My current gaming PC build

By request these are the current build specs for my gaming desktop; there's still some custom work to be done to the box so I'll follow up with another post for the case modding details later.

Who doesn't love a bit of shopping? Heres the before hardware pile, I buy hardware in America from Newegg or Amazon depending on price best to get on their email list for decent discount codes. In Australia I use MSY or Umart

Case/PSU/Drive build

Mainboard after CPU assembly

Build after wiring

Case: Thermaltake Nvidia Special Edition ATX Full Tower

PSU: Thermaltake SP 1200W 80 Plus Bronze 

Mainboard: Gigabyte G1.Sniper 3 Extended ATX LGA 1155

CPU: Intel Core i7 Ivy Bridge 3770K 3.5Ghz (3.9 Turbo) LGA 1155

CPU Cooling: Thermaltake CLP0579 120mm Contac 30 

GPU: Gigabyte Geforce 660Ti 2GB PCIe 3.0x16

RAM: Corsair Vengeance 1600 DDR3 16GB (2 x 8GB)

OS Drive: Kingston HyperX SATA III 120GB SSD 

Data Drives: 3 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB SATA 7200RPM

Laser Drives: LG 12x Blue Ray DVD Burner Combo Drive

And above the table ... 

Monitors: 2 x Phillips LCD 24" Smart Touch Monitors
Keyboard: Logitech G15 Gaming keyboard
Mouse: Logitech MX518 High Performance Optical
Speakers: Logitech S220
Headphones: Creative Sound Blaster World of Warcraft THX Headset
Webcam: Logitech HD Pro 9000

Some comments on the build:

• This case is huge and will not fit in most desks but you can ride it like a pony
• You can see I am brand loyal to Gigabyte, Logitech and Thermaltake, after years of trial and error and failed hardware these are always my go to vendors
• This board is gorgeous and omits the need for add on wifi, SATA extender, bluetooth and sound cards. I cannot recommend it enough.
• I prefer to buy the Thermaltake Toughpower range but they were out of 950W+ at the time of build, this is still a good modular PSU
• The CPU fan requires a full ATX tower, do not buy if using anything less
• Due to the CPU fan and the size of the case I don't need liquid cooling, CPU stays flat at 21C even after hours of gaming
• The speakers are cheap and cheerful because I had to leave my Creative surround sound set in Sydney and I mostly use headphones in my current house.
• The HD webcam is no longer made at work I use a Logitech HD Pro C920 and would recommend purchasing this as a more current model
• Upgrade paths here are to double the RAM and add another 660Ti  with SLI bridge after the new year