Need gaming build advice

For starters, I would spend less (way less) on the CPU, and beef up the rest of the computer. And Rosewill is not really known as a quality manufacturer of power supplies.

Having bought a ROG mobo, I can say that they look pretty great. Whether or not that's worth the maybe 1% difference that you'll achieve in overclocking with it is another matter. I believe Tom's recently had an article on overclocking with 1366 mobos, and saw less than 1% difference between them.

If you're not sold on the Rampage III, check out this Gigabyte UD3R. It's got a Tom's recommendation as well as from many of the frequent posters around here.

In general, onboard sound is very good these days. Unless you're an extreme audiophile, I doubt you'll be able to tell the difference between onboard and a $100+ sound card.

You might want to check out SLIZone for recommended PSUs. 900W is the bare minimum for 2x 480, and the Rosewill 1000W isn't on there. It would probably still work, but Rosewill generally doesn't do that great on jonnyguru stress tests.

I would look for something that's 80+ Silver or Gold certified and above 900W, even if it's not on the SLIZone list. People say it all the time, but it bears repeating. Your power supply is the most important part of your system. If it goes, it can fry components.

On to the CPU. If you want to spend $1k on a processor, I can't stop you. I'll point out, however, that games these days are GPU-bound, not CPU-bound. If you were building a top-of-the-line 3D rendering box, then it might be worth it. If gaming is your most demanding task, get an i7-930 and overclock it instead. The money saved could be spent on more/better monitors for a surround setup.

I also can't recommend a 60 GB SSD and a 600 GB Velociraptor. Why not just get a 128 GB SSD and a 1 TB 7200 rpm drive? Modern 7200 rpm drives are approximately as fast as VRs for streaming, the only area where the VRs are significantly ahead is in access time. Consider a 120 GB Agility 2 or a Crucial C300 RealSSD and a Samsung Spinpoint F3, WD Caviar Black (WD1002FAEX), or a Seagate 7200.12.

And for memory...check out the G.Skill PI Series. Not quite the cheapest, but CAS 6, 1600 MHz, and it runs at 1.6V, unlike the rest of the CAS 6 DDR3.

Stealing from a build I posted earlier today.

CPU - Intel i7-930 - $290
HSF - Your choice from Frostytech's top "5" list, say ~$60
Mobo - Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R - $210
RAM - G.Skill PI 6 GB CAS 6 1600 MHz - $210
SSD - OCZ Agility 2 - $310
HDD - Samsung Spinpoint F3 1 TB - $80
GPU - 2x EVGA 480 Superclocked - $1020
PSU - Corsair 950TX Active PFC 80+ Bronze -$140 (-$10 MIR) certified for 480 SLI by slizone.com
Case - HAF X - $200

Total $2520, no combos, no shipping included (at least $25 for the HAF X).

And in support of SSD + 1 TB (or greater) drive, I'll point you to Anandtech's review of the new VRs



And looking at my build, I have no idea how that Rampage III + i7-980X is going to come in under $3k?

Hi! first of all thanks for your post, clears some things up for me  

So, if I decide not to go with the 980, would it be smarter to go with a different socket completely?
My buddy told me 1156 would allow for future upgrades.

Both Intel sockets are slated to be replaced next year. Neither are really good options for future upgrades. AM3 is supposed to be good for Bulldozer (due out next year), but no idea beyond that.

If you're the kind of person that buys a new computer every 3-5 years, then I suspect you'll be fine with socket 1366. If you're the kind of person that upgrades piecemeal every 1-2 years, you might consider an AMD Phenom II X4 955/965 and an Asus Crosshair IV (or other 890 FX series mobo). Though obviously you would want to go with ATI video cards at that point, as SLI isn't possible on the AMD 8nn-series chipset.

one more quick question. Will the GSkill PI ram fit under the Noctua NH-D14?
Thanks

Based on this review & specs, I would guess not. It looks big and low. Looking at newegg reviews, it looks like it frequently blocks tall heatspreaders in the first RAM slot.

Unless you plan on fully populating the RAM though, that doesn't need to be an issue. Download the motherboard's manual and verify that you can use the 2/4/6th RAM slots instead of 1/3/5, and you should be fine.

Or buy RAM with lower/no heat spreaders.  

oh! reading up on it, it looks like the fan that extends over the ram slots can actually be moved up to allow more room for ram heat spreaders.