specs for an affordable gaming rig

Budget:
Variable, but looking for best bang per buck and general longevity

Expectations:
I'm looking for an affordable gaming rig that will run for 2-3 years without upgrading the video card. I would like the rig itself to last 5 years. I was originally thinking of proofing the computer for potential SLI for 3d vision, but decided that tech wasn't used enough to be worth the money spent on it, so will go for a single card rig.

Usage:
Gaming primarily, FPS, RPG, and RTS. Not competitive, but like having graphics on max when reasonable (ie games like crysis 2 are exempted). Will be running on a 23" or so monitor with 1920 x 1080.

Special Needs:


Saved Ticket #: 488204

Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - HAF 922
Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish
Processor: Intel Core i5 2500K 3.30GHz (Unlocked CPU for Extreme Overclocking) (Quad Core)
Motherboard: ASUS P8P67 (Intel P67 Chipset) (Features USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s)
System Memory: 4GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested)
Power Supply: 750W Corsair TX (Dual SLI Compatible)
Expansion Bay: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (1TB Hitachi/Seagate (7200 RPM) (32MB Cache)
Set 1 Raid Options: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 3: Backup\Misc.: - No Thanks
Optical Drive 1: DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 24x / CD-Writer 48x)
Optical Drive 2: - No Thanks
Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Video Card: 1x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 1.2GB (Includes PhysX) (EVGA SuperClocked 012-P3-1572-AR)
Add-on Card: - No Thanks
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
Extreme Cooling: AIR: Stage 1: Corsair A70 Dual 120mm Fans High Performance Cooler
H20 Tube Color:- Not Applicable, I do not have a FrostChill or Sub-Zero LCS Cooling System Selected
Chassis Airflow: Standard Factory Chassis Fans
Internal Lighting: - No Thanks
Enhancements: - No Thanks
Chassis Mods: - No Thanks
Noise Reduction: - No Thanks
Boost Processor: FREE: Overclock the processor between 3.6GHz to 3.9GHz
Boost Video Card: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s)
Boost Memory: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my memory
Boost OS: - No Thanks, Please do not tweak the services on the operating system
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-Bit Edition)
Recovery Tools: Windows Recovery Toolkit (Bundled with Windows 7 CD)
Virus Protection: - No Thanks
Office: - No Thanks
Benchmarking: - No Thanks
Install/Test Game: FREE: Hot-selling game with a NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 or above graphics card
Display: - No Thanks
Surge Shield: - No Thanks
Speakers: - No Thanks
Keyboard: - No Thanks
Mouse: - No Thanks
External Storage: - No Thanks
Exclusive T-Shirt: FREE: Digital Storm T-Shirt - Black (Medium)
Priority Build: - No Thanks, Ship Within 5-15 Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed
Warranty: Life-time Expert Customer Care with 3 Year Limited Warranty

If you can go with 2600k, the corsair air cooler is very good but a bit louder then Noctua, if you like it, keep it.

assuming you are gonna stay with one card and no sli in the future then that is a great build.

for monitors look at this:

Dell UltraSharp U2311H 23

Its price higher because it has a better picture quality, and the better picture quality is the reason why we recommend the 23/24/27/ and 30" ultrasharp monitors, they are all isp panels.

You won't notice anything above 60 fps, sure you might notice a little difference from higher fps then 60 on a 120hz monitor, but once you got smooth gaming at 60f ps, you got smooth gaming, still ips has better picture quality.

for somethings the 120hz monitor does help, best deal would be ips 120hz monitor, don't know of one yet.


The 120Hz does eliminate any latency due to higher fps, it does hellp sometimes in fps games, but it has its downside also, IMO, ips or 240hz


I'll take the better picture quality over a little latency that I might not even notice.

Edited by DST4ME - 20 Feb 2011 at 8:59pm

Thanks for the help. I've ordered the rig I posted, but changed to a 2600k... this rig will be legen- ... wait for it...