Best High-End Gaming PC | Hardware Revolution

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Start by reading our ?Building Your First PC?? article, which covers everything that you need to know to get started. Feel free to join us on the forums to hang out with us and to take all the time that you need to get comfortable with the idea of building your own custom PC. No question is stupid and we?ll all be happy to help you out

Is this the right type of PC for me?
If you?re looking for a high-end Gaming PC, capable of handling any video game maxed out at very high resolutions, in 3D and/or on multiple monitors, you?re at the right place. Otherwise, check out our other Computer Systems or The Best Laptops For Your Money instead.

The Thermalright Silver Arrow, the CPU Cooler for all Tiers of the High-End Gaming PCs.

Click on a section to jump to it:

- Five Tiers to choose from
- Recommended parts summary
- Computer Builds FAQs
- Recommended parts in details
- Budget/Mainstream Gaming PCs
- Mainstream/High-End SFF Gaming PCs

About Hardware Revolution?s High-End Gaming Computers:

Extreme Performance and Reliability!
1. Our high-end gaming computers feature parts that were not only chosen for the best performance possible at a given price but also for their reliability.
2. All of the Tiers are equipped with SSDs (Solid State Drives), which makes your PC feel more responsive and make Windows/games/programs launch much faster than before.
3. Equipped with powerful video cards, to let you play pretty much any game maxed out at 1920 x 1080, 2560 x 1600 or even on multiple monitors and/or with 3D monitors.
4. All Tiers feature a safe and reliable power supply, a case with proper ventilation and an after-market CPU Cooler, so that your PC will not overheat and will last you many years.

There are five tiers in this article. The Tiers are color coded as such:

Tier 8 (Identified by a Green color): $1773

This Tier features a video card with the fastest GPU on the market: The Geforce GTX 680. This Tier can handle pretty much every game with maximum details at 1920 x 1080.

Tier 9 (Identified by an Orange color): $1893

Tier 9 takes performance up by a few notches compared to Tier 8, by featuring two Geforce GTX 660 Ti in SLI. This Tier will handle any game maxed out at 1920 x 1080 and most games at 2560 x 1600 or on two/three monitors side-by-side. Features a 256GB SSD.

Tier 10 (Identified by a Red color): $2286

Tier 10 brings up performance by featuring two Geforce GTX 670 in SLI, an Intel Core i7-3820, 16GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD.

Tier 11 (Identified by a Fuchsia color): $2571

Tier 11 takes CPU performance up, by featuring the Intel Core i7-3930K six-core CPU.

Tier 12 (Identified by a Dark Red color): $3028

Simply put, this is our most powerful Gaming PC Tier available, with two Geforce GTX 680 in SLI. Featuring a larger 512GB SSD.

Need a Tier recommendation for a specific video game?

Ask us on the forums: Tell us about the video game, the level of details that you want (i.e. medium, high or ultra details) and finally the resolution (e.g. 1920 x 1080. NOT the size) of the monitor or HDTV that you?ll use.

Recommended Parts Summary:

Main recommendations, upgrades and alternatives:

1. Recommended Components are in Bold, with one or more color(s) for the Tier(s).
2. Suggested Alternatives and Upgrades are in Italic. You can upgrade as many parts as you want to, including parts from higher Tiers.
3. All Parts are interchangeable/compatible with each other, except for the Intel LGA1155 CPUs/motherboards that aren?t compatible with the Intel LGA2011 CPUs/motherboards. Also, the ASUS P9X79 motherboard requires a case that supports SSI CEB motherboards.

Building this System, Got a Question, Need Help?

Computer Builds FAQs:

I often get questions such as:
- Who are you to tell me which parts to choose?
- Can you suggest me a step by step guide to build a computer?
- Why should I build a PC instead of buying one in a store?
- And many more?

1. You will find the answers to all of these questions and more in this article: FAQ: How to Build Your Own Computer
2. Is this your first build? Here are 10 Quick Tips for 1st Time Builders to get you started.
3. Newly built computer won?t start? I invite you to read Help me: Why won?t my newly assembled PC start or boot?
4. Visit our forums here, where you can join our helpful community and ask questions.

Recommended step-by-step guides to build your PC:

Newegg TV has three great videos on how to build your PC. The first covers choosing your parts, which we help you with in this article, so I chose not to include it. The second one, below, shows you in detail how to assemble your PC. The 3rd one shows you how to install Windows and software.

If you prefer a text version with pictures, here are two great guides by ArsTechnica, the first one covering the assembling and the second one covering Windows and software:

1. Arstechnica Outstanding Guide for Hardware (Building the PC)
2. Arstechnica Outstanding Guide for Software (EFI/BIOS, Windows, etc.)

Free Assistance

If you have any question(s) about the build, simply head over to the forums and our community will be there to assist you.

No worries, there are no stupid questions here on Hardware Revolution. We all started from scratch and learned through our mistakes. We?ll just help you make sure to avoid those mistakes

If you want to have your final build double-checked and get my opinion on it before ordering, or for anything else, don?t be shy, just post a thread on the forums.
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Tier 8 and 9:

Why did I pick this motherboard for Tiers 8 and 9:

In my opinion, the Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H-WB has the best set of features available on the LGA1155 socket motherboards, many of which that I consider very important for the High-End Gaming PCs:

1. Two slots worth of space between the two main PCI-Express 16x slots, which gives the top video card some space to ?breath? in order to stay at a reasonable temperature.
2. A PCI-Express 1x slot that is located above the top PCI-Express 16x slot, allowing for a dedicated sound card without reducing the airflow to the top video card.
3. Five fan connectors (One four pins for the CPU and four 4 pins for other fans)
4. Three USB 3.0 header and four USB 3.0 ports on the back of the motherboard. You also get an included 3.5? 2x USB 3.0 bracket that can be installed on the front of your case to get two additional USB 3.0 ports. In total, you get eight USB 3.0 ports (four on the back, two with the bracket and two with the case)
5. Large variety of connectors on the back: Dual LAN, 4x USB 3.o, 2x USB 2.0, FireWire, E-SATA
   A m-SATA connector on the board, allowing you to connect a SSD for example
6. An included PCI-Express 1x Wifi 802.11 b/g/n & Bluetooth 4.0 adapter, allowing you to connect to a wireless network without needing to buy a separate adapter. It?s fairly short too, so it shouldn?t block much airflow to the video card(s). I?d install it in the 3rd PCI-Express 1x slot (the one above the 2nd PCI-Express 16x slot).
7. Power and Reset buttons on the motherboard, allowing you to easily test your PC outside your case.
8. Solid Power delivery components and solid cooling for them, ensuring that the motherboard won?t bottleneck your CPU overclocking.
   Dual BIOS, with a physical switch on the board, allowing you to easily switch from one BIOS to another.

