Would you approve my new gaming rig?

[kaisellgren]

Hi!

Now it's the time for me to upgrade my PC. I haven't been actively reading the latest news and reviews of PC chips so I am a bit frosty here. I hope to get feedback from those who know things a lot better than I do. And here is what I have thought (current components are either strike-through or kept):

MOBO
[strike]ASUS P5N-E SLI[/strike]
ASRock P67 Extreme4 (+158 €)

RAM
[strike]4 GB A-DATA DDR2[/strike]
8 GB G.Skill Ripjaws DDR3 (+119 €)

GPU
[strike]8800 GTX[/strike]
Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 Vapor-X 1 GB (+239 €) - an offer lasting for 2 days!

CPU
[strike]Q6600[/strike]
Tuniq Tower 120 Ultra Extreme
Core i7 2600K (+308 €)
Coollaboratory Liquid Pro (+9 €)

PSU
Corsair TX 750W

Storage
1 TB SATA3 HDD

Keyboard and mouse
Microsoft Reclusa keyboard
[strike]Microsoft Side Winder mouse[/strike]
Roccat Kone (+72 €)

Monitor
ASUS 22" widescreen

Case
NZXT Hush Black


I am considering getting a second monitor at least 24" hopefully LED and maybe 120 Hz. I also consider getting a PCI-E SSD in the foreseeable future so I need space below the GPU for that.

I know that I don't need SLi/Crossfire.

A couple of questions if I may:

1) Am I paying for good bang-for-the-buck deals?
2) Should I get a new CPU cooler? Money matters to me so I would not like to pay for nothing.
3) Should I switch my case? My current case is too small so that my 8800 GTX does not fit inside it with the cables!! I keep the side panel open because of this and get lots of dust. Do you think this new GPU could fit in? If not then I definitely would like to buy a new case, could you recommend me one?

Total incl. shipping & handling: 905 € / $1,231 for the package above.

Thanks for the comments! I'd especially love to get feedback on the GPU because the deal is ending in 2 days!

 

[Silvune]

Hyper-threading does not help in games, so unless you do other things which are more processor dependent then you could save yourself some money and get the i5-2500K, as that will be just as good in most games, and be plenty for lots of CPU intensive tasks anyway.

Again 8GB is not necessary for a gaming build, 4GB is plenty, however RAM prices will probably start going up again soon, so now is a good time to buy RAM, so you might as well get as much as you can afford.

Sapphire 5870 Vapor-X's are pretty much top of the line 5870s in terms of cooling and noise, so it should be a good buy.

I do not think it's necessary to get a new CPU cooler as the Tuniq Tower 120 Ultra Extreme is still a good heatsink. Is the Asrock P67 Extreme4 one of the ones with 775 mounting holes? Did the Tuniq Tower you bought come with LGA 1156 mounting hardware? If not then you might need to buy the necessary mounting hardware.

Well, according to the reviews I quickly read, the NZXT Hush should be able to fit an 8800GTX. Apparently, according to something I found awhile ago, but can't remember, the Hush should also be able to fit a 5870. But seeing as you had problems with the Hush, and the fact that it uses quite an old design, I think that maybe you should seriously consider a new case, one that is more roomy.
The reference 5870 design was 11.2"/28.5cm, but there were shorter 5870s around, so I would suggest trying to find a measurement of the 5870 Vapor-X online and then measure your case.
A cheap, high quality, roomy case is the Cooler Master HAF 912. If you're willing to spend more, or if you have other criteria for a case just tell me and I'll make other suggestions.

Could I ask you if the Tunig Tower 120 Ultra Extreme fitted in that case, are you sure it wasn't that which was preventing you from closing your case? This information is for my own records on case research.

 

[kaisellgren]

Do you think DDR3 is futureproof? If I have to switch to DDR4 in the near future then getting 8 GB of RAM seems useless. I could save that cash on 4 GB RAM and use the extra cash on an SSD.

About the case. Tuniq Tower 120 Ultra Extreme is actually closer to the side than the GPU. It's a lot closer to the side actually. You can almost fit a child's finger in between the tower and the case, but anyway, never had any problems with it although it's massive.

However, the GPU's power "holes" are positioned so that they are pointing the side of the case so that when I put the cables in they don't fit the case anymore. I can, if I wanted to, close the case, but then the cables are looking really bad as they are twisted upwards...

Take a look at my PSU: http://images.bit-tech.net/content_images/2008/02/corsair_tx750w_psu_cmpsu-750tx/tx750w3-8.jpg

Look at the power cords that I deploy on the PSU. They have this black thing surrounding them making it impossible to twist it on that spot. So the twisting happens after them, which is when they hit the side panel door...

 

[Silvune]

I see what you mean now. Seeing as the Vapor-X has the PCI-E power connectors on the side of the card, facing the case side panel, you will have the same problem with the Vapor-X as with your 8800GTX.

I think it will be at least two years before DDR4 is anywhere near being mainstream. Personally I would not get more than 4GB of RAM for myself, but that is because I know that I will not need it. If you do not need it and would prefer to spend the money on something else then I would agree that would be a wise course of action.

And thanks for answering my question about the Tuniq.

The Anandtech review said that the Asrock board has 775 mounting holes, so no need to buy any mounting hardware for it.

 

[kaisellgren]

While ASRock was pretty much equal with a few other P67 boards, I decided to choose ASRock, because it is capable of handling the Tuniq as you noticed.

I have changed my plans a bit:

- I will get Intel's 2500K instead of 2600K because frankly I won't need that extra the 2600K gives me and I can save a bunch of money on that. I will then instead buy the MSI GeForce GTX 560 Ti Twin Frozr II.

- I will get 4 GB of DDR3 and buy more if I really need more.

- I switched the thermal paste to Arctic Silver 5.

And about the issue with the case. It seems that pretty much all cases are as wide, not all but many. I think I could try taking those black things out of the cables... then they could twist better.

 

[Silvune]

These two links show that the MSI GTX 560 Ti Twin Frozr II has the power connectors on the end of the card, so it looks like it might be unnecessary for you to meddle with the black 'tape' (I think that it's called 'shrink wrap') on the PCI-E connectors. Some people sleeve their own power supply cables, so it might even be possible for you to reapply shrink wrap in a way that suits you.

Well I know of plenty of cases which are wider, but you are right that the cheap ones are mostly ~190mm wide.

 

[kaisellgren]

These two links?

I think I am just going to take those black tapes away and clean up my whole PC from the dust when I get the new components. Man, I feel like a kid again

 

[Silvune]

Lol, you're absolutely right:

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2011/01/27/msi-geforce-gtx-560-ti-1gb-review/1
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/MSI-N560GTX-Ti-Twin-Frozr-II-OC-Video-Card-Review/1181/3