| disolitude said: I think you did very well Nazna. Few things I'd point out or do differently... Phenom II X4 3.2 GHz Quad Core - Great price and a good CPU. Invest $40 in an aftermrket CPU cooler and overclock this to 3.8 ghz and you're set for 5 years GeForce GTX 550 Ti - Its a good card, but you could have founda slightly better card for same money. 1GB GTX460, AMD 6850/5850 tend to hover around this price. 550 is an excellent card now but in 2 years you may have to upgrade.
650w Power Supply - perfect for low/mid range SLI if you ever want to |
I actually thought about doing an SLI mobo, but I decided against it for now. Some day, maybe. It's not a huge deal to upgrade/change my PC in a couple years if I decide to then, and as you pointed out I already have a decent power supply for it. I had to stay in budget after all.
As for the graphics cards, I based my decision on these benchmarks: http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html
Then searched newegg. The only 460s that are comparable/greater in power are at least $50 more expensive http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007709600007323 600062521&IsNodeId=1&Tpk=GTX 460
6850s, while closer in price ($30 more) performance difference isn't huge, and I had to stay within budget. Besides, some games only play to their fullest with nVidia cards (Batman AA, for example). Also, the minor improvements these cards would offer for the greater price wouldn't do me much good, since I'm playing on a 720p TV at the moment anyway. At 1360 X 768, that 550 won't have any trouble maxing my games with a good framerate.
