Current PC Build (January 2013)

Processor: I7-2600k (Overclocked to 4.4GHz)

Heat sink: Noctua NH-D14

Motherboard: ASRock Z68 Professional Gen3

RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series (2x4GB)

Storage: Crucial M4 CT128M4

GPU: MSI N580GTx Lightning

Case: Cooler Master HAF X Blue Edition RC-942-KKN3

PSU: Corsair AX1200

Monitor: 2x ViewSonic VP2365wb

Headphones: Sennheiser 598 HD

Keyboard: TTEsports Keyboard

Mouse: The Nascita, from Feenix Collections

Mousepad: The Dimora, from Feenix Collections

Webcam/Microphone: Logitech HD Pro Webcam C910

Comments on the build -

Since I do a lot of multi-tasking (streaming + games) and I require a lot of processing power (the encoding process for streaming requires tons of processing power), I figured the 2600k was the best way to go. The ability to overclock it absurdly high (I was stable at 4.8 until my case was severely fucked up in all of the airplane flying, now I’m at 4.4) and the optional hyperthreading seemed like it was a great chip for streaming. The heat sink is a BEAST, a lot of people have commented that it’s the de facto best air heat sink on the market. Since I planned to do quite a bit of overclocking, this was a must.

I splurged a bit on the GPU, I’m not sure why. I think the 560ti was the best buy on the market in terms of price/dollar, but the 580 means I can max out pretty much any game on at the moment (at least at 1920×1080). The 660ti might be a better buy now, but I’d have to go research again.

SSD’s are amazing, the loading and boot times are phenomenal. I don’t know if I’d say you really “need” one, but once you have one, it’s hard to go back to a platter-based drive. Haven’t had a bit of trouble with this SSD.

This motherboard featured the newer Z68 chipset and seemed to have a pretty beefy heatsink on it, leaving me with more room for overclocking. I’m not partial to any brands at the moment even though I generally stick with ASUS, but I tried this and I haven’t had too much trouble with it. It’s nice for newbies who aren’t too familiar with overclocking because it has “auto-overclocking” features in the BIOS that have presets for different chips. I’m not too sure how I feel about these, though, as the presets seems to have the voltage up pretty damn high on some settings.

For RAM, I couldn’t care less. RAM is RAM, meh. 8GB seems fine, even given all that I do. I’ve never used more than 6GB of RAM at any point in time. I think anymore is overkill.

My PSU is HARDCORE OVERKILL, I bought this on mistake a while ago. I could easily get by with 700W or less in this current build.

I really recommend these Cooler Master cases, these things are beasts when it comes to cooling and durability. My Cooler Master survived 6 international flights of being thrown around on airplanes and it’s still in 1 piece.

I’d always wanted to try IPS panels. I have two. They’re pretty, and I like the viewing angle on both of them, though I’m not sure if the extra cost (over $300 per monitor) can be justified over a normal TN panel.

The keyboard sucks balls. I would never, ever, ever recommend black switches on a mechanicl board. Ever. Just get normal dome switches. There’s literally no other point.

The mouse and mousepad are from Feenix. The Mouse is pretty nice, though it’s a bit large compared to some gaming mice. You can adjust the DPI on the fly from 5 different settings using buttons on the mouse. It uses the Avago 9500 sensor, which adds a bit of positive acceleration to your movements, but I don’t really notice it and haven’t had any trouble with it.

The Logitech Cam I have the moment is pretty much the standard at the moment. I think pretty much everyone uses this guy. No complaints here in regards to the webcam or the microphone on it.