First rig with focus on aesthetics

[C C]

Hello there, been watching Tom's vids for a while and now that it's time for a new PC, this seemed like a good place for advice.

I would have loved to have done an orange colour scheme, but I can't think of a way of doing it that I'd be happy with (while staying in my budget).

So I've decided to do a red theme, at least it will go with my Sidewinder X4.

What I plan to go with is:

BenQ XL2420T

NZXT Matte Black Switch 810

BitFenix Spectre Pro 140mm Red LED Fan *5

Lamptron FC8 8 Channel Fan Controller

3570K

ASRock Fatal1ty Z77 Professional

G.Skill Ripjaws X F3-12800CL9Q-16GBXL 4x4GB

ASUS GeForce GTX 670 DirectCU II

Corsair AX750 Gold

Antec KUHLER H2O 920

Intel 520 Series 120GB SSD

Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB WD10EALX

LG CH12LS28 12X BD-R Blu-ray DVD Combo

Black sleeved BitFenix cables for CPU, GPU and 24pin.

• I know 16GB for gaming PC is silly overkill, I just want to fill all the slots (OCD)
  
• Still not sure if the much higher temps are worth it for the 3570K over a 2500K, any input?
  
• I'm a bit concerned that that motherboard does not seem to have any BIOS recovery features (dual BIOS/flash from USB). Has anyone had experience with this board? If my BIOS stuffs up, will this board be bricked? The dual (software) BIOS in my X38-DS4 has saved my multiple times.
  

They're my only queries at the moment, any input/advice would be great.

Thanks.

If the motherboard is no good, I may go with the Sabertooth. I will not use an mATX board, so the Maximus V GENE is out of the question.

 

[SEBAR]

Looks like a very nice set up. I would not worry to much about the board not having dual BIOS. One of hte features of this board is internet BIOS that will flash the BIOS without even needing Windows.

Internet Flash searches for available UEFI firmware updates from ASRock servers. System can auto-detect the latest UEFI from our servers and flash them within UEFI setup without entering Windows[sup]®[/sup] OS

The Antec 920 seems a big expensive, you may want to consider an H100 instead.

Also stick with the 3570K.

Looks like it will be a very good build.

 

[C C]

Looks like a very nice set up. I would not worry to much about the board not having dual BIOS. One of hte features of this board is internet BIOS that will flash the BIOS without even needing Windows.

Internet Flash searches for available UEFI firmware updates from ASRock servers. System can auto-detect the latest UEFI from our servers and flash them within UEFI setup without entering Windows[sup]®[/sup] OS

The Antec 920 seems a big expensive, you may want to consider an H100 instead.

Also stick with the 3570K.

Looks like it will be a very good build.

Thanks heaps for the input.

Few things I forgot to mention, sorry;

I'm Aussie, so pricing will be different to what most people here will be familiar with.

Those red led fans are for the roof and front of the case. I'm hoping for a glow visible only on the outside of the case.

I may add a white LED strip in there.

About the 920, with Australian prices, the H100 works out to be $30 more.

Thanks again for the help.

 

[AverageNinja]

True, get an H100 and stick with a 3570k.

Seems like a solid build to me.

 

[Jason-CL]

Be sure to do a buildlog.

 

[Big WigglyStyle]

Be careful with ASRock boards in pictures PCB appears black but it is actually brown, you can't tell unless you have a bright light being shown right on it but just a fair warning and since you said you may use white LED it may show it.

 

[Jason-CL]

Be careful with ASRock boards in pictures PCB appears black but it is actually brown, you can't tell unless you have a bright light being shown right on it but just a fair warning and since you said you may use white LED it may show it.

My Asrock X79 Extreme 6/GB is a black PCB. Not brown. This is true of older MBs, but most recently they've gone black.

 

[TonyTBR]

Looks i pretty solid build but just a few changes i would make, i would have the h100 over the 920, it might be worth the extra $30. i would go for the wd 1tb green instead of the blue as well here it is cheaper and a better drive. Other than that it looks fine, make sure you post pics of when its done, it should look pretty sick.

 

[C C]

Thanks for the replies, everyone.

TonyTBR, thanks for the tip on the HDD. Did a bit of research and it does appear to be better.

I'll definitely post pics here when I'm done, but I'm not sure when I'll be ordering. Neither of the shops I'll use have the Matte Black Switch listed, yet.

I have another question, if anyone know a bit about wireless cards.

In my current PC, I have a ~9 year old wireless g card (very similar to this one), connected to this I have a directional panel (this one), which gives me a solid 5 bars signal (though this reads as just over 50% in dd-wrt firmware). All this results in a 1ms ping to the router.

So anyway, I'll need a new wireless card and I plan on using my panel with it. All I really care is that the new card is at least as good as my current one (I'm sure it would be impossible to get an n worse than my g). The best internet I can get where I live is ~800KBps, so I don't need anything that offers blazing fast speeds (though faster transfer between my PC and the HTPC would be nice).

I've been looking through this page for a new wireless card. If I'm going to be using my panel, will the more expensive ones be of any benefit?

Would this one do what I want? Are the multiple antennas just for extra signal, or something else? If I have my panel connected to it, will that disrupt the balance, or something?

Thanks, again.

 

[C C]

Just read these two reviews (link, link) and while I'm not interested in getting the H100 for 2-3°c, I've decided the H80 is a better buy than the 920.

Performs slightly better, the radiator is a bit thinner, so it won't take up as much room in there and it has a five year warranty (vs the three years on the 920). Seems worth it for $6.

 

[C C]

Ordered my PC this morning with a few adjustments to original list. I went with the Green drive suggested in this thread (thanks), changed cooler to H80 and changed fan controller to Bitfenix Hydra.

Will make build thread when everything arrives (end of this week at earliest).


Thanks for all the help.


P.S. Sorted out the wireless question, so ignore that.

 

[yassarikhan786]

Good luck with the build dude