First gaming rig

[DutchFlowerz]

My current computer is about 6 years old, a pentium 4 with a 256Mb radeon x550 and 512 glorious MB of RAM, and it struggles with half-life 2 on medium settings [/sob story]

So it's time for a new computer. This will be my first build, and I'd like to think it won't be my last - although realistically it'll be a good few years before I can afford another, so I'm thinking to go for something that will stay awesome for at least a few years. Primary use will be gaming, with a sprinkling of video editing.
I've got a budget of around £2000 to play with, but I can go a little bit over that if need be. I'm completely new to building computers, but I've come up with a rough list below:

CPU: intel i7 2600k 1155 ~ £240
Mother: ASUS P8Z68-V PRO ~ £150
RAM: 8Gb Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1600Mhz ~ £50
GPU: SLI Gainward GTX570 Phantom ~ £560 (that's for two of them)
PSU: NZXT Hale 850w ~ £160
Case: NZXT Phantom white ~ £115
CPU Cooler: NZXT Havik 140 ~ £55
Monitor: Undecided, budget around £200
HDD: Undecided, budget around £150

Add in roughly £150 for a the Logitech G19 keyboard and a decent gaming mouse, and that comes to £1830.
I think I'll just keep the DVD drive from my current pc until blu-ray prices drop.

Question Time!
1) I've read in reviews that the NZXT Havik is pretty big, and can get in the way of some RAM stick's heatsinks - without actually having any of the parts yet, it's hard to judge if I'll have this problem, although the XMS3 looks pretty low profiled. Anyone had any problems with squeezing in an NZXT Havik?

2) Heat? I've chosen a big case with lots of fans, but from what I see, a lot of people with SLI/crossfire seem to use watercooling - how strongly would you recommend water cooling above rig? (ie, would it be necessary, or a waste of money?)

3) Do any of my component choices seem stupid? Like I said, I'm a newb to this, please feel free to suggest any changes you would make to that list.

Thanks for reading, thanks in advance for any replies, and sorry for rambling on a bit...

 

[Reaper 392]

just a few quick questions before i recommend something:

have you chosen the NZXT phantom case because its the one you like the look of the best out of everything around? at this price level looks is the most important thing, but there is better stuff out there for cooling (silverstone raven/fortress, coolermaster HAF X, corsair 650D, etc)

do you need an OS?

is your DVD drive SATA?

how much video editing do you do?
there is no difference between the i5 2500k and i7 2600k in terms of gaming, but the i7 2600k will be quite a bit faster for video editing/encoding, and any other highly threaded stuff

since i'm about to go to bed, heres a quick build from me assuming that you do want the NZXT case over anything else, you dont need an OS, your DVD drive is SATA and you dont do enough video editing to warrant the i7 2600k:


YOUR BASKET
2 x Gainward GeForce GTX 580 "GOOD Edition" 1536MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **Supplied with FREE Batman: Arkham City PC game** £364.99 (£729.98)
1 x Dell Ultrasharp U2311H 23" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Midnight Grey £217.99
1 x Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £179.98
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £167.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive £153.98
1 x XFX 850W Black Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £122.99
1 x NZXT Phantom Enthusiast Full Tower Case - White £114.98
1 x Logitech G19 Gaming Keyboard and FREE Logitech G500 Gaming Mouse £99.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £79.99
1 x Thermalright Silver Arrow CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA775/AM2/AM3) £54.98
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £42.98
1 x Boogie Bug AimB.Pad XL Gaming Mouse Surface £10.98
Total : £2,003.46 (includes shipping : £22.20).

also, to answer all your questions:
1. never heard of the NZXT havic, but the RAM ive recommended is standard height so wont get in the way of the cooler. the cooler ive recommended is generally regarded as the best air cooler on the market, especially when you factor in its price

2. i dont think heat will be a problem, it looks like the case is well ventilated. i personally wouldnt go down the watercooling route because its far too expensive, and quite tricky for a novice computer builder to put together

3. if you like the look of the case youve chosen then i would say nothing looks stupid (except possibly the PSU, not sure). Theres a bunch of things ive changed so you can get slightly more for your money though.

 

[DutchFlowerz]

Thanks for the quick reply!
1. Yes I did chose the Phantom case for the looks, makes me feel like Darth Vader just looking at it. Torn between the sensible option and the pretty option! (Although that Cosair 650D and the Silverstone Raven also look pretty!)

2. Phew! Watercooling looks amazing, but I'm glad I can get round to that when I'm a bit more experienced and my wallet is healthier.

3. Tbh I only went for NZXT PSU and cooler because they matched the case - your recommendations seem wiser.

Don't do an awful lot of video editing, I think an i5 will meet requirements there. The reason I went for i7 was that I assumed it would be a bit more future proof - but if gaming performance is so similar an i5 is fine by me!
My DVD drive is indeed SATA.
I actually forgot about the OS, so yeah I'll need a copy of Windows 7 as well. I'll just add that on I think, that build looks fantastic!

Thanks a lot Reaper!