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$1100 Gaming Rig

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Hello everyone I am seeking reviews, opinions, suggestions on my current gaming build. I intend on hardcore gaming (settings set as high as my $ will allow). I have been researching parts for a few weeks now and have put together a build but i have been out of the pc building game for about 7 years (time since i built my last rig) so a lot has changed.
As stated above my max budget is $1100 and I am willing to buy parts from Newegg, Amazon, or any Brick and Mortar (Walmart/Best Buy/MicroCenter). My monitor will be a 42inch 1080p LCD TV. My purchase window is going to be 1-2 weeks max. Any help would be greatly appreciated.


Case: Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Motherboard: ASRock MB-P67E4G3 LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.amazon.com/ASRock-MB-P67E4G3-Intel-P67-Mothe...

Graphics Card: SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7850 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

PSU: CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX650 V2 650W ATX12V v2.31/ EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Processor: Intel Core i5-2550K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

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Homebuilt system Expert

Just curious what made you choose that CPU and mobo?
Most people pick the i5-2500K because of the integrated GPU and the boards that have GPU switching. Also, your graphics card is PCI-e 3.0x16, and your board doesn't have 3.0 and without an Ivy Bridge CPU, it won't run at 3.0 even on a board that has it. If you want PCI-e 3.0x16, get a Gen3 Z68 motherboard like the ASRock Extreme3 Gen3 and wait for an Ivy Bridge i5 CPU with integrated graphics.

Rest of your stuff looks good.

I chose the 2550k because from the articles i read here on Tom's Hardware it was the best processor you could buy for gaming in the $200 price point. I made a last minute Graphics Card change from the
EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti FPB (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168....

I guess I didn't catch the change from PCI E 2.0 to 3.0 (thanks). The Mobo was chosen at random due to it having pcie2 and being lga 1155. I will update the above list with the new changes you recommended. Thanks.
Homebuilt system Authority
Gaming Expert

It is better to have the iGPU on the i5-2500K in case something goes wrong with your dGPU because in that scenario you would still be able to use your computer until you got the issue sorted out. But you need a Z68 or Z77 chipset motherboard in that case, which would be a better buy at $150 anyway.

It is perfectly fine to use a PCIe 3.0 card in a PCIe 2.0 x16 slot. The spec is deliberately both backwards and forwards compatible.
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Anonymous
Homebuilt system Authority
Gaming Expert

the rig looks good enough for what your wanting to do with it. though i would suggest taking a look at the 7 series chipsets (ivy bridge) before you buy in a week or two. they are compatible with sandy bridge cpus and may give you a better upgrade path next year.
Homebuilt system Expert

Thanks Silvune, I meant to clarify that you can run PCI-e 3 in a 2.0 slot, it just won't run at 3 so it's a waste of money to buy a PCIe 3.0 GPU unless you have a board with 3.0 and an Ivy Bridge CPU.
Homebuilt system Expert

Yes, with the 2500K, as Silvune says, you have backup GPU in case your card goes out and the 2500K is the most popular gaming CPU out there.

There is no reason to pay for a 3.0x16 graphics card unless you're going to wait for an Ivy Bridge CPU because you need that CPU for it to run at 3.0. The Extreme3 Gen3 has PCI3.0 slots but your card will run at 2.0 with the i5-2500K. ASRock Z77 boards are already out there and the Ivy Bridge CPU's are coming soon so just wait for the new CPU's if you want to use that card.
Homebuilt system Authority
Gaming Expert

Gaming doesn't benefit from the extra bandwidth that PCIe 3.0 provides. So I would go for the much lower power consumption of the 7850 and generally slightly higher performance versus the GTX 560 Ti.

I did notice that the 7850 performed better than the GTX 560 in the performance charts. Since Ivy Bridge is not out yet is it safe to assume that was operating under PCIE 2.0 spec?
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