Gaming desktop Build [2000$ Budget]

New questions on my last post in this thread

So after 3 years of using my laptop (Asus G50vt-a2), I think it is time to upgrade. So I decided to build a desktop (with the help of a tech friend of mine). Now some of you will ask: "Why not ask your friend how to build your pc" And my answer to that would be, because he mostly builds small computers or company servers (no gaming desktops) and I'd like the input of many experienced gaming computer builders.

So as the title says it, the budget is around 2000$ give or take (give I'm thinking ). This budget should include the main desktop's components so no keyboard, mouse, monitor (suggestions for this would be welcome tho, been doing some research in order to get this after the holidays), speakers, OS. I'd also like the computer to be quiet (who wouldn't want this) and run as cool as possible, have dealt with heating problems in the past and I wouldn't want to get back to it. I'll be using the computer for gaming, browsing, movies, I usually multitask alot (looking for a desktop without bottlenecks). As for where to buy, I'm from Canada, Quebec/Ontario, so for the retailers keep it local if you do suggest any retailers, I've been searching for most things on newegg to get a good idea.

Here are the components I picked, I'm sure of nothing, feel free to completly overhaul this list, if you do, make sure you justify the changes please:

Case : (Reviews on 800D are all positive especially for watercooling, aircooling thoughts? Probably the best looking case to my taste)
Corsair Obsidian Series 800D
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811139001

Corsair Obsidian Series 650D (CC650DW-1) Black Computer Case With Side Panel Window
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811139006

Motherboard:
ASUS Maximus IV Extreme-Z Extended ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131760

CPU:
Intel Core i7-2700K 3.5GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115095

Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115070

PSU:
CORSAIR Professional Series Gold AX850 (CMPSU-850AX) 850W ATX12V v2.31 / EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817139015

Memory: (or g-skill sniper series 1833?)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820233143
CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory

Video Card: (very unsure about this, 580 makes me go over budget, but heard 570 really wasnt a good money/quality pick)
EVGA 03G-P3-1584-AR GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 3072MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130655

EVGA SuperClocked GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) HD 012-P3-1573-AR Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130622

SSD (system + 2-3 main games): (Also not sure about this, reviews say this is one of the fastest, crucial m4 also seems to be interesting)
SAMSUNG 830 Series MZ-7PC128D/AM 2.5" MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) Desktop Upgrade Kit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820147134

Hard drive:(seems like hard drives are scarce lately with all the natural disasters in asia, choose this one when it was 89$, also was looking at Western digital drives, this drive will probably only be used for storing music/movies and others, system and games will be on SSD)
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822152185

CPU cooling (comes with 2 fans aswell, should I go for this? Or the H100, or none?):
CORSAIR H80 (CWCH80) High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835181016

All of this brings the new total to about (depending on combos, supply, price changes) 2250$, a little over budget.

As for fans (case, cpu, gpu, not too sure, was looking at the noctua brand in general, heard they were decent without too much justification, but they look horrible, at this price for the rig, I'd like it to look good) and others, I'm not so sure, would like your suggestions. I'm pretty "picky" about the case, don't like many of them out there, I like the simplicity of the corsair obsidian, was looking at the 650d because of the lower price but might go with the 800d to be able to upgrade more easily, someone in my family got the 800d and I have to say, I love it, my only concern is the many reviews I saw about airflow (if I decide to go for real water cooling, good rig for that). Would you suggest water cooling it right now? Anyways, throw in any suggestions, as detailed as possible.

Anyways, hoping to get alot of feedback, sorry for the massive amount of text but I'm hoping the precision will help.

Thanks alot!

EDIT: Is it worth waiting for new gen graphic cards, read they would be up to 40% more performant... I know the old "should I wait" question always comes up and the answer is often no (such as waiting for the ivy bridge) but 40%, if accurate, is alot.

Oh wow, that's REALLY expensive for single GPU setup...

Looks like you went for the best of everything...but honestly a lot of this is overkill and a waste of money for gaming needs.

This is what I would do...I'll admit the 800D is a good looking case, so I tried to stick to something with a similar look. Yeah, sorry 'bout that. But the color matches!

