$850 Gaming Machine

[darcmasta]

Greetings all! Long time lurker, finally a member because I am ready to build my own PC!

Below you will find the standard "Ask for Advice", but I have already purchased the parts below. I was wondering if you guys and gals can review the parts and see if there are somethings you may know about em(good/bad/decent). If you have any ways of making it cheaper as well, I am all ears! I am trying to build a system that is in the 600-850 dollar price range.

Approximate Purchase Date: June 2nd 2012

Budget Range: >$800 after Mail In-Rebates

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, Schoolwork, Entertainment

Parts Not Required:
Keyboard - Logitech
Mouse - Logitech M705
Speakers - Logitech G930 Wireless 7.1 Surround Sound Headset
OS - Windows 7 Professional Edition
Monitor - No monitor at the moment, planning on hooking up to 46 inch Sony Bravia KDL-46VL150
DVD Drive - Debating on where to use an old DVD burner from an old PC or an external dvd drive I have.
External - Pioneer DVR-XD09
Internal - Lite-On SHW-160P6S

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Microcenter, Newegg, Amazon, Tigerdirect

Country: Chicago, Illinois, United States

Parts Preferences:
Processor - Must be Intel i5 or i7 unlocked
Video Card - Must be NVIDIA GeForce

Overclocking: Maybe in the next year or so.

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe, Could someone explain this a bit further? Thanks in advance!

Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080 (maybe less until I get a reasonable monitor)

Additional Comments: Prefer it to be quiet, yet powerful machine (best of both worlds, never will happen )


CURRENT PART LIST:
Case:ZALMAN Z11 Plus Black Steel - Price: $44.99 after rebate

Processor: Intel Ivy Bridge i5-3570K - Price: $189.99

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD3H - Price: $109.99

Power Supply:OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W Modular - Price: $49.99 after rebate

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 550 Ti 2GB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 - Price: $144.99 after rebate

RAM:Kingston HyperX Blu 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 - Price: $39.99

HDD:OCZ Agility 3 60GB SSD - Price: $49.99 after rebate

HDD2: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200RPM HDD - Price: $94.99

PRICE TOTAL:
$44.99
$189.99
$109.99
$49.99
$144.99
$39.99
$49.99
$94.99
--------------
$724.92 prior Taxes
$797.41 after 10% tax

WITHOUT REBATES:
$808.91 prior Taxes
$885.76 after 10% tax

What do you all think about my choices, the price, and anything else? Anything I can do to make this system cheaper? Thanks everyone and Martin at Microcenter for helping piece this together!

Look forward to hearing your replies!

DarcMasta

 

[bigcyco1]

now.. now... you kids play nice :lol:

 

[PCgamer81]

Non-reference cards are usually built with superior cooling systems (often dual fans) for the purpose of handling higher clocks. If a non-reference card was to be underclocked to reference speeds, it would in fact run cooler, and I stated as much in my original post on the subject.

(but lower temps at reference clock rates)

More times than not, non-reference cards are purchased by enthusiasts and/or overclockers who have no intention of running the card at reference. It has been my observation more times than not that non-reference cards run at higher temps irrespective of the actual clock rates, which logically, could in fact reduce the life span of the card when compared to the card in which it's own architecture is based upon.

This is merely an observation laced with subjectivity.

 

[azeem40]

I understand.

 

[SingingThroughTheStorm]

Azeem40:

Non-reference cards are usually built with superior cooling systems (often dual fans) for the purpose of handling higher clocks. If a non-reference card was to be underclocked to reference speeds, it would in fact run cooler, and I stated as much in my original post on the subject.

(but lower temps at reference clock rates)

More times than not, non-reference cards are purchased by enthusiasts and/or overclockers who have no intention of running the card at reference. It has been my observation more times than not that non-reference cards run at higher temps irrespective of the actual clock rates, which logically, could in fact reduce the life span of the card when compared to the card in which it's own architecture is based upon.

This is merely an observation laced with subjectivity. As such, there is really no need for your ill conceived interjections, particularly when I stated as much before I offered the explanation.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4002/amd-radeon-hd-6850-overclocking-roundup-asus-xfx-msi/7

I am not saying you are wrong, as this backs up the idea of non reference cards running cooler at reference speeds.
The XFX 6850 is at reference clocks and runs 14C cooler in Crysis over the reference 6850 design.

 

[darcmasta]

Best answer selected by darcmasta.

 

[PCgamer81]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4002/amd-radeon-hd-6850-overclocking-roundup-asus-xfx-msi/7

I am not saying you are wrong, as this backs up the idea of non reference cards running cooler at reference speeds.
The XFX 6850 is at reference clocks and runs 14C cooler in Crysis over the reference 6850 design.

Actually, you are posting a link validating exactly what I said.

Thanks!

 

[PCgamer81]

I understand.

I had been up for a while and was in a nasty mood - I had been arguing with idiots on another thread and my patience was sapped.

Sorry about that. I just now edited the post.