Agreed you can get away with 8GB still but value for money is at the 16GB Level. I own both Vertex4 and Corsair SSD's. I like them both, and also agree 120GB is enough. The corsair drive is faster - Vertex4 is not as fast as Vertex3 but it is more reliable.

And you can all harp on that Windows 7 is better, but I will never ever agree. People that dont like Windows 8 are more often than not, too ignorant to learn to use the MetroUI. Windows 8 is built with memory management components from Windows Server, it IS that much better than 7.

People that dont like Windows 8 are more often than not, too ignorant to learn to use the MetroUI.

lol...be nice.
Disliking does not equal ignorance. I have little complaint with 7 in my build and imo 8 looks like bad 70's wallpaper

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With power comes responsibility

Go with the build that SyncSubaru posted, will do you well!

Doe all the people who aren't liking W8 realise that with a keypress and mouse click you can do away entirely with the "metro" interface....?

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I'm not a fish, I'm a man...

I didnt name names!

Exactly!

Wow, thanks for all the suggestions & links guys... gonna follow them all up and go from there.
No, this is a straight-up fresh build from scratch apart from Logitech 5.1 speakers. Also (and to Rexxar), wanted to go with LGA2011 to give it some future-proofing, maybe upgrade the CPU later if need arises. GTX680 (like you said, not a no-name brand) was my choice also, probably best bang for buck ATM. Not into ATI cards, had too many hassles with them in the past (Although I will say I've had 2 8800GT's die on me , but a much worse track record with ATI's). How about Antec towers? Forgot to mention they seem to be good value as well IMHO. Had no probs with the Antec900 with the install of my older son's rig. Win8 64bit is a bit pricey right now, & Win7 has the proved stability these days, currently running 4 systems with it. What would be the significant gains, if any, by going with Win8? Onboard audio on higher end mobos is usually pretty decent in my experience, & if it fails, I can always chuck in an audio card on a spare PCIe slot. Agree with you on getting other than the garden variety green WD HDD (although they haven't missed a beat on my personal rig). Water cooling will most likely be a Thermaltake 760i double front case mount or similar, or maybe a closed loop Corsair. Have you tried any of the dedicated wireless gaming mice? They got some pretty good specs from my read-ups. Oh, and budget is flexible up to $2K if it means a significant difference. That PLE price you mention seems damn good to me, but I wanna build it myself (with son helping for the "bonding" value, and he gets experience on the guts of a desktop tower), is that a price for just components, or for a completed tower? If not for a completed rig, is it any less for just the parts?
Agreed, thanks for the input.

Appreciate all the input so far ppls, all very helpful. Will let ya's know the specs when I put this rig together.

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MY99 WRX sedan WRC blue Sold :(
MY99 WRX sedan Dark blue pearl :D
MY97 Liberty Outback Ltd Wagon
1990 Mk3 Supra turbo fully rebuilt 7M-GTE (Older son)
1991 Celica GT4 (Younger son)

Socket 2011 is not a future-proofing socket. Its a "High have money to burn" socket, and nothing more. Intel will be just as quick to replace it as anything else if it means you have to spend more money on new components and increase their profit.

Antec is ok - I find them to be a little crowded in some places. I have built a few 900's and can say that building a NZXT or Silverstone is a much better experience. Certainly nothing wrong with them though.

Again I still stick with my Windows 8 recommendation. If $99 for the OS off the shelf is not pricey at all given that Windows 7 was like $130 for home. The difference when using current components and particularly SSD's is noticeable. I went from Win 7 to Windows 8 Preview for a few months, and back to 7 when the preview ended. I promptly went to PLE and purchased Windows 8 because Windows 7 was too slow. General browsing around the system is much quicker, the Metro UI is a million times faster than your point-and-click start menu once you learn to use it. I couldnt go back and be happy now. I also have a definate FPS improvement with it, probably 15 to 20 fps on some games.

I have used 2 Out-of-the-box Thermaltake watercooling systems. Both of them gave me a higher CPU temp than the OEM Fan. They were cooler at idle but could not keep up when the system was under load. I actually went back to the local supplier (not the retailer) with my issues and they told me back luck (despite my proof that the product does not do what it says). If you must get a water cooler, just get a Corsair Prebuilt system. Its easy, mess free, and proven to be effective.

And still, gaming = no wireless. Get stuck with flat batterys in game = death / team loss. Interference or bad tracking? Death or failed micro leading to an army being wiped. No matter how good the wireless is, it will always be slower than an electrical pulse through a cable. You could get away with it in something like WoW but for fast paced (particularly shooters), avoid.

Price is for components. You build it yourself.

Good luck westoz.
+1 with SyncSubaru's comment on wired kb and mouse.
Which ever way you decide to go you have a heap of info.
Building a new rig is always fun

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With power comes responsibility

Ok guys, pretty much got everything for this build...

But, the graphics card (GTX680 Super OC) is a fkn brick! It's so heavy, it hangs off the mobo on a small downward slant on the power end... should I be concerned, or is there a decent workaround to keep it horizontal without looking like sh!t?

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MY99 WRX sedan WRC blue Sold :(
MY99 WRX sedan Dark blue pearl :D
MY97 Liberty Outback Ltd Wagon
1990 Mk3 Supra turbo fully rebuilt 7M-GTE (Older son)
1991 Celica GT4 (Younger son)

On mine it has screw holes and supporting brackets

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Peugeot 206 GTI 2000 (Burnt orange) - Current Car