$1300-$1500 New PC Build Advice Needed-($25 BONUS INSIDE)

[gto]

Ok Guys I am going straight to the point,I decided to make this a Contest. I am giving a $25 bonus to the one that gives me a detailed expert advice and suggestion about the system I am building.
The bonus will be sent by Paypal to him that gives me the Best Detailed Advice and Help for this System Build.
This is my first System Build so I need some help on this one so I don't make any mistake and purchase the wrong parts that are not compatible with each other. This would be a total waste of money.


Rules to win the contest:

1) The contest is valid till May 1st
2) I need an expert advice if the parts I have chosen are compatible with each other.
3) I also need advice based on your experience if I can replace the parts I have chosen with compatible ones for better performance without increasing the price, decreasing reliability and maybe to lower the cost of this system.
4) The part replacements should be based on the reasons I have chosen them described below each part.
5) Any additional part suggestion that I have not included in this list is appreciated.
6) Only Detailed Expert Advises for Each Part accepted



Approximate Purchase Date: (May 2012)

Budget Range: ($1200-$1500) Before Rebates

System Usage from Most to Least Important: ( very heavy internet browsing including some automatic softwares, photo editing,big excel files, minor video editing, multitasking,AutoCAD,online HD Video playing,some gaming)

Parts Not Required: (keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, OS, dvd reader/writer)

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: (newegg.com)

Country: (the parts will be purchased in US and will be shipped to Albania)

Parts Preferences: (I would like to use an Intel CPU & Asus mobo with a 22" LCD and mid tower case, Evga graphic Card)

Overclocking: Maybe in the Future

SLI or Crossfire: No

Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080

Additional Comments: (I need this pc to be a little future proof to have usb 3.0 etc, I need it to be very silent and not consume much power also it should have a good speed at opening applications and multitasking)

I have chosen my parts based on the System Builder Marathon, Sept. 2011: $2000 Performance PC with some changes based on the price and Newegg customer ratings.

Here are the parts I have researched and I am planning to purchase.
Wishlist
http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=16847951

Parts listed one by one and the reason I chose them.

SeaSonic X Series X650 Gold

Chose SeaSonic X Series X650 cause I think it has enough watts for my system, its high power efficiency, and it may allow me to add more ram and hard drives in the future.If you have any other cheaper option please suggest it.

EVGA SuperClocked 012-P3-1572-AR GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express

Chose this Graphic Card based on the price and customer ratings, any other suggestion for a better price with the same performance will come in handy

Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s

Chose this HD for the 1TB memory,SATA 6.0Gb/s speed price and customer ratings

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)

Chose this Ram based on 1600 frequency, Cas Latency,customer rating, If I need more ram for the System Usage stated above please tell me.

ASUS P8P67 DELUXE (REV 3.0) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX

Chose this Mobo based on the upgradability customer rating and price

Kingston HyperX SH100S3B/120G 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal (SSD)

chose this ssd based on the performance and Kingston reliability and customer ratings, if you think I can replace it with a cheaper ssd with nearly the same reliability please suggest

Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer

chose this case based on its quietness, usb 3.0, and customer ratings, any smaller case with the same features that will fit my parts would be great for shipping from US to Albania

COOLER MASTER Hyper 212

chosen based on customer ratings

Intel Core i7-2700K Sandy Bridge 3.5GHz (3.9GHz Turbo)

chose based on the System Builder Marathon, Sept. 2011: $2000 Performance PC thread, if you think that the core-i7 2600k is almost the same as this I could switch to that to save some money

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound


Note: If you need any other detail that I have not included here please don't hesitate to ask.

 

[g-unit1111]

Chose this Ram based on 1600 frequency, Cas Latency,customer rating, If I need more ram for the System Usage stated above please tell me.

\

Do *NOT*, repeat do *NOT* use Newegg as your only source for product reviews!!! Half the people who give a product a negative review are usually complaining about customer service and product reviews, are usually complaining about bad refunds or mishaps with UPS. You want to use a variety of sources and magazines to get product reviews, don't rely on just one.

 

[dpmcbrde]

I can't offer much help right now, as I am time-constrained. However, I can comment that the build looks solid. PSU is great if you're not going to run multiple GPUs. Save your money and get the 2600k. That 100MHz won't make a difference, and they'll both overclock the same. That's a good CPU cooler too. It shouldn't have any problems fitting over your RAM, but I'd get a second opinion to be safe.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Cooling

1. Read the AS5 home page about the curing issue......200 hours of curing time ????

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=138&Itemid=47&limit=1&limitstart=5

After this article was first published, there was an immediate backlash from some of the manufacturers listed in this review. The primary argument was the lack of cure time. Here is the Arctic Silver 5 recommended cure time instruction from the manufacturers web site:

Due to the unique shape and sizes of the particles in Arctic Silver 5's conductive matrix, it will take a up to 200 hours and several thermal cycles to achieve maximum particle to particle thermal conduction and for the heatsink to CPU interface to reach maximum conductivity. (This period will be longer in a system without a fan on the heatsink or with a low speed fan on the heatsink.) On systems measuring actual internal core temperatures via the CPU's internal diode, the measured temperature will often drop 2C to 5C over this "break-in" period. This break-in will occur during the normal use of the computer as long as the computer is turned off from time to time and the interface is allowed to cool to room temperature. Once the break-in is complete, the computer can be left on if desired.

