At the moment I'd go for a SSD double to triple the size of what all your programs, games and OS are taking together at the moment. Then add all your data files (movies, DVD images, music, etc.) and see if it would comfortably fit the SSD size you just chose (i.e. at least 30% free). If it does you don't need to buy a HDD immediately. You can wait until later when they've become even cheaper. This would also remove 1 part from your pc that can fail and age. I.E. when the time has come that you need more space you can buy a new hdd instead of having one that's already run a few years and consumed power all the time.

May not apply to you, but at this point I wanted to note that storing movies, images, or music on a SSD simply doesn't make sense at the moment because those don't need to be accessed fast. So when your ratio of programs to data is smaller than 1 you should probably get a SSD + HDD combo for the sake of saving money.

I don't even know why you included the "faster" Radeon in your comparison because the only difference is an increased core clock which you can also achieve through OC. That said, I'm on Ex's side regarding Nvidia and their insane power consumption and heat generation. Go with the more efficient Radeons. Again it'll save you power consumption which transfers to actual saved $$ over the years. In addition to that a cooler GPU won't heat your system as much, keeping your other components cooler which thus will also last longer.

Don't worry about RAM speeds (unless your ePeen demands it then go with the highest you can afford ). Just take what is cheapest / most reliable. Look for a mobo with 4 RAM slots though and buy 2x4 GB so you can later upgrade to 16 or 24 GB.
Despite my recommendation going with it I'd say that dual channel isn't a must. The fps increase is marginal because RAM already is easily the fastest component of your system. After all, going for dual channel right away might limit your upgrade options later (depending on the setup).

Asrock is fine btw. It's split from ASUS a few years back and their boards had problems for a while and their support was bad (and still is) but now their products are really good for the price and they got rid of the reliability problems, so the bad service shouldn't be a problem anymore either. If you want to stay on the safe (and expensive) side go with ASUS or Gigabyte.

As for the monitor, go with IPS unless you are really modest regarding requirements of image quality or on a tight budget. I kinda regret having to stick with my TN until I become rich. Don't get me wrong, TN is overall still a significant step up from CRT (especially regarding brightness, contrast, sharpness) but with a TN you'll have a noticeable step backwards regarding color fidelity. The most annoying thing is that the same color looks different on the top of the panel than on the bottom because of changing angle of view. IPS corrects that and usually has better contrast.

Post has been edited 2 time(s), last time on Oct 5 2012, 7:46 pm by NudeRaider.

Noted.

Ex, how am I supposed to learn anything if you don't veraciously rip apart my build and call me an Intel Fanboy? D:

Yeah this is the current plan.
I'm going to be willing to lean towards the "performance" end of the cost-performance spectrum with this build. That said I'm not dropping 1k on a GTX 690 or some shit. But I've never overclocked a gfx card before.
I know nothing about monitors. Please, moar moar moar info.

Everythings solid really, there's nothing I can really nitpick, I mean I'd do an AMD build on any budget below 1500$ in the current market, but that's because of things I like to put in builds.

Like when people trust me with their money, I don't go for the things I go for when I do a build, I do what I think is right by them for what they're doing. So if you wanted my opinion on what I'd do if the build was for me, Fractal R4 Case, SeaSonic X series PSU, six Scythe Gentle Typhoon 120mm 15s on a Sunbeam six channel fan controller, and throw a motherfucking Corsair H80 on that CPU. But this is your build, and as long as its solid, I'm not going to tell you to spend money on the little extras and brand names that make me feel more comfortable.

The builds solid Vrael. Be happy.

Also OCing a GPU requires downloading a tool and moving a slider bar. It ain't rocket science.

Edit:
Here's me being picky for you Vrael

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($285.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($25.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($122.62 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Samsung 830 Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card ($369.99 @ Newegg)
Sound Card: Asus Xonar DS 24-bit 192 KHz Sound Card ($39.68 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Titanium Grey) ATX Mid Tower Case ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 620W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($81.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS90 DVD/CD Writer ($16.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1303.21
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

Post has been edited 3 time(s), last time on Oct 5 2012, 9:11 pm by Excalibur.

Yes, but you just took my build, added like 5 more parts to it, and somehow came up with a lower price than mine. The only difference is I think I will still go with a 256GB SSD instead of that 128GB. Now I just have to hope all these prices stay the same or go down within the next month or two I'm not really ready to buy yet, kinda jumping the gun here.

I might use this build if you don't mind

Have at it Pie. Its one of my better ones I guess.

Wooooooo.
Also... This thread is one of the most useful ones in the tech forum I've ever seen... Which isn't impressive considering I rarely use tech

I don't normally recommend ANTG, but I am very impressed by the components used in Rosewill FORTRESS power supplies.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182082
According to reviews, it's better than Antec's comparable PSUs. At $85 for a platinum 550W PSU, it's extremely impressive. The only review of it gave it an 8.9 because of its price, soldering quality, and lack of PCIe.

Remember that when you buy a component don't get caught up in brand names too much. Sure they have good points about them, but if you base your purchase off of a company that was good 2 years ago and you're buying 2 year old hardware, you might miss the new technology.

There are 2 problems I see with this PSU:
Not recommended to use 2 cards
Not modular

I really hate the premium they put on modular power supplies. Most cases now have a bottom mounted psu, which means that gravity takes care of the extra cords. Obviously the power supply is one of the least performing parts of your computer. It either works or it doesn't. The new rosewill tachyon (hybrid modular super flower platinum) will also hopefully be even more impressive, but IMO the capstones and hives are slightly less impressive than when they came out. That being said, the capstone 550 M is $70 now and would be a better buy than that older seasonic.

whats ANTG?

It's a power supply company that sells to rosewill and a few other name brands. They're notorious for making horrible power supplies. and I got the acronym wrong, it's ATNG, sorry.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Oct 6 2012, 4:14 pm by rockz.

I didn't end up buying that build. Mostly because I don't have enough money yet. Now I'm thinking of just waiting for this, perhaps?

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Intel-Haswell-CPU-Manufacture-Begins-This-Quarter-Q4-2012-299953.shtml

Says the haswell architecture should be available for sale early 2013.

If you want to pay the price premium of brand new hardware, take the risk of untested products, be my guest.

Or you can reap the benefits of the current gen just becoming last gen and the price drops that this will bring.

Although I suppose this is rich coming from the guy who went X58 and i7 920 pretty damn early.

What kind of price premium are we looking at here? Is new tech usually like... a 30% increase? 100%? 657.3994%?

nehalem was awesome and worth every penny
sandy bridge was awesome and worth every penny
neither dropped in price all that much because intel has no high end competition so they are just competing with themselves. New CPU tech is worth it shortly after the start (often times prices increase). Core 2 Quads are just as expensive today as they were a few years ago, even though AMD completely whoops them in price/performance.

GPU tech will go down significantly with time, but the good stuff is always expensive.

Memory and storage will continuously get cheaper. Power supplies rarely drop in price. Cases rarely drop in price.