FMod

OK cooler, but I don't think you should buy $10 thermal grease for it. Just not worth it. The money would be better spent getting a Zalman 10X instead, and it comes with decent grease. In fact, 212 Evo (despite my previous incessant pimping it for budget builds) is for now officially off the recommended list for US/CAN, because of: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118059 Zalman CNPS10X Performa for $38 w/free shipping or $28 post-rebate, it just doesn't get better. PSU, just no. It's a good PSU, but it's no Seasonic. And it's priced almost like one (Corsair AX850). And there's no need for a 850W PSU in the first place, 650W is more than called for. OP doesn't seem to be swimming in cash, so TX650V2 is just fine.

New card, the cheapest 7850 you can find. 5750 is not worth crossfiring.

It's not really necessary with modern chips. 3570K will consume about 85W stock and top out at ~125W overclocked. HD7970 consumes 230W stock and you can push it to 350W overclocked. Everything else isn't even 25W combined, that's under 500W absolute peak at hard overclock. Most of the time it will be much lower. TX650V2 is a good unit with headroom, it can handle 700W peak and won't have a problem with 500W continuously (and this build won't do that much).

Like I said before, not a good RAM choice. If you need 16GB, take 2x8GB Samsung. Since no game actually uses more than 4GB, there's no reason for 16 for gaming though. Not sure about the sound card. Do you have a hi-fi setup? Cheap speakers do fine with onboard sound. For games, X-Fi Titanium is optimal. 650W is plenty for any single-GPU, single-CPU build. Real consumption won't exceed 400W even under heaviest load.

Not sure this is a good idea, but w/e. It's not primarily a gaming rig, but my current setup at home is: [edited out]

Extreme4 is fine, can go even cheaper. Lol. It would take A LOT more. Try HD7970 or GTX680 with hard overclock minimum. Or two 7950, more like it. Reduce settings a bit and one HD7950 or GTX670 will do. The cheapest you can go is HD7850, that's not maxed out but should look the same. Take Samsung 2x4GB, 8GB total. No difference, but money saved.

20fps is visible everywhere. But ~40fps (for 30 min) is perfectly playable on a typical 20"-ish monitor, or any CRT, or any plasma. On a LCD TV, not so easily. If you like the one you have now, stick with it. It's not worth going 21"->24" anyway. Now, if you went up to 27" or a 32" TV... One card is still fine for most everything, and will remain so until next-gen consoles hit the market, and at least a year after.

With a 21" monitor, you don't even need one high-end card. Even if it's a high-res one and even if some game forces you to lower your settings or fps drops a bit, you'll never notice on a small screen.

A large case is easier to work with inside. Having a case just large enough means more delicate work fitting everything. A large well ventilated case is less affected by heat from GPU. In a very large case (Xigmatek, P280, HAF X, any XL-ATX) it's possible to install two video cards with non-reference cooling and still not turn it into an oven. It also requires an appropriate motherboard. HAF X isn't bad, but it's not as quiet as P280 or Fractal, and not as large and expandable as Xigmatek Elysium, and it looks kind of dated. Price-wise in the middle. If you don't plan on ever going Crossfire/SLI (two video cards), a very large case isn't needed.

You want a 7850 if you want to run serious graphics. No, you don't need a new motherboard. I think you could do with a 7770 or 6850, though. That's about the bottom requirement, but I know cards like GTS450 can run such mods if not too heavy, and even a 7750 is faster than 450. Overclocked 7770 or 6850 should do. New Vegas isn't very demanding.