Ports, expansion slots, features, what?s included in the box, etc.

• Ports on the back: 2x USB 2.0, 4x USB 3.0, FireWire, E-SATA, two 10/100/1000 Mbps RJ-45 LAN, 5 audi0 ports (for 7.1 sound), VGA, DVI, HDMI and Displayport outputs and an Optical S/PDIF Out.
• Expansion slots: Three PCI-Express 3.0 16x slots (single at 16x, dual at 8x/8x and triple at 8x/8x/4x), three PCI-Express 1x and one PCI slots.
• Other connectors/features on the motherboard: Five fan connectors (Five 4 pins), five SATA 6.0Gb/s, four SATA 3.0Gb/s, one mSATA, Clear CMOS, power and reset buttons, SATA power connector (OC-PEG, located above the SATA ports) connector for additional power for the PCI-Express slots, three USB 3.0 header (to be used with included bracket and case USB 3.0 header), two USB 2.0 headers (for up to four USB 2.0 ports coming from the headers in total), FireWire header, LED debug, BIOS switch, TPM header, SLI/Crossfire support (obviously) and support for LGA1155/LGA1156 CPU Coolers.
• Included in the box: Motherboard, four SATA cables, SLI dongle, USB 3.0 3.5? bracket WiFi/Bluetooth 4.0 PCI-Express 1x card, two WiFi antennas, I/O backplate, manual and two CDs.

Socket: LGA1155

Ivy Bridge CPUs (Core ix-3xxx) use the LGA 1155 socket and the following chipsets:

7 series Chipsets: For Ivy Bridge CPUs, you have the H77, Z75 and Z77 chipsets.

• H77 supports the integrated GPU found in the CPU and thus allow for video output without a discrete video card. However, they do not support CPU overclocking.
• Z75 does support the integrated GPU found in the CPU, as well as CPU overclocking. However, it does not support Intel SRT (SSD caching), which I don?t recommend anyway (see note below).
• Z77 is the high-end chipset. It supports the integrated GPU and overclocking just like Z75. It also support Intel SRT (SSD caching).

While some older LGA1155 motherboard, based on the H61, H67, P67 and Z68 chipsets do support Ivy Bridge after a BIOS/UEFI update, this is not the case of all of them.

Also, the 7-series chipset equipped motherboards bring native USB 3.0 support, with greater performance and thus are recommended if you build a PC with a new Ivy Bridge CPU, so that way, you get the best performance and are sure that it will work with your Ivy Bridge CPU.

CPU Coolers compatibility: CPU Coolers that are compatible with the LGA1156 socket are also compatible with the LGA 1155 socket. Some LGA1155 motherboards support LGA 775 CPU Coolers too.

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About Intel?s QuickSync and SSD Caching:

All 7-series chipsets allows you to access the IGP from the CPU, which allows you to take advantage of Intel?s QuickSync, a technology that lets you use the IGP in your CPU to accelerate video conversion (amongst other things), allowing you to convert video faster than with just a CPU.

However, the drawback is that the quality of converted videos is lower than if they are converted with a CPU. This is subjective though, so the loss in quality might be an acceptable drawback for you, if you value the time than you gain.

As for SSD Caching, AnandTech has two excellent articles on the subject. They are on the Z68 chipset, but SSD caching is the same on Z77:

1. Intel Z68 Chipset & Smart Response Technology (SSD Caching) Review
2. Z68 SSD Caching with Corsair?s F40 SandForce SSD

In short, while SSD caching is an interesting technology, you?re better off using your SSD as your boot drive and manually managing where your applications and games get installed (SSD or HDD), if you want the best performance possible, all the time.

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Alternative motherboards for Tier 8 or 9:

1. $230 ? ASUS Sabertooth LGA 1155 Z77 SATA6Gb/s USB3.0 5yrs war. ? Featuring ASUS?s ?TUF? design and a 5 years warranty, this is a great alternative.
2. $290 ? ASUS P8Z77-V DELUXE LGA 1155 Z77 SATA6Gb/s USB3.0 Wifi ? The ASUS P8Z77-V Deluxe offer similar ports to the recommended Gigabyte, including the WiFi + BLuetooth 4.0, the difference being that the WiFi/bluetooth is integrated on the board and doesn?t take a PCI-Express 1x slot. It also offers excellent performance, I?m quoting AnanTech?s review here: ?The P8Z77-V Deluxe utilizes MultiCore Enhancement, a ?feature? on ASUS motherboards to boost multi-threaded performance. Combine this with what seem like a few tweaks native to the board and we have a product which single handedly takes the top position in almost every throughput benchmark we have, and comes near the top in ones that it does not.?

Tier 10, 11 and 12:

Why did I pick this motherboard for Tiers 10, 11 and 12:

Simply put, it is unmatched when you consider the features that it offers and its relatively low price for a LGA2011 motherboard.

For $220, you get eight RAM slots, solid CPU power delivery, four USB 3.0 ports, E-SATA and FireWire on the back of the motherboard + two more USB 3.0 ports via the USB 3.0 header, a bundled 2x USB 3.0 ports panel that can be installed either in a 3.5? bracket on the front of your case or via a PCI bracket on a PCI slot on your case.

The ASRock X79 Extreme 6 has two slots of space between the two main PCI-Express 16x slots, allowing the top video card (for Crossfire/SLI setups) to have enough room to ?breathe? and run at safe temperatures.

All of these reasons are why I?m recommending it for Tier 10, 11 and 12.

