Gaming machine for $2000USD. Any way to optimize performance per dollar?

[Linus]

This is a question from chingano:

Hi mate, i have a question and i hope you can help me!

I want to get a new rig and im gonna tell you what im i'll be buying and just tell me if they fit together and if i have to change something.

I can pay up to 2000 American dollars.

The components:
*ASUS P8Z68-V PRO, Socket-1155
*Intel® Core™ i7-2600K Processor
*Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1333MHz 8GB CL9
*Corsair SSD Force Series™ 3, 120GB
*Western Digital Caviar® Blue 1TB
*Corsair HX 850W PSU
*Lite-On Blu-Ray Writer iHBS112-37
*Cooler Master HAF X Black or In-Win BUC Midi Tower Black
*ASUS GEFORCE GTX 560 TI DCII TOP 1GB PCI-E DVI/HDMI +BATMAN GAME :D

tell me ;D

That actually looks like a fairly well thought-out little system there. The only things I would change are to increase the size of your storage drive (you'd be surprised how quickly 1TB disappears these days...) and I would also go with a GTX 570 in place of that 560 Ti.

If budget is a concern, then drop the CPU down to a 2500K in order to upgrade the graphics card. Your games will thank you ;)

[Lamb]

In a build nearing the 2000$USD, I would go with a GTX580, may not be bang for buck, just the most powerful card.

for the SSD, I'd go with a Crucial M4, best SSD at the moment with the 00009 firmware, and not sandforce based (which has alot of problems as of lately...)

other than that, really need blu-ray? I have one myself just for the sake of it. Do I use it? Barely, all depends on you I guess.