Opinions on this gaming rig

Hazey

Distinguished
Aug 26, 2011
2
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18,510
Hi all,

I'm putting together a new gaming rig and would like any opinions on the parts I've selected below. Theres still a few things I'm not certain about so I'm open to any suggestions.

Approximate Purchase Date: Next couple of weeks

Budget Range: Up to £1k

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, surfing the web, watching films

Parts Not Required: I only need the parts listed below

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Ebuyer, Scan, Overclockers

Country of Origin: UK

Parts Preferences: ASUS for mobo and GPU, anything else I'm open to suggestion

Overclocking: Maybe

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe

Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080

Additional Comments: Want it to be quiet as I can get it

CPU
Intel Core i5 2500K 3.3GHz Socket 1155 6MB Cache

Motherboard
Asus Maximus IV Gene-Z Z68 Socket 1155 8 Channel HD Audio mATX Motherboard
I know this is a mATX board but from what I've read it seems like its just as good as any full ATX board and a good price. Is there any reason I should go with a full size ATX board?

As an alternative I was looking at the Asus P8Z68-V PRO Z68 Socket 1155 8 Channel HD Audio ATX Motherboard

Cooler
Noctua NH-U12P SE2

Memory
G-Skill 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz RipjawsX Memory Kit CL7 (7-8-7-24) 1.6V
Memory is one of the things I've never had an indepth knowledge of. I have seen quite a few people recommend RAM with a voltage of 1.5. So is this RAM ok for this build? I chose it mainly due to the good RAM timings.

GPU
Asus 1536MB GeForce GTX 580 DirectCU II NVIDIA Graphics Card
or
Asus 1280MB GeForce GTX 570 DirectCU II NVIDIA Graphics Card
Still undecided on this. I don't know whether to go for the GTX 580 or GTX 570. Is it worth spending the extra money on the 580?

Power Supply
Antec 850W High Current Pro PSU
I might want to SLI in the future so will this be enough?

Case
Antec 1200 Twelve Hundred V3 Full Tower Case

I've got everything else covered so these are the only parts I'm looking to buy for now.
Thanks in advance for any help.
 
Fill this out please.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261222-31-build-advice

Quick critiques:
1. You heard wrong. The board is good, but defiantly overpriced to the max. The board sucks for the price. You probably will have a hard time fitting another 580 on that board, even one would probably cover up the SATA slots, trust me, I've heard many people that have the 5850/5870 (Longer than the current gen) say mATX gets covered up easy on the slots.
Better for the price and cheaper. Plus ATX.
http://www.ebuyer.com/267506-gigabyte-ga-z68a-d3h-b3-z68-socket-1155-8-channel-audio-atx-motherboard-ga-z68a-d3h-b3
2. You don't need that cooler, even if you were overclocking. That is overpriced.
http://www.ebuyer.com/158603-scythe-mugen-2-rev-b-for-socket-1366-1156-775-478-scmg-2100
3. You don't need CL7 ram. It has minimum improvement in performance is overpriced.
http://www.ebuyer.com/274057-g-skill-8gb-2x4gb-ddr3-1333mhz-ripjawsx-memory-kit-cl9-9-9-9-24-1-5v-f3-10666cl9d-8gbxl
4. Resolution? In any case you don't need the 580.
5. For SLI 570's yes, for 580's MAYBE.
6. The 1200 is nice, the HAF X or HAF 922 even the Antec 902 are good alternatives.