Features:

1. Two slots worth of space between the two main PCI-Express 16x slots, which gives the top video card some space to ?breath? in order to stay at a reasonable temperature.
2. Nothing short of six fan connectors (Two 4 pins, four 3 pins)
3. A USB 3.0 header to plug in the case?s front USB 3.0 ports.
4. PS/2, FireWire, E-SATA and USB 3.0 ports, as well as a Clear CMOS button, are all located on the back of the motherboard. The Clear CMOS button alone is hugely useful when you overclock and need to clear the CMOS. No more need to move a jumper, which is a pain compared to using a simple button.
5. Power and Reset buttons on the motherboard, allowing you to easily test your PC outside your case.
6. Solid Power delivery components and solid cooling for them, ensuring that the motherboard won?t bottleneck your CPU overclocking.

Ports, expansion slots, features, what?s included in the box, etc.

• Ports on the back: 2x PS/2, 4x USB 2.0, 4x USB 3.0 (Two more on the front of the case with the USB 3.0 header), FireWire, E-SATA, 10/100/1000 Mbps RJ-45 LAN, 5 audi0 ports (for 7.1 sound), Coaxial + Optical S/PDIF Out and finally, a Clear CMOS button.
• Expansion slots: Three PCI-Express 3.0 16x slots (16x, 16x, 8x), two PCI-Express 1x and two PCI slots.
• Other connectors/features on the motherboard: Six fan connectors (Two 4 pins, four 3 pins), five SATA 6.0Gb/s, four SATA 3.0Gb/s, power and reset buttons, 4-pin Molex connector for additional power for the PCI-Express slots, USB 3.0 header (to be used with included bracket), two USB 2.0 headers (for up to four USB 2.0 ports coming from the headers in total), FireWire header, LED debug and SLI/Crossfire support.
• Included in the box: Motherboard, four SATA cables, two-way and three-way SLI dongles, I/O backplate, manual and CD.

CPU Coolers compatibility: Only LGA2011 CPU Coolers are supported. Many LGA1155/1156/1366 can be made compatible using an additional adapter.

Alternative

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Tier 8 and 9:

Say hello to Intel?s 3rd generation Core CPUs, Ivy Bridge:

Performance:
Intel new third generation of Core CPUs, known under the codename Ivy Bridge (IB from here on) is here.

Replacing Intel?s LGA1155 Sandy Bridge (SB from here on, known as Core ix 2xxx) CPUs, the LGA1155 based IB CPUs (Known as Core ix 3xxx) bring in on average a 7%-15% performance improvement compared to the previous-generation of LGA1155 SB CPUs.

The higher performance is due to improved IPC (instructions per clock, aka performance at a given frequency), improved Turbo and slightly higher frequencies.

Needless to say, if it?s slightly faster than Sandy Bridge, which has no problem outperforming AMD?s Bulldozer/Llano CPUs, Ivy Bridge has no problem outperforming the competition.

Improved Turbo:

• On Sandy Bridge, Turbo increases the frequency by 100, 200, 300 or 400MHz, with 4, 3, 2 or 1 core(s) active respectively.
• On Ivy Bridge, Turbo increases the frequency by 200, 300, 400 or 400MHz, with 4, 3, 2 or 1 core(s) active respectively.

On top of that, Ivy Bridge runs at Turbo frequencies more often and for longer than Sandy Bridge.

Power consumption:
IB consumes about 17-18W less at load compared to SB and if you consider to it completes workloads faster than SB, it?s quite a bit more power efficient than SB. Idle power consumption is pretty much identical between IB and SB.

Overclocking:
Back in the Core 2 Duo/Core 2 Quad days and with previous generations of Intel CPUs, to overclock, all you had to do was to raise the BCLK (baseclock) or FSB frequency, until you reach the limit of your CPU and/or motherboard and/or cooling solution.

With Ivy Bridge, just like with SandyBridge, this is no longer the case: the 6 and 7-series chipsets integrate the clock generator. What once was a component on the motherboard, the PLL is now on the 6/7-series chipset die. The integrated PLL feeds a source clock to many other controllers (e.g. SATA) to the CPU itself.

The problem will that is if you if you raise the BCLK frequency, you will also raise the frequency of many other controllers and that will cause your PC to crash after raising the BLCK by more than 5-7%. So forget overclocking via the BCLK if you?re serious about overclocking.

To overclock, you?ll want to raise the CPU multiplier. How much you can raise it depends on your CPU:

• If you have a CPU that offers no Turbo mode (e.g. Celeron/Pentium/Core i3), then you can?t raise the multiplier at all and thus can?t overclock. In short: Your CPU is completely locked.
• If you have a CPU with Turbo modes (e.g. Core i5-3550), you can overclock, but just a bit, using a motherboard equipped with a Z chipset. You are limited to an overclock of 4 processor bins above and beyond the highest turbo frequency.

Let?s use a Core i5-3550, which runs at 3.3GHz by default, as an example:

• When one or two cores are active, the chip can turbo up to 3.7GHz. You can change that turbo state to go as high as 4.1GHz.
• When three cores are active, the chip can turbo up to 3.6GHz. You can change that turbo state to go as high as 4.0GHz.
• When four cores are active, the chip can turbo up to 3.5GHz. You can change that turbo state to go as high as 3.9GHz.

Overclocking the non-K Core i5/i7 chips relies entirely on turbo however. In the case above, the fastest your chip will run is 4.1GHz but with only one core or two cores active. If you have four cores active the fastest your chip can run is 3.9GHz. Makes sense?

• Finally, there?s the K-series of CPUs, with the Core i5-3570K and Core i7-3770K currently available. These chips are fully unlocked and will let you overclock them as far as the CPU and/or your cooling can sustain.

Dynamic overclocking:
One of the cool new features of Ivy Bridge is dynamic overclocking, which allows users to change the CPU/IGP multipliers within Windows without rebooting. It works flawlessly with Intel?s Extreme Tuning Utility (XTU).

Ivy Bridge running hot when overclocked?
You may have heard reports that Ivy Bridge runs hot, much hotter than Sandy Bridge, when overclocked. There?s some truth to this, so let me explain it to you.

Simply put, Ivy Bridge doesn?t react well to highly increased voltage. Past 1.30-1.35V temperatures greatly increase, so I recommend that if you use air-cooling, even high-end air-cooling, stay in the 1.20V-1.25V range.

