First build and would love some advice

[0dervish0]

Hey everyone

So I am finally building my own desktop. I mostly (90% of the time) us my pc for photoshop, so RAM and CPU is important but I also want to be able to play Battlefield 3 on High/Ultra on a 1080p monitor. So below is what I was thinking and would love to know what you all think as I am pretty new to this all and still learning. Please only constructive criticism.

CPU: Intel Core i7 2600k (Overclock/i7 Hyper threading is very handy for photoshop) $334

RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws-x 1866 4GBx4 (Has good reviews, 1866Mhz and RAM is essential for photoshop) $164

MoBo: ASrock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 (Good reviews, good price, SATA3, USB 3.0 and looks sick) $135

Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 (Performs just as good as the H100) or Corsair H100(Less stress on the MoBo and more airflow through case)? $94 or $162

GPU: Gigabyte 1GB 6950 PCI-E (Good reviews and from what I read should run BF3 well? Is it hard to overclock this GPU?) $258

PSU: Corsair HX-650 or Thermaltake Toughpower XT 775W or Silerstone st75f-p or (Will 650W do? I want to Overclock the CPU, GPU and in the future maybe get a second GPU) around $150

SSD : Crucial M4 128GB (More reliable) or Corsair Force Gt 120GB (550Mb/s read speed and looks sick) $220 or $230

HDD : I already have two WD 2TB external drives so for now that will do

Case: Corsair Obsidian 650D or Lian Li PC-7FNWX or Cooler Master HAF X (Would like to have dust filters, red led's, black interior and good cooling) Around $220

All together this is going to cost around $1600, max $1800. I am trying to do this build as cheap as possible, that’s why I am building it myself but I am not a complete novice as I am studing electrical engineering and messed around with a previous desktop.

Hope you all have some good advice

Cheers
Chris

 

[lehtv]

I assume these are Canadian prices? Ordering from newegg.ca, ncix or other?

Some of the choices are in line with the part where you say you're trying to do this as cheap as possible. Others could be improved... Some pointers while I'm at it:

• 2600K won't give you much of an edge in photoshop, as it is quad-core optimized (I've read) and Anandtech Bench shows a 10% improvement despite a 50% increase in price. (And that 10% includes a 100Mhz stock clock difference.)
• 1333/1600MHz memory is fine, can be had for $40-50 per 8GB kit
• NH-D14 is great but do you need to OC to 5.0GHz? A cooler half that price will get you to 4.5 easily. Power consumption increases wildly after this point anyway (diminshing returns...)
• 650W is great for one GPU, 750W for 6950 crossfire. See XFX on ncix.
• +1 on Crucial M4
• $100-150 will get you a good case

EDIT:

As for the GPU - Tom's Hardware just tested a ton of graphics cards in BF3, and AMD actually pulls out some impressive numbers. 6970 competes with 580, 6950 competes with 570. I would recommend a 6950 2GB as it'll ensure you don't run out of VRAM in any current or future titles, and it'll be great for crossfiring. As a bonus, AMD cards scale to over 190% with the second GPU, while NVIDIA only scales to 160-170%, as you can see in the article.
AMD results @ High Quality.
NVIDIA results @ High Quality.

 

[0dervish0]

I assume these are Canadian prices? Ordering from newegg.ca, ncix or other?

Some of the choices are in line with the part where you say you're trying to do this as cheap as possible. Others could be improved... Some pointers while I'm at it:

• 2600K won't give you much of an edge in photoshop, as it is quad-core optimized (I've read) and Anandtech Bench shows a 10% improvement despite a 50% increase in price. (And that 10% includes a 100Mhz stock clock difference.)
• 1333/1600MHz memory is fine, can be had for $40-50 per 8GB kit
• NH-D14 is great but do you need to OC to 5.0GHz? A cooler half that price will get you to 4.5 easily. Power consumption increases wildly after this point anyway (diminshing returns...)
• 650W is great for one GPU, 750W for 6950 crossfire. See XFX on ncix.
• +1 on Crucial M4
• $100-150 will get you a good case

EDIT:

As for the GPU - Tom's Hardware just tested a ton of graphics cards in BF3, and AMD actually pulls out some impressive numbers. 6970 competes with 580, 6950 competes with 570. I would recommend a 6950 2GB as it'll ensure you don't run out of VRAM in any current or future titles, and it'll be great for crossfiring. As a bonus, AMD cards scale to over 190% with the second GPU, while NVIDIA only scales to 160-170%, as you can see in the article.
AMD results @ High Quality.
NVIDIA results @ High Quality.

