New build tips please

[Damon.H]

Hi, I have been saving up for a while now and I have a few parts sorted, they are as follows:
CPU: I5 3570k
Cooling: h100 or h100i (depends on whether I decide to get more fans that I can chuck on the h100 anyway
SSD: either corsair force gs 180 gb or Samsung 840 pro 120 or 240
HDD: seagate 2tb st2000dm001
PSU: corsair AX860 or 860i (is there much difference?)
RAM: corsair vengance 16gb 1866mhz cl10
Graphics card: 2xmsi gtx 670 power edition (will take advice on this as well if you think I should change, I wud like to get a red one as I like the colour scheme but I might have to give that up because of the prices of any dc2 g card atm)
Case: CM Storm Stryker (would have chosen trooper + window bu the don't make it any more) or nzxt phantom enthusiast with a window
Case cooling: probably a couple red led fans and the rest maybe corsair 120mm case fans
And this is where I'm really stuck.
Mobo: either asus Maximus v formula with thunder fx or asus sabertooth z77
Sound card: if I go with the sabertooth I will probably get the asus xonar Phoebus as apparently the drivers have been updated and are now working the way they should so the Phoebus is now much better

Any advice on any part is appreciated. I can't really spend any more than what is specified above. I live in New Zealand and parts here are beyond overpriced so I will be ordering from the USA.
I will order In different packages because as long as I don't go over $400nz then I don't need to pay any import tax. So that means that if I get the sabertooth and the Phoebus I will not have to pay extra 15% gst but but if I get the Maximus v formla with thunder fx I will need to pay gst so they work out to be close to the same price.
Thanks for taking your timeto read this, it's greatly appreciated XD

Oh, and I would like to go down the nvidia surround road at some point or at least get a good 27" monitor, like a vg278h or maybe a 1440p monitor if I can find the funds

 

[Josh Weston]

Looks like a good rig, but there are some thing that i'd like to address.

Cooling: go with the H100i. The design refresh, in my opinion, looks a lot better and you don't need to spend extra replacing the stock fans. Also, you have fancy software control over your fan speeds and whatnot.

SSD: go with the '840 Pro.

HDD: could I tempt you into going for a WD Caviar Green drive instead? Seagate drives have been known to have issues.

RAM: if this is just for gaming/browsing etc. then only 8GB of RAM is needed. Also, if there's a significant price gap between 1600MHz RAM and 1866 RAM you should go with the former. The performance increase that you get in games just isn't worth it whatsoever.

PSU: personally i'd go with the stock AX860 as the extra software control doesn't bother me. The ol'AX850 has a great fan profile which keeps extremely quiet all the time, so I just don't think it's needed.

Graphics card: a good choice, but know that you can get an r7970 for much the same price. The 7970, with the advent of AMD's fancy new drivers, is the new GPU king. The 7970 also comes with 3GB of VRAM - an advantage for when you go multi-monitor/1440p. On that note, I think that AMD is better than nVidia when it comes to multi-monitor stuff, it just falls behind at 3D.

Motherboard: both good options, but both expensive. The MSI Z77A GD65 is a firm favourite within this forum, with the MPower being another great option. Both boards are quite a bit cheaper than the board you stated, and the MPower is individually tested in stressful thermal conditions to ensure each board overclocks well.

 

[JMMP]

If you choose the H100i and the Ax860i, you will be able to control and monitor booth things with the Corsair link software.
The Mobo i´ll chose the Asus Maximus V Formula. And the Gfx cards, if you have intentions to make nvidia surrond or to buy a high definition monitor, i suggest that you take the 4gig versión!

 

[Bang]

MSI Z77A-GD65 rocks. After buying it, it's easy to see why it's a forum favourite.