So by my estimation of this statement it would take almost a year of normal use to properly cure the AC5 compound, or almost nine days of continuous power cycles to meet their recommendation. Benchmark Reviews feels that this is a characteristically unreasonable requirement for any TIM product, and we do not support it. We want products that perform without the burden of sacrifice on our time, especially with some many competing products offering performance without this extra requirement.

Shin Etsu has identical thermal performance....no curing issues and a fraction of the price.

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=150&Itemid=62&limit=1&limitstart=12

Arctic Silver 5 Polysynthetic Thermal Compound (4) Polysynthetic Silver Low / Thin 37.55°C A+
Shin-Etsu MicroSi G751 (0) Aluminum Oxide Moderate 37.55°C A+

2. Hyper 212 is the best $25 cooler there is and I often use it in systems < $1200. But at $1500, ya wanna take a step up. The Hyper 212's bug brother is the Hyper 612 PWM and frankly it kicks butt on some very expensive coolers, coming within a half degree of perennial champs like the Phanteks and Silver Arrow. The 212 is good for 4.4-4.5 Ghz....the 612 will take ya to 4.6 - 4.7 Ghz. The Scythe Mugen 3 has similar performance.....I usually buy what's cheaper of the two on buy do for builds in this budget range.

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=797&Itemid=62&limit=1&limitstart=4

 

[hellfire24]

i am no gonna take your reward even if you select me LOL!
you made some great choices but i would suggest the following changes-
1-the power supply is great but way overpriced.i would suggest this one-
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151095
it's cheaper and enough to power a single gpu setup.
2-680 is out,i would suggest waiting for 660 or 670.
3-z68 and z77 are newer and better platforms.asus z77-V is a great choice-
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131820
4-that ssd is good but samsung 830 is one of the best SSDs out there.it's cheaper too -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147163
5-ivy bridge is due on 29th april,they are not a big jump over SB but they will run cooler and will overclock better.wait if you can otherwise go with 2600k.2700k isn't worth the extra money.
6-cooler master stock thermal paste is good enough.

 

[Rockdpm]

Yes Everything is compatible, If You decide to get ivy bridge. you will need to use your Sandy Bridge Base Processor and update the BIOS to the latest one to enable Ivy Bridge compatibility. Your case does not have USB 3.0 it only has two USB 2.0's a eSata and mic and Headphone jack. So my advice would be to choose a different case. If you want a case that had USB 3.0, has a side window and is still a mid tower. You may be interested in one of the Corsair models. But i prefer cooler Master because or their Sturdy design and overall clean build.

Your Motherboard should support two way SLI with the GTX 570 if you choose so... But your Chipset is a bit out of touch. Z68 or Z77 boards are out now and would enable you to go farther. As for your graphics card.... I would stick with a 570 now and either get a second card later... or just get one of the new Upcoming GTX 600 cards and SLI them...

RAM: Compatible, 8GB will be plenty since Windows 7 64 bit should only use no more than 2-3 GB idle and when gaming shouldn't go past 5.


Power supply is a bit weak if you plan to get a second GTX 570, So don't get a second GTX 570 until you have atleast a 850 watt power supply. But 650 watt is plenty for just one. Also i would try getting a different brand PSU. Preferably Corsair, Cooler Master, or other higher rated.

Your Processor will be plenty for anything on the road ahead. From Video rendering to gaming you should be safe for the next 2-3 years without buying a Ivy Bridge CPU. Or buy Ivy bridge CPU now and upgrade later... Your Choice.

I noticed you have two things Missing in this build....
Windows 7 64 bit:
You can either bull the full version of Home Premium which enables you to change your motherboard and entire system (Not counting Hard Drive) without having to re-install windows.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116716

Or you can get the Cheaper way out, Buying OEM and when your Motherboard or if it ever dies, the License to windows goes with it, thus having you to buy a new copy, but for what you can buy 1 full version, you can get 2 oems....
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986

The reason i chose Home Premium is because its all you need, Unless your a Business owner (Professional edition) or need all the languages and more UI (Ultimate edition) then Home premium will work just fine.

You also Lack the Optical drive but since you claim to have one.... Ill leave explaining that out.. But one last thing, Before you buy that Seagate 1tb, consider the 130$ Western Digital bare drive from Newegg

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533

 

[JackNaylorPE]

MoBo / CPU:.

I'd be the last to argue that the P8P67 is a dead platform. Frankly I don't see Z68 as offering anything over P67 as is well described here:

http://www.ukgamingcomputers.co.uk/difference-between-h67-p67-z68-and-h61-chipsets-a-22.html

However, z&& is intriguing....not that I expect the advertised performance gains but it will save power.....and saving power generally means better OC's and lower temps which is a good thing. If ya stay with P8P67, get the combo with the 2700k and save $20 ... and yes by all means get the 2700k over the 2600k which to my mind has no place thee days and the 2500k w/ no HT .... the HT will come in handy for several of your stated uses.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.875500

Alternately, here's an outstanding Z77 board ( See HardOCP review) with a 5 year warranty that is also combo'd with the 2700k

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.901661
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/04/20/asus_sabertooth_z77_lga_1155_motherboard_review

The $555 combo price is just $5 more than as you originally selected them. However, the Ivy Bridge i7-3770k is about to break in a few days and reportedly will be the same price as the 2700k. I'd wait and see how the 3770k compared with the 2700k.

