<1500$ Gaming and Workstation Build

[DaConfusion]

Finally, after building a few workstations for co-workers (thanks to this board) over the years, I finally have money and time to build something for myself.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc

Gaming, newest FPS games on a Samsung 2494 monitor.

1920 x 1080 - 16:9 - 5 ms response

CAD, FEA, CFD, vehicle dynamics and kinematics. Basically engineering applications.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
I would like to get less than 1,500$ USD

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Naperville, IL USA

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget?

Memory, motherboard, video card, primary hdd, case, and maybe a power supply

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about
the power supply. List make and model.

I have a pending purchase for a 2700k processor.

Please see signature. I plan on re-using the CD/DVD RW. I want to buy a blu-ray burner but I really have no use for it to be honest.

6) Will you be overclocking?
Yes. I hope to achieve 5 ghz with the Hyper 212 cooler. Willing to explore water cooling.

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?

Samsung 2494 monitor.

1920 x 1080 - 16:9 - 5 ms response

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Now! I was going to wait till Q1 2012 for new hardware, but it turns out my vacation time expires...I have not many friends so I plan on being a bum and playing games for 1-1.5 weeks. Will be sitting down with boss to plan vacation for next week!


9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support?
I would like crossfire support so I can buy another 6970 used card when the 7x series come out.

What PS would be adequate for future use if you are aware of another 6970 and at least 2 more monitors (total 3)?


USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? etc.
USB 3 is nice, so is SATA 6gbps.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Yes.

Preliminary build:

CPU

Core i7 2700K LGA 1155 Boxed Processor
275.00 BNIB purchased from a local seller

Memory
G Skill DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231315
79.99 shipped

Motherboard
MSI Z68A-GD80 (G3)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130610
$290

Video Card
MSI HD 6970 Lightning 2GB
$290 purchased from BST forums

Primary HDD
128 GB Crucial M4
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148442
$209.99

Storage HDD
Unknown
Reuse ST350032AS or another 500 gb WD5000AAKS? I also have an ~3 TB external

Case
HAF 922 quickly picked form Mr Bui's list. I would like something well engineered for optimal flow and very sleek professional looking. Willing to pay an extra few bucks if worth it.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...-na-_-na&AID=10440897&PID=3891137&SID=rewrite
$102.99 - 15 MIR = 87.99

Power Supply
I have a thermaltake 650 PS that has hung in there for ~4 years I think. I want to either reuse her or invest in something for 5-10 years. I think a 1200W or 1kW.
750 W : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...-na-_-na&AID=10440897&PID=3891137&SID=rewrite

CPU cooler
I already have Hyper 212+, I hope they are compatible with 2700k.

Preliminary total : 1351.95 before MIR
Preliminary total 2: 1336.95$



Thank you in advance for help, advice and etc!

 

[Dangman]

That mtoherboard is overpriced. From what you've said so far, any of the following mobos would fit your needs unless there's something you're not telling us:
$150 - MSI P67A-GD65 Intel P67 ATX Motherboard
$178 - MSI Z68A-GD55 Intel Z68 ATX Motherboard
$178 - MSI Z68A-GD55 (G3) Intel Z68 ATX Motherboard
$178 - Asus P8Z68-V Intel Z68 ATX Motherboard
$185 - MSI Z68A-GD65 (G3) Intel Z68 ATX Motherboard
$190 - Asus P8Z68-V/GEN3 Intel Z68 ATX Motherboard
$210 - Asus P8Z68-V Pro/GEN3 Intel Z68 ATX Motherboard

Reuse that Seagate drive for now if its performance is decent enough for you and if you don't want to pay for a new drive. However if the Seagate's performance isn't good enough for you and if you're willing to pay for a new drive, I recommend the following drive (yes it is faster than the WD and Seagate 500GB drives you posted):
$136 - Hitachi Desktar 7K1000.D HDS721010DLE630 1TB SATA 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive

That 750W PSU should be enough even for HD 6970 Crossfire. However if you want peace of mind and the thought that your PSU can handle almost anything, go ahead and go with this 850W PSU:
$135 - Corsair 850TX V2 850W PSU

The Video card, case, SSD, CPU HSF, and RAM are fine choices so far.

 

[Deleted member 88227]

If I was you, I'd hold off on the storage drive until hard drive prices go back down. They are unusually high right now due to a natural disaster.

 

[DaConfusion]

I will revise mobo choice.

To hit 5ghz, should I consider H series water cooling?

Great point about hdd prices, I will reuse hdd until they normalize.

 

[tiraides]

Stick with the Hyper 212 Plus. You have just as much opportunity with that as you would with just about any self-contained CPU water cooler. (You can add another fan to your existing heatsink to improve cooling performance.) Plus, you don't need to reach 5GHz to obtain excellent performance from any Sandy Bridge chip.