Hey I know this is probably the 1000th PC build thread but wanted to share my build that I'm thinking about purchasing.

Case - NZXT Phantom Phan-001WT

Motherboard - ASRock P67 Extreme4

Processor - Intel i5 3570k

Video Card - Gigabyte GTX 680 2GB

RAM - G.Skill Sniper Gaming Series 16GB (2x8GB)

PSU - Corsair HX Series HX750

SSD - Samsung 840 Series 25GB SSD

HDD - Seagate Barracuda 2TB

Optical Drive - LG Blu-ray Burner

All these parts are from Newegg and total $1,524.91. My question is does everything look good or should some things be tweaked? Its for pure gaming though I'm trying to get into programming which I don't see being much more intensive. I just put a sound card on my current computer so I'm going to take that one and put it in the new one so that isn't an issue.

@Jnal: Looks perfect to me.

I'm doing the exact same thing, so maybe we can collab. I have a few points, and a couple of questions:

1. From what I read, if you're at all concerned about price, the GTX 670 is almost as good as the 280, but is about $100 - $150 cheaper. That's what I've put in my build.
2. Instead of the Samsung 840 for your SSD, you might want to consider the OCZ Vertex 4 (also in my build). It is slightly faster, and somewhat cheaper than the 840 - on the negative side, I hear it is less stable than the 840. For me, the price differential was enough to make that OK.
3. Your motherboard (it looks like!?) only supports PCIe 2.0, whereas to get the most out of your graphics card, I'd imagine you would want PCIe 3.0. I've got the ASRock Z77 Extreme4 - which supports PCIe 3.0 - and isn't too much more expensive than the P67.

So questions:

What made you pick your PSU and RAM? The PSU is fairly pricey, even for a modular unit, and I can't even get G.Skill RAM in my country but I just googled "best DDR3 16GB 2012" to pick mine (Corsair Vengeance 8GB sticks) and didn't see it in any of the lists.

Wait, that's my only question. I've also got a i5 3570K on my list (it seems like the best value for money on the market right now) and your case was on my shortlist. I ended up settling on a Fractal Design Define R4 - but I appreciate your taste.

I picked my PSU and RAM based off their reviews and the fact that there were promo codes available making them a bit cheaper. I swapped out my motherboard for yours because its $5 cheaper but it seems at least according to Newegg they both support PCIe 3.0.

I'd say get the Corsair RAM. Its a good company with a good track record. The promo code knocked $15 off for me and the g.skill had good reviews with it and the cons people had were addressed by the manufacturer in a response to the customer reviews.

As for the SSD I prefer stability over price differences and I had another promo code which knocked another $15 off the SSD.

I really wanted an i7 but for gaming it just isn't worth it.

I've ordered a few of the parts so the only thing changeable now is the CPU, GPU, motherboard, and optical drive.

My biggest fear is getting everything and something is DOA or I short something out during the build.

state of the art cpu and gpu, adequate powersupply, and reasonable amount of ram, everything else is down to taste pretty much. you guys will do fine with either a samsung 840 or a vertex 4.

when you say one is faster than the other, have you looked at real world performance, or are you just comparing the spec sheet?

doubt you'll bee able to differentiate the two while operating, they are both blistering fast.

looks good.

@Tebbit: @Jnal: OCZ haven't been unreliable for like 3 years now, that's just a bad stigma attached to them from when they used the shitty Sandforce controllers they had in their early drives. Their newest drive has been regarded as the best all around SSD by a couple of places actually. Also the Vertex 4 is a lot better than the 840, unless it's the 840 pro. Or maybe not a lot better, but enough better.

Also I would never recommend NZXT cases to anyone as they're all really ugly and the build quality is questionable in some places (this is something I have read as opposed to first hand knowledge though).

@AlexW00d said:

@Tebbit: @Jnal: OCZ haven't been unreliable for like 3 years now, that's just a bad stigma attached to them from when they used the shitty Sandforce controllers they had in their early drives.

i dunno about 3 years.

ive got 3 vertex 3's ( ha ha ha.... ) one agility, one regular and one max iops, i had the regular one hooked up to a 990FX amd motherboard's SATA 6 gbps port, and it bluescreened at random, but that all got fixed in later firmware, im pretty sure it was a bit more recent that 3 years ago though.

and i wouldn't have a problem buying an OCZ SSD today, since i deem them safe, besides, i like to get my hands dirty.

@AlexW00d: The last computer I built used a NZXT case so I've been pretty happy with them so far. The plastic does seem a bit poor on it but never had any issues out of it myself.

For anyone that wants to know the ASRock P67 needs a BIOS update to run an Ivybridge processor so the Z77 is the way to go unless you want to update or are getting a second gen i series processor.

@AlexW00d said:

Also I would never recommend NZXT cases to anyone as they're all really ugly and the build quality is questionable in some places (this is something I have read as opposed to first hand knowledge though).

I use the white NZXT Phantom and I really like it. It's got some weird angles on it that set it apart from most "just a rectangle" cases, the blue lights on the stock rear fan are really neat and it's more than sturdy. I dropped it on concrete like a dumbass while moving out of my old place and nothing inside was damaged and there are no marks on the case.