I finally decided to build myself a new PC. I haven’t played computer games since around 2005 or so. My brother was getting back in to gaming and I decided I would too, it’s a good release.

Previously, I had a laptop with a docking station and two 22″ monitors. The laptop was getting a bit old so I retired the docking station and kept the laptop for a dual-boot Linux/Win7 set up (for various tasks).

The new computer consisted of:
– MSI Z77 motherboard
– Intel i7 3770K CPU overclocked to 4.2Ghz
– 32GB (4x 8GB) overclockable RAM. Overclocked to 2,400Mhz
– Two GeForce GTX670 with 2GB RAM each. SLI
– Two 128GB SSD SATA3 drives in RAID0 (using Z77) configuration for the OS
– Two 120GB SSD SATA3 drives in RAID0 (using other controller) configuration for games and other files
– Kraken x40 CPU cooler (140mm radiator and fan)
– daskeyboard tactile keyboard
– Logitech g300 gaming mouse
– Logitech wireless (Bluetooth) G930 headset
– Two 22″ 1080 monitors
– One 24″ 1080 monitor
– Windows 7 Professional 64bit
– SLI all three monitors with Nvidia Surround and I get 5760 x 1080! Woah!

The case I bought is a Lian Li. It is the smallest case you could possibly find that will fit all that gear. The installation took a while considering I had to route the wiring to allow air flow. Plus the PSU being mounted on the front didn’t allow me much room to play with. Also, the radiator took up too much room so I had to mount the fan for it on the outside of the case.
The case doesn’t allow for the best air flow (it sucks air from below and pushes it out the top. The GFX cards obstruct much of the flow), but I am happy to trade off efficiency in heat exchange for smaller form factor and the minimalist design.

The machine is quite fast and should last me a while 🙂