It seems by the choices like money isn't an issue, so this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131837 or this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130643 And either this card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121560 - or a 680 Note that 680 tends to perform a bit better overall, but 7970 tends to do better in worst-case scenarios, like very high resolution, modded games, unusually demanding games like Metro. And it's worst-case scenarios that force upgrades on you. I'm also worried about driver problems with NV, one bad version (301.42) was OK, but 304.79 still giving problems is not. You'll need to overclock the 7970 to get full performance, but it overclocks easily, particularly Asus ones (they have a pre-overclocked one, but not on Newegg; doesn't matter anyway). For a case, if you like large ones, I suggest: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129179&Tpk=Antec%20P280 or http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352017 Or if you don't care about noise much, this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811815011 Antec P280 or Xigmatek Elysium will allow you to reasonably install a second 7970 in the future, should the need arise. If you take one of these, get this motherboard to go with it: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130643 Not another one, it has to be this one. The reason is that MSI GD65 has a PCI-E 3.0 slot at the bottom, allowing you to mount a video card there that will take these cases' extra slots, leaving breathing room for both. You'll need this PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139015&Tpk=corsair%20ax850 Or, if you want to splash a bit more, this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151105 I recommend the latter (Seasonic Platinum), although I know people will disagree with me. But for my money, it would be that on - I think getting the best PSU money can buy over just a very good one is worth an extra $40. On the other hand, there's no difference unless you get a second video card. But if you do, you'll wish you had that one, for extra power headroom and better handling of a heated case. Ordinarily I'd advise against planning for SLI and CF configurations, but if there's a time to do it, it's this year. They just moved to a new tech node (28nm), DX12 is not coming anytime soon, so there won't be any considerably better single-GPU cards out anytime soon. But it only matters if you have a serious display to go with it. 21" doesn't need two cards, ever. On the other hand, for a 27" high-res or a good 1080p TV, you can put power to use (while it's moderate resolution, TV's larger pixels make AA a necessity and low framerates are much more visible on a large screen). Between a better display and two GPU, a better display wins any time of the day.

It will say so. Also, X79 chipset. But there's very little reason to go for i7-3820 today. i5-3570 is faster for games (slightly), cheaper, and the motherboard is much cheaper. And with 8GB RAM sticks available, o/c'ing to DDR3-2133, there's pretty much no fathomable reason to have 4-channel memory on a desktop, it just won't do anything. Half a year ago I'd take 3820, but it was only so-ever-slightly better than 2600K. And now lots of RAM slots aren't needed anymore, Ivy Bridge is so-ever-slightly better, and gets fully working and official PCI-E 3.0 support. For GPU, Asus GTX670 is a good option. But for just a bit more you can get 7970: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121560 7970 has more VRAM and better theoretical capabilities, making it more future-proof. It's overall slightly faster than a 670 (1% at high res, 6% at very high). The downside is somewhat higher power draw. You may want to check performance for exact games that you are interested in to make the choice. Driver-wise, historically NV performed better, but for this generation AMD drivers did OK, while latest Geforce drivers are outright trouble (two threads on this forum already just about them). Might get fixed, might not.

It's usually easiest and best to simply download the driver and run its installer. No windows functions, no explicitly uninstalling the old driver, just run the installer. Whether it's older or newer. IF and only if you still have problems, uninstall and do a clean install. Dyflinn432, you didn't break anything, but you're in for more troubleshooting now. It still displays to something, or nothing at all? If the latter, when does the image end? If the former, it's fine, just install the driver and open settings to activate the TV.

Use 301.24, it's under Beta/Legacy. Can help. Newer NV drivers suck. W7 64: http://us.download.nvidia.com/Windows/301.24/301.24-desktop-win7-winvista-64bit-english-beta.exe XP 32: http://us.download.nvidia.com/Windows/301.24/301.24-desktop-winxp-32bit-english-beta.exe

Neither. If possible at all, neither. If not, the former is less bad. You need a proper GPU - HD7850 is the best close to your price range. Maybe even HD7950 or GTX670. Intel 330 isn't very good, you'll be better off with (cheaper!) Vertex 3, or, even better, Crucial M4 Both PSU aren't good, get Corsair TX650V2. Use Samsung or Hynix RAM. 8GB is well enough, although 16GB is only slightly costlier.

Do you REALLY need it or is just "cool I want it?" SSD benefit very little from RAID, while compromising longevity, data security, and, with time, access times, since each individual SSD is unique and they can't be spin-locked like HDDs can. Just connect the SSD separately, in practical use they won't be any slower than in RAID and later in life might even perform better. edit: There are a few legitimate uses for SSD in RAID, like servers (where they have to be one drive anyway) and uncompressed video editing where raw throughput is all that's needed, although a 4-wide Raptor array competes strongly there.

I'm just saying there's no reason at all to suddenly dismiss Antec cases. Objectively, i.e. in terms of a combination of acoustic and thermal performance, they're no less competitive.

Well, first, you don't get absolute silence either way. Second, it's not like Antecs are anything but quiet - their P180 is actually the case that other makers copied in design and styling (in Fractal's case particularly closely). Some cases like Define R3 win a little in absolute noise level with loud parts inside, but they do so by closing off vents that are permanently open in Antecs. My preference goes with Antec's balance of noise/airflow, where you have a very quiet case, but always with cooling headroom. Plus, if you need the ultimate in silence, you can always stick some foam or car soundproofing on the inside of P183's/P280's walls or close off the vents with fabric filters yourself. You can't turn the walls of other cases into three-ply panels, mimic the internal structure, cut out vents that aren't there (well, you can, but only technically). And with Fractal, for a high performance system, it's probably better to go with XL anyway, not R3 or even R4.

