[NaveedEaston]

So this is my first time building a computer, and I've spent most of the day on NewEgg putting together a build. I'd appreciate any thoughts or input on the components or anything I should switch out! Here goes:

MOBO: Gigabyte GA-870A-UD3 ATX AMD
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 BE Deneb 3.4GHz
GPU: EVGA 768-P3-1362-AR GeForce GTX 460 760MB
RAM:GSKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1333 (is there any advantage to 1600 for general use? I don't care about benchmarks if I can't see a difference in every day gaming)
HDD: WD Caviar Black 640GB
PSU:CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX
DVD:ASUS DRW This DVD drive and my HDD are OEM, so I think I have to get cables for them - cables like these?

Also, from reading the reviews, it seems the included heatsink with the Phenom is awful, so I guess I need to purchase another one. Do I need something expensive, or will this cheapo Cooler Master work fine? It's gotten good reviews and appears to come with thermal grease pre-applied. If I ever overclock, it will be moderately, so I don't need heavy duty cooling.

And lastly, my case has spaces for a few extra 120mm fans. I was going to go ahead and purchase two of these. Thoughts? Do I even need more than the two fans the case comes with?

Final cost for this build is around $850. A bit over my price ceiling of $800, but I'd rather suck up the extra cost than go through and make menial downgrades to save a few bucks with each component (i.e. X4 955 instead of 965).

Mainly I need to make sure I'm not MISSING anything, and that everything will work fine together. And that the heatsink is sufficient to keep my CPU from frying. ANY INPUT IS APPRECIATED!

[Neil Jones]

Difference between 1333Mhz and 1600 is so slight you won't even notice it. Don't worry about it.

Heatsinks that come with processors are usually designed for cooling only at the stock level. Overclocking is not recommended as it will void the processor warranty and possibly shorten the life of the processor itself.

While cooling is a consideration, adding too many fans will make the PC noisier, to a point when it will do somebody's head in, most likely yours.

OEM drives are just that - a drive on its own. Most motherboards if you buy retail packaging will provide SATA cables in the box so you shouldn't need to buy any separate ones. It is almost impossible to buy a power supply now that doesn't have any SATA power cables on it as standard.

[NaveedEaston]

Thank you for the reply!

The reason I was considering replacing the heatsink was because reviews on NewEgg mentioned that the default heatsink sounded like a lawnmower - I'm not planning on overclocking, just don't want a constant buzz blaring out of my computer. Is there any reason to be wary of a $10 heatsink from Gigabyte? It has good reviews and seems fairly legitimate and easy to use, but I've never installed a heatsink, so I'm not sure. Also - some of the reviews mention it comes with paste pre-applied, so I assume I don't need to buy more Thermal Grease?

And I just am not sure if the included cooling in the case is sufficient, so I was thinking I could supplement it with a couple of additions? I'm not sure if it's necessary.

[Neil Jones]

That board doesn't use any cooling fans so I don't see what a heatsink from Gigabyte for a board that doesn't use fans is going to achieve.

All retail boxed processors come with pre-applied thermal paste. Yes, on occasion the fans suck but most AMD processors don't get that hot and most board have an option to dynamically control the fan speed depending on the temperature, so it should only be a problem if the processor gets too hot.

As for case cooling - every PC I've ever owned has never had any more than two fans it it - one on the heatsink and one in the power supply. None of them ever overheated.
At the height of summer, yes, an extra one might be of use if the room has poor ventilation, but that's the exception rather than the rule.

[adanniels]

Welcome to geeks to go neveedeaston. Neil jones is giving good advice for normal pc users, but if you are doing graphic intese gaming or in my case 3d drafting pc temps are a big issue. I play a few games and use 3d suites and my stock computer had 2 fans and it hot 88 degrees Celsius. I shut it off and barely saved the computer. Cooling is always a plus but fans must be well placed. If you are interested in my setup of fans let me know and I'll explain.

Heatsink are a good edition to take down temps but one thing to keep In mind is size. Many coolers block the first and sometimes second ram slots.