New Build: "SMOKE SCREEN"

[Metalboz]

Right, after a few weeks of planning i would like to introduce my proposed first build:

**SMOKE SCREEN**

Case:

Corsair 600T in White

Board:

Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD4

GPU:

XFX ATI Radeon 6950 HD 830MHz 2GB

Memory:

Corsiar Vengeance LP 1600MHz CL7

PSU:

Corsair AX850

Cooling:

Corsair H100

Trying to stick with the black and grey inside the case and looking to change the white LEDs on the fans to red to higlight the demon inside the smoke screen

The other bits that cant be seen as much are:

CPU: i7 2600K

SSD: Kingston 120GB HyperX

Just wanted to see what people think

 

[MrWizard]

I was going to get the ASRock board but the brown pcb turned me off. That aside looks like it would be a nice build even with that board if you dont mind the brown

 

[SieB]

Looks good to me but if you are in no rush the AMD 7850 and 7870 are out in just over a week, due for launch on the 6th of march IIRC, might be worth waiting to see how they perform.

 

[Metalboz]

I'm waiting until April to go firm on the GPU as I know prices should drop when new cards come out so I can either save money on the 6950 or look at better cards for around the same price as the 6950 is currently

 

[Metalboz]

I'm waiting until April to go firm on the GPU as I know prices should drop when new cards come out so I can either save money on the 6950 or look at better cards for around the same price as the 6950 is currently

 

[Metalboz]

I'm waiting until April to go firm on the GPU as I know prices should drop when new cards come out so I can either save money on the 6950 or look at better cards for around the same price as the 6950 is currently

 

[Metalboz]

I'm waiting until April to go firm on the GPU as I know prices should drop when new cards come out so I can either save money on the 6950 or look at better cards for around the same price as the 6950 is currently

 

[nothingspecial]

Seems okay. Only things I'd do some extra research on are the motherboard and the SSD.

Motherboard: This Gigabyte Z68X-UD4 seems like a good bargain, and would fit with your rig style. Can't really speak for ASRock boards, but Gigabyte are my first choice.

SSD: That M4 has only got a 200MB/Sec write rate, and that's after a firmware upgrade. I'd have a look at the Kingston Hyper-X or the Mushkin Chronos range, as they're about the same price and have much better write speeds.

Everything else seems good. As for fans, take a look at the Xigmatek Crystal (clear case, clear blades, red LED), or there's some nice Phobya fans that TTL used in Snow Drift (black case, red blades, red LEDs)

As an afterthought, if you're going with the H100, you could use the Vengeance RAM with the full heatsink, might look quite nice in there.

 

[Tomtom565]

Look's good mate, although I personally wouldnt go for ASrock boards, I've had a few bad experiences with them

, my freind has the Z68X-UD4, an he loves it to bits, exept from when he pushes the reset button, 10 seconds later it resets the PC

.

As the other's said, take a look at the 79** series cards, if you dont mind paying an extra bob, get one of them,

Other than that, it all looks good.

 

[parshnip]

I don't want to deter you from getting the Asrock Board, but I have a Extreme3 Gen3 version, and it has some bug that prevents any sort of decent overclock. From where I bought my board, it would be too much of a hassle to try and get a replacement so I thought I would wait out until Ivy Bridge to replace my MB. If your going for an Asrock board, I recommend getting it from someplace that would easily replace it for you if anything went wrong. I recommend the Z68-UD3P because it has some really nice features for its price (near $200) and my friend absolutely loves it.

 

[Metalboz]

Seems to be a running theme with people not liking the ASRock boards

I like the Gigabyte board, will have a closer look in to it.

With the memory, do they do a CL7 in black with the heatsinks? im also worried that with the H100 in the 600T case, it might be a tight squeeze without the low profile sticks

 

[Tomtom565]

im also worried that with the H100 in the 600T case, it might be a tight squeeze without the low profile sticks

You dont need to worry about having a "tight squeeze" even with the high profile sticks, you could fit any type of ram heatsink in there and yet there will be masses of room

, glad you picked up the doubts with the ASrock Board.....

 

[Metalboz]

You dont need to worry about having a "tight squeeze" even with the high profile sticks, you could fit any type of ram heatsink in there and yet there will be masses of room

, glad you picked up the doubts with the ASrock Board.....

Do they do the Corsairs with the heatsinks sticks in black with CL7 latency timings though?

 

[S_I_N]

looks good and I +100 the Gigabyte GA Z68-UD4 I have one and I love it I dont have the 10second reset issue as the other poster said, his is most likely not hooked up right. The only mobo I'd consider changing it for is the UD7 for the higher power phases. But its nigh impossible to find.

 

[Tomtom565]

Do they do the Corsairs with the heatsinks sticks in black with CL7 latency timings though?

I dont think so, and I cant seem to find any either.....

I dont have the 10second reset issue as the other poster said

No, as far as I'm aware he hooked it up correctly, although, it is rather amusing watching his facial expressions when he is waiting for the PC to reset....

Other than that, whenever I got the chance to use it, I found the UD4 a very solid board, and it looks so sleek, I love its matt black pcb....