[New Build] gaming/ workstation $2000 approx

[FlyingLentil]

Hi,

I'm looking to build a highish end gaming/workstation pc. My main uses are going to be gaming (LoL, Smite, Blacklight Retribution, Crysis 3 etc) and for my workstation purposes I will be using office, Photoshop etc. I will be watching a lot of YouTube and twitch as well.

I will be over clocking (hopefully to around 4.5ghz).
No SLI (this is really all I want to spend).
Monitor wise I am deciding between whether I want to spend a lot and get dual 27" or spend a little less and get a 27" and a 24" or go dual 24" but meh.
I live in Australia so I am limited to a number of websites with some exceptions.
My preferred websites are pccasegear.com , netplus.com.au , austin.net.au and amazon.com .
The souncard I am going to buy isn't certain yet but I will need one because I am buying some astro 50s
I already have office, a logitech G110 keyboard, a logitech G700 mouse and a razer Goliathus mouse mat.
I am upgrading from a 3 year old toshiba laptop

Here is my build so far


CPU

Intel Core i7 3770K

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=20140


PSU

Corsair GS-700 V2 Power Supply

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=20754


Port Hub

mbeat 7 Port USB 3.0 Powered Hub with Switches

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=20754


OS

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit with SP1 OEM

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=17003


Motherboard

ASUS P8Z77-V Motherboard

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=19888


RAM

Corsair Vengeance CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9B 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=17037


HDD

Western Digital WD Black 1TB WD1002FAEX

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=13660


SSD

Samsung 830 Series 128GB SSD Retail Box

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=20429


Optical Drive

LG CH12LS28 12X BD-R Blu-ray DVD Combo Drive

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=18220


Networking

TP-Link TL-WN881ND Wireless N PCI Express Adapter

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=19577


Soundcard

Auzentech X-Raider 7.1 Sound Card

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=211&products_id=12050


GPU

EVGA GeForce GTX 680 SC Signature2/Dual Fan/2048MB GDDR5 Dual Dual-Link DVI/mHDMI/DP/SLI Graphics Card (02G-P4-2687-KR)

http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-Signature2-Dual-Link-Graphics-02G-P4-2687-KR/dp/B008AFZ0VQ/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1347025202&sr=8-5&keywords=680+evga


CPU cooling

Corsair Hydro Series H80 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CWCH80)

http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Series-Performance-Liquid-CWCH80/dp/B0051U7HMI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1347025222&sr=8-1&keywords=h80


Case

Corsair Obsidian 650D Black Mid Tower Case

http://www.austin.net.au/corsair-obsidian-650d-black-mid-tower-case-wi.html



not complaining at all but that took a long time, makes me appreciate these sort of websites more

 

[Nw333]

You dont need a sound card, unless your an audiophile. The motherboard already comes with a sound card, but what you can do is test the whole thing out and see if the audio is not good enough for you, thats the time to buy a sound card.

Imho, get the H100 or dump water cooling, but thats just me.

You also may want to consider a modular PSU, more clutter-free and will give you better airflow. The TX-M series from Corsair is my recommendation.

 

[FlyingLentil]

The H100 is only $15 more expensive so yeah definitely.

Q. Does having the cooler top mounted (as it has to be with the 650D or the 800D if I decide to lash out of a nicer case) restrict air flow in any way and what is the best configuration pulling air from the case to outside or pulling air into the case from outside ( for the radiator

I really like good quality audio but I think doing what you said is the best option

what do you think of this PSU

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=15_535&products_id=19346

 

[CaedenV]

I would dump the water cooling and go with air, but if you want a water cooler and want to hit 4.5GHz then you should up the cooler to at least the H100

1TB is very small, especially if doing a lot of Photoshop. Pics don't take a lot of space on their own, but they tend to accumulate rather quickly if you are editing them all the time and have a decent camera. Plus with a 128GB SSD you will end up putting documents, music, movies, and games on the 1TB drive before long, which will eat space as well. 2TB should be enough, and getting a larger SSD will provide both more speed, and prevent you from installing games and documents on the HDD in the future.

As an audiophile, I will say 'digital is digital' and the sound card is really not needed. Just make sure you have optical or spdif output to a decent amp/receiver, and then pair it with some decent audio pre/post processing software like Creative's xFi MB2 suite which is pretty cheap but effective. Do the bulk of your audio changes on your amp as it will do a better job than the computer ever would.

For monitors; Always get matching monitors, you never know if you will want to add a 3rd for surround gaming somewhere down the line, and monitors typically last for several builds and upgrades, so even if you don't want to do it now, you may want to 5-10 years from now when even mid range GPUs can surround game without issue.

Depending on how far your PC is from the router you may want to get a wireless adapter with better antennae. Never heard of this particular brand, I would suggest ASUS if it is an option in your area, they make great wireless products and they are not expensive at all.

Rest of the build looks very sweet

 

[FlyingLentil]

I think the H 100 is a much better deal for only $15 more so yeah

I think I will get 2x 1TB and keep the same SSD
I will keep the SSD for applications/programs, os and maybe a few games with slow loading times.

I think I will stick with the onboard audio. It doesn't really seem like a big difference for me anyway.

I think I will go with dual 27" from the start and get my parents to pay for one of the monitors (I'm 15 so that's still ok)

I'm only like 6m away from the router but getting a Ethernet (or what ever it is) cable to my room is awkward

 

[FlyingLentil]

Thanks for your replies. Really appreciated and you have helped heaps!

 

[FlyingLentil]

Best answer selected by FlyingLentil.