critique my bf3 rig, please :)

[jcmuse]

finally ready to get a desktop again

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
games, battlefield3 i hope!
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
want to keep it under 800 all said and done, not set in stone though.. really just looking for value
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Florida
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.
cpu, ram, psu, mobo, video card
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
p180, Thermalright TRUE 120 (ordered the new bracket already!), 3x yateloons, vertex 3 ssd 120gb
6) Will you be overclocking?
Yes!
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
22" 2209wa 1680x1050
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Now!
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.
sata 6gb/s usb3.0 mostly
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
going to get 64bit upgrade win 7 through school




No optical drive since i lost the 5.25" rails for my p180. I'll have to install windows 7 off usb or something.

Hoping to play bf3 on max settings, 1680x1050 with good fps!

 

[engiNURD]

You can probably get some rails from Antec. Email their support team.

Ditch the AS5 w/ ArctiClean and get some MX-2 and a 99cent bottle of isopropyl alcohol from the drugstore (or your medicine cabinet). Not sure when this sale ends, but $3 for this paste is a really good deal, IMO:
$3 - Arctic Cooling MX-2 Thermal Interface Material (TIM)

ninja edited to remove stuff already answered from OP's own ninja edit of sticky questions addition - or i was blind the first time, which has been known to happen sometimes, lol.

 

[jcmuse]

lol, you were blind

 

[Dangman]

The RAM might be an issue as it's rated at 1.65V, which is the max RAM voltage for the Core i series CPUs. We generally recommend RAM rated at 1.5V to avoid any potential issues and an Intel rep backs this up:

Ok this is an issue that I have spent a lot of time on. I have even sent this up to an engineer to find out on this. The issue with this is the 1.65v memory is pushing the tolerances on the processor too much. Over on Tom's they did some testing on the memory to see where the point is and they found that anything above 1.575v can damage the processor. In most cases if you have 1.65v memory before you do anything else go into the Bios and set the memory at 1.5v to avoid this issue.

So see if you can cancel that RAM order or send it back when it comes to your door. You could also chance it and see if that Corsair RAM can run reliably at 1.5V. If you do cancel the RAM order or send it back, go with this Corsair RAM instead:
http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Venge...f=sr_1_56?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1320020948&sr=1-56

Besides the RAM and thermal compound issues, looks solid to me.

 

[jcmuse]

cool, i changed out the ram. going with 8gb instead of 16gb since i doubt i really need 16gb anyway

 

[Haiku214]

I have built two PCs for my friends lately and I used the same cpu, mobo, and gpu as yours. If you can find an even cheaper 6950 then that would be great. That system will run great for BF3@1680x1050 with AA off.

 

[jcmuse]

I was hoping to run aa, should i upgrade the gpu?

 

[Dangman]

I was hoping to run aa, should i upgrade the gpu?

Nah, at that resolution, the HD 6950 1GB should be all right.

If you want peace of mind as well as a higher chance of extending the life of the system a little while longer, go with the $30 more HD 6950 2GB.

 

[Haiku214]

I was hoping to run aa, should i upgrade the gpu?

Just as reference, at 1080p at least two 6950s in Crossfire is needed to run everything at ultra and max AA with an average of 60 FPS. I would recommend you go with the 2 GB version since BF3 uses more than 1 GB of Vram @ 1080p. However, I still don't think that there is a difference in FPS between the 1 GB and 2 GB versions.