7 years later... ready for another build.

[xlilmissmjx]

I agree with everyone else on going with the 1055T over the 965BE, 6 cores is the way to go when your talking 3-4 years plus in my opinion. An 870 board would be 1 option, Gigabyte's GA-870A-UD3 or even Asus's M4A87TD EVO are great options, but an 890FX board could be another if choose to get an ATI card later on to replace the GTX460 and do CrossFireX. If you wish to get an 890FX board, the Asus M4A89TD Pro/USB3 or Gigabyte GA-890FXA-UD5 are my 2 recommendations.

Otherwise you could take the Intel road instead and go with i5 750 like others have suggested and get the Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4P or Asus's P7P55D-E Pro and get a 2nd GTX460 1GB later on for SLI. If you want to skip the SLI setup and just get a board for one card, then either Asus's P7H55/USB3 or Gigabyte's GA-H55-USB3 boards will fill that role well.

I'm a big fan of Corsair, but the TX series are non modular so I would rather recommend their HX or newer AX series as they are modular and make cable management a breeze! 650W will do fine for an SLI 460 setup, but 750W gives more headroom for future cards that might be more power hungry. Even if you stay with a 1 card setup and go for HD5870/GTX480 card over the GTX460, a 650W unit will do that setup well.

Like another member suggested, a cpu cooler, even if your not overclocking is a great investment over the stock cooler. Cooler Master's Hyper 212+, Thermalright's Venomous X and Thermaltake's Frio are just 3 fine examples of excellent performing coolers on the market. If you want to check out a self contained water cooling setup then I recommend Corsair's H70 unit as it's a beast with its bigger rad and dual fan setup over the competition!

I tend to leave cases alone due to them being a subjective choice of taste, but I don't want to see people cheaping out on them unless they will be upgrading them at a later time. The Cooler Master 690 II Basic is good choice, same with the Advanced as well. Maybe Corsair's 600T case is another to consider if you want a more adult/professional looking case, but it doesn't come cheap like the 2 Cooler Master cases do.

Everything else looks great, good luck with your build

[jcmaz]

BLACK EDITION CPU's have heatsinks, but they are not the best. Get the Coolermaster 212+ at ~$30.

[Wurmer]

Originally Posted by xlilmissmjx

If you wish to get an 890FX board, the Asus M4A89TD Pro/USB3 or Gigabyte GA-890FXA-UD5 are my 2 recommendations.

I am using the Asus board and I am loving it, I got the GX version and it's plenty enough for me.

[RockCrayfish]

I despise the lack of cable management in my Antec 300. Otherwise, it's a sturdy case with great airflow.

One other thing, If I were in your shoes, I would get a 955 as it will generally overclock as well as a 965 or spend slightly more and jump on a 1055T. :)

[Peanutmc]

Thanks for all the advice!

I think it's time to do some more shopping. I just got back from a wedding this weekend and will need a little time to do some of my own research on the items you have suggested.

[Peanutmc]

Someone stated that I didn't really specify what this computer will be used for...

Media
A few games... notably SCII and Civ 5. Down the road I can foresee some Diablo III action.
Basic video/audio editing

So, general consensus seems to be that the extra $20 for the 6 core 1055T should be spent.
Should I be considered at the speed difference between the 1055T and the 965 BE?

Someone else also mentioned that SSD don't cooperate well with AMD. Could somebody elaborate on this??? If this is the case I would likely be doing an Intel build because having Window's boot in 20 seconds is a requirement for me... I'm incredibly impatient.

Case discussions have come up.

Let's say my case budget is about $100...
I want something that is
a) Quiet
b) Plain (no lights, my computer isn't going on the Enterprise)
c) Look reasonably classy
d) Easy to access

Other factors I'm less interested in. Having wires tucked away is nice, but I won't be changin out parts every week so its not crucial.

Also, I'm not really expecting to get 7 years out of this computer. I'm now educated and working a decent job so I expect that my upgrades will become a bit more frequent... say 3-4 years.

Thanks again to everyone for your help, this information is great!

[chrisk]

The light on this one can be turned off, and has good cable management:
NCIX.com - Buy Coolermaster CM 690 Mid Tower Black ATX Case 5X5.25 5X3.5INT No PS Front USB Sound Firewire & eSATA - RC-690-KKN1 In Canada.
Might not be your cup of tea, but worth a look.

The speed of the cpu won't really mean a whole lot as both are fast enough. The Intel chips are very good for video editing; I am not sure if any video creation apps will take full advantage of those 6 cores yet (it will be likely that the 6 cores will get used for video editing before they will be properly used for gaming). For gaming, 4 cores or six are no difference at the moment.

AMD drivers do not pass along trim to the ssd (very imp). AkG, lowfat, and gingerbee are the SSD gurus can offer their expertise as to if the trim command (needed for proper SSD support) will get passed along an AMD system. With i5/i7 and most S775 Intel systems, this support is there (make sure the southbridge has AHCI support).

[_dangtx_]

if youre willing to spend 100 bucks, hit the cm 922.
intel build wise, new chips are around the corner, you may have seen a preview on anand. some 10-20 percent faster than current i7 parts.