1st forum ? eva.So I'll apologize now. Newb Build Advice?

narrowback44

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Dec 27, 2011
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Starting a new build, first time ever. Been doing a good bit of research, but I'm still confused.

First I live in Korea and use my computer for all media and I'm going to switch my gaming too. I take a lot of photos, stream TV, video blog etc. I will also be doing some OC. Price isn't a major concern but I don't want to get divorced again either.

I just received the ASRock z68 Extr7 MoBo, Geil 16gb DDR3 Ram(2x*8), Intel 320 SSD 120gb and a Zalman Z9 Case.

I'm looking at getting an i7 2700k.
Should I go lower and cheaper now and wait Ivy Bridge?
Or will it make that much of a difference? Or say between 2700k and 2500k?
In Korea the prices are a bit inflated, so what is a good international retailer/supplier?
Is it safe to get a chip from Ebay?

Cooler air vs. water?


PSU? I would prefer one with an external voltage switch and that appears to be Thermaltake?
If I get something(corsair) else in Korea, sent from Korea would I still need a converter?
Modular or traditional?

Secondary memory?
I am coincidentally going to Thailand on the 6th for holiday? anybody know where/ if to get SSD or HDD?

GPU: I have a Radeon Sapphire 6850 is it ok to crossfire it with another one or just go out and get a better one? I know the answer to this question.

Are there any good guides that someone could recommend for the actual building itself?

Thanks for your advice
Newb
 
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majorgibly

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Jan 17, 2011
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Get the 2600k and overclock it to 4.2 it can go much higher but you won't need more power. As for the Sapphire 6850 on is enough to play games on decent settings. Throwing another may cause problems such as microstuttering however not sure if that applies to all card. Therefore one card should be enough. If you want more power from your video card then purchase another card. A GTX 570 will be a good purchase.

Make sure you have a decent power supply also. Horror stories occur when people buy cheap PSU's which can't deliver clean power to the system. Therefore purchase a good brand for example Corsair. Or if you want to go slightly cheaper then get an OCZ PSU.

As for water cooling, I'm not fond of the closed kits since they don't really keep the CPU Temperature down that much and can be loud when hitting 100% Fan speed. If you going to go with a low end what I would consider proper watercooling that you have barbs and waterblocks then buy a Noctua NH D14 which is an air cooler which has the same performance and low end watercooling units.
 
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