Nah mate these are Australian prices. From Kiotech and MSY.

Yeah but I want to have this system for a while so getting a better cpu then I need now means It will last for a lot longer. I just read on photoshop forums were people asked if i7 is worth getting for photoshop and about 90% of the responses said yes because of hyper threading. What is an i7 good for then? As you don't need it for gaming either?

The RAM link didn't open. Thanks that's good to know. Is it true that 1600Mhz is better for overclocking?

Well initially I was considering the Corsair H100 which is $162 haha. But read reviews and the NH-D14 perform just as good for $50 less. Well I would like to get to around 4.5Ghz and have as minimal stress on the cpu as possible (low temps). So after 4.5Ghz does the cpu drain a lot of power? exponential increase in power?

Just that the Corsair HX650 costs $149 and the HX750 costs $208 so its a $58 increase which is pretty big. But I don't want to regret it in the future.

Yeah Crucial M4 for sure.

Yeah but I want a nice case. Thinking about the Corsair 650D($230), 500R($164) or 600T($222). Quality not quantity is what I'm after.

Yeah I'm thinking of getting the best GPU I can now and then later have dual GPU. To crossfire do the gpu's have to be exactly the same? Including manufacturer?
What 6950 2GB graphics card would you recommend? Read on tomshardware that Gigabyte and Sapphire are the best but Gigabyte doesn't make a 2gb (well not on the site). Here are my options:
http://www.koitech.com.au/products/graphic-cards/amd-radeon-6950/
Although the graphics card is getting a bit pricey now.

Is it worth spending $239 for a Asus P8Z68-V PRO MoBo? or Asus P8Z68-V Motherboard ($206) or stick with the ASrock Extreme3 Gen3 ($142)?

"trying to do this as cheap as possible" maybe not the best way of putting it. I want the best build I can get with the money I'm spending. Get the best I can for around $600-$1800.

So many choices to make

Thanks for the advice mate

 

[0dervish0]

Arhhh I just wrote a massive reply and pressed submit and it didn't? Have to rewrite it all

Nah mate these are Australian prices from Koitech in Sydney.

I want to buy the best cpu I can so it will be decent in the future and I won't have to replace it. Probably why you bought one too. As you don't need one for gaming either. But on a photoshop forum a guy ask if its worth getting a i7 for it and 90% of the responses said yes as it takes advantage of the hyper threading.

The RAM link didn't work? Yeah I think 1600Mhz will do but its not a big saving. Is it true that 1600Mhz is better for overclocking then 1300Mhz?

Well initially I was thinking about the Corsair H100 which is $50 more. After 4.5Ghz does power consumption increase exponentially? I would like to run at 4.5Ghz and put as little stress on the cpu as possible (lowest temp) so it will last and run better. I said I want it as cheap as possible but what I mean is I want the best system I can get for a set amount of money ($1600-$1800), not the cheapest system I can buy. Rather spend a bit more and in the future still have a sweet system and not have to upgrade every 2 years.

Yeah just that the Corsair HX650 is $59 cheaper then the HX750. But I don't want to have to buy another psu in the future.
Thinking I can get the best GPU I can afford now and in the future get another one. Does it have to be the same GPU and same manufacturer?

Yeah Crucial M4 is what I think I will get haha everyone I have asked said to get it. Must be super good.

I want to get a nice case that looks decent and not heaps show off. Considering the Corsair 650D ($230), 600T ($222) or 500R ($164). At the moment the 650D is winning. Liking the quality of Corsair

Wow that is a perfect review. Best one I have seen. Will have to read through it later. Just don't want to spend too much on the GPU. Here are the options and prices for the store I want to get it from:
http://www.koitech.com.au/products/graphic-cards/amd-radeon-6950/

Heard that 1GB should be enough for BF3.

A lot of choices to make.

Thanks for the solid advice mate.

 

[0dervish0]

Also I didn't notice the reply had to be approved before posting so I have two replies to the post haha but both a tiny bit different. Read the second one as its more refined. First time using this forum so I'm still a noob

Also in response to the i7 comment. The test done comparing the i7 and i5 for photoshop was for CS4 which is like 3 years old so it wouldn't be optimised for i7 while I use CS5 so it should make a big difference.

 

[0dervish0]

For some reason it is posting these responses but not my previous ones. Might just have to wait for it to be approved as it was a longer one.

