Looking for a Critique

[Matorbogl]

Howdy denizens of Hardware & Software I come to you looking for a critique of some components that will be part of a future desktop upgrade. Right now I am pretty confident in my choices as I feel they more than adequately satisfy my three requirements, low price, power and scalability. I plan on using my desktop mostly as a platform to play games on, and while I would love to be able to max out settings, I would not be cross if I couldn't, medium suits me just fine.

Processor
Intel Core i5-2400

Motherboard
MSI P67A-GD65 (B3)

Memory
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1333

Note: I plan on salvaging my video card, power supply, hard drive (SATA, 3GBs) and DVD drive (IDE).

edit: I realize now that MSI motherboard has no IDE connectors, so I'll have to purchase a new CD/DVD SATA drive, no worries though.

 

[Quixoticism]

For a three more dollars I would suggest the Ripjaws series Ram
You could probably get a cheaper motherboard with only 1 PCIx16 slot if you're not planning on going the crossfire/sli route later on down the road(which it seems like you're not)

Looks fine other than that.
You'll probably find yourself wanting a new video card soon after you upgrade everything else, just as a heads up.

 

[Matorbogl]

Thanks, that's a good point on the 2nd PCIx16 slot, I never intend on using SLI so it's wasted space. The following, also an MSI motherboard, seems like a solid replacement for the original one I posted and significantly cheaper to boot.

MSI P67A-C43 (B3)

For some reason though, they put an asterisk next to the DDR3 1600, I'm not quite sure what exactly that is supposed to mean but since it's listed I guess it's supported.

 

[Quixoticism]

That's an overclocking speed. You should be fine with that Ram anyways. You could underclock it to the supported speeds if you needed, or just get a lower clocked set of Ram.

 

[Vegeta897]

Doesn't seem like a good match to me. The motherboard has those vibrant blue highlights but that RAM is a much more muted blue with a hint of purple. Doesn't mix well.

PSU seems like a great match though.

Don't get me started on the video card.

 

[Matorbogl]

That's an overclocking speed. You should be fine with that Ram anyways. You could underclock it to the supported speeds if you needed, or just get a lower clocked set of Ram.

Ah I see, alright thanks for the help I feel pretty good about these parts. I will probably go about ordering them when I get home from work later today.

Doesn't seem like a good match to me. The motherboard has those vibrant blue highlights but that RAM is a much more muted blue with a hint of purple. Doesn't mix well.

PSU seems like a great match though.

Don't get me started on the video card.

Well my reasons for the use of those colors was to create a powerful, anti-racist message by demonstrating that people are like computer parts and we can all work together despite our coloring.

 

[morgs]

Who picks computer parts based on how they fit with other coloured parts?

 

[Maestro]

You won't be able to upgrade an Intel mobo much, just make sure you don't intend to do much improvement on that machine before you go with an i5.

EDIT: MSI has some pretty miserable QC. I know some people who have never had a complaint and others (like me) who have had a DOA from them. Gigabyte and Asus are more expensive, but they have sterling reputations for quality.

 

[Matorbogl]

So I got my parts Monday, no more than 5 minutes after getting home from work which was spiffy. Anyway I put it together and all I can say is that I am one very happy camper. Being able to run Company of Heroes on max settings in a 4v4 with the framerate never becoming unbearable is certainly an awesome thing. I'm also now able to run TF2 in DX9 on max settings, which I haven't been able to do in a long time, so long in fact I forgot just how pretty a game it was.

All in all, a very worthwhile investment I got everything I wanted out of it, so again thanks for the advice and suggestions