Of course, make sure to monitor your temperatures. Ivy Bridge maximum temperature before it starts throttling its frequency down to protect itself from damage is 105C, 5C higher than Sandy Bridge?s 100C. However, for 24/7 usage, I recommend not exceeding 85C, to keep your CPU safe.

The good news is that most chips shouldn?t have any problems hitting 4.5-4.7GHz with 1.20V or less, which is great for the average overclocker, but scaling gets progressively worse as you go above these levels.

In other words, Ivy Bridge is great for the average overclocker and if you intend on really pushing it to its limits, be warned that you?ll need a serious after-market cooling solution.

Does that mean that you should get a Sandy Bridge CPU instead, if you intend to overclock?
In my opinion, no. Even if you?re able to get an extra 100-300MHz with a Sandy Bridge CPU vs an Ivy Bridge CPU, it won?t be enough to overcome Ivy Bridge architecture improvements, so you?ll end with either lower or similar performance and higher power consumption with an overclocked Sandy Bridge CPU vs an overclocked Ivy Bridge CPU.

That said, if you already have a Sandy Bridge CPU, there?s no point upgrading to Ivy Bridge, except perhaps getting PCI-Express 3.0 if you run or intend to run two high-end video cards in Crossfire or SLI and don?t want to be bottlenecked by PCI-Express 2.0.

Tier 10

Launched on February 14th 2012, the Core i7-3820 is the quad-core variant of the LGA2011 Sandy Bridge-E architecture.

Those who take their overclocking seriously will be better served with a Core i7-3820. It might be a little slower clock-per-clock, and consume more power, but it overclocks as well, runs cooler when overclocked, and there?s a clear upgrade path to Ivy Bridge-E down the road. For the LGA1155 platform, Ivy Bridge is the end of the road since Haswell is going use the LGA1150 socket.

Overclocking:

The Core i7-3820 is a partly unlocked CPU. What does this mean? Well, it means that its multiplier is limited to 43x, so overclocking the chip relies either on:
A- Turbo, in which case the Core i7-3820, you can raise the frequency by 400MHz, or four Turbo bins. This means that the fastest your chip will run is 4.3GHz but with only one core active. If you have four cores active the fastest your chip can run is 4.0GHz.
B- Raising the bclk: Unlike Sandy Bridge LGA1155 CPUs, Sandy Bridge-E LGA2011 CPUs can be overclocked by raising the bclk without any problem.

If you want a fully unlocked LGA2011 CPU to make overclocking easier, via the multiplier, you?ll need to get either the K-series Core i7-3930K, recommended below for Tier 11-12, or the Extreme Edition Core i7-3960X.

Tier 11 and 12:

Why am I recommending the Core i7-3930K over the Core i7-3820/i7-3770k for Tier 11 and 12?
Gaming performance wise, the Core i7-3770k usually has a slight edge (5-10%) over the Core i7-3930K, thanks to the Ivy Bridge CPu architecture improvements, although some games run just as well on the Core i7-3930K, if not even better in a few cases.

Because there?s more than just gaming:
I also realize that most people dropping this kind of cash on a PC are PC enthusiasts and do more than gaming on their system.

Outside of gaming, the Core i7-3930K offer substantially more performance over the Core i7-3770K in many applications, thanks to its six cores with Hyper-Threading. You can see how the Core i7-3930K and the Core i7-3770K compare here on AnandTech.

Do note that the Core i7-3930K does not include an Intel stock CPU Cooler, which doesn?t matter mind you, since I recommend an after-market CPU Cooler, for low-noise and overclocking potential.

Alternative

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A few important recommendations and notes regarding video cards:

• Get the latest version of the video card drivers directly from AMD or Nvidia. That way, you?ll be sure to get the latest bug fixes as well as the best performance possible from your video card(s).
• To confirm whether Crossfire or SLI is working or not, use GPU-Z which will show that information to you in the last field at the bottom of the program.
• SLI Guide: How to enable SLI, check if SLI is enabled, actually working in your game and what to do if it?s not is a great guide from the Notebook Review forums. If you know of a similar guide that covers Crossfire, let me know, I?ll make sure to add it to the article.
• When using two or more video cards in Crossfire or SLI, you want to connect your monitors into the top video card, i.e. the video card that is the closest to the CPU.
• Most video cards require one or two PCI-Express 6 or 8 pin power connector(s) to be plugged into them to function properly. Make sure that your power supply comes equipped with enough 6 and/or 8 pin connectors for your video cards. I mention this requirement in the power supply section. Of course, I double-checked that already for the recommendations in this article, I simply mention it if you decide to modify a Tier.

Tier 8:

Simply put, this card features the fastest single-GPU on the market. It?s not only faster than the Radeon HD 7970, but it also consumes about 30W less at load, according to AnandTech.

The GTX 680 introduces ?GPU Boost?, which is similar to the Turbo found on modern Intel and AMD CPUs. Simply put, under high load, the video card will boost its frequency, while remaining within its power budget (TDP) and remaining at safe temperatures, to boost performance.

If you want the fastest video card without messing with Crossfire, SLI or dual-GPU video card setups, this is the way to go.

If you intend to install an after-market video card cooler (recommendations in the cooling section), make sure to get a reference model with a single fan on the right side of the video card.

On the flip side, if you don?t intend to install an after-market video card cooler, feel free to pick a model with a different cooler and/or with factory overclocked frequencies.

Lower cost alternative:
If you want to save $60 while getting performance that isn?t that far behind the GTX 680, you can simply get the $410- EVGA GeForce GTX 670 FTW 2GB, which is factory overclocked.

If you don?t mind higher power consumption, the $380 ? Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 3GB is a great alternative to the GTX 670, trading blows with it when it comes to performance and it?s currently $30 less expensive.

Tier 9:

If you want higher performance than what the fastest video card offers, what do you do? You team up two video cards together!

For $590, you get two Geforce GTX 660 Ti in SLI, which have no problem outperforming a single GTX 680.

Upgrade for Ultra High-End 3D Gaming Performance

If you desire even more performance for 3D Gaming at higher resolutions (i.e 3840 x 1080 or 5760 x 1080), or if you want to be a bit more future-proof, I recommend that you go with Tier 10/11 or Tier 12 video cards recommendations.

