Mid to High End Gaming Rig - Help?

[Evanspec]

Right now, I'm looking at the following in terms of components for a gaming PC. Gaming and web surfing will probably be the only things I do with it. I might edit something here or there in Photoshop on rare occasions. I wanted to know if there were any significant compatibility errors or significant bottlenecks that might occur.
I want to be able to get the total cost of it down to $2000 or less, right now it's a few hundred over.
I do plan on gaming on the monitor below's native resolution, 1920x1080. Also, I have no problems with overclocking.

Also, I'd like to know if there are any ways that I can decrease the cost of components without sacrificing too much in terms of performance.

Note: All will be purchased on Newegg.

CPU: Intel i7 2500K (might overclock, not sure)
Mobo: ASUS Maximus IV Extreme P67
RAM: G-Skill Ripjaws X 8GB DDR3 2133
GPU: MSI GTX 560 TI Twin Frozr II
Boot Drive: OCZ Vertex 3 120 GB
Store Drive: Caviar Black 1TB SATAIII (Don't have an old HDD to speak of, so I really don't have a choice.)
PSU: Corsair Professional Series Gold AX850

Case: Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced
CPU HSF: Cooler Master Hyper 212
Mouse: Logitech G500
Keyboard: Das Keyboard Professional Silent
Speakers: Logitech Z506
Webcam: Logitech Quickcam Pro 9000
Monitor: ASUS VW246H 24"
Burner: ASUS DRW-T4B1ST


Tell me what you think! Any help that can be provided would be greatly appreciated.

[Luay79]

Hi there! The first thing that comes to mind is the Rampage motherboard. for $180 less, you can get the P8Z68-V LX and still get everything you are getting with this build except the Audio. You can also get the P8Z68-V LGA for $50 more and have audio even better than the rampage and an extra PCI-E slot to add another GPU for SLI/CF. Judging from the size of your PSU I reckon you are planning just that.

Second thing is memory. 1600hz CL9 8GB kits are half the price of the 2133hz kits and do not compromise performance in real world applications. That is a mere $40 saving.

How much are you paying for the WD Caviar Black? Can you skip it now and buy it in the summer when production and prices go back to normal?

I can't tell you to skip the Corsair AX gold as it is a phenomenal PSU for the price. However if you are going to use just one Video card, then I would not get more than 650W.

DAS is the best keyboard ever made and it's money well spent. Don't forget to get the WASD rubber set.
WASD Key Set With Inscriptions : Accessories

Case wise if I was on a tight budget I'd get the rosewill Blackhawk. It's not a looker nor is it the easiest to assemble, but it's cheaper, more quite and most importantly, aces the HAF series in aircooling the GPU(s). Again IF I was doing it because no two can agree on the same case.

Saved enough money? Now get ready to spend it on an HD7970. Don't waste your time on anything else. Nvidia's Kepler will come out stronger but that is a few months away. Last thing is if you don't want to puncture your eardrums, stay away from the Z506. get the Z906 or a quality headset.

[Yeno]

I would have to agree with Luay79 on the MOBO, RAM and HDD. Those are definitely areas where you can bring the cost down without compromising the performance.

Also maybe I missed something but isn't the monitor's native resolution 1920X1080 not 1200?

[Dragonstongue]

Very solid recomended changes.

Myself
HX750 very very close in every efficeny level, overloading, sound temperatures to the more expensive but same warranty AX750(single cards have no need of an 850 not by a long shot)

Radeon 7950/7970 way more performance, but obviously more costly, you could also go 560Ti 448 core or Radeon 6950 overclocked such as XFX dual fan XXX 2gb 6950(its the one with 830 core speed)

ASUS Z68-V or V-pro no point in going for some uber boards unlikely to use what it is tailored to anyways, the Z68 generally have more then enough features, are stellar overclockers. Another good choice would be
Sabertooth P67 Rev3 excellent boards they are.

SSD I have an Agility 3 60GB, it is plenty enough fast, The vertex are not that much faster, not enough to notice the speed difference at least visually. I would go Agility 3 whatever size or Crucial M4 or Corsair Force/Force GT

Hard drive, I myself have 2 caviar black 640 and a single caviar blue 1tb sata 6gb, all very fast, the only ones faster as far as current lineup are the "new" sata 6 CB 1tb 1.5 or 2tb but are obviously more costly as well.
I would go caviar blue 1tb if its just for storage, it is plenty fast, if you do not need as much storage space, caviar black 640 AALS model.

Case, well there is tons of choices, I have a Raven 3 and love it, plenty of room, excellent cooling. HAF 932, Rosewill Blackhawk, Corsair Carbide, Raidmax Viper, NZXT also have plenty of really nice choices, and there is also Xigmatech such as Asgard II. I did some reviews of the Viper, and it truly is a nice case, and comes with quite a few fans, for its price range, not many do as many fans coming with it, which is cool :)

[Evanspec]

Originally Posted by Luay79

Judging from the size of your PSU I reckon you are planning just that.

You reckon correctly. I am planning on going SLI in the future.

Originally Posted by Luay79

How much are you paying for the WD Caviar Black? Can you skip it now and buy it in the summer when production and prices go back to normal?

I'm paying $250 for the Caviar Black. I can't skip it now and wait until the summer unless I limit myself to putting everything onto the SSD because I don't have any old HDDs to go to, it's my first time building a computer.

Originally Posted by Luay79

I can't tell you to skip the Corsair AX gold as it is a phenomenal PSU for the price. However if you are going to use just one Video card, then I would not get more than 650W.

I do plan on going SLI or CF (depending) sometime in the future.

Originally Posted by Luay79

Saved enough money? Now get ready to spend it on an HD7970. Don't waste your time on anything else. Nvidia's Kepler will come out stronger but that is a few months away. Last thing is if you don't want to puncture your eardrums, stay away from the Z506. get the Z906 or a quality headset.

Why a 7970? I don't really want to be shilling out $500+ for a GPU because I don't think I'm that EXTREME. Also, could you point out to me some other speakers set or headset that is available at a reasonable price? (~$150 or less)

Originally Posted by Yeno

Also maybe I missed something but isn't the monitor's native resolution 1920X1080 not 1200?

My mistake. Fixed.

[JJThomp]

I recommend crucial m4 for the SSD, more reliable and almost as fast. it is what AKG recommends and he is an expert.

And why spend that much on your graphics? Because it is in your budget and it is much better than the 560 ti. Who cares if you aren't hardcore, for $2000 can get a top of the line computer with the best graphics card available. Why go second rate?

[Luay79]

I understand your storage requirements. I still think you're better off with the $100 more expensive but twice-sized 240GB Agility3 instead of spending that much on a HDD. In the end you know how much data you plan on storing and you can choose best. If I was desperate for storage space today I would get a blue-ray burner and store my data on discs.

Why go 7970?

decrease the cost of components without sacrificing too much in terms of performance

What about increasing performance? It's your choice in the end if you want to go a few hundred $ above your budget. If you're main usage will be gaming, get the best video card out there! There are plenty of image options that game developers provide to tax your GPUs.

I also recommend going with a 120hz refresh rate monitor. the ASUS VG236HE is $100 more but should give you a smoother display, if your GPU can push 120fps.

[th3dud3]

Get the noctua d-14 instead of the hyper 212+. Its currently on sale at ncix for 49.99$ plus free shipping