First ground up build. Thoughts?

[WhateverWorks]

Hey all, long time lurker here, but this is my first post. This is also my first full build; I've done upgrades and built systems for friends, but never built my own machine. I'm looking to put together a gaming rig for 1920*1200 along these lines:

Case: Corsair 600T - Such a sexy case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139005

CPU: i5-3570k
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504

GPU: Asus GTX 670 DirectCU II 2GB (possible SLI in near future)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121637

Mobo: Asus Maximus V Formula
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131854

PSU: Corsair HX750
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139010

RAM: Corsair Vengeance 8GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233180

I was rather looking forward to the white on the outside and red/black on the inside color scheme, but the DOA/RMA rate on Asus products I have seen recently has me very hesitant to gamble on an Asus mobo and possibly 2 GPU's, especially with Asus customer service. Should I take the safer road and go somewhere else for the graphics cards and mobo? The new mobo would have to have good on-board wifi and sound quality or room for add on cards. Was looking at MSI and EVGA FTW 670's as possible replacements.

Also, feel free to make suggestions on my setup, obviously I left out my hard drives and cpu cooler and some small things so the list wasn't so long. I'll be oc'ing the cpu and the graphics cards moderately. Would like to stay around the current price list, but I will spend a bit more for quality parts. Any help is appreciated so thank you!

 

[TheBigTroll]

the build id recommend will be mostly black and white with a couple hints of blue
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/APmn

ram
http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=76779&promoid=1292

hard drive
http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=66010&promoid=1292

case
http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=75050&promoid=1292

if you dont care that much about asthetics, i can save you 100 dollars without losing performance.

-asus boards are fine. just that i dont recommend them given they cost a lot more than the other offerings. their customer servce is also fine. i used it before
-you shouldnt be using wifi if ever possible. might want to invest in powerline internet if you must
-the R4 is a better case than the 600t
-the 670 ftw is the worst out of aftermarket 670s in terms of cooling

 

[g-unit1111]

-asus boards are fine. just that i dont recommend them given they cost a lot more than the other offerings. their customer servce is also fine. i used it before
-you shouldnt be using wifi if ever possible. might want to invest in powerline internet if you must
-the R4 is a better case than the 600t
-the 670 ftw is the worst out of aftermarket 670s in terms of cooling

Yeah that's fine - but I think paying $270 for a motherboard is ridiculous no matter what the build is. If it were X79 then I would say yes but otherwise you could get one for 1/2 the cost and it would still do everything you need.

Here's what I would suggest:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($229.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($157.86 @ Newegg)
Memory: Mushkin Blackline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: OCZ Vector Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card ($383.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 600T White Graphite ATX Mid Tower Case ($169.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk II 750W 80 PLUS Silver Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($114.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($22.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $1394.73
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-02-01 13:34 EST-0500)

I was rather looking forward to the white on the outside and red/black on the inside color scheme, but the DOA/RMA rate on Asus products I have seen recently has me very hesitant to gamble on an Asus mobo and possibly 2 GPU's, especially with Asus customer service. Should I take the safer road and go somewhere else for the graphics cards and mobo? The new mobo would have to have good on-board wifi and sound quality or room for add on cards. Was looking at MSI and EVGA FTW 670's as possible replacements.

Store reviews are to be taken with massive grains of salt. A good 90% of the boards that get RMA'd could have easily been prevented had the users taken the right precautions prior to installation.

 

[TheBigTroll]

hes in qatar. cant buy from newegg

 

[g-unit1111]

hes in qatar. cant buy from newegg

Oh then yeah having a store would help. The OP linked to Newegg so that could get confusing.

 

[WhateverWorks]

hes in qatar. cant buy from newegg

Actually, I'm not from Quatar. I'm from Houston, Texas. I would like to buy localy or at Newegg if possible. Anyway, thanks for the input. I realize that 250+ is a ton to spend on a mobo, I just have a hard time giving up an idea once I get it. I'll have to give up my color choices I guess. The BigTroll, thanks for the ideas, but I would really like to stay with the 600T and do a fan swap if I have to because I love the look of that case and the aesthetics are rather important to me. Hard wiring at my apartment is not an option for me, so I would need wifi. I'm not familiar with powerline, I'll look into it in the meantime.
By the way, I have a 212 evo, Samsung 830 ssd and WD Caviar Black hard drive left over from an older build that I will be using, so I dont need any of those.

 

[TheBigTroll]

whoops. wrong guy.

well then you can skip the cooler that i recommended and the SSD.

powerline might also be a problem if your apartments electrical system is also directly wired to the entire building, as people can now jack free internet from the wall

 

[WhateverWorks]

Yeah, I'm going to stick to the wifi option. I feel like by the time I add sound and wifi cards to the gigabyte board the price will be about equal to the Asus though.

 

[TheBigTroll]

you dont need a sound card. onboard is good enough for most

if you want something cheap, just grab a z7-v LK motherboard for 109.99 and get a external card for 30 bucks. still a lot cheaper than asus or gigabyte's higher offerings