Advice on Gaming Build ($1300 budget)

[cryptologix]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for advice and comments on my gaming build. I'm holding off on an SSD for now and I plan on going SLI with another GTX 570 in the future. So far I have:

Case: Coolermaster HAF-X RC-942
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119225

PSU: Corsair Professional Series HX850
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139011

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500k
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072

Heatsink: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

MOBO: ASRock P67 Extreme4 Gen3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157265

Memory: GSKILL Sniper Low Voltage 8GB (2x4) DDR3 1600
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231461

GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130593

HDD: Samsung Spinpoint 1TB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

ODD: Lite-on 18x DVD/48x CD SATA
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106276

These items total ~$1300

Any and all advice is greatly appreciated!

 

[bavman]

Have you considered a smaller case like the HAF 922 or the 932? The HAF X is massive to say the least, and the "smaller" versions, which are still pretty big, will provide you with adequate air circulation. Beautiful build otherwise.

 

[danraies]

That's a great build, but I would go with a cheaper case like bavman mentioned. There are choices in the $100 range that will still give you plenty of airflow. At around $150 I also like the Silverstone Raven.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163180

If you save $100 on your case and $70 by getting a 500GB HDD you could add an SSD now or upgrade to a GTX580.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145299

 

[inzone]

ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
$124.99 and a $10 rebate makes it $114.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157271

This motherboard is the Z68 chipset and is a few dollars cheaper than the P67 that you listed. Why did you choose a P67 chipset , the Z68 is newer and IMO better . All of your other choices are great choices and you will have a great Pc once you get it built. Like the others say the Half-X is a big case and it does have a lot of room inside and behind the MB for running cables. I have the Half-X and while it is big I like it a lot , it has a lot of nice features that other cases don't have and has huge cooling fans and places for more.

 

[bavman]

I completely overlooked the mobo..but like inzone said might as well get the z68 since it does everything p67 does and more.

 

[danraies]

ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
$124.99 and a $10 rebate makes it $114.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157271

This motherboard is the Z68 chipset and is a few dollars cheaper than the P67 that you listed. Why did you choose a P67 chipset , the Z68 is newer and IMO better . All of your other choices are great choices and you will have a great Pc once you get it built. Like the others say the Half-X is a big case and it does have a lot of room inside and behind the MB for running cables. I have the Half-X and while it is big I like it a lot , it has a lot of nice features that other cases don't have and has huge cooling fans and places for more.

Does the HAF-X use motherboard headers or pass-through cables for its front-panel USB 3.0? I thought it was a header but I can't tell from the pictures on newegg. If it is a header then you don't want the ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 because it doesn't have a USB 3.0 header (I assumed that was the reason for choosing an Extreme4 board).

Basically, the Extreme4 boards have some extra bells and whistles like a USB 3.0 header and some extra ports in the cluster. If you don't need those extras then you should go with the Z68 Extreme3 like others have mentioned. If you need the extras then you want the Extreme4 boards and the P67 version is non-negligibly cheaper than the Z68 version. Z68 has more to it than P67, but doesn't really have anything that a gaming build would need. P67 is a great way to save some cash.

 

[cryptologix]

ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
$124.99 and a $10 rebate makes it $114.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157271

This motherboard is the Z68 chipset and is a few dollars cheaper than the P67 that you listed. Why did you choose a P67 chipset , the Z68 is newer and IMO better .

I was under the impression that the z68 chipset is only more useful because it has Intel Smart Response technology which allows SSD caching. Is there any other advantages to having a z68 over a p67? I'll only be using this computer for gaming. I'm not trying to gimp on the mobo...I'm just not sure which one best suits my needs and it's hard to find a 'proven' mobo based on the reviews I read on newegg.

 

[danraies]

Besides SSD caching, Z68 also adds onboard graphics. It's a nice backup but not that big of an upgrade for a gamer with a discrete card. The most important thing you want in a motherboard is x8/x8 mode for your PCIe slots. ASRock, Gigabyte, and ASUS motherboards tend to get the most press in Tom's forums.

 

[bavman]

Z68 can use onboard graphics to accelerate media encoding if your doing any video editing or something like that.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Ya van knock off $40 w/ either the Antec 1200 V3 or the DF-85 .....And another $35 with the CP-850. That's $75 total with no drop in quality....in fact having built w/ both, at the same price, I'd choose the Antec combo. Another fine Option is the Corsair 500R

For $16 extra, I'd grab the 212's bigger bruddah ... it's good for an extra 5-7C of cooling over the 212
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=797&Itemid=62&limit=1&limitstart=4
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103103

Personally not fan of MoBo manufacturers (well there's only one) who don't offer industry standard 3 year warranty,

As for the Z68 being better than P67 ..... I don't see how 95% of this audience benefits from Z68

http://www.ukgamingcomputers.co.uk/difference-between-h67-p67-z68-and-h61-chipsets-a-22.html

Launched 5 months after the P67 and H67 chipset the Z68 chipset combines the advantages of the H67 and P67 Chipset so that overclocking, dual dedicated graphics cards and use of the integrated CPU graphics is available. Whilst on the surface it would seem that this would be the chipset to go for, how many users that have 2 dedicated graphics cards will actually want to use the onboard graphics when they already have 2 more powerful graphics cards in their system anyway?

The only real advantage is for users that wish to access the HD graphics features such as quick sync, but considering it’s only supported by very few transcoding programs and there are not many people out there that need or will want to transcode, it makes it almost pointless to choose Z68 over a P67 chipset.

Same applies to users that want to overclock the CPU but use the onboard graphics card; it’s a very limited market.

Finally, another feature of a Z68 chipset is known as SSD caching which is where it allows the use of a small (say 10 or 20 GB) Solid state hard drive to act as a cache for a larger ‘traditional’ hard disk. If you are already planning the use of a Solid State drive this feature is redundant.

If you can’t afford a decent size SSD (40GB+) then there are more cost effective ways around using a small SSD and SSD cashing like spending less on a motherboard, (H67 chipset or even a P67 chipset) and putting the saved money into a decent size SSD.

 

[madchemist83]

Check out fractal design define r3. Very nice case.
I would go with a better cooler. Agree on mobo. No point getting z68 over p67. Also go with Asus or Gigabyte

 

[danraies]

Check out fractal design define r3. Very nice case.
I would go with a better cooler. Agree on mobo. No point getting z68 over p67. Also go with Asus or Gigabyte

Here's a link:
http://www.fractal-design.com/?view=product&category=2&prod=71
The Define r3 and Define xl are good cases.