New Pc Woop Woop!!! Need advice

[spidernz]

New build what i'm looking for:

Games: BF3/Starcraft2
Multimedia: TV/Movies/Music
Apps: Programming/Photoshop
Average Lifetime: 3yrs before upgrade (see next line), New Build at 5/6yrs
Possible upgrades / Futureproofing : Ivybridge cpu, Pci 3.0 gfx, crossfire 2nd toxic card

Please note that I do not mind getting mildy expensive parts that I know will last a few builds.
I have been doing my research too.

Code: Select all

Current: 
--------
Cpu             AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 90nm Venice Core DH-E3 2.2ghz       
Cpu Cooling     Thermaltake A1838 Silent Boost
Motherboard     ASUS A8N-SLI Premium ACPI BIOS Revision 1303 (Socket 939/nforce4 (Crush CK8-04 MCP))
Ram             OCZ Platinum Edition PC-3200 (OCZ4001024ELPE) 2x 1.00 GB Dual-Channel DDR @ 201MHz (2.5-3-3-5)
GPU             Sapphire Radeon HD4850 Toxic HDMI 512Mb
Psu             Enermax Noisetaker 485w
Case            Thermaltake Saprano Black S/W
Tv Tuner        Winfast DTV2000H (CONEXANT CX2388x)
Webcam          N/A
ODD             Samsung(TSSTcorp) CDDVDW SH-S203B     
SSD             N/A
Sound Card      Realtek ALC850 8 Channel Codec 
Speakers        Polk Audio Passive Speakers
Headset         Sennheiser Pc150
========================================================================================
New:
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Cpu             $305         Intel Core i5 2500K 3.3GHz Socket 1155 (Try OC @ 4.5ghz 1.40V)         
Cpu Cooling     $40/205      Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus/Noctua NH-D14/Noctua NH-C14
Motherboard     $335         Asus P8Z68-V/GEN3 (*2: The PCIe x16_3 slot shares bandwidth with PCIe x1_1 slot, PCIe x1_2 slot, USB3_34 and eSATA. The PCIe x16_3 default setting is in x1 mode.)
Ram             $300         2x G.Skill Ripjaws X DDR3 PC14900/1866MHz CL9 2x4GB (F3-14900CL9D-8GBXL) vs 2x G.Skill Ripjaws X DDR3 PC12800/1600MHz CL8 2x4GB (F3-12800CL8D-8GBXM)  
GPU             $490         Sapphire Radeon HD6950 Toxic HDMI Dual-DisplayPort Dual-DVI 2GB The dimensions of the are 10.75 inches in Length, 3.875 inches in Height, and 1.5 inches wide.
Psu             $285         Seasonic X 760
Case            $345/395     Corsair Graphite Series 600TM Mesh Window Black Mid Tower Chassis / Corsair Obsidian 650D (Black/Transparent) / Cooler Master Silencio 550 Quiet ATX Tower
Tv Tuner        $145         WinTV-HVR-2200
SSD             $320         Crucial m4 2.5" 128GB
Sound Card      $250+85      Asus Xonar Essence ST + Asus Xonar H6
Speakers        $
Headset         $
Microphone      $20          Zalman ZM-MIC 1 
Smartphone      $700         Samsung GT-i9100 Galaxy S II 

Total low/high  $3620/3815
========================================================================================
I already have:
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ODD             Samsung SH203B
HDD             Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31500341AS 32MB 1.5TB (Data/Docs) / Samsung SpinPoint F3 HD103SJ 32MB 1TB (Games) 
Keyboard        Logitech G110
Mouse           Logitech Mx 518
Monitor         Hp ZR24w
OS              WinXp 32bit / Win 7 64bit
========================================================================================
Headphones: (movie/games/music)

$145.00		 	Audio Technica ATH-AD700	
$413.71		 	Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro 80 Ohm	
$399.00		 	Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro	
$194.35			Sennheiser HD555	
$238.60			Sennheiser HD558	
$279.00			Sennheiser HD595	
$338.95		 	Sennheiser HD598	

Speakers : (possibly getting later)

Audioengine 5 (A5)

[spidernz]

bump help please?

[Scrooge]

Not bad overall. Personally, I wouldn't bother with upgrading to Ivy Bridge in 2-3 years - by that time, IVB will be old news anyway (and given Intel's habits, not much cheaper), and is only supposed to be ~20% faster. It won't make the machine feel much fresher. At that timespan, if I were to upgrade, I'd want to jump to a new architecture (Haswell or Broadwell at that point). Also, given that IVB is due in a few months, if you want that, just wait for it. Same goes for SLI - in a few years, a new single GPU should do just as well, in a lower power envelope, quieter.

I believe the X-760 is overkill, and the 650 or even 560 should be more than adequate (especially if you follow my advice about going to a new single GPU at upgrade time), but can't really hurt.

One of my two sticks of G.Skill Ripjaws X just went bad on me after a couple of months, so I'm a little cranky about them, but that's anecdotal and they seem good overall. My advice there is just to stick to 1.5v sticks, as that pretty much guarantees compatiblity.

I'd go with one of the Noctuas over the CoolerMaster.

I know nothing about Radeons, so I can't help you with specifics there, sorry.

The rest seems to be mostly personal choice (case, TV tuner, etc).

[Mr Spocko]

Massive update v your old PC (I had the same set up but updated to a dual core x2 4200 a few years back)
Personally I think you are overspending on many components motherboard wise I've regretted spending big bucks on those over the years they get outdated quickly and a mid level one will likely have all you need (USB 3, decent bios, solid caps etc)

GPU again unless you are a hardcore gamer I'd look to mid level cards this is one area where you really get outdated quite quickly.

Asus Xonar Essence ST nice card again you'd really want to be heavily into audio for this. I got a D1 but it's a lot cheaper and there is a notable performance over onboard (though onboard is not bad nowadays) I guess it's up to you the 2500 is a good choice it's a great performer and not a bad price. Just some other parts well I think are OTT IMO. A more modest approach can be more prudent long term. But my days of dumping big cash on boards, CPU's and graphics cards has long gone. I update my 4200 to a PhII x4 and that was a very decent cost effective update (good quality parts mind, but not OTT) big performance increase for a modest outlay. I could trash the lot in 2 years and still save a fortune!