Some advice needed on these specs please

[uly21]

My 6 year old HP Pavilion laptop crashed and burned recently, and I took it as a sign to finally get the decent gaming PC I've been wanting for ages. I will be playing games like GW2 and Dishonered, to which I'm very much looking forward. I would like to go at least a few years before games are too good for components like the GPU and I need to upgrade.

If anyone could cast their eyes over my potential spec below and offer some opinions I would be very grateful. I'm a little worried the motherboard won't be good enough, as it's the LX rather than the straight V or the Pro, but I don't know enough about them to make a real decision so I thought I would leave it to you guys.

Case
COOLERMASTER ELITE 310 BLUE CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-3570K (3.4GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-V LX: USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, ATI®CrossFireX
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 560 Ti - 2 DVI, HDMI, VGA - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
600W Quiet 80 PLUS Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE INTEL CPU COOLER (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
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 w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL

The site suggested that I only needed a 450W power supply, because it estimated that I'd be using only 436W, but as I didn't want to run that close to the wire in case I need to add anything further down the line, I upgraded to 600W. I don't think I'm too worried about overclocking, but as with the motherboard I don't really know enough about it to comment. Was the 600W a good idea?
The price is currently at £871, and if I can keep it below £900 that would be preferable.

Thanks again for any helpful comments or ideas.

[keynes]

If you are not planning in overclocking you can go with the i5-3570 (without the k) and I would consider getting a better case.

I'm a little worried the motherboard won't be good enough, as it's the LX rather than the straight V or the Pro, but I don't know enough about them to make a real decision so I thought I would leave it to you guys.

The main difference between the LX and V is the ability to SLI (add a 2nd nvidia graphics card), the pro would be more suitable if you decide to overclock your CPU.
For around £900 I would go with the spec below. It has a difference case (better cooling/cable management), a better hard drive (caviar black as opposed to the standard HDD you selected) and a stronger graphics card (HD 7870 > GTX 560 ti). The motherboard and power supply will also allow you to crossfire (add a 2nd HD 7870) in the future to improve performance. If you want to keep it below £900 you could choose the HD 7850 instead.


Case
PCS MAELSTROM T900 BLACK GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-3570 (3.4GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-V LX: USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, ATI®CrossFireX
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
2GB AMD RADEON™ HD7870 - DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
Free Item
FREE DIRT SHOWDOWN GAME with any AMD 7000 Series GPU!
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
600W Quiet 80 PLUS Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE INTEL CPU COOLER (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
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 w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £903.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes...pc/TaJUR73Jfr/

[uly21]

Those look like some really good alterations, particularly the graphics card. I obviously should have looked more closely at the reviews I've checked - while the HD 7870 generally was rated a little lower than the 560 Ti, it's clearly more powerful. However on Techradar they say "The HD 7870 is not a massively exciting card if you're not prepared to thrash it with the overclocking stick", something I'm not too likely to do as I know little to nothing about overclocking. I assume this is in comparison to others in its price range, as it is obviously more powerful than the 560 Ti without OCing. What's your opinion on that?

[keynes]

If it is a gaming rig I'd go with the best graphics card within your budget. The HD 7870 (no overclocking involved) would outperform the gtx 560 ti and the gtx 570 in games like Battlefield 3
http://www.guru3d.com/article/amd-ra...7870-review/21

[uly21]

I'll go with that then, thanks so much for all your advice. I've learned a lot the past week or so trying to decide on a set up, asking around, looking at reviews. I'm obviously still a little at sea though, so thank you for helping me.

[keynes]

Happy to help