- Case cable management
some cases like one that u chose, are not well thought-out for routing cables.
it is really important to route cable well when you are thinking about overclocking your CPU. better cable management = better airflow.
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811139008
this is an amazing case from Corsair. well thought out. nice build quailty and real easy to clean dust, real easy to manage cable, plenty of space at the back panel to tie cables with zips. and good price as well!
- CPU cooler
H80 is amazing but H100 is the greatest! case above supports H100 natively and works like a charm might want to consider. better cooler = more stable = more room for overclocking
i7 2600k @ 5.0 ghz = power of i7 970 (just around)
i7 2600k @ 5.2 ghz = power of i7 990x
and to clock it beyond 5.0ghz you might want to use H100.
*price gain
you pay $30 more for H100 and gain $300 worth of performance in CPU
- Motherboard
ROG series is made for Overclocking and extreme users. They tend to go full build with ATX or E-ATX. it is rare for them to have M-ATX board. that's the reason why Gene-z is little cheaper in market. (usually they are hard to sell cuzing price to drop a bit). ROG boards have better Voltage control (most important thing in Overclocking). If you are not considering 3-way or beyond SLI or CF, don't need to get ROG ATX boards. M-ATX would be more than enough.
and if you decide to get the Gene-z i can give you all the setting i have.
- Ram
since you are going to overclock, it is real important to get good rams. Corsair Vengeance 1600 9-9-9-24 would be perfect for you. no need to go beyond 1600 speed, in real life there is almost no difference. unless you go nitro cooling.
- Monitors
LG have less spare parts stocked (almost non) in North america
Samsung they have plenty.
and Samsung makes best Monitors at this moment.
- Regarding socket 1155 / 1366
unless you are actually using computing power to calculate complicated stuff (video randering and so on....) there is no reason to go 1366. Overclocked i7 2600k will perform better in gaming over 990x.
x58 chipsets are used in 1366 and z58 chips in 1155 are better.
Unless you want to go Full liquid custom loop with 1366 990x stay with 1155
1366 with full liquid set-up is when 1366 socket shines over 1155. from my experience.
- Windows
windows 7 - 64bit is what you want!. you can put as much ram as possible and get them working. They are compatable with XP stuff. Vista is no no no no!
- i will try to post little more about this topic later this evening