Ivy Bridge $1500-$2000 Gaming PC

Gigabyte GV-R797OC-3GD $566
http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=1...

Thats a pretty solid build... i dont think you need anyone's help. Thats one pricey case.

I prefer nvidia and would get a 680

$189 for a Phantom, really?  

Otherwise I agree - it's an excellent build. If you can score a 680 that would be ideal but the 7970 is an excellent card itself - I'm personally a fan of Sapphire cards for Radeon and EVGA for NVIDIA.

since there were no reviews of that product on umart i opened newegg which has alot of feedback on pretty much everything and alot of the reviews werent very convincing. is there a reason why you suggested this one over the other ones?

yeah i kinda prefer ATI but im pretty open to either. the reason why i went with 7970 is because its cheaper. the 680 is about $100 more, and if i cross fire my 7970 buying a second 680 can be quite expensive. heres a chart comparing the fps of 690 vs SLI 680 vs CF 7970. no real difference of SLI of 680 over CF 7970.

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17lhkd2b53xqepng/origin...

haha yeah, parts in AUS are quite abit more expensive than America (newegg) and as you can see my post above why im going towards the 7970 rather than the 680 and im the same, i prefer sapphire and xfx for radeon.

Hi mate. Your build looks awesome, some really high end parts listed there.

The prices you have there look pretty good. PCCaseGear is another great aussie website. And I also get stuff from my local MSY. I have listed a few MSY prices in the below build, hopefully you have one near you. Usually I just download the pdf pricelist from their website and give them a call to check for stock. They really are about as cheap as it gets in Aus. Even if you get your case and PSU from an MSY it will also reduce your shipping by about half. All links go to PCCaseGear coz their site looks better and has better info.

http://msy.com.au/

You have HDDs and a CPU Cooler, for the rest:

Cases: A lot comes down to personal preference. The below is a good, solid case that cools well and is easy to build in. I don't like Full Towers much... my office is pretty small  

Fractal Arc Mid $129
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_i...

CPU: i5 3570K $249

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_i...

Mobo: This board has loads of features, a good all round board for a general gaming system. If you are doing anything more specific with your build just double check all the features listed suit you needs.

ASRock Z77 Extreme4 $155
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_i...

PSU: You listed the HX series which are great, but alot pricier than the TX which are still well recommended/reviewed

Corsair TX-850 V2 $169 (from MSY)
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_i...

GPU: Your preference 7970

Sapphire Radeon 7970 $619 (from MSY)
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_i...

RAM: 8 GB is plenty for gaming. Good brand and Low profile

Corsair Vengeance CML8GX3M2A1600C9 8GB $65
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_i...

Optical Drive: Cheap as they come, and black (looks better in your case than white or grey IMO)

Sony AD7280SGB DVDRW $19
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_i...

SSD: Realiable good brand SSD and have come down a bit in price. For an SSD I go 120GB minimum for OS and games

Intel 520 Series 120GB $184 (from MSY)
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_i...

$1589

A couple years ago when I did my first build I looked at PC Case Gear and from I remember the prices were good but the shipping costs were RIDICULOUS! and for MSY I dont have a local one unfortunately.

the reason why I chose the Phantom Full Tower is because I have seen some very nicely done mods to it. Ive always wanted to get creative with my pc and make it different from everyone elses and just the look of it by itself is very sleek and nice.

in reference to your listed parts above, (PSU) i went with the HX over the TX because its modular. (mobo) i choose the extreme 6 over extreme 4 purely because of looks, they both provide the same things that i need and will be using but i have some ideas in plan for the 6 that i cant do with the 4. (RAM) i chose the XMS RAM because im currently using the 2x2gb version and it fits nicely under my cpu cooler, i can ever take the RAM out while leaving the cooler on the cpu, im afraid the vengeance heatsink on the ram is too tall for my cpu cooler. for optical drive ill be getting a blu-ray. (SSD) and from what i remember but i may be wrong that intel SSD'd are VERY reliable but for transfer rates and most other figures its not as high as the crucial m4. but thanks for all the input, i greatly appreciate it

Yeah their shipping prices are high.. particularly if you get a full tower   You can get a modular version of the TX PSUs if you wanted. Crucial M4 SSDs are a good choice. The Vengeance RAM I linked through is the low profile version designed not to interfere with your cooler. Just double check your XMS memory is the 1.5V version... not the 1.65V (it comes in both which is confusing) and you'll be fine. If you want to get creative with your with your build, and are choosing parts for looks as well as performance... I say go for it. Sounds like you've got it under control. Have fun with it, enjoy building it and post pics!

I hate how Australia gets like a 100-200 markup on all graphics cards -_- I mean, a MSI Twin Frozr GTX 680----$739!??!?!? WTF...

Is that australian dollars or USD$? maybe thats the difference.

or it could be that they are all the way "down under"...

I think currently, 1AUS is worth 1.01USD...so it isn't the weak AUS dollar.