 

[g-unit1111]

you made some great choices but i would suggest the following changes-
1-the power supply is great but way overpriced.i would suggest this one-
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151095
it's cheaper and enough to power a single gpu setup.
2-680 is out,i would suggest waiting for 660 or 670.
3-z68 and z77 are newer and better platforms.asus z77-V is a great choice-
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131820
4-that ssd is good but samsung 830 is one of the best SSDs out there.it's cheaper too -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147163
5-ivy bridge is due on 29th april,they are not a big jump over SB but they will run cooler and will overclock better.wait if you can otherwise go with 2600k.2700k isn't worth the extra money.
6-cooler master stock thermal paste is good enough.

I agree - I'd suggest a Radeon 7950 as well - it's way newer and far more energy efficient than the 570 is:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102963

I'd also suggest a different case - the Antec 900 has terrible cable management: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139009

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Graphics

The 570 is a very hard board for me to recommend, especially the EVGA ones) tho initially I assumed it would be my mot frequently purchased board. Of all the nVidia 5xx series board, the 570 had the weakest PCB .... many early adopters fried their boards when overclocking them as evidenced by the link below. Once word got out, peeps tended to be more careful both in what they were doing and what board they purchased. The problem is that the voltage regulation module was the weakest link", when peeps added voltage, tho the GPU could handle it, the VRM couldn't. If ya get a 570, make sure it has at least 8 phases, not the 6 phase designs offered by EVGA on most of their models.

http://www.overclock.net/t/929152/have-you-killed-a-570-no-recent-deaths-buy-some-570s/550

Here's how the nVidia last gen cards stack up against one another. Guru3D uses the following games in their test suite, COD-MW, Bad Company 2, Dirt 2, Far Cry 2, Metro 2033, Dawn of Discovery, Crysis Warhead. Total fps (summing fps in each game @ 1920 x 1200) for the various options in parenthesis (single card / SL or CF) are tabulated below along with their cost in dollars per frame single card - CF or SLI:

$ 200.00 560 Ti (455/792) $ 0.44 - $ 0.51
$ 210.00 560 Ti - 900 Mhz (495/862) $ 0.42 - $ 0.49
$ 270.00 560-448 (501/835) $ 0.54 - $ 0.65
$ 310.00 570 (524/873) $ 0.59 - $ 0.71
$ 450.00 580 (616/953) $ 0.73 - $ 0.94

Ya spending $310 on a card that doesn't have a very attractive cost per frame. The standout above from a cost per frame standpoint is obviously the one that costs ya $0.42 per frame. Two of them costs ya only $0.49 per frame which is still substantially lower than the single 57's numbers. It will also give ya an extra 60% performance ..... downside is it will cost ya an extra $110.

The 560 Ti 900Mhz has beefed up VRM's and therefore overclocks like a beast .... as much as 30+% over reference.

http://www.pureoverclock.com/review.php?id=1201&page=17

Of course now we get to the new stuff..... the7850 is a worthy contender in your budget range but with the 660 Ti about to break, I'd wanna wait till that thing hits the streets before deciding which one to choose.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Case / PSU

A combo to consider:

Corsair 500R w/ HX850 - 10.0 rated PSU that will handle two of any singe GPU GFX card (except the 580) and an outstanding and attaractive case (Black is $10 Cheaper):

$125 http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&N=-1&isNodeId=1&Description=500r&x=0&y=0
$165 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139011&Tpk=hx850

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/4408/corsair_carbide_series_500r_arctic_white_mid_tower_case_review/index8.html
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story5&reid=153

And yes, I know ya said No to SLI or CF but why limit yaself for a few dollars ? it's small price increase for the extra capacity, some of which you will get back in electricity savings as PSU's run most efficiently at 50% load. Adding a 2nd GFX card will boost ya FPS by about 75-80% in most game sand even more on the most demanding ones. It's a nice inexpensive upgrade option a year or two down the road.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Storage

I'd pick an SSD outta Tier 3 (highest for 120 / 18 GB units) here:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-review-benchmark,3139-6.html

Mushkin Chronos Deluxe 120 GB - $200 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226225

OCZ Vertex 3 Max IOPS 120 GB - $205 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227714

Patriot WildFire 120 GB - $185 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220599

Samsung 830 SSD 128 GB - $170 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147134

The Samsung is cheaper and faster than one you picked.

The Seagate HD was a good choice, Seagate was least affected by the floods and their prices are lowest ... < $100 for 1 TB DATA III, 64 MB cache, 7200 rpm drive is bets I have seen in a while.

RAM

I'm partial to the Vengeance .... my luck with Corsair and Mushkin has been a few steps above my experiences with GSkill

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100006519%2050001305%2040000014&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&ActiveSearchResult=True&CompareItemList=147|20-233-196^20-233-196-TS%2C20-233-186^20-233-186-TS%2C20-233-199^20-233-199-TS

These are fast, low CAS modules....I use them a lot in CAD boxes

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226178

 

[gto]

Case / PSU

A combo to consider:

Corsair 500R w/ HX850 - 10.0 rated PSU that will handle two of any singe GPU GFX card (except the 580) and an outstanding and attaractive case (Black is $10 Cheaper):

$125 http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&N=-1&isNodeId=1&Description=500r&x=0&y=0
$165 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139011&Tpk=hx850

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/4408/corsair_carbide_series_500r_arctic_white_mid_tower_case_review/index8.html
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story5&reid=153

Hey JackNaylorPE! Thanks for your responses so far they are very informative and detailed.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Hey JackNaylorPE! Thanks for your responses so far they are very informative and detailed.

