Building my first gaming PC - halp please!

[Lumograph090]

I'm looking to finally take that big step and build my very own PC. I've had 3 computers in the past up to my current which all have been bought right off the shelf. Now, don't get me wrong, they were good computers. However my current computer is almost 6 years old and while it can run WoW at max settings (what computer cant...) I'm looking forward to up coming games such as Starcraft 2, Diablo 3 and lolCataclysm.

Basically, when it comes down to building my own PC I honestly have no idea where to start. Obviously I need the basics such as a power supply, motherboard, RAM, graphics card, sound card, and a processor. However, from there I'm at a loss!!! Please help!

Originally I liked the idea of a liquid cooling system, however I have decided to go with Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme (http://www.amazon.com/Thermalright-Ultra-120-eXtreme-Socket-aluminum/dp/B000PHEV6C) with two(2) or so Scythe S-FLEX SFF21F (http://www.amazon.com/Scythe-S-FLEX-SFF21F-120mm-600rpm/dp/B000EIPOKE/ref=pd_sim_e_1)

As far as cooling goes, I've read that you need a larger tower to support the Thermalright Ultra 120 e and to give proper air flow, etc. && That's about where I get lost. I don't even know where to begin with what style case I should buy!

Aside from those two cooling methods I plan to buy everything off of Newegg. So if you could please keep suggestions limited to their website please.

I am able to spend up to 1,000$, however I would not like to spend more than 800 if possible (it isn't a huge deal just personal preference at the moment.) Also, when going giving ideas or suggestions I would like to keep this computer as sleek as possible. I'm not into the whole 3 feet long towering rigs that take up half your desk.

Also, not sure if it matters but my current monitor is a Samsung Syncmaster 2233hz 22" widescreen. (http://tinyurl.com/2ast5nf). The mouse is a Razorback Deathadder (http://store.razerzone.com/store/razerusa/en_US/pd/productID.169416100/categoryId.35208800) and I plan on buying a Logitech Illuminated Keyboard (http://www.logitech.com/en-us/keyboards/keyboard/devices/4740)

Sorry for the long post! Just trying to be as detailed as possible so I can get the right help for my situation!

 

[Slapshot136]

1. factor in the cost of an operating system (OS)
2. start by picking your CPU/memory, then motherboard, then graphics
3. then think about the rest (like the case), and really LC is probably excessive, especially if you don't plan on OCing at all and you even said that you don't want a huge tower - I would recommend looking at this case
4. don't forget a cd/dvd drive and hard drives, unless you plan on salvaging them from your old computer (extra hard drives never hurt anyways)
5. - you plan on spending 160 for a heatsink? really? $30 is plenty for a good one, go look at tom's hardware and pick a cheaper one

 

[Lumograph090]

I've been looking at quite a few cases on Newegg and I think I'm going to go with RAIDMAX SMILODON ATX-612WBP Black 1.0mm SECC Steel ATX (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811156062)

While I've heard the Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme is a little snug in Mid Towers all the reviews on this case make it seem like a great choice and solid investment.

 

[Slapshot136]

so at what price are you buying your CPU cooler? and do you plan on OCing at all? if not, there's no reason to get anything beyond the stock cooler that comes with the CPU (as long as it's not OEM)

and you should buy your own PSU since raidmax dosen't make good PSU's

here's a chart where PSU's are ranked from tier 1 (excellent) to tier 5 (avoid at all costs) - raidmax would be a 5 (avoid at all costs)

 

[Lumograph090]

so at what price are you buying your CPU cooler? and do you plan on OCing at all? if not, there's no reason to get anything beyond the stock cooler that comes with the CPU (as long as it's not OEM)

and you should buy your own PSU since raidmax dosen't make good PSU's

here's a chart where PSU's are ranked from tier 1 (excellent) to tier 5 (avoid at all costs) - raidmax would be a 5 (avoid at all costs)

I don't plan on over clocking at all, nor do I even have a firm grasp of understanding what it means to OC. I currently have a 550w PSU in my old PC.

I'll probably buy a Corsair PSU - I'm thinking CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006) as it is only about 40$ more than most of the PSU's on Newegg. Not to mention it has the most positive reviews and has a 20$ mail in rebate bringing the price down to 89.99.

