need suggestions for my build

First things first, I have posted this in a lot of other forums but I still need more ideas before I go and start buying stuffs cause I dont wanna regret anything in the end so Ill be posting it here too to see what others can share. If I am disobeying some of the forum rules kindly tell me ahead of time so I can delete my post. Thanks

Well I Have a budget of $2500-$4300 and I am planning to build a gaming PC... Well to be more specific this is what I would want.. First I want a long term gaming CPU, something that wouldn't need any major upgrades for the next 3-5 years (If possible) and would still be a decent gaming CPU. Well for sure im going to use this build for gaming and maybe some Video editings. Im not really sure with what games i would be playing cause ever since i move here in japan 2 years ago I only had the chance to get a laptop for work and im not that updated about the newly released games. Hopefully after completing this build i could start playing games again..

Another thing Im planning to have an eyefinity set with 3 landscape 24 inch monitors so the displays needs to be in the budget. Like I said earlier im in japan and Im going to buy most of the parts online specifically through amazon japan but not everything is in there mostly only popular items are there so i cant get my hands on other stuffs..

i only have a few knowledge when it comes to computer hardware, and i have been reading lots of reviews and threads about the good parts to get. heres what i came up with so far.

COMPONENTS:
CPU - Intel Core i7-3770K Ivy Bridge 3.5GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000
Motherboard - ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
RAM - CORSAIR Vengeance 32GB (4 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 Desktop Memory Model CMZ32GX3M4X1866C10
HDD - Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
PSU - CORSAIR Professional Series Gold AX850 (CMPSU-850AX) 850W ATX12V v2.31 / EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Full Modular Active PFC Power Supply
CPU cooler - CORSAIR H100 (CWCH100) Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler
GPU - 2 ASUS HD7950-DC2T-3GD5 Radeon HD 7950 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
SSD - Crucial M4 CT512M4SSD2BAA 2.5" 512GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive
Case - NZXT Phantom 410
OS - Windows 7 Ultimate Premium 64bit
Display - 3x Acer V243HAJbd 24-Inch LCD Monitor

Yeah thats all of it so far.. here are some of my concerns when it comes to the components i chose.

MoBo - Well at first I was choosing between ASRock Z77 Extreme4, ASUS P8Z77-V DELUXE, and the Asus Sabertooth Z77, ive been searching the net for quite a while about the difference in features for dis 3 MoBos but all i can get is almost everything is the same its just a matter of choice for me so I end up choosing Sabertooth Z77 because of its unique cooling system (I need this a lot because my room temp is way high) but looking at the internet more a stumbled upon a Maximus V Extreme, Its a little bit more when it comes to price but i wont mind going for it if the outcome would be much better than the Sabertooth. I cant really understand most of the features that is in Maximus V Extreme so if anyone can help me then it will be appreciated.

PSU - I was suppose to get a AX1200 but someone from another site said that this is more than enough for the build im making. anyone can confirm that?

CPU Cooler - was suppose to just go with the H60 but it looks like that is one of the things i cant get through amazon japan. Its either an H80 or an H100 for a difference of $10 why not go H100 Right
Note: Yes I know that for the H100 to fit the NZXT Phantom 410 i need to do some modding)

GPU - was suppose to get 2 HD 7970s but someone mentions that the difference in perfomance between the 7970s and 7950 is only around 10-15% so not much for 200$ difference

Case - Well I chose NZXT phantom 410 mainly just because of how it looks. I like to have a white Case and this is the best one i find so far and again if anything can recommend something much better im open for suggestions as long as its white.

Display - I was thinking of getting the SyncMaster Full HD 3-panel Multi Display System but its not available in amazon.co.jp and been trying to search the web anywhere else i can get it but it seems like its really rare around here. so I ended up with that.

I linked everything to newegg for viewers convenience but the prices of everything in newegg and in amazon japan is different, some are much more expensive and some are way cheaper than on newegg. All in all i still have around $1000, since there still some left in the budget an upgrade on the parts wouldnt be bad, doesnt matter if I maxed out my budget since I saved this up just for my build..

Oh yeah I already have the optical drives i needed so no need to recommend those

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated .. thank you

To the Overclockers forums!

Mobo: The ASRock Extreme 4 Z77 would be better choice and save you some money plus is better suited for eyefinity and gaming. The Maximus board is usuallly complemented with a water loop for extreme cooling, so unless you want to go that route.....

PSU: 750-800w is probably enough for your needs. Anything else is overkill and a waste. Just be sure it has an 80plus rating and preferrably modular.

CPU cooling: Yes, the H100 probably provides your best cooling option without going to a water loop. Have you considered possibly going with another case design such as Lian li? It is much better product IMO.

GPUs; I am rather biased to Nividia's 660Ti for performance and cooling.

CASE: Here is a thought; http://www.amazon.com/Thermaltake-C...348068192&sr=8-4&keywords=white+computer+case

Monitors: This or 3x This

Well i might consider getting a water loop so maybe ill go for the maximus, about the case you recommended.. would that be big enough for a water loop build?? im thinking of 2 240mm rad and 1 120mm rad, if im going for the water loop route i think ill go with this case http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146088.. Is the 660Ti really great when it comes to performance?? considering that im going the water loop route so ill be water cooling the GPUs too so lets take off the cooling advantage of the 660Ti, just wanna know around what % does the 660Ti beats the 7950s ?

No, you're going to need something much different to do a water loop, and I'm not sure if you can get it in white, but I'll look around.

The Maxiumus is built for extreme overclocking under liquid nitrogen or DICE. You don't need it.

The Sabertooth armor thing doesn't really help cooling all that much, it's more for looks than anything else.

