Critique my gaming build

[rentay]

Hiya!

Very new to these forums and thought I would post up my gaming build for all to critique!

Case: Corsair 800D
PSU: Silverstone 1kW Strider Gold (ST-1000G)
CPU: INTEL Core i7 2600K
Mobo: ASUS P8P67 Deluxe - ATX - Intel P67(B3) Express Chipset
Memory: CORSAIR CMZ8GX3M2A1600C8 - DDR3-1600 - 2 x 4GB - Vengeance - 8-8-8-24
GPU: 2 x EVGA GeForce GTX580 Superclocked 1.5Gb SLi
SSD: OCZ Vertex 3 Max IOPS 120Gb
HDD: WD Caviar Black 1tb
Optical drive: Pioneer BDR-206 Blu-Ray Disc Writer
OS: Windows 7 Pro 64bit
Cooling: Custom water cooling for cpu and gpu

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

Regards,

[maverick_brent]

Hi, Welcome aboard...

Looks like a pretty solid build there...whats that cpu running at? stock?

[Soultribunal]

I wouldn't change a thing

You got the money to drop, so do it.

ST

[SKYMTL]

Go Z68 + WD Black 2TB + a 60GB SSD instead of a 1TB HDD + 120GB SSD.

I also have a natural aversion to water cooling. Actually, I hate it. Changing components becomes a pain, initial setup is long and rife with potential issues plus I can almost promise you that it will be louder than an air cooling setup and won't net any real overclocking difference. *waits for the hate to come rolling in*

[Soultribunal]

Originally Posted by SKYMTL

Go Z68 + WD Black 2TB + a 60GB SSD instead of a 1TB HDD + 120GB SSD.

I also have a natural aversion to water cooling. Actually, I hate it. Changing components becomes a pain, initial setup is long and rife with potential issues plus I can almost promise you that it will be louder than an air cooling setup and won't net any real overclocking difference. *waits for the hate to come rolling in*

Are you trying to make my life difficult?!

ST

[mr_plow_king]

You could save about 100$ if you change your i7 with an i5 2500k The i7 will not be faster in games so unless you're also using heavly threaded applications, you won't see the difference. The i7 might overclock better but even a stock i5 2500k is not fully used by games.

You should use that 100$ to buy a board with a with the NF200 bridge instead that would give you better SLI performance

[Eldonko]

I agree with SKY, go Z68, 60 GB SSD for caching, and 2TB Black. Perhaps a P8Z68-Pro or similar. Also NF200 does not improve SLI performance on Sandy Bridge, but it does improve tri-SLI. Only worth the extra $ if you intend to run 3 cards IMO.

[_dangtx_]

youre shelling out some dough, maybe wait for the next iteration of the 590 with a proper pcb?

or go dual 3 gb cards?

word on the 2500k.

nice psu

cool case

hr-02 for cooler.

[LarkStarr]

Agree with Sky and Mr. Plow King.

Z68 + SSD + 2500K

[dma0991]

Originally Posted by SKYMTL

*waits for the hate to come rolling in*

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On a serious note, a custom watercooling is unnecessary for a SB rig as you wouldn't need more than a Noctua NH-D14 for a 24/7 overclock. Going for the max 5.7GHz or possibly higher might just kill your CPU much faster than it should, especially with the much higher voltage needed to sustain that kind of speed. A 4.5GHz stable 24/7 OC shouldn't be a problem at all for a Noctua NH-D14.

With an air cooler, your CPU would still be able to hold itself together in case a few fans dies but when a water pump dies, that would be disastrous. Unless you're willing to babysit your PC 24/7 and constantly monitor temps, an air cooler is a better option.