Look over build

[DonoHAM]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming/light programming
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
around $1300
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Kansas
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.
CPU
MoBo
RAM
Case
HDD(SSD)
Cooling
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Antec 520W 80+ certified about 3 months old
Zotac 550ti (Hoping to use this in SLI with a better card)
6) Will you be overclocking?
to about 4.5
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
1440x900 sad I know
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Around May or early June after IvyBridge
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.
SLI would be nice
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Nope

This is my current build. Remember I'm just looking at information as to what I can improve on. This build will be with the ivy bridge equivalent of the i5-2500k

CASE: HAF 912
CPU: Ivy Bridge i5
GPU: GTX 680(Huge overkill but will upgrade visual in following months)
MoBo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157271
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231314
HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136769
SDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148442
CPU Cooling: Hyper 212
OS: Win 7 OEM 64bit

I know the build is a few months off but I like being prepared. Any suggestions or technology other than Ivy Bridge that will alter this build greatly?

 

[Dangman]

CASE: HAF 912

Don't get this case if it costs more than $60 shipped and taxed. Any more than that and it's overpriced.

GPU: GTX 680(Huge overkill but will upgrade visual in following months)

When will you be upgrading to a 23" to 24" LCD monitor with 1920x1080 resolution or higher?

MoBo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157271

Not a good choice at all for a few reasons:
- AsRock has a short 1-2 year warranty compared to the three year warranty offered by Gigabyte, MSI, and Asus.
- Their other Z68 mobos haven't faired well under HardOCP testing:
http://hardocp.com/article/2011/12/07/asrock_z68_pro3_lga_1155_motherboard_review/
http://hardocp.com/article/2011/11/09/asrock_z68_extreme4_gen3_motherboard_review/
- Intel is releasing their new Z75 and Z77 motherboard chipsets around the same times that Ivy Bridge will be released. So might as well go with the newer mobos if you're waiting for the newer CPUs.

HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136769

Not a good HDD even today as there are faster drives:
$85 - Hitachi 7K1000.D HDS721050DLE630 500GB 7200RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive

 

[azeem40]

How is WD Caviar Blue not a good drive...?

 

[E4g1e]

How is WD Caviar Blue not a good drive...?

First off, it uses a two-year-old platter layout that stores only 500GB per double-sided platter while the Hitachi 7K1000.D uses a 1TB-per-platter layout (the 500GB model of the 7K1000.D uses only one side of that single platter, leaving the other side of the platter blank). And not only that, the 500GB WD Blue barely reaches even 125 MB/s in sequential speed on the outer tracks while the Hitachi reaches 186 MB/s. To top it all off, the WD Blue has only a two-year warranty. (Plus, as I have mentioned in some other thread, Western Digital has not updated the platter layout or design of any of its 7200 RPM hard drives in more than two years while both Seagate and Hitachi have updated their designs at least twice within this same period.)

Western Digital has completed its acquisition of Hitachi's storage division early this past month. The current Caviar offerings will actually be phased out by WD itself and WD will actually be using the Deskstar and Ultrastar names and technology since Hitachi now holds a 10 percent stake in WD. The soon-to-be-ex-Caviar production lines are being acquired by Toshiba.