Also do note that if you upgrade your video cards, you?ll most likely have to upgrade your power supply too. See the power supply section for more information on this.

Tier 10 and 11:

Outperforming two Radeon HD 7950 in Crossfire for the same price and having a slight advantage over two Radeon HD 7970 in Crossfire (~$760, consumes more power and are noisier), two Geforce GTX 670 in SLI are a force to be reckoned with for $820.

These EVGA GTX 670 FTW are also a ?bargain? compared to two Geforce GTX 680 in SLI, offering performance that isn?t that far behind, thanks to the factory overclock, while costing $120 less.

Tier 12:

If you want the best performance possible, without consideration for anything else, two Geforce GTX 680 in SLI are the way to go.

If you want to play video games on multiple monitors, this is the best solution available to you.

If you want to future-proof your PC and/or if you want to play games with texture games that can use more than 2GB of VRAM (e.g. Skyrim), the $1060 ? Two MSI Geforce GTX 680 4GB PE/OC in SLI are Geforce GTX 680s equipped with 4GB of VRAM.

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Tier 8 and 9:

Games are starting to take advantage of more than 4GB of RAM.

Also, if you?re like me and like switching back (Alt-Tab or Alt-Esc) to your desktop to check something while pausing your game and keeping it open, along with a bunch of open programs, 8GB will greatly improve the responsiveness of your PC vs 4GB.

With games taking more and more RAM and this trend only continuing in the future, 8GB is what I?d consider the minimum that I?d recommend for a High-End Gaming PC.

This explains why Tier 8 and 9 come with 8GB of RAM.

Besides, with the low price of RAM and the small difference in price between 4GB and 8GB of RAM, might as well go with 8GB or 16GB, as recommended for Tier 10 and above.

Tier 10, 11 and 12:

If you?re like me and like switching back (Alt-Tab or Alt-Esc) to your desktop to check something while pausing your game and keeping it open, along with a bunch of open programs, 16GB will further improve the responsiveness of your PC compared to 8GB.

Also, if you intend on keeping this Gaming PC for more than say, 1-2 years, 16GB is worth it, especially now, considering that RAM prices have been dropping and haven?t been this low in a long time.

Heck, 16GB of RAM now costs less than $100, which used to be the price for 8GB a bit more than a year ago or so, so take advantage of those low prices to stock up on RAM.

That way, you know that you?ll be future-proof for a while and that you can alt-tab out of your games with minimal lag.

Why you should not buy two separated kits instead of one complete kit:
If you?re considering a Tier 10, 11 or 12 and that you?re comparing Tier 8-9 RAM kit with Tier 10-11-12 RAM kit, you?re probably asking yourself ?Why not buy two Corsair 8GB (2 x 4GB) instead of spending more on the Corsair 16GB (4 x 4GB) kit??

The reason is simple: Compatibility. While on paper and specifications wise, the two $37 ? Corsair 8GB (2 x 4GB) kits are identical to each other and will work just fine separately, there might some very slight difference in how they run, which could cause issues if you put two of those kits together. By buying one kit with all the sticks that you want, you ensure that those sticks were tested all together and that they are all compatible with each other.

Maximum amount of RAM: LGA1155 motherboards in this guide support four sticks of RAM, for a maximum of 32GB (4x8GB) of RAM. However, the LGA2011 motherboards in this guide supports eight sticks of RAM, for a maximum of 64GB (8x8GB) of RAM.

Upgrades:

1. If you want 32GB of RAM on four RAM sticks, I recommend the: $145 ? G.Skill 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3 1600MHz 1.5v
2. If you want 32GB of RAM on eight RAM sticks, get the: $180 ? G.SKILL 32GB (8 x 4GB) DDR3 1600 1.5v
3. If you want 64GB of RAM on eight RAM sticks, get the: $290 ? G.SKILL 64GB (8 x 8GB) DDR3 1333MHz 1.5v

Heatsinks and CPU cooler clearance:
Every kit that I recommend in this guide feature either no heatsinks or not too tall heatsinks that don?t raise too much above the RAM sticks.

Why?

1. Because RAM heatsinks barely make any difference when it comes to RAM temperatures. Besides, even if you overclock it/raise the voltage (at your own risk), RAM temperatures aren?t a problem as long as you have decent airflow in your case.
2. Tall RAM heatsinks can get in the way of larger aftermarket CPU Coolers, preventing you from installing your aftermarket CPU Cooler!

Important: RAM can require manual configuration within the BIOS to reach its full potential or function properly!
By default, some RAM kits will boot at lower frequencies than they are rated for. This is perfectly normal, it does not mean that your RAM is defective.

You simply have to go within the BIOS/UEFI (The first thing that you see when your PC starts) and enable XMP, for your RAM to function at its rated speed. If XMP is not available or doesn?t work for some reason, you can adjust the RAM settings manually, such as frequency (In MHz, usually linked to the CPU, look for a CPU:RAM ratio) and timings (a series of numbers, such as 9-9-9-24). Refer to your motherboard manual and your RAM specifications for more information.

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• Quick tip: Get the most performance out of your SSD, by selecting AHCI in your BIOS/EFI options. Unless you use two SSD or HDD in RAID 0 or 1 that is, in which case you want to select RAID.
  

SSD FAQ:

If you wondering ?Who are SSDs for??, if you want a quick recap on what a SSD is, wonder about reports of SSDs slowing down over time or want to learn more about TRIM and/or TRIM with RAID, I invite you to read our SSD FAQ.

I also invite you to read this article of mine, updated monthly, for other recommendations: The Best SSDs and HDDs For Your Money.

Tier 8, 9, 10 and 11:

Of course, with an High-End Gaming PC, you have the right to expect an high-end storage solution. A long time ago, I asked you in a poll what would be the minimum acceptable capacity for a SSD for you in a build. The majority of you said 160GB.

Now that the prices of SSDs are going down and that their reliability is going up, I feel comfortable with recommending them for the high-end Gaming PCs.

With nothing short of 256GB, this SSD is above the minimum acceptable capacity for a SSD that most of you want and is enough to handle Windows and many games.

Best of all? The Samsung 840 Pro series is one of the fastest, if not THE fastest and most reliable SSD on the market!