 

[dpodblood]

+1 to lehtv's comments. Go with DDR3-1333 or 1600. Buy a cheaper cooler like the Coolermaster Hyper 212+, and grab a 2GB model of the 6950. Likely you will be able to unlock extra shaders in the 2GB model which would not be possible in the 1GB model. Also of you want to save a little bit you can go with the Corsair 400R case.

 

[lehtv]

Also in response to the i7 comment. The test done comparing the i7 and i5 for photoshop was for CS4 which is like 3 years old so it wouldn't be optimised for i7 while I use CS5 so it should make a big difference.

Here's Adobe CS5: http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/...age-Processing-Adobe-Photoshop-CS-5,2426.html

Applying 6 filters to a 69 MB TIF image
2600K score = 95 seconds
2500K score = 98 seconds

It looks like this 3% advantage is entirely due to the 3% faster stock clocks. This indicates that there's no advantage to more than 4 cores. However, I don't know if this conclusion can be extended to the whole application, or just these particular filters... but still, the benefits of 2600K look pretty meager in Photoshop CS5.

 

[0dervish0]

Yeah your right lehtv. The advantage is pretty messily for a $100 more. Maybe for photomerging (panoramas) it might work better. What is the i7 good for? Seems like the i5 is pretty similar for all tests.

What is the Intel Core i7-980X? Is that the previous model? 6 core? That cpu worked well haha.

Yeah I will go with DDR3 1600Mhz RAM for sure.

Not sure about a cheaper CPU HSF. Remember you all probably build gaming rigs so you don't care about the cpu or ram but want the top GPU for gaming while its the opposite for me. What speed do you recommend overclocking the i7 to? 4.5Ghz? What temp will the Coolermaster Hyper 212+ have on average? Remember I live in Australia so in summer temps can reach over 40 degrees and most of the time its around 30 degrees. Who buys the the high end coolers if they aren't needed then?

Pretty sure I will go with the 650D case just because of its simple and modern look and has every feature I want. Maybe the 500r if I want to save money.

All helpful tips and I will take it all into consideration

Thanks for your time

 

[0dervish0]

Which GPU would you pick out of these? Best value one.

http://www.koitech.com.au/products/graphic-cards/amd-radeon-6950/

 

[fffblackmage]

What is the i7 good for? Seems like the i5 is pretty similar for all tests.

The i7 is good for the few heavily-threaded programs that actually utilize more than 4 cores. That might include some rendering and encoding programs. Not really sure what else, but all I know is that most people don't need it.

What is the Intel Core i7-980X? Is that the previous model? 6 core? That cpu worked well haha.

The i7-980X belongs to the LGA1366 socket, the previous generation high-end platform getting replaced by LGA2011 soon. The i5-2500K/i7-2600K on LGA1155 are the current generation of mainstream CPUs.

Not sure about a cheaper CPU HSF. Remember you all probably build gaming rigs so you don't care about the cpu or ram but want the top GPU for gaming while its the opposite for me.

You'd be surprised. If you take a look at the other threads, a lot of people originally list the i7-2600K in their build, when the i5-2500K is like 33% cheaper and performs just about the same for gaming.

 

[lehtv]

I want to buy the best cpu I can so it will be decent in the future and I won't have to replace it. Probably why you bought one too. As you don't need one for gaming either.

I could've bought an i5-750... I should have, actually. Same reason you should go with 2500K: by the time either of 2500K or 2600K start to be slow, we'll be well into a new generation of CPUs that are much faster and either of them.

The RAM link didn't work?

Sorry, the forum messes up links sometimes. Here's the correct one http://www.anandtech.com/show/4503/sandy-bridge-memory-scaling-choosing-the-best-ddr3/

Is it true that 1600Mhz is better for overclocking then 1300Mhz?

No, as overclocking Sandy Bridge does not involve base clock overclocking. It's only about changing the multiplier for baseclock, and that doesn't affect memory frequency.

Well initially I was thinking about the Corsair H100 which is $50 more. After 4.5Ghz does power consumption increase exponentially?

Yes, but D14 handles it just as well as H100.

I would like to run at 4.5Ghz and put as little stress on the cpu as possible (lowest temp) so it will last and run better.

Even a 212+ will handle 4.5 at a decent enough temperature to not have to worry about longevity at all. Only if you're worried about the noise (212+ isn't very loud though), then get something better.

Rather spend a bit more and in the future still have a sweet system and not have to upgrade every 2 years.

Personally I prefer increasing performance in gradual steps rather than huge jumps. It's not any harder on the wallet and you get great performance at all times.

