Worth noting that you can use these parts list, try to match them yourself - if you are building your own gaming rig.
Enjoy!
http://www.maximumpc...lds_-_june_2012
In the June issue, we debuted a new section of the magazine: Blueprints. Here's how it works. We've built three rigs at three approximate price points: Baseline, Deluxe, and Ultra. Baseline gets you a powerful, no-compromises rig, suitable for gaming and content creation at 1080p. Performance gets you more, and Ultra gets you into six-core, dual-GPU territory.
These rigs are lab-tested and editor-approved, and we'll update them every month. Feedback is, of course, welcome, and we're in the middle of a debate as to whether to include a lower price range into the lineup. Tell us what you think!
Baseline
Baseline
Parts list Case Fractal Design Define R3 www.fractal-design.com PSU Corsair TX750 V2 www.corsair.com Mobo Asus P8Z77-V www.asus.com CPU Intel Core i5-3570K @3.4GHz www.intel.com Cooler Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo www.coolermaster.com GPU EVGA GeForce 560 Ti 448 www.evga.com RAM 8GB Patriot Gamer DDR3/1600 www.patriotmemory.com Optical Drive Samsung SH-222 www.samsung.com Solid State Drive OCZ Agility 3 120GB www.ocztechnology.com Hard Drive Seagate Barracuda 3TB www.seagate.com OS Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit www.microsoft.com
Approximate Price: $1,340
Now that we’ve reviewed some Ivy Bridge motherboards, we feel comfortable making a recommendation: the Asus P8Z77-V, with the new Core i5-3570K. And now that hard drive prices have dropped we’ve gone for a faster, bigger HDD.
We’ve had some readers ask why our Baseline rig costs over $1,300. Maybe baseline is the wrong word—this is a no-BS, sweet-spot gaming machine that’s forward-compatible and powerful without being overkill. We can, and do, build sub-$1,000 (and sub-$700) gaming rigs, but they require compromise due to budget constraints. The Baseline doesn’t.
Deluxe
Deluxe
Parts List Case NZXT Phantom 410 www.nzxt.com PSU Corsair HX750 www.corsair.com Mobo Asus Sabertooth X79 www.asus.com CPU Intel i7-3820 @4.7GHz (overclocked) www.intel.com Cooler NZXT Havik 120 wwww.nzxt.com GPU Asus GTX 670 DirectCU II TOP www.asus.com RAM 16GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3/1600 www.corsair.com Optical Drive LG WH12LS39 BD-R burner www.lg.com Solid State Drive OCZ Agility 3 120GB www.ocztechnology.com Hard Drive Seagate Barracuda 3TB www.seagate.com OS Windows 7 Professional 64-bit www.microsoft.com
Approximate Price: $1,870
Our Baseline is everything you need for high-resolution, high-quality gaming. Full stop. But if you add an extra $500 to your budget, you get more stuff: eight processor threads instead of four, eight RAM slots, and an upgrade path to a six-core CPU down the line. You also get a Blu-ray burner and one of the fastest GPUs we’ve ever tested. This Sandy Bridge-E rig has remained mostly the same since it debuted in June, except for the videocard—and the price. We’re now recommending Asus’s GTX 670 DirectCU II TOP, which outperforms a stock GTX 680 on all of our benchmarks, while being $70 cheaper.
Ultra
Ultra
Ultra Case Cooler Master Cosmos II www.coolermaster.com PSU Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1050W www.thermaltakeusa.com Mobo Asus P9X79 Deluxe www.asus.com CPU Intel i7-3930K @4.8GHz (overclocked) www.intel.com Cooler Corsair H100 www.corsair.com GPU EVGA GTX 690 www.evga.com RAM 16GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3/1600 www.corsair.com Optical Drive LG WH12LS39 BD-R Burner www.lg.com Solid State Drive Samsung 830 Series 256GB www.samsung.com Hard Drive Seagate Barracuda 3TB (x2) www.seagate.com OS Windows 7 Professional 64-bit www.microsoft.com
Approximate Price: $3,460
Our Ultra configuration is for the Maximum PC reader who needs ultra-fast encoding and rendering, tip-top graphical prowess, and speedy storage. It’s a step above what’s necessary for 95 percent of the population, but a step below Dream Machine. So it’s merely absurd, not absolutely over the top. Speaking of which: Dream Machine is next month!
The price of our Ultra configuration is down to just (?!) $3,460, thanks mostly to GPU price drops. Instead of two Radeon HD 7970s, we’re recommending a GTX 690. If you’re going to have two $500 GPUs in one machine, you might as well put them on the same card and save some room and some power.
Intel’s Core i7-3930K is $600 worth of six-core madness, and the Corsair H100 cooler makes it easy to push the CPU to 4.8GHz from its 3.6GHz stock speed.
Cooler Master’s Cosmos II case is huge and luxurious, with plenty of airflow to cool everything, and the Asus motherboard is great for overclocking and will hold another GTX 690 if you go absolutely out of your gourd for power. We’re keeping the 256GB Samsung 830 SSD and 6TB of speedy mass storage.
Suggested Pairings
Kick-ass peripherals for your new rig
Keyboard
Razer BlackWidow Ultimate
$130, www.razerzone.com
Mouse
Cyborg R.A.T. 9
$100, www.cyborggaming.com
Speakers
Corsair SP2500
$205, www.corsair.com
Gaming Headset
Corsair Vengeance 1500
$100, www.corsair.com
Midrange Monitor
Asus PA238Q
$300, www.viewsonic.com
Premium Monitor
Dell UltraSharp U3011
$1,200, www.dell.com
