Project Singularity

[Quantum]

Planning to build this rig in February. Anything I should change? Any recommendations on what I should get? Any help would be appreciated :). I already own the Fractal Design Define R4 w/ Window and Corsair AX860. Yes, I know the PSU is overkill, but I plan to SLI in the future. I will be watercooling and hoping to expand the loop eventually. This is for gaming, but the price on the 3770k is the price of the 3570k at other stores, plus it's a better overclocker than the 3570k. I may replace the fans in the Define R4 with NoiseBlocker BlackSilent Pros or AP 121s with red leds. I am aware Haswell is supposed to be released around June, but I can't wait that long for a new pc.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($47.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($84.99 @ Amazon)

Storage: Corsair Neutron Series GTX 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($134.99 @ Newegg)

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card ($359.99 @ Newegg)

Case: Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($104.55 @ NCIX US)

Power Supply: Corsair 860W 80 PLUS Platinum Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($183.98 @ Newegg)

Other: Intel Core i7 3770k ($229.99 @ MicroCenter)

Other: Swiftech H220 ($139.99)

Other: Asus Sabertooth Z77 ($239.99 @ MicroCenter)

Total: $1513.46

(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-24 04:11 EST-0500)

[zahlio]

the sabertooth is a little overkill if you dont plan on having a dual GPU config

[Dim]

You've made some good choices, but here are my thoughts:

Memory: Fine

Storage: Fine, but for your SSD I would recommend any of the following instead: Samsung 830, Samsung 840 Pro, Kingston HyperX 3K, Sandisk Extreme, OCZ Vertex 3/4, Crucial M4

Video Card: Fine, but you should take a look at some of the non-reference GTX 670s (such as the MSI Power Edition)

Case: Personal Choice, will not comment

Power Supply: For a dual-GPU arrangement, 860W is still overkill--bit of a money waster. For dual-GPU, you can look at a Corsair AX750 to save $50.

CPU: The 3770K is great, but for gaming only the 3570K is enough. Since it's the same price, though (don't understand why it would be), you can let that go.

Cooler: Great.

Motherboard: This is tricky. The Sabertooth Z77 is a bit overpriced and you're pretty much paying for looks, here. You can look at cheaper ASUS/ASRock/Gigabyte Z77 boards. You can probably save $80-100 on a cheaper motherboard that will do what you need anyway--ASRock are the cheapest, generally, but for some reason people dislike them (they get my seal of approval, at least).

[MTROB]

I really like the Sabertooth. It has worked great in my build. The thermal radar really helps with case layout and it tells you if you have enough cooling in an area.

[Spite]

Looks good but I would change the motherboard and PSU. Even if you are planning on SLI/CrossFireX in the future, you can get the AX760/50 for cheaper, it's still more than enough to power that system, you're just wasting money when it will not benefit you. If you do not plan on SLI/CrossFireX, you could go with a 550W PSU such as the Rosewill HIVE 550, it's a great high quality power supply for $60 and is semi-modular and you could go with the 750W version for $90. For the motherboard just like the others have said the Sabertooth isn't worth the money, you're pretty much paying for aesthetics and even the features it does comes I doubt you would use them all. Grab something like an ASRock Z77 Extreme 4 / Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H / MSI Z77A-GD65 / ASUS P8Z77-V -- all will do what you want it to do and will allow you to run SLI/CrossFireX if you wanted, no need to spend an extra $90 or whatever if it's not going to benefit you.

[Quantum]

You've made some good choices, but here are my thoughts:

Memory: Fine

Storage: Fine, but for your SSD I would recommend any of the following instead: Samsung 830, Samsung 840 Pro, Kingston HyperX 3K, Sandisk Extreme, OCZ Vertex 3/4, Crucial M4

Video Card: Fine, but you should take a look at some of the non-reference GTX 670s (such as the MSI Power Edition)

Case: Personal Choice, will not comment

Power Supply: For a dual-GPU arrangement, 860W is still overkill--bit of a money waster. For dual-GPU, you can look at a Corsair AX750 to save $50.

CPU: The 3770K is great, but for gaming only the 3570K is enough. Since it's the same price, though (don't understand why it would be), you can let that go.

Cooler: Great.

Motherboard: This is tricky. The Sabertooth Z77 is a bit overpriced and you're pretty much paying for looks, here. You can look at cheaper ASUS/ASRock/Gigabyte Z77 boards. You can probably save $80-100 on a cheaper motherboard that will do what you need anyway--ASRock are the cheapest, generally, but for some reason people dislike them (they get my seal of approval, at least).

Micro Center has them awfully cheap... 229.99... That is a steal if you ask me. I bought the 860 when it was on sale so it was slightly cheaper. Plus, I already bought it...

[Quantum]

Looks good but I would change the motherboard and PSU. Even if you are planning on SLI/CrossFireX in the future, you can get the AX760/50 for cheaper, it's still more than enough to power that system, you're just wasting money when it will not benefit you. If you do not plan on SLI/CrossFireX, you could go with a 550W PSU such as the Rosewill HIVE 550, it's a great high quality power supply for $60 and is semi-modular and you could go with the 750W version for $90. For the motherboard just like the others have said the Sabertooth isn't worth the money, you're pretty much paying for aesthetics and even the features it does comes I doubt you would use them all. Grab something like an ASRock Z77 Extreme 4 / Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H / MSI Z77A-GD65 / ASUS P8Z77-V -- all will do what you want it to do and will allow you to run SLI/CrossFireX if you wanted, no need to spend an extra $90 or whatever if it's not going to benefit you.

I'm going for aesthetics for my build, but yea, I know it's expensive.

[Hypnotoad]

I'm very interested to know if the case, motherboard, and cooler all fit together well. I have the Define R4 and the Sabertooth Z77, and I'm looking to upgrade my cooler to an H220 at some point, but the fit looks very very tight for the top of the case. 

[WoodenMarker]

Why not go for a 7950? You're not rendering or editing, are you?

As for ssd, go for the Samsung 840 120gb.