Build Advice Building new rig and looking for some advice - Updated with pictures

Hi guys, I'm new to the forums. I have been putting off building a new PC for a few months now, but finally I have the cash and the time to get to it so I'm looking for some advice.
I'll start with the usual stuff

Budget: between £1000 and £1200
Main uses of intended build: Gaming, and maybe some video editing
Parts required: everything in the tower except storage drives, don't need any peripherals
Previous build information (list details of parts): My current PC is over 3 years old, and the only parts i'm planning on keeping are a couple of HDD (1TB and 2TB)
Monitor resolution: 1920x1080 (dual monitors
Storage requirements: like i said above, storage is not a problem
Will you be overclocking: Probably in the future, but not straight away

So there are a few components that I am already set on since I've done enough research on them, but I still have a lot of question regarding other stuff.

The stuff that I am pretty much sure I will get is:

CPU: Intel i7-2600k
Mobo: MSI P67A-GD53
Case: Coolermaster HAF 922

The rest I'm still undecided on:

RAM: 8Gb DDR3 1866MHz - I was going to go for the Corsair Vengeance but I also wanted to get the be quiet! Dark Rock Pro as my CPU cooler, but after seeing some pictures I'm pretty sure the Vengeance coolers won't fit under it. Which is where my first question comes from, do you think I should just find another brand of RAM that actually fits or get a different CPU cooler??

SSD: any SATA III SSD with more than 100GB
PSU: Modular for sure and at least 750W

But now comes the most important part the Graphics Card, I am pretty much trying to choose between getting ONE GTX580 (any suggestions accepted), or TWO GTX560Ti (again any suggestions). I read on CustomPC a few months back that some of the most recent games where having frame rate issues with SLi and Crossfire, but haven't really kept up with the new about this, has this problem been solved with more recent drivers or is it still there? But most importantly what do you guys think would be better for my setup, 1 or 2 cards?? (I have checked on a lot of websites and the price difference is very small the 2xGTX560Ti would be only a few pounds cheaper)

 

You pretty much have it nailed buddy.
Might be worth dropping the cpu down to the 2500K unless you are doing something like video encoding.

SSD wise a Crucial M4 should do the job.

Why do you need 1866mhz ram? Something like the corsair vengeance 1600 ram would be perfect.

For a power supply I would stick with something like the corsair HX series, although there are many alternatives

If I was you I would just go straight to the 580 GTX. It will just be less hassle. If you need to you just pop another one in down the line.

You might find it difficult to get that board now as it's EOL. The Z G45 is also a good alternative
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/msi-...gb-s-raid-sata-pcie-20-(x16)-vga-on-board-atx

Any more question feel free to ask. Thread has been bumped now anyways.

 

For the RAM just get the new Corsair Vengeance Low Profile ram, which is about £50 for two 4GB DIMMS and are 1600MHz at 1.35V. Scan and Overclockers are both selling them so they should be easy to acquire.

As for the Power Supply the HX Series would be a very good choice.

For the Graphics Card, one GTX 580 would be the better choice IMO as you will not suffer from micro stuttering and/or other issues that are likely to result from a dual card setup. I'm not saying everyone has these problems, but their is an extra assurance with one powerful card.

I have a 580 myself and I am extremely happy with it's performance so far at 1920 x 1200 .

Good luck with the build .

 

Thanks for the replies guys, I actually posted this on friday and I guess it just took the mods a while to allow it through, so I've had time to check up on some stuff.

I am gonna go with the Thermaltake Frio instead of the Dark Rock Pro, just to be sure.

@murraynt: Yes I am planning on doing some video editing and most importantly I want this PC to last me at least a few years before i need to start replacing parts.
I read the RAM reviews on bit-tech and ye it turns out there isnt much difference between 1600 and 1866 so I can save some money there, and I can always OC it later on.
Most of the PSUs I've been looking at are the modular Corsair ones so I guess that's pretty much decided now.
Are you sure the GD53 is EOL?? I picked it because Custom PC had an article in July which compared a bunch of B3 Sandybridge mobos and that one came out on top. Also I'm not very familiar with the Z68 chipset, what's the difference between that and the P67?

@yassarikhan786: Hmm I hadn't noticed the LP version of the Vengeance, I'm definetly going for that one.
I also decided during the weekend that I am definelty goind with a single 580 for now. The problem that I have now is what brand to go with? On a lot of other forums people suggest the EVGA because of the warranty but there are some that come already OCed and with much better coolers, so I'm not sure.

 

I have the Gigabyte GTX 580, which has a substantial factory overclock as well as a very efficient and virtually silent cooler. It uses 3 x windforce fans, which are extremely quiet even at 100%. I've had the card for three months now and I couldn't be happier. It stays below 65 C for most games and the highest I've seen the card go is 71 C, and that was when I ran 3D Mark 11 at the extreme preset.

If you check out the reviews, it is shown to be the fastest 580 out there (as far as I know) and with a quiet and efficient cooler, you can't go wrong. It may be pricier than some of the other cards, but the awesome cooling power, significant overclock and low noise levels make it a winner in my book. Make sure that your case is efficient at cooling to get the best out of the card. The stock exhaust fans (1 x 200mm + 1 x 120mm) on my obsidian 650d do an excellent job of releasing the heat from within the case. Exhaust fans are very important because the card dumps heat into the case rather than out.

 

For the PSU I would strongly recommend either the XFX 750W BLACK EDITION or the 850w BLACK EDITION depending on your requirements, I have the 750W version and it's brilliant.

If you're looking for a 120GB SSD, the Adata S511 120GB is very good.

