Could you please review my build ($1700)

[plasticslug]

I am putting the finishing touches on my 1700 dollar build and was hoping for some last minute suggestions, but I still have a few lingering questions.

1. Will this build be a gaming beast?
2. Where Can I shave off some additional savings?
3. Did I make the right choice by going with the Z68 over a P67?

4. Is it foolish to make this purchase right before Radeon Releases it new 7000 series cards? Are these cards going to have substantial advantages over my GTX 580?

5. Should I wait for the next chip sets?


**CPU $219.99 - Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 BX80623I52500K

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16819115072

***Mobo $189.99 - ASUS P8Z68-V/GEN3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16813131792


***GFX Card $599.99 - EVGA 03G-P3-1588-AR GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) Classified 3072MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16814130732

***Memory $46.99 - CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16820233144

***Case $134.99 - IN WIN Dragon Rider Black 1.0 - 0.8mm SECC Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16811108376

***HDD $129.99 - Western Digital Caviar Black WD5002AALX 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16822136795

***PSU - $129.99 - CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX850 V2 850W ATX12V v2.31/ EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC High Performance Power Supply

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16817139022

*** SSD - $196.99 Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16820148442

I know I still need an optical drive.
Total - $1,667.92

 

[sod16]

HD 7970 is out in 3 weeks so waste of money.

Get an i7 with the money you save from buying a 7970 which will be MUCH better then the 580.

If not get 2x 6950's or 2x 7950's as it should come to the price of one 580.

 

[sod16]

+ definitely try stay away from impeller fans, they die quick.

 

[steelhero]

You don't need a i7 for gaming the i5 the great only get the i7 if you need to do rendering

 

[plasticslug]

HD 7970 is out in 3 weeks so waste of money.

Get an i7 with the money you save from buying a 7970 which will be MUCH better then the 580.

If not get 2x 6950's or 2x 7950's as it should come to the price of one 580.

I have been reading about the new 7000 series graphics cards, but I am having trouble understanding how much more powerful they would be when compared the the 580?

 

[plasticslug]

+ definitely try stay away from impeller fans, they die quick.

Could you explain what you mean by this, are you referring to the fans on the tower, or on my gfx card?

 

[blazorthon]

I have been reading about the new 7000 series graphics cards, but I am having trouble understanding how much more powerful they would be when compared the the 580?

http://news.softpedia.com/news/AMD-Radeon-HD-7970-Could-Be-Up-to-60-Faster-than-Nvidia-s-GTX-580-241581.shtml

The 7970 is supposed to be comparable to the GTX 590 and Radeon 6990. You should only need to wait a few more days to find out if the 7970 will live up to the hype. I think it will but don't guarantee it yet, remember how fast bulldozer was supposed to be. If you look in the benchmark picture on the page you would notice that for most of the games the 7970 was at or above 50% faster than the GTX 580 but like the article warns AMD may have inflated these numbers.

More info on Softpedia about AMD's 7000 line up including the 7900 cards:

http://news.softpedia.com/dyn-search.php?search_term=AMD+7970&x=0&y=0

 

[sod16]

If there is one thing AMD are good at is graphic cards.
Impeller fans are the fans on that graphic card like a cylinder. They are OK, tend to be loud and my gcard died due to dust build up.


HD7970's are definitely worth the wait. if 7950's are $300 a peace buy two of them and you'l be good for years.
i5 IS good for gaming but future proof with i7.

I made the good choice of going for a q6600 when the Duo's where "better for gaming".

 

[blazorthon]

If there is one thing AMD are good at is graphic cards.
Impeller fans are the fans on that graphic card like a cylinder. They are OK, tend to be loud and my gcard died due to dust build up.


HD7970's are definitely worth the wait. if 7950's are $300 a peace buy two of them and you'l be good for years.
i5 IS good for gaming but future proof with i7.

I made the good choice of going for a q6600 when the Duo's where "better for gaming".

My reasoning against getting the i7 for future-proofing is that Ivy-Bridge comes out next year and will have significant improvements in performance per watt and considerable performance improvements supposedly without increasing cost.

Ivy-Bridge is supposed to max out at 77w TDPs (compare to SB's maximum 95w TDPs) yet out-perform similar Sandy-bridge CPUs by 10-15%, possibly leaving extra room for overclocking.

 

[plasticslug]

So at this point it sounds like waiting will be my best option? Atleast till we see how the latest 7000 series plays out...

If thats the case, and lets say the 580 selected still looks like the better option, is it overall a good card besides having the impeller fans?

 

[blazorthon]

The 580 is (until the 7970 comes out in a few days) the fastest single GPU video card on the market. No other single GPU video card comes close to it. However, for it's price you can grab two Radeon 6950s or two Radeon 6970s, crossfire them and have a much faster setup.

Technically two Radeon 6870s together are faster than a single GTX 580 but there are problems (micro-stuttering) with crossfire at high settings with anything that isn't a 6900 series right now.

The 580 is great but for it's price it is lackluster compared to other offerings that would have much better performance.