Help building a pc

[The Wolf]

Hi, I know you guys probably hate these kind of threads but I really need help building a pc. This will be my first time building a pc, I am a console gamer, but Dolphin intrigued me, I find it awesome that I can play my Wii games on my pc in 1080p (possibly). So I have done some research on this and came up with these parts. Now I didn't include a case and an disc drive because I figure I can get any cheap thing, but maybe down the road I would like to get a blu ray disc drive and burner, but I am getting off track. For the CPU I chose the AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor because I heard great things about it online, and I figure it can run Dolphin pretty well. For the video card I chose the HIS Radeon HD 7870 2GB Video Card because I heard that you can easily oc it. Now none of this is definite, I was think of spending a little more money to buy a Radeon HD 7950 or a GeForce GTX 660 Ti, now I don't really know which one is better, I have read many articles on both, I have heard that the 7950 can be oc easily, but the 660 Ti is a better deal. But is it even possible to just "throw in" one of these graphics card with the rest of the pc's parts? So many questions

So what do you guys think? What can I improve on? Feel free to say whatever you want to say, I really need the help. You can rip this apart, or you can even build me a totally new one from scratch. I really don't mind, I just need the help.My budget is around $650 dollars and I would like to be able to run games on dolphin in 1080p. I really hope I am not coming off as an annoying "newbie." Thank you for all of your help.


Here are the specs of my first idea:

• CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor
  
• Motherboard: ASRock 960GM/U3S3 FX Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard
  
• Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory
  
• Storage: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
  
• Video Card: HIS Radeon HD 7870 2GB Video Card
  
• Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply
  

[AnyOldName3]

If your budget will cover it, you'd do much better with an i5 3570K/2500K and a z77/z67 motherboard. AMD CPUs have much lower single threaded IPC than Intel equivalents, and single threaded IPC is what Dolphin wants.

RAM wise, if it's cheaper, you may as well get something clocked at 1600 MHz, as you'll see approx 0% performance increase by raising memory clocks above this, both in Dolphin, and many other applications. Also, for Dolphin 4GB is more than enough, but you may want/need 8GB for other things. I'd only reduce to 4GB if you were desperate to save some more money.

GPU wise, I'd say an HD 7870 is definitely enough for 1080p. However, some users have reported unexpectedly low performance when using HD7xxx series (and occasionally GTX6xx series) graphics cards with the D3D11 backend. This houldn't cripple your rig, but if there was a similar performance HD6xxx series card at a similar price, I'd go for that instead.

[The Wolf]

If your budget will cover it, you'd do much better with an i5 3570K/2500K and a z77/z67 motherboard. AMD CPUs have much lower single threaded IPC than Intel equivalents, and single threaded IPC is what Dolphin wants.

RAM wise, if it's cheaper, you may as well get something clocked at 1600 MHz, as you'll see approx 0% performance increase by raising memory clocks above this, both in Dolphin, and many other applications. Also, for Dolphin 4GB is more than enough, but you may want/need 8GB for other things. I'd only reduce to 4GB if you were desperate to save some more money.

GPU wise, I'd say an HD 7870 is definitely enough for 1080p. However, some users have reported unexpectedly low performance when using HD7xxx series (and occasionally GTX6xx series) graphics cards with the D3D11 backend. This houldn't cripple your rig, but if there was a similar performance HD6xxx series card at a similar price, I'd go for that instead.

Thanks for the feedback. You are so right, I should definitely get an i5 instead. That is a little concerning to hear about with the 7870, but I will have to research some HD6xxx cards. Thanks for the help.

[AnyOldName3]

It shouldn't be a major issue even if you do get it. Not everyone has reported issues who has that series of GPUs. I know at least for the nVidia cards it's because they don't clock up properly, and that the issue can be fixed by enabling a few (GPU demanding) options in Dolphn.

[23732]

If you plan on playing Super Mario Galaxy I/II in good resolution, buy a good CPU cooler, so you can overclock it

[ExtremeDude2]

If you plan on playing Super Mario Galaxy I/II in good resolution, buy a good CPU cooler, so you can overclock it

lol wut, his CPU has nothing to do with the resolution

[The Wolf]

Thanks for all of the feedback guys, from what you guys told me, I changed my build a little. I am little confused on what mobo and what power supply I should get though. Any recommendations?

• CPU: Intel Core i5-3570k Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000
  
• Memory: Pareema 8GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333
  
• Storage: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
• Video Card: HIS Radeon HD 7870 2GB Video Card
• Case: DIYPC DIY-5823BK Black SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case with 1 x 80mm Fan

Thanks!

[admin89]

You didn't list the mobo

what power supply I should get

Antec 550W 80 Plus

[The Wolf]

You didn't list the mobo

what power supply I should get

Antec 550W 80 Plus

Thanks, any recommendations for the mobo?

[ExtremeDude2]

You didn't list the mobo

I am little confused on what mobo