Help with new system? Is this right for me?

[Adam1712]

Okay so this is my first time buying a pc and ive done a lot of research, i am getting the rig primarily for FFVIX and will continue on hopefully with Fallout: New Vegas and Crysis 2. It will also be used for everyday stuff, itunes, word, internet use etc.

This is what i have come up with... My budget is 750 but can be pushed to 775/780 for a worthwhile upgrade.

Case
PCS MAELSTROM T900 BLACK GAMING CASE (£59)
Processor (CPU)
AMD PHENOM II X4 965 (3.40GHz/8MB CACHE/AM3) - BLACK EDITION
Motherboard
ASUS® M4A79XTD EVO: DUAL DDR3, S-ATA II, 2 x PCIe x16, 2 x PCIe x1, 2 x PCI
Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG DDR3 DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 2GB)
Graphics Card
1GB ATI RADEON™ HD 5770 PCI EXPRESS - DirectX® 11
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB SERIAL ATA 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 16MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD, MS, CF, SD, etc)
Power Supply & Case Cooling
CORSAIR 650W PSU (TX650) 80+ ULTRA QUIET (£76)
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)

This system is overpowered i know but this is too allow for a crossfire upgrade in the future and overclocking which is why i have included the CPU cooler, i hope to be correct in saying this system should be fairly future proof in that i will be able to go from a single 5770 upto dual 5870's if i wanted to and the cpu can be upgraded to 1090T if i felt the need... But should this base system be able to handle my games at medium qualities... i will be playing a 1680 x 1050 native.

I have considered changing the hard drive to a
-1TB WD CAVIAR GREEN WD10EARS, SATA 3 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE
But i dont like the sound of this intelipower, would the 64MB cache make much difference in comparison to my current 16MB cache?

And one last thing is that i have the possibility of using
-4GB CORSAIR XMS3 DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (2 x 2GB KIT)
But i dont think my MB is compatible with 1600 speeds... does this make a major difference or is my 1333Mhz fine?

Thankyou for any help.

 

[PCS]

Welcome to our forums Adam

To say this is your first time buying a PC, you've put together a very well balanced specification there!

The specification is Crossfire ready, so you could indeed add a second graphics card or 2 x 5870's, and the specification will be able to accept a 1090T (or higher) if you planned to upgrade in a year or so. At the moment it will be able to handle your games at medium to high settings, but you may well have a decreased experience on max settings, depending on the game.

You won't notice a huge difference between the two drives, but the cache can help open folders and programs a little quicker, providing it's cached the particular folder you're working with. The green drives use intellipower - so can rotate between 5,400rpm and 7,200rpm (the idea is to slow down when not in use and save energy).

For your RAM - stick to the Samsung as the difference with Corsair is not huge, and Samsung is more stable memory.

 

[Adam1712]

Well i have been planning this system for probably a month now and have done so much research! So i am glad it has been worth it!

Thanks for confirming all that, and i knew it probably wouldnt max out new games especially but i am more than happy with medium or even slightly less just as long as it runs smoothly

Ahh well then as long as it doesnt affect my gameplay then i can live with slightly longer loading times, i think i would rather stick with the hard drive i had, the more complex then the more likely it is to break and the harder it is to fix! Im not saying i expect it to and from what i have read PCSpecialist are great with customer service so i am hopeing this will be the first of many times i use you! And again, thanks for comfirming the ram will be fine!

Thank you for the quick response much appreciated! I hope to order this system come next payday!

 

[LDUK]

Very nice. And I would go Samsung too!