So a friend of mine is building a computer, since his 6 year old one died. He's posted on here http://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/1ql59p/build_help_6_year_old_machine_died_time_to_build/ But you guys were a great help when it came to me and my tablet needs, so I figured I'd post on his behalf. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Lol reddit. They can be pretty condescending some times. He said he's not sure on the case, but as an Antec 300 case owner, I have to say I frigging love it. But that's a personal choice. The CPU is great, AMD has been kicking out some sweet revisions lately. As for the GPU, if he's just going to be a casual gamer, I would be pretty happy sticking with the 660 (although that's just my cheapass self talking lol). What about hard drives etc? Does he want to stick with the stock CPU cooling? Don't forget the PSU, etc. Oh, and what that redditor said. OS as well. I think it's gonna go over his 600 budget.
He has a 700 watt PSU and a HD which he bought in the last year which should do the trick. As for OS, he has Windows 7 which he'll be using for that machine as well.
Cool. Honestly, if that's what he's chosen, just go with it. The thing with asking others, and particularly redditors, is that they might force their own requirements on to him. If those parts fit his requirements, go at it.
Too late to answer but gives your confirmation of my experience. We have a Geforce GTX 660 TI which is 4691 G3D mark running on an Intel Core2 Quad Q8300 @ 2.50GHz which has 3000 CPU mark. Performance is well but could be a bit better with a faster CPU but not by much (did a 3D Mark test with the this configuration and it came up as a bit above average). Therefore your suggested GTX 660 which has a G3D mark of 4112 means your AMD FX-6300 is no way a bottleneck as it has a CPU performance of 6400 CPU mark! Therefore even the Geforce 670 which as a G3D mark of 5000 (as that is only 20% more powerful than the 660) is not a bottleneck for a CPU with 6400 CPU mark. I think the GPU bottleneck is at a GTX 760/770 (about 6000 G3D Mark ) for the AMD FX-6300. By the way we are using an Antec PSU at 380 watts (80%+ efficient) for the Geforce GTX 660 TI. 700 watts PSU will be well over for Geforce 670 and I would have thought an efficient 550 watts is most you will need unless you start to consider powerful dual GPU cards. As a casual gamer I think GTX 660 (TI) is tops so you could go for a lower energy power CPU or cheaper CPU, say around 4000 CPU mark. When not gaming switch the CPU to a fraction of its crunching power as energy consumption and fan noise will be a lot less! The Geforce card would idle with 2D desktop at around 14 watts of power consumption (from its ~100-130 watts at full power gaming).
