Anyone can stroll into an Apple Store and
drop a month’s wages on a Mac Pro – but only the Geek Elite can build something
better, for less… *
Case
Building a PC without a case is like baking
a pie without pastry – messy and pointless. Our PC pastry of choice is the
Corsair 600T ($225.5, scan.com). it comes with plenty of expansion room and two
200mm fans to keep things cool. A dial on top will boost the fans if you’re
really crunching pixels.
Motherboard & CPU
The brains of our binary-busting monster
are a 3.5GHz, quad-core Intel i7 3770K processor and DZ77GA-70K motherboard
($402.9 and $314, intel.com). That processor sits near the top of the Ivy
Bridge hierarchy, so throw in a CPU cooler too. Noctua’s mighty dual-fan NH-D14
($104.9, noctua.at) should do it.
Graphics
When it comes to graphics, don’t accept
half measures. NVIDIA’s frankly ridiculous GeForce GTX 690 ($1417.5, geforce.com)
is the fastest card ever made. With dual GPUs and 4GB of onboard RAM it’s a bit
like jamming two nuclear-powered PS3s into a silicon sandwich. No wonder the
cooling, fan’s the size of your face.
Storage
Pairing two separate types of storage gets
you the best of both worlds. Windows 7, games and anything that needs to run
quickly are loaded on to a 128GB Crucial M4 SSD ($128.9, crucial.com/uk). A
more capacious, slower 1TB Seagate Barrucuda HDD ($104.5, dabs.com) handles
movies, music and photos.
Memory
Want your PC to multitask like a workaholic
octopus with a lengthy to-do list? You’ll want to pack it with a shedload of
Ram. We’ve gone for 16GB of Crucial’s Ballistix Smart Tracer DDR3 Ram (complete
with blue LEDs, $250, crucial.com/uk), which should keep things running
smoother than a butter-slathered otter.
Power
Of course, without a power supply you might
as well fill the case with hair. Corsair’s TX750M power supply ($145, scan.com)
delivers 750W of juice and has a modular system that allows you to remove any
cables you don’t need. After all, with that big window on the side of the case,
you’ll want it all looking neat and tidy.
Grand
total $ 3011
Built it? Now add these
Hazro
HZ30Wi
From $886 | hazro.com
This 30in, 2560 x 1600 IPS monitor has a
mighty 1780 viewing angle, while a 1000:1 contrast ratio makes it
great for video and photo editing. A 6ms response time isn’t had, but hardcore
gamers may want more.
DayZ
$free | dayzmod.com
This zombie survival MMO might not test the
graphics to their limits, but DayZ is the hottest game around. It’s a mod for
ArmA II: Combined Operations, available on Steam for $40
Samsung
SH-B123L
$88.5 | scan.com
With most software and games available to
download, an optical drive is no longer essential – but they do make it easier
to install your OS. They’re also cheaps as chips, as this 12x Blue-ray drive
proves.
