so I've been running with this new system since the holidays but I only just dropped in the new graphics card tonight, which I feel was the finishing touch - at least for the moment. here's what I've been able to pull together for about $400 so far. keep in mind I get employee pricing at micro center and we have access to a lot of OEM components you can't find as easily on newegg or tigerdirect:
- intel i7-3770k: $105 (direct from intel. go ahead, ask.)
- 8gb (for now) kingston hyperX red DDR3-1600: $44
- gigabyte z77m-d3h-mvp mATX system board: $65
- (just added) nvidia (unbranded reference OEM) geforce GTX 560ti (1GB frame buffer): $63
- ocz eliteXstream 800W PSU: $37
- 500gb hitachi deskstar 7200rpm hdd, 16mb cache: left over from last system
- samsung can't be bothered to find the model number, generic as ballz dvd-rw drive: see above
- thermaltake dokker ATX mid-tower with six red LED fans and some kinda LCD/rheostat dial fan controller: $90-something altogether
- win7 pro x64: $0 (thank gob for volume license keys!)
yeah it's ok so far. the mechanical drive hurts my benchmark scores but I'm really happy with the new graphics card and I've always loved the CPU.