Prices are all in CAD, btw. Newegg.ca. Dual 6970s, which is pretty much equal to dual 580s...at this budget there's no reason to go single GPU...

There is also supposed to be a corsair H100 cooler in that list. which brings it up to 1974 subtotal.

Great, thanks for the fast and clear replies.

I'd like to ask a few questions regarding those builds, what do you guys think of the corsair h80 and h100, since that's only a processor cooler, assuming I'd use the corsair 800d, would the gpu and/or other components run hot? (Anyone with experience with the 800d or 650d, would appreciate the input here). Any justification for the memory change?

Also @ Knufire, any reason for the OCZ?

Also, how expensive/hard would it be to build a good real watercooling system (considering I've never done such a thing, and is it worth it, how big would the temp/noise level change considering I'm not into benchmarking or intense overclocking, might overclock a little once I learn how to but nothing extreme).

Dual GPU + CPU watercooling loop will set you back in the range of $400.

ssjwizard said:

Dual GPU + CPU watercooling loop will set you back in the range of $400.

Click to expand...

Good to know, I'd most likely do this later as an upgrade.

It's much more complicated and involved then air cooling. Much better temperatures and quieter, but it needs regular maintenance as well, with lots of research into selecting your parts, and more complicated to put together. It's more of a popular hobby then something practical, but I've heard it can be quite fun.

16GB is utter overkill. 8GB, you won't even come close to using in games. If you want more, you can get it later on.

OCZ's are some of the fastest. The company that makes their controller (Sandforce), was having some reliability issues, but those have been largely resolved in recent firmware updates. Intel/Samsung/Crucial make their own controllers, so they were unaffected, but almost everyone else uses Sandforce. OCZ however, gets updates before all the other Sandforce companies (Corsair, Kingston, etc.)

The H80 and H100 are excellent coolers, but overkill for a Sandy Bridge CPU that runs very cool, even when OCed. a $25 Hyper212+ is getting almost everyone up to and sometimes past 4.5GHz.

This seems like the best conventional drive out for there for the price right now. Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s $180.

The Samsung is a solid drive. Looks like it comes with Arkham City to so that is pretty nice. You see more complaints on the OCZ stuff but they have been out longer and sell quite a bit more. They are probably the industry ssd sales leader. My vertex 3 and kingston hyperx using the sandforce controller have always run 100% perfect but that's why its nice to have competition and choices.

The H100 is an incredible cooler, especially if you do 4x120mm fans in push\pull. Since you won't have a big cpu fan near the vrms you do need good case air flow. 2x120mm intakes in front, possibly a side fan or two, and a good 140mm in the rear to handle the exhaust.

A full watercooling kit plus gpu block can get expensive. If you use quiet fans like Cougars you won't really have much of a noise issue even with a lot of fans in the case.

Knufire said:

It's much more complicated and involved then air cooling. Much better temperatures and quieter, but it needs regular maintenance as well, with lots of research into selecting your parts, and more complicated to put together. It's more of a popular hobby then something practical, but I've heard it can be quite fun.

16GB is utter overkill. 8GB, you won't even come close to using in games. If you want more, you can get it later on.

OCZ's are some of the fastest. The company that makes their controller (Sandforce), was having some reliability issues, but those have been largely resolved in recent firmware updates. Intel/Samsung/Crucial make their own controllers, so they were unaffected, but almost everyone else uses Sandforce. OCZ however, gets updates before all the other Sandforce companies (Corsair, Kingston, etc.)

The H80 and H100 are excellent coolers, but overkill for a Sandy Bridge CPU that runs very cool, even when OCed. a $25 Hyper212+ is getting almost everyone up to and sometimes past 4.5GHz.

Click to expand...

Sounds good, I'll keep that in mind and will most likely stick with 8gb and upgrade to 16gb if I feel the need to.

The whole build (as far as choosing parts) seems to be getting better and better, the biggest questions for me still concern the gpu. Nvidia or ATI, SLI/crossfire or not, get a cheap one and wait for the new generation, wait for the 580 christmas sale, which 580 to take (for example there are two evga 580 for the same price at 499$ each, I have no idea what the difference is really http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...30-658^14-130-658-TS,14-134-124^14-134-124-TS ).