Your quite welcome, and if ya come to the pint where ya thinking that way, please to keep the $25 and put it towards improving ya system.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

otherwise go with 2600k.2700k isn't worth the extra money.

To my mind, given the current pricing, the 2600k has no market niche left.

$220 - 2500k 3.3 Ghz http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072
$310 - 2600k 3.4 Ghz http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115070
$340 - 2700k 3.5 Ghz http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115095

Ya get 0.1 Ghz for $90 going from the 2500k to the 2600k and then the next 0.1 Ghz only costs ya 1/3 as much......and if ya look at the MoBo combos.....ya get an extra $5 off with the 2700k ($25 versus $20) so in the end, it's only $25 more.

 

[gto]

Your quite welcome, and if ya come to the pint where ya thinking that way, please to keep the $25 and put it towards improving ya system.

No it is just a symbolic price I would like to give away.

 

[dkcomputer]

Your build would look something like this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115230
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100007
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835226051
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185156
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185057
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131830
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231445
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151088
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121429
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148840
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352008
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986

The best way to get a full view and grasp of what I'm suggesting would be to click each link and add them to an empty cart. After you've done that just pull up two windows side by side, kick back, read & scroll.

Lets start with the processor/heatsink/paste.

You just aren't going to get any good return on an i7 - It's just $100 better spent elsewhere. Tom's has stated this fact over and over and over, and they've seen it on many benchmarks. To be specific you can view this link.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/sandy-bridge-core-i7-2600k-core-i5-2500k,2833.html
----------------------------------
Arctic Silver 5 is well known to be the best thermal paste around. There are some really boring benchmarks (that I won't bother linking) that have been done to prove its slightly better than others (excluding permanent paste) - were talking maybe 3-4 degrees Fahrenheit - MAYBE (granted all are applied properly) - but why not go for the best?
---------------------------------
I chose this heatsink because I know the 580 is basically silent when operating, the case fans and scythe fans are also silent, and I'd hate to ruin an amazingly quite computer by getting just slightly better cooling for much louder noise. This is by far the best heatsink you can fit into this case that is this quite and this good at cooling. You can browse through the last 3 pages of the article if you don't trust me at this point, and it will become very clear. I did lots of research for this alone.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/LGA-2011-i7-3960X-Air-Overclocking,3130.html
---------------------------------

Now for the fans I chose, 1x140mm, 2x120mm

Scythe has a very good reputation for incredibly reliable and quite fans. You simply can't find better ones. The reason I picked two 120's and one 140' is I highly recommend avoiding the side-mounted fan slot. This is where you will add noise, if any, from having the air flow past the metal grate - it causes a high pitch whizzing sound of the air having to speed up to get through. It might not be that noticeable on this case since they do a slight raising of the grate (which goes to the cases great designer) but it will still be there, even with slow fan. Besides that you will have plenty of proper directional air flow with everything else going on in the case. Just mount the extra 120 on the front blowing in, one on the bottom blowing up, and an extra 140mm exhaust on the top. Your rig will still stay practically silent.
-------------------------------
Operating System

Just to get it out of the way, it is perfectly legal for you to buy an OEM windows 7 copy, and there is no reason to get Pro over home premium. The only thing you might consider is purchasing Ultimate if you really want, and you could download any language pack you want if you might have ESL people visiting who want to use your computer in their native language. I purchased Vista Ultimate for that purpose, and found my Japanese friend thought it was much easier to just use the english version than trying to boot it into Japanese - he said everything looked weird and it was actually harder to navigate - but its something to consider when you're based out of the country.
------------------------------
RAM, PSU, HD

All the choices you made were very good for these. There isn't much more to say other than the reasoning you already had. I normally go strictly with Rosewill PSU's since they are very good PSU's and very well priced, but the unimpeachable reputation of SeaSonic would be a good thing to go with if you're traveling over seas and getting a replacement would be a huge hassle. The ram speaks for itself with the massive amount sold on newegg and complete lack of negative feedback other than RMA. Gskill historically works well with Asus motherboards, as does Crucial. I'm a big crucial fan, and they have won several benchmark competitions vs exact same timed Gskill ram, but its really a preferance of mine, I think your choice is probably more reliable again due to the massive amount of customers and lack of RMA complaints. The hard drive is just simply the best you can get right now for that price range, and should be all you need. Its terrible that they cost so much, but spending $30 less to get a refurbished 320g would just not be worth it - I think you're spot on with your HD choice.
------------------------------
Optical Drive

If you use a CD/DVD drive for anything other than installing windows these days it would be amazing. But you still need one for now, and ASUS has a good track record and this one happens to be on sale. The days of optical drives crashing and burning are long gone, almost every OEM is very reliable, especially since the hours used on these things has plummeted. You're pretty safe with any cheap CD/DVD/RW drive you see listed on newegg.
------------------------------
The Case

This case is so very well built, and although I must admit I've ordered Antec 900's from newegg, working with this case makes them seem horrid. Its a great case, it looks great, its very well built - cable management is a breeze (which is more important than people think). You could empty the dust out of your case in about 30 seconds by sliding out your mesh filters, banging them on the floor, and blowing a can of air across the heatsink, hard drive, and through the exhaust of your graphics card - then a quick swirl around the middle to empty it all out. You might need to blow out your case every 6 months instead of every year with this many fans, but the price is small for the much smaller footprint and quality build. Toms used this case themselves and raved about it in one of their marathons - seen here

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/microatx-gaming-overclocked,3039.html

Its just a great case, and you can see the pictured they linked and the one I linked - its very easy to assemble in this thing and air flow is great. The 900 had an incredibly good and long run, but I no longer suggest it for builds. The Phantom 410 and Fractal mini are far superior for slightly more money - and face it, you'll never throw the case away its just too hard to do ( I have dozens of crappy cases that maybe one day I'll use??) So if it does become a storage brick 10 years from now it might as well look good and take up less space doing it.

