High End Gaming

[tha1]

After celebrating my old pre-built computer's 8th birthday, I decided to finally build together my first desktop. Here are the parts I was looking at:

Power: Corsair TX950 950W
Case: NZXT Phantom 410
Motherboard: Sabertooth X79
Cooler: Zalman CNPS11x Extreme
Processor: Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB PC1600, CL9
Hard Drive: Western Digital WD6000HLHX VelociRaptor 600GB
Graphic Card: Radeon HD 7970
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124 24x DVD±RW Drive

Any feedback or comments appreciated! Otherwise I also have a few questions:

1. Will the cooler fit in the motherboard if there is memory on both sides? It seems quite large, although I saw someone install a Zalman CNPS10x Flex with memory on either side.

2. Since I don't need to write CDs i decided to go for a cheap optical drive. Is there any better one than the one I have listed above?

3. Is the power supply I choose correct? Seems like it has all the cables I need in it but in terms of Voltage and whatnot?

4. My internet router is wireless and I would therefore need a wireless adapter. Any suggestions?

Thanks for the help!

 

[nagol567]

1.a tuniqu 120 extreme would cool better and quieter
2. looks ok
3. more than enough power!

 

[azeem40]

1. I suggest the Hyper 212 EVO. It is more durable and can fit in the case and on the mobo. Idk about the Zalmon.

2. The ASUS 24x DVDRW Drive is only $20.
3. It is good and enough for future SLI/Crossfire.
4. I honestly would just use wired connection. Buy a Cat5e Cable depending on how far away your room is, even if it is on the second floor. It's pretty easy to route cable; just look for a guide on how. However, if you insist on a WiFi Card, any PCI or PCI-E one that has same speed as your router will work.

 

[tha1]

Thanks for the replies!

Hmmm... Seems like you guys don't like the cooler I chose although I heard positive things about it... but yeah it is more of a matter of space and it seems that yours would fit better inside than the one I chose.

can't get a cable since the router is below me in the garage and I'd technically have to drill a hole through the floor to get to it.

BTW, is it neccessary to get a sound card or should I just save the money for a good pair of speakers and use what I got on the mobo? Seems like people are very divided on this subject.

 

[Lokster1]

Are you just gaming? if so you are spending more money than you have to...

Are you planning on going with SLI in the future? If not that PSU is overkill, you could get away with 750W

You can drop your CPU down to a i5-2500k and 8GB of RAM instead of the 16, use this money to buy a nice SSD for boot drive or save it until ivy comes out and upgrade the cpu. Also you can get a cheaper mobo than what you have listed.

I don't know everything your using the computer for but it looks like you are wasting money when you don't need to

 

[kalpak2021]

^ I couldn't have said it better.

You're spending unnecessary money if you're just going to build a system for gaming. an i7-2600k w/ OC is more than enough for your gaming needs for the next four years. As none of the games today utilize the complete four cores on a cpu. Instead of paying almost 1200$ for a CPU, i would rather suggest you SLI a 580 or crossfire a 7970. Cuz for gaming most of the power comes in from the GPU. even if you did use multiple monitors, the 7970 crossfire would be overkill. So, my suggestion would be invest in a better GPU and cut your costs.

 

[tha1]

yeah i'm just using it for gaming. I designed the board a bit overkill since I had the money to spend but yeah wasting money on unnecessary things is silly.

yeah the power i got like that was intentionally that large since i might want to get a second 7970 for crossfire, although one is definitely enough for now....

then i might as well step down the cpu to an i7 - 2600k, however the sabertooth x79 doesn't seem compatible with it.... what would be a good alternative? something where i could install 16gb ddr3 ram and have two pcie 3.0 x 16 slots for the 7970 plus maaaaybe a wireless adaptor card? otherwise i can always get the wireless adapter in usb format...

 

[kalpak2021]

I am afraid that i dont think that the current chipsets support dual PCIe 3. Not even the z68! So i guess you'll have to wait till ivy bridge microprocessors/chipsets come out. I would recommend getting a cheap mobo for the time being and upgrading later on. That's what i would suggest. Plus, i think you would need to x-fire only if you used eyefinity. Best of luck!