I would personally stick with Nvidia cards particularly a 560ti for budget.

Very interesting!

I have used both AMD and Nvidia in the past but i would never go back to AMD for the horror i had with drivers and support for the card. Nvidia can cost marginally more but when you don't have to spend hours configuring your graphics card or updating your drivers you see the hidden game time value.

Nvidia +1

Starting to look good hope all goes well with building the beast!

Budget and gaming on laptops don't usually work together. Best bet would be to get a gaming desktop and a really cheap notebook.

Check out the new QuickFire pro keyboard from CM Storm, looks beastly!

http://www.cmstorm.com/en/products/keyboards/quickfirepro/

I hope Black Ops 2 is not a repeat of the previous releases and becomes the next competitive FPS.

I would recommend the CM Storm Sentinel Z3RO-G or the Spawn mouse for the claw grip.

http://www.cmstorm.com/en/products/peripherals/

One of the members at Team Exile5 Esports as decided to build an extreme pc, so i thought the GameSpot community should get the insider on whats happenening!

nicej's Cosmos II Extreme Gaming Computer Build 2012

That time of the decade has come where I dish out a little extra for a complete new rig. It happened in 2005, and it is happening now! Every 5-7 years I find my self throwing away copious amounts of savings for what I consider a gaming computer that will last me for the ages to come.

In '05 I had built a similar extreme build with what you would consider best available parts at that time, dual 8800GTX's etc, it had lasted me ~5years, with minor upgrade for BC2; and now I am making a similar build but minus dual GPU's, holding off for the "real" GTX680's that I've heard may be called GTX685 which are due in Q4 2012.

So for now, these are my current complete parts list inclusive of everything that is bought and installed:

Hardware:
Case: Coolermaster Cosmos II
PSU: Coolermaster Silent Pro 1300M
Mobo: ASUS Republic of Gamers Rampage 4 Extreme
CPU: Intel 3930K
GPU: Gigabyte HD7970 Overclocked @1Ghz
RAM: 32GB (4x 8GB DIMMS) Corsair Dominator 1600Mhz @10-10-10-27
SSD: Kingston HyperX 120GB (x2 in RAID0), Intel 520 60GB (boot)
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB (x2, considering RAID5)
Sound: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium FATAL1TY Champion Edition
Optical: Sony BD5300SOB Blu-Ray 12x Writer Internal Drive

Still undecided on Monitor to be honest.

Cooling:

Water Cooling:

Pump: Alphacool VPP655 Variable Pump
Pump Mod: Bitspower Pump Mod Kit - Acetal Top, Chrome pump housing
Radiators: Black Ice GTX Xtreme 240 (Black), Black Ice GT Stealth 360 (Black)
Reservoir: Koolance TNK-501 Single 5.25" Reservoir
Mobo Block: Koolance MB-ASR4E ASUS Rampage IV Extreme
CPU Block: Koolance CPU-370
Tubing: PrimoChill PrimoFlex PRO LRT Tubing 3/8" ID 5/8" OD with 1/8" Wall
Coolant: Distilled Water
Additive: IandH Dead-Water Copper Sulfate Concentrate

Fittings: Bitspower G1/4 Matte Black 3/8 Compression Fitting (x5), Bitspower G1/4 Matte Black Dual Rotary 45 Degree 3/8 Fitting (x6), Bitspower G1/4 Matte Black Dual Rotary Angle 3/8 Fitting (x3), Bitspower G1/4 Silver Shining 3/8 Compression Fitting (x2), Koolance Drain Valve VLV-XTSPLB, KOOLANCE VL3N-F10-16S (x2 QDC female), KOOLANCE VL3N-M10-16S (x2 QDC male)

Air Cooling:

Case Fans: 200mm Front intake BitFenix Spectre Pro Black Tinted, 120mm Side door intake Scythe Ultra Kaze (x2, blows directly onto GPUs), 120mm Rear exhaust Scythe Ultra Kaze

Radiator Fans: Scythe Ultra Kaze (x4) in push+pull configuration on bottom 240 Radiator, Scythe Gentle Typhoon 3000 (x3) in pull configuation on top 360 Radiator

Yes, there is a total of 11 very high performance, very loud fans in the machine.

Additional bits and pieces:

Cabling: BitFenix 8pin EPS 12V Extension Cable 45cm Black, BitFenix Sleeved 24pin ATX Extension Cable 30cm Black, BitFenix 4pin ATX Extension Cable 45cm Black, BitFenix Sleeved 6-Pin VGA Power Cable 45cm Black, BitFenix Sleeved 8-Pin VGA Power Cable 45cm Black, BitFenix 3pin to 3x3pin Fan Power Splitter Black

Fan Grills: ModSmart 120mm Black Wire Formed Fan Grill (x6, to make sure no potentially damaging particles get sucked through the radiators)
Internal Powerboard: Bitspower X-Station Power Extension II UV

Cables are all individually sleeved.


So as of now, the rig is 80-90% complete, last night I did a leak test for about 12 hours, and this morning I had done a boot test and everything seems to be OK. Tonight I went to my buddy's place to pick up a genuine Win7 Ultimate 64bit Install Disk.

Once a few remaining items arrive in the mail from PCCG I will be able to start cabling and cable management (assuming this will take some time), boot up, install Windows, and start overclocking, benchmarking, and stability testing. I'm aiming for 4.8-5Ghz @≤1.45V for 24/7 use.

It may seem complete, but there is still a while until I will be comfortable to start using it 24/7.

Don't ask how much I've spent! I'm trying to avoid buyers remorse!

Here are some pics

So make sure you stay tuned by checking out:

http://niceedge.blogspot.com.au/

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=702152

http://www.team-exile5.org

Good Choice indeed.