$1500-2000 Gaming PC

[MrTomo]

Hello fellow canucks!
I am building a new gaming pc and wanted to get some opinions.

I will use this machine for only gaming (BF3, WoW, D3, etc...)
I will also be overclocking the CPU but nothing extreme.
I don't need a monitor or peripherals.

CPU: Intel Core i5 3570K Unlocked Quad Core Processor LGA1155 3.4GHZ Ivy Bridge 6MB Retail - Intel - BX80637I53570K Core I5 3570k
Mobo: ASRock Z77 EXTREME6 ATX LGA1155 DDR3 CrossFireX 3PCI-E16 1PCI-E1 2PCI SATA3 DP USB3.0 Motherboard - DirectCanada AsRock Extreme6
Mem: Crucial Ballistix Elite 8GB 2X4GB PC3-14900 DDR3-1866 1.5V CL9 Dual Channel Memory Kit - CRUCIAL TECHNOLOGY - BLE2KIT4G3D1869DE1TX0 Crucial Ballsitix 8gb 1866
PSU: Corsair Professional Series Gold AX650 650W ATX 12V 54A Fully Modular 80PLUS Gold Power Supply - DirectCanada Corsair AX650 Fully modular
SSD: Crucial M4 Micron C400 SSD 256GB 2.5IN Solid State Disk Flash Drive SATA3 6Gbps - CRUCIAL TECHNOLOGY - CT256M4SSD2 Crucial M4 256gb

CPU Cooler: Corsair Cooling Hydro Series H100 Extreme Performance CPU Cooler System LGA1366 2011 1156 AM2 AM3 - DirectCanada Corsair H100
CASE: Corsair Obsidian Series 650D Mid-Tower Case ATX 4X5.25 6X3.5INT USB USB3.0 1394 Fan Ctrl No PS - DirectCanada Corsair 650D

Cost: $1188.14 (roughly $1350 with tax)
This was the best price i could find comparing NCIX, Direct Canada, and Newegg.ca.

I will also be purchasing a GTX680 locally. (impossible to find online)

I know that i could save money on the PSU, but i am a freak for aesthetics and would take any recommendations for other fully modular PSU's.

Also, the 256gb SSD is enough for me as i only have a few games installed at a time and keep no media on my drive.

Any advice, tips, or recommendations are appreciated.
Thanks in advance!

[Dzzope]

For a little more than that SSD you could have the 512GB OCZ octane that AKG is selling (review use only I think, $400, retail is $800)

if your into good quality sound then a sound card is worth looking at..

Not sure about the mobo, no experience of asrock.. Personally I'd get faster ram as there isn't much price difference.

I'd look at a 850 watt of the same PSU if your ever considering water cooling (custom loop) or a second 680 down the line

Other than that you have everything pretty much sorted..

/edit, last thing.. if your budget allows I'd get a nice IPS panel if you don't already have one.. image quality is awesome. (and not having 1080 res is good too)

[MrTomo]

Originally Posted by Dzzope

For a little more than that SSD you could have the 512GB OCZ octane that AKG is selling (review use only I think, $400, retail is $800)

if your into good quality sound then a sound card is worth looking at..

Not sure about the mobo, no experience of asrock.. Personally I'd get faster ram as there isn't much price difference.

I'd look at a 850 watt of the same PSU if your ever considering water cooling (custom loop) or a second 680 down the line

Other than that you have everything pretty much sorted..

/edit, last thing.. if your budget allows I'd get a nice IPS panel if you don't already have one.. image quality is awesome. (and not having 1080 res is good too)

The Crucial SSD that I'm looking at is on sale for $239 from $303. Seems like an amazing deal. Also, I'm personally not a fan of OCZ. =)

Not being an audiophile, the onboard audio should suit me fine. Also, would you see a performance increase in games having more than 1866 ram?

I currently have a Xfire setup in my rig and I doubt that i will ever go with dual GPU's again. It's not worth the headache imo. From my experience with new games, i have to disable Xfire for it to run properly and after i had been though the game 5 times, ATI finally releases a application profile for xfire support.

LOL, an IPS monitor does sound nice, but lets go through this one paycheck at a time =P
Thanks for your input.

[Dzzope]

Sli generally has much better driver support than x-fire..

You can get a budget 24" 1920x1200 ips panel for? 350$?
Samsung S24A450UW 24IN Widescreen LED LCD Monitor 1920X1200 5ms 1000:1 VGA DVI HAS - Samsung - LS24A450UWT/ZA
That's without price-matching...

Should keep you well under budget.. but then it's your shout. :)

[BrutalGreen]

I LIKE I LIKE!

Although:

Originally Posted by MrTomo

Mobo: ASRock Z77 EXTREME6 ATX LGA1155 DDR3 CrossFireX 3PCI-E16 1PCI-E1 2PCI SATA3 DP USB3.0 Motherboard - DirectCanada AsRock Extreme6

staying with Asrock why not consider the Z77 Fatal1ty Professional @ 229.99?

[MrTomo]

Originally Posted by BrutalGreen

I LIKE I LIKE!

Although:



staying with Asrock why not consider the Z77 Fatal1ty Professional @ 229.99?

Thanks!
In the past while reading reviews for other Fatality products, its always seemed like you payed a premium for the "Fatality" name, while not showing much improvement\features over similar products.

Plus I like the gold\black look better =P

[BrutalGreen]

ya MrTomo, I defs know what u mean about fatality usually being synonymous with ripoff...but aesthetics aside (I hate the RoGish red black colors), for the same price this is a far far better board both on paper and overclocking benchmarks (although i have a feeling if you looked around a little the extreme 6 might be found for cheaper)!

[Luay79]

Hi

I like the motherboard and second not getting a sound card because the Asrock E6 has the latest Audio chip.

I would not get any RAM kit higher than 1600hz. Look into the Samsung kit. 30nm one generation ahead of the rest. Less power consumption, less heat. lowest profile and black PCB to go with the Extreme6. It is hard to find unfortunately.
Newegg.com - SAMSUNG 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model MV-3V4G3D/US

Between the Corsair AX650 and Seasonic x-650 there is almost nothing except that Seasonic has better fans and is packaged better. Seasonic's update, on the other hand, the $180 X660 is a notch above the two and a bit more expensive. The $200 X-760 is a good option if you want to add another card and overclock.
Seasonic X660 Gold ATX 12V 24PIN 660W Active PFC 80PLUS Gold Modular SLI Ready Power Supply - Seasonic Electronics - X-660 Gold

Other good deals for SSDs is the Mushkin enhanced Chronos Deluxe, one of the closest high performance SSDs to the $1 per GB ratio we all want.

With such few parts it should be a good but easy to cool build. I'd save money on the case and cooler but that's your call.