Building new Gaming Rig, would love your thoughts on my specs

[drewpnutz]

I'm going to wait on purchasing this until the end of this month while I do some final research and make sure this is what I want to do..Thanks to everyone for the help.. here's a final list of what i'm going with..Although, I may refrain from overclocking the GPU and just go with the already overclocked EVGA 580...


Case/PS - $214.98
Corsair Carbide Series 500R/Corsair Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 750W ATX12V v2.31 Power Supply
Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, LED LCD TV, Digital Cameras and more!

Mo'bo - $254.99
ASRock Z68 Professional Gen3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Newegg.com - ASRock Z68 PROFESSIONAL GEN3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard


Cpu - $314.99
Intel i7 2600K quad-core
http://Newegg.com - Intel Core i7-2...5W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I72600K

Ram $69.99
G. Skill Ripjaw X series 8GB DDR3 1600
Newegg.com - G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL8D-8GBXM
CPU cooling - $119.99
Corsair CWCH100 Extreme Performance CPU Cooler
Newegg.com - CORSAIR H100 (CWCH100) Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler
GFX - $499.99
ASUS ENGTX580 DCII/2DIS/1536MD5 GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 1536MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
Newegg.com - ASUS ENGTX580 DCII/2DIS/1536MD5 GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 1536MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

OS drive - $484.99
Mushkin Enhanced Chronos Deluxe MKNSSDCR240GB-DX 2.5" 240GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive
http://Newegg.com - Mushkin Enhanced Chronos Deluxe MKNSSDCR240GB-DX 2.5" 240GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

Storage Drive - $79.99
WD 1TB 7200RPM sata 6g/b
Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

 

[Slaymate]

When you actually make your order you should look through the Combo Deals. You can save $15 buying the 2600K and the AsRock Z68 Pro Gen3 as a Combo.

Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, LED LCD TV, Digital Cameras and more!

 

[drewpnutz]

Hmm, guess I wasn't looking in the right place, because I was looking for the combo of the two earlier and couldn't find it..I went to Fry's Electronics and saw that they have the i72600K but not the ASROCK Z68 (they had a ASUS Z68 Pro for $100 cheaper, but on the specs, the internal storage was Sata 6Gb/s and not SataIII 6Gb/s, does that sound right?)

I'd feel more comfortable buying the processor from the store because it would be easier to return (and faster). So I may just go that route.. I also found some other items cheaper or for the same price so I can save on shipping costs (plus I can get credit as well)..

It looks like I might be getting this build sooner than I was thinking if I can go to the store and save money there.

 

[patonb]

Sata is a connection type, with SATA II running at 3Gb/s and SATA III running at 6Gb/s. Its not an internal storage but a transfer rate.

Asrock is a offshoot of ASUS, with asus being known as the better brand.

However, that asrock is one fine board with 2 pci-e 3 ports. The asus is most likely only pci-e 2.

 

[Prophet]

I would look into whether or not that double rad will fit in your case. Where are you planning on fitting it? i'm pretty sure its designed for a rear mount as (correct me if i'm wrong) the pump is attached to the cpu block and the reservoir is part of the rad. If you wanted to mount it somewhere else you will probably need different tubing. If you like modular PSU's get the HX instead of the TX. It is 40$ more expensive though, but will make your case look neater. Also it is silver certified as apposed to bronze.

i still think that 240Gb SSD is too much though. windows 7 just needs 34Gb's of space, movies, songs and what not can go on the HDD and you can fit plenty of games on the left over space if you got a 120Gb. save 200$ right there mang!

 

[drewpnutz]

Yes, again on the SSD, it's crazy how 120GB is so much money~!!! ,however with a regular hard drive it's pennies.., i'll reconsider, but with the amount of games I want to play that are coming out this year, i'll be topping out 120GB (12-15 games that i'll be playing for sure) after a while, at 6-8GB of storage for each game plus the storage for Win7, i'll be encroaching on the 120GB, which i've done before on a partitioned drive..

From my research i found that the corsair H100 fits in the top of the 500R, or 400R for that matter..These cases have slots in the top of the case for (2) 120mm fans and the radiator..

 

[drewpnutz]

And yes, I understand that Sata is the connection type and not the type of storage, i mis-print..I meant that the internal sata ports were stated as Sata 6Gb/s and not Sata III 6Gb/s on the newegg website, not sure if there is a difference b/w the two? however, do you think the pci-e3 is worth the extra $60??

Also, at fry's electronics, i noticed they had a EVGA gtx580 3GB card (as opposed to the 1.5GB card i was initially looking at) Do you think the extra 1.5GB ram would be worth it? It was set at a reduced price = $520.99, not sure if the extra 1.5GB ram is worth $120, what do you guys think?

 

[drewpnutz]

Just realized that the GFX card that i'm looking at is PCI-E 2.0 anyway, so getting PCI-E 3.0 wouldn't be necessary, right??

 

[Prophet]

The Gen3 is just getting the hardware ready for pci-e3.0 which the next round of video cards will be using. That feature is not useable right now, but if you plan on upgrading in the future you wont have to upgrade your MB for video cards. ( although the new ivy bridge processors probably wont be 1155)

As to your Sata question, it is the same, they just didnt print out "sata III" and short handed it to simply "Sata 6gb's"

Theres no point going 3gb unless you plan on gaming on either a 30"+ monitor with over 2560x resolution or want to game on multiple monitors. So no, its not worth the 120$

 

[drewpnutz]

Ivy Bridge's Backwards Compatibility Explained

Just did some research on the Ivy Bridge processors and it's stated that it is backwards compatible with Z68 boards, however these boards bios must be upgraded and the board must come with ME8 (management engine firmware), which can't be upgraded by the user, but it seems like the boards would already come with this function?

So if I had this Gen3 board, I would have the ability to upgrade to Ivy Bridge, but i'd also need to upgrade my video card to one that is compatible with pci-e3.0 to really make a difference with my purchase??

Do you think it's worth $60 to have this backwards compatibility??
ASROCK Z68 Gen3 on newegg=$254.99
ASUS Z68 at Frys electronics = $199.99