Case / PSU - Great case to build with ... the V3 version adds front USB port. Inlet air filters are a bit of time investment to remove and clean as thumbscrews for each cage have to be removed, each cage pulled out a bit, filter removed and then reverse to put back in. I do it every 6 months....vacuuming each month between. The DF-85 ya can remove and replace all 3 filters in a few seconds (hinged doors).
Getting this case w/o putting a CP-850 in it would be not to take advantage of its strongest feature. The XFX Core Edition gets a 9.5 jonnyguru
performance rating, the CP-850 gets a 10.0
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=...
Quote:
It is completely unmatched by any ATX unit on the market I can think of. You'd have to spend twice as much as this thing costs to find the next best thing, performance wise.
The next review gets a bt more into the pairing of the 1200 & CP-850.
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article971-page7.html
Quote:
The Antec CP-850 is a superlative power supply by almost any standard. Its electrical performance is up at the level of its more expensive brethren, the Signature 650 and 850, and Seasonic's flagship, the M12D-850: Voltage regulation is extremely tight for all the lines at all loads, and the ripple noise is amazingly low ..... The noise performance is excellent, with the <400W performance matching or bettering virtually every PSU tested thus far. ....It has the virtue keeping itself extremely cool, however, cooler than any other PSU we've tested at such high loads.
A serious consideration is that in each of the three compatible Antec cases, the CP-850 mounts on the bottom, and the intake for the PSU is quite separate from the rest of the system. In the P193 and P183, the PSU is in an entirely separate thermal chamber, and in the model 1200, a direct path can be maintained to the directly opposite, wide-open front vent. This means that our extreme hot box test conditions never apply to the CP-850; in other words, SPCR's test environment is unrealistically hot for the CP-850. Our atypical spot check with a room ambient thermal test showed the CP-850 would reach only 24 dBA@1m at 700W load in a 27°C working environment. This is ridiculously quiet for such high power output.
The above is an obviously unfair advantage for the CP-850... but what of it? Antec has used an integrated systems approach for its CP-850 and its best cases, and if that approach is an advantage over all other case/PSU combinations, then, all the more power to Antec! It's not uncommon for enthusiasts to frequently replace the motherboard and components that mount onto it — such as CPU, RAM and video card — while the case and PSU are retained. There would be ample reason to take that approach with the CP-850 and one of the compatible Antec cases.
For the quiet-seeking computer gaming enthusiast, the CP-850 (along with any of the three compatible cases) is something of a godsend. Fantastically stable power, super low noise at any power load, long expected reliability due to excellent cooling, modular cabling, and all at a price that's no higher than many high end 6~700W models. That you're limited to one of three well-executed high cases from Antec — one mostly for silence (P183), one mostly for gaming (1200) and one that's really an ultimate everyman case (P193) — is not exactly a hardship either.
The 750 watter BTW, will be a little light for the addition of a 2nd 570 GFX card in SLI at a later date, you'll want an 850 watter for that.
MoBo / CPU - This pairing will serve ya batter and save money ($20 discount on combo.). If money's tight, the i5-2500k gives up just 0.1 Ghz and Hyper Threading tho the 2600 seems to be the better overclocker.
$485 - ASUS P8P67 Pro w/ i7-2600
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?Ite...
$395 - ASUS P8P67 Pro w/ i7-2600
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?Ite...
RAM - Tall heatsinks are a remnant of days gone by when RAM temperature was an issue. It's not an issue anymore, especially on SB systems since BCLK adjustments are at most minimal, and the heatsinks have been kept merely cause they "look cool". Problem is they interfere with 3rd party CPU coolers. While you listed "No" to overclocking, I wouldn't want you to close the door completely in the issue as overclocking the SB CPU's is a 1 minute affair and you may want to pursue it in future. With SLI on the table in the future, low latency memory could help performance with regard to those annoying spots in games where frame rates drop to unacceptable levels.. On $1750 systems and above, I use CAS 7 DDR3-1600.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/2792/12fo
22.3 % (SLI) increase in minimum frame rated w/ C6 instead of C8 in Far Cry 2
18% (single card) / 5% (SLI) increase in minimum frame rated w/ C6 instead of C8 in Dawn of war
15% (single card) / 5% (SLI) increase in minimum frame rated w/ C6 instead of C8 in World in Conflict
$15 more for these Mushkin CAS 7 Redlines.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
Otherwise I'd use these; add'tl 10% off w/ w/ promo code EMCKFJA22, ends 4/20
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
GFX - The 570 is a great card.....with a single card it outscores its little brother 524 fps to 495 fps in Guru3D's gaming suite. But in SLI, the lead slims down to 873 fps to 862. So $355 for one 570 GFX card and 523 fps or $480 for two 560 Ti's (900MHz version) and 862 fps ???? I'd take the twin 560's
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
OS - You can usually get Windows OS for like $10 on college campuses, but as you are the builder, you are entitld to the OEM version.
$100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
In a neat package, here's the build I'd make w/ $1,700 .... well $1,703
Case - $140 - Antec 1200
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
Side Panel Case Fan - $16 - Antec Blue 120 mm
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
PSU - $110 - Antec CP-850
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
MoBo - $395 - ASUS P8P67 Pro
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?Ite...
CPU - incl above - Intel Core i5-2500K
RAM - $75 - (2 x 4GB) Corsair CAS 9
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
GFX - $240 - Gigabyte GTX 560 Factory Overclocked
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
GFX - $240 - Same
HD - $65 - Spinpoint F3 1TB 7200 rpm
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
SSD - $300 - OCZ Vertex 3 2.5" 120GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
DVD Writer - $22 - Asus 24X DRW-24B3L w/ LS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
OS - $100 - Win 7-64 Home Premium OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...