New Computer (a.k.a New Confuser)

[FersootJames]

It is time.
After recovering from mental illness and other such shenanigans, and surviving a networking/engineering course using an outdated -$800AU core2 system (trying to use multiple VM's, etc)
i finally, FINALLY, will be coming into some money; probably about $3,000AU of which i can use on a scratch build.

As a point of reference, i use my computers for a few reasons.
probably about 6 actually;
1. Entertainment. i have a 1TB+ music collection, and about 6TB of media already collected on drives.
i will be watching buttloads of 1080p video, Converting file formats; opening huge folders etc.
2. Casual Gaming. i wont be gaming night and day, but when i do, i will playing things such as crysis, space
marine, new vegas, and whatever else comes out that i enjoy. i dont need sup-atmospheric fps, but i
want it to be impressive in comparison to my 4850 -_-
3. Audio recording. Will not need specialist equipment, as i make lo-fi stuff, but do want the crunching
power to perform effects and complex sound magic in seconds flat.
4. Unpacking files, ZIP-UNZIP, copying oodles of files to and fro drives;
5. Light Photoshop Shenanigans
6. Working on 2+ VM's simultaneously, booting with server 2008 occasionally for study purposes; general
tasks associated with a network security/computer systems engineering degree


i am planning. Planning is fun. looking through websites and reviews and magazines, and i have a rough build in mind, which will be edited beyond recognition im sure by the time im finished.
i am asking you, dear fellows; to help me with this, and reccomend better things and point out glaring mistakes, etc.
thankyou all in advance

These are the current specs, as of Sep.13.2011


Case ---- Silverstone Fortress FT02B with Window
CPU ---- Intel Core i7 2600K In stock
Monitor ---- ASUS VE278Q 27in Widescreen LED Monitor (will get 2 of these at some point, one for now)
MoBo ---- Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD7-B3 Motherboard
RAM ---- Corsair CML16GX3M4A1600C9 16GB (4x4GB) Vengeance DDR3
Cool ---- Corsair Hydro Series H80 CPU Cooler
PSU ---- Corsair HX-750 Power Supply
B-RAY ---- Sony BD5300SOB Blu-Ray 12x Writer Internal Drive
DUMP ---- Hitachi Deskstar 7K3000 3TB 7200RPM X 2
BOOT ---- OCZ RevoDrive X2 PCI-Express SSD 220GB
KB&M ----- Microsoft Wireless Desktop 800 (i prefer these simple , even when gaming haha 😗 )
GPU ----- Gainward GeForce GTX 570 1280MB Goes Like Hell Edition

Bringing across 4 x Caviar Green 1TB and 2 x 1TB WD PORTABLE HDD's & Logitech 5.1 Speakers From Previous Build.

Keen to get some advice, changes, points for thought etc, THANKYOU (and sorry for the long post)

 

[FersootJames]

anyone? 🙁

 

[abekl]

Probably the last thing you think you'd hear a comment on, but I don't like wireless mice and keyboards because my experience has been that they don't work in the BIOS environment. For some reason, the wireless setup doesn't get initialized. This has been my experience, other people might chime in with different experiences.

As to the erst of the build, it looks good and should serve you in your stated purpose for a long time.

 

[cats_Paw]

Generally that build is very good. Z-5500 logitech?

I dont see much improvemnt over that build, except perhaps going for HDTV instead of monitors.

 

[nordlead]

Overall it looks like a solid build for what you want to do. Just a few thoughts though.

1) Why not put all/most of your HDDs in a separate server? It would greatly reduce the content in your main PCs case reducing heat and noise. You could put all your music and videos on a stripped down PC and throw it in a closet or in the basement. From there you might be able to buy a cheaper Mobo that doesn't have 8xSata and you wouldn't need a >$250 case. Just because you have the money doesn't mean you should spend all of it. You could save it for future updates to your PC that would improve performance more.

2) I'm not a fan of liquid cooling. Seems like more of a hassle than it is worth unless you want to push the computer to the maximum it can handle. Unless you plan on pushing 5GHz overclock you can easily do 4.5GHz on air.

 

[nordlead]

As for your build, I would get a corsair 500W PSU and use the saved money to get a gtx 580 instead of the 570.

Even if he moves all of his HDDs to another computer I wouldn't go down to a 500W PSU. An i5-2500k overclocked at 4.5GHz with a gtx 580 draws ~488 watts based on Tom's Hardware's recent article. That is a little too close for my comfort.