My long overdue system overhaul

[ecco]

My computer is starting to feel a little long in the tooth, and I'm finally in a position to fix that. Any thoughts on my choices are appreciated, but here we go.

CPU: Intel i7 3770k (Getting this from Intel's retail associate training site for dirt cheap)

Board: ASUS Maximus V Gene http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131830

Cooling: CORSAIR Hydro Series H80i Water Cooler http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181031

COUGAR CF-V12HP 120mm fand (x3) to replace my case fans and make them 4pin http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835553002

RAM: CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 2133 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233245

Graphics Card: XFX Double D R7870 Black Edition http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150606

SSD: SAMSUNG 840 Series 250GB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147189

Optical Drive: LG 14x BDr http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136250

I actually already went ahead and ordered the Corsair Cooler, Blu-ray drive, and 7870 card, and went ahead and installed the latter in my current rig. I also have a pair of 1tb hard drives. But in any case, if I'm not mistaken, I have a fairly solid rig here, and I'm going to be using the replaced parts to build my little cousin a gaming desktop to run things like WoW and Minecraft. (Old graphics card is an ATI HD 5870.)

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 @ 3.5 GHz
Board: EVGA nForce 750i SLI
RAM: 2x2GB OCZ2RPR10662g PC2-8500
Graphics: XFX Double D R7870 Black Edition
PSU: Corsair CMPSU-750HX (750W)
Case: Antec 902

 

[lt_dan_zsu]

Well, I was going to say you should downgrade your cpu to an i5 3570k and get a 7950, you should still get an i5 though. I personally don't think you should get that motherboard, as almost every asus motherboard is overpriced.

 

[ecco]

Yeah, lets just say that for what I'm paying for my CPU, the best I could get off Newegg is an i3-2100 (That's the closest price for an Intel chip, I'm actually paying less than that.) As for the motherboard, I'm certainly open to paying less. That was the reason I was going with micro ATX apart from the fact that I never really use the extra slots anyway. Any thoughts on a board that is really good for overclocking, yet cheaper? I am thinking I may add another 7870 after tax season, so dual PCIe x16 would be preferable.

 

[lt_dan_zsu]

This msi z77 looks good
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130647
I was a little confused about your i3 comment? What are you trying to say?

 

[ecco]

Well, I'm paying just over $100 for my i7. I certainly would be looking at an i5 if I wasn't getting such an awesome deal directly from Intel on the fastest standard i7 around.

 

[lt_dan_zsu]

Ok, then an i7 is a good choice lol. How are you getting that?

 

[ecco]

Working retail has it's perks to help make up for it's woes. Intel has a website set up with training material for people who work in retail outlets that sell computers. If you work at such a place, you can become a member of the site, and they do a summer and holiday deal. Holiday is happening now. This is the first time I've had money when the deals went up, so I'm going for it.

 

[ecco]

I really would prefer a board that has enough fan headers to do RPM control on my 2 front fans and 1 side off the board. Poked around the forums and found people saying good things about this one. ASRock Z77 Extreme4