Building my first PC - Is this any good?

[Auxilium]

This will be probably my first PC building experience, and since I want something that I can spend many years without spending to much money on it, I found this build on the internet:


Motherboard
GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 Intel Z68 ($160)
CPU
Intel Core i5-2320 ($190)
RAM
Corsair Vengeance DDR3 8GB (2x4GB) ($50)
Video Card
EVGA GTX 560 Ti 1GB ($230)
Sound Card
Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 7.1 ($30)
Hard Drive
Seagate Barracuda 1TB ($130)
Optical Drive
LG 24x Internal DVDRW Drive ($20)
Case
Thermaltake Armor A90 Black ATX Case ($90)
Power Supply
Corsair Builder Series CX600 (600W) ($70)

Total Cost: $950 (USD)


So, it would be nice if anyone who has experience could advice me if this is any good. ^^

 

[NinjaTangerine]

I built my two with my Dad, This sounds pretty neat, much better than the ones I've used.

 

[fencible]

If you're looking to save money, you don't really need a sound card.
The motherboard's got built in 7.1 channel audio, and there's usually no difference in sound quality

 

[Frankieba5]

If you're looking to save money, you don't really need a sound card.
The motherboard's got built in 7.1 channel audio, and there's usually no difference in sound quality

I agree, unless he is in the music buisness.

 

[Auxilium]

If you're looking to save money, you don't really need a sound card.
The motherboard's got built in 7.1 channel audio, and there's usually no difference in sound quality

Oh! Is that so! Awesome. Now that is the kind of advise I want to hear. Thanks!

 

[cherbert]

I wouldn't bother with the sound card. Your motherboard has a soundcard built in that will be just as good. Save yourself $30.

Also, I'd go for an ATI video card rather than Nvidia. They use less power and are more reliable IMHO.

 

[Auxilium]

I wouldn't bother with the sound card. Your motherboard has a soundcard built in that will be just as good. Save yourself $30.

Also, I'd go for an ATI video card rather than Nvidia. They use less power and are more reliable IMHO.

Thank you for your advice. Now, Ive been using Nvidia my whole life. Not that I really bother though.
Are they generally more expensive then Nvidia though? Or cheaper? What kind of card do you suggest which is in the same price-range and performs at the same level (or even better of course!)?

 

[fencible]

The newer Nvidia cards are far more reliable than the older ones, but ATI cards are much cheaper for the performance you get (you can get a HD6850 for just over £110, which is only slightly slower than the GTX 560 Ti)

Also, shop around a bit, CCLonline and dabs are fairly cheap (not sure if they deliver to the US though)

 

[Auxilium]

The newer Nvidia cards are far more reliable than the older ones, but ATI cards are much cheaper for the performance you get (you can get a HD6850 for just over £110, which is only slightly slower than the GTX 560 Ti)

Also, shop around a bit, CCLonline and dabs are fairly cheap (not sure if they deliver to the US though)

I'm Dutch! >:-(

 

[cherbert]

Thank you for your advice. Now, Ive been using Nvidia my whole life. Not that I really bother though.
Are they generally more expensive then Nvidia though? Or cheaper? What kind of card do you suggest which is in the same price-range and performs at the same level (or even better of course!)?

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1241869&CatId=7005

A Radeon HD 6950 is comparable - a 6970 will beat it but is more expensive.

Its just my personal preference. Nvidia have given me nothing but grief and blue screens throughout the years. ATI have never given me a single issue (touch wood).

They do use far less power and therefore don't get as hot. They can scale better if you ever want another one with crossfire. However as single cards compared against each other many people will tell you the Nvidia will slightly out perform the 6950 which is probably true but the difference is neglible IMHO.

You probably don't even need something this powerful. What sort of games do you play?

I only have a 6770 ($120?)

I can run Lord of the Rings Online at 1920x1080 with everything on Max (DirectX 11) and Ultra Textures.

Battlefield 3? Well I can run at everything on max with not amazing FPS. But a few tweaks I can have a good visual experience.

 

[Auxilium]

You probably don't even need something this powerful. What sort of games do you play?

Minecraft.....

 

[fencible]

6950s are a lot more expensive than 6850s, and there's not a big enough performance difference to warrant nearly twice the price.

I managed get a GTX460 second hand for £75 from an office clearance and I haven't had any problems so far.

I get from 40-150fps on minecraft, and about 35-70 on skyrim.

If you're only playing minecraft, you don't need a really good graphics card (I got about the same fps with my old 8800GT, until it broke), it's more to do with your processor.

 

[cherbert]

Minecraft.....

I lied. I have a Radeon HD 6870. I forgot I upgraded recently.

Still a few dollars cheaper than the Nvidia. And you seriously don't need much more than this to play Minecraft. Even with all the Shader mods you can throw at it, it will still yawn.

 

[Auxilium]

I lied. I have a Radeon HD 6870. I forgot I upgraded recently.

Still a few dollars cheaper than the Nvidia. And you seriously don't need much more than this to play Minecraft. Even with all the Shader mods you can throw at it, it will still yawn.

I just want a computer that will play every current and future video game I throw at it for a couple of years. Without having to worry if it could run it or not.

 

[Ricklaptop]

Sapphire 100315L Radeon HD 6850 Video Card ($145,-) i think amd is more stable, and cheaper. And Sapphire is highly rated
You probably want an second gen i7 too later on, and your motherboard is perfect for that, so thats good, you don't need that sound card. But that's already said. your hard drive is nice, but there are things called SSD, pretty expensive but extremely fast. Well i don't know much about DVD players. I have a really old one, and i don't use dvd's really much myself. But i think you might need a blu-ray player, why They are getting extremely popular. I think in 5 years you can only get bluray disks, try a liteon like this one, Lite-On iHBS212-08 12X Internal Blu-Ray Writer. Because i do have experience with pioneer players. And those weren't good experiences. And the computer store where I'm working in recommended those lite-ons a lot. for the case. Do you need anything that fancy?
I would go for this bundle Ultra X-Blaster Black ATX Mid-Tower Case & Diablotek PHD 650W ATX Power Supply Bundle. This will be all together. $949.93, so you don't even need to worry about, the blu-ray player. Because its cheaper anyway