Yeah just that the Corsair HX650 is $59 cheaper then the HX750. But I don't want to have to buy another psu in the future.

HX650 will handle any single-GPU system, and could handle 6950 crossfire as well but it'd be more comfortable to have a 750W PSU for that.

I want to get a nice case that looks decent and not heaps show off. Considering the Corsair 650D ($230), 600T ($222) or 500R ($164). At the moment the 650D is winning. Liking the quality of Corsair

Hmm, cases above the most budget-oriented ones are usually well enough built to last for a long time... Cases that go above the $100 mark tend to have a bit more of flashy looks and stuff. Here, as in all other components, you encounter the law of diminishing returns. But if you like the 650D go for it, it's a fantastic case and the price isn't that bad in the long term

Here are the options and prices for the store I want to get it from:
http://www.koitech.com.au/products/g...d-radeon-6950/

Since there's not really much difference in price between the 1GB and 2GB models, you should definitely get 2GB. Too bad they don't have any of the MSI twin frozr or dual-fan XFX models though... Out of those options, I'd pick the Sapphire 6950 2GB $304.

Heard that 1GB should be enough for BF3.

It can definitely use over 1GB on 1080p at settings that 6950/560 ti can handle pretty well. And as I said, a 2GB card as it will be much better to crossfire. If you crossfire 1GB cards, you waste a lot of the potential of the cards because the limited VRAM will not allow you to take advantage of settings that use all that extra power of a dual-GPU setup (will be even more true for future titles, I expect).

Not sure about a cheaper CPU HSF. Remember you all probably build gaming rigs so you don't care about the cpu or ram but want the top GPU for gaming while its the opposite for me. What speed do you recommend overclocking the i7 to? 4.5Ghz? What temp will the Coolermaster Hyper 212+ have on average? Remember I live in Australia so in summer temps can reach over 40 degrees and most of the time its around 30 degrees. Who buys the the high end coolers if they aren't needed then?

What D14 excels in: 1) handling big overclocks at nice temperatures, I'm talking ones that need a lot of voltage increase; but most users like to keep their OC reasonable, and 2) low temperature and low noise operation at reasonable clocks/voltages. A cooler like 212+ will OC to 4.5ghz, so if you ignore 1) then you get the same performance, but at higher temperature and noise levels. This doesn't bother most people. A high performance single tower cooler, or a Noctua top-down cooler, can do 4.5ghz at a low noise at a reasonable temperature, which is great for anyone who doesn't need to OC much further than that.

Thanks for the solid advice mate.

No problem :thumbsup:

 

[mfenn]

Who buys the the high end coolers if they aren't needed then?

Extreme overclockers and/or people with more money than sense. After a certain point, the voltage increase (and thus power increase) required to raise the clock frequency increases exponentially. It doesn't make sense to get a $100 cooler that will let you reach 5.0GHz when a $30 cooler will get you to 4.5GHz. Also, nothing that lehtv has recommended should be construed as not caring about the CPU.

 

[mfenn]

As for the GPU - Tom's Hardware just tested a ton of graphics cards in BF3, and AMD actually pulls out some impressive numbers. 6970 competes with 580, 6950 competes with 570. I would recommend a 6950 2GB as it'll ensure you don't run out of VRAM in any current or future titles, and it'll be great for crossfiring. As a bonus, AMD cards scale to over 190% with the second GPU, while NVIDIA only scales to 160-170%, as you can see in the article.
AMD results @ High Quality.
NVIDIA results @ High Quality.

Very interesting! The earlier results from the beta were favoring Nvidia. I suppose those might have been with less optimized drivers from AMD?

 

[0dervish0]

The i7 is good for the few heavily-threaded programs that actually utilize more than 4 cores. That might include some rendering and encoding programs. Not really sure what else, but all I know is that most people don't need it.


The i7-980X belongs to the LGA1366 socket, the previous generation high-end platform getting replaced by LGA2011 soon. The i5-2500K/i7-2600K on LGA1155 are the current generation of mainstream CPUs.

You'd be surprised. If you take a look at the other threads, a lot of people originally list the i7-2600K in their build, when the i5-2500K is like 33% cheaper and performs just about the same for gaming.

Hmmm starting to get convinced but worried I might regret it in the future. Just feel like I am skimping getting the i5 but your probably right. Just that now the i7 doesn't perform well but what about in the future when new programs come out (e.g.CS6) that utilize more then 4 cores? What is the cache useful for? The i7 has 2MB more (6MB vs 8MB).