Antec cases have a considerable edge in cooling. When your primary source of noise is GPU cooling with a high-end card, you want a spacious case with good cooling and low noise, not just an almost entirely sealed box. For that, the only competition to Antecs is the Fractal XL, but even that's lagging behind.

If considering a 2GB card, just get a 7850. 560Ti is OK, but you pay a premium for the extra gig. For 7750 it doesn't matter, you'll brickwall with the chip before 1GB is overrun.

Not worth it. Games just plain don't use the extra two cores, so you'll save a fair bit by sticking with 3570K and Z77, with no loss of performance. Check my post on page 1 for other component selections. There's a lot of things to put that money towards. Samsung RAM is better. For PSU, take Corsair HX650V2, it should be better built and has well enough power. Or AX850 if you really want the best for the sake of it alone. A lot like my previous suggestions: Cooling - Thermalright Macho HR-02 or NZXT Havik 140 Drive - Crucial m4 256GB for OS and games and WD Green or Samsung 2TB HDD for video, storage, etc Case - Antec P280 or Fractal Design XL There are some other good cases on the market, but they're not as quiet. All cables come bundled and work just fine, no need to buy any. Also, X-Fi Titanium sound card - if you have or plan on buying any decent speakers. See for other peripherals.

I can't really see all the reasons behind this suggestion. EVGA is one of the most faded video card brands - nearly everything they sell is just a reference design with "EVGA" written somewhere. If you have to buy a Nvidia, the best deal today is Asus GTX670 DC2. If you are considering MMO at all, you want everything MMO related on a SSD. It makes a world of difference. On the other hand, fast (black) vs regular (green) HDD makes very little difference. m4 256 is only $210 now, and it's good, making it the best value SSD right now. 64GB units no longer offer value. Price per GB aside, if there's one thing everyone comes to regret about their PC purchase, it's too small a SSD. I would know, having easily run out of 4x128GB on my laptop. Corsair AX850 is Seasonic X850, just $10 cheaper, with better warranty and a better fan grille... Although, forget both of them, I just found this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151111 If $200 isn't too much to splash on a PSU for you, this is, by far, the one to have. Seasonic Gold is very good, but their Platinum series is that much better. It's hard to feel in practice, but at least it will be quiet. Otherwise get AX650 for $140, there's nothing in between worth its money. Very few people ever build a SLI or CF configuration, a lot of those who do come to regret it, and AX650 can easily handle a pair of GTX670 or undervolted HD7950 anyway. It won't be quiet, but you won't hear it behind the howling of two video cards.

If at all reasonable, and if you have a high quality flatscreen TV, consider connecting it. Cheap office monitors can be had for under $200, but any TV is much higher in image quality. Quality monitors are expensive, you'd want a 27" PVA, AMVA or IPS unit with 1920x1080 for a good gaming system, that's $500 range easily. Even then a good 32" TV is a better option, but further more expensive.

That's a good range. It doesn't include the display, right? You can connect your PC via HDMI to a TV just like a console. My general advice would be the following: AsRock Z77 Extreme4 or Asus P8Z77 i5 3570K Thermalright Macho HR-02 or Archon or Scythe Mine 2 Zalman ZM-STG2 or Silver Arctic MX-4 thermal compound (optional if you get Thermalright) Samsung 2x4GB or 2x8GB memory Radeon 7950 or 7970 - Sapphire (with two big fans) or (better) Asus DC2 Corsair AX650V2 (or AX850V2) Antec P280 or P183 or P193, or Fractal Design XL Crucial m4 256GB WD Green or Samsung 5400rpm 2TB HDD Optional, if you can splash for it: X-Fi Titanium sound card - if you have any half-decent speakers Coolermaster Storm Trigger or Thermaltake Meka G1 (it's the same thing) or Corsair K90 keyboard Logitech G400 mouse 2-3 Scythe 500 or 800 rpm 120mm fans You will need to do some software work on it to properly overclock the CPU, undervolt the GPU and optimize fan curves to get the best results. I can walk you through the process, it's not hard.

Doesn't matter with 7750. At all. You want 560Ti or 7850 to start taking benefit of 1GB+.