Windows 7: Need advice on new 2012 PC Build

Hi Guys & Gals,



Your advice or comments on the hardware choices would be appreciated. Below are the build parts for an Entertainment/Gaming machine. Output is to a 32" 1080p LED/LCD via HDMI. Mouse Keyboard Spk/Headphones are already covered. No huge desire to go with a water cooled setup but the corsair H100 seems like a good piece. So any advice on the tower parts below are welcome...


What do you think?

You seem to be overpaying on a few of those items honestly I would check newegg and tigerdirect both before ordering from that place.
You might save 75 to 100 dollars.

and don't pay attention to rebates only about 30% of them ever come back.

Thanks mag. I agree the mail in rebates I cannot count on at all. I'll be checking out newegg.

Can anyone advise on having the GTX 560 hooked up via HDMI to perhaps a 32" samsung D6000? Any thuoghts on how well that will work out as a monitor/tv? Never really played with PC HDMI to tv connections before. I've seen a few 50" setups for living rooms work well, have a 22" myself, and seen a 27" LCD, but want to go bigger than 27, which leads to me thinking a 32 might be just right, 40 being too big for sitting distance. I need the multiple HDMI and video connections...

Nice selection of components nickyoung. I just have a couple of minor observations the first being that if you can afford to add an SSD drive as your main OS drive the speed and response will work in tandem with the newer powerful i2600k processor, ram and GFX card.

The second minor point is I too purchased a sabertooth P67 board and 2 minor issues that I have come to realize is 1) the CMOS battery is concealed behind the TUFarmor and requires mobo removal and removal of the TUFarmor shield should it ever need to be replaced, however most batteries last between 5 to 10 years nowadays and you will probably have upgraded to a newer system by then.

Another issue I have come across that supposedly affects all asus P67 mobos but not always is a wake from sleep issue which has so far has not been addressed but several workarounds have been posted on the asus mobo forums.

Overall I am satisfied with the sabertooth P67 for the quality and warranty and ability to find a solution for the sleep issue on the asus mobo forums.

PS: I also invested $10 on Artic Silver thermal paste instead of using the paste supplied with the Intel processor and stock cooler as the Artic Silver comes highly recommended by members of this and many other enthusiast forums, has better thermal properties, longer lifespan/adhesion and good quality. There are also other excellent comparable brands of thermal paste available on the market.

Wow. Thanks for that money! This is exactly what I was hoping to hear.

1. The question is will SSD work? I've read about controller compatibility issues in past but pretty clueless about the market today. Would this work? OCZ Solid 3 - 120GB - 450-500MB/s read write it says..

2. I'm going to dig up the mobo reviews to see what this is about. I use the wake from sleep feature exclusively - and would hate for that to be the pitfall. Especially if pairing it with a solid state drive... Has the wake from sleep issue affected you personally?

3. Not too concerned about the CMOS access upfront. I can put up with a full tear down if needed. I do want to give the "thermal-armor" a try because it covers up and protects a lot of motherboard components. And with a 50mm fan it has good cooling I've read. I see there is still access to the CMOS reset button at least - whew!

I'd perhaps swap the 560 for an ati xfx 2gb 6950, as they are similarly priced but the ati beats the latter. As I had that debate.

Also newer Z68 mobos are dropping in price, I bought an asus p8Z68 for about £130.

As for SSD I've the corsair force 3 120gb and its superb! For the money I wouldn't even consider another drive!

Stripped of my thermal armor plans. Oh no! Thanks checking out the z68s.

This may be a complete sideline question but - Is there anyway to take a mobo with built in HDMI / DVI, and while keeping the video card still installed - shut off the video card lane so that it doesn't consume power, and turn it back on to use it for gaming? (bit of a power savings/heat generation question...)

It would involve bios settings so a reboot would be the minimum required, and jumping back and forth between devices like that is bound to cause problems with windows in the long run. Video cards and their drivers aren't really designed to be 'hotswapped' like that.
Today's cards are actually using less power, the most power hungry card I ever owned (I still actually have it) is an 8800gtx my new 5850 ati that performs better than 2 8800gtx's did in sli consumes far less power.

You are getting a very nice power supply from what I see there and a modern card. Both of these will limit the power consumption when the card is not in use for 3d rendering. (windows 7 isn't too shabby with power management either)

Ah I see. This is good news. I am coming from a 8800 GTX myself (first custom build). I guess things have changed since then...