Go for something more substantial as a CPU cooler for better overclocking. Maybe the Be Quiet! Dark Rock Advanced.
Opting for 1680x1050 seems like a backward step to me, the greater resolution at 1080 is going to look much better, I would go for a 1920x1080 screen and beef up the graphics card to a GTX570/580, it should be well affordable in that budget given what you have listed already.
Thanks shaunster1011, I almost missed this nonsense! I have a monitor capable of a 2560 by 1440 resolution yet I can go right down to 800 by 600 on the same display! Absolutely no point limiting yourself to a monitor only capable of 1680 by 1050 as this can be adjusted downwards if you go for a 1920 by 1080 model anyway for increased FPS. No cost difference really either as 1920 by 1080 is pretty much standard fare as far as PC monitors go these days.
your throwing money away on that motherboard. You dont need a super high board unless you are into extreme overclocking. Just get any P67 really since you only have 1 GPU (all will accomodate a 2nd later on if desired) and wont need a million SATA ports and USB ports. Also, you want to limit yourself to a 1680x1050 monitor so you save performance? Why not get the bigger, better 1920x1080 and if you have to you can turn down the graphics options. Your GPU will be enough to handle games at reasonable settings for a while anyway. I dont see why lower native res would be preferred to bigger screen, higher res at maybe slightly reduced graphics settings. Spend less on the mobo, change out the cooler and get a better monitor.
Yeah, if I were you I'd save some money on the motherboard and spend a little more on a better screen or graphics card. Screen wise, I've a Dell 22" 2209WA. It's 1680x1050 res and it has an absolutely brilliant picture with an IPS panel rather than cheapy TFT panel, goes for about £260 in the UK depending where you go, so it might be something worth looking into from your end
ahhh okay sorry for spamming but since I'm new my posts don't show up til mod approves them! If I were you I'd buy a 2GB 6950 and unlock it to a 6970 and have a very powerful card for a very reasonable price.. unless AMD's changed their cards so this is no longer possible, but even then.. you'd have a card that outperforms the 560 you chose on higher resolutions because of the extra ram
You mentioned the resolution, but what size of monitor are you looking for? CustomPC recently had a labs test of CPU coolers, and the Zalman CNPS12X didn't fair so well. For the same price (£30-£40), they recommend either the Gelid Tranquillo Rev 2 (£25) or the Be Quiet! Dark Rock Advanced (£45).
