New Build - "Future proof"

[Esotericrj]

Hey Guys,
So after just over 4 years of being on gaming laptops/ps3, I am switching back to my roots of a Gaming desktop. I wish to build a system to keep me going for another 4 years with room to upgrade down the line. Looking to be able to handle up and coming games specificly BF3 and use my desktop for my PS3 media server. Can I achieve what I want off one graphics card right now and move to dual later?

Anyway my build is below, branched mostly from Jessydiamond's post.

Thanks.

PLEASE when POST threads asking for input on system builds tell us...

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.
Gaming, media server(PS3 media server), programming, CAD, Video editing 720p/1080p

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread
At Current $1500+tax with potential to add more later ie crossfire or sli

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
Canada

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc, etc, etc, you get the picture.
Little bit of an Asus fanboy - G1S and G50VT laptops for the past 4 years. Great customer service. Open to any brand however.

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
None

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.
New "long term" build for gaming/video editing --- Going for almost same build

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
Overclock - not extreme however, slight boost when needed, such as gaming.

8. WHEN do you plan to build it?
September 1 - October 30 , Depends if there is something worth waiting for?

9. What resolution do you use?
1 monitor @ 1920x1080, hope to add another next year or have the option/power to.

Current Build sits at this:

Processor
Intel Core i7 2600K & a good heatsink, Cooler master V6GT, Thermaltake Frio or Thermalright Venomous X - one of these?

Graphic card
Open to any suggestions, a bit stumped here. I want to be able to play BF3 as best I can for a reasonable price. Orginal plan was to do dual 560ti's but the 6950 looks good. Please advise.
XFX Radeon HD 6950 XXX 830MHZ 2GB

Motherboard
ASUS Sabertooth P67
or
P8P67 Pro ASUS P8P67 Pro REV3.0 ATX P67 LGA1155 DDR3 3PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 2PCI Sandy Bridge B3 Motherboard - DirectCanada PRO REV 3.0&manufacture=ASUS

RAM
G.SKILL Ripjaws X F3-12800CL8D-8GBXM

Hard Drives
Corsair Force 3 Series 120GB
Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB SATA2

Power supply
XFX 750W PRO750W XXX Edition
or
NCIX.com - Buy Corsair Professional HX750W 750W ATX 12V 62A 24PIN ATX Modular Power Supply Active PFC 140MM Fan - Corsair - CMPSU-750HX - in Canada -Leaning towards this one.

Case
NCIX.com - Buy Coolermaster Haf 912 Black Mid Tower ATX Case 4X5.25 1X3.5 6X3.5INT No PS Front USB Sound - COOLERMASTER - RC-912-KKN1 - in Canada
or
NCIX.com - Buy Silverstone RV03B-W Raven 3 Black ATX Gaming Case 7X5.25 4X3.5INT 2X2.5INT No PS - Silverstone Technology - RV03B-W - in Canada - Is this worth the switch from the Haf 912?

Thoughts and opinions?

PS. Just wanted to say that you guys " the community" have a great forum going here. Found the site about two weeks ago and have been in and out of the forums everyday with lots of great stuff to keep me in the loop. Thank you!

Offtopic:
Can you still fold on the ps3? and can i link with you guys on there?

[_dangtx_]

looking good,you did your homework. some may say get the z68 for caching, but with a 120gb ssd you should be fine.

yes,it can fold last i checked but it may not be worth the electricity. thanks for the upcoming work in advance,though i would

mother fold the 2600. that will be quite the producer :)

and stick with the 912. terribly good case for the money.

[Eldonko]

How about a GA-Z68XP-UD4? 22nm and PCIE 3.0 support. GIGABYTE - Media - News - Motherboard

Also for HDs. You could grab a 64GB SSD and set it as a caching drive and save some $. I would get a 2TB black and a V100 64GB. That would save you $65 off what you have above for hard drives.

[xlilmissmjx]

I've always been an nvidia fan myself, so I would recommend a 560Ti or 570, plus the consensus on folding is more for the green team.

The case is definitely something that's up to your taste though, so don't skimp out on it, especially if it's offering a couple of additional features for a bit extra. Fractal Design has the new Arc Midi Tower, but I can only find it south of the border @ newegg for $100, it's a beautiful case that I wish to see come available here hopefully soon Also another case to consider could be the new Corsair Carbide 400R which I've heard is shipping out this month and its bigger brother the 500R is coming out a month later, suggested pricing around $99 for the 400R and $129 for 500R.

