New hardware incoming - thoughts?

[Neutral]

So I'm buying some new gear to upgrade my PC.

Current rig:

3570k @ 4.4GHz (Hyper 212 Evo on Push/Pull)
ASRock Extreme 4 Z77
Samsung Green ram 2x 4gB
MSI HD 7870 HAWK
Caviar Blue 1tB for boot (going, I know, bad bad bad)
Caviar Black 2tB for storage
Corsair TX 650v2 PSU
NZXT Source 210 case


New rig is going to look more like:

3570k @ 4.5+, Corsair H80i
ASRock Z77 Ex4
Samsung Green (Unless there is something sweet about - bloody overclockers want £100++ for another 2x 4gB sticks, sod that!)
AMD R9 290X OR Nvidia 780/ti (if 290x is overpriced then 4 gens of AMD buying is out of the window)
Samsung 840 PRO 256gB (Boot boot boot)
Corsair AX760
Corsair 600T White
ASUS PB278Q 1440p monitor (Seemingly less lag than the IPS alternatives)

Sennheiser HD 598 (I need sound card advice guys!)
Would also like advice on what mic to get
Look at a Zalman clipon thing but not too sure, these replacing aging Astro A40s from a time when I cared about consoles.

My current monitors consist of a pair of Asus VE247H, which are being sold to friends to cover some of the monitor cost.
PSU is being sold to brother to cover some of the PSU cost.
GPU will be sold when I order the new one in.

Anyway guys, I'd really appreciate some input, let me know what you think of my choices.

 

[WillSK]

So I'm buying some new gear to upgrade my PC.

Current rig:

3570k @ 4.4GHz (Hyper 212 Evo on Push/Pull)
ASRock Extreme 4 Z77
Samsung Green ram 2x 4gB
MSI HD 7870 HAWK
Caviar Blue 1tB for boot (going, I know, bad bad bad)
Caviar Black 2tB for storage
Corsair TX 650v2 PSU
NZXT Source 210 case


New rig is going to look more like:

3570k @ 4.5+, Corsair H80i
ASRock Z77 Ex4
Samsung Green (Unless there is something sweet about - bloody overclockers want £100++ for another 2x 4gB sticks, sod that!)
AMD R9 290X OR Nvidia 780/ti (if 290x is overpriced then 4 gens of AMD buying is out of the window)
Samsung 840 PRO 256gB (Boot boot boot)
Corsair AX760
Corsair 600T White
ASUS PB278Q 1440p monitor (Seemingly less lag than the IPS alternatives)

Sennheiser HD 598 (I need sound card advice guys!)
Would also like advice on what mic to get
Look at a Zalman clipon thing but not too sure, these replacing aging Astro A40s from a time when I cared about consoles.

My current monitors consist of a pair of Asus VE247H, which are being sold to friends to cover some of the monitor cost.
PSU is being sold to brother to cover some of the PSU cost.
GPU will be sold when I order the new one in.

Anyway guys, I'd really appreciate some input, let me know what you think of my choices.

People get too invested in screen "response time" or lag as you put it. I would definitely go for the IPS screen over one of these super refresh rate/response time screens if you can.

Once you go IPS i'm sure like many of us here who made the switch you will not wanna go back (colours pop, everything looks so nice!) and 8ms or lower response times will barely be noticeable

 

[Feronix]

First of all; Welcome to the forums

Seems like a solid build tbh. No storage drives though or are you just keeping the ones from your current rig?
For the money, you can get a better case than the 600T, but if you really like the looks, then go for it.

Alternatives would be:
Fractal Design R4/ Arc Midi R2
Corsair 750D
NZXT Phantom 630/ 530
Nanoxia Deep Silence 1/ Deep Silence 2

As for the sound card I would recommend the Asus Xonar STX, considering you want to use headphones and this card has a built-in headphone amp. It only supports 2.0 sound though, if you want surround, something like the Xonar D2X will be good, but it doesn't have a headphone amp.

If you are looking for something cheaper, just pick something cheaper from the Asus Xonar range. Stay away from Creative.

Have you considered the Mod Mic?
http://www.modmic.com/

 

[Neutral]

People get too invested in screen "response time" or lag as you put it. I would definitely go for the IPS screen over one of these super refresh rate/response time screens if you can.