*edit* also, what does OEM mean =/

*edit* Also, since you seem to feel the Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme is quite a waste at 130$ what is your opinion on both the ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 92mm Fluid Dynamic CPU Cooler (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065)

 

[Slapshot136]

OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) is meant for system builders like dell/etc. and don't come with accessories like cables, manuals, screws, etc. but are also cheaper. "retail" is the opposite of OEM, meaning made for the consumer and thus it comes with everything you need - some parts it doesn't matter much, others you should try and get retail

"retail" or "boxed" CPU's come with their own cpu heatsink + fan, which is all you need since you don't plan on overclocking, and they have their own thermal paste usually pre-applied to the heatsink (you take off a plastic cover that protects it)

it's not even 130, it's 160 after the $30 shipping, im 99% sure that it's a price mistake, but they won't hesitate to profit off of you for a second

and im not sure on which case your buying yet, are you planning on spending an extra $40 on a crappy PSU that comes with the case and then buying a second one anyways?

next, a 750W psu is overkill, just go for a 500-650 W one or so, but like I said earlier, this comes later (after you pick your other system components), because only then can you really tell how much power they need

your budget should go roughly like this

$200 - CPU
$200 - motherboard
$100-150 - memory
$50 - 300 - hard drives (depends on how much storage and redundancy you need)
$50 - case
$50 - PSU
$100 - operating system (unless you plan on using linux)
and then since you want to play games, depends on your monitor resolution/what settings you want, but probably 100-300 on a graphics card

 

[Lumograph090]

Here is what I'm thinking as of right now...

Case: RAIDMAX SMILODON ATX-612WBP Black 1.0mm SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Foldout MB Computer Case With 500W Power Supply (Price: $79.99 after $15 rebate)

PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply (Price: 89.99 after $20 rebate)

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EARS 1TB 5400 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive (Price: $79.99)

CPU: I don't know exactly what I need. I'm interested in

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor (Price: $159.99)

or

Intel Core i7-930 Bloomfield 2.8GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Desktop Processor (Price: $288.99)

but I really don't know the difference so if you're willing to go into detail on that with me it would be helpful!

Memory: CORSAIR DOMINATOR 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TR3X6G1600C8D (Price: $209.99 after $20 rebate) or...

CORSAIR XMS3 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMX6GX3M3C1600C7 (Price: $199.99)

Motherboard: Again, I'm not sure what type of Mobo I need taking into consideration the other parts I want. I don't mind spending up to 150 - 200$ for this http://www.newegg.com/Store/Category.aspx?Category=20&name=Motherboards

OS: What is the difference between

Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM (Price: $174.99)

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116715 (Price: $194.99)

Sound Card: PCI Express Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion Series (Price: $199.99)

or

PCI Express Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium (Price: $99.99)

Graphics Card: Probably something from the Nvidia 200 series (http://www.nvidia.com/object/geforce_family.html)

That's basically it, I'm not entirely sure what type of Mobo I need and if the case I chose is even big enough. Ha ha.

*edit* as for a Heatsink probably...

ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 92mm Fluid Dynamic CPU Cooler (Price: $39.98) or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608014 (Price: $79.99 it also comes with two extra fans for 80mm or 120mm slots, not sure which)

 

[UndeadDragon]

You probably wont need that sound card, as the motherboard integrated sound is sufficient in most cases.

Motherboard depends on which processor you decide on (Intel/AMD). Depending on budget, if you are not doing anything too heavy on the processor (video rendering etc.) I would probably go with the AMD Phenom, as you would probably not use the full power of the i7.

The Windows 7 Ultimate upgrade needs you to have a previous full version of Windows installed for you to be able to install Windows 7.

 

[Lumograph090]

You probably wont need that sound card, as the motherboard integrated sound is sufficient in most cases.

Motherboard depends on which processor you decide on (Intel/AMD). Depending on budget, if you are not doing anything too heavy on the processor (video rendering etc.) I would probably go with the AMD Phenom, as you would probably not use the full power of the i7.

The Windows 7 Ultimate upgrade needs you to have a previous full version of Windows installed for you to be able to install Windows 7.

As far as I'm aware nothing even takes full use of a Quad-Core processor.

As of now, I'm really focused on the AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103674)

Keeping that in mind, and knowing that I want a terabyte hard drive (Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EARS 1TB 5400 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136490) What type of motherboard would I need, out of the selection that NewEgg offers? (http://www.newegg.com/Store/Category.aspx?Category=20&name=Motherboards)

Also, in regards to an OS... would Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Full (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116716) be my best bet? && does Windows 7 install as 64 bit or do you choose 32 or 64 bit upon installation?

