System Build Specs - Any known issues with combination of following?

[BAD311]

Building two duplicate rigs, one for myself and one for my gamer wife who I headshot several times one night many years ago, lol.

Anyways... Here is what I'm looking at going with.

If anyone can recommend a better graphics card for the same $$$ or less, or a better unit for slightly more, please do let me know.

*Denotes already purchased

- Corsair 600T (WHT) Case*
- ECS Black Deluxe P67H2-A2 SLI (B3)* - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813135283
- COUGAR SX850 COUGAR-SX850* - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817553006
- Intel Core i5-2500K - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115072
- EVGA 01G-P3-1561-AR GeForce GTX 560 Ti + 1 more duplicate unit in about 6-9 months - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130604
- Corsair H100 CPU Cooler -
- CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) x 2 = 16GB total - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820233144
- Win 7 Ultimate

As far as HDD, I'm not sure if I want to go with a SSD yet or go with a 10k Raptor drive. Suggestions? This will be strictly a gaming rig. If I went with SSD I'd more than likely want to roll with a PCI for the speed benefits I've been reading about and right about the mobo PCI-E 16x slot there is a PCI 1x slot perfect for the SSD.

Not worried about other components, just these main components all playing nice together. Some may say 16GB of ram is too much, I agree, but it's so cheap and I'll wait until a deal pops up before I strike.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Building two duplicate rigs, one for myself and one for my gamer wife who I headshot several times one night many years ago, lol.

Anyways... Here is what I'm looking at going with.

If anyone can recommend a better graphics card for the same $$$ or less, or a better unit for slightly more, please do let me know.

*Denotes already purchased

- Corsair 600T (WHT) Case*
- ECS Black Deluxe P67H2-A2 SLI (B3)* - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813135283
- COUGAR SX850 COUGAR-SX850* - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817553006
- Intel Core i5-2500K - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115072
- EVGA 01G-P3-1561-AR GeForce GTX 560 Ti + 1 more duplicate unit in about 6-9 months - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130604
- Corsair H100 CPU Cooler -
- CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) x 2 = 16GB total - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820233144
- Win 7 Ultimate

As far as HDD, I'm not sure if I want to go with a SSD yet or go with a 10k Raptor drive. Suggestions? This will be strictly a gaming rig. If I went with SSD I'd more than likely want to roll with a PCI for the speed benefits I've been reading about and right about the mobo PCI-E 16x slot there is a PCI 1x slot perfect for the SSD.

Not worried about other components, just these main components all playing nice together. Some may say 16GB of ram is too much, I agree, but it's so cheap and I'll wait until a deal pops up before I strike.

I'll give you my thoughts, but I'm curious about the "Cougar." Who makes that PSU? 20 customers is barely larger than a "small sample." But apparently it got a rave notice until it was "discontinued" by the Egg. So the real question: who manufactures it? Is it "rebadged?" Or is there a company called "Cougar?"

My preference for this sort of thing: The PSU is an important component, so I look for comparison reviews by lab-testing sites like "Tech Report." For that, I tend to stick with Seasonic [who it now turns out is making PSUs for PC Power & Cooling -- or they were . . . recently].

You might want to look at the Z68 chipset boards. I ssay that, because you mention your crossroads over storage and have "SSD" written on your forehead as well as "Raptor." Look into ISRT -- I've written a lot of posts here on the Motherboards forum on a particular thread about ISRT . . . " . . It works! . . . " And I happened to test ISRT with a Veloci-Raptor. You only "need" a 20GB [even SATA-II] SSD to wring some performance out of less expensive drives -- or -- for that matter -- the Raptor.

I found a "deal" for a Raptor at Comp-U-Plus out of Monsey, NY, for about $198 when the Egg was selling it for around $260. Frye's is posting ads in the LA Times asking somewhere more or less than $220. I saw it somewhere else for $198, also. But there ARE such things as "bad production runs" for OEM-bulk HDD shipments, and I think I got a drive from such a batch. For that -- Comp-U-Plus was d**n good with their RMA process, and I had the new "exchange" drive in factory-sealed anti-static wrap about a week after they received my RMA package.

 

[BAD311]

Hey Duck, thanks for the info. I'm considering the Raptor drive as a option compared to SSD. I think the SSD technology is still too new to be a reliable method of saving data overtime. I've read too many reviews with a chip or two going bad and the whole SSD is gone, that and the fact it can be a PITA installing the drivers/software and running it smoothly. Most folks report BSOD/, random lock ups, etc... That would drive me NUTS compared to a high-end HDD like a Raptor. I'd be interested in any avail tweaks for the Raptor, I'll look around the forums.

HEC/Compucase owns and manufactures all COUGAR brand PSU's. They're out of Germany, and the Germans make good stuff.