Help with new, high end build please!

[mike88931]

Hey guys! So it is my first time building a P.C. and i want to really go all out as it is something I seem to have quite a liking for. I want to get the absolutest BEST gaming/partial music entertainment system possible for my $4000 budget (this is going to be quite an investment for me). Basically I was just wondering if you experts could all let me know if any of my parts are incompatible and give me advice on how to make it better while sill maintaining the same relative price (if that is possible). Thanks in advance

Case: HAF X Blu Edition ($185) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119239
RAM: 16gb Corsair Vengeance ($86) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233143
SSD: Samsung 128gb ($100) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147163
HDD: Barracuda 3tb 7200rpm ($150) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148844
PSU: CoolMax 1200w Modular ($160) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817159123
O.D. Standard DVD reader/writer ($18) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106289
O.S.: Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit($90) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986
Monitor: Benq XL2420T 120hz 3d monitor ($390) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824014270
Motherboard: ASUS P9X79 PRO ($320) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131800
Mouse: Logitech G600 ($70) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826104674
Keyboard: Osmium backlit mechanical ($130) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823334013&Tpk=osmium
CPU: i7 3770k ($330) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116502
GPU: 2 X Sli GTX 680 FTW 4g edition ($1260) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130794
Heatsink: H100 ($115) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181017
Speakers: Corsair SP2500 ($200) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16836852001&Tpk=sp2500
Sound Card: ASUS Xonar Essence STX ($200) http://www.amazon.com/Xonar-Essence-24-bit-192KHz-Interface/dp/B002UVME88/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1349126582&sr=1-2&keywords=xonar+stx
Headphones: Asto A50's ($300) http://www.astrogaming.com/a50/a50-wireless-system
Additional Accessories: Nvidia 3d vision 2 kit ($130) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814998061

TOTAL PRICE = $4119

P.S. I am quite reluctant even after deciding on the astro A50's because they are so expensive if any headphone specialists are abl to advise similar or better quality headphones for cheaper PLEASE let me know!

Once again thank you for anyone who takes time out of their day to help me.

 

[simon12]

You don't need 4Gb cards for a 1920 x 1080 monitor and could use just 1 2Gb and see if you think you need another.

 

[esrever]

If you are spending $4000, you might as well but the i7 3930x.

Also the motherboard you have doesn't work with the 3770k but will work with the 3930x.

you should consider a better power supply like the corsair HX850 or something.

The 2x 680s are overpriced, you can make do with 670s if you want to be budget conscious.

 

[mike88931]

How do i tell whether mobos work with certain cpu's? All it says on newegg is that the mobo is x79 chipset and supports i7.

 

[mike88931]

And P.S. 4gb is a must for me as i will be instituting EXTREMELY high resolution mods to EVERY texture in skyrim (i'm talking 2k is the MINIMUM for each object) and it will be good for future games as 2gb is already overpassed by several games i enjoy playing.

 

[pauls3743]

Hokay the i7-3770 is lga1155, this won't work with the LGA2011 P9X79 Pro.
Suggestion - downgrade to the i5-3570K and get a Z77 motherboard. Only idiots with money to burn and people who video edit need the power of an i7-3930K.

Graphics card - a GTX670 should be more than powerful enough unless you're gaming with multiple monitors.

Power supply - dial it back to a 800-900W supply, at least then you'll still have more than enough headroom for a second graphics card and overclocking.

Sound card - ditch it, unless you're an audiophile you won't benefit from it. The on-board sound card these days are excellent.

Speakers - 232RMS, really? My Rotel amp is 40W RMS and it rocks.

Headset - go out and try a few sets. The best thing you can do is to get them on your head and listen to them. $300 is an awful lot of money to drop on a headset if you don't know if you're going to like them or not. My Razor Carcharius cost me £60 3.1/2 years ago, excellent sound quality, they're not 5.1 though.

The reality is this, the headset, keyboard and mouse are the items with which you'll interact most with your computer. They've got to be right as early as possible because you could be with them a long time, otherwise you've wasted your money. Go out to a shop that sells them, try out a few sets, see which one you like best. It won't always be the most expensive.

 

[RedPringles]

Im no expert, but even though my budget was half of that, I now have a siiiick gaming machine.
You can tell whether the CPU will be compatible with certain mother boards buy finding out the socket numbers,

The processor you mentioned is really xpensive, I was about to buy this processor but realised the i5 3750k is more than sufficient for extreme gaming.

I suggest you invest in a bigger SSD like 240gb since you have the money for one.

You dont need 16gb RAM go for 8gb and save a bit more.

PSU quality is very important and some of the best PSU manufacturers are corsair and seasonic.

The only thing I would say is DONT ditch that sound card because those sp2500s are such high quality speakers, that you might aswelll compliment them with a good sound card that you can fully appreciate them with.

 

[mike88931]

AGH now cannot decide to get the sound card or not =(

 

[esrever]

realistically you should be able to do with a much cheaper system with 90% of the performance of this one for $2000. Its up to you if you want to spend that much.

 

[mike88931]

Please give me examples of how I could save so much money while maintaining such high performance as I find it very hard to believe. I am not trying to be snobby and I would greatly appreciate the information if you would so kindly offer it though =)

 

[cjl]

At that resolution, there's no reason to get a pair of 4GB 680s - you'd be more than fine with a single, ordinary, non-FTW edition 680. That right there will save you a pretty substantial chunk of change. You also need a motherboard with the same socket as your CPU - you have an LGA2011 board, but an LGA1155 CPU. LGA1155 boards are usually substantially cheaper than 2011, so that should save you a bit as well. For just gaming, there's also not any good reason to get 16GB of RAM, although that 16GB kit is cheap enough that you might as well. Finally, onboard sound is good enough with those speakers - a sound card is completely unnecessary. IMHO, a sound card is only worth it if you plan on outputting the sound to something like a nice home theater or hifi setup, since computer speakers aren't good enough for you to notice the difference (and to be completely honest, I'm not convinced there's enough of a difference to notice even with really, really nice speakers).

 

[esrever]

Please give me examples of how I could save so much money while maintaining such high performance as I find it very hard to believe. I am not trying to be snobby and I would greatly appreciate the information if you would so kindly offer it though =)

Switch the i7 for an i5 and pair it with a compatible motherboard, change the dual 4gb 680 for 2 normal 670s or 660s. There is no need for a sound card and you can also lower the quality of every other part, you have almost all top of the line parts and those usually have a huge price premium.

i5 3570k- 230
mobo - 150
ram -80
hdd- 100
ssd- 100
2x gtx660- 500
psu - 120
case - 120
dvd -20
heatsink - 80
total : $1500

you can spend 400 on the monitor and come to less than $2000, the rest of the accessories will cost less than 500. the total will be about $2500 and you will be sitting pretty with great performance, if you want to spend more, its worth it to buy 2 670s instead will will only be $200 more. Personally I think the 3D stuff isn't worth the money but its your computer.