Drowningshrimp

Ive put together a list of parts with prices and would like some help on deciding if these parts are any good, or if there are better alternatives.
I want lots of criticism on what could be improved.

Budget is $2000.

The blue ray drive is $64.

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Tipstaff

Great list you got there. I do have a 1 concern though, and that's the RAM.

Out of all the RAM I've sold over the years G.Skill and Mushkin have been my nemesis time and again. Personally I have yet to have any sort of trouble with the G.Skill kits in my 2 rigs (the one in my specs, the other is the first set of 1.5v 4GB kits, the F3-10666CL9D-4GBNQ, that they released), but for every set of G.Skill I sell I RMA another (while I've RMA'd every single kit of Mushkin I've ever sold). My advice would be to look at either Corsairs Vengeance CMZ8GX3M2A1866C9, Patriots Viper Xtreme PXD38G1866ELK, or Kingstons HyperX KHX1866C9D3K2/8G or KHX1866C9D3K2/8GX kits (in that order). Those are usually priced about the same as the G.Skill, but you will have a better chance of getting a good set on your first try with those brands over G.Skill.. which could take 1 or 2 more tries before you find a stable/good set.

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EZero

I'll chime in with criticisms first since you asked

Buy cheaper RAM like Newegg.com - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL

Get a 2500K instead of a 2600K unless hyperthreading actually helps in what you do. It doesn't help at all in games.

If you're going to go for a sealed "water" cooler you might as well get a H100 with the money you're saving from the above 2 items.

Final note which may or may not be applicable to you is to just get a cheaper 60/120GB SSD such as an OCZ Vertex 2 as a boot drive and get a 500GB WD Caviar black for data/games. But this only applies if you don't have a ton of data.

Drowningshrimp

Wow, that's surprising. Since I have a few Kingston products that I love, I might go with the hyper x.
I was comparing the video card to the GTX 580 Classified Ultra. It has a significant improvement in memory speed and a lot of room to overclock. Starting at 900mhz, I think it's a good deal.

blibbax

For this kind of budget and gaming, 7970 seems the way to go atm.

I'd agree that the 2600K is wasted if you're not into demanding applications other than games. That might change in a few years though, I guess.

The PSU seems overkill, unless you want to Crossfire.

With your change, you could look at one or more additional hard drives (for RAID 0, 1 or 5) and/or an SSD boot drive. If you're willing to splash the cash, you could even look at a larger SSD and have a few programs and games on it.

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OldBuzzard

Yeah, he could go with an AX850 which would be a bit cheaper to buy, cheaper to operate since it's Gold rated, and would STILL have enough power to go Crossfire if he decided to do so in the future.

Newegg.com - CORSAIR Professional Series Gold AX850 (CMPSU-850AX) 850W ATX12V v2.31 / EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

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When looking for a reason as to why things go wrong, never rule out sheer STUPIDITY

Drowningshrimp

I'll be doing scripting for some classes I'm taking this year and next year. I just really want the i7 so that I can future proof this machine. The only reason for the PSU being 1050W is like you said, in a few years, I'll pop another one in.

Windows 7 64bit is like around 30GB? I was looking at a Kingston HyperX SSD 120GB for $235. I was saving money for speakers, but I might just use it to get some SSD's.

What would you reccomend video card wise? You said the 7970, but would the XFX black edition, or te Asus 3-card slot? Ive heard about Sapphire releasing a 1300mhz Atomic card.

Tipstaff

Video card wise... anything NOT using the reference cooler. So, yes, the XFX HD7970 Black Edition DD would be a great choice, as would the Asus HD7970 DirectCUII, or the Gigabyte HD7970 OC GV-R797OC-3GD. You will not only get a much quieter video card, but a much more efficiently cooled card too where you would see average temps below the ones you'd see with a the reference cooler.

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Drowningshrimp

Cool. As for keyboards, what are good and bad? I already picked out a Razer Mamba.

Dyre Straits

I just went through the keyboard survey recently and opted for the Saitek Cyborg V.7. I'm quite lovin' this keyboard!



You can see the ones suggested in the thread I created here...

Lighted Keyboard...

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Drowningshrimp

Thanks for the thread link, it's really helping me.
Before I forget, are there any other motherboards out there that you can reccomend?
Would the stock CPU fan be find if I used my artic silver?

blibbax

Not for any significant overclocking.

I'd be more inclined to recommend an aftermarket cooler with the thermal paste that comes pre-applied to it.

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Drowningshrimp

I don't plan on doing any overclocking. Upgrading from a Pentium 4 to a 2600k will be more than significant.

blibbax

Well then just use the stock cooler with the pre-applied paste for now.

When you do some overclocking down the line, you can buy a cooler that will come with better pre-applied paste and wipe the old stuff off the CPU.

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Tipstaff

I usually shy away from flat out recommending a keyboard, just as I do with mice. I find that it can be a kind of personal thing, specifically, each person wants something different, and I've been burned buying these things for clients. More to the point: I've been stuck with them due to clients hating my choices. The best thing to do would be to visit a local retailer that has a bunch of boards on display, and buy what feels right to you.

In my case I like soft keys, which is why I went with Logitech. I also wanted a backlit keyboard, and Logitech had a great choice with the G15 at the time (although the back light seems to be dying now). I would probably go right back to Logitech if I had to replace this one, maybe go with the G110, but I would seriously consider the Razer Lycosa too.

As for a CPU coolers, the stock cooler Intel provides is more than sufficient for the CPU. However, personally, I like a quieter system, which is why I prefer to go with a much more efficient, quieter cooler. A good choice (and ones that you can find on sale a lot) would be the Corsair A50 (single fan) or A70 (dual fan) coolers. These 2 come on sale a lot, sometimes for less than $30, so if when you buy the CPU it's on sale, buy it, if not, stick with what you have until they do (in fact I think Newegg has a $15 rebate on them right now, while NCIX US has the A50 on sale for $20). 2 other good choices would be from Coolermaster, that being the Hyper 212 Evo or Hyper 212 Plus.

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Dyre Straits

The CPU Cooler I'm happy with is the Cooler Master Hyper N520.

But, in my estimation, you can't go wrong with Cooler Master brand coolers...period!

Here's a link to the one I'm using and you can browse from this link for others...

Hyper N520 - Cooler Master - Leading Provider of Computer Case | Cooler | Power Supply

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Drowningshrimp

Does anyone have any experience with the Asus P8Z68 Deluxe motherboard? The 2 PCI-E 3.0 slots caught my eye.