Newb builder: Want high end gamer.

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Corsair hydro series are higher end coolers and probably worth the money if you have it. Heading towards more middle end, the Arctic Freezer 13 Pro is kinda' popular but it honestly isn't the nicest thing to see in a machine. Are you looking for something that looks nice in it's case too haha? As patonb said if you going to be overclocking then you shall be needing the better cpu cooler. I'm not sure about water cooling though.
Back tracking a little patonb I was saying that SLI570->580 is worth the money ;)
 
Corsair hydro series are convenient because you don't have to worry about clearance in your case, they come with good pre-applied thermal paste, and you get smoother airflow throughout the case by not having a giant heatsink in there. But I would contest them being "high end", they are comparable to a decent air cooler.

Depends how high you want to overclock, there are plenty of reviews of people taking an i5 2500k to 3.7-4.0GHz on the stock heatsink that comes with it. Heard good things about the Cooler Master Hyper 212, and the Noctua NH-D14, they are on opposite sides of the spectrum (NH-D14 > Hyper 212).
 
The Cooler Master Hyper 212+ isn't a super heatsink and it's not going to set any world records, but for the price it's a excellent bargain.
 
Ok, well I think I'll go with what I've read to be number 1.

Spire Thermax Eclipse II
Spire Thermax Eclipse II SP984B1-V2 Heatsink Review - FrostyTech.com

Back to mother boards... So far I am set with the Sabertooth P67rev3. If I afford it, any reason why I shouldn't go with a ROG ASUS MAXIMUS IV EXTREME (REV 3.0) instead of the sabertooth? NEW egg has a couple open box ones for about 100 cheaper. Has anyone heard of these burning out after about 3 years? The one point I have read about the sabertooth and which I like is that they are build like tanks, and last.

Thanks,
Chris.
 
Check out the two in a side-by-side comparison.
Main things that jump out to me are 4x PCIex16 on the Max IV vs 2x on the Saber, and the swap of USB gen ports, Max IV has 8x 3.0 (9 total) and the Saber has 8x 2.0 (10 total).

So you just have to ask yourself: do you need 4 PCIe x16 slots, does USB 3.0 vs 2.0 matter to you, and do you trust an open-box motherboard.

Personally, I'd go with the Sabertooth.
 
Thanks for the comparison.

On another note with chooseing a motherboard. The reviews left by people who have bought the ROG mother board from newegg have left some pretty bad reviews. One thing that stuck out was how crappy ASUS costumer service was. So, What brand names and their motherboards comparable to the two I've listed which are known for good customer support. If I am dishing out money here, I don't want to deal with crap support if I need it.

Thanks, Chris.
 
Honestly, every manufacturer has customers with horror stories about how they were neglected or abused in some way, I'd take the majority of reviews with a grain of salt.

There is a thread here about preferred motherboard brands. The general consensus is that Asus is top-dog, after that its mix and match between MSI, EVGA, Gigabyte, Biostar, Foxconn, etc...
You might want to avoid Gigabyte if you're concerned about customer service, 2nd page of that thread has their RMA guidelines.

I would still personally go with the Sabertooth, but around the same price you could snag an MSI P67A-GD65 (they had a GD80, not sure where it went) or an ASRock Fatal1ty P67 Professional (some question as to if they are re-branded Asus')
 
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