First Time New Build

[benstark]

Hi everyone just hoping to get a bit of advice on my ideas for a new build.

I'm moving into the IT sector for study, in design and programming (Python, C++) and also play a lot of games like Starcraft 2, Battlefield Bad Company 2 online and I'd like to prepare for such games as Battlefield 3, Arma 3, Diablo 3 (if it ever comes out) and Skyrim on full graphics. I'm not really into overclocking but might consider it down the track. I intend on buying a decent 24-32" monitor further down the track but will probably HDMI into my 50" Panasonic NEOplasma at the moment.

Budget isn't really a concern and I'm expecting to get fairly screwed over because I'l either have to ship everything to Australia or pay the ~50% mark up here.
All my links are from an Australian site that offer the lowests prices I've seen so far in Aus, however if anyone knows of a cheaper site (Australian or International Shipper) I'd gladly have a look

Anyway this is the system I'm looking at so far:

CPU - Intel i7 2600K 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) =http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=187_346_1184&products_id=16416]

MoBo - ASUS P8Z68 - Deluxe Motherboard =http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=138_711_1183&products_id=17497]

GPU - ASUS GeForce GTX 590 3GB =http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=193_1203&products_id=16952]

PSU - Corsair AX850 Gold Power Supply =http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=15_354&products_id=15251]

RAM - Corsair Vengance DDR3 1600MHz 16GB (4X4GB) =http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=186_538_913&products_id=17037]

Case - Coolmaster HAF X =http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=25_31&products_id=14840]

Sound Card - Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium FATAL1TY Champion =http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=211&products_id=7774]

Network Card - D-Link DWA-556 Xtreme N Wireless PCI Express Adapter =http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=200_328&products_id=6603]

Optical Drive - Samsung SH-B123A 12X Blu-ray DVD Combo Drive=http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=658_667&products_id=14676]

HDD's - 1x Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB SATAIII 7,200RPM =http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=210_344&products_id=16482]
and 2x Western Digital Green 2TB SATAIII =http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=210_344&products_id=17282]

Cooling - Corsair Hydro H100 CPU Cooler =http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=207_160_45&products_id=17961]

So my questions are:
-Are all the components in this build compatible with each other?
-Will these future proof my computer for at least a little while?
-Are there similar alternatives to my specifications that offer either better performance, more reliability or a lower price?
-I would hope to be using a mix of Australian and overseas products based on their price+shipping, is there any compatibility issues with mixing USA and AUS products?
-I'm not set on the exact brands of my system, but I do favour ASUS and Corsair out of personal preference, is there any reason for me to choose otherwise?
-Is a cooling unit needed if I'm not going to OC straight away? And will the H100 be sufficient if I do? Also would and GPU cooling be necessary?
-Would a SSD make a significant difference to loading times with the Z68 Deluxe?
-Have I missed anything, important or otherwise?

I'd really appreciate any replies and advice
Thanks!

 

[wintermint]

It's safe to drop down to the i5-2500k if youre main focus is gaming. Hyperthreading wont do squat in gaming. You will be able to save more going with G.SKILL or Kingston RAM instead of Corsair. Corsairs are good but they come with a hefty pricetag too. That's a lot of hard drive. I store a lot of games on my external. They take around 7-10gb each on average. I think a single 2TB is more than enough. If you want 1TB drive, then you will have to go with the Samsung Spinpoint F3. I know you're in Australia but you should have that. As for the watercooling.. I guess it's justifiable with the GTX 590 you're running. That's a complete beast. You may want to switch to a 6950 instead and add another 6950 if it's not completely satisfying your need. The 6950 will run diablo 3, starcraft 2, skyrim etc on high setting if not ultra. Instead of water cooling, I would get the Prolimatech Megahalems if it's available and purchase your own fans. If not, go for the Hyper 212+ from Cooler Master. If you get the 590 at least plan to tackle Crysis 2. The 6950 is more than enough [can also be flashed to a 6970]. I also suggest trying your onboard audio before purchasing a sound card. Today integrated audio isn't as bad as you think. Some motherboards mention supporting 7.1 too.

The 850W is good if you plan to use the 590. Switch down to 700 if you plan to get the 6950, there will be enough for crossfire.

 

[benstark]

Thanks for the reply wintermint
I was wondering about the difference between the 2500k and 2600k, will the i7 be an advantage when it comes to programs such as Blender and rendering in CAD and Sony Vegas?
As for hard drives, I have a lot of movies, TV and music that I got from my mates ect (around 2.5TB so far) currently stored on three separate external HDD's which are too big and annoying so I was planning on loading them onto the HDD's. But I would like to know what particular HDD's you would recommend for reliability and speed when it comes to a 2TB.
And I am happy to pay the decent price for the GTX 590 as it is such an impressive GPU but I'l have a look at your recommendation just in case! The sound card advice seems pretty rational although I would eventually like to hook it up to my home theater system.
I was also wondering if I did go for the water cooling would I have enough room to be able to mount it inside the HAF X or would it have to be external?

