Hey guys. Advice on this new i7 build?

[Akubane]

Hey there ^^ It's about time I start getting ready to upgrade. It'll probably take a few months to come up with the cash, but I figured i'd start doing some research and build something I can work towards.
I was going to go with a 5870 but it seems it wasnt that much of a difference from the 4870x2, and using it for crossfire late on would end up being more expensive than one 5970 anyway. Here's what I put together, let me know what you think and if there are any problems.

223.99$ - Gigabyte UD3R
NCIX.com - Buy Gigabyte X58A-UD3R ATX LGA1366 X58 DDR3 4PCI-E SATA3 USB3.0 Sound GLAN CrossFireX SLI Motherboard - GA-X58A-UD3R In Canada.
I was looking at the asus P6T, but i'm terrified of asus boards after the bad luck ive had with them, and my gigabyte dq6 was a beast back in the day XD Not really a fan of the blue on this either. shame the asus rampage is so expensive lol

159.99$ - Gskill F3 6gb 9-9-9-24
NCIX.com - Buy G.SKILL F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ 6GB DDR3 3X2GB DDR3-1600 CL 9-9-9-24 Triple Channel Memory Kit - F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ In Canada.
I love gskill ram, the timings are a bit loose. Any better suggestions? Seem to have good reviews. I can always add another 6 down the road as well.

699.99$ - XFX Radeon 5970
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=46762
XFX, 'nuff said XD lol

349.63$ - I7 920 D0
NCIX.com - Buy Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping Quad Core Processor LGA1366 2.66GHZ Bloomfield 8MB LGA1366 -SLBEJ- - BX80601920 - D0 In Canada.

269.97$ - WD caviar black X3 for RAID
NCIX.com - Buy Western Digital WD1001FALS Caviar Black 1TB SATA2 7200RPM 4.2MS 32MB 3.5IN Dual Proc Hard Drive OEM - WD1001FALS In Canada.
I've always been seagate but i havent been hearing much good of the 7200.12's. Figure it's time to jump ship. Good price too.

109.99$ - Corsair 750TX
NCIX.com - Buy Corsair TX750W 750W ATX 12V 60A 24PIN ATX Power Supply Active PFC 140MM Fan - CMPSU-750TX In Canada.
Best PSU brand i've ever used. Run 3 of them in different builds (running one now).

75.99$ - Thermalright Venomous x
NCIX.com - Buy Thermalright Venomous X 6 HeatPipes CPU Cooler LGA1366 1156 775 *Fan Not Included* - Venomous X In Canada.
Reviews look good and the TRUE rocked.

28.68$ - Scythe flex fans for Heatsink
NCIX.com - Buy Scythe S-FLEX SFF21F 120MM Cooling Fan 1600RPM 28.0DBA 63.7CFM FDB - SFF21F In Canada.

169.99$ - Silverstone Raven 2
NCIX.com - Buy Silverstone RV02B-W Raven 2 Black ATX Gaming Case 8X5.25 3X3.5INT 1X2.5INT No PS - RV02B-W In Canada.
Looks cool as **** and i like the orientation of the parts. Any thoughts? Everything should fit fine according to what i've read.

Total: 2088.22$ +tax

Anyhow that's what i've got. If i decide not to keep my current rig i can keep the corsair CPU, HD's and case. And save some cash by selling the other parts, since it'd probably work better than selling it as a whole anyway.

Any thoughts, improvements? Ways to save some money without really sacrificing performance? Any future parts I should wait on instead? (I figure 4-5 months to save the cash)

Rock on guys, thanks for any help!

 

[Slaymate]

Reviews look good and the TRUE rocked.

Do you already have a TRUE? The TRUE is just as good or better than the VenomousX in my opinion. The only thing it needs is Lapping to make it truely exceptional.

