Advice needed on gaming rig

Hey everyone.  Although I have been lurking for awhile, this is my first post.  I have been doing a lot of research in the last few months trying to narrow down exactly what I want.  At first, I had my heart set on getting a ODE level 3.  But, with 680 GPU out, I have since changed my mind.

My every intention is to get a Digital Storm computer.  I am impressed by everything I have read about not only their hardware, but their professionalism and superior customer service.  The only drawback I can see, is that I live in California and am subject to California sales tax.

The competitors I am looking at are ------- and -----------.  They are located out of state so my assumption is that I could get more computer for my money.

Below I am going to list the 3 configurations that I came up with any I was curious to get your honest feedback with which computer would best serve for the money and the reasons for your decision.  All of these came out to ~$2,950.  I plan to use the computer mostly for gaming (Diablo3, Battlefield, mmorpg type games).  But I also do some pretty serious adobe photoshop, premier CS5 editing.  I currently have a 23" 1920x1080 resolution monitor.

The first configuration was one posted by Bprat22:
[EDIT: Sorry, but, we cannot host other competitor names and their configurations on our company forums. I have removed those items - Alex]


Edited by Alex - 10 Apr 2012 at 2:48pm

VelocityM3,

I'm happy I saw the builds you posted before Alex came by. Gave us a chance to compare and build a comparable system .    I and lots others have done the same thing and after close look at the details have chosen DS.      Any questions let us know.

Originally posted by josephlee Odd how we all have done our research and all end up here with DS. Go figure.

Hi VelocityM3....The psu for sli would have to be the 1050HX.  The 750HX might just make it, maybe, but as psu's age their efficiency lowers.   The 1050HX gives you lots of headroom . 

Edited by bprat22 - 12 Apr 2012 at 10:26am

It definitely is. I'll let others chime in as well. We're very excited with the new ODE updates.

Yah, I was going back and forth about SLI and whether I really would want to upgrade to a dual screen setup.  I think I will be content with my 23" at max settings.  I plan to play a lot of Diablo III when it comes out so I can't see the ODEV2 Level 4 having any issues with that.  I can also keep in the back of my mind that I saved ~1,000 bucks that I can put into future upgrades down the road.

And just like that, I clicked the order button.