New desktops, ivy bridge, and lockable cases - advice?

Hey all,

Since this hell semester is finally winding down, I've decided it's time to replace the desktop that was stolen from me back in january. And, surprise surprise, there's a new set of processors just out to boot.

I was planning on doing something along the lines of Father Xmas' 1350$ build, which in the time since its last update has fallen to around 1200$. Toss out the 100$ for a copy of windows since I still have the copy from the last computer and it's around 1100$, which, once I add a monitor and keyboard, will be around what I want to pay.

The question comes with the new processors and associated parts. I'm knowledgeable enough to assemble a computer, install windows, etc, but I don't really feel confident on the picking out hardware side of things, and I *really* haven't had any time lately to pay attention to that sort of thing.

The processor on the old list is an i5-2500k, which goes for 220$ at the moment. Of the 7 ivy bridge processors available at newegg, the i5-3550 seems to be the closest equivalent, as far as I can tell. What I'm wondering, though, is what's the significance of the letters after the number? I *think* it has something to do with integrated graphics; correct me if I'm wrong, but that shouldn't be important for a build with a discrete graphics card, right (although then I'd wonder why it was in the last build)? Also, the main difference between i5 and i7 is the hyperthreading that gets two threads going per core, right? Am I correct in thinking that that doesn't make much difference if I'm not running a million programs at once, and therefore that I don't really need an i7? Basically, I don't really know the reasoning behind the choice of the original processor, so I'm not sure choosing the nearest equivalent ivy bridge version is correct.

I believe I'm supposed to be looking for Z77 chipset/socket LGA 1155 motherboards for ivy bridge. The old motherboard was an ASRock Z68 Extreme4 LGA 1155 board for about 180$. This seems to be the nearest equivalent Z77 motherboard - even somewhat cheaper. Again, though, I don't know what the reasoning for the original choice was, so I'm not sure if simply looking for the nearest equivalent is the right thing to do.

As for graphics, I was thinking of simply sticking with the EVGA GTX 560 that's in the old list. Is this still a good card? I notice it says it's a 'PCI express 2.0' card, while the motherboard lists 'PCI express 3.0' slots; will it actually work in that motherboard?

Will the cooler master 212 CPU cooler work with the new processor? I see that it says it works with the intel 1155 sockets; does that mean that it'll still fit the new processor? Also, a review for that particular motherboard mentioned that a similar cooler blocked the first memory slot and that they had to put their ram into slots 2 and 4 - they said it worked, but that seems like a really weird thing to me; I thought the first slot always had to be filled. Could this be a problem?

Finally, the case. I assume that the cooler master 690 case in the old list is a perfectly good case. Unfortunately, as near as I can tell, it doesn't seem to include any provision for locking the case shut (at least it doesn't look like it in the pictures). Given what happened to my last machine, I fully plan to lock this one shut and then bike lock the case itself to some holes drilled through the side of my heavy wooden desk (won't stop a persistent enough burglar, but ought to defeat the sort of smash and grab jerk who took the last one). I need an appropriate case, though, and it doesn't seem that case manufacturers think that locking provisions are important enough to note in their descriptions. I suppose I can drill holes in the thing for that purpose if I have to, but it seems simpler to just get one that already has a place to put a lock. Does anyone have any suggestions about how to go about finding such a case, or whether it'd just be simpler to just get this one and drill some holes (I can do that, especially since I'm guessing I'll have to drill holes for the bike cable anyway)?

Apart from all that, is there anything else on that list of parts that's out of date and should be updated? I'd rather not spend extra money, but if better stuff's now available for equivalent prices I'm all ears.

Thanks in advance!

I'm not familiar with any locking cases. Sorry to hear about the burglary btw, that really sucks. You may have to drill some holes and lock it up yourself. Just make sure you clean out all the shavings before installing hardware.

The 3570k is the new 2500k, as the guy above mentioned. If you have no intention or care to overclock you can skip the k versions, that should save you some money. The integrated graphics don't matter much since you'll be using a discrete card.

I have the CM 690 case. It doesn't show it on the pictures, but there's a little loop for a lock when the side of the case is secured, yes. You can just kinda-sorta see it in the lower left here: (follow the top of the powr supply to the left.)

See my Guides and Tutorials

If you are looking at the CM 690 II Advance at NewEgg, the loop can be found in the last picture that displays the case, shipping box and all the miscellaneous screws and accessories. The angle isn't all that good, it's above the case/mb speaker, looks like a black rectangle with only a bit of the curve loop visible.

You can see a better picture of it in this review of the case (2nd picture, right hand side, bellow the two rubber fan mounts). The manual lists both the loop and the screw for it in the parts list but fails to show you where and how to install it (probably because all the diagrams already has it installed), but it's pretty obvious if you look closely at the case.

Ah so.

Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.

another option would be a seperate security cage something like this.

Basically is fixes to the desk, wall, whatever and your PC is locked into it.

So, here's what I'm looking at right now.

Cooler master CM690 II case (Suddenly out of stock, but I don't imagine that will last long. I wasn't going to order until next week anyway.)
CORSAIR Professional series 650W power supply
ASRock Z77 Extreme6 LGA 1155 motherboard
Intel Core i5-3570K processor
Cooler master Hyper 212 cpu cooler
G.SKILL Ares 8GB ram (went for some with no protruding heat sinks)
EVGA GTX 569 Ti video card
Seagate Barracuda 1TB hard drive

Is there anything wrong with this, as far as anyone can tell?

I still need to decide on a monitor, keyboard, and maybe headset (already have mouse, speakers, and copy of windows 7). Monitor I'm just looking for a decent, fairly big (20"+) lcd. Last time I had this monitor, which seemed to be pretty nice. I was thinking of just getting the same one again for simplicity, unless anyone has any better suggestions. I specifically *don't* cate about 3d or any of that.

Keyboard, when the rig was stolen I had *just* gotten a microsoft sidewinder x4 to replace the cheap generic I had destroyed with a glass of pop. I originally chose it for the anti-ghosting, since the generic had the annoying habit of not recognizing the 3rd keypress if I tried to hold down (for example) shift, s, and a (which got me killed on occasion in games like counter-strike since it's useful to be able to walk on the diagonal while sneaking). I was also hoping, though, that the macro keys would help alleviate some of the power overload I run into on high level characters here in CoH by mapping them to something like control+(1-5), but in the few days I had to play with it I found them a bit far from wasd to actually comfortably hit in combat. It's still a good anti-ghosting keyboard for about the right price, the extra features (while not quite as good as I had been hoping) are still useful, and I'd definitely buy it again if nothing better comes along. I'm curious, though, if anyone has any experience with any other gaming keyboards that they particularly like (especially ones with anti-ghosting or easy to hit macro keys).

Finally, headset/microphone. I'm not looking for anything fancy, just a decent, reasonably cheap headset with microphone that won't fall apart after a couple months. I had in the past a cheap radio shack headset which was nice and comfortable, but the mic died. Does anyone know what the *good* brands are in terms of reliability/comfort/etc?