Go to this thread to see my testing results (they start on page 2)
http://www.techist.com/forums/f115/thermalright-venomous-x-222481/

and here's a guide to lapping the TRUE
http://www.techist.com/forums/f10/heatsink-lapping-guide-226442/

 

[Akubane]

Nope i've got the Xigmatek Rifle atm. I had a true on an older rig. True copper still seems to be top dog eh? The temps were pretty close so i'll probably stick with the TR-VX for the mounting brackets ^^;

I took a look at that lapping guide and it was really good. I'll follow that for sure when i get the new parts. Thanks slay. ^^

 

[Slaymate]

I do really, really like the new mounting system the VenomousX has, I'm using it with my True Copper

 

[Akubane]

Haha. Should be able to buy the mounting brackets separately ^^; I'm using the TRUE brackets for the Xig Rifle lol If i could get the venom brackets for the TRUE copper i'd go that way ^^;

Not that i'm looking to spend more money but what are your thoughts on this http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=53749&vpn=ACCELX5900&manufacture=Arctic Cooling

Got curious what they had for aftermarket gpu cooling after oogling the saphire toxic before laughing at the price :/ my 4870x2 runs hot enough to burn my hands if i hit the vent when fiddling with cables if im not careful lol. I figure I'd like to get back into overclocking so a few degrees would help. Not to mention the stock fans on these cards sound like jet engines.

 

[Slaymate]

I had the Accelero GTX 280 coolers on my old GTX 280's and they worked Great

I'm hoping they'll hurry up and come out with a Accelero for my new GTX 480's.

 

[CalcProgrammer1]

I have the X58A-UD3R motherboard, it's great. I too was looking at ASUS boards but the Gigabyte had more features at a lower price and I had heard good things about their boards so I bought it. It is a great board, has good overclocking features, plenty of USB slots including 2 USB3.0's, 2 eSATA ports, 2 FireWire ports (one of each size) optical/coaxial digital audio outputs, PS/2 for compatibility, a nice color scheme, onboard LED's that tell you when you're running hot, onboard LED's for RAM and CPU usage, IDE/Floppy for compatibility, and a lot more.

The only thing I thought it was missing was serial ports. I never used them back in the day when they were common, but my more recent ventures into microcontroller programming have made serial ports a necessity and thus I had to buy a PCIe x1 add-on card, no big deal and it certainly isn't the motherboard's fault, though some boards still come with a serial port pinned out.

It also has pretty good voltage control if you want to undervolt or overvolt your parts. I undervolted my i7 so I can run it with a slight overclock on the stock heatsink until I can afford a nicer one.

As for GPU heatsinks, I doubt you'll need one with a 5870, with a 5970 you might though since it should theoretically produce twice the heat. My 5870 stays under 60C at full load when the fan is at 40-50% which is really good, just with the stock heatsink (the reference design). The 5970 appears to use the same heatsink as the 5870 but handles 2 chips with it, it might get loud but it should stay cool without issue.

 

[Akubane]

Cool i might go with the Accelero then lol. Running both of those 480s must be a furnace ._. hah.
Thanks for jumpin' in calc, glad to see someone with some first hand experience with it. Sounds good to me. Yeah i thought the feature list was pretty robust.
Oddly enough, like you, the lack of a serial port is my only gripe haha. Im doing my CCNA right now, and i just got a few cisco 2500 routers and a switch coming, but i realized out of 2 PCs and 2 laptops here, not one of them has a serial port lol. Looks like i'll have to get a usb-serial adapter or pci card after all ^^; Not a big deal though. just 40$ id rather put somewhere else.

That 5870 runs pretty cool ^^; last i checked my x2 runs around 85 ish depending on the day. Does wonders for heating the house in the winter lmao

Another question. Noticed you have the 930 and slay has the 920. The 930 is clocked just a hair higher (Stock), but is cheaper :/ what's the difference? lol Should i just go with the 930 and save 30$?
http://ncix.com/products/?sku=50913&vpn=BX80601930&manufacture=Intel&promoid=1016

 

[Slaymate]

If you think you may one day decide to try overclocking you should stick to the 920.

If your never going to overclock go with the 930.

 

[Akubane]

^^; if that's the case 920 it is lol. I'll probably lap and see what it can do in the first couple days i get it ^^;