Less expensive alternative:
If you don?t mind sacrificing some performance, the $170 ? Sandisk Extreme 2.5? 240GB SATA III SSD costs quite a bit less than the Samsung 840 Pro series. While its performance is not as good, it?s still more than acceptable, way faster than any hard drive and its reliability is top-notch.

Tier 12:

For Tier 12, we?re bumping the total SSD storage capacity to 512GB.

The Samsung 840 Pro series is one of the fastest, if not THE fastest and most reliable SSD on the market!

With 512GB to play with on your SSD and 2TB on the hard drive, I doubt that you?ll run out of space anytime soon.

Less expensive alternative:
If you don?t mind sacrificing some of performance, the $379 ? Sandisk Extreme 2.5? 480GB SATA III SSD costs quite a bit less. While its performance is not as good, it?s still more than acceptable, way faster than any hard drive and its reliability is top-notch.

For other options and more information on SSDs, I recommend that you read our own The Best HDDs and SSDs For Your Money article.

Hard Drives:

All Tiers:

Designed for 24/7 usage, the Western Digital Red hard drive is one of the, if not THE most reliable hard drive?currently?on the market.

It also offers top-notch performance, while being fairly quiet and offering low?consumption for a hard drive.?It also comes with a solid three years warranty.

The reason that I recommend this hard drive is because it?s relatively affordable and it?s the most reliable 2TB hard drive currently available on the market.

Besides, you?ll have a 256GB or 512GB SSD to store the OS and programs/games that need the extra performance.

Want a high performance 2TB or 4TB hard drive?

Then I recommend either the $156 ? Western Digital Caviar Red 2TB SATA III or the $400 ? Western Digital Caviar Black 4TB SATA III. Note that the Caviar Black 4TB comes with a longer 5 years warranty.

SATA II 3.0Gb/s vs SATA III 6.0Gb/s: No performance difference for hard drives!

SATA 3.0 Gb/s (SATA II) and SATA 6.0Gb/s (SATA III) refer to the speed of the connection between the drive and the motherboard.

However, the best hard drives reach about 200MB/s (or 1.60Gb/s) in best scenarios. SATA 3.0Gb/s is plenty enough to handle that and for hard drives, SATA 6.0Gb/s does not offer any performance advantage, since the hard drives can?t even max out a SATA II 3.0Gb/s connection.

Only SSDs take advantage of SATA 6.0Gb/s due to their higher transfer rates.

In other words, if you take two otherwise identical hard drives, the SATA III model will not be faster than the SATA II model. SATA III for hard drives is just a marketing scheme

Reliability/Backup

Keep in mind that no matter how reliable they can be, all hard drives and all SSDs are still prone to failure though, which is why you should Have a Backup System that you can rely on!

SATA Cables: Make sure you have enough!
Just make sure that you have enough SATA cables: The two main recommendations for the motherboards in this guide include four SATA cables. Keep in mind that you?ll need one SATA cable for your optical drive, one for the hard drive and one for your SSD too. Also, all SATA cables can handle SATA III 6.0Gb/s, there are no such thing as a SATA III 6.0Gb/s cable.
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Tier All Tiers:

This drive is able to read and burn CDs and DVDs. Relatively silent (it obviously makes some noise when reading/burning at high speed), compatible with all major formats including DVD-RAM.

The motherboard includes four SATA cables, of which one will be used for the hard drive, one for the SSD (Tier 4 to 7) and one for this DVD Burner, so there?s no need to worry about cables.

Upgrades:

If you?d like to watch BluRay movies or TV shows, this $55 ? Lite-On Black 12X BD-ROM SATA Blu-ray Reader/16x DVD Burner will do the job. However, note that it can only read CDs, DVDs and Bluray disks, not burn any of them.

If you want the ability to burn Blu-Ray disks as well, then the $72 ? Pioneer Black 12X BD-R 2X BD-RE SATA Blu-Ray Burner is what you want.

Regarding Blu-Ray playback:

As far as I know, you still require a specific software to playback Blu-Ray disks on a PC.

Based on various reviews and feedback on various forums, PowerDVD 12 3D Ultra is the software that I recommend to you. You?ll want at least the professional version for Blu-ray playback.

It is fully compatible with Windows 7 and shouldn?t give you any problems.
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Tier 8 and 9:

For Tier 8 and 9, I went with the Antec P280, a case loved by a lot of people for its looks, features and price.

• Cooling wise, this case includes three 120mm case fans, insuring proper cooling for your Gaming PC. Best of all? They come with speed switches, allowing you to between high cooling performance and low noise.

Features wise, you get:

1. 2x USB 3.0, 2x USB 2.0, Audio out, MIC in at the top of the front of the case
2. Case feet stands, for additional stability.
3. An hole on the back panel, to easily install after-market CPU Cooler without having to remove the motherboard from the case.
4. Various holes and space to route and hide your wires.
5. Dual-layer 0.8 mm SECC / polycarbonate side panels absorb noise for sound dampening
6. Sound-proofing foam on the front down, which cuts down on the noise that the fans emits.
7. Built-in PSU intake & front air filters

Tier 10, 11 and 12:

For Tier 10, 11 and 12, I picked the Corsair Obsidian 650D, a case crafted with brushed aluminium for an unique look that shows that this IS an high-end PC.

Cooling wise, this case includes two 200mm and one 120mm case fans.

Features wise, you get:

1. 2x USB 3.0, 2 x USB 2.0, FireWire, Audio out, MIC in at the top
2. Fan controller that can handle up to four fans
3. An hole on the back panel, to easily install after-market CPU Cooler without having to remove the motherboard from the case.
4. Various holes and space to route and hide your wires.
5. Dust filters
6. External hot-swappable SATA3 dock
7. 5 years warranty

Alternatives
Pretty much any of these cases can be used as alternatives. If you do go with a dual video cards setup though, make sure to pick a case with plenty of airflow, to ensure proper cooling for your video cards. Feel free to double-check with us on the forums if you?re not sure.

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Tier 8 and 9:

This power supply is capable of delivering up to 750W, not that you should rely on this information only as I often point in posts such as Warning: 6 Surefire Ways of Blowing Up Your Computer Due to an Inadequate Power Supply, but more importantly 62A on the 12V line, the most important factor when it comes to choosing a power supply for a gaming computer.

