My first High end PC, done it right!

[ginman522]

Get a corsair AX series around 1000w JIC for future needs, but dont need more.

Looks into the ASRock Extreme 11(prolly around $500 designed for the huge OC'er) or Fatal1TY Champion coming out soon, ASRock makes a super OC board at all price pionts IMHO. EVGA is good though

CPU 3930k, unless the extra $500 means nothing

Samsung 830 256GB is also good

Get a high end corsair case, look no further, unless maybe the level 10

Get 3x Dell UltraSharp U2412M's 24" LED IPS 16:10

[EmptyMellon]

Originally Posted by Brian J

Timing- There is anything major(new video card, CPU..) to be released anytime soon? I wanna make sure that my investment will last as much as possible.

Two observations and a recommendation:

1. You are a gamer that has money to spend, but does not want to flush it down the drain
2. You are planning to OC

So, before you get swayed to the SNB-E/X79 camp, I would highly recommend you read a review for the upcomming Intel Ivy Bridge processor at AnandTech: AnandTech - The Ivy Bridge Preview: Core i7 3770K Tested. For the price of a 3820 and the performance of 3930k, I would wait; plus look at the power consuption numbers.

[ginman522]

Originally Posted by EmptyMellon

Two observations and a recommendation:

1. You are a gamer that has money to spend, but does not want to flush it down the drain
2. You are planning to OC

So, before you get swayed to the SNB-E/X79 camp, I would highly recommend you read a review for the upcomming Intel Ivy Bridge processor at AnandTech: AnandTech - The Ivy Bridge Preview: Core i7 3770K Tested. For the price of a 3820 and the performance of 3930k, I would wait; plus look at the power consuption numbers.

IF you have the money and want to he best nothing can beat sandy bridge-E. Ivy has limitations that no self respected gamer/ocer would want. I am not one of them. Power consumption is not a factor to this market, and what happens when Ivy Bridge-E is released? He should get the X79, no comparison, I dont care how good Ivy's numbers may look.

Don't waste your time waiting for IVY if you have the means to get a 3930k now. Anyone who says you should is just wrong, Anand is a pontificating fool. no offense

Take a step back and realize that X79/LGA2011 was designed for this exact market and Intel knocked it out of the park. He doesnt need onboard graphics, or a 77watt design, he needs a 3930k or a 3960x and will be happy with either. There is no comparison to ivy, i dont care what the numbers may say now.

[Razamatraz]

I run the AX1200 - awesome power supply, I would also consider the Seasonic equivalent, Enermax and the Antec 1250W High Current Pro...while I like this power supply I would have preferred multiple rails...100 Amps on a single rail is a little scary.

3930K, 3960 is not worth the extra $400+ even in a monster machine.

I'm not sure I would go RAID 0 on the SSD. I think I would go with a single and save that money to buy the next greatest SSD in a year or two unless you really need that much storage space at full SSD speed. Does TRIM work in RAID 0...or Intel's cleanup software?

Graphics are pretty obvious now...GTX 680 * 2 or wait for the next NVidia release...It looks doubtful that AMD will compete on price or power this round to me...other than getting out first. Could wait to see the Dual GPU cards too but that could be Christmas. Also, if you are playing on 1920*1080 single screen, even a single 680 should max out all your games.

[Shadowmeph]

I am not sure why you would want multiple Videocards unless you are going to have monitor or monitors that support high hz like 100+ or even 75hz and over 1920 x 1080 res then I wouldn't bother.

As for SSDs imo I think that they are a waste if money because once everything is loaded up I doubt that you would notice any real difference in Gaming as long as you have a fair amount of good fast ram and a decent single quality videocard and decent CPU you will be good.
But that is only My opinion

[ginman522]

Trust me you want an SSD, i hate when people say if only gaming you wont see a difference. As if you will never use your PC for anything else or be time when you say to yourself "hmm i wish i had a SSD". They sell plenty for a reason, and don't listen to anyone who says dont waste your money. I can see if you don't have the budget, but if you have the budget, get an SSD.

Added get a high quality SSD like a intel 520, samsung 830 or even a corsair GT. the intel has a 5 year warranty. If buiding a z68/Z77 rig, get a gigabyte board with a built in mSATA slot, and install a 30GB or so model in there, and load your OS onto it. Those mSATA SSd's are inexpensive and provide excellent performance.

[Shadowmeph]

I have owned two ssds and I will never buy another one they only load things faster but after they are loaded then you won't notice any difference at all unless like some people they think they see a difference but there isn't a noticeable difference.

[mgmason]

An SSD makes a massive difference to the whole feel of a PC. I won't ever go back. I get little enough time to myself as it is, would rather not spend time staring at a loading screen or waiting for my PC to alt-tab.

[Aressem]

Overkill is an understatement

I've been building systems for 15 years. Even if you're wanting to play BF3 on Ultra while stitching a 60MP image in the background, you're throwing money out the window IMHO (other than more RAM). A system like this is simply built for bragging rights; not longevity. For example: Instead of 2 SSD's, buy one. And it doesn't have to be the best. In fact, I would just buy whichever drive is on sale and made by a reputable brand. No matter which SSD you choose, you will see a massive performance gain over traditional HDD's. SSD's are still relatively new technology. You're no early adopter by any means, but there is still plenty of head room for these drives to get larger, faster, more reliable and best of all... cheaper! I get it, everyone want's the biggest and the best, but I've built literally hundreds of systems for friends, clients and myself. Buying the best because you "want it to last a long time" just shows your inexperience. In a year or so, you'll look at all the new hardware and ask yourself, "what the heck was I thinking...?!". Rather than spend $3000 on a system, aim for $1500 and put the other $1500 aside. Over the next year and a half, spend $500 in upgrades every 6 months. Trust me, in a year and a half, you'll be glad you did. ;)

Just my 2 cents.