Review my first Gaming Rig

Hardware Build a PC
1

Mobo: ASRock 960GM/U3S3 FX AM3+ AMD 760G SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard $54.99

CPU: AMD FX-6300 Vishera 3.5GHz (4.1GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 95W Six-Core Desktop Processor FD6300WMHKBOX $139.99

RAM: G.SKILL Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) Desktop Memory Model F3-1866C9D-8GAB $44.99

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda ST500DM002 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive $64.99

GPU: ASUS HD7770-2GD5 Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition 2GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card $144.99

Optical Drive: SAMSUNG DVD Burner 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM SATA Model SH-224BB - OEM $17.99

Power Source: XFX Core Edition PRO550W (P1-550S-XXB9) 550W ATX12V 2.2 & ESP12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply $69.99

Non Components

Case: BitFenix Ghost BFC-GHO-300-KKN1-RP Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case $99.99(Being paid for by my Dad)

Cooling: CORSAIR Hydro Series H60 (CWCH60) High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler $59.99

Monitor: LG IPS224T-PN Black 22" 14ms (GTG) Widescreen LCD Monitor 250 cd/m2 5,000,000:1 IPS Panel $129.99

Speakers: Logitech S120 2.3 Watts (RMS) 2.0 Speaker System - OEM $13.99

Mouse/Keyboard: Logitech Wireless Combo MK260 920-002950 Black 8 Hot Keys USB RF Wireless Standard Keyboard and Mouse $29.99. 

My main questions are,

1:Would it be a lot better to get a $7870 for an extra $55.00?

2:Are there any cheaper places to get some of these things then NewEgg?

3:Is there anything worth cutting so I can upgrade the card?

4: What kind of performance should I expect from this in games like Minecraft, TF2, Borderlands 2, Skyrim, etc..., basicly any high end game.

 

Thank you for taking the time to stop by!

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  1. Yes, getting a 7870 or even a 7850 would be a major upgrade. Spend the $55 if you are gaming,
  2. I have no comment, but others might.
  3. The AMD FX 4300 is very fast and having it plus a 7870 will equal a much better gaming rig.
  4. If you get the 7870 I would expect most games to run at 1080p at medium to high settings and still be very playable.
3

your monitor is not really siuted for gaming, you'll notice alot of trails....

and the h60 really doesn't cool any better than the hyper 212 evo.

4

You should be able to play all games on high with a 7870, and some games will even be playable at ultra. It's a huge upgrade over the 7770. Use pcpartpicker.com for the best prices. 

5

Would loosing the 2 extra cores impact performance very much? And how do you feel about the FX 6100 and FX 4100, since they both have a considerably lower price and I don't have quite enough expierience in this to know if they'll still perform well. I have extra concern if there's any good quality cooling that costs a little bit less then the H60.

And it's very good to see you active on the fourms, and providing great input, keep up the good work!

6

Any recomendations for a good monitor at a similar price? And thanks for the tip on the cooling, that will make a decent cut so I can upgrade the GPU.

7

you need something witha response time of 5ms or less.

8

My last question I must ask is, what is the cheapest, legal way to get a 64-bit windows 7?

I would like to say thank you to all three of you for the help, the overal price of my rig has gone up a slight amount, but I now have a much better card in it.

9

The cheapest way to get windows 7 is to buy an OEM copy, or you could see if Microsoft has any student deals going on. They probably only have specials for Windows 8 right now though.