Once you go IPS i'm sure like many of us here who made the switch you will not wanna go back (colours pop, everything looks so nice!) and 8ms or lower response times will barely be noticeable

That ASUS panel is a PLS panel from Samsung, not a super snappy cheap TFT
Admittedly I was really interested in the Dell u2713hm but I've heard the scaler does add quite a few frames of lag - we're talking up to 2 frames a second or so, and PLS provides similar viewing angles, colour performance, etc to a standard IPS.

http://www.asus.com/Commercial_Monitors_Projectors/PB278Q/

First of all; Welcome to the forums

Seems like a solid build tbh. No storage drives though or are you just keeping the ones from your current rig?
For the money, you can get a better case than the 600T, but if you really like the looks, then go for it.

Alternatives would be:
Fractal Design R4/ Arc Midi R2
Corsair 750D
NZXT Phantom 630/ 530
Nanoxia Deep Silence 1/ Deep Silence 2

As for the sound card I would recommend the Asus Xonar STX, considering you want to use headphones and this card has a built-in headphone amp. It only supports 2.0 sound though, if you want surround, something like the Xonar D2X will be good, but it doesn't have a headphone amp.

If you are looking for something cheaper, just pick something cheaper from the Asus Xonar range. Stay away from Creative.

Have you considered the Mod Mic?
http://www.modmic.com/

Thanks for the welcome!

I'm keeping that 2tB Caviar Black for the new build, it has my steam, origin, music etc on it and my movies and TV are stored on an external drive for ease of use when bringing it over to friends.

I have been looking at the 750d, but to be honest I really love the aesthetic of the 600t and especially am having difficulty finding similar sized cases in white that offer the cable management and space offered in the 600t - I could be persuaded if anyone has personal experience to damn it, though.
Love the look of that Deep Space 2 in white, by the way!

I'll stick with that Xonar SXT most likely, since the headphones I'm going for are stereo and virtual surround serves only to confuse me.
D2X will get a look also, this is one of those few areas where I have absolutely no product knowledge and I've been using onboard since back in the 90s...though, obviously had a wonderful soundblaster before that.
Looking at mod mic also, thanks.

Cheers for the many suggestions so far guys, keep 'em coming if you see something being overlooked.

 

[EddWills95]

As for the sound card I would recommend the Asus Xonar STX, considering you want to use headphones and this card has a built-in headphone amp.

+1

Got talked into this by JamesRiley, and I don't regret it at all. Combined with some decent headphones (i've got the Beyerdynamic DT770's) it makes for an amazing listening experience.

But yeah as Feronix said depends what you want from it.

 

[WillSK]

Ah i didn't realise it was a PLS. In that case it should still be pretty awesome. +1 on the suggestion of a soundcard by the others

 

[Neutral]

Thanks for all the posts guys!

Going for that Asus Xonar Essence STX 2, that inbuilt amp sounds real nice.

Got a little bit more time to look around at cases etc but I'm pretty sure it's decided, now I'm really hoping AMD don't ruin this launch for the 290x lol.

Has anyone used both Asus PB278Q and Dell U2713HM, for mainly gaming purposes?
:s

 

[Excalabur50]

The only other cases that compares to the 600T and I was really interested in but they came out here later were the CM Storm Stryker or the NZXT Switch 810. I own the 600T white and it's two sligtht downfalls are it's cooling options are a bit limited and the usb ports being on the top fill with dust but apart from that it's a bloody good case. Take a good look at the other two I have mentioned though as they are pretty epic in their own right hope this helps

 

[looz]

Essence STX is a great card, but nothing beats Xonar DG in value for money.

Also, Noctua D14 might be a smarter option for the CPU, it tends to be quieter.

 

[SuB]

Another vote here for the Essence STX. One of the best decisions I've ever made that thing Along with my AKG's for ultra precision positional audio for gaming.. just awesome! Audio God-mode! If you're using half-decent headphones this really is the card to beat.

Nothing in the creative range comes close except the X-Fi's the Recon3D stuff is pants (and I'll continue my campaign to make people aware of this fact).

As for your screen.. well.. I moved from a Dell TN panel (2407 WFP) to their IPS 24 inch (2142) and having them side-by-side REALLY shows off just how nice IPS panels are I'll never give my 2407 up, but the 2142 really shines when you see them next to each other, richer colour gamut, nicer blacks, greater colour reproduction and saturation etc. Just much nicer and the viewing angles are just astonishing when you compare them.

With that being said... With nVidia's G-Sync announcement it almost seems like it might be worth waiting and/or investing in one of those Asus screens (I think that might be my next buy) As everyone who has seen/tried this new GSync thing is absolutely raving about it...