Here's the links for the Arc Midi & Corsair cases...

Newegg.com - Fractal Design Arc Midi Black High Performance PC Computer Case w/ USB 3.0 and 3 x Fractal High Performance 140mm fans

Carbide Series - Cases

Good luck with your build and hope you enjoy the new machine

[Esotericrj]

Guys thanks for all the recommendations.

What are your thoughts on this board?
Newegg.com - ASRock Z68 EXTREME4 GEN3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Also I think I will get a 560ti now and another later.... any recommendations here as per an exact unit?
ie NCIX.com - Buy ASUS GeForce GTX 560 Ti DirectCU II Fermi 830MHZ 1GB 4.0GHZ GDDR5 2XDVI Mini HDMI PCI-E Video Card - ASUS - ENGTX560 Ti DCII/2DI/1GD5 - in Canada
&
NCIX.com - Buy Corsair Professional HX750W 750W ATX 12V 62A 24PIN ATX Modular Power Supply Active PFC 140MM Fan - Corsair - CMPSU-750HX - in Canada - will be ok to power both i assume?

I think the Haf 912 will be just fine for me.

Is Caching worth it on a ssd ? I am seeing debates on it, however the price saving point made by Eldonko would be worth it for me.

Edit: I think a SSD that is larger as a boot drive and not caching will better for me after following up and looking into it.

Other than that, I could just order this beauty by the weekend

[SugarJ]

Your ASRock link is to Newegg US, not .ca. And I'd take either one of the Asus boards you listed previously over that ASRock.

And I'd stick to a boot drive with your programs and a couple of games on it.

[Eldonko]

The Black is a faster drive than the green and with caching you will have faster load times on everything not just what is on the SSD. Plus it is cheaper. Your money though, that is just my 2 cents. The reason I recommended the GB board is because you have future proof in the title. Currently there is nothing more future proof than PCI-E 3.0.

[Esotericrj]

Originally Posted by Eldonko

The Black is a faster drive than the green and with caching you will have faster load times on everything not just what is on the SSD. Plus it is cheaper. Your money though, that is just my 2 cents. The reason I recommended the GB board is because you have future proof in the title. Currently there is nothing more future proof than PCI-E 3.0.

Well Eldonko, I am going to go with your advice. Picking up a Corsair Force Series 3, 60GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Disk Drive 550MB/s Read 490MB/s Write, includes 2.5" to 3.5" bracket (CSSD-F60GB3-BK) | Canada Computers tomorrow since it is on special. I will get a 750GB WD Caviar Black with it and I think it will be just perfect for what i need.

Will I be ablse to install the OS on the SSD and use it for a cache at the same time?

On a side note. I have 3 external seagates which im thinking to break open and put the HDD's in the computer. Shouldnt be a problem right?

I have also decided to go with Asus ENGTX560 Ti DCII/2DI/1GD5 nVidia GeForce GTX 560 Ti Chipset (830Mhz) 1GB (4000Mhz) GDDR5 Dual Dual-Link DVI-I/Mini HDMI Display PCI-Express 2.0 Graphics Card | Canada Computers and get another one down the road when say.. BF 3 comes out.

Ill be picking up the parts tomorrow .

Thanks for all your help guys, I hope she holds up for the long run.

[Eldonko]

You cant have anything on the SSD if it will be used for caching. Make an OS partition on the Black, and another for games, storage, whatever. Then when you set up caching it will accelerate the whole Black drive speeding up everything. Ensure you install the OS in RAID mode (set HD mode to RAID in BIOS). Any questions just ask, Ive set up caching a few times so should be able to help.

[Flemminr]

Originally Posted by Esotericrj

I have also decided to go with Asus ENGTX560 Ti DCII/2DI/1GD5 nVidia GeForce GTX 560 Ti Chipset (830Mhz) 1GB (4000Mhz) GDDR5 Dual Dual-Link DVI-I/Mini HDMI Display PCI-Express 2.0 Graphics Card | Canada Computers and get another one down the road when say.. BF 3 comes out.

Two 560 Ti's are basically equal to a single GTX 580. You'd be better off just getting a single GTX 580 since it processes everything by itself, whereas with the two GTX 560's you'd have to deal with SLI.