Will I need to get a LGA2011 motherboard when it is released? Is that the Ivry bridge chips? As I heard the ASrock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 can take those CPU's.

 

[lehtv]

LGA2011 is for Sandy Bridge-E, as in Extreme. I don't know if Ivy Bridge E will use the same platform... But Ivy Bridge itself will use LGA1155 just like SB.

Regardless, those CPUs are for the extreme enthusiasts and professionals and even the cheapest variants will cost nearly $400 IIRC.

 

[0dervish0]

Sorry, the forum messes up links sometimes. Here's the correct one

Yeah seems like 1600Mhz will be more then enough. G.skill Ripjaws vs Corsair Vengeance? Both the same?

Yes, but D14 handles it just as well as H100.

Yeah I read a forum comparing the two and the D14 actually performed just as good (H100 was only 2 degrees less) but the D14 was a lot quieter surprisingly with stock fans. What is the point of custom water cooling? Just so it looks cool? If the D14 can handle 5Ghz easily why do they need more cooling?

Even a 212+ will handle 4.5 at a decent enough temperature to not have to worry about longevity at all. Only if you're worried about the noise (212+ isn't very loud though), then get something better.

So what is the best CPU HSF I should get that is quiet and will handle 4.5Ghz easily? Here are my options:

http://www.koitech.com.au/products/cpucoolers/air-cpu-coolers/

What I haven't included is thermal paste too.

HX650 will handle any single-GPU system, and could handle 6950 crossfire as well but it'd be more comfortable to have a 750W PSU for that.

Yeah I will go 750W to be safe.

But if you like the 650D go for it, it's a fantastic case and the price isn't that bad in the long term

Yeah I love the look of it but I know its not the cheapest. If I need to save money to upgrade something else I will get the 500R.

Too bad they don't have any of the MSI twin frozr or dual-fan XFX models though... Out of those options, I'd pick the Sapphire 6950 2GB $304

Will overclocking the Sapphire 6850 2GB make a big difference? Are the MSI twin frozr or dual-fan XFX much better? As I could ask the owner to order them in. Why not gigabyte? In a tomshardware review it was picked as the top performer and the Sapphire tied with it as it comes with dirt 3 but the gigabyte was faster. Do they make a 2GB gigabyte? Is the 6970 that much better then the 6950 to pay another $100 for it?

No problem :thumbsup:

Some of the best advice I have gotten. Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to all my annoying questions. Your a legend :thumbsup:

Probably get the i5 2500k, 1600Mhz ram, mid level CPU HSF, 750W PSU and 2GB Graphics card.

 

[lehtv]

Not fffblackmage actually ...

G.skill Ripjaws vs Corsair Vengeance? Both the same?

Yeah they're both great. G.skill seems to be cheaper than Corsair memory in koitech.

Either of these is good:
http://www.koitech.com.au/products/...-8gb-dual-channel-ripjaws-f3-12800cl9d-8gbrl/
http://www.koitech.com.au/products/...-8gb-dual-channel-sniper-f3-12800cl9d-8gbsr2/ (only 1.25V)

So what is the best CPU HSF I should get that is quiet and will handle 4.5Ghz easily? Here are my options:

Ah, I see... not a lot of options. Out of those I'd go with C12P SE14. Cheaper than the other Noctuas, and it'll handle 4.5 easily while being very quiet (140mm fan with speed switches). Being a top down cooler it has some advantages over tower coolers:

- it cools motherboard components too
- great compatibility with taller RAM modules and motherboard heatsinks
- not very tall itself, so height clearance won't be an issue when choosing a case

What I haven't included is thermal paste too.

Thermal paste usually comes with the cooler. C12P comes with Noctua's high end NT-H1 thermal compound.

Will overclocking the Sapphire 6850 2GB make a big difference? The main difference to MSI is the cooler. That sapphire has only a single fan, so temperatures are going to be a bit higher and it may make a bit more noise. This also means that MSI is easier to OC. XFX is probably midway between Sapphire and MSI in cooling performance; but it offers transferable lifetime warranty. If the price is a lot higher for XFX and MSI I'd go with the sapphire and leave it on stock clocks, should be fine.
Why not gigabyte? Only 1GB
Do they make a 2GB gigabyte? Would be great if they did... that triple-fan cooler is very good
Is the 6970 that much better then the 6950 to pay another $100 for it? No.

 

[0dervish0]

LGA2011 is for Sandy Bridge-E, as in Extreme. I don't know if Ivy Bridge E will use the same platform... But Ivy Bridge itself will use LGA1155 just like SB.

