Opinions of new rig please!
 

This is the set-up I'm considering:

i7 2600K, Thermaltake ISGC100 fan, ASRock Z68 Pro3 MoBo, 8GB DDR3, XFX HD6950 (2GB), Zalman Z9 case, Win7 64, 720WPSU.

1) Is it easy to overclock with this CPU / Board mix?
2) RAM seems fairly cheap at the moment - is it worth paying a bit more for 16GB?
3) Is that a good card? (And are the blue lines on the horizon finally fixed in COD for HD69 cards?)
4) Is 720W enough power?

This'll be mainly for COD and FSX. Any opinions much appreciated!

1) Is it easy to overclock with this CPU / Board mix?

The ASUS gaming mb`s are child`s play to overclock.. not too updated on intel anymore, but my last comp had a rampage 3 gene with a 920 and it oced from 2.67 to 3.3 with a flick of a setting

2) RAM seems fairly cheap at the moment - is it worth paying a bit more for 16GB?

Go for a MB with a fast FSB and buy 8 gb of faster RAM (2000mhz and above)

3) Is that a good card? (And are the blue lines on the horizon finally fixed in COD for HD69 cards?)

If your playing on a single monitor, go for a fast single core GPU with 1/1.5gb(sorry not updated on ati anymore :P) if your using 2 or more screens, go for a dual core one with 2 or more gigs of ram

4) Is 720W enough power?

i guess, but id go for a 1000w one for that rig... less strain on the psu means less heat development and possibly a longer lifetime

hope you find my oppinion to your liking :)

8 GB RAM is good. Bump up your power supply to 1000 or more - preferably more. Error on the side of more than required than oops I wish I had got the bigger one. You know what I mean? Everything else looks good. Post pictures when you do this please.

Just a note..check my sig

I run a 500w OCZ powersupply.. where the hell you guys get 1000w from i never know

1000W is overkill even with everything OC:d. 500W will do nicely. Just make sure it's a PLUS80 type.

Well, everyone will have their own opinion, but for me, I'd change the following:

1) 2500k in place of 2600k. It's a good deal cheaper and in games there is next to no difference in performance.

2) Replace that cpu cooler with either the Coolermaster Hyper 212+, or if you can afford to, something really beefy like the Thermalright Venomous-X.
Both offer superior performance and allow you to add another fan in a push/pull confiuration for added cooling. Other cpu coolers like the Corsair A70 is also good, but watch the RAM clearance on that one.
(Or for something more exotic, but still around the same price, the Corsair H-70, which eliminates any problem with RAM clearance and offers very good cooling.)

3) The gpu is fine, but be aware of the three blue stripes issue.

That PSU, as long as it's a quality unit, is more than enough for that system.

Edit: Oh yes, 16GB RAM for me is overkill. You could save the extra money or invest it into another part of your system.

With that rig u don't need to overclock to run everything smooth in CLOD but you sure got headroom.

One more note: the ASRock Z68 Pro3 doesn't have x-fire or SLI.
If that is of interest then maybe look at the ASRock Z68 Extreme4

Power supply calculator.

http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

Thanks Gents, lots to think about here.

I had thought about the i5 instead of the i7 - if it's as easy an overclock and offers roughly the same gaming performance maybe I'll do that.

The card is worrying me though. Have they really still not fixed the blue lines issue in ClOD? That's exactly the kind of thing that would get on my nerves while playing.

I'm only running one screen and not thinking about SLIing or x-firing so maybe a 1.5GB GTX580 would be a better choice?

DONT! SLI is HIGLY overrated.. waste of cash imo... buy a single 580 and put the other money on a ARTIC COOLER XTREME PLUS for the gpu instead. my 580 idles at 40 degrees celsius and peak at 55 on max load oced to 900/2100. less heat equals less noice and those coolers kick ass. have ran SLI on 2 of my old rigs. (6800gt, 8800gtx) and my experience is that it gives nothing close worth of performance considering the price (sometimes worse depending on the game) for a second card.

i have 14 years of hobby computer building on my back... my first killer rig was a intel 233mhz with 32mb ram and a kick ass 4mb 3dfx voodoo card :P) im not saying that my way is the only way, but ive learnt what to do/use and what not to. and my experience is as follows:

1. Get rid of all stock cooling for all components and buy more effective/silent cpu/gpu/cabinet cooling, try to keep all temps below 70 degrees celsius.( I prefer 60-) less heat strain gives more stability and could extend the components lifetime.
2. use ASUS MB and ASUS/GAINWARD GPU`s, Kingston hyper x ram and a MIST psu

Let the OMG ADVICE IS WRONG WAR BEGIN!!!

*Runs away*