Hey y'all...

My son wants me to build him a desktop system... reasonably high end; just wanna know if I have the best specs for his rig. Main focus is on gaming and general internet. I've built several systems before and I'm up to the task.

I'm toying with the idea of going with as follows:

X79 mobo with either quad or hexacore i7 CPU,
16GB DDR3 RAM,
Win7 Ultimate,
nVidia higher end 6 series GT Graphics (SLi doesn't attract me - would rather go with a single high-end card),
240GB SSD Primary, possibly Corsair,
2TB Secondary HDD 7200RPM,
Big tower, possibly Thermaltake or suggestions,
Water cooling, (Thermaltake or Corsair),
Corsair PSU 750W modular,
Onboard audio/USB3/LAN (obviously incl in mobo),
24" digital monitor HD,
Logitech wired G19 keyboard (unless anything better) & wireless gaming mouse.

Working to a budget of not more than say, $1500, am I in the ball park? From your experiences, are there any brands or models of components to avoid? Just on the subject of mobos, I'm a fan of Asus & Gigabyte, (and the DFI LanParty, but they are no longer alive .)What about the latest AsRock models?

All suggestions/comments/experiences welcome.

Cheers.

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MY97 Liberty Outback Ltd Wagon
1990 Mk3 Supra turbo fully rebuilt 7M-GTE (Older son)
1991 Celica GT4 (Younger son)

Straight I would rule out a hex core, CPU & LGA2011 board alone will be close to 1k. Is there anything you can salvage from current system? PSU/KB/Mouse/Monitor?

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If you know what you roughly want you this to give you a guide on price - http://www.netplus.com.au/online-quote
Netplus, PLE & Austin typically have the best prices in Perth.

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Intel Core i7 3770 CPU with Full-Size ATX Motherboard,
16GB DDR3 RAM,
Windows 8 Home 64Bit (Windows 8 is much better at gaming and general speedyness and you dont need Ultimate).,
GeForce GTX680 (Not a No-Name Brand)
240GB SSD Primary, possibly Corsair (Intel for Reliability, otherwise Corsair. Dont touch GSkill/A-Data/Silicon Power cheap want-to-be's.),
2TB Secondary HDD 7200RPM Just a warning, thats alot of data to lose in a single point of failure, or a helluva long time to backup.,
Big tower, possibly Thermaltake or suggestions (NZXT, Corsair, Silverstone),
Water cooling, (Thermaltake or Corsair) From somebody who has done 6 or 7 Full-custom Water-Cooled setups in my time - its not worth the hassle. Expensive to do it properly, takes alot of time planning the system (flow direction, which waterblock, which pumps, where to put the water-tank, do you parallel or series the CPU and GPU, how many radiators and where in the system to put them, which size barbs and hoses do I need) and picking parts, and you will only get a minimal gain. If you are not overclocking the tits off it, watercooling is just a complicated way to waste $700,
Corsair PSU 750W modular,
Onboard audio/USB3/LAN (obviously incl in mobo) (You want to build a full-out gaming PC and not use dedicated audio? Use anything but Creative - Auzentech gets my approval.),
120Hz 23.7/24 Inch Monitor (No Excuses for anything less than 120Hz for gaming),
Logitech wired G19 keyboard (unless anything better) & wireless gaming mouse.(There is no such thing as wireless in gaming)

Working to a budget of not more than say, $1500, am I in the ball park? Not even close. More like $2500

From your experiences, are there any brands or models of components to avoid? (XFX, ePox, AFOX, Sapphire, ASRock)

Just on the subject of mobos, I'm a fan of Asus & Gigabyte, (and the DFI LanParty, but they are no longer alive .)What about the latest AsRock models? (See above. Stick to ASUS/Gigabyte/eVGA/MSI)

Background for you - I have come from 7 years experience in building high-end gaming computers with RAID Arrays, Water Cooling, and doing the Overclocking for my customers and ensuring stability and reliability in the systems. I also played Counter-Strike professionally from 2004 till 2010, with my team competing at AINC National Championships in Melbourne in 2007 and 2008, so you can trust my background on this topic that I am being unbiased and realistic in my recommendation. See below a relatively high-end computer that is not going over the 'stupidity line' where the performance-per-dollar ratio drops off. Just the tower alone is already over-budget. This system is very close to what I use myself now (after growing up out of eSports). I do have SLi GTX570's, however I am still yet to see any actual good benefit from it apart from heating up my bedroom in winter.