Also shipping it will be much cheaper and easier. You could probably buy some foam board from home depot, custom cut it to jam everything in snug, and just fly this thing as a carry-on.
-----------------------------
Motherboard

Asus has the best reputation for motherboards, is the easiest to overclock on, their new bios setup is absolutely amazing, they are incredibly reliable - I've had several clients with ASRock motherboard problems, biostar, and MSI - but none of my asus builds have had a single problem except one stray ethernet port not working, which I think the client just got an embarrassing virus or something as he purchased a pci slot replacement and wouldn't let me diagnose the computer. This is exactly where I'd put my extra money into over an i7, your motherboard is everything. I always push going for a high quality motherboard if the budget is over $800 for all my builds. Its pretty much always the first thing I put the extra money into for every dime over $800 until I feel I have the best quality motherboard for the build at hand. If you want to read a recent link of the quality of ASUS motherboards you can simply go here
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/rampage-iv-extreme-x79-ftwFTW-overclocking,3177.html

----------------------------
Graphics
This is a bit of a contention, if you absolutely need to order this thing within a few weeks the 580 is still a great deal (and it will fit into the case via removing the HD bay), but I imagine the 670 will be the same price or cheaper and preform better for gaming. It might not be as good at crunching numbers with Cain&Able or video encoding, but I seriously doubt it will be a better purchase once the 670 releases. There's a fire-sale of 580's going on ebay right now and I actually had my most recent client purchase a used one from ebay. $250 for a 580 is a steal, even used, especially if you can get pictures of the case it came out of and you know it was properly cooled the whole time. But that's a risk you probably don't need to take. I'd go with a 580, or if you get the shot before you head out then for sure pickup a 670 whenever it comes out. I highly suggest you stay away from ATI/AMD cards - they may show up as better on paper per dollar spent, but the image quality is never as good as Nvidia and the endless driver and compatibility problems they have makes me rage just thinking about it (and all the phone calls I dealt with when I followed Tom's suggestion on a value card for several builds a couple of years ago).



Grand Total (with shipping): $1,482.04


**Got caught up making the build as if it was for a client, subtract the OS and Optical drive (Which I knew you didn't need - derp) and the total is $1,364.06

p.s. Pre-shipping the total is $1,337.......

 

[gto]

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x267/bradmax57/P1040258.jpg
Your build would look something like this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115230
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100007
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835226051
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185156
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185057
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131830
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231445
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151088
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121429
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148840
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352008
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986

The best way to get a full view and grasp of what I'm suggesting would be to click each link and add them to an empty cart. After you've done that just pull up two windows side by side, kick back, read & scroll.

Lets start with the processor/heatsink/paste.

You just aren't going to get any good return on an i7 - It's just $100 better spent elsewhere. Tom's has stated this fact over and over and over, and they've seen it on many benchmarks. To be specific you can view this link.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/sandy-bridge-core-i7-2600k-core-i5-2500k,2833.html
----------------------------------
Arctic Silver 5 is well known to be the best thermal paste around. There are some really boring benchmarks (that I won't bother linking) that have been done to prove its slightly better than others (excluding permanent paste) - were talking maybe 3-4 degrees Fahrenheit - MAYBE (granted all are applied properly) - but why not go for the best?
---------------------------------
I chose this heatsink because I know the 580 is basically silent when operating, the case fans and scythe fans are also silent, and I'd hate to ruin an amazingly quite computer by getting just slightly better cooling for much louder noise. This is by far the best heatsink you can fit into this case that is this quite and this good at cooling. You can browse through the last 3 pages of the article if you don't trust me at this point, and it will become very clear. I did lots of research for this alone.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/LGA-2011-i7-3960X-Air-Overclocking,3130.html
---------------------------------

Now for the fans I chose, 1x140mm, 2x120mm

Scythe has a very good reputation for incredibly reliable and quite fans. You simply can't find better ones. The reason I picked two 120's and one 140' is I highly recommend avoiding the side-mounted fan slot. This is where you will add noise, if any, from having the air flow past the metal grate - it causes a high pitch whizzing sound of the air having to speed up to get through. It might not be that noticeable on this case since they do a slight raising of the grate (which goes to the cases great designer) but it will still be there, even with slow fan. Besides that you will have plenty of proper directional air flow with everything else going on in the case. Just mount the extra 120 on the front blowing in, one on the bottom blowing up, and an extra 140mm exhaust on the top. Your rig will still stay practically silent.
-------------------------------
Operating System

Just to get it out of the way, it is perfectly legal for you to buy an OEM windows 7 copy, and there is no reason to get Pro over home premium. The only thing you might consider is purchasing Ultimate if you really want, and you could download any language pack you want if you might have ESL people visiting who want to use your computer in their native language. I purchased Vista Ultimate for that purpose, and found my Japanese friend thought it was much easier to just use the english version than trying to boot it into Japanese - he said everything looked weird and it was actually harder to navigate - but its something to consider when you're based out of the country.
------------------------------
RAM, PSU, HD

