Building a computer? Need advice/suggestions? Come here!

[TeeKup]

Still looking at this Laptop.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834158017

Would it be sufficient to play me some BF3 or should I save up for this one?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834127452

[Cortexian]

The 5470 is a slightly better card, I'd go with the first one.

That said, neither will run BF3 at high settings.

[TeeKup]

The processor is what's killing it, will keep looking.

EDIT: This one would probably be my ideal bet.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834158016

[Warsaw]

6370M is not as good as the 5470M, I don't think. Remember the AMD GPU number shift went downward, i.e. x800-class is now the x900-class.

[TeeKup]

Disregard whats been posted. I'm building a desktop at the moment. So far I'm at 536.76 without the OS. Here's what I've got:
CPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103921

Graphics Card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102908

RAM:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231253

Computer Case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811815004

Motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813138318

Wireless Adapter:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833320048

Power Supply:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817151094

CD Drive and Hard Drive Bundle:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.696137

Any recommends on what I can do to make it cheaper or have I hit the nail on the head?

[Warsaw]

You've basically hit the nail on the head, but I'd probably find a motherboard that can do Crossfire. ASRock makes a good one.

[Cortexian]

Yeah that looks good to me at the price point, I'm so out of date on AMD stuff that I don't even know if that's a decent processor or not tbh. I'd like to recommend that you not cheap out on the PSU though, you'll just end up replacing it in 2 or 3 years. Get a good Corsair, Silverstone, etc...

[Warsaw]

To be honest, I've found that all these recommendations to "not cheap out" on PSUs to be bogus. I had a Rosewill in this machine that lasted me six years under heavy load and sparse cleaning, and I have had no-name ones last me longer. Just read the reviews and you'll do fine.

As for the CPU, it's solid as far as AMD CPUs go, but obviously any Black Edition would be better. Ideally, a Phenom II X4 955, since after that point you are paying for nothing.

[Cortexian]

To be honest, I've found that all these recommendations to "not cheap out" on PSUs to be bogus. I had a Rosewill in this machine that lasted me six years under heavy load and sparse cleaning, and I have had no-name ones last me longer. Just read the reviews and you'll do fine.

How many systems have you built using cheaper PSU's? I've built 8 or 9 systems with cheaper PSU's because the client I was building them for wanted to keep costs down as much as possible, 3 or maybe 4 of those have crapped out in 2-4 years of usage. Out of the other PC's I've built, admittedly only 6 or so, with good quality PSU's none have crapped out (again though, two of them are only a year or two old).

The PSU is a very critical component, it's never happened out of the ones I've had that have failed but a failed PSU can fry the rest of your components as well. It's also something that you can't really replace with a cheaper version when it goes out either, so better to spend an extra $30-$50 initially.

[Amit]

As for the CPU, it's solid as far as AMD CPUs go, but obviously any Black Edition would be better. Ideally, a Phenom II X4 955, since after that point you are paying for nothing.

Yeah, for $20 more, the 955 Black is very overclockable if you get a decent aftermarket HSF for it. I'm still looking at it for my BF3/RO2 build (Yeah, my iMac barely runs RO2 Beta at 35 FPS on high settings).

The PSU is a very critical component, it's never happened out of the ones I've had that have failed but a failed PSU can fry the rest of your components as well. It's also something that you can't really replace with a cheaper version when it goes out either, so better to spend an extra $30-$50 initially.

Yeah, it's really not good to skimp on the PSU. I've used lower end brands like Raidmax and Rosewill before and they are quite decent. I doubt you'll have much trouble with either of those. It's worth noting that even higher end PSU's like OCZ have been known to fail, as well and you can't really avoid it. I would say the sweet spot for a PSU is a Coolermaster 500W - 550W. If you want Crossfire-X you'll probably need a 650W PSU and SLI you should have 750W or higher. (depending on what cards you have).