It is 80 Plus Gold certified, to insure good efficiency, a lower power bill, less heat and noise, compared to a less efficient and/or lower quality power supply.

The 850W model was reviewed by JohnnyGuru, who had this to say about it:

The Hale90 850 watt unit is a very stable, very efficient, and very powerful example of power supply engineering, and there is absolutely no reason why you shouldn?t run out and buy one.

80 PLUS?
80 PLUS refers to a certification from an independant group that a PSU meets their requirements for the specified level of efficiency. Here?s a chart that shows the different required levels of efficiency depending on the specific 80 PLUS certification:

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/80_PLUS

Modular power supply?
A modular power supply is one that allows you to only plug in and only use the power cables that you actually need, instead of being stuck with a bunch of unused power cables that you need to hide somewhere in your case, that are resulting in less of a cable mess.

Same model, but with 850W
If you want an extra 100W for future upgrades or any other reasons, simply pick the $147 ? NZXT HALE90-850-M 850W Modular 80 PLUS Gold

Tier 10, 11 and 12:

Capable of delivering 1050W and 87A on the 12V line.

This Power Supply is 80 PLUS GOLD certified, to ensure that it exhaust as little heat and creates as little noise as possible too.

This is a modular power supply, allowing you to only plug in and only use the cables that you actually need, resulting in less of a cable mess.

The Seasonic X-1050W was reviewed by TweakTown here, who gave it a 95% score and had this to say about it:

Seasonic has once again proven why it is often the choice of enthusiasts. The X-1050 performed nearly flawlessly on our test bench through all of our tests. The voltage regulation is at 1% or less across all three rails which is almost unheard of and rarely seen. DC output quality was almost amazing, staying under 30mV of ripple under full load. Topping it off, the unit excels past the minimum for 80Plus Gold certification.

Performance aside, the Seasonic X-1050 has the rest of the package as well. The full modular design coupled with short and long cables ensure that you only have the cables you need in your system. Seasonic backs the unit with a five year warranty and when you add in the price of the unit, it becomes a no-brainer. The X-1050 gives you a win-win no matter how you look at it.

Alternatives

Power Consumption:

How to calculate power consumption:
I recommend using the eXtreme Power Supply Calculator. Here are the settings that I used:

• For Tier 8-9: Core i7-3770K overclocked to 4.5GHz, 1.25v Vcore voltage (fairly realistic and safe), 90% TDP
• For Tier 10: Core i7-3820 overclocked to 4.5GHz, 1.35v Vcore voltage (fairly realistic and safe), 90% TDP
• For Tier 11-12: Core i7-3930K overclocked to 4.3GHz, 1.35v Vcore voltage, 90% TDP
• Motherboard: High-End Desktop
• Video Cards depends on the Tier, make sure to select Crossfire or SLI
• Four sticks of DDR3 (for 8 sticks, add 15W)
• Two regular SATA hard drives + 2 Flash Drives (SSD)
• 1 DVD-RW/DVD+RW Drive
• Sound Blaster PCI Card (which represents the dedicated sound card)
• 8 USB Devices
• Fan Controller
• 2 x 120mm regular fans, 6 x 120mm LED fans
• System Load: 90%
• Capacitor Aging: 20%

A quick note about the eXtreme Power Supply Calculator:
While this is the main tool that I use to estimate power consumption, do note that my recommendations also take into account my personnal experience (over 11 years) and some additional research on my own to verify these numbers. This is why you may notice that the numbers that I give below may or may not match what the eXtreme Power Supply Calculator gives you. When in doubt, stick with my numbers or ask us on the forums.

Give your power supply some overhead:
While you can match a 650W PSU with a 630W requirement, it is good practice to add at least 100W of overhead, so that your PSU doesn?t run at full capacity all the time, as that will reduce its lifespan, increase its chance of failure, increase its heat output and its noise output.

Estimated Power Consumption, per Tier:

According to the eXtreme Power Supply Calculator, with the settings that I described above and my own research, it is estimated that this system will require at load (peak usage), the following numbers. The minimum requirements are in Italic, while my recommendations (including overhead) are in Bold:

1. 517W/650W with the Core i7 3770K (4.5GHz/1.2v) and the Geforce GTX 670 or 680 (Tier 8).
2. 540W/700W?with the Core i7 3770K (4.5GHz/1.2v) and the Radeon HD 7970.
3. 608W/750W with the Core i7 3770K (4.5GHz/1.2v) and two Geforce GTX 660 Ti in SLI (Tier 9).
4. 800W/950W with the Core i7 3820 (4.5GHz/1.30v) and two Geforce GTX 670 in SLI. (Tier 10)
5. 850W/1000W with the Core i7 3930K (4.3GHz/1.35v) and two Geforce GTX 670 in SLI. (Tier 11)
6. 900W/1050W with the Core i7 3930K (4.3GHz/1.35v) and two Geforce GTX 680 in SLI. (Tier 12)

Overclocking your video cards?
Add 30W per card if you don?t touch the voltage of the video cards, 75W per card if you do raise the voltage. Keep in mind that overclocking your video cards will raise their temperatures, even more so if you increase the voltage, so make sure to monitor your video cards temperatures! You want to keep the temperatures below 90C for long-term reliability. Note that if the video cards are factory-overclocked, I already considered this in my calculations, only add wattage if you indeed to overclock them further more.
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CPU Cooler:

All Tiers:

• Inexpensive? Nope.
• Light? Nope.
• Small and easy to install? Nope.

So why am I recommending this huge, hard to install and expensive CPU cooler?

Because it excels at one thing:
It offers outstanding cooling performance, while making not much noise.

The Thermalright Silver Arrow is considered one of the, if not THE best CPU Cooler on the market, outside of $250+ custom water-cooling setups.

While the Corsair H100 offers ever so slightly better cooling performance, it does that at the expense of noise, being way more noisy than the Silver Arrow.

That?s right: Not only does the Silver Arrow offers top-notch cooling performance, but it does that while being pretty quiet.

Compatibility:

It?s compatible with both LGA1155 and LGA2011 platforms, hence why it?s recommended for all Tiers.

Available in another color: It?s also available with red and orange fans, if you prefer that look.

