I would like you to look over a few suggestions.
Processor check! Provided you put in a little time and overclock it to those speeds…
Cooler check!
Motherboard check! Though, I prefer Asus for overclocking rigs. They usually can handle voltages better than the competition at the high-end level of the tech game. Personal preference of course but I would look more toward
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131837
GPU is definitely a problem. That particular Sapphire will lock your voltages, as will more Sapphire cards and companies to be
perfectly honest. If this isn’t a big deal to you then pay no attention to the rest of this suggestion. The only reliable company is MSI. Buying a video card outside of their realm should require very specific research to make sure A: the card’s voltage is indeed unlocked, or B: the card’s bios can be flashed to a version number that is unlocked. This is time consuming and difficult work to be absolutely sure that you’re making a good choice. So I would generally go with an MSI card, like
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127672 NVIDIA or the
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127670 AMD
SSD is definitely a problem. If you like Samsung’s SSD, who wouldn’t? Besides me of course as I am a Corsair fan boy, then you have to get their 840 series of SSD. Before December, 2012, Samsung had no competitive SSD on the market worth buying. Corsair and OCZ were the only players, with OCZ having better paper specs with the worst reliability out of any SSD producer, and Corsair having worse specs, relatively of course, but very good reliability and better real-world tests from review sources I read at the time of my comparisons. At any rate this is all old news, as Samsung is #1 in the SSD market right now. The 840 series is 270 because it is new but well worth it
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147193 However if you think well it’s fast enough and I don’t want to spend the extra cash then switch how the 830 for a Corsair GTX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233343 for 230, or the GS version
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233312 for 200, the different between the two being read IOPS. If you ever plan on raiding SSD then you will need the Corsair Force Series 3 which supports trim. That’s unlikely because if you can afford a raid setup go with the Samsung 840 as much as it pains me to say it. And to be fair to OCZ, this is their product that is competing against Samsung’s 840
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227792 I would not recommend it because OCZ produces very unreliable SSD with the highest levels of failure. At any rate these are all your SSD options. As a quick summary, the best is the Samsung 840, but is 270. The second best is the OCZ Vertex 4 for 250, I would not recommend it. The third best is the Corsair GTX for 230, but for 230 why not spend the extra 40 bucks...? The final choice with least performance is the Corsair GS for 200. All of these are 240-256GB
Case check! However I recommend buying corsair airflow fans for all mounting locations. Nothing is better than a 200 dollar case with bad airflow and /end sarcasm.
PSU check! However I would recommend changing to a corsair power supply. Certain things you don't skimp on, like cheap tape for example. It's terrible because you can never peel it off to get a good strip. Power supplies are another, get a Corsair, you’ll thank me later.
Optical drive is check! But I like Asus Blu-ray, though I am just being picky now.
Now to your actual question! Personally I never got into the 120Hz monitor thing. I think it’s a bit of a gimmick and like TV for everything PC as the color production is literally a gazillion times better. I VSYNC my games@ 60 and they look wonderful on my 32’’ Samsung HDTV. However to help you out here, the people who actually own 120Hz monitors say they definitely notice a difference and recommend it. Maybe they believe there is a difference, hell for 500bucks on a monitor I’d believe there is a difference too LOL, but that’s the two essential sides. One says gimmick, no need, eye can’t see past 60 etc. The other says DOIT. Ultimately it’s your choice. Regarding the video card, the 7970 will max anything with these specs, definitely. However if you play Skyrim, Batman, Planetside 2, or maybe even Skyrim Online when it comes out then NVIDIA is your better choice. They dole out money to developers and make their cards optimized for new games. In turn they can produce hardware that 1v1 loses to AMD but in benchmarks on “their,” games win, all the while charge about 100 bucks more for their cards, and lock their voltages pretty hard core. Opinions everywhere! Will the 7970 you picked work? Yes. Will the 7970 I recommended work? Yes. Will a 680 work? Yes. It’s all preference. But if you really want to talk reality, so will a 7950 / 670. 5-10 fps difference when you are running 100fps is something that is worth looking into when you are looking at a 150 dollar difference. Extra VRAM is only helpful in the future if A: NVIDIA hasn’t optimized the particular future game, and B: You are running multiple monitor set up. Ultimately it’s your call. Hope I have been useful,
-Praxeology
PS. Now you tell me your in Aussie land... After all my babble. The best place to buy parts in Aussie land is by far their version of Newegg, http://pccasegear.com/ You can pretty much get everything I listed here, let me get a part list up.
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