Strictly gaming rig

[Hellstalker]

Background: Until two weeks ago I had LGA775 Rampage Extreme with highly OC Q6600, a heat pipe leak later and Im now buying parts again

Approximate Purchase Date: Next two weeks

Budget Range: USD 800 to 900

System Usage: Gaming, gaming and more gaming and some highly unusual video transcoding

Parts Not Required: Have keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, OS, PSU Corsair 750TX witch should still do the job, HFS Zalman CNP9700 (will reuse if possible), Creative X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro Series (reusing), D-Link Xtreme N™ PCIe Adapter (DWA-556), 4 x 1 Gb Corsair XMS DDR3 (witch I should probably sell and get Corsair Vengance 2 X 4 Gb)

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Amazon or newegg

Country: USA

Parts Preferences: i5 2500k, Asus MoBo (Preferable, not a must), Corsair Vengance 2 x 4 Gb (been told Gskill Ripjaw is the way to go but no sure), EVGA GTX-570 (not sure what the best bang-for-buck version is)

Overclocking: Off course

SLI: Maybe, 98% probabity it wont happen

Monitor Resolution: Already have a 22´Viewsonic 1920x1080,

Additional Comments: The words are STABLE OVERCLOCKING. I need a board that will OC like there is no tomorrow for years and still ask for more. My former Rampage Extreme took 4 years of 24/7 OC running a Q6600@3.4 Ghz and it would still be alive had it not been for a leaking heat pipe puking all contain on the PEM IC rendering it useless. As for the HSF solution Im not sure if my actual Zalman CNP9700 will still cut it or if I will need a new HSF.
Im torn up between Z68 and P67 and P67 seems the way gaming way to go, but "futureproofing" (if there is such thing in the world of computing) plays an important role.

Thanks for your time and fire away, Im open to all suggestions except going AMD/ATI way, Ive been down that path before with lots of regrets.

 

[Hellstalker]

60 reads and no response... Sad

Well I got the video card sorted, I will be biting the bullet and go for a Radeon 7870 Ghz Ed. since its $50 more expensive than a GTX-570 but has 2 Gb of RAM and is PCI 3.0, fingers crossed this doesn't come back and bite me in the ass as it happened with my previous ATI cards.

I still cant make up my mind whether to buy a Z68 or a P67 mobo, mostly because of 2 reasons:
1- Z77 is around the corner but there is no date set when they will be available and I cant wait till June or July.

2- I need 2 USABLE PCIE 1x slots and all, if not most Z68 boards, that do have 1 or 2 PCIEx 1x slot, have 1 of the slots located right besides the NB heatsink making it impossible to sit my X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty there and the second PCIE 1x is located right besides the PCIe 16x main slot and that slot will be rendered useless because it will be covered by the Radeon HD 7870. The only board Ive been able to find that does not have this problem is the ASRock FATAL1TY Z68 PROFESSIONAL GEN3 Intel motherboard. Ive only used ASRock once on an econo PC I built and the results where far from satisfactory (mainly because some weird problem with the USB ports sometimes being detected as USB 2.0 and on some other times as USB 1.0)

 

[mocchan]

I'm not really sure about the PCIE 1x slots on P67, but as much as I know, there's not a lot you're giving up going for P67 rather than Z68. Well other than using onboard graphics, and SRT (which is actually really nice, I admit) I'm sure you can work around that.

As for Z77...I don't know anything about the potential release or whatever, but I can relate to the feeling of being impatient (if that's what you meant saying you can't wait til June, July that is...).

 

[Tavo_Nova]

asrock z68 extreme 3 gen 3 or go with any z68 asus mobo at the price tag of 99.99$-119.99$

for gaming sandy bridge is the best bang for your buck now, as ivy has little performance boost but what I would say is that the one after ivy is much more eye catching as an upgrade time things should still be playable for an i5 2500k sandy bridge system.

well yeah it's sad as you see 30+ view and not one post but it's just that have to live with it. happened to me couple of times.

 

[mojorisin23]

I have an ASRock Extreme4 Gen3 and its great. i would def recommend a z68 mobo. it will do you well for the next couple of years for sure.

Other than that everything else looks great. i5 2500K, EVGA or MSI GTX 570 Ti, i prefer Hyper X to corsair veng, but i'm sure you'll be fine there, and the corsair 750w is a good psu and will def still do the job. you have good picks in my opinion. i suspect thats why you have 30+ views and no response. nothing much to say as the only real issue is the mobo one, which i think is a very difficult problem to solve.

 

[Hellstalker]

I had thought of HyperX but it seems the heat diffusers are far too long and would rule out a large HSF and since I will be overclocking I will need all the coolness I can.

I dont want to fork out $250 on a mobo just to see the price drop $50 because Z77 boards are out. Ive already seen some Z77 boards available on small retailers and prices are pretty much the same as Z68

 

[Hellstalker]

Best answer selected by Hellstalker.

 

[Hellstalker]

Ok... now Im really gonna jump off a bridge.
I waited about 3 weeks until the z77 MoBo where finally available and was about to bite the bullet and place my order when I find that IB CPUs will come out some time next week.
What makes me so angry is the fact that I never like to jump on first releases of anything (be it cell phones, hardware, OSes) but I really need to assemble my PC and want to take advanted of then new PCIEx 3.0 Im buying.... GAHHHHHH....!!!!

So now Im stuck between buying a mature and "problem free" i5 2500K or wait 2 more weeks and buy a potential trouble (albeit more expensive) i5 3570K just to take have PCIEx 3.0.

What do you guys think I should do?