About a build I'm planning

[kilvanys]

I'm planning to build a high powered computer for college and will be making it by June, and was wondering if anything in the build is horribly wrong/ could be improved on/ missing parts. I have not build a computer before, but have had one build by cyber power before.

I'm listing everything because i dont want to miss anything.

cpu: Intel Core i7-960 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115224
heatsink/fan: Thermalright U120eXtrem1366RT http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835109021
thermal compound: Arctic Silver 5 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100007
gpu: EVGA GeForce GTX 460 SE (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130597
mobo: GIGABYTE GA-X58-USB3 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128456
ram: Kingston HyperX (3 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1600 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104127
Power supply: CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006
HDD:WesternDigital 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache 6.0Gb/s http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136767
Case: NZXT Phantom http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146067
CD/DVD drive: LG SATA Multidrive http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136216
2x Rosewill 18" Serial ATA Black Flat Cable http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812119231

i have a windows 7 ultimate 64 bit ready for it.

speakers, keyboard, mice and screen aside, am i missing any cables, overlooking any parts, or should replace any part for another?

also show no mercy to my build... it prolly sucks.
and if it helps, any build $1800 and under ( with screens and all that good stuff) works for me

 

[boiler1990]

I'd recommend using Intel's new i5-2500K as a base. It is much faster than most of the i7-900s at stock settings, and OCed it can outpace even the i7-990X. You may even be able to wait until the new LGA 2011 socket is released, and that will surpass the i5s.

With that i5 I'd recommend a good motherboard like an Asus P67-based board. They're supposedly going to start shipping the fixed versions in a week or so.

I would get a better GPU. For 1800, you could probably get a GTX 580. Don't get anything lower than the 560 though.

I would stick with 4GB of RAM unless you're doing some serious work like CAD, graphic design, or computational mathematics. G.Skill tends to have a 4GB set with a low cas latency (look for 7 or 8) and average speeds (1333-1600 MHz) for under $50.

Forget the WD SATA III drive; go with a Samsung F3. It's the fastest desktop hard drive at the moment. You could easily pair that with a 64GB SSD for your OS on your budget.

Another good CPU cooler is the CoolerMaster Hyper 212+. It's half the price of the Thermalright, and people can usually OC to 4.6+ GHz on it. Stick with the Arctic Silver 5; it's good stuff.

I might consider the Corsair 850HX instead of the 750TX, since the TX isn't the greatest series of PSU. The 850HX is phenomenal though. It can handle GTX 470s in Tri-SLI (which is what I plan to do eventually).

You won't need to buy SATA cables because your motherboard will come with them.

 

[kilvanys]

thanks for the info. I will need more ram though because i am going to be doing video game programming/ graphics design. Is it worth getting the i7-2600K as a base rather than the i5-2500k?

 

[boiler1990]

Gotcha.

Unless you'll be running several programs at once on multiple screens, the i5-2500K will suit your needs perfectly. The only feature you gain from the i7 is hyperthreading, which only helps in the scenario I mentioned.

 

[batuchka]

Aha since u in college - this would be my sub $900 portable/mobile college/uni solution for that 'throw anything at me' machine hehe

If u near a Microcenter : 1090T + Gigabyte 880G $235
http://www.microcenter.com/specials/promotions/AMDbundlePROMO.html

 

[WR2]

If you had gone ahead with your build it would have been fine.
But I do like boiler1990's outline for your build, especially for a June time frame. 5-2500K/P67 MB/SSD boot drive.

It helps that the i5-2500K/P67 1155 motherboard looks to have a nice upgrade path for future Ivy Bridge CPUs.

It's a little early to be picking specific items but you can have a lot of confidence your budget will get you an awesome machine. Corsair recently updated the 850TX to 850TX V2 and there is speculation in some forums a 750TX V2 (and maybe 650/550 models) is close behind.
Also by June you'll have access to a lot more info about the new follow on the 1366 replacement, Sandy Bridge version.