- Intel Core i5 3570 CPU (What I am using)
- ASUS P8Z77 Pro (What I am using - do not use a micro board!)
- 16GB Corsair Vengeance RAM
- eVGA Geforce GTX660 Ti
- Corsair Force 240GB SSD
- Western Digital Blue 1TB (Dont get green)
- Samsung OEM DVD Burner
- NZXT Phantom 630 Full Size Tower with Window Panel
- Corsair HX650 Modular PSU
- Windows 8 64-Bit

Comes to $1,694 at PLE.

Mine of similar specs plays BF3 on 1920x1080 at Full with 60fps, WoW at 120fps on Full, any racing game you can throw at it at 120fps+, and Starcraft 2 on Extreme at 1920x1080 at 140fps. (As I said, I dont play much anymore).

For your keyboard, get a Logitech Wired Gaming Keyboard. Keyboards dont matter really, its down to personal choice. Budget at least $80 for something that isnt shit.

Mouse however is pretty important. The way I always explained / taught gamers is to make a choice on how you prefer to hold it.

If you like to hold it with the tip of your fingers, something like a Razer Copperhead (discontinued), Abyssus ($45).

If you rest your palm and subsequently the weight of your hand on the mouse, the SteelSeries Sensei ($89) is good, but the all-time best mouse chosen by Pro-Gamers is still the Razer DeathAdder ($59).

Honerable Mentions (if you can find one as old stock somewhere) to the Microsoft Intellimouse 3.0 ($39), and the Logitech MX518 Optical ($59). I would take an MS3.0 any day of the week.

When you see DPI mentioned on a mouse, ignore it. DPI does not show the quality of a mouse. People playing First Person Shooters should be using a low DPI (400) to ensure no skipping and that you have pointer accuracy. People playing RTS games like StarCraft or RPG's like DOTA/Diablo should opt to go for a Higher DPI where pixel accuracy is not as much a requirement as movement speed.

Mousepads are important also, again stick to Razer or SteelSeries. Get something large - running out of mousepad is the worst.

For your monitor, the ASUS/BenQ and Samsung 120Hz Dual-link DVI are excellent choices. Budget $350 or more.

Buy a Mac.

<3 u Cam

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[COLOR="Blue"]"Your car positioning and awareness is f*ing bang on. And like, every single time.
In terms of getting that close to the bollards, Ive only been with one other person that can drive like that" –Franz[/COLOR]
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

Lost respect

(Posted on my Macbook Pro for school) hahaha

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If you aren't in a rush you might want to hold out for the next generation of Intel CPU (Haswell) due June/July.

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273.2whp / 203.7kw / 371.2nm @ 17psi. Verso tune by ASG.

I have been gaming for close to 8 years also. In that time I have gone through various builds and what have you. I would take SyncSubaru's advice. His build seems pretty stable and reliable and it will get you the performance wanted for a good price!

This has been my build for the last year and has done me very well. One thing I would def go for is a GTX680 great card (yes there are better) but will be a high end card for at least a few years.

I play Black OPS 2, BF3, ARMA 3 Alpha, Guild Wars etc etc and can max all of them. Played MW2 single player for lolz the other day and was 400fps using FRAPS.


Intel Core i7 3930K
ASUS Rampage IV Formula
Gainward GTX 680 Phantom 2 Gb
Corsair Vengeance Red CMZ16GX3M4X1866C9R 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3
Corsair Force Series GT 120GB SSD
Western Digital 1Tb SATA3 HDD
Corsair HX-750 Power Supply
Corsair Obsidian 650D Case
Corsair Hydro Series H100 CPU Cooler
LG BluRay Writer
Samsung S27B550 27 inch HD Monitor
Razer Black widdow Ultimate KB
Corsair M60 Mouse
Audio-Technica ATH-AD700 Headset with AntLion ModMic
Logitech Z2300 speakers

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With power comes responsibility