 

[UndeadDragon]

As far as I'm aware nothing even takes full use of a Quad-Core processor.

Some expensive video renders and such do, but for general computer use and gaming you won't really need it. Never mind the 8 virtual cores of the i7.

As for the motherboard, I personally like Gigabyte's, so I would go for this. However, ASUS are also very popular, so their alternative would be this.

 

[Slapshot136]

plenty of programs benefit from multiple (read: 4/6/8+) cores, but those are usually more professional-oriented programs for graphic design, movie editing, physics simulations, etc. and not games (the only "game" I can think of is MS flight sim, and that's mostly because of the physics). more common situations where you might end up using 4 core or more for normal people would be if your converting a video so that it can be played on your ipod or compressing a lot of files with winrar or something similar, in those cases doubling the cores almost directly cuts the time in half

and I agree with dropping the sound card, if your speakers are < $200 or so, then you won't be able to hear the difference anyways because of the speakers

next, you don't want a green hard drive as your main drive - they are slow, which means things that are installed on them will run slow (your OS and programs), which you don't want - green hard drives are great for their cost/capacity and for backups/movies/etc. but not as a boot-drive or where you will install programs, look for a smaller WD black or something along those drives maybe even a SSD (intel 2nd gen preferably), and then add a second "green" hard drive for your storage needs

like UndeadDragon said, you can't use the upgrade unless you already have vista ultimate, but besides that, why do you need ultimate as opposed to home premium? also OEM means it won't come with tech help or manuals or anything along those lines

next, for the CPU's try this
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-gaming-cpu,2599-7.html

amd's 6-core would fall just above the i7 930 on the chart

pick your CPU and graphics before picking your motherboard

also, what monitor resolution do you plan on using? do you have your planned monitor? are you interested in something like 3-d effects or multiple monitors?

and im still unsure - what case do you plan on buying?

 

[Lumograph090]

The case I'm going to use is this... Sunbeam Transformer IC-TR-B Blue Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case it's a full tower and offers loads of room for everything I could possibly want. (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811166005)

The monitor I'm using is a Samsung Syncmaster 2233hz 22" widescreen

For my Hard Drive then I should buy Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284) correct?

The speaker system I plan on buying is the X-540 5.1 Logitech (http://www.logitech.com/en-us/speakers_audio/home_pc_speakers/devices/234) and as you said unless you're spending more than 200$ on the speaker system theres no need for a sound card!

Here is what I want in terms of CPU and graphics card....

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727)

Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT
(http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_geforce_9800gt_us.html)

With that in mind would ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131402) be an appropriate Mobo?

*edit*

Also, what is the difference between these two sets of memory?

CORSAIR DOMINATOR 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TR3X6G1600C8D
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145224)

CORSAIR XMS3 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMX6GX3M3C1600C7
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145286)

 

[Slapshot136]

ok, for the hard drive, what is going to be filling up that 1tb of stuff? unless 80%+ of it is programs, then you would be better off buying 2 hard drives - your case can fit 6 hard drives and your motherboard supports up to 7

if you don't like the sound, you can always add in a sound card later, but I don't think you will have any issues with the onboard

both sets of the memory are triple channel - your better off with 1 or 2 sets of dual channel, aside from that there are some timing differences between the two, lower times are better (8-8-8-24 vs 7-8-7-20)

I think you should either pick a better graphics card or go with a ATI one if your getting a crossfire motherboard for a possible future graphics upgrade, 1920 x 1080 is a fairly high resolution, I don't think the 9800 is really good enough compare to the rest of the system, atleast not if gaming is the primary purpose of this system

 

[Lumograph090]

ok, for the hard drive, what is going to be filling up that 1tb of stuff? unless 80%+ of it is programs, then you would be better off buying 2 hard drives - your case can fit 6 hard drives and your motherboard supports up to 7

if you don't like the sound, you can always add in a sound card later, but I don't think you will have any issues with the onboard

both sets of the memory are triple channel - your better off with 1 or 2 sets of dual channel, aside from that there are some timing differences between the two, lower times are better (8-8-8-24 vs 7-8-7-20)

I think you should either pick a better graphics card or go with a ATI one if your getting a crossfire motherboard for a possible future graphics upgrade, 1920 x 1080 is a fairly high resolution, I don't think the 9800 is really good enough compare to the rest of the system, atleast not if gaming is the primary purpose of this system

Ha ha, man, I suck at this whole picking the right components.

