Help with mid range gaming build

[FlexPlexico]

I'm not really familiar with what's good in the desktop space. Here's my information as laid out in the sticky:


1. What YOUR PC will be used for?

I'm going to use it for gaming, graphic design, and movies. The two games I'm specifically looking at are Call of Duty Black Ops and Battlefield 3. Other things might come up eventually and I'd love to be able to run new games that come out in the next few years.

I'm most struggling with which video card is best to get, I'm worried that I'll pick components that don't work together well (ie pick a video card that the computer can't take full advantage of etc).

I would also love it to not run too hot or be too loud.

2. What YOUR budget is.

I would really like to keep it around $700, but I can go up another $300 if I have to.

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from?

US

4. IF YOU have a brand preference.

Love AMD / nVidia - would love to get a Phenom and an nVidia graphics card.

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.

I have an old Laptop drive that I'm going to use as additional storage (likely external) but that's about it. Oh and i have a 27inch dell monitor - no need for monitor, keyboard, or mouse.

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.

Yeah, I've looked through and I found one that looked alright, but some of the parts aren't available anymore.

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.

I'm fine with just running at the default clock.

8. What resolution YOU plan on gaming with.

1920 x 1200.

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?

As soon as I can finalize a build and get the parts!


Thanks for your help in advance. Without this forum I'd probably be buying some random machine, not having nearly as much fun in the process, and spending way more for the same computing power.

 

[Puppies04]

Forget the phenom buddy, pick up an intel cpu "I" series quad they blow the AMD chips out of the water unfortunatly. I5 2400 should be within your price range but i would recomend you spend a few extra $ and get either a I5 2500 or I5 2500k (the k will enable you to overclock anywhere down the line and for the price difference you might aswell go for it but it is your choice).

Also i would recommend picking up a new hard drive and not using an old lappy part. I assume it is 500gb or under which won't be expensive to replace and you will end up with a faster drive which should last you a lot longer.

 

[FlexPlexico]

Ok sounds great - what about mobos and video cards that work with that processor?

 

[mfenn]

A laptop drive would be fine if you want to use it as external storage only. You'll definitely not want it to be your primary system drive. I also think that there is a lot of value to be had between $700 and $1000, so that's what I'll target budget-wise. Oh, and do you need an OS license?

i5 2500K $220
GA-Z68X-UD3 + G.Skill DDR3 1600 combo $189
6950 2GB $250 AR
Samsung F3 1TB $65
Lite-ON DVD Burner $19
XFX Core 550W $50 AR
Antec Three Hundred $45 AR
Total: $838

I know I went completely against your GPU and CPU preferences, but I think these are a really good value right now.