Gaming PC build

[stephen0983]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
- Gaming primarily. Backing up Blu-rays on occasion
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
- $1500-$2000. yes.
3) Where do you live?
Columbus, OH. Near a Microcenter.
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.
Case, water-cooling for CPU, CPU, GPU, RAM, Blu-ray burner, wifi, ~64 GB SSD, ~1 TB HDD, PSU
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
None
6) Will you be overclocking?
Probably yes
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
A 23" or 24" Ultrasharp.
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Within a month
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? etc.
USB 3.0, SATA 6Gb/s, eSATA
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Will need Win 7 64 bit.

This is what I'm thinking:
evga gtx 570 - $340 ($40 MIR)
Core i5-2500K - $220
corsair cpu cooler - $70 ($10 MIR)
sony blu ray burner - $140
Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC064MAG-1G1 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - $125
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3R HE103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive - $80
case - $120 (any suggestions?)
ASRock P67 EXTREME4 - $170
8gb ddr3 2133 - $100
psu - $110 (any suggestions?)
windows 7 - $100
wifi - $20

Is it a good idea to do the SSD / HDD combo? Are velociraptors worth it? Which Corsair water cooler is best / easiest to install?

 

[tiraides]

No on the ASRock board. Go with a similarly priced Asus or MSI P67 board.

You don't need DDR3 2133 RAM; stick with DDR3 1333 RAM.

Go with one of the new Corsair V2 power supplies. The TX650 V2 or TX750 V2 is all that you need.

Make sure that the Blu-ray burner is a retail package or has media playback software included. Good Blu-ray playback software can easily cost upwards of $60.

If it's available for around the same price range, go with the newer m4 SSD instead of the C300. Avoid the VelociRaptors at all cost; the SSDs offer better performance and "normal" 7200RPM HDDs offer a much better price-per-GB.

Do you really need a Corsair water cooler? The Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus can get the job done just as easily yet it's $30 over at MC. While the heatsink may be big, it's not that hard to install.

 

[Dangman]

To answer your questions off the bat:
1) Yes it's a good idea to do the SSD + HDD combo.
2) VRaptor drives are rarely worth it.
3) Dunno.


Going through your list:
GPU: If you haven't had a bad experience with AMD GPUs, I'd go with this 10% faster HD 6970 2GB card:
$350 - MSI R6970-2PM2D2GD5 Radeon HD 6970 2GB PCI-E Video Card

HDD: Unless you're planning on creating a RAID 5 array, you'll be fine with this cheaper and equally fast Samsung drive:
$65 - Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

Case: I recommend these:
$70 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K58W ATX Case
$90 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K56 ATX Case
$90 - Cooler Master CM690 II Advance ATX Case
$100 - Cooler Master HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$90 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K7B ATX Case
$106 - Lian Li PC-7B Plus II ATX Case
$127 - Fractal Design Define R3 Black ATX Case
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Whisper-Black-Power-Aluminum-Computer/dp/B001H9ALF2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1295436362&sr=8-1"]Amazon.com: NZXT Whisper Black No Power Aluminum / Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail: Electronics@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31FqOszVamL.@@AMEPARAM@@31FqOszVamL[/ame] - NZXT Whisper WHI - 001BK ATX Full Tower Case
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Velocity-GX2-W-Silver-Classic-Aluminum/dp/B00292BQRI/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1273830564&sr=1-13"]Amazon.com: Velocity Micro GX2-W Silver Classic Aluminum Case with Side Window: Electronics@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41VkFMRYE-L.@@AMEPARAM@@41VkFMRYE-L[/ame] - Velocity Micro GX2-W Silver Classic Aluminum Case with Side Window

Mobo: I don't recommend that mobo at all since it only has a two year warranty when other similiarily priced mobos have three year warranties. I'd go with this mobo if you're looking for high-end:
$180 - MSI P67A-GD65 Intel P67 ATX Motherboard

Though from what you've written so far, you should be fine with this mobo:
$140 - MSI P67A-G45 Intel P67 ATX Motherboard

RAM: This is probably the RAM you're talking about. Not a good buy IMO since the latencies are high and the fact that there's little to no performance difference between DDR3 2133 and DDR3 1333 RAM. Yes you can tighten and lower the timings on that 2133 RAM but why go through all that work for the same performance as this RAM?:
$80 - G.Skill Ripjaws F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM

PSU: I recommend this:
$110 - Corsair 750TX V2 750W PSU

Wifi: Go with this:
$28 - Asus PCE-N13 Wireless Adapter

 

[stephen0983]

Thank you both for the suggestions. I"m gonna take the above recommendations for HDD, wifi, PSU, RAM, prolly do the MSI P67A-G45 and haven't looked at the cases yet but I'm not going to go overboard on one.

I think I am going to go with the Corsair water-cooling, mainly for noise reasons, and will look into the SSD tirades mentioned. Btw yes the Blu-ray burner is retail, includes software and five blanks.

Also realized I'll need a 2.5" bracket likely, unless the case is SSD friendly. My current mATX didn't, but I'll look into it.