I give up ><

Point is this... I've got 1,000$ I wanna spend on a new PC. I want something with a quad-core processor. 1 terabyte hard drive, 6 gigs of ram and a 200 - 250$ graphics card.

 

[Lumograph090]

So, here is what I'm sitting with thus far.

I plan on buying a Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme Rev. C for Socket 1366/775/AM2/AM2+/AM3 for the Heatsink (http://www.amazon.com/Thermalright-Ultra-120-eXtreme-Rev-Socket/dp/B002N3H24Y/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1273536282&sr=8-2-fkmr0)

Any ideas on what type of graphics card I should buy? I'll be using this PC with a 22" widescreen 1080p monitor.

 

[Slapshot136]

your over your budget, trim it up a bit because the graphics card should take a big chunk of the budget for a gaming machine (20-25% ish atleast)

I thought you said you had a dvd drive, but w/e that dosen't matter much at $20

the PSU is overkill unless you want 2 high-end graphic cards or something, so trim that by getting a cheaper ($50 ish) ocz one or something - also look for one rated between 500 W and 650 W or so

the hard drive is rather big, I would just get a 640 gb black and then add an extra (green) one if/when you end up needing more room

the CPU you can get for much cheaper from microcenter

like I asked before, why do you need ultimate? really, unless you can answer as to why you want ultimate instead of home premium, you shouldn't be buying it, and you can always upgrade later (without re-installing)

im going to ignore the case's value as that's probably more of a personal preference/appearance issue, but just remember that your paying an extra ~$20 for the window and lights

then for a graphics card im going to recommend that you look at this, but I think that a pair of xfx 250's would be the best for you

 

[UndeadDragon]

I plan on buying a Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme Rev. C for Socket 1366/775/AM2/AM2+/AM3 for the Heatsink (http://www.amazon.com/Thermalright-Ultra-120-eXtreme-Rev-Socket/dp/B002N3H24Y/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1273536282&sr=8-2-fkmr0)

As said before, you do not need such an expensive heatsink. A $30-40 one will suffice.

 

[kingkingyyk3]

Avoid Western Digital harddisks.
They are failing recently.
Many people are complaining the failure of WD on my local forum.
Get Samsung SpinPoint F3. it is faster, cooler, and quieter.

 

[Lumograph090]

your over your budget, trim it up a bit because the graphics card should take a big chunk of the budget for a gaming machine (20-25% ish atleast)

I thought you said you had a dvd drive, but w/e that dosen't matter much at $20

the PSU is overkill unless you want 2 high-end graphic cards or something, so trim that by getting a cheaper ($50 ish) ocz one or something - also look for one rated between 500 W and 650 W or so

the hard drive is rather big, I would just get a 640 gb black and then add an extra (green) one if/when you end up needing more room

the CPU you can get for much cheaper from microcenter

like I asked before, why do you need ultimate? really, unless you can answer as to why you want ultimate instead of home premium, you shouldn't be buying it, and you can always upgrade later (without re-installing)

im going to ignore the case's value as that's probably more of a personal preference/appearance issue, but just remember that your paying an extra ~$20 for the window and lights

then for a graphics card im going to recommend that you look at this, but I think that a pair of xfx 250's would be the best for you

I'm just going to buy that 750w PSU just because it isn't all that much more expensive than 600 - 650/700w PSU's and I figure it's better to have more power than you need than to have not enough or just enough.

As for the case, I've read that mid level towers just arn't all that roomy and since this is my first build I'd like to have enough space to get everything in for sure and have it be nice and clean and tighty. I don't want to accidentally break a pin or something.

As for the Windows 7 Ultimate, no idea, I probably just didn't scroll down the screen enough - ha ha. I've removed that and added the 64-bit home edition for about $75 less!

Now, for the Hard drive! This is really just a personal thing. Ever since I had my first computer back in 96 I've just loved the idea of having a terabyte hard-drive - lol. I suppose I could look into getting two 650s or two 500gb hard drives instead, perhaps it will be cheaper, I haven't looked at 650s/500s.

Graphics card! I was reading toms hardware last night going over the 200 - 300$ budget cards. I'll take a look at your suggestion, however I was thinking of going with either 1x

BFG Tech BFGEGTX2851024OCBE GeForce GTX 285 1GB 512-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143190&cm_re=geforce_gtx_285-_-14-143-190-_-Product) or

2 x PNY VCGGTS2501XPB GeForce GTS 250 1GB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133266&cm_re=geforce_gtx_250-_-14-133-266-_-Product)

I'd like to get a PNY or a BFG graphics card as I've heard nothing but good things about both manufactures.