All the choices you made were very good for these. There isn't much more to say other than the reasoning you already had. I normally go strictly with Rosewill PSU's since they are very good PSU's and very well priced, but the unimpeachable reputation of SeaSonic would be a good thing to go with if you're traveling over seas and getting a replacement would be a huge hassle. The ram speaks for itself with the massive amount sold on newegg and complete lack of negative feedback other than RMA. Gskill historically works well with Asus motherboards, as does Crucial. I'm a big crucial fan, and they have won several benchmark competitions vs exact same timed Gskill ram, but its really a preferance of mine, I think your choice is probably more reliable again due to the massive amount of customers and lack of RMA complaints. The hard drive is just simply the best you can get right now for that price range, and should be all you need. Its terrible that they cost so much, but spending $30 less to get a refurbished 320g would just not be worth it - I think you're spot on with your HD choice.
------------------------------
Optical Drive

If you use a CD/DVD drive for anything other than installing windows these days it would be amazing. But you still need one for now, and ASUS has a good track record and this one happens to be on sale. The days of optical drives crashing and burning are long gone, almost every OEM is very reliable, especially since the hours used on these things has plummeted. You're pretty safe with any cheap CD/DVD/RW drive you see listed on newegg.
------------------------------
The Case

This case is so very well built, and although I must admit I've ordered Antec 900's from newegg, working with this case makes them seem horrid. Its a great case, it looks great, its very well built - cable management is a breeze (which is more important than people think). You could empty the dust out of your case in about 30 seconds by sliding out your mesh filters, banging them on the floor, and blowing a can of air across the heatsink, hard drive, and through the exhaust of your graphics card - then a quick swirl around the middle to empty it all out. You might need to blow out your case every 6 months instead of every year with this many fans, but the price is small for the much smaller footprint and quality build. Toms used this case themselves and raved about it in one of their marathons - seen here

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/microatx-gaming-overclocked,3039.html

Its just a great case, and you can see the pictured they linked and the one I linked - its very easy to assemble in this thing and air flow is great. The 900 had an incredibly good and long run, but I no longer suggest it for builds. The Phantom 410 and Fractal mini are far superior for slightly more money - and face it, you'll never throw the case away its just too hard to do ( I have dozens of crappy cases that maybe one day I'll use??) So if it does become a storage brick 10 years from now it might as well look good and take up less space doing it.

Also shipping it will be much cheaper and easier. You could probably buy some foam board from home depot, custom cut it to jam everything in snug, and just fly this thing as a carry-on.
-----------------------------
Motherboard

Asus has the best reputation for motherboards, is the easiest to overclock on, their new bios setup is absolutely amazing, they are incredibly reliable - I've had several clients with ASRock motherboard problems, biostar, and MSI - but none of my asus builds have had a single problem except one stray ethernet port not working, which I think the client just got an embarrassing virus or something as he purchased a pci slot replacement and wouldn't let me diagnose the computer. This is exactly where I'd put my extra money into over an i7, your motherboard is everything. I always push going for a high quality motherboard if the budget is over $800 for all my builds. Its pretty much always the first thing I put the extra money into for every dime over $800 until I feel I have the best quality motherboard for the build at hand. If you want to read a recent link of the quality of ASUS motherboards you can simply go here
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/rampage-iv-extreme-x79-ftwFTW-overclocking,3177.html

----------------------------
Graphics
This is a bit of a contention, if you absolutely need to order this thing within a few weeks the 580 is still a great deal (and it will fit into the case via removing the HD bay), but I imagine the 670 will be the same price or cheaper and preform better for gaming. It might not be as good at crunching numbers with Cain&Able or video encoding, but I seriously doubt it will be a better purchase once the 670 releases. There's a fire-sale of 580's going on ebay right now and I actually had my most recent client purchase a used one from ebay. $250 for a 580 is a steal, even used, especially if you can get pictures of the case it came out of and you know it was properly cooled the whole time. But that's a risk you probably don't need to take. I'd go with a 580, or if you get the shot before you head out then for sure pickup a 670 whenever it comes out. I highly suggest you stay away from ATI/AMD cards - they may show up as better on paper per dollar spent, but the image quality is never as good as Nvidia and the endless driver and compatibility problems they have makes me rage just thinking about it (and all the phone calls I dealt with when I followed Tom's suggestion on a value card for several builds a couple of years ago).



Grand Total (with shipping): $1,482.04


**Got caught up making the build as if it was for a client, subtract the OS and Optical drive (Which I knew you didn't need - derp) and the total is $1,364.06

p.s. Pre-shipping the total is $1,337.......

Hey dkcomputer thanks so much for your suggestion, when do you think the 670 Graphic Card will be out cause I guess I will have to wait until it's out.

 

[geogolem]

I agree with some other responders. The i7 is overkill and of low value unless you will be doing heavy video editing etc. For gaming the i5 is all you need.

I recommend waiting for the corresponding Ivy Bridge CPU. I believe in order to take advantage of PCI-Express 3.0 you need an Ivy Bridge CPU. At least this was true with the z68 platform... not sure about z77 though I don't see why that would make a difference?? Can anyone verify this? Why not wait for IB anyway though? It should be in the next week or 2.

