piss poor choice for the money these days. The $225 Core i5-2500K CPU outperforms the $200 Core i5-760 CPU as well as the $280 Core i7 860 and 870 CPUs by quite a large margin. In fact, as of right now, none of the Core i5 6xx, 7xx, 8xxx as well as the Core i7 8xx and 9xx CPUs are worth the money at all. The Core i5-2xxx as well as the Core i7-26xx series CPUs have effectively demolished the previously mentioned CPUs in terms of price to performance ratio. So unless you can get the Core i5-760 for $100 to $150, not worth it.

As for that motherboard, at $100, that ASRock mobo is a bit of a ripoff considering that it only has a one year warranty. That's fine for sub $70 motherboard but not a $100+ motherboard.

Any ideas on that set up vs the Phenom II X4 965 CPU + Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H Socket AM3 880G mATX Motherboard combo ?(http://www.microcenter.com/specials/promotions/AMDbundlePROMO.html)

Well the Core i5-760 would outperform the Phenom II X4 965, as said above, they now have a crap price to performance ratio. However if you can get a Core i5-760 + socket LGA 1156 motherboard for the same price as the Phenom II X4 965 + Gigabyte mobo combo linked above, then it'll be a better buy than even a Core i5-2500K or the Phenom.