Water isn't a "logical" upgrade to air cooling (sealed units don't count as true water cooling IMO). It is more expensive and requires periodic maintenance (you have to drain, clean, and refill the loop every 6 months or so). Current generation equipment is fairly cool running as well. However, with true custom water cooling, you can make the machine as quiet as you want.

660Ti is equal/ever so slightly below at 7870. It also does not have enough vRAM to push triple screen resolutions.


Here's what I would go with:
CPU: 3770K
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme3 or Extreme4
RAM: 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3-1600 CL9 1.5V (Gaming is NOT very RAM intensive, you do not need large amounts of RAM or fast RAM. You'd be fine with 8GB for gaming, 16GB mostly because you do video editing as well.)
GPU: 2xRadeon HD 7970s
HDD: 1TB Seagate/Hitachi/Samsung/Western Digital, doesn't really matter
SSD: OCZ Agility/Vertex 4, good bit faster than the Crucial
PSU: Only need 750W. Corsair TX/TXM or OCZ ZT, many other good options as well though.
Case: Phantom 410 is a good case. If you do want to do custom water, get the bigger full-tower Phantom. The Switch 810 you linked is also a very good case.
Display: You can get 27" 2560x1440 IPS displays from Korea for very cheap. Definitely get three of those.

Extreme cooling isnt water cooling... let me elaborate with more context: When we say boards like that Maximus the OP chose are for extreme cooling, we mean Dry Ice or greater (LN2, LHe). Water cooling doesnt yield much more than air, especially the LCLC (Low Cost Liquid Cooling) solutions like Corsair H100 or Antec Kuhler's as they are as good as or slightly better than high end air.

Since this is for mostly for gaming, there isnt remotely a need for 32GB of RAM. 16GB is plenty. If you find you use more than that with your Video Editing, get more... but I doubt you will eclipse 16GB.

Im not a huge fan of the sabertooth board. Its gimmicky. Its more expensive than other boards. If you like the theme, go for it. Just dont get it under the impression that its military jazz is REALLY better or the cooling, even though it may be 2-3C better on the board, means anything. You can get away with a lesser board Like Asus P8Z77-V, or truthfully, the Asrock Z77 Extreme 4 for much less is quite a solid bang for your buck board.

EDIT: Thats what I get for taking 10 mins to type this out.. +1 to Knu

ok i think going with the z77 extreme 4 is a good suggestion.. just one thing i had this problem with the sabertooth z77 of not be able to fit in my sound card and wifi card because of the 7950s i chose which has the aftermarket cooling of directcu II.. would i be able to fit a wifi card and a sound card in the z77 extreme4?

Or just don't get the DirectCuII, it's a great cooler no doubt but I wouldn't get them if you're planning to do multiple video cards, they just take up too much space.

With dual 3 slot cards, you only have one PCIe x1 slot left. With dual 2 slot cards, you have two PCIe x1 slots and a PCI slot left.

I guess DVORAK doesn't increase typing skills/speed afterall. LOL

yeah but with just 10$ difference i just cant miss out on the DirectcuII I know that i wont be needing it right now since I wouldnt be doing some extreme overclocking that would heat up my GPUs but the cooling advantage that the DirectcuII gives could just come in handy in the future... well i guess i just have to figure something out something else concerning the wifi and sound card

Why not get MSI Twin Frozr versions? Best dual slot cooler on the market (from what I've seen), and only a little bit behind the DirectCuII. There's also HIS IceQ, Sapphire Vapor-X, etc, tons of good aftermarket coolers.

PolePosition said:

I guess DVORAK doesn't increase typing skills/speed afterall. LOL

Click to expand...

It probably took me two minutes to type it literally, but my office called so.....

PS- I dont use DVORAK anyway.

EDIT: useless post sorry

It has 3GBs of VRam, same as the 7970s, so I don't see why it would be any less a problem pushing 3 screens. Its also much cheaper, so you could save at least $150 between two of them.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130812

EDIT: Nevermind, I just realized that it is impossible to do eyefinity with Nividia and only Radeon is your only choice.

Why do you need a soundcard? The onboard solutions are fine for most users. Only if you had a NICE set of cans (headphones if by some rare chance you are a girl.. ) or speakers would I bother with a soundcard.

You can use the top PCIe 1x slot in the Extreme 4 with something like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1EA0E48715 and the bottom slot with a dual slot GPU cooler.

I have a 7.1 speakers with s/pdif output and i wouldnt want them to go to waste..

rakion3dfx said:

yeah but with just 10$ difference i just cant miss out on the DirectcuII I know that i wont be needing it right now since I wouldnt be doing some extreme overclocking that would heat up my GPUs but the cooling advantage that the DirectcuII gives could just come in handy in the future... well i guess i just have to figure something out something else concerning the wifi and sound card

Click to expand...

You could always step up to the X79 platform and get more PCI slots/40 lanes to accomodate 2 triple slot GPUs, leaving a slot for a wifi and sound card.

EDIT: I have front panel and rear I/O S/pdif output.

Then I would get the Asrock, with the Sound card above the GPU's in the 1x slot and the NIC in the bottom 1x slot with a dual slot cooled GPU.

rakion3dfx said:

I have a 7.1 speakers with s/pdif output and i wouldnt want them to go to waste..

Click to expand...

S/PDIF bypasses the sound card anyway, it's a digital output. Most of the change in sound quality happens at the digital-audio converter, amp, and speakers. Since it's a digital output, the digital-audio converter (DAC) is somewhere outside the computer, probably in the speaker receiver.

Ohhhhhhhh good catch! ^^