I reccomend waiting for the nvidia 6xx series GPU especially if you get IB and have PCIe 3.0 on your mobo; however if you expect the 6xx GPU's to become available in the next 90 days and you buy an EVGA graphics card with a lifetime warranty you can use their "step-up" program:
http://www.evga.com/support/warranty/
http://www.evga.com/support/stepup/
I don't know all the details and hidden costs though.. but at least its an option.

Asus is the best for mobos. EVGA is the best for GPU IMO.

I would go with the Asus z77 board suggested above: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131830

I think Pro is the best version of Windows for the money and features. Ultimate was just a waste of money IMO. You might want to take into account the Windows 8 featuresets and upgrade paths: http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/b/bloggingwindows/archive/2012/04/16/announcing-the-windows-8-editions.aspx

A 650W PSU is ideal for a single card setup but if you ever plan on doing SLI in the future you may want to grab an 850W PSU now, otherwise if you grab a second video card in the future for SLI you'll also need to buy a new PSU.

I like Corsair PSU's (I believe they may actually be made by Seasonic, but I'm not sure). I like the Corsair HX or AX series. If SLI was out of the question, I would grab a 650W - if I plan to SLi in the future, I would grab an 850W. I would grab the HX series unless the AX series model is the same price or cheaper, of little higher price and/or I had the extra money to throw at it. I'm sure your corresponding Seasonic choices are just as good if not better. The choice should be made depending on the required potential for SLI first, followed by some combination of brand preference/comfort and economics.

Any reason not to grab this faster memory at the same price? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231468

To be honest once you take into account the difference in clock speed and CAS timings the difference in performance will be negligible and its pretty unpredictable which one will even perform better in any given situation. At least you have a choice between red or blue depending on the other aesthetics of your build

Now where is my reward lol - I'm just kidding

 

[dkcomputer]

Hey dkcomputer thanks so much for your suggestion, when do you think the 670 Graphic Card will be out cause I guess I will have to wait until it's out.

That's the million dollar question. Nvidia is in a very odd position right now, the 680 was supposed to be their 670 but it ended up being way too over powering and ruined the usual 'top of the line = 2nd to top of the line' or example 480=570, and 580=670. The problem they now have is they don't have a separate architecture for a crappier GPU, and dumbing down the 680's cuda cores probably isn't decreasing its performance below the 580. I know they have a stockpile of 80% successful 680's that they want to turn into 670's but 80% of a 680 is still miles ahead of the 580. This is why the 580 manufacturing came to a complete halt WAY early. I think they want to see 580 prices drop down to $350-400 so they can release the 670 at $375-410, so it could be 3-4 weeks or so. If the 580 prices don't drop enough they might wait till they're mostly out of stock.

Its a good problem to have, they just don't want to insult people like me who bought a 580 for $500 and release something a year later for $350 that bashes it into the ground - but I think they need to do it anyways to stay with their projected performance increase. ATI is getting left in the dust much like intel has left AMD now. The good thing about purchasing a "80" series over a "70" is they complete much more strenuous testing, and are inherently more reliable. I wouldn't feel bad about getting a 580 now if you were heading out soon, but if you have the time to wait a month or so, I'd get a 670.

I just did a build for someone who (needed a computer ASAP) downgraded to a 2500k instead of the 2550k so he could just use on-board graphics until a 680 became available. That would be my suggestion if you don't have the time to wait. You really won't see a performance increase, as I would suggest just setting the auto-overclock to max performance in ASUS's amazing bios, and it will auto go to 4.4ghz (when needed) as long as temps stay low - which they will.

I think Pro is the best version of Windows for the money and features. Ultimate was just a waste of money IMO.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/compare

Although not related to this build I need to squash these rumors that you need win7pro

Pro's extras are useless to 99% of end-users. Ultimate's extras are used more often than Pro's. Either way, home premium is more than good enough.

 

[gto]

Hey dkcomputer thanks so much for your suggestion, when do you think the 670 Graphic Card will be out cause I guess I will have to wait until it's out.

That's the million dollar question. Nvidia is in a very odd position right now, the 680 was supposed to be their 670 but it ended up being way too over powering and ruined the usual 'top of the line = 2nd to top of the line' or example 480=570, and 580=670. The problem they now have is they don't have a separate architecture for a crappier GPU, and dumbing down the 680's cuda cores probably isn't decreasing its performance below the 580. I know they have a stockpile of 80% successful 680's that they want to turn into 670's but 80% of a 680 is still miles ahead of the 580. This is why the 580 manufacturing came to a complete halt WAY early. I think they want to see 580 prices drop down to $350-400 so they can release the 670 at $375-410, so it could be 3-4 weeks or so. If the 580 prices don't drop enough they might wait till they're mostly out of stock.

Its a good problem to have, they just don't want to insult people like me who bought a 580 for $500 and release something a year later for $350 that bashes it into the ground - but I think they need to do it anyways to stay with their projected performance increase. ATI is getting left in the dust much like intel has left AMD now. The good thing about purchasing a "80" series over a "70" is they complete much more strenuous testing, and are inherently more reliable. I wouldn't feel bad about getting a 580 now if you were heading out soon, but if you have the time to wait a month or so, I'd get a 670.

I just did a build for someone who (needed a computer ASAP) downgraded to a 2500k instead of the 2550k so he could just use on-board graphics until a 680 became available. That would be my suggestion if you don't have the time to wait. You really won't see a performance increase, as I would suggest just setting the auto-overclock to max performance in ASUS's amazing bios, and it will auto go to 4.4ghz (when needed) as long as temps stay low - which they will.

