Help a first time builder please? :D

Hey all, anyone mind helping a first time builder with a few things?

I've been picking parts for a new gaming/video editing computer based on the AMD Phenom II x4 940, since I'm on a budget of $1500 CDN max, and at the moment I don't think I'm going to be overclocking.

My friend told me to go AMD over Intel if I'm not going to overclock, so here's my build at the moment:

AMD Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition Quad Core Processor AM2+ 3.0GHZ 8MB Cache 125W 45NM Retail Box
EVGA E-GEFORCE GTX 260 Core 216 55NM 576MHZ 896MB 1.998GHZ GDDR3 PCI-E 2XDVI-I HDTV Out Video Card
G.SKILL F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ PC2-6400 4GB 2X2GB DDR2-800 CL5-5-5-15 240PIN Dual Channel Memory Kit
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610W EPS12V ATX V2.2 24PIN SLI Ready Active PFC 80MM Fan Power Supply
Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB 7200RPM 32MB Dual Proc 3.5IN SATA Hard Drive OEM 5YR Mfg Warrantye
Pioneer DVR-217DBK DVD+RW 20X8X16 DVD-RW 20X6X16 DL 12X Black OEM SATA DVD Burner No Software


And then there's two motherboards I'm considering,
Gigabyte GA-MA770-UD3 ATX AM2+/AM3 AMD770 PCI-E16 2PCI SATA2 RAID 1394 HD Sound GBLAN Motherboard
and
MSI K9N2 SLI Platinum AM2 nForce 750A ATX DDR2 2PCI-E16 PCI-E1 2PCI SATA2 GBLAN Sound Motherboard

I'm leaning towards the Gigabyte board, but I would like opinions.


Considering two cases:
Coolermaster Haf 922 Mid Tower ATX Case Black 5X5.25 5X3.5INT Front Audio USB eSATA No PSU
and
Coolermaster CM 690 Mid Tower Black ATX Case 5X5.25 5X3.5INT No PS Front USB Sound Firewire & eSATA

People are saying the 690's front panel tends to break off, so I'm hesitating on it, though it has a lot of fans in it. Again, opinions please.


It'd help very much and I would greatly appreciate it if a few people could help me in deciding my build/provide some feedback and suggestions. I'm leaving about $100-$150-ish of the budget for a new keyboard and mouse, and I have a monitor already. I'm going for Windows XP Home for an OS

Also: Is overclocking worth it for a first time user and should I be building based on Intel core i7 instead of AMD in these circumstances?

http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...php?t=10305872

the "mainstream gamer" is almost everything you'll want. you'll just have to change everything into $CDN. for newegg, it's as simple as changing the ".com" into ".ca".

btw, AMD's phenom II processors actually DO overclock very well. it's the older phenom processors that have problems with overclocking.

unless you want to run SLI in the future (and you had best be using a 24" or bigger monitor to make it worthwhile) I would stick with the Gigabyte mobo - it's got all that you need and imo Gigabyte is better quality than MSI.... your overall build looks good, but you may be able to get a more powerful GPU among other components, and still meet your budget.

I made a decent (totally awesome to me) i7 build for....~1260. (1700 after my 2 monitors )
AMD is doing quite well right now, but I see the x58 boards being a little better future-wise.

not to sure about X58, especially with P55 (it has a different socket) coming around soon. if we go by preliminary benchmarks, it looks like the entry model core i5 will perform around the same as a core i7 920, except cheaper all around.

as for AMD, they are committed to the AM3 socket for a few years to come. even if they don't, if you go back past track record, their next line of processors will support AM3 and the new socket at the same time. might be a good idea to stick with AMD if you want to use your motherboard longer, but that may or may not work out.

either way, it's a good idea to just upgrade to the best thing available to you at the time, within your price range.

Get an AM3 board, AM3 CPU and DDR3 memory IMO.

How's this look?

that image is too small to see.

Eh, sorry, dunno how that happened. Imageshack resized and converted my image =.=

Try this one: http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/170...x4940build.png

looks good. should be able to play everything you'll need.

one word of caution: the antec 300 has the PSU mounted on the bottom. this isn't an issue, except it will take some fancy wire management, since most motherboards are designed to accommodate cabling coming from above (in your case, the main motherboard power socket is located on the top right corner, while the cable is coming from below).

also, the GTX 285 is 10.5" long, and it might have trouble fitting into your case. it will probably fit, but will require some fancy wiring and harddrive placements. i have the same case, and i have a 9.5" long graphic card. installing it required me to relocated my hard drive as well as mess around with wiring.

I personally would not recommend getting such a small case. Your system will be producing a fair amount of heat and while it is a good quality case, I would be much more comfortable with a case that gives room to spare, room for additional future components, more airflow and hence better cooling. It's your choice, but unless you really "need" such a mini tower case, I would suggest getting a mid-atATX if not a full ATX case.

I changed my build to make more future-ready, and because I think the video card was a bit overkill. How's this? I changed the case as well, and decided on the Coolermaster Haf 922 over the Antec 902.

The guys at NCIX forums are more or less saying i7 is the way to go, but is the difference in performance justifiable? and what will an i7 build go for compared to the Phenom II x4 955 build above? I don't feel like browsing for another set of parts at the moment. x_x

EDIT: I've decided that I'm not going to listen to them pro-Intel people and go with what I have here if it looks fine. And that's why I'm awaiting feedback.

That's a fine build IMO. A Core i7 920 build can be bought for about the same price, but the commitment to the LGA-1366 socket will probably be way more expensive.

excellent build and remember that AMD has a tradition of making future CPU sockets backwards compatible.. so in many ways it is a better long term build and of course lower costs now. Also, for gaming purposes the Phenom 2 is on par with the i7 - so if that is your main concern then you are all set for now and the future.