Advise about my new pc I put together

[xerxesaria]

Bought items, will put together after I hear your opinions. Budget was C$1100, am already over, it's alright as long as I have a decent gaming rig that can last me for the next 3-4 years with games on high/maybe ultra settings (looking forward to Total War: Rome II, Company of Heroes 2, Lara Croft, etc)!!!

ps. I am not looking to overclock at all.....Thanks in advance:

- Intel Core i5-3570K BX806237i53570K Processor - Quad Core, 6MB L3 Cache, 3.40GHz (3.80GHz Max Turbo), Socket H2 (LGA1155), 95W, Fan, Unlocked

- GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD3H Intel 7 Series Motherboard - ATX, Socket H2 (LGA1155), Intel Z77 Express, 1600MHz DDR3, SATA III (6Gb/s), RAID, 8-Ch Audio, Gigabit LAN, USB 3.0, PCIe 3.0, CrossFireX/SLI

- Galaxy 56NGH6HS4IXZ GeForce GTX 560 Ti Video Card - 1GB, GDDR5, PCI-Express 2.0 (x16), Dual DVI, HDMI, DirectX 11, SLI Ready

- Corsair CMZ4GX3M1A1600C9 Vengeance Desktop Memory Module - 4GB, PC3-12800, DDR3-1600MHz, 240-pin DIMM, 1.5V, CL9, Non-ECC, Unbuffered (two of these for total of 8GB)

- Western Digital WD1002FAEX 1TB Caviar Black Hard Drive - 1TB, 7200RPM, 64MB, SATA 6Gbs (two of these for a total of 2TB)

- Thermaltake TR2 TR-700 700W ATX 12V V2.3 & EPS 12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply

- Cooler Master SGC-1000-KWN1 Storm Enforcer ATX Mid Tower Case - ATX, Micro ATX, 4x Ext 5.25", 1x Ext 3.5", 6x Int 3.5", 1x 200mm Red LED Fan, 1x 120mm Fan, 2x USB 3.0 Ports, 2x USB 2.0 Ports, Black

- Samsung SH-224BB/BEBE Internal 24X DVD Burner -Tray, SATA, 1.5MB Buffer Memory, 16x DVD-R Read, 48x CD-R Write

- Windows 7 64Bit Home Premium Edition

- Peripherals:

- Cooler Master MegaFlow R4-MFJR-07FK-R1 200mm Silent Fan - High Air Flow, Quiet Operation, RoHS, 700RPM, Sleeve Bearing, Black (for the top exhaust in the case) (maybe should get the one with LED light?!)
- Antivirus (Norton-already using it for 4 years), Surge protector, and other stuff...

This build is also going to be my living room's entertainment centre with a connection to my 24" monitor (Samsung), 32" TV (Sharp aquos), and 5.1 HT surround sound (Sony).

Last question: After BIOS, and while installing Win 7, will I have to partition one of my HD's to save a recovery boot for Win 7 on it? If so, how much of it (250GB is ok?)? Can I use both HD's at the same time while my computer is up and running?

Thank you for all your help. This is a great community and I am a noob here. So thanks for your patience.

 

[lakedude]

Bought items, will put together after I hear your opinions

You already purchased all the stuff? Well done, enjoy your system! You can use both hard drives. Not sure what you are getting at with your partition question...

 

[lakedude]

There are a number of ways to use 2 hard drives.

1) Mirrored (redundant)

2) Striped (fast, but not redundant)

3) Separately (so one would be like a "C:" drive and the other would be "F:").

Ha I tried to use the letter "D" but "D colon" comes out "D:"

 

[Steltek]

Ha I tried to use the letter "D" but "D colon" comes out "D:"

Under miscellaneous options before you submit your post, check the "Disable smilies in text" box to prevent this from happening with your posts when you don't intend to post smilies.

 

[lakedude]

Thanks Steltek

 

[xerxesaria]

You already purchased all the stuff? Well done, enjoy your system! You can use both hard drives. Not sure what you are getting at with your partition question...

Thanks for your reply. Yes. I have already brought all the items together (not from a website, I physically went out and shopped for them!).
I will hold back on the two 1TB HD's and exchange them for a 2TB WD Cav. Black HD (which is also cheaper than the two 1TB's together!).
I already got my answer through research about partitioning, but thanks for your next reply.