Any pointers or pitfalls before I buy? Comments welcome

[Warren]

Like many people here, I am in the market for a new PC. Fortunately I have a reasonable budget but I am new to building my own specified PC. I have chosen some components listed below, they are mostly top range parts because I want a PC for gaming. I am an avid battlefield fan and hope to continue gaming for a good few years yet. So I figured I would spend a bit of money now which would stand me in good stead later. I am concerned that the specification below may have some speed bottlenecks (hard drive) and that I may not in fact need 2 graphics cards? I have always yearned for something this powerful but until now could not afford it. can anyone tells me if the monitor specified comes with a DVI cord attached, ready to be plugged in.
I already have 5.1 speaker system from my current PC so won't need speakers.
any comments would be a real help.
Thanks
Warren
Case
COOLERMASTER COSMOS 1000 SILVER SILENT CASE (£159)
Processor (CPU)
AMD PHENOM II X6 1090T (3.20GHz/9MB CACHE/AM3/) - BLACK EDITION
Motherboard
ASUS® CROSSHAIR IV FORMULA: DDR3, USB 3.0, SATA 6.0Gb/s, R.O GAMERS
Memory (RAM)
8GB CORSAIR XMS3 DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (4 x 2GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB ATI RADEON™ HD 5970 PCI EXPRESS - DirectX® 11
2nd Graphics Card
2GB ATI RADEON™ HD 5970 PCI EXPRESS - DirectX® 11
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
RAID
NONE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD, MS, CF, SD, etc)
Power Supply & Case Cooling
1500W THERMALTAKE TOUGHPOWER MODULAR PSU (£195)
Processor Cooling
COOLIT FREEZONE ELITE CPU SUB AMBIENT COOLING UNIT(£225)
Sound Card
Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Xtreme Gamer (£68)
Network Facilities
Bigfoot Killer 2100 PCI-E Gigabit LAN Card - Max Performance Online Gaming (£69)
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Monitor
IIYAMA E2472HD 24" LED WIDESCREEN, HDMI/DVI-D FULL HD 1920x1080 (£179)
New Total Price
£2,640.00

[PaulH]

Yep, you probably wont fit the X-fi extreme gamer and Bigfoot in the case (maybe one at max) due to the 2 x 5970s, we arent in work at the minute, but my gut is telliong me 2 of the biggest cards in the world wont give you any free slots :(

[Sleinous]

Yep thats near 100% certain, the same thing would happen on an ASUS Rampage III Extreme :( *looking inside my pc right now* XD

Tbh, out of the 2 i'd ditch the bigfoot, as there is still no solid proof that this even helps at all xD

[Stappa]

Thats a beast M8,

2 X 5970's:eek:
my thoughts are: get a 120 GB OCZ VERTEX 2 SATA II 2.5" SSD?
Lose the Bigfoot Killer 2100 PCI-E Gigabit LAN Card?(Not good reviews imo)?
and O/C your CPU?

[PCS]

To clarify the ports issue - you actually can fit both the LAN card and sound card into this system, even with the 2 x 5970 graphics cards. We have recently installed a new feature on our website that checks your available PCI/PCI-E slots before letting you order, so you can be confident that everything you order will fit into your case. :D

[Maestro]

Howeve, please remember that the 5970's generate more heat than icelands geothermal springs. If you put extra PCI / PCI-E cards in there and they are very close to the gpus it can cause overheating problems on the gpu's.

[Phoenix]

The cosmos 1000 case is pretty terrible for cooling so if you're going to crossfire Radeon 5970's it would be better to go with the Cooler Master HAF-X case instead as it will do a much better job and it's £10.00 cheaper!

[Meds]

The cosmos 1000 case is pretty terrible for cooling so if you're going to crossfire Radeon 5970's it would be better to go with the Cooler Master HAF-X case instead as it will do a much better job and it's £10.00 cheaper!

I'll second this!

[Warren]

Some excellent advice, thank you. I 'll have a rethink and look into the bigfoot.
Warren

[Warren]

I've changed the the Coolermaster HAF-x case and have seen that it comes with lots of fans, in particular specific airflow guides for the GPU's which is ace. I'm not sure how many fans would be fitted in the case by PCS but I could discuss this when ordering. I've removed the bigfoot, having looked into this and saved a few ££'s I think i'm done, thanks guys.
Warren

[Warren]

That's it, ordered. In the end this is the spec I have ordered.
COOLERMASTER HAF-X FULL TOWER GAMING CASE (£149)
AMD PHENOM II X6 1090T (3.20GHz/9MB CACHE/AM3/) - BLACK EDITION
ASUS® CROSSHAIR IV FORMULA: DDR3, USB 3.0, SATA 6.0Gb/s, R.O GAMERS
8GB CORSAIR XMS3 DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (4 x 2GB KIT)
2GB ATI RADEON™ HD 5970 PCI EXPRESS - DirectX® 11
2GB ATI RADEON™ HD 5970 PCI EXPRESS - DirectX® 11
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
1500W THERMALTAKE TOUGHPOWER MODULAR PSU (£195)
COOLIT FREEZONE ELITE CPU SUB AMBIENT COOLING UNIT(£225)
Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Xtreme Gamer (£68)
ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
IIYAMA E2472HD 24" LED WIDESCREEN, HDMI/DVI-D FULL HD 1920x1080 (£179)
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 12 working days
£2,556.00

The case appears to come with airflow guides for the GPU's with the ability to mount optional fans as below.

Thanks to Phoenix for the info. :)

Front:230 x 30 mm red LED fan on/off x 1
Top:200 x 30mm fans x 2 (one optional)
Side:200 x 30mm fan x 1
Rear:140 x 25mm fan x 1
VGA Fan Duct:120 x 25 mm or 120 x 38 mm fan x 1(optional)
VGA Holder:80 x 15 mm fan x 1(optional)

With this build are the optional fans included in the price?

Thanks PCS in advance - I know it's gonna be good.
Warren

[Meds]

The optional fans are not included in the price. The HAF-X comes with the following as standard;

Front: 230 x 30mm red LED
Top: 1 x 200 x 30mm (space for second to be fitted)
Side: 1 x 200 x 30mm
Rear: 140 x 25mm

[Warren]

Okay thanks. I will send an email before you get started to find out how much extra these will be, and to give partition sizes. Thanks
Warren

[Sleinous]

Wow, hope youre gonna be overclocking that CPU with that expensive cooling solution :P The HAF-X has such good airflow even stock would have been ample XD

I will have to look into what extra fans my HAF can have too actually :D

[Gorman]

Oh wow, didnt see that, a Freezone on an AMD? I would ditch the freezone unless you are specifically going for an outrageous overclock, which for gaming is not really needed.