Building a Desktop

Looks good.

Why is this in a Mac forum?

 

Hmm, I guess. It's just that its under "Mac Hardware" and I thought there might be a different, more appropriate place to put this, but it doesn't matter I suppose.

Anyways, if you're interested, I put this build together a couple months back.

Gigabyte P55A-UD3
G.Skill 4GB 1333 RAM (or was it 1600?)
Nvidia GTX 260
Core i5-750
1TB WD Caviar Black
Antec 900 (two)
Windows 7 Home Premium.

I don't really game anymore, but I still like having high end stuff (even if that computer is only for word processing, powerpoints, internet, etc .... shhh ) Payed about $1,100

I got my Mac though 2 weeks back.
I kind of want a decked out Macbook Pro 13", 2.66ghz, 8GB RAM ... but yeh, that wont happen for a while. $2000 bucks!

 

I think you should be fine for gaming. I do some gaming, and I built a computer with a significantly less powerful GPU this time last year, and it runs games fairly well. I don't think you'll have any problem.

Also, I see you chose a Gigabyte motherboard. That's what I chose, and I absolutely love it.

Good luck!

 

The 5770 is a great card and will handle just about any game you throw at it, so it would be great for light gaming. Right now Newegg has the Sapphire brand 5770s on sale and you can get one for $140 after $15 Mail in rebate, I just bought one myself
The one thing I would change is that you don't need a 620 watt PSU, so you could buy one for cheaper a 500 watt should be just fine.
Other than that the build looks great and don't forget to budget in the $100 or so that you will have to spend on Windows.

EDIT: You may want to buy a bigger hard drive if you plan to save a lot of movies and music to your computer.

 

I think it will do very well especially if your a gamer like me ... you play maybe one or two video games every couple of months. ( I probably would play more, but high school and other things are taking up a lot of my time.

But still, it will do fine for most gaming unless you like to blast the settings on Crysis on super high (if you are into the game anyways)

If you can, try to upgrade the GPU to something better as its the heart and sole of most games. I could recommend a GTX 460.


Its not bad by any means though.

 

A 5770 can handle Crysis at max settings minus the anti-aliasing, I have seen my friend run it that way on his comp and that is what convinced me to get the 5770, a lot of bang for the buck. I find that the modern ATI cards are better than Nvidia and that a 5870 would be a better choice than a GTX 460

 

Any power supply with 500 watts or more will be good, just look around and find the best value out there.
As for the graphics card a 5770 will easily output Blu Ray movies to your HDTV, pretty much any dedicated graphics card could do that. The 5770 is enough card for what you want to do. Anything more than it is for serious gamers, guys who spend thousands on their rigs. And really a 5770 is probably good for them as well.

 

What resolution are you playing on? I find that hard to believe
You are right though, ATI cards are better value in my opinion. I didn't realize the pricing on each. I just knew the GTX 460 was roughly $200. Wasn't sure how much a 5870 would be.

i didn't say that. i was just saying to get the best you can afford - thats all.
you didn't really give a proper definition as to what light gaming would be.

 

I found it hard to believe myself. I am not sure what resolution he is playing at, but the graphics were maxed out and everything was quite beautiful lol I think he has his card overclocked some though, but I am not sure.


EDIT: I was thinking the GTX 460 costs more than what it actually does. So yes it would be a little more powerful card for only a bit more money. But I am not sure the exact power increase and if it would be worth it. Of course that would also depend on what games the OP wants to play.

 

A 5770 or a GTX 460 will run those games just fine. The 460gets about 5fps better in Crysis: Warhead than the 5770. You can take a look at the benchmarks here and compare the two for yourself. It also breaks it down into bang for your buck fps/$

EDIT: More benchmarks comparing just the two cards here. It looks like the GTX 460 almost doubles the 5770 in several of the benchmarks, so if you can afford it the GTX 460 looks like the way to go. There is also a benchmark score for Dirt 2 and the 460 gets 90fps on high settings, compare to about 60 from the 5770.

 

Rethink the power supply. That exact PSU crapped out on me within a year, so I don't recommend it.

Might as well spend a couple more bucks on a decent sized hard drive as well. Other than that, looks ok.

 

Sapphire/XFX for ATI
EVGA for Nvidia

 

Don't just buy any power supply. Stick to a top brand like Seasonic or Corsair. 450 or 500 watts is plenty for this build.

 

This is what I do too.
If you start any other way (in my opinion) its gets a bit harder.