~$1800 AUD Gaming/Cad Rig - Need suggestions/critique

[hittingray]

Hi guys, I'm building a new computer which will be used for general work, heavy gaming, engineering design (hence the 16GB of RAM) and the occasional video editing and audio editing. I need this computer to last for a few years. I'm on a budget and I'd like to stick around the $1800 mark (I'm in Australia, so please take this into mind; prices are > than the US). I've researched and this is the build I've come up with. I'm open to any suggestions and incompatibilities you may find. Here is what I plan on:


$105.60 Two of: 8GB (4GBx2) 1600 G.Skill Ripjaws-X
$38.00 Two of: Samsung SH-S223F
$92.00 Samsung 1 TB HDD
$205.00 Asus P8Z68-V-PRO
$390.00 Two of: Gigabyte GTX560
$19.00 NZXT Fan Rifle Bearing 14cm Fan
$50.00 Two of: NZXT Fan Rifle Bearing 20cm Fan (No LED)
$89.00 Noctua NH-D14
$159.00 Silverstone Strider Plus 850W ST85F-P
$169.00 NZXT Phantom Black
$110.00 OCZ SSD 60G Solid 3
$332.00 Intel Core i7-2600K

Total: $1823.60

I don't require a mouse, keyboard, monitor (this runs at 1920 x 1080) or any other peripherals. I would prefer to stick with nVidia, as I have had multiple bad experiences with ATI. I will be overclocking to as high as possible.

Thanks.

 

[lehtv]

RAM OK.
DVD Why two DVD drives?
HDD OK.
Mobo A bit expensive. Try to find Asrock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 or a Gigabyte Z68 UD3 board.
GPU Not a good idea... There's nothing wrong with current AMD cards, 6950 2GB single or crossfire (depending on user requirements) is what I usually recommend on 1080p. With two 1GB cards you're kinda VRAM limited in some games. If you must have a fast NVIDIA setup, just get a single GTX 570.
Fans Unneeded.
HSF OK.
PSU If you go with a single GTX 570, a 650W PSU would be plenty. E.g. Antec HCG-620 or Corsair TX650 V2.
Case While this is a personal choice in some ways, I think there are better cases that cost less. Fractal Design Arc Midi $144. Corsair Carbide 400R $137. Corsair Carbide 500R $161 for a dual-GPU setup.
SSD Not very good... Crucial M4 64GB or Samsung 830 64GB would be better.
CPU While it could be faster in some of the programs you use, I don't think it's worth the extra over 2500K. That one is already so fast when OC'd, you won't be disappointed with the performance no matter what you do with it. Even in heavily multithreaded programs, 2600K isn't any better value for money.

 

[hittingray]

RAM OK.
DVD Why two DVD drives?
HDD OK.
Mobo A bit expensive. Try to find Asrock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 or a Gigabyte Z68 UD3 board.
GPU Not a good idea... There's nothing wrong with current AMD cards, 6950 2GB single or crossfire (depending on user requirements) is what I usually recommend on 1080p. With two 1GB cards you're kinda VRAM limited in some games. If you must have a fast NVIDIA setup, just get a single GTX 570.
Fans Unneeded.
HSF OK.
PSU If you go with a single GTX 570, a 650W PSU would be plenty. E.g. Antec HCG-620 or Corsair TX650 V2.
Case While this is a personal choice in some ways, I think there are better cases that cost less. Fractal Design Arc Midi $144. Corsair Carbide 400R $137. Corsair Carbide 500R $161 for a dual-GPU setup.
SSD Not very good... Crucial M4 64GB or Samsung 830 64GB would be better.
CPU While it could be faster in some of the programs you use, I don't think it's worth the extra over 2500K. That one is already so fast when OC'd, you won't be disappointed with the performance no matter what you do with it. Even in heavily multithreaded programs, 2600K isn't any better value for money.

DVD So I'm able to copy a disc directly, rather than have to make an image of it first.
GPU Not really a fan of ATI, as I mentioned above, but I'll take it into consideration. The 6950s are ~$50 more each, so I may away from them.
Fans How many do you recommend, then? If I don't buy 2 of the 200mm fans, I have 155 CFM in and 135 CFM out. Is that enough to create good airflow? I'm also aiming for it to be positive.
PSU I'll think about it. It would be nice to keep the higher wattage PSU in case I do replace the GPUs a couple of years along the line. Not too sure how things will play out yet.
Case I've looked at all of them before. Didn't really like the look of any of them. I was going for a full size tower, too.
SSD More than likely going to change it to a Vertex 3.
CPU I'll take that one on board, too. But I'll probably cave and get the 2600K.
Mobo The ASRock is a few USB ports short for me. I have a lot of peripherals :/. The UD3 was another one I was thinking about, but I do like UEFI.

Thanks.

 

[mfenn]

DVD So I'm able to copy a disc directly, rather than have to make an image of it first.

How many times have you really wanted to do that?

GPU Not really a fan of ATI, as I mentioned above, but I'll take it into consideration. The 6950s are ~$50 more each, so I may away from them.

For gaming, 6950 2GB CFX is going to be significantly faster than GTX 560 Ti SLI, especially when you're VRAM limited. Remember, AA loves VRAM.

Fans How many do you recommend, then? If I don't buy 2 of the 200mm fans, I have 155 CFM in and 135 CFM out. Is that enough to create good airflow? I'm also aiming for it to be positive.

Raw CFM doesn't matter in the slightest. What's more important is an intelligently designed cooling system. The stock fans are fine.

PSU I'll think about it. It would be nice to keep the higher wattage PSU in case I do replace the GPUs a couple of years along the line. Not too sure how things will play out yet.

What makes you think that the GPUs of two years from now will draw any more power than the GPUs of today? The PCIe power spec isn't changing with PCIe 3.0, so the cap will remain the same as it is today for at least another 4 years.

Case I've looked at all of them before. Didn't really like the look of any of them. I was going for a full size tower, too.

Full tower vs. mid tower is only a marketing distinction. It is critical to look at the actual dimensions of the cases and how their internals are laid out.

SSD More than likely going to change it to a Vertex 3.

Notice how lehtv didn't recommend any OCZ SSDs? There is a reason for that, namely reliability.

CPU I'll take that one on board, too. But I'll probably cave and get the 2600K.

Look carefully at the performance numbers before you burn $100.

Mobo The ASRock is a few USB ports short for me. I have a lot of peripherals :/. The UD3 was another one I was thinking about, but I do like UEFI.

Get a hub or a bracket for the massive number of internal USB headers on these boards. It'll be a lot cheaper than $70.

 

[hittingray]

I've got another thread over at OCN that's going much better than here and there's a lot of progress there. So could a mod please lock this? Thanks.

Thanks for your reply, though, mfenn. I've already changed around a lot of the things you've mentioned.