New Gaming Build

[NinjaMittens]

EDITED AGAIN!

Following several conversations with people and some further research, I've made another set of changes to the build.



OP Follows:
Hey Guys!

I'm putting together a build i'm thinking about doing and I was hoping to get a few other learned opinions about some of my selections. My goal is to have a box that is going to allow me to play just about anything that is out now moderately well. I don't need to have top of the line everything and definitely don't want to spend more than about 1400. Here's what i've got thus far:


Build:

Case: Rosewill BLACKHAWK Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, come with Five Fans, window side panel, top HDD dock (89.99)

MotherBoard: ASRock Z77 Extreme6 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard (174.99)

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W (219.99)

CPU Cooler: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus (36.99)

RAM: SAMSUNG 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) (47.99)

HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black WDBAAZ0010HNC-NRSN 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s (119.99)

SSD: OCZ Agility 3 AGT3-25SAT3-120G 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) (94.99)

Video Card: EVGA 02G-P4-2678-KR GeForce GTX 670 FTW 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 (419.99)

PSU: SeaSonic X750 Gold 750W ATX12V V2.3/EPS 12V V2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Full Modular Active power supply
(149.99)

WiFi Card: ASUS PCE-N15 Wireless Adapter IEEE 802.11b/g/n (27.99)

Optical Drive: LITE-ON Black 12X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM (49.99)

For a total of 1435.89

Thoughts or suggestions? Much appreciated, and thank you in advance!

 

[I'm your huckleberry]

I would probably save myself a little money and go with a single 1tb hdd such as

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

unless you are planning to go raid 1. It looks like you have paid some attention as to what is recommended. Great choice on the mobo, cpu, ram, and gpu. All great choices. For gaming, 8gb is plenty of ram, so you could easily cut down to only a single set of 2x4gb sticks. You could put a little extra toward either the tx750 or this bad boy:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182073

This would allow you to comfortably add a second card in the future with some decent overclocks on your cpu and gpus. Both of these larger units come standard with 4 pcie connectors which is helpful as well.

Beyond that, if you are not looking for the most massive overclock possible, an nh-d14 is a little overkill. Also very heavy and bulky to deal with. A single tower cooler would be plenty for an average overclock. Of course, these chips produce more heat so you should not expect an equivalent sandy bridge overclock. Not really a problem though with the added single threaded performance.

Great build btw. With some reductions in the hdd and ram, you could also look into a 120/128gb ssd for os and programs which have been on sale for $90 or less recently for some great units.

 

[NinjaMittens]

I would probably save myself a little money and go with a single 1tb hdd such as

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

unless you are planning to go raid 1. It looks like you have paid some attention as to what is recommended. Great choice on the mobo, cpu, ram, and gpu. All great choices. For gaming, 8gb is plenty of ram, so you could easily cut down to only a single set of 2x4gb sticks. You could put a little extra toward either the tx750 or this bad boy:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182073

This would allow you to comfortably add a second card in the future with some decent overclocks on your cpu and gpus. Both of these larger units come standard with 4 pcie connectors which is helpful as well.

Beyond that, if you are not looking for the most massive overclock possible, an nh-d14 is a little overkill. Also very heavy and bulky to deal with. A single tower cooler would be plenty for an average overclock. Of course, these chips produce more heat so you should not expect an equivalent sandy bridge overclock. Not really a problem though with the added single threaded performance.

Great build btw. With some reductions in the hdd and ram, you could also look into a 120/128gb ssd for os and programs which have been on sale for $90 or less recently for some great units.

Thanks for the advice Huckleberry! I did some shuffling around with your suggestions

HDD down to one drive, Found some different RAM with some heat sinks attached that are getting fabulous reviews and were a little cheaper. I was not even looking at SSD's initially as I thought they were still stupid expensive. That is going to make things happier.

PSU suggestions was exactly what i needed to find. Probably a high likelihood that I'll add a second card down the road.

I found a less expensive CPU cooler, but i still want a beefy one because i live in a warm place and have had bad luck with processors in the past. A cool system is a happy system!

I also added an optical drive. so i can still add content to my media server

build above updated to reflect changes. Thanks for the help, bro!

 

[runo]

This was a great build to begin with Huck had all awesome advice, so there's not much to add. The only minor nitpicks I noticed were...

*Cooler:
I'm not huge on that cooler. I would get the Hyper 212+ if I were to get any of the Cooler Master coolers for this setup, but only if you're not overclocking too terribly high. If you are, like huck said, that Noctua is just fine.

Here's another cooler I'd recommend:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065

The 520N reportedly doesn't perform as well as this 212+. However I don't think either will see you comfortably reach ~4.0GHz and up. It's really a matter of "are you going for a modest overclock, or are you serious about overclocking?" If it's the former, the 212+ will be more than enough. If it's the latter, I recommend getting a beefy push/pull unit like the NH-D14 that'll more reliably dissipate high heat output from substantial overclocks. It really depends on where you want to go with your clock rates.