Regardless, those CPUs are for the extreme enthusiasts and professionals and even the cheapest variants will cost nearly $400 IIRC.

Yeah I was just looking at them just a second ago. Amazing! 6 cores (12 threads) haha.

Also quickly what motherboard do you recommend?

I was thinking about the ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 Motherboard ($142) but should I get something better like the Asus P8Z68-V PRO Motherboard
($239) or Asus P8Z68-V Motherboard ($206)? or even ASrock Extreme6?

 

[0dervish0]

Not fffblackmage actually ...

What?

Yeah they're both great. G.skill seems to be cheaper than Corsair memory in koitech.

Either of these is good:
http://www.koitech.com.au/products/...-8gb-dual-channel-ripjaws-f3-12800cl9d-8gbrl/
http://www.koitech.com.au/products/...-8gb-dual-channel-sniper-f3-12800cl9d-8gbsr2/ (only 1.25V)

What is the advantage of the sniper over the ripjaws? Just to save power consumption (0.25v)?

 

[lehtv]

What?

Originally Posted by fffblackmage
Sorry, the forum messes up links sometimes. Here's the correct one

That

What is the advantage of the sniper over the ripjaws? Just to save power consumption (0.25v)?

Yeah. An unimportant but cool feature :>. Imo the sniper looks better too (another unimportant but cool feature...)

Also quickly what motherboard do you recommend?

The Asrock Extreme3 Gen3 will be good. Asus P8Z68-V offers 3-year warranty as opposed to 2, and internal USB3 headers for the case, not worth the big price premium IMO.

 

[0dervish0]

Ah, I see... not a lot of options. Out of those I'd go with C12P SE14. Cheaper than the other Noctuas, and it'll handle 4.5 easily while being very quiet (140mm fan with speed switches).

If there is a better option I can just buy it from ebay or another store. I am just getting it from this store as it has good service but prices aren't the lowest for everything. Don't think I will have a problem fitting a big heatsink with the 650D.

XFX is probably midway between Sapphire and MSI in cooling performance; but it offers transferable lifetime warranty. If the price is a lot higher for XFX and MSI I'd go with the sapphire and leave it on stock clocks, should be fine.

What about this:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/MSI-Rade...701?pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item2eb87bccbd

About $275 including postage and from a good reviewed US seller.


Once again thanks for your advice. I will post the updated build soon.

 

[lehtv]

If there is a better option I can just buy it from ebay or another store. I am just getting it from this store as it has good service but prices aren't the lowest for everything. Don't think I will have a problem fitting a big heatsink with the 650D.

I think the only other viable option here is Hyper 212+ but it's not as quiet and well performing (obviously) as the twice as expensive Noctua C12P.

What about this:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/MSI-Radeo...item2eb87bccbd

Only if you're comfortable ordering from ebay.

 

[0dervish0]

I think the only other viable option here is Hyper 212+ but it's not as quiet and well performing (obviously) as the twice as expensive Noctua C12P.

Why not just pay another $15 for the N14 instead of the C12P and have the best cooling? Is the N14 significantly louder? I know you already explained that its not needed but $15 isn't big money and if the temps on the cpu are lower I'm sure it will reduce longevity and make it possible to overclock to 5Ghz in the future. Can the ASrock Extreme3 handle 5Ghz?

Only if you're comfortable ordering from ebay.

Yeah I buy 99% of my stuff from ebay. Is it different with computer hardware? If they have good reviews and sold a decent amount there shouldn't be any problems plus I pay via paypal.

So this won't perform significantly better then the MSI 6950 to pay another $160 for?

http://www.koitech.com.au/products/...6970/gigabyte-radeon-hd-6970-2gb-overclocked/

I noticed you have a Asus Xonar DX. Thinking about getting it in the future. Is there a noticeable difference to the stock motherboard sound card?

 

[0dervish0]

This is the updated component list:

CPU: Intel Core i5 2500k

CPU HSF: Noctua NH-C12P-SE14

MoBo: ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 Motherboard

RAM: G.Skill DDR3-1600 4x4GB Dual Channel [Sniper]

GPU: MSI Radeon HD 6950 R6950 TWIN FROZR II/OC 2GB

PSU: Corsair HX-750

SSD : Crucial M4 128GB

Case: Corsair Obsidian 650D

Price:

$239.00
$79.00
$142.00
$130.00
$350.00
$200.00
$220.00
$230.00

Total =
$1,590.00