I finally have a good budget saved up for my PC. Let's call it $1000. Remember, this is to supplement/replace my 360 as my primary means of gaming. I plan on playing BF3, ME3, TOR, and maybe EVE and Witcher 2 (which was recommended to me by some friends and a dude at Gamestop who always knows what's up with games).
Here's what I have:
Silverstone SG05 w/ 450W PSU - The smaller the better, as I will be transporting often.
ASRock H67M-ITX - That new Zotac Z68 board is nice and all, but it's also pricey and mostly unavailable. I really won't have a need to overclock anyway.
Biostar Radeon HD 6870 - Great deal for a great card with a blower-style cooler, which I would think is best for such a small case.
Intel Core i5-2500 - No need for the K version, since I can't/don't need to overclock. I'm sure a 3.7GHz Sandy Bridge will blaze through anything I throw at it.
OCZ Agility 3 60GB - I know I probably won't be able to fit ALL of those games on it, but as long as the one I play the most (probably BF3) can fit I'm happy.
G.Skill Ripjaws X DDR3 1333 8GB (2 x 4GB) - Yes, there are cheaper pairs. Call me crazy, but it seems like a build like this would necessitate as much heat dissipation as possible. These have a nice, big heatsink on them.
Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB - Duh.
Lite-On Slim DVD Burner - Duh again. There's a Sony model that's a buck or two more, but everything I've ever owned from Sony has broken shortly after I bought it. I just don't trust them.
Scythe SCSMZ-2000 92mm CPU Cooler - One of the few coolers that (presumably) would fit in that case and isn't completely anemic. I was also looking at the CM unit with a similar design, but that one has four heatpipes to the Scythe's six for only three bucks less. The Scythe also appears to have a beefier heatsink. I would ALSO imagine that since it's Scythe, it's pretty darn quiet. That's just an assumption though.
Other than that, I just need a KB and mouse. I have a 22" 1680x1050 that I will keep until it dies. I can get a Win7 Ultimate 64-bit key for free, and I already have a really nice surround sound headset which connects using an optical cable. I was thinking for the keyboard, I have an old standard one lying around that still works. That tempts me to grab the Razer Nostromo gamepad and a Deathadder for the mouse. I have traditionally been all about Logitech, but I've read a lot of reviews that say the G13 doesn't come close to the Nostromo when it comes to comfort and key placement. Also, I have the Razer Onza 360 controller that I plan on using when I connect to my 32" TV in the living room. Can't mix Razer and Logitech, that would just be blasphemy.
Anywho, thanks for any help. If I missed something or am wrong about something or you have a better recommendation for something, PLEASE let me know. I've been dying to build this for years now but never really had the money. I want it to go without a hitch.
