Amateur builder. Advice?

[iBillyO]

First i'd like thank everyone in advance. I've only opened up a computer twice in my life and once was to replace a old graphics card with one that simply put an image on my monitor. This forum seemed like my best possible place for advice from intelligent friendly people.
Anyway recently at work, i got to talking to a buddy about PC gaming and i mentioned how i wanted to buy a new high end PC for upcoming games. He said to not do that and purchase all the parts separately and build it yourself it will save you around a $100. I thought to myself well how hard could it be. I started obsessing over parts, specs, requirements, energy, color, temperatures and finally i came to a final build for myself.

(tl;dr) I'm hoping someone can offer me some advice on the components i picked out. Whether i should upgrade or downgrade parts. I wanted to stay under the $1000 price range.

Case: RAIDMAX Helios ATX-819WB Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811156254)

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128514)

GPU: GIGABYTE GV-R695OC-1GD Radeon HD 6950 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125385)

PSU: Rosewill HIVE Series HIVE-650 650W Continuous @40°C, 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified, Modular Design (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182132)

CPU: AMD FX-6100 Zambezi 3.3GHz Socket AM3+ 95W Six-Core Desktop Processor FD6100WMGUSBX (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103962)

RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231314)

HDD: HITACHI Deskstar 7K1000.D HDS721010DLE630 (0F13180) 1TB 7200 RPM (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145533)

Optical Drive: SAMSUNG Black Blu-ray Combo SATA Model SH-B123L LightScribe Support - OEM (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151222)

Wireless Adapter: TP-LINK TL-WN722N USB 2.0 High Gain Wireless Adapter (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833704045)

Advice? Compatibility issues? Criticism? Anything helps. I'm just nervous never done anything like this before, though i am pretty tech savvy.

I also noticed sites like CyberpowerPC or whatever offered PC's for around the same price of what i was willing to spend and all the parts on their PC's where similar if not better than mine at the same price?

[ARchamps]

Your choices seem good so far. That is a really ugly case though. These are pretty good cases for the same price range and specs:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139008
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119197
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129066
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163181&Tpk=ps06 (I have this one)

Also, getting a high quality PSU is important. Popular brands include Seasonic, Corsair, or Antec. See some choices below for the same price range:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139020
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151096
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371044

Other than that, looks good! The choices might up your budget a little bit, but I think it'll be worth it. Also, I'd go with WD, Samsung or Seagate for the HDD. Lastly, if you plan to overclock you should get a CPU cooler.

Good luck! I just built my first one a month ago, so I am pretty new as well. Read up on some reputable reviews and benchmarks on your parts to get a better idea. I followed the guide here, as well as youtube videos. Tom's Hardware is a really good site for articles as well.

----
Intel i5 2500K | ASUS P8P67 | EVGA GTX 560 Ti SC | G.Skill Snipers 8GB | Seasonic M12II 620W | Silverstone PS06 | WD Caviar Blue 1TB | CM Hyper 212+

[iBillyO]

thank you so much!. I will look into purchasing a different case that one i thought looked cool because of the multiple fans. But definitely a new PSU. I didnt think a PSU was that important but after doing some more research it seems like one of the most important items of the build. :) Much appreciated!.

[ARchamps]

No problem! Everyone has their own taste for a case. :-)

[RickyTick]

Your choices seem good so far. That is a really ugly case though. These are pretty good cases for the same price range and specs:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163181&Tpk=ps06 (I have this one)


And you called his case ugly. Yikes!! :D

[RickyTick]

That FX-6100 is on sale at newegg for $179.99 if you use promo code EMCJKHE22.

[ARchamps]

And you called his case ugly. Yikes!! :D

Haha. I guess everyone has their own taste :cool:

I liked it because for the price, you get USB 3.0 front ports, HDD hot swap bay and a side window.

[iBillyO]

Thanks for the replies. I guess to each his own on the case's right? Got to pick a case that ties your room together right?

Another question, No one thinks i'll experience any "bottlenecking" with the BD 6100 CPU and the Radeon 6950 GPU?

[RickyTick]

I don't think it will be a big problem, but if you're concerned, you can step up to the FX-8120 for about $226. Not a huge price jump.
http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=64405&vpn=FD8120FRGUBOX&manufacture=AMD

The truth is that the Bulldozer cpu's from AMD are just not performing as well as the Intel Sandy Bridge lineup. The i5-2500k is essentially the same price as a FX-8120 and yet far exceeds it from a performance standpoint.

[ARchamps]

Also, most applications aren't even designed to utilize these cores. Gaming wise, you probably won't see any benefits either. The benchmarks speak for themselves.