New Gaming PC (quick check before order)

[zergman]

Approximate Purchase Date: The Sooner the Better. Having no computer sucks

Budget Range: Basically anywhere from $800-$2,000, but I don't want to spend it if I don't need it

System Usage from Most to Least Important: STARCRAFT!!! I'm a caster for Starcraft 2 so I need it to handle some FMLE or XSplit encoding while playing Starcraft 2. I also plan to play Diablo 3, Internet Browsing, Blu-Ray watching, simple Steam games like World of Goo.

Parts Not Required: I have the keyboard, mouse and monitor covered everything else I need.

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: I'm using newegg.com

Country of Origin: USA

Parts Preferences: No preferences, but I do want decent quality stuff. I have the money to spend if I need to. If I don't need something though I don't see the point in spending the money just cuz I have it though.

Overclocking: Yes if I can. I'm told its almost a necessity these days. It's been 8 years since I built a PC and I'm told its not as scary or hard to learn as it used to be.

SLI or Crossfire: No my games aren't that graphic intensive. FPS games make me motion sick :/

Monitor Resolution: Currently I use a 32" LG television. Its a 1080p TV and so far I havn't had any issues using it for a monitor. If someone can give me a good reason to get a standard monitor I'm willing to listen.

Additional Comments:

Basically I get a new tower every 4 years or so. Since I mainly use my computer for internet, Blizzard games and the occassional movie with my wife I don't see me needing to upgrade anything in the next 4 years. Starcraft 2 expansions and Diablo 3 shouldn't require much more than what Starcraft 2 needs now so I doubt I'll need to go SLI for another card or any other upgrading like a faster processor.

I'm open to any input I can get so if someone thinks of something I'm not thinking of please speak up. If there are any parts you think I need to improve on or any parts I'm spending more on that what I really need for my kind of PC use let me know. I'm willing to tone things down or up depending on advice.
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!!!!!I HAVNT DONE THIS IN A WHILE SO PLEASE KEEP AN EYE OUT IF SOMETHING IM BUYING CONFLICTS WITH SOMETHING ELSE LIKE WRONG RAM FOR THE MOTHER BOARD OR SOMETHING. I READ A LOT BEFORE I PICKED THESE PARTS, BUT I COULD HAVE OVERLOOKED SOMETHING!!!!!!!--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Case: Antec Nine Hundred Two V3 Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Gaming Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129097

Motherboard: ASRock P67 EXTREME4 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157229

or if someone can give me a good reason other than the onboard GPU on the Intel Chip being accessible

ASRock Z68 Extreme4 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157250

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500K
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072

PSU: SeaSonic X750 Gold 750W ATX12V V2.3/EPS 12V V2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151087

GPU: EVGA SuperClocked 01G-P3-1563-AR GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130610

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black WD5002AALX 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136795

Memory: CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233144

CPU Cooling: ZALMAN CNPS9900MAX-R 135mm Long life bearing CPU Cooler Red LED
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118075

I'm told this is necessary since I "hopefully" intend to overclock???

Optic Drive: Pioneer Black 12X BD-R 2X BD-RE 16X DVD+R 8X BD-ROM 4MB Cache SATA Blu-ray Burner BDR-206DBKS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827129066

 

[geekapproved]

You don't need a K series to overclock, but if you want a big overclock, you want the K series, it's worth the extra money.

Stick with the WD Black, it's a better drive with a much better warranty.

or if someone can give me a good reason other than the onboard GPU on the Intel Chip being accessible

I have no idea what you mean by that.

 

[banthracis]

The spinpoint F3 is the better hard drive choice. Same performance for a lot less $/gb.
The 1tb is $65.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185&cm_re=f3_1tb-_-22-152-185-_-Product

Corsair vengence has issue with just about any aftermarket HSF thanks to it's unnecessarily large fins. You'd be better off with a G Skill kit. Ex. this kit has same specs, no tall heatsinks and is $20 cheaper.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231460&cm_re=g_skill_8_gb-_-20-231-460-_-Product

HSF wise, the scythe mugen will give you better performance for less.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185142&Tpk=scmg

At ~same price is a venomous x
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835109030&Tpk=venomous%20x

You don't need z68 unless you're interested in SSD caching or using quick synch.
Also as mentioned above, no reason to not get the 2500k.

 

[zergman]

I can't believe I clicked on the wrong CPU. That is suppose to be a 2500k in my build. Thank you guys for catching that. I could have ordered the wrong part from Newegg and not realized it.

Do you guys see anything that I'm buying more than I need aka more GPU than necessary for the games I'll be playing or something like that?

What I meant about the z68 is from what I understand my only benefit of using it over a p67 is the SSD caching which I won't use because I have no SSD and the ability to use the GPU that comes with the core i5-2500 which I won't be using becuase I'm buying a seperate GPU. I read the article on here about the z68 motherboards and thats what I got from the article, but I can't say I understood everything the writer said.

