New Build: My, how things have changed!

[castosa]

Good evening and thank you for reading my post.

This will be my first build in roughly 5 years and only my second overall build, ever. I see many, many things have evolved over the years.

This PC will be used for graphic design and high-end gaming purposes (iRacing, ext).

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Here are the current specs:
1
ASUS P8Z77-V DELUXE LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard $274.99
1
Patriot Extreme Performance 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory $89.99
1
GIGABYTE Radeon HD 7970 GV-R797OC-3GD Video Card $499.99
1
SAMSUNG 830 Series MZ-7PC256B/WW 2.5" MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) $329.99 / $289.99
1
COOLER MASTER HAF X Blue Edition RC-942-KKN3 ATX Full Tower Computer Case $219.99 / $209.99
1
KINGWIN Lazer Platinum Series LZP-550 550W Power Supply $169.99 / $149.99
1
Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-bit

Intel Core i7-2700K 3.5GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 Quad-Core Desktop Processor -$25.00 Combo = $519.98 / $494.98

- Grand Total: $2,009.92

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QUESTIONS

- Basically, I simply picked my desired parts between the dream and high-end sectors on the HW-Leaderboard. I am pretty sure everything is still compatible..?

- Another question I had was regarding cooling... Liquid cooling has always intrigued me though, I must admit, I know little about it. Is it worth the hassle? Are they pretty much fail (leak) safe now days?

- If I do run liquid cooling.. I would rather run my CPU fan as liquid cooled as well. What would be the best option for this as I have yet to decide on a CPU fan..?

- What would be the best option overall for a liquid cooled system? Is it as difficult to setup as it appears?

- I have selected the i7 2700K CPU as I am not in a position to wait for the i7 3770K to be available. I understand there are some advantages to the 3770K over the 2700K... but are they noticeably different in performance?

- Is everyone still cool with newegg? They are who I purchased all the parts from for my last build.

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Thank you for any and all help!

- Sean

[no2guncntrl]

If I may, instead of the 550 Kingwin, you can get this Corsair 750 for the
same price and even cheaper at Amazon. You would want to make sure
it fit your case, but I always use Corsair due their above the call of
duty customer Service. The Corsair has a 7 year warranty compared to
Kingwin's 3 year warranty.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139010

http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Profes...8&sr=8-1-fkmr0

Can't help you with the cooling.

[richardd43]

The Z77 board can not use all of its functions with the 2700K.

If you are going to upgrade the CPU later than go for the board, if not I would consider a Z68 instead.

I am running the 3770K in a Z77 so the chips are available now.

[castosa]

It seems as though the Z77's features would alone be worth the trouble of finding a 3770K?

[richardd43]

It seems as though the Z77's features would alone be worth the trouble of finding a 3770K?

I couldn't agree more.

[no2guncntrl]

http://www.cpusolutions.com/store/pc...-CPU-p2989.htm

http://www.google.com/products/selle...d=0CIQBEKkMMAQ

[castosa]

Thanks. I might opt for that. I was just hoping to purchase it all from the same place though, I guess you can't win them all. lol.


Any recommendations on the cooling?

[castosa]

Nevermind. I'm basically going to buy the same build with the 3700K from http://www.digitalstormonline.com/ for pretty much the same end price.