Need feedback for build.


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I'm going to go out with a friends mom and buy all these parts, or equivalent ones, retail. The person does a decent amount of gaming on the machine, but his specific requirements are "enough to run Left for Dead 2". I want to get him something that will last however, so this is the build I grabbed.

NZXT Tempest Gaming ATX Mid-Tower

GeForce GTS 250 1024MB DDR3 PCIe 2.0 Graphics Card

P55-GD65 Socket 1156 P55 ATX Motherboard

XMS3 4GB DDR3-1600 (PC-12800) CL8 Memory Kit (Two 2GB Memory Modules)

Core i7 860 Processor Boxed

Caviar SE16 500GB 7,200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

I'm not too worried about the optical drive at this point, I just need to know first of all: Do I need a heat sink? Can I get away with a 650W PSU?

[edit] Can this be moved to the Hardware Hangout section? New layout is giving me some issues, hehe.

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Instead of GTS250 I'd go with something from ATI (HD4890 or HD4770 for DX10, or HD5770 for DX11).

Personally I have always had issues with ATI GPU's. Ever since I stuck to NVIDIA it seems to work out better. But I will consider it since I won't be using it.

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Do I need a heat sink? Can I get away with a 650W PSU?

If you are overclocking, then I recommend getting a heatsink, otherwise the stock will be fine.

A 650W will be more than enough to power everything.

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What about going phenom? You can bring down the price quite a bit that way, no?

Yeah, true. I already built myself a phenom X4 gaming rig and it performs beautifully. I just felt like going the extra mile with the i7's performance record. I don't particularly like Intel, but this computer is something I can guarantee needs to last and the i7 should last for a long time.

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I would also definitely recommend the ATI card. Their drivers are much better than they used to be and the card is just better.

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