[quote name='paz9x']im not saying its better or worse im just saying youre comparing an oc'd card to a stock card. the 6870 could be oc'd as well and youd have improved performance over what those tests are showing.[/QUOTE]
Ah gotcha, that makes sense. Although I doubt I'd mess with OCing although I guess it could be an option down the road.
After some research this is the setup I'm heavily leaning towards:
CPU - Intel Core i7 950 3.06GHz 8M L3 Cache LGA1366 (
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002A6G3V2/ref=ord_cart_shr?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER )
GPU - XFX Radeon HD 6870 1 GB DDR5 Graphics Card (
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0047ZH7GE/ref=ord_cart_shr?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER)
MOBO - Gigabyte LGA1366 SATA3 ATI CrossFireX ATX Motherboard GA-X58A-UD3R (
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0034CSTFY/ref=ord_cart_shr?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER )
RAM - Corsair 6 GB PC3-12800 1600MHz 240-Pin DDR3 Core i7 Triple Channel Memory Kit (
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002LZ1FPG/ref=ord_cart_shr?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER )
HD - Western Digital Caviar Black 1 TB Desktop Hard Drive (
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0036Q7MV0/ref=ord_cart_shr?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER )
PSU - Antec EarthWatts 750 Watt ATX12v v2.3 Power Supply Unit (
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001QZMBEQ/ref=ord_cart_shr?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER )
Still undecided about Cases, CPU coolers, and DVD/CD RW drives. Although I am leaning towards this case: RAIDMAX Blackstorm ATX-615WU Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower (
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811156251 ) unfortunately it doesnt appear that amazon has it. Any other case and CPU cooling option recommendations would be awesome too!
I'm also trying to grab everything at Amazon, preferably everything that ships with prime since I can save by not having to pay tax or shipping that way.
Without the case, fan, and DVD/CD drive the price was about $1,050 which is right in line with my budget, I figure I can add another 100$ or so to cover the rest of the stuff which would put me slightly over budget. I'd like to somehow try and shave about 100$ off, so like between $1,000 and 1,100 for everything. Only thing I can really think of to do this would be to downgrade from the Intel 950 to the AMD 970 and I don't know if the performance hit would be worth the savings.
EDIT: I think I've found a case and fan, NZXT Apollo CS-NT-APOLLO-U SECC Steel Chassis ATX Mid Tower, and Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 respectively.
I've kind of settled on the Intel CPU since I think it's just too much faster then then AMD 970BE to downgrade. GPU I'm still kind of up in the air trying to decide between the Radeon 6870 and GTX 470. I'm leaning towards the Radeon but I really couldn't tell you why. My other main concern is will all of these parts that I've picked work well together? Any potential compatibility problems? Last but not least how about the Ram? I have no clue on how to go about picking the best ram for this build. I just searched DDR 3 1600 and picked the corsair since it was the brand I recognized most.