Looking forward to some more feedback, thanks alot for the info already posted guys.

Knufire said:

It's much more complicated and involved then air cooling. Much better temperatures and quieter, but it needs regular maintenance as well, with lots of research into selecting your parts, and more complicated to put together. It's more of a popular hobby then something practical, but I've heard it can be quite fun.

16GB is utter overkill. 8GB, you won't even come close to using in games. If you want more, you can get it later on.

OCZ's are some of the fastest. The company that makes their controller (Sandforce), was having some reliability issues, but those have been largely resolved in recent firmware updates. Intel/Samsung/Crucial make their own controllers, so they were unaffected, but almost everyone else uses Sandforce. OCZ however, gets updates before all the other Sandforce companies (Corsair, Kingston, etc.)

The H80 and H100 are excellent coolers, but overkill for a Sandy Bridge CPU that runs very cool, even when OCed. a $25 Hyper212+ is getting almost everyone up to and sometimes past 4.5GHz.

Click to expand...

Actually, I monitor my usage. When playing BF3, sometimes I can tap 6GB. Granted, I have a ton of stuff open at the same time, but the OP DID say he is a big multi-tasker.
As cheap as RAM is, no need in going anything less than 16GB IMO.

Personally I'd go with a single 6970 for starters. If that doesn't satisfy your graphical needs, then you can always buy a second one later.

Go for the 2600K over the 2700K. They'll overclock the same and you'll save a couple of bucks.

I agree with the Hyper 212+ suggestion. That's plenty.

Great suggestions so far, anyone else have input or suggestions on the build?

Both great builds. I'd personally wait to see if the 580 drops in price, if it does enough could get 2.

Corsair cases are great, so I would not worry about airflow with any of their cases. The 800D definitely has water cooling in mind it has plenty of fans and places for fans. Cougars are some of the best out right now.

I'd personally probably go with ssj's build but switch out the mb for the Asus z68 Pro\Gen3 if you decide to see if the 580's drop in price. Otherwise a single 6970 and call it a day.

Sorry for such a late reply, it's this time of the year where students all go bald, yes, the exam period.

I've been doing some research in my downtime (when I get sick of studying), and I'm pretty confident the 800d will be fine for aircooling, I'll get the h100 push-pull (using NB M12-S2) and mount it at the top of the case as intake, then I'll make the bottom as intake and the fan at the back of the case an exhaust, seems like that setup has the best results with positive pressure.
Edit: After further research, I'm not sure about the noiseblockers M12-s2, they are not pwn which could be a problem when hooking them up to the h100 controller, could go with the M12-PS but I have not seen as many comments on those, still not sure (will be posting in the air cooling section for this specific point).

As for the Video cards, they are pretty much the only thing I'm still not sure about, the build will not happen before the holidays anyways, most likely will take place in january, feb at the latest so I'll wait and see what happens with the 580 prices (no point in waiting for the new Generation, according to the timeline posted on the nvidia forums, the ETA for the higher level cards is end of 2012 beginning 2013?).

In relation with the video cards, if I were to use two 580 in SLI, would the corsair 850x gold be enough for that or would I need to go for a 1050W silver (is there a reason why there is no corsair 1050 gold? What would be the difference between the pro silver and the pro gold?).

Once again, thanks alot, really appreciate all the help with this build, always good to get suggestions from people with experience in the domain.

The 850W would be fine for two 580s in SLI.
Bronze, Silver, Gold are all 80+ Certifications, which rate the efficiency of the PSU.

The H100 is not worth it if you don't have a hot running CPU, and the 800D is not worth it unless you're doing a full custom waterloop.

If you really want the look that the 800D has, look at Lian Li or Fractal Design cases.

I feel you on the exams. I'm not procrastinating right now or anything...

Procrastination isn't part of my vocabulary (it's part of my parent's and friends vocabulary when they describe me tho).

As for the 800d, I'm pretty sure I'll be getting full custom waterloop before 2013 (still willing to invest on the air cooling as I'll pass it on to my father who already has the 800D).

800D is a good choice then. Good thing about high quality cases is that they'll last you a LONG time.