i5 game build

[mell0w]

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.
-I'll be using it primarily for heavy gaming on mid to ultra settings. Currently using one 19" monitor, but will in the future expand to a two or three 22-23" dual or tri monitor set up for multi tasking.

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread
-Minus the future purchasing of new monitors, my budget currently stands on about $~1200 in total. One of my main concerns though is purchasing that much expensive hardware and this being my first build.

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
-Currently located in San Diego, California and I'll be acquiring the majority of my parts from newegg.com

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc, etc, etc, you get the picture.
-No real brand preference really. Had I say I'm a fanboy of any type of hardware though it would be quality hardware. A brand is just a brand, I'm more interested in durability and longevity.

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
-That's a big negative. I'm currently on an older dell e510 and the piece of garbage has no redeeming qualities that I wish to roll over.

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.
-Have, and it's giving me great ideas with my current build. Now it's time to lay my chips on the table and see what feedback I can gather.

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
-Not particularly interested in overclocking.

8. WHEN do you plan to build it?
-Soon as possible. I'd like to have it up and running at the very latest by November.

9. What resolution do you use?
-At the moment I'm using a 19" monitor with a res of 1280x1024. This is temporary until I move into my new place and get a little more room to breathe. Then I intend to buy a few new monitors and go for a dual or tri setup.



And now for the build:
http://img806.imageshack.us/img806/1...amingbuild.png

Appreciate any feedback in cost saving and hardware compatibility (although I think I'm pretty set). One of my main concerns as I've stated above is that this will be my first ever build and I'm a little worried about spending so much money and then piecing it together on my own. But nothing ventured nothing gained, I've been wanting to do this for a while and now I can afford to.

I guess another concern is about air flow. Since I'll be getting a 470 Fermi and they're known to overheat quite easily, should I look into buying another fan or two to keep things vented enough? I intend to use cable management to free up some inside air space, wrapping the wires around the opposite inside panel, but I don't know if that will be enough.

Guess that's it! Lay it on me gentlemen.

[_dangtx_]

with that budget you can get yourself into hyperthreading territory. aka xeon 3440. but you are getting some nice savings with that combo.

oh yeah, and welcome aboard.

[Lpfan4ever]

Looks pretty good to me. One thing is the power supply, I would be inclined switch it to it's modular equivalent (HX 750). It's a bit more expensive, but I think most of us can agree that modular is worth the price. As for thermal paste, the stuff that comes with the Hyper 212+ is nearly the same as Arctic Silver MX-2, so there's no need to buy another tube.
And another fan or two never hurts. I'd say go for it.

[bf1]

what kind of motherboard is there? btw nice keytag;D, also if your worried about the video card u could upgrade to a better case like a 922 or 932, but hey im noob and thats jsut my suggestion XD, looks good to me though :)

[fishingfanatic]

Looks pretty good. +1 for the modular psu.

Also consider getting the new sata 3 HDD. It really is much faster.

Enjoy the build and resulting system. Welcome to HWC btw!

[mell0w]

Thanks for all the feedback and greetings guys. Yeah switching to a modular PSU will help clear up some of the unnecessary wires that prevent airflow, so I'll definitely make the switch. Updated my build to reflect the change and bundled the new PSU with a 1TB HDD saving me another $30 for an extra 250gb.

Here's the new build:
http://img837.imageshack.us/img837/1...mingbuild2.png

And some direct links if you wanted to take a closer look:
[CD/DVD Burner]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204
[GPU]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125320
[Heatsink]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065
[Case+Mem]http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.492939
[PSU+HDD]http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.492744
[CPU+MOBO]http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.493852

[Redhat]

I'm not totally sure but I think the HDD you have picked out is SATA 6 while the P55 you have only supports SATA 3. Someone correct me if I am wrong.

[fishingfanatic]

The sata 6gb/sec are backwards compatible, so the mobo will run it at 3gb/sec. If the OP upgrades the mobo later on he'll have that faster HDD. That said, those new HDDs run very fast compared to the older gen.

[Redhat]

I didn't know they were backwards compatible. I may look at getting one then ;).