Need Advice with 1st Build

[DarkXBlaze]

Approximate Purchase Date: Sunday before 11PM eastern time

Budget Range: 1500-1700 before Rebates

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Hardcore Gaming
Parts Not Required: keyboard, mouse, speakers, Wireless Network adapter

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: No preferred Site... if possible all on one site

Country: USA

Parts Preferences: :Intel Core i7-2600K BX80623I72600K Unlocked Processor, Water cooled, Semi-Modular Power Supply,win 7 pro, 16gb RAM (all can be debated)
and anti-static wrist band and/or small tool kit

Overclocking: Maybe

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe

Monitor Resolution: 2560 x 1600

Additional Comments:
Which is better 1 2gb Graphic card or 2 1gb ones? idk if its better to have two or one.:S
I have a crappy build on TD but over my budget feel free to comment on it.

Acer S230HL Abii 23" Class Widescreen LED Backlit Monitor

ASUS P8P67 Deluxe B3 Intel P67 Motherboard

Corsair CWCH80 Hydro H80 CPU Liquid Cooler

Corsair CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9B Vengeance Desktop Memory Kit - 16GB (4x 4GB)

EVGA 01G-P3-1460-KR GeForce GTX 560 Video Card - 1GB X2
Or. not sure which to go with
XFX Radeon HD 6870 900M 2GB GDDR5 PCIe Video Card

Intel Core i7-2600K BX80623I72600K Unlocked Processor

Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64 BIT

Sony Optiarc AD7280S-OB 24x DVDRW Drive

XFX P1850BNLG9 Pro Series XXX Edition ATX Semi-Modular

Thermaltake VN300M1W2N Chaser MK-I Full Tower Gaming Case

Western Digital WD5000AAKX Caviar Blue Hard Drive

 

[Crush3d]

Get an ASRock Z68 or and ASUS Z68 motherboard.. There are quite a few options there so pick the one that has the features/price range that you are looking for.

You likely won't need a liquid CPU cooler. A quality CPU fan, such as the Coolermaster Hyper 212 EVO, would save you some money and would be more than adequate even with a decent OC.

You don't need 16GB of memory. You can get it but 8GB (2x4GB) would be fine.. even 4GB (2x2GB) would likely do. Good choice on brand though.

You will see no additional benefits in terms of gaming performance with the i7 over the i5. Go with the i5 2500k and save yourself some cash. You can't really beat this in gaming value with what is on the market right now.

The 560 benchmarks higher than the 6870, at least according to Tom's.. as seen here.
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2012-vga-gpgpu/19-Tom-s-Hardware-Index-B-Performance,2976.html

I'd use the money saved on your CPU and CPU cooler to upgrade your GPU.. A single card would be ideal if you are willing. Possibly a GTX 560 Ti 448 core, Radeon 6950, Radeon 6970, or even the GTX 570. You can check out some of the cards even higher on that chart if you wish.

You could always pick out a SSD if you wanted to increase boot speed/load times for games that you could store on it. Check out the Samsung 830 64GB or 128GB.

Power supplies aren't exactly something I'm good at picking, so I will leave that to someone else.

In terms of where to buy - newegg.com would be your best bet.

 

[DarkXBlaze]

okay... so what is the differences between the i7 and i5 other than the price?
so one GPU would be a better bet if it was a quality band/model? what are the best brands to go with in terms of GPU?
ill proly go with 8gb then that should last for a while at least... can always up it if needed lol
and the psu is fine i guess i like the Semi-Modular. one to help with air flow

 

[Crush3d]

i7 has hyperthreading.. it does not increase gaming performance. the i5 2500k is an awesome CPU for the price.. you really can't beat it.

If you go nVidia, I prefer EVGA (though they are a bit more expensive usually).. as for Radeon.. perhaps someone better informed could help. Look around at other threads and I'm sure there is some mention of brand.

 

[Onus]

For hardcore gaming, I think it would be hard to beat a single HD7950. I believe the GTX580 has similar performance, but costs a lot more. If you are willing to play with lowered (but still very good) settings, a GTX560Ti would be a nice choice.
I agree about the i5-2500K, and not needing liquid cooling. Any 120mm direct-touch tower-style cooler will be fine. I have a Xigmatek Gaia that does well. I recommend against any product from Crappermaster, because competent technical reviews at HardwareSecrets have shown they are a dishonest company. Some of their PSUs have liar-labels, or claim protections that are missing. That may seem irrelevant to their coolers, but it indicates the company is dishonest, and IMHO not worthy of anyone's business. Fortunately, their competitors offer similar products at similar prices, so you won't take a hit in the wallet for refusing to support dishonesty.
XFX is a good PSU brand; Seasonic is their OEM. For a single GPU, you'd need no more than 650W, so you can select a less expensive model. Or, get a Seasonic X-650. It is fully modular.

 

[morgoth780]

^+1

 

[DarkXBlaze]

I haft to say myself i wasn't expecting this much help.... i really appreciate it i will post the new build shortly for you to review and comment and change things... and i cant say this enough...Thanks!

 

[azeem40]

You need two 1280x800 monitors to run 2560x1600, or one 2560x1600, which is either a 27" IPS Panel or a 30" TN Panel.

 

[DarkXBlaze]

hey is this a good board?
MSI P67A-GD53 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
i was just flipping through and saw it dont know if its okay or not

 

[DarkXBlaze]

You need two 1280x800 monitors to run 2560x1600, or one 2560x1600, which is either a 27" IPS Panel or a 30" TN Panel.

i have a 2nd

 

[azeem40]

A second monitor at what resolution? If 2560x1600, why did you link a 1920x1080 monitor?

 

[Onus]

You would need FOUR 1280x800 monitors to get 2560x1600, not two. Two only doubles one dimension, not both.