Best DIY for $1550 and under

Hey everyone!

For the past year I saved up $1550 to spend on my new DIY PC. I would like your help to build the BEST PC for that price (not including OS).

The main focus of the PC would be gaming and multitasking.
Specifications:
CPU - Has to be Intel no exceptions
GPU - No SLI/CrossFire
Mobo - Preferably Gigabyte
RAM - Nothing less than 4GB
Screen - I will need a screen that supports HDMI.
Burner - DVD is a must, blueray optional
Networking - I will need a Wi-Fi Adapter (not USB)

I will do some basic air cooled overclocking to around 4ghz.


Thanks

i5-2500K
GA-Z68-UD4 ($180)
Reference Radeon HD 6950 (Out of stock a lot, MSI/XFX/Sapphire) ($270)
Corsair TX650 ($90)
8GB (2x4GB) G.SKILL Ripjaws X DDR3-1600 CL8 (Theres a combo with the 2500K, like $30 off)
Cheap SATA DVD Burner ($25)
Cheap PCI wireless adapter ($20)
Corsair A70 ($50)
OCZ Solid/Agility 3 60GB ($130)
Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB ($70)

Prices are off the top of my head, a little off, all are a little high.

Might I ask why you wish to upgrade now? That intel buildi you have there is plenty strong and will last another 2 years. Only thing i advise is a upgrade for a ssd and a newer gpu.

snowbrdd said:

Might I ask why you wish to upgrade now?

Click to expand...

I gave that rig to my bro and I need a new rig. I could wait till Ivy Bridge comes out.

From an overclockers point of view, is the 2600K/2500K good at overclocking compared to the i7s (first gen)?

The build suggested looks good but I've never used a HD from Samsung, are they any good? and btw if i were to hackintosh, would Nvidia graphics be easier to find drivers or AMD/Radeon?

Thanks for all your contribution.

They are a snap to overclock. Samsung hard drives are great. Only brand of hard drives i wouldn't suggest is seagate. They have failed a lot on me so thats just preference probably. I'm not sure about hacintosh and stuff that relates anywhere near mac as, call me biased, i just hate macs.

Might want to post over in the Alternative Operating System forum for help on the Hackintosh. Overclocking wise, a lot of these things will hit 5.0GHz+ on air. So about a GHz higher then the last gen, also running a LOT cooler. My OCed 920 heats up the tiny room it's in, ambient hits like 90F during the summer nowadays. ><.

In general though, AMD drivers are a PITA.

For Hackintosh: high end video cards ARE NOT SUPPORTED YET. Wait until next week to see if NV 5xx and ATI 69xx are supported, when Lion is out.

I've been struggling with that s... for one week now, and can insure you no driver is available for either 5xx and 69xx...

EDIT: it seems that Apple is going with ATI from now on