~2k Gaming rig build

[big_orange_ball]

Looking for some advice and I'm hoping what I bought so far isn't too bad. My goal is a brand new gaming pc to use with a 27" 1920x1080 monitor. I need all new equipment except for the monitor and a few items I bought for what I hope were good prices during black friday. This is my first build in about 10 years so I'm flying by the seat of my pants reading tomshardware reviews and hardforum threads.

HW bought:
OCZ ZX Series 1000W 80PLUS Gold Power Supply- $149.99-$20 rebate = $129.00
OCZ Vertex 3 VTX3MI-25SAT3-240G 2.5" 240GB SSD = $159.99-$20 rebate = $139.99
Intel Core i7-3930K = $499.99

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming, web browsing, streaming videos, ripping dvds/blurays.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Around $2000. I'm more concerned to get the best bang for my buck long term. I expect to keep this build for around 4 years and probably upgrade to crossfire when the games start lagging and/or i want a 3x27" monitor setup.

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

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
Motherboard
Ram
Case (would like something with a plexiglass side which can be relatively quiet)
GPU- Radeon7970?
Heatsink- Corsair h100? currently on sale...
KVM switch- DVI/hdmi with 2 inputs
Mechanical keyboard, would like full backlit without number pad and cherry brown if possible
Mouse- my old logitech g7 is only connecting intermittently so I need a new mouse. Smaller the better really.

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Asus 27" 1920x1080 monitor
Acer 23" 1920x1080 monitor

6) Will you be overclocking?
yes

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
27" 1920x1080 with a 23" 1920x1080 and possibly throwing in another 17" or 19" when i upgrade my desk

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Now. already bought the CPU, PSU, and SSD

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
Crossfire/SLI, RAID for ~5-10 terabytes of media storage. one main 256g SSD as system drive. USB 3.0/Thunderbolt a must. Don't need onboard video.

This build is meant to last me a few years of gaming goodness and probably get extended in 2 years with another video card to expand to 3 monitors or just to keep it running games well.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Yes, windows 7, but I think I'll drop the money on windows 8 since my other licenses are through university and I haven't ever outright bought a microsoft product ever. I think i owe them a few bucks if the new OS is legit.

 

[Dangman]

A few more questions:
1) Any chance that you can return or cancel the order for that SSD and CPU? The SSD because it's an older OCZ SSD and therefore it may not be all that reliable and not to mention OCZ's poor customer support. The CPU because you don't need it for gaming, streaming video, or even ripping DVD/blu-rays. Nor will it actually make your system last that much longer to justify its $280 price increase over the Core i5 3570K. That CPU does not let you go anywhere near your "best bang for my buck long term" goal at all. In other words, no good reason to buy that CPU for a gaming PC besides "I don't care about money"

2) Is that $2000 budget for the rest of the PC? Or does include the cost of parts you've already bought?

Also:
Pro Tip #1: Don't read Tom's Hardware. Their advice is very sloppy to say the least.
Pro Tip #2: Don't factor in the MIR until you actually receive it. There's no guarantee that you'll actually receive the rebate.

 

[tiraides]

Could you swap out the PSU as well? Besides the OCZ thing, you don't really need a kilowatt power supply these days unless you're going with a tri-SLI setup -- and even then, we'd recommend higher quality power supplies than the OCZ one.

Is Thunderbolt really a "must" for you? What do you have right now that uses it?

What drives are you currently using for "media storage"? Please be specific on the brand, model, and age of each drive.

 

[big_orange_ball]

So basically I shouldn't have tried to jump on any of those black friday deals, it looks like the equipment is being packaged but I can cancel. In response:

1)I have an OCZ SSD in my current laptop and have had no problems. Although this is an older one it seemed to have good ratings and was cheaper than anything else available for 240g. As for the CPU, I went for the Core i7-3930K over the Core i5 3570K assuming that if I kept the computer for a few years, eventually games would utilize the higher CPU speeds/core and all I'd need to upgrade to go to a 3 monitor setup would be another videocard in crossfire/sli.

2)The $2000 budget is for the entire computer including what I already bought. Im willing to go beyond it by around $300 if I need to to get components that will help the rig be more competitive in the future.

As for the protips, will do, but can you suggest where I should be looking for overall comparisons? Toms looked pretty thorough in their CPU and GPU testing.


Tiraides-
I think I'll just cancel my entire order at this point. It looked like a good deal for a high power PSU with good ratings on newegg. I do plan to add another card in a couple years once this configuration starts lagging and/or so I can expand to a 3 monitor setup.

I meant thunderbolt or usb 3.0 but would like thunderbolt since it's rated to twice the speed of usb 3.0. I realize that few mobos have thunderbolt so it's unlikely I'll find a board with it, that being said, please disregard my previous "a must" statement for thunderbolt.

I won't be using my current media storage drive (a 2tb external usb 2.0 seagate) for this machine, I'm looking to buy 1 or 2 drives to possibly put in raid 0 for a total of at least around 5 TB of storage.


Thanks everyone for the advice.

 

[Dangman]

1)I have an OCZ SSD in my current laptop and have had no problems. Although this is an older one it seemed to have good ratings and was cheaper than anything else available for 240g.