 

[geekapproved]

The spinpoint F3 is the better hard drive choice. Same performance for a lot less $/gb.
The 1tb is $65.

You meant to say, same performance, a lot less warranty, and half the cache for a lot less $, right?

You get what you pay for, just like anything else.

I've used a few F3's, no problems yet, but for my personal computer, I only go Black and I'll never go back.

 

[zergman]

Corsair vengence has issue with just about any aftermarket HSF thanks to it's unnecessarily large fins. You'd be better off with a G Skill kit. Ex. this kit has same specs, no tall heatsinks and is $20 cheaper.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231460&cm_re=g_skill_8_gb-_-20-231-460-_-Product

Can you or someone else please expound on this. I'm thinking about a mother board and don't understand why the HSF would be anywhere near the ram. Maybe I'm not not visualizing it right. Doesn't the ram stick straight up off the mother board and the heat sink fan as well? So how do they affect each other.

Could I use this instead? I'm going off some recommended ram from a tomshardware article that they recently released.
Kingston HyperX T1 Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model KHX1600C9D3T1K2/8GX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104242&cm_re=khx1600c9d3t1k2%2f-_-20-104-242-_-Product

 

[someguynamedmatt]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231460&cm_re=g.skill_sniper-_-20-231-460-_-Product
There's some DDR3-1866 on sale for less than DDR3-1333. I personally have my own kit of G.Skill Sniper 8GB, and it's been absolutely flawless. Of course, the changed the heat spreader design since I bought mine, but oh well... everything else should be basically the same about it. Just my own recommendation for RAM.
http://i579.photobucket.com/albums/ss235/Mark3Website/106_0009.jpg
That's a really old picture of my rig, before I bought a crapload of upgrades, including said RAM. See where the edge of the Sunbeam Core Contact Freezer is compared to the RAM slots? It's actually in there backwards because the fan would have been in the way of the first two RAM slots. It sits really low to the motherboard, and it can really be a serious problem if you want to add another two sticks of RAM. Help any?

 

[pacioli]

My current system uses those Corsair Vengeance sticks you are referring to. the are very fast and work well... but they are very tall. In my situation the HSF isn't an issue because I have the Corsair H70 and the fan can be placed wherever you want. I could definitely see the heatsinks on the ram interfering with some of the larger HSF units. I don't know what to say you'll just have to check the clearance issues with whatever HSF you decide on or get a different set of RAM

 

[zergman]

Well I don't know if this means anything, but I found some reviews on the heatsink I had picked out and the reviews say its a great fan for RAM with tall heat fins. The pictures I found show lots of room, but I guess its better for me to switch ram then risk an issue. I'd like to stick with that fan if possible based on http://www.frostytech.com/top5heatsinks.cfm and the review I read on it. Seemed like a good fan.

 

[zergman]

Alright I think I've got it all figured out and I'm ready to order tonight. Can anyone think of anything else I need, extra cords, thermal paste etc... that I might not be thinking of. I'm guessing I can use the paste that comes with the CPU, but I thought I should mention it cuz I wanted examples of things I might still need to buy that I'm not thinking of.

 

[geekapproved]

The Zalman will come with thermal paste.

 

[banthracis]

The spinpoint F3 is the better hard drive choice. Same performance for a lot less $/gb.
The 1tb is $65.

You meant to say, same performance, a lot less warranty, and half the cache for a lot less $, right?

You get what you pay for, just like anything else.

I've used a few F3's, no problems yet, but for my personal computer, I only go Black and I'll never go back.

Why on earth are you arguing paying the extra price for a mechanical HD? The market is so close performance and reliability wise, it's pointless to even bring it up. HD's are a very mature tech now and there is minimal difference btwn major brands, and nothing that justifies a 85% cost increase per gb.

Cache makes no performance difference since it's usage varies form controller to controller. Neither does SATA III which is nothing more than a marketing gimmick.

Warranty is also not a big difference. the F3's have been around a long time and have proven to be the most reliable drives out there. The same can't be said for WD and their higher failure rates, especially for their green line.

 

[banthracis]

As for the RAM blocking thing. Most aftermarket HSF's will lie over the RAM slot. For RAM without tall heatsinks it's usually not an issue with 120mm fans. However, those with tall RAM will not fit under the cooler.

Clearance of the popular scythe mugen

NH D14- As you can see, those ripjaws are short enough to fit, but if they were any taller like the corsairs, they would not fit.
Also, note how far down the fan on the right side goes. that's a 140mm fan, and it that were used on the left side, RAm would not fit.

 

[zergman]

Thanks its been ordered. I got the G.Skill Sniper ram that two people listed in this thread