First ever build. Compatibility advice?

[Zoidby]

This is going to be my gaming/every day use pc. Looking mostly for compatibility advice. Anything i might be overlooking. Any and all advice and opinions welcome.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Scythe SCMG-3000 74.2 CFM CPU Cooler ($40.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Asus SABERTOOTH Z77 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($223.29 @ NCIX US)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Z Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Storage: Samsung 830 Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($229.00 @ B&H)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card ($399.99 @ Amazon)
Sound Card: HT Omega eClaro 24-bit 192 KHz Sound Card ($184.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Thermaltake VN10001W2N ATX Full Tower Case ($209.18 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: Corsair 750W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($155.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1633.42
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-08-09 14:07 EDT-0400)

Approximate Purchase Date: within a month or two, unless there's something coming up i should wait for?

Budget Range: ideally no more than $2000, but that's not set in stone.

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, web surfing, music/movies/tv

Are you buying a monitor: No

Do you need to buy OS: No. Have a win 7 upgrade copy.

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Best deal from reputable sites.

Location: Minnesota

Parts Preferences: Intel/Nvidia

Overclocking: Not now. I'ma a noob. maybe down the road.

SLI or Crossfire: See above.

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1200

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: For fun, mostly. Have a Dell XPS 630i at the moment. still goin pretty strong. wanted to do the whole SSD boot disk thing and figured it'd be easier to do in a brand new build and i've been thinkin about buildin my own for awhile.

 

[azeem40]

Looks good, but I think you can do without the expensive motherboard. Drop it down to something in the $150 range. Unless you care a lot about sound, you won't notice a difference in that card and onboard sound.

 

[Sunius]

Few points.

1. Sound card - if you want a sound card, sure, get it, but don't you think $200 is excessive? What about this one?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132013

2. That power supply is overkill. If you don't mind dropping to 80 PLUS BRONZE, I'd suggest this one, it will warrant nice compatibility with future SLI:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151108

Everything else seems decent .

 

[azeem40]

So it doesn't bother you that all the Tuff features it has are not going to make any difference in its durability or that it OCs the same as some $150 boards? You're paying for overpriced features.

 

[Zoidby]

the sound card i've been going back and forth on tbh. sound is very important to me but i'm not sure if it's $185 important. I was mostly looking at this one because it has the optical audio out which is what i have my 5.1 system coming out of currently. As far as the mobo goes, i'm pretty much set on that. the price difference doesn't bother me all that much there.

 

[Kamen_BG]

If you want a good, efficient power supply with enough for for SLI, then this is the way to go.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182264&Tpk=Rosewill%20CAPSTONE%20750

And this graphics card is also a lot better than the one you chose.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127685

 

[Zoidby]

@Sunius: What makes the Corsair overkill vs the Seasonic you posted? not arguing, i honestly have no idea. noob, remember. lol

@azeem: well idk. it's gotten very good reviews from what i've seen. the durability did attract me but you're saying that's really just marketing bs? and i kinda just liked how it looked. lol

@Kamen: i'll probly avoid the rosewill, but thx for the suggestion. and what makes the MSI 670 "a lot better" than the one i picked? the price difference isn't that huge so if it really is i might switch to that.

 

[azeem40]

Yeah, I know a few people over at OCN that have it and wished they had stuck with an ASRock Z77 Extreme4.

That was an exaggeration by Kamen. You most likely won't notice the difference.

You won't need 850W of the Seasonic PSU, so stick with the HX750.

 

[Zoidby]

Just cuz it's cheaper or did they have other issues w/ the sabertooth?

 

[dalmvern]

The sabertooth is a good board, its just overpriced for what you get. You are paying more for style than anything else, so if you like it, go for it.

Also, you mentioned the sound card attracted you because of the optical audio...that board has optical audio built in, so there is really no reason for a sound card unless you are going to be recording and producing, and even then there will be very little improvement.

 

[Sunius]

@Sunius: What makes the Corsair overkill vs the Seasonic you posted? not arguing, i honestly have no idea. noob, remember. lol

Price .

 

[Zoidby]

there is really no reason for a sound card unless you are going to be recording and producing, and even then there will be very little improvement.

sound cards just aren't as useful as they used to be, huh? modern systems can handle the sound without taking much if any hit to performance elsewhere? maybe i'll skip the card for now. add one later if i feel like it and have some extra cash to burn.

 

[Sunius]

Good choice!