$98 ? Thermalright Silver Arrow CPU Cooler w/ Red/Orange fans

Why not go with a liquid-cooling CPU Cooler, such as the Corsair H100?
There are a few reasons not to go with a liquid-cooling CPU Cooler:
- Similar cooling performance, but with a much higher noise level, compared to high-end air CPU coolers.
- Higher cost ($110 for Corsair H100 vs ~$90 for high-end air CPU Cooler)
- More possible points of failure (pump, tubing and fans vs only fans)
- Risk of a leak, which can damage many other components!

In the end, a high-end air CPU Cooler is less likely to fail, cannot possibly leak liquid/damage other components, offers similar cooling performance with less noise and costs less.

Thermal Compound

The Thermalright Silver Arrow comes with high-quality and high-performance thermal compound, so you don?t need to buy any thermal compound separately.

Upgrade your video card cooling for lower temperatures and less noise!

$80 ? ARCTIC COOLING ACCEL-X-7970 Video Card Cooling Radeon HD 6xxx/7xxx ? Compatible with reference models of the Radeon HD 6xxx and 7xxx series
$80 ? ARCTIC COOLING ACCEL-X3 Video Card Cooling Geforce GTX 670/680 ? Compatible with the reference models of the Geforce GTX 670 and 680.

These after-market video card coolers will greatly reduce the temperature of your video card(s) as well as greatly reduce the noise from them. Also compatible for Crossfire/SLI setup. Highly recommended if you want to overclock your video card(s) to the edge and/or if you want to cut down on noise.

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Fan Controller:

For any Tier, the $25 ? Sunbeamtech Fan Controller, 6 Channels, Up to 30W each will allow you to control up to six fans by default or even more if you use y-splitters and the like.

This fan controller is capable of handling six channels (with several fans by channel if you daisy-chain them), with 30W (2.5A at 12V) available per channel.

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Sound card:
All Tiers:

While integrated audio has improved a lot over the years, it?s still no match for the sound quality of a sound card, especially when you use headphones, thanks to the headphone amplifier on the ASUS Xonar DGX.

Considering that audio is a big part of your Gaming PC experience, I believe that $40, or a small % of your total budget, is entirely worth it to improve your PC audio quality, whether it?s for gaming, music or other entertainment purposes.

Notes:
1- I recommend getting a PCi-Express 1x sound card, that can be inserted in the top PCI-Express 1x slot for Tier 8-9 or the bottom PCI-Express 16x slot for Tier 10-11-12, to avoid clearance issues with video cards. Alternatively, you can get the ASUS U3 USB sound card below, which plugs into an USB port and eliminates that issue altogether.
2- I recommend avoiding Creative Labs sound cards, as they have many driver issues and just aren?t as good for the price as the competition.

Alternatives:

1. $81 ? ASUS Xonar DX 7.1 PCI-Express 1x ? If you want 7.1 sound.
2. $40 ? ASUS Xonar U3 USB Sound Card ? Plugs into an USB port and also has an integrated headphone amplifier. You can also use it with a laptop.

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Speakers:

While I do not include speakers in the Tiers budgets, seeing as you may already own some or simply do not want any, here are some recommendations for great speakers at various price points:

Note that the power output is in RMS Watts, a more accurate measurement.

2.0 speakers: 2 satellites and no sub-woofer:

2.1 speakers: 2 satellites and a sub-woofer:

5.1 speakers: 5 satellites and a sub-woofer:

Headphones/Earphones

I do not include headphones nor earphones in the Tiers budgets, seeing as you may already own a pair or simply do not want any.

Also keep in mind that sound quality is subjective, so while these are some great recommendations, in my opinion, at their respective price points, those recommendations are based on my own research, not yours. I do recommend that you do your own research, to figure out the best headphones for your needs, based on the type of music that you listen to and the games that you play.

Open Design Headphones:
As the name implies, an open hear headphone means that it doesn?t cover or seal off the ear from hearing outside noises.
Pros: Enough airflow to keep your ears cool. On average lighter than closed design headphones. Resonance is significantly reduced providing better audio quality and a better audio experience.
Cons: You hear outside noises, so they can?t be used in noisy environments. They leak out sound, so they provide no privacy and can bother people that are close to you.

1. $15 ? Koss KSC75 Clip on headphones
2. $43 ? Koss PortaPro
3. $46 ? Superlux HD668B
4. $79 ? Grado SR-60i
5. $99 ? Grado SR-80i
6. $100 ? Audio Technica ATH-AD700
7. $180 ? Sennheiser HD555
8. $200 ? Grado SR225i
9. $229 ? Sennheiser HD 598
10. $295 ? Grado SR325is

Closed Design Headphones:
These are the opposite of open design headphones. These headsets usually have larger ear cups that isolate the user?s ears from his surroundings and its design is typically meant to block out outside sounds.

Pros: 1- Closed ear cups that seal off the ear from the outside world so you can expect sounds not to leak in and out of the headphones.
2- You can enjoy exclusive audio entertainment particularly in a typically noisy environment.

Cons: 1- Due to the closed ear design, airflow is greatly minimized or prevented, producing more resonance and this can negatively affect the quality of sound.
2- Due to how they isolate you from outside noise, it makes you more vulnerable to accidents.

1. $17 ? Koss UR-20
2. $31 ? Panasonic RP-HTX7 (Available in Black, Red, White, Pink and Green) ? I?ve been using these headphones for a few days and let me tell this: For $30, they are a steal. They sound more like $60-$80 headphones in my opinion. Best of all? You have five colors to pick from!
3. $59 ? Audio-Technica ATH-M30
4. $100 ? Shure SRH440
5. $159 ? Audio Technica ATH-A700 ? Usually $150+, currently at a great price.
6. $128 ? Audio Technica ATH-M50S (Straight Cable) ? There?s also the $105 ? Audio-Technica ATH-M50 (Coiled Cable), non-S version, which comes with a coiled cable. I personally ordered myself a pair of the ATH-M50 a few months ago and I love them, they sound better than any other ~$100 headphones that I tried before and isolate fairly well from the outside noise. They are tight at first, so you need to ?flex? them a bit. Of course, as in with any good pair of headphones/earphones/speakers,

   Source: http://www.hardware-revolution.com/high-end-gaming-pcs-v3-4/

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