Advice on this gaming build

[jaZ7]

Original build

Spoiler

MOBO - 240$ - ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77
CPU - 230$ - Core i5-3570K
GPU - 400$ - GeForce GTX 670
PSU - 130$ - FSP Aurum AU-700 (750W)
Storage - 210$ - Crucial m4 MLC SSD (256 GB)
Memory - 50$ - G.SKILL Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
Case - 80$ - COOLER MASTER HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN3-GP
OS - 99$ - 64 bit Windows 7 Home Premium
Monitor - 0$ (I have one) - HP 2159m 1920x1080p
Cooling - 7$ - Thermal Paste + CPU water cooling system (I have) - I am going to discern the air cooling situation when I get it all assembled
Optical Drive - 19$ - random cheapo drive
Total Cost; 1456$

Revised build

CPU: - $230 - Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: - 7$ - Some old corsair water cooling + Thermal Paste
Motherboard: - $150 - Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H ATX LGA1155 Motherboard
Memory: - $44 - Crucial Ballistix sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Hard Drive: - $120 - [strike]Samsung Spinpoint F4 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive[/strike] (potential quality control issues thanks to tsunami) OR - 135$ - HGST Deskstar 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Hard Drive: - $125 - Crucial M4 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk OR - 110$ Mushkin Enhanced Chronos Deluxe 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
Video Card: - $410 - EVGA GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card
Case: - $110 - Antec Eleven Hundred ATX Full Tower Case
Power Supply: - $90 - PC Power & Cooling 750W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply
Optical Drive: - $19 - random cheapo drive
Total: $1290 - $1320

Approximate Purchase Date: ASAP = this week hopefully
Budget Range: ~1300-1600
System Usage from Most to Least Important: gaming, HD recording (probably of said gaming, but of others as well), video editing, engineering programs/programming, some heavy media manipulation
Are you buying a monitor: No
Parts to Upgrade: New build
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.com (but no preference really)
Location: Lansing MI
Parts Preferences: I've focused i3-i5 intel cpus and nvidia gpus, but I'm open
Overclocking: Yes, but only in the future to keep up (at present, does not seem necessary for my intended use)
SLI or Crossfire: Yes, but again only in the future
Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080
And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: Going to college and I need a new desktop to last for all my troubles.

-From whom/what specifications should I buy my GTX 670 in? The memory clock is the only difference I can tell between them all, but are there any specific preferable numbers or companies?
-Can my PSU support a future SLI combo (dual only), or should I upgrade to 800-850w?
-Do you spot any obvious bottlenecks that I am missing?
Any other suggestions? Is there some glaring flaw in my work? Please review and criticize!

Thanks in advance guys! I hope that this PC will last me through upgrades and tweaks to the end of time with high performance throughout... well, the case at least

 

[ForYourHealth]

That PSU is fine, but you're spending $50-$100 more on the mobo than you need to.

I would go with the gigabyte ud3h, ASrock extreme4, or ASUS P8Z77-V

Also, I would go with a more reliable brand on the PSU. Corsair, PC Power and Cooling, Seasonic, Antec.

 

[azeem40]

The FSP Aurum is a good quality PSU. They are not what they used to be you know.

 

[g-unit1111]

That motherboard is major overkill on pretty much any build, you can drop that a bit and save some money there.

I'd suggest something like this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($229.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($43.99 @ Newegg)
Hard Drive: Samsung Spinpoint F4 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Hard Drive: Crucial M4 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($124.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card ($409.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Antec Eleven Hundred ATX Full Tower Case ($109.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling 750W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1381.89
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-07-23 14:44 EDT-0400)

 

[jaZ7]

...

Ah, thank you for your assessments. I ultimately agree with foryourhealth and g unit, that mobo is a bit unnecessary and I will happily take the gigabyte at your suggestions.

As for the CPU cooling, I have an old CPU water cooling corsair thing around, and if it works I'll roll with it. If not, I will be happy to take your suggestion

Is there really any difference between all the DDR3-1600 memory? I'll probably take you up on that regardless.

Good hard drive suggestions too - I guess I've been stubborn with respect to dual HDD-SDD setups, but now that I think about it really makes much more sense. However, you suggest a 5400 rpm 32 mb cache and 3.0 Gb/sec, when for 15$ extra I could get a 7200 rpm, 64mb cache and 6.0 Gb/sec. Do you think it's worth the upgrade? Would it be less reliable? Do you have any particular brands to suggest?

The samsung drive you mention also seems to be affected due to the late tsunami, and instead reviewers indicate they are getting shipped seagate drives, the quality control for which they indicate is terrible. I'm skeptical of the drive now, though I'm sure before this switch it may have been perfectly reliable.

Additionally, there is a mushkin SSD drive out there that is 10$ less that has write speeds 325 mb/sec faster than the crucial m4. Does such a difference in write speed matter much?

Thank you also for a specific nvidia card, though I'm still confused by all the different clock speeds.

Also, I can't really knock your PSU suggestion G unit, granted it's 40$ less than my original option and has similar efficiency ratings, 7 year warranty to boot. I'll pick that up as well, though I'm sure the arum is a reasonable choice, albeit perhaps needlessly pricier.

You beat me on the case as well; with more ports, filters, and so on with the same fans and space I suppose there's no reason not to go with your suggestion there. Looks less like a spaceship too.

The optical drive you suggest has less good reviews compared to the one I looked for; I couldn't find any noticeable difference between them either, so I'm unsure of which way to go there.


Are you guys sure 750w is enough to handle this system + a future GTX 670 SLI combo? I guess I'm still unsure - I see other builds with similar cards in SLI and I see 850w PSUs.

OP revised