For the GTX 580 the EVGA warranty is very good (it covers pretty much anything short of smashing the card up) but there are better value versions of the card:

The KFA2 GTX 580 anarchy edition is very nice, or even better is Asus' Matrix GTX 580 Platinum or MSI's GTX 580 Twin Frozr II/OC. I think any of those 3 offer a better product than that of EVGA, but that's just my opinion.

 

yassarikhan786 if you are talking about the "1536MB Gigabyte GTX 580 Super Overclock, 40nm, 4100MHz GDDR5, GPU 855MHz" it's £420 on Scan, that's almost £40 more than the ones I was looking at and would push me to pretty much exactly £1200 which was my real real max, I was hoping to stay in the low £1100s. Do you really think it will make that much of a difference to be worth it? As for my case it will be a HAF922 so there is plenty of air flow, I will problably replace the back 120mm fan and and one 120mm fan on the side pannel, since i have 2 amazingly silent Akasa ones on my current PC.

S1W1 to be honest I had never heard of KFA2 untill maybe 3/4 months ago, so I'm not sure how much I trust them, as for the MSI Twin Frozr II it's one of the ones that I have been looking at the most these last few days.

I guess I need to find some reviews/comparisons on these OCed 580s and check out which one does better, I'll let you know when I find something.

 

It might be worth getting the 2600K in that case

The Be quite will be fine as long as it's low profile ram.

Yup, The gd53 is EOL. They are being phazed out in favor of z68 boards.
There is only few small differences. one being quick synce which speeds up video converting and smart response, which will let you use a small (lets say 20GB) SSD as a cache.
You might still get one but the z68 chipset is a great chipset and has dropped in price since launch.

I can't say I would recommend the XFX PSU's. They have a reputation for dropping low on the 5v rails and alot of them have a buzzing sound.

 

Thanks for the info murraynt I read up a bit on the Z68 chip and it sounds like its pretty much the same as the P67 with those 2 additions that you mentions, and since the it's pretty much the same price as the one I was planning on gettting I guess I will go for this one.

As for the PSU, I had some bad experiences with XFX before so I think I will stick with Corsair on this one

But for the CPU cooler I think I might actually go with the Frio in end, since it's a bit cheaper and according to this review: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2011/04/02/be-quiet-dark-rock-pro-review/2 it seems to actually perform better and it allows me to turn down the fans easily when I dont need the extra cooling.

 

if you want the vengance ram, then get it, i know it wont fit with the be quiet CPU cooler as that is one that i was looking at, instead i got the antec kuller 620 H20 and all i can say is that i havn't been dissapointed by it - granted it does cost a few £ extra but when the CPU is overclocked at 4.2 and is under load i have never had it above 30 degrees.

the vengence ram is cheaper than the low profile ram but the H20 cooler is a little more expensive than the be quiet

 

I think this review says it all about the Gfx Cards: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/geforce-gtx-580-overclock,review-32245.html

The MSI is only 2-3 fps below the much more expensive cards in all the test and it's much much cheaper.

 

So I'm pretty sure I have decided on all the components:

Case: CoolerMaster HAF922 - £77.39 - Scan
CPU: Intel i7 2600K - £227.99 - Aria
Mobo: MSI Z68-GD55 (B3) - £119.99 - Aria
Gfx Card: MSI GTX580 Twin Frozr II/OC - £379.90 - Scan
RAM: 8Gb 1600MHz Corsair Vengeance LP - £43.99 - Aria
PSU: Corsair HX 750W - £107.99 - Aria
CPU Cooler: Thermaltake Frio - £40.78 - Scan
SSD: 120GB OCZ Agility 3 or 120GB Corsair Force Series 3 - £ 129.74 - Scan (both are at exactly the same price)

Total: £1127.77


This is exactly the budget I was planning on, I will probably add a DVD RW on there but those are £15 these days.
What do you guys think? Can you see anything missing, or anything wrong? Also do I'm assuming the Corsair SSD is better then the OCZ one, is that right?

 

Just gonna bump this, since it took so long for my post to be moderated that it went back to the second page...

 

Yo Sarneus, sorry about the late reply dude. "1536MB Gigabyte GTX 580 Super Overclock, 40nm, 4100MHz GDDR5, GPU 855MHz" - Yep, that is the one I was talking about. It is expensive but the cooler is excellent, which will allow a further overclock and will still keep the card relatively cool. The factory overclock give 5 - 15 increase in fps depending on the game, which is good, if the game needs the extra few frames to make it smooth (e.g. from 20 to 30). In the more graphically intense games the card will probably only show a 4 - 10 frame increase from the stock GTX 580. The card is really for overclockers, who will push it to it's limits.

EDIT: For the SSD I would suggest the Corsair Force 3, as I've had mine for over 3 months and it's been nothing but fantastic for me.

 

Hmm I'm kind of rethinking the SSDs, I was looking around to find out which one is better and it looks like they are both based on the Sandforce chip, do you guys think you should spend more money on an SSD with the same capacity and speed, just to make sure I dont run into those problems? Accordng to Corsair they already solved most of the problems with the latest firmware.

 

Corsair SSD is a great SSD aswell.
2 more posts and you have free shipping from Scan.

 

Dabs have an awesome deal with an Ausus MB, i72600k and 8gb of 1866mhz ram. I just bought it myself, still got lots more to buy!

 

I think you mean 1 more

 

Now I'm conflicted :S
I was going to order all my stuff this weekend so I could build the PC sometime next week. But me and a friend just bought tickets for LITS (2 for £10), and I'm wondering if I might get some good deals there. But that would mean waiting at least another 2 weeks to place the order.

Do you guys think it's worth waiting? Or are the deals there not really good enough to be worth it?

 

I don't think you will get stuff much cheaper