First Time Build, NEED advice!

[Lawdaddy]

I'm building a PC for the first time and need some advice.

I would like to stay under $850 if possible. I'm a deal shopper and am in no immediate need of building this pc this week.

So far I have made a few purchases:

i7 2600k + ASUS P8Z68-V PRO LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS = $404 out the door tonight

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) = $40

....that's it so far. Is the motherboard a little overkill? I will game heavy at times. But my wife also uses the pc heavily for photography.

What do you all recommend for GPU? I have a HD4850 (I know it's not the best, but good enough for now, until BF3 comes) and will probably wait for more deals around black friday.

What power do you all recommend?

What case?

What about cooling?

What hard drive? No SSD, still want to stick with normal hard drives for now...my wife is a photographer and eats storage up like nobody could believe...about 40 GB per photoshoot.


Any advice will be greatly appreciated!

 

[genghiskron]

is this $850 including the parts you have already purchased? it would be best if you could fill out the form linked in my signature, and edit your original post.

 

[Lawdaddy]

Approximate Purchase Date: Sometime in the next month or two

Budget Range: 850 After Rebates

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Heavy photo editing, gaming, surfing the internet.

Parts Not Required: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, OS.

Parts already purchased:

i7 2600k + ASUS P8Z68-V PRO LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS = $404 out the door tonight

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) = $40

Remaining funds: ~400

Remaining necessary components: hard drive, cd/dvd burner, case, power, fans, GPU optional at this point (may continue to use HD 4850 for a few more months until I find better deals)

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: any...probably newegg

Country of Origin: usa

Parts Preferences: not sure on any specific brands

Overclocking: Yes

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe

Monitor Resolution: 1920x1200

Additional Comments: just want a pretty quiet pc, no bling, but will also be interested in any suggestions on GPUs...hope to play BF3 on full settings in the future.

 

[jonnycatz1990]

Excellent choices. Those are usually outstanding motherboards. AMD 6950 or Nvidia 560Ti should do the job very well. WD "Black" 1 TB hard drives are hard to beat in the non-SSD end. Take a look at Antec 300 cases.. very quiet and great airflow. A good name brand 600-650W PSU is plenty for this.

 

[Lawdaddy]

Thanks for the advice...just grabbed the Antec 300 off Amazon for $45 no tax. Will be looking at WD Black drive as well.

 

[genghiskron]

you could potentially wait for the hd7xxx series of cards, since you already have one. the 78xx series is scheduled for q4 this year and the 79xx series for q1 next year.
the game should run bf3 well with a single gtx 560 ti/hd6950, but i wouldnt expect max settings. it will still look great though - it looks great on an xbox, a far weaker system.
the samsung spinpoint f3 1tb is also an excellent hard drive. in terms of power supply, its hard to recommend one without knowing what graphics cards you will be using. for dual hd6950s or 560 ti's, a 750w psu will do (500w is fine for single).
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371049
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139021
the hyper 212+ is the go-to cpu cooler because its cheap and works well for a decent overclock:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065