 

[ps3hacker12]

Thanks for the reply wintermint
I was wondering about the difference between the 2500k and 2600k, will the i7 be an advantage when it comes to programs such as Blender and rendering in CAD and Sony Vegas?
As for hard drives, I have a lot of movies, TV and music that I got from my mates ect (around 2.5TB so far) currently stored on three separate external HDD's which are too big and annoying so I was planning on loading them onto the HDD's. But I would like to know what particular HDD's you would recommend for reliability and speed when it comes to a 2TB.
And I am happy to pay the decent price for the GTX 590 as it is such an impressive GPU but I'l have a look at your recommendation just in case! The sound card advice seems pretty rational although I would eventually like to hook it up to my home theater system.
I was also wondering if I did go for the water cooling would I have enough room to be able to mount it inside the HAF X or would it have to be external?

why not buy from newegg or tigerdirect?

 

[benstark]

nah not many places ship internationally, those two included

 

[Formata]

I think you'll struggle to get a U.S company to ship direct. Using an international shipper... I never have but I'm paranoid about things like that. My main concern being, I wonder how you'd go with a warranty replacement if you needed it. Sure, you could contact manufacturers direct but they will want to know where you purchased it from. That 590 might look cheap on newegg compared to Aus prices... might become an expensive problem if it's DOA

Anyhow, you already have found PCCaseGear. A couple of others to compare prices against:

http://www.mwave.com.au/

http://www.scorptec.com.au/

http://msy.com.au/

With MSY just download their pdf pricelist (the website is crazy bad), and check stock/prices at stores near you. Their range isn't that great, but what they do have is usually cheaper. If you have one near you, you could save yourself or reduce the amount of your shipping charge.

SSDs will make a significant difference to load times and with the budget/build you're looking at would be a good option:

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=210_902_903&products_id=17311

Is this your 1st build? Water cooling can be tricky, by all means I hate to discourage, but I am more a fan of air:

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=207_23_845&products_id=13232

Noctua NH-D14 CPU Cooler is a great option and really quiet. I also like the CM Hyper212+ as mentioned above, a great cost effective cooler.

I'm not a big fan of the gtx 590. I understand you're aiming at the top end, but the price of that card versus its performance??? When you can get 2 gtx 570's or 2 6950's for so much less and OC them to get serious performance.

 

[tomrrt]

why not buy from newegg or tigerdirect?

Are they reliable..?
is it sure I get fresh hardware from there...??

 

[benstark]

Again thanks for the reply
The notuca air CPU cooler does look good and I did consider something similar for it's price and ease but will it be as quiet? Because I'd like to keep my rig as quiet as possible, which is also why I thought the 590 would be better so I wouldn't have to OC it and have case fans spinning off their heads..
Thanks for the sites! I'd seen msy before but mwave and scorptec look good aswell, and I have the same feeling about buying US but it's hard not to look at the prices.. Hmm I guess I still have a few things to think about

 

[Formata]

For sure I'd research those applications you listed and see if hyperthreading will be any advantage. If you swap to the 2500K, with 8GB Memory and the Noctua Cooler instead of the Corsair Hydro... you could even go SLI gtx 580's (with 1000w PSU). Of course you still have the noise issue... Noise is always a tough one when your aiming at high performance.

Most recent build for a work mate is a good example, we got most everything from MSY, and the GPU and SSD from PCCaseGear, where the selection/range is better. Even just taking the PSU and Case off the order cuts the shipping quite a bit.

 

[wintermint]

Hi, sorry I lose track of threads. Hyper-threading is useful in softwares that's multi-threaded. So is hyper-threading useful for CAD? I would say yes and no. I don't think CAD takes full advantage of hyper-threading. Sony Vegas is media encoding right? I'm not sure haha. In media encoding, you will see like a minute faster improvement with hyper-threading. If all those is just a hobby for you, I would really just go for the i5-2500k and overclock it. I suggest finding benchmarks for the programs you plan to use.

I see you guys have mentioned the Noctua NH-D14. That is indeed a quiet case and works the best out of the box. It is also a large heatsink. If you want quiet, I would go for scythe mugen 2. I don't know if it's available at your area but it's like 1/2 the cost of the Noctua in newegg. If you want, you can get the Prolimatech Megaleths I believe... with two Yate Loon 120mmx25mm fans. Quiet and efficient but price will most likely be more than the Noctua by a little margin.

The 590 will not be a good choice. I'm sorry to say this but as you head up the high end graphic cards, you should expect them to run louder because they are more powerful. They do have better designs that help though. I would probably drop down to a GTX 580 Twin Frozr II. Here's some other suggestions: I'm using the site newegg but you only need to know the gpu model

1. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121467
2. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125364
3. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814162073