Listmania!
The Best of the Best PC Components
By an Amazon.com customer
Thermaltake VL10001W2Z Element G ATX Mid Tower Gaming Case with 3x TouchColor Fan (Black)Thermaltake VL10001W2Z Element G ATX Mid Tower Gaming Case with 3x TouchColor Fan (Black)
Buy new: $135.17
This case is amazing. It has color changing LEDs, multiple fans for superb airflow, many drive bays (7 x 3.5” and 2 x 2.5”), and it supports both mini ATX and full ATX motherboards.
Corsair CMPSU-1000HX 1000-Watt HX Professional Series 80 Plus Certified Power Supply compatible with Core i7 and Core i5Corsair CMPSU-1000HX 1000-Watt HX Professional Series 80 Plus Certified Power Supply compatible with Core i7 and Core i5
Buy new: $231.52
Because powerful components need a powerful power supply. 1000W should be able to power everything you need, and this power supply is certified to support Core i7 processors. This much power is especially needed to support more than one graphics card.
Asus P6T6 WS Revolution Core i7 / Intel X58/ DDR3/ CrossFireX & 3-Way SLI/ A&2GL/ ATX MotherboardAsus P6T6 WS Revolution Core i7 / Intel X58/ DDR3/ CrossFireX & 3-Way SLI/ A&2GL/ ATX Motherboard
Buy new: $339.00 / Used from: $199.99
This motherboard can easily support the Core i7 Extreme processor, and it has 6 slots for 3-Channel DDR3 RAM (24GB maximum). It also comes with 2 10/100/1000 ethernet ports, 8 channel HD audio, support for up to 12 USB ports, and 2 or 3X Nvidia SLI or up to 4X Crossfire. It also has an SAS controller, which is backwards compatible with SATA devices, except it also supports high speed SAS devices.
Intel Core i7 965 3.2GHz 8M L3 Cache 6.4GT/sec QPI Hyper-Threading Turbo Boost LGA1366 Extreme ProcessorIntel Core i7 965 3.2GHz 8M L3 Cache 6.4GT/sec QPI Hyper-Threading Turbo Boost LGA1366 Extreme Processor
Buy new: $1,298.95
This is THE processor to get if you want things to be extremely fast. It has four cores running at 3.2Ghz as well as Hyper-Threading and an 8MB cache. This processor is almost unrivaled in terms of pure processing power.
OCZ OCZ3B1600LV6GK DDR3 PC3-12800 Blade Series Low Voltage Triple Channel Memory KitOCZ OCZ3B1600LV6GK DDR3 PC3-12800 Blade Series Low Voltage Triple Channel Memory Kit
Buy new: $397.99
This is not only some of the fastest DDR3 memory available, but it also has a large capacity. This memory is designed specifically to work with the Core i7 processor and Intel X58 chipset. This is a set of 3 2GB modules. If you want the extra capacity and performance, you should buy and install 2 of these sets.
XFX RADEON HD 5870 1 GB DDR5 PCI Express Card HD587AZNF9XFX RADEON HD 5870 1 GB DDR5 PCI Express Card HD587AZNF9
Buy new: $429.99
This is one of the best graphics cards on the market. It has 1GB of DDR5 memory, and it supports DirectX 11, has HDMI output (as well as DVI-I), and it is capable of working with CrossFire, which means that you can have it work with another GPU, to get more performance out of your system. Although you can have up to 4 of these at once with CrossFireX, I suggest only buying 2 of these.
EVGA GeForce GTX295 Co-op Edition 1792MB DDR3 PCI-Express 2.0 Graphics Card 017-P3-1295-AREVGA GeForce GTX295 Co-op Edition 1792MB DDR3 PCI-Express 2.0 Graphics Card 017-P3-1295-AR
Buy new: $589.99
In case you prefer Nvidia over ATI (quite a few people do) you may choose to get this graphics card instead of a Radeon HD 5870 card. These support SLI, which is Nvidia's version of CrossFire. This graphics card has 1.75GB of DDR3 memory, DirectX 10 support, dual DVI-I ports, Once again, I suggest only buying 2 of these.
Western Digital 2 TB Caviar Green SATA Intellipower 32 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Desktop Hard Drive WD20EADS [Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging]Western Digital 2 TB Caviar Green SATA Intellipower 32 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Desktop Hard Drive WD20EADS [Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging]
Buy new: $190.36 / Used from: $175.00
This 2GB SATA II hard disk should be able to store all of your files and applications, although it may be worth getting 2 of these to maximize the amount of data you can store, just in case. Although this version of the drive is "green", and is eco-friendly, as well as running at lower temperatures and using less power, it isn't nearly as powerful and fast as the "Black" version of the drive.
Western Digital 2 TB Caviar Black SATA 7200 RPM 64 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Desktop Hard Drive WD2001FASSWestern Digital 2 TB Caviar Black SATA 7200 RPM 64 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Desktop Hard Drive WD2001FASS
Buy new: $316.39
This is the "Black" version of the other 2TB hard drive. As I described in the other comment, this version is much more powerful. This version has a larger cache (64MB instead of 32MB), it has twice the processing power, and it reads and writes data significantly faster (7200RPM). If you want much more performance out of your drive, I suggest getting this model instead.
Plextor 8X Sata Bluray ComboPlextor 8X Sata Bluray Combo
Buy new: $145.99
This drive is not only capable of reading Blu-Ray discs, which are considered the future of high definition movie technology and disc-based storage, but it can also read/burn CDs and DVDs. The only downside of this drive is the slightly slow DVD/CD read times.