I think Pro is the best version of Windows for the money and features. Ultimate was just a waste of money IMO.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/compare

Although not related to this build I need to squash these rumors that you need win7pro

Pro's extras are useless to 99% of end-users. Ultimate's extras are used more often than Pro's. Either way, home premium is more than good enough.

Hope it will not last long Until 670 is out, I will also have to wait for the Ivy Bridge processors, My only concern is to get a processor with Hyper threading Technology or not.
I guess I will need HT for multitasking and the 2550k you suggest does not have it.

 

[dkcomputer]

My only concern is to get a processor with Hyper threading Technology or not.
I guess I will need HT for multitasking and the 2550k you suggest does not have it.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ivy-bridge-benchmark-core-i7-3770k,3181-24.html

If a less expensive Core i5-2550K was good enough for you in a world where Core i7-2700K represented the fastest LGA 1155 processor you could buy, than it should be good enough for you in a world suddenly populated by Ivy Bridge-based chips, too.

There are a few advantages to hyperthreading but I don't think you need them. For autocad its well known you want to turn it off if you have it. Basically for everything you listed it does nothing for you.

The i5-3570K will be a better processor when it comes out if you can land one on release date. It will sell out much like the 680's. But 4% performance increase and WORSE overclocking on the ivy bridge platform - I wouldn't let it be something that holds you up from purchasing if you can't find one in stock when they release, but if you can of course I'd get it.

 

[gto]

2. Hyper 212 is the best $25 cooler there is and I often use it in systems < $1200. But at $1500, ya wanna take a step up. The Hyper 212's bug brother is the Hyper 612 PWM and frankly it kicks butt on some very expensive coolers, coming within a half degree of perennial champs like the Phanteks and Silver Arrow. The 212 is good for 4.4-4.5 Ghz....the 612 will take ya to 4.6 - 4.7 Ghz. The Scythe Mugen 3 has similar performance.....I usually buy what's cheaper of the two on buy do for builds in this budget range.

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=797&Itemid=62&limit=1&limitstart=4

I have been doing a lot of research about coolers because I would like to buy a very quiet one, and until now the one that does not have problems with the ram you suggested is the Noctua NH-D14, also the Zalman CNPS12X is very quiet and efficient but the Mushkin Enhanced Redline 8GB ram does not fit with the Zalman cooler as shown in this video.

The Noctua NH-D14 is very expensive and because of its size may give problems with the graphic card on the ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 mobo.

Do you know of any other cooler that is very quiet and efficient it is no problem if it hits the $60-$70?

 

[g-unit1111]

I have been doing a lot of research about coolers because I would like to buy a very quiet one, and until now the one that does not have problems with the ram you suggested is the Noctua NH-D14, also the Zalman CNPS12X is very quiet and efficient but the Mushkin Enhanced Redline 8GB ram does not fit with the Zalman cooler as shown in this video.

The Noctua NH-D14 is very expensive and because of its size may give problems with the graphic card on the ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 mobo.

Do you know of any other cooler that is very quiet and efficient it is no problem if it hits the $60-$70?

Three things:

1. That's why I do not like the Sabertooth motherboard with the plastic covers on it.

2. The D14 will not interfere with your graphics card - I've installed gigantic coolers similar to the D14 and they don't even come close. Where it will interfere is with your RAM - if you get RAM with tall heat sinks the fans won't sit correctly depending on which way you route it.

3. If you want an alternate suggestion check out this article as it has plenty. I really like my EVGA cooler but I'm heavily considering getting the Akasa Voodoo Venom for my next motherboard upgrade: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/LGA-2011-i7-3960X-Air-Overclocking,3130.html

 

[gto]

Three things:

1. That's why I do not like the Sabertooth motherboard with the plastic covers on it.

2. The D14 will not interfere with your graphics card - I've installed gigantic coolers similar to the D14 and they don't even come close. Where it will interfere is with your RAM - if you get RAM with tall heat sinks the fans won't sit correctly depending on which way you route it.

3. If you want an alternate suggestion check out this article as it has plenty. I really like my EVGA cooler but I'm heavily considering getting the Akasa Voodoo Venom for my next motherboard upgrade: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/LGA-2011-i7-3960X-Air-Overclocking,3130.html

I have read this review over and over again and Akasa Voodoo Venom seems to be a little loud and for 30$ more I think I am going to get the Noctua NH-D14, this can handle the all overclocking settings I can throw at my cpu.

As I can see from this video Mushkin Ridgeback Redline fits with the Noctua NH-D14 so the Mushkin Enhanced Redline with FROSTBYTE HEATSINK that is shorter than Ridgeback is going to fit too (the one I am going to buy).


Thanks for your help

 

[dkcomputer]

I'd highly suggest not overclocking that much, the performance difference is not very high beyond 4.4ghz which the mobo will do automatically, and it destroys the life of the processor.

In another couple years people with coolers like the D14 will be examples of 'old' computers. Massive cooling solutions are going away, they're simply not needed - higher clock speeds are not the answer to performance increases, intel figured that out a long time ago. Something silent but good enough to keep you steady at 4.4 and low temps is what you want. The only reason for a D14 would be for heavy long-term overclocking, which will destroy the life of a processor.

Google for articles on performance increase with higher clock speeds, its so minimal from 4.4 to 5.0 but it kills the processor exponentially faster