Avoid Western Digital harddisks.
They are failing recently.
Many people are complaining the failure of WD on my local forum.
Get Samsung SpinPoint F3. it is faster, cooler, and quieter.

I'll take a look into checking out the Samsung today since I want to look at getting two 650s or two 500gb hard drives.

Thanks for the help so far! I've trimmed up my selection quite a bit so far and thus I'm happy with what I have.

Oh! As for the Heatsink, I'm well aware that it may be rather much, but again, I would rather spend 20 - 30$ more and get something solid that will last and do it's job than just buy a 30$ heatsink and call it a day only to have my mobo or something else go wrong a year down the road. I don't mind spending the extra money. In fact I would rather spend more than less.

*edit* Also, in regrades to the graphics cards, I've been reading about the up coming Direct x11. I would like to get a graphics card that supports it, but as I'm aware most current games still run Direct x10 at the highest, no? Current being SC2, CoD2, Assassins Creed, etc.

*double edit* Also! graphics card related, I would like to run SLI and use 2x graphics cards. I figure with all the power this PC will have, and with the big 750w PSU, I might as well!

*triple edit* I checked out your suggested graphics cards and depending on what all information I can gather I think running 2x GIGABYTE GV-R485OC-1GH Radeon HD 4850 1GB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card might not be that terrible. as I can get two @ $219$. Now, for clarification, CrossFire is the same as the terminology that Nvidia uses for SLI correct? (using two graphics cards at the same time.)

*edit* I've been reading on the Samsung Spinpoint F3 in comparison to the WD Caviar there are currently more negative reviews and problems being listed about the Samsung Spinpoint F3 than is being posted about the WD Caviar hard drives. With that said I'm going to stick with a WD. However, I've considered to go with a 650 WD Caviar Black and a 500 WD Caviar Green. However, I'd like to get something a little smaller for my 2nd hard drive. maybe just 200gb.

*edit* Well, now the main issue is this. aside from just looking at the general specs which is better.

2x PNY VCGGTS2501XPB GeForce GTS 250 1GB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card (Price: $279.98 total) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133266&cm_re=geforce_gtx_250-_-14-133-266-_-Product

or

2x GIGABYTE GV-R485OC-1GH Radeon HD 4850 1GB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card (Price: $239.98 total)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125236&Tpk=GIGABYTE%20GV-R485OC-1GH%20Radeon%20HD%204850%201GB%20256-bit

The only issue I see with using 2x Gigabyte Radeon 4850's is their size. Many reviews are saying because of the width they cover up the next PCI slot. So I may have to go with 2x PNY Geforce GTS 250s

 

[Slapshot136]

look at toms for a review on heat sinks, you won't need to spend $70 for a good one, in fact im sure that you will find one for $30 that performs as well as that $70 one

edit: I just looked, I would recommend the Scythe Mugen-2 Rev. B (not available at newegg, but many others have it in the $30-$35 range)

next, I like WD hard drives because of their warranty and return policy, they are willing to ship you a replacement drive before receiving your broken one - I don't know many other companies that do that, and their failure rate is about the same as samsungs/others

SLI right now performs better then crossfire (it's just more efficient), the % bonus from getting a second card is between 71 and 85% for sli and only between 30% and 71% for crossfire

consider that with a large or full-tower case, you might run into cable length issues and need longer cables or a cable extender or have problems routing the cables (keep your cables nice and organized with zip ties, and keep extra cables in an empty hard drive/cd bay so they don't block the airflow)

go for the pny cards if you like PNY, personally I like xfx because their warranty is twice as long, but they both perform the same

if you NEED dx 11, then only the 5xxx series radeon and 4xx series nvidia cards have that, but their price/performance just isn't good compared to the previous generation in sli or crossfire

let me ask you again, do you have a microcenter near you? you can save $80 on the CPU

like I said earlier, you don't need to have 2 hard drives right off the bat, you can add it in anytime later, but it's better both for cost and performance to have multiple drives, maybe you can even use the hard drive from your old computer (the one you were going to salvage a cd/dvd drive from)

edit: P.S., make sure you go register your products within 30 days so that you get the full warranty from the companies (I think you only need to do the graphic cards, but possibly the motherboard as well)