Please critque and advise me on my first build

[squilliam]

How does everyone like this build? Any advice/critique would be greatly appreciated.

NOTE: these are all in Canadian dollars

Case:
Antec Twelve Hundred Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129043

Motherboard:
ASUS P6T Deluxe
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4268650&CatId=4068

Processor:
Intel Core i7 920
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202

Video Card:
Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX+
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150314

Memory:
CORSAIR XMS3 6GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145222

Hard Drive:
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148288

Optical Drive:
Some Samsung
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151171

I do have some questions,
I was looking at this PSU:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703009

or this one: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006

but is there a better one out there?

my second question is: should I use water or air cooling? If I go with air cooling, all I'll have to do is buy 2 extra fans, bringing the total to 7....BUT...I understand that if I go with water cooling, it will be very expensive, but extremely effective, and I figure that since I'm buying a case that allows integrated water cooling that maybe I should look into it

as well, is it worth is to get the P6T Deluxe board with the extra overclocking tool a if I plan to experiment in overclocking in the future? (extra $40)

lastly, this is my first build, does anybody think that I should start less ambitiously?

EDIT: oh yeah, and I've been hearing a lot of mixed reception to intel's stock heatsink/fan that comes with the i7's...are they really that bad and should I get an after market one? As I've said before, I could also go with water cooling and get a water block for it instead

 

[squilliam]

woah.....wtf.....that message sure didn't look like that in the preview, I'll try to fix it

EDIT: never mind, at first it looked like a scripty mess...

 

[reconviperone1]

Its horrible, what the hell is wrong with you, were you raised in a barn?, Just kidding it looks awesome, wouldnt change a thing, have fun with it.

 

[squilliam]

lmao, you don't think the RAM is a bit too "hardcore"? Because I'm not really sure about it, I mean, I only plan on doing some mid-level gaming, mostly just other stuff, and that RAM, I think, is for the enthusiast?

 

[kubes]

This ram will get you by: Good subistute for the other and a few dollars cheaper.
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231223

Maybe can put a few dollars towards a gtx 260 (216 core) or maybe a 4850/4870 fomr ati. (This is if you plan on gaming on this).

I would say if this is your first build stay with air cooling. Work slowly towards water cooling. Water cooling adds a level of complexity to any build and with it being your first build I would suggest staying with air.
The stock intel heatsink is medicore at best. If you don't plan on overclocking it should work well enough inside your case.

You probally don't need the Palm version of the P6T Stick with the cheaper verison. If you plan on going crazy with overclocking then keep the ram you have or switch it out for dominator series from crosair. This would be for someone that is doing some heavy overclocking. (<=4ghz)

What about a monitor. What monitor are you using? what's the size and resolution?


Very solid setup so far for this build.

 

[squilliam]

oh yeah, a monitor: this is what I was thinking:

http://accessories.dell.com/sna/products/Monitors/productdetail.aspx?c=ca&l=en&s=dhs&cs=cadhs1&sku=320-6272

it's a 24' dell "Ultrasharp", it's their "premium" line and has won some awards and I've read some really good reviews. It's got tons of connections, so that's good. The resolution is 1900x1200 and it's got a 6ms response time (I think that's kinda slow though). It's mostly for productivity, but should be good for gaming too. However, at $700 Canadian, I'm thinking that it's kind of overkill, and it brings the price above $2000 so I'd love to hear any suggestions in the 22-24 inch range. Preferably something with a higher refresh rate, because I've had some headaches after looking at monitors for a long time and apparently it's due to the refresh rate.

It's just that I didn't think that people on this site would care about monitors, lol, I thought it was more kinda "internal computer" stuff

EDIT: by the way, thanks for recommending that RAM, seems like good stuff and it saves me like $100

 

[aeiouandxyz]

If you're gona get the P6T Deluxe, you might as well get the OC palm device too. The Gigabyte and MSI boards reach higher base clock frequencies, so the palm is the only thing going for the Asus board. Asus could really develop the palm so that overclocking could be done at press of a button with little or no stability issues. As for cooling, go with air cooling since your getting the Antec 1200.

 

[reconviperone1]

lmao, you don't think the RAM is a bit too "hardcore"? Because I'm not really sure about it, I mean, I only plan on doing some mid-level gaming, mostly just other stuff, and that RAM, I think, is for the enthusiast?

Im the wrong guy to ask, i think the more ram the better, as far as the video card, i diagree with the other gentleman, id keep the 9800gt, since you are a casual gamer, video cards last a lot longer than people tend to give credit for, my nephew, is still gaming on a ati 9800 i gave to him(dont worry though, gonna gethim up to speed with a dual core, and 4830 soon enough)

 

[Lurker87]

Pretty much +1 to everything in kubes's post.

The Corsair XMS3 is more for heavier OCing. I would recommend going with the the suggestion by kubes. If you are just planning to dabble slightly in OCing, 1333 should do you well. That is actually the same set I am going to be getting for my i7 build.

Nice build though.