Will this system work? $1400ish for gaming

[oatgirl66]

Before I buy components, I would like some feedback as to whether anything in this set won't work together since I've never compiled a computer from scratch. I might adjust the computer case or hard drive. I've checked the manufacturer motherboard requirements, and ran newegg's psu calculator. I tried to stick with things that had a good rep on newegg.

Intel Core i7-2600 3.4GHz LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory
ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 ATX Intel Motherboard
GIGABYTE Radeon HD 7970 GV-R797D5-3GD-B Video Card
Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming Computer Case
Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
SILVERSTONE Strider Essential series ST60F-ES 600W Power Supply

And one more question, are any of these pieces finicky enough that I should purchase an extended warranty?

Thanks!
Heather

 

[masseybe84]

I'll throw out a couple suggestions for you.
First cut back to the i5-2500 or 2500k if you want to overclock. Games don't use hyperthreading so the i-7 2600 is a waste of money. Save yourself the 80-90 bucks depending what you get. Newegg has a deal right now making the 2500k actually cheaper than the locked 2500.
Second cut back on the memory to 8 gigs of ripjaws [(2x4) in case you find yourself wanting more at some point which you won't if this is for gaming]. Saves 30 bucks.
Third, I'm not sure when you are purchasing this but if it you can find a GTX 680 it's a better buy if you can find a place with stock. Hopefully more start rolling out soon and the shortage will be over.
Fourth, I personally believe the Silverstone PSU's to be overpriced. The Antec Earthwatts EA650 is a better buy at 15 bucks cheaper (10 if you don't have a power cord already, it doesn't have one). It is 80 plus bronze and 50 watts more rated power. I'm currently using one of their 380 watt ones in another computer. It's a great PSU.
That nets you over a hundred bucks to either get a cheap 120 GB SSD or if you aren't comfortable with shuffling an entire steam folder around or for whatever reason aren't willing to just install steam and the games on your hard drive enough for a good cache ssd to use with your Z68 chipset.
The case is personal preference. You haven't picked a bad one but if you end up getting a cache ssd you may have some extra cash to look at some slightly pricier options. It's mostly up to whatever is aesthetically pleasing to you though so long as it's a quality i.e. not a plastic pos case.
If you are planning to overclock an aftermarket HSF is a good idea for anything but the lightest overclocks. The CM 212+ or the new evo get thrown around a lot in the forums and is perfect for a 95w CPU. I don't think The Rosewill Challenger case is wide enough for it though. I'm not a hundred percent positive but I know that the Antec 300 Illusion is just barely wide enough to fit the CM212+ and that case is a half inch wider. It's also the same price as your current case selection. You might want to check it out if you haven't looked at it yet. The illusion is the one you want, not the original. It has more fans and is cheaper on newegg.
Hope this helps, and feel free to ask if you have any questions.

 

[masseybe84]

Forgot about the warranty. If stuff isn't going to work it will most likely be before the Manufacturer's warranty is over or after any warranty has expired. I really don't think they are worth it.

 

[oatgirl66]

Thank you for all of the suggestions! I have revised my set, but haven't included a GPU. I think I'll keep an eye on the prices for a couple of months. I've also been hoping the i5/i7 set will drop a little bit with the IvyBridge release in a few days.

I'm not really looking into OC at the moment, but I took your suggestion of getting an unlocked CPU and a wider case in case I do decide to OC.
Would you recommend just running some of the software and games off of the SSD with a mirror on a partition of the slower hard drive, or should I put the OS on the SSD and some of what fits that need the faster read/write, and the rest on the slower hard drive?

Antec EarthWatts EA-650 GREEN 650W Power Supply
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor
Corsair Performance Pro Series CSSD-P128GBP-BK 2.5" MLC Internal Solid Antec Three Hundred Illusion Black Computer Case
ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 ATX Intel Motherboard
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
BYTECC Model DVI-D06 6 ft. DVI-D Dual-Link Digital Cable w/Ferrites

 

[masseybe84]

You'll definitely want to put the OS on the SSD. I run all of my non steam games on my SSD as well since I don't have many and my Steam folder is 100 GB at the moment.
Everything looks good in the build. Enjoy your new system!

 

[oatgirl66]

Best answer selected by oatgirl66.