*RAM: Why switch from 16GB Samsung to 8GB Gskill? Why not just buy one 8GB order of these kickass sticks? Those Gskills are sweet and won't do you any wrong, but the Samsung sticks are even sweeter (and easier to fit, as they're slimmer and don't have huge honkin' heatsinks).

 

[NinjaMittens]

Revision 2 is up! Runo, the cooler you linked to isn't made for i5 chips, but i did find a different one!

the RAM has been revised again, to 2 corsair 4g sticks. 16 is unnecessary right now and it's easy to buy more later.

MB Switched for port availability and heatsinks.

PSU changed to a better brand and increase wattage by 100watt.

Ditched a bad case for the steel.

 

[runo]

Huh? Unless I'm misreading somewhere, that 212+ should fit just fine (especially in a tall, roomy case). An i5-3570K is socket LGA1155, which the 212+ matches.

That RAM is fairly expensive compared to--and won't perform as well as--the Samsung sticks. Why not get one single 8gB order of the Samsung sticks you originally linked?

Excellent mobo choice, as it's pretty much just the next step-up from the previous mobo.

According to reviews, that Cooler Master CPU cooler is pretty good but it is a low-profile cooler meant for small cases, which is probably not what you're going for; it also is NOT not designed for heavy overclocking (which seems to be a recurring theme with CM's coolers). Honestly, I'd recommend the NH-D14 for heavy overclocking and still say the 212+ is your best best of all the choices thus far if not.

That PSU is hellishly overpriced for its performance and even if you add a second 670 down the line, you'll never need 850w. Stick to the 750w Rosewill Capstone huck linked (it's mindblowingly awesome), or if you want an alternative that's just as sexy, the SeaSonic X750 is still on sale for about the same price and is also rather awesome. Both the Capstone and X750 are not only cheaper than that Corsair, but better.

The case is personal preference as always but that's a fairly solid choice. I think you could grab a much more feature-packed case with the budget you've got in mind, but that's to taste.

 

[NinjaMittens]

Cooler: Compatibility CPU Socket:
Intel: Sandy Bridge 1155 / LGA 1366 / 1156 / 775
AMD: FM1 / AM3+ / AM3 / AM2+ / AM2

CPU Support:
Intel: Core i7 Extreme / Core i7 / Core2 Extreme / Core2 Quad / Core2 Duo / Pentium / Celeron
AMD: Phenom II X4 / Phenom II X3 / Phenom X4 / Phenom X3 / Athlon X2 / Athlon / Sempron


I was uncertain as the i5 chip isn't listed, and it's ivy and not sandy bridge

additionally, i'm not planning on doing much overclocking if any, building the system that can do what i want it to without overclocking.

Found a new modular PSU that is the brand you've been recommending. Modular that inexpensive is win..

 

[phalanx]

Cooler: Compatibility CPU Socket:
Intel: Sandy Bridge 1155 / LGA 1366 / 1156 / 775
AMD: FM1 / AM3+ / AM3 / AM2+ / AM2

CPU Support:
Intel: Core i7 Extreme / Core i7 / Core2 Extreme / Core2 Quad / Core2 Duo / Pentium / Celeron
AMD: Phenom II X4 / Phenom II X3 / Phenom X4 / Phenom X3 / Athlon X2 / Athlon / Sempron


I was uncertain as the i5 chip isn't listed, and it's ivy and not sandy bridge

1155 is the socket for Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge CPUs. Socket 2011 is the enthusiast socket. Your motherboard is 1155 socket. It will fit. My brother has the Gemini II on his CPU and the stock fan is the loudest thing on the face of the planet, however the design of the cooler is made so it cools both CPU and RAM. Be sure heat spreaders on the RAM aren't very tall, and if you insist on staying with the Gemini II I would suggest replacing the stock fan for something quieter. Coolermaster makes some other fans for the job, which are much, much quieter. I didn't take a look at all components in detail, but for the most part the build seems solid.

 

[NinjaMittens]

1155 is the socket for Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge CPUs. Socket 2011 is the enthusiast socket. Your motherboard is 1155 socket. It will fit. My brother has the Gemini II on his CPU and the stock fan is the loudest thing on the face of the planet, however the design of the cooler is made so it cools both CPU and RAM. Be sure heat spreaders on the RAM aren't very tall, and if you insist on staying with the Gemini II I would suggest replacing the stock fan for something quieter. Coolermaster makes some other fans for the job, which are much, much quieter. I didn't take a look at all components in detail, but for the most part the build seems solid.

Cool, I think you guys have swayed me to the Hyper 212+. It is going to be a tight fit in that case, but i've found some people who said it's doable.