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First build advice. Long lasting/open for upgrades.

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I'm building my first computer, my budget is $900, but I'm willing to push $1000 if needed. I'm also planning on taking advantage of black friday/cyber monday. Anyway. This computer is going to be used for gaming (Think: Minecraft, Battlefield 3, Left 4 Dead 2, etc), music production (Think: Ableton Live, Cubase), and video production (Think: Vegas, After Effects, 3Ds Max). I do a whole lot as you can tell.

I also want this computer to last a really long time, and for it to overall run smoothly in the time it's alive. I also want to be able to overclock it. It's probably going to be on all day, maybe even over night so I'd prefer something relatively quiet and something that can stay really cool while under my desk in a room that gets pretty warm/stuffy and gets really dusty. I also am planning on leaving room for upgrades (Another HDD, more RAM, a graphics card, liquid cooling to make OC'ing better, better/wireless mouse and keyboard, maybe even SD slots and bluetooth) and with room to add a second monitor (probably just going to re-buy the one I have listed here). So I can get a good, sort of, "base" build for now with room to spend another $200-400 in the next few months.

And, this would be my build so far (With the prices including mail-in rebate, shipping and tax, links go to where I plan on buying them from, also note that I also have Amazon Prime so that's where I'm saving some money on shipping):
  • Intel Core i7-2600K 3.4GHz Processor ($315)
  • ASRock Z68 PRO3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($114.80)
  • Antec Nine Hundred ATX Mid Tower Case ($99.99)
  • Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($139.99)
  • Kingston 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($28.61)
  • Cooler Master 650W ATX12V Power Supply ($55.43)
  • Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($26.43)
  • Asus VH236H 23.0" Monitor ($154.99)
  • Logitech Desktop MK120 Mouse and keyboard Combo ($15.00)
    Total: $950.24

    So is everything compatible with each other? Is there anything I might be overlooking or anything I might be missing to call this build complete? Advice for buying on Cyber Monday? Any advice whatsoever about it will be appreciated.

    Anyway, thanks ahead for all the help! Also, do note that I'm going to sleep right after this post so I'll respond to anything in like 8 hours. :p 

    • More about : build advice long lasting open upgrades

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    Get the AsRock z68 Extreme3 Gen3 since the Pro3 is not such a good overclocker (lacks phases).
    For gaming you won't be needing an i7, i5 2500k has plenty of horsepower and then some.
    I'd advise you to stay away from Cooler master power supplies just to be on the safe side. Corsair, Antec, Enermax, Seasonic, Lepa, Cougar and most of OCZ are all good choices.
    You will also need a cooler to overclock your processor. I support the Corsair A70.
    You might want to save some money from the case and get an antec illusion 300, thermaltake commander or CM haf 912.
    I don't see a gfx card there. See what the money we saved can buy you along the lines of hd6970 hd6950 gtx570 and gtx560ti

    Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - $50.00
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

    Intel Core i5-2500K - $215.00
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

    GIGABYTE GA-Z68A-D3H-B3 - $130.00
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

    G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 - $45.00
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

    MSI N560GTX-TI Twin Frozr II/OC GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 - $245.00
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

    Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200 RPM - $115.00
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

    COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus - $26.00
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

    LITE-ON DVD Burner - $19.00
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

    CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX650 V2 650W ATX12V v2.31/ EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified - $95.00
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - $100.00
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

    Total: $1040 (w/o taxes/shipping/MIRs)
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    ^+1
    The Z68A-D3H-B3 is 4+1+2 power phases. I seriously don't see a reason to propose anything lower than Z68XP-UD3 from the gigabyte line (speaking about Overclocking strictly), which again is too expensive. In both cases the AsRock extreme 3 gen3 is so much better in every regard including price.
    I also don't find reason enough for fancy MSI cards. The "cool and quiet" also comes at a cost of performance and i'd take performance any day. Besides if cool and quiet is an issue you are better off looking at Gigabyte's models that are unbeatable in any regard, with competitive prices to the MSI models.
    Honestly just pick the least expensive one.

    In general, your build looks good, but your gaming PC doesn't have a discrete GPU listed. Do you already have one? Also, drop down the case to get a better stuff inside it.

    At your budget, you're better off with an i5 as the performance differential between that and the listed i7 will be miniscule.

    I was going to post a build, but just noticed that Emelth's build looks pretty good. A few things though -

    If you're not thinking of SLI any time soon, drop the PSU down to the $65 SeaSonic S12II 520 Bronze 520W.

    If you do intend to SLI at a later date, get the $95 CORSAIR 750TX V2

    Thanks for the advice everyone. I'm definitely going to be looking into all that and changing a few things. But for now: About the graphics card, as I mentioned before, I'm going to buy one later. It's probably going to be my first upgrade purchase. For now I'm going to be using the intel integrated graphics from the CPU. I have the same on my laptop, and integrated graphics isn't too bad at all. I've managed to run some pretty decent games with it. I'm also planning on getting a better cooler than the one that comes with the CPU so I can overclock better. The fact is, I probably wont be overclocking until I get maybe a liquid cooler.

    Noise is fine, if it means better performance. Obviously a machine that I can hear from the other room with the door closed wouldn't be okay. I'm sure you guys get what level of noise I'm taking about. Something practical. But I'm still worried that since it's going to be under my desk in my room that gets stuffy and dusty, that I'm going to be killing my computer.

    Edit: So this is what I have so far. I actually gained $40 in the process but I took some of you guys's advice.
    Intel Core i7-2600K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor $315
    http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004EBUXSA/

    Gigabyte Intel Z68 ATX DDR3 2133 LGA 1155 Motherboard GA-Z68A-D3H-B3 $113.99
    http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00518M77U/

    Antec Nine Hundred ATX Mid Tower Case $99.99
    http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000I5JHB0/

    Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive $139.99
    http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004IZN3YI/

    Asus VH236H 23.0" Monitor $154.99
    http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002453K5G/

    Logitech Desktop MK120 Mouse and keyboard Combo $15.00
    http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003NREDC8/

    Asus OEM DRW-24B1ST $19.99
    http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0033Z2BAQ/

    Kingston HyperX 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1600 Memory $28.61
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

    CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 750W ATX12V Power Supply $102.6
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

    Total: $990.21

    I'm hoping this'll all support everything I want to upgrade it with and add onto in the future. The power supply is a lot more expensive than the one I had picked out, but I assume it's better and it's a pretty big part of the whole system.
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