Count yourself lucky then as OCZ still has one of the higher SSD failure rates out there compared to Crucial or Intel. So I'd still wouldn't recommend an OCZ SSD if your goal is truly "best bang for my buck long term"

As for the CPU, I went for the Core i7-3930K over the Core i5 3570K assuming that if I kept the computer for a few years, eventually games would utilize the higher CPU speeds/core and all I'd need to upgrade to go to a 3 monitor setup would be another videocard in crossfire/sli.

Not really. While the games may use more cores, clock speed is still a major factor in games. As such, that $280 could have gone towards a future CPU + mobo upgrade or an even faster GPU setup right now.

2)The $2000 budget is for the entire computer including what I already bought. Im willing to go beyond it by around $300 if I need to to get components that will help the rig be more competitive in the future.

As for the protips, will do, but can you suggest where I should be looking for overall comparisons? Toms looked pretty thorough in their CPU and GPU testing.

They look thorough but they're really not. I recommend Bit-tech.net, Anandtech.com, HardOCP, and Xbitlabs.com for CPU and GPU reviews.

I won't be using my current media storage drive (a 2tb external usb 2.0 seagate) for this machine, I'm looking to buy 1 or 2 drives to possibly put in raid 0 for a total of at least around 5 TB of storage.

Wait, why 5TB RAID 0? I can't think of any good reason for that kind of setup.

All right assuming that you canceled your entire order:
$220 - Intel Core i5-3570K CPU
$178 - MSI Z77A-GD65 Intel Z77 ATX Motherboard
$60 - Corsair CMV16GX3M2A1333C9 2 x 8GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$440 - eVGA 04G-P4-2673-KR GeForce GTX 670 Superclocked+ w/Backplate 4GB
$200 - Crucial M4 CT256M4SSD2 2.5" 256GB SSD
$156 - Seasonic X750 Gold 750W Modular PSU
$250 - Silverstone FT02-W-USB3.0 ATX Case
$90 - Noctua NH-D14 120mm and 140mm HSF
---
Total: $1594 shipped

You now have one of the quietest cases around as well as one of the quietest air cooling HSF out there. I recommend an Nvidia setup since a Nvidia SLI setup is currently smoother in terms of overall experience than AMD Crossfire. Plus that 4GB of VRAM will help if you are indeed going for triple 27" monitors.

 

[big_orange_ball]

Good news, I was able to cancel my newegg order, and I'll go with some of these cheaper components which should help me get a better case, mouse/keyboard ETC in the price range I'd like to spend. I'll siwng by microcenter tomorrow after work and pick up a 3570k and anything else they have that's on the list and cheaper than online.

Danny_Bui, a few points:
-Would I be better off going for a mobo with 2x PCIe x16? I most likely will be adding 2 more 27" monitors in the next year or two and will want another GPU for them.
-After reading the anandtech 670 SC 4g review I agree that's the best choice for me.
-Why DDR3 1333 RAM instead of something faster for a few dollars more? Just not worth it?
-The Crucial M4 looks good but for that price it seems like a Samsung 840 would be better.
-Will a 750W PSU be enough assuming I'm adding a second nvidia 670 in a year or two?
-That case looks OK but I'm going to shop around for something with the sound dampening capabilities that may look a little better in my eyes.
-Looks like the Noctua HSF is fantastic although I'm concerned that I'm spending $90 on a HSF and only $170 on the cpu (microcenter price) i guess that's just the way she goes. I'm willing to spend more for the quietest PC in my price range.

 

[Zenshi]

The Crucial M4 seems to be $169.99 after MIR at MicroCenter.
http://microcenter.com/product/3645...lid_State_Drive_(SSD)_with_Marvell_Controller

The Samsung 840 seems to be 179.99
http://microcenter.com/product/4026...TA_60Gb-s_25_Internal_Solid_State_Drive_(SSD)

 

[Dangman]

-Would I be better off going for a mobo with 2x PCIe x16? I most likely will be adding 2 more 27" monitors in the next year or two and will want another GPU for them.

No. You won't notice a difference between two PCI-E x16 and two PCI-E x8 slots. However since you'll be at Microcenter, go for the Asus P8Z77-V Intel Z77 Motherbaord instead since MC doesn't stock that much MSI mobos for some reason.

-Why DDR3 1333 RAM instead of something faster for a few dollars more? Just not worth it?

Couldn't find a cost-effective DDR3 1600 RAM set at the time.

-The Crucial M4 looks good but for that price it seems like a Samsung 840 would be better.

The 840 Pro is better but the regular 840 isn't better than the Crucial M4.

-Will a 750W PSU be enough assuming I'm adding a second nvidia 670 in a year or two?.

Yes

-That case looks OK but I'm going to shop around for something with the sound dampening capabilities that may look a little better in my eyes.

The other cases won't be as good as that FT02 when it comes to low noise. The website Silent PC Reviews lists that case as their number one recommendation. With that said, here are some Silent PC Review recommended quiet cases:
$110 - Antec P280 ATX Case
$120 - Corsair Obsidian Series 550D ATX Case
$125 - Fractal Design Define R4 Arctic White ATX Case
$135 - Fractal Design Define R4 with Window Black Pearl ATX Case
$135 - Fractal Design Define R4 with Window Arctic White ATX Case
$135 - Fractal Design Define R4 with Window Titanium Grey ATX Case

-Looks like the Noctua HSF is fantastic although I'm concerned that I'm spending $90 on a HSF and only $170 on the cpu (microcenter price) i guess that's just the way she goes. I'm willing to spend more for the quietest PC in my price range.

Gotta pay if you want quiet.