Easily the first CPU that came to mind when having a slightly more flexible budget than normal. I could have went for the i5-6600k with minimal to zero losses when it comes to gaming, but overall I've been an i7 kind of guy coming from an i7-3770k. It handles any and all tasks that I throw at it.

I just have to make a comment about how truly MASSIVE this cooler really is! When I removed it from the box I was just completely floored by its size. It is sleek, beefy, and whisper quiet which suits my needs perfectly! I was thinking about an AIO liquid cooler for my CPU, but with this air cooler I don't have to ever worry about a water leakage in my system. The idle temps were very solid and when running Cinebench at full load, my 6700k only peaked at about 45 celsius at 100% continuous load.

I've heard some great things about this thermal paste, but I guess paste is paste in the end. I thought I might as well get some really good paste since I won't be re-applying it too often to my CPU.

I've seen this motherboard lineup time and time again in people's builds so I started researching about it. It comes with plenty of features and programs, lots of PWM fan headers, extremely friendly bios etc. Overall, its just a really solid motherboard and I had no troubles overclocking.

Great DDR4 high speed memory. The 16GB should be more than enough for playing games and doing the occasional stream. Not much else to say besides it is low profile and fast. Had no troubles using XMP to reach the desired 3200 speed.

The Samsung 850 EVO is extremely fast and I am already familiar with its speed since I used it in my previous build.

The Western digital drive also works great and is substantial enough to store all my files in.

The muscles of the system! I've had my eye on this GPU for a long time and from what I can tell it handles itself well for gaming at 1440p. The card's metal look, beefy cooler, as well as being an EVGA product made it a primary contender for me. The card seems to automatically boost its clockspeed depending on the load. When running during a heavier load in Heaven and other benchmarks, the temperature didn't go above 60 celsius with an aggressive fan curve.

I spent a lot of time looking for the right case since that is the first thing people notice when looking at a computer. I wanted something that was robust, looked badass, and had a side window to show off the inner goods. Right when I saw this case I loved it. I slapped on a custom gray smoked window and it was all set to go! My room gets pretty dusty so I have to clean out my PC every now and then so the extra dust filters on the case are also much appreciated. Besides that, the case has nice handles to carry, feels sturdy, and has tons of room and tie down points for parts and cable management. Had to dock a star though because the default window that came with the case was not great at all.

Originally I was going to go for the NEX as it was cheaper, but I've seen people recommend the G2 time and time again. I've heard nothing but great things about this PSU and how reliable it is. So far it has been doing its job well!

Noisy DVD drive, but it got the job done with installing Windows so I can't really complain.

It's a fine operating system, I just hate having the drop the 100 bucks for it though.

This is an absolutely brilliant sound card. I downloaded the most recent stable drivers from Daniel_K's blogspot and performed a full installation. My speakers were up and running in no time and I was shown a full range of programs, including a coherent sound equalizer, speaker setup, MIDI sound-font program, and a program that handles EAX. The user interface is very friendly and allowed me to tune the sound precisely to my liking.

Now, I cannot praise this card enough for its sound. I thought the onboard audio was great with the Asus Maximus VII Hero, but it does not even compare to this sound card. It added much needed depth and clarity to my 5.1 speaker setup, while also balancing the lows, mids, and highs, even at extreme levels of volume. My rear two speakers sounded extremely muddy and had degraded sound quality with my previous onboard audio setup, but now the Audigy Rx makes them shine. You can hear the smallest details of intricate instruments in them now. I can also say that the subwoofer packs a much heavier punch as well.

This card also drives my Sennheiser headphones with ease and really brings them to life. Overall, I am very satisfied with this purchase and would definitely recommend it to anyone trying to get more out of their speaker/headphone setup.

Reliable and silent fans! Can't ask for much more.

Another reliable and silent fan. I chose these black fans since the window on my chasis allows people to view them from the outside. Much better than people seeing the brown Noctua fans.

As of yesterday, October 24, I went to Microcenter and purchased the Acer x34 monitor. I was extremely uneasy about the price, but now that it is hooked up and I have all my games working for it, IT IS PHENOMENAL. The one I received has very minimal backlight bleed and IPS glow with zero dead pixels. Since I had a dual monitor setup before, I really wanted something with a lot of screen space. This left me with two options: Go dual 1440p monitors OR go a single ultrawide monitor. I am soooo glad I went with ultrawide since I can utilize the full screen space when I am web browsing AND for full-screen gaming. With the dual monitor setup I would only be using the single screen for gaming and wasting the second monitor. Overall, the price was steep but it was completely worth it. With this final piece I can happily bask in the final version of this build!

First things first, holy cow these headphones are quality! For the price, there are few options that can even compete with these cans. It is also my first open-backed headphone and I must say that the sound is incredibly spacious and clear, with nothing being over-accentuated. The bass is tight and does pack some punch after playing around with the equalizer. Even when listening at extreme volumes, I did not experience any listening fatigue. Vocals, guitars, strings, synthesizers, etc all come in very clear to deliver an immersive and enjoyable experience. They work extremely well in games too with positional audio being accurate and distinct, allowing advantages in fps titles.

I was lucky enough to purchase them at a heavy discount on Amazon which then drove me to purchase a sound card for my PC to go with it. These headphones are very easy to drive and can even be used with your smartphone. They are light and comfortable, to which I have worn them for hours on end and haven't noticed any irritation on my ears. The only negative aspect about these headphones is that they do not fold up, nor do they come with a headphone case so it is not convenient to take with you on the go. Then again, they are open-backed so listening to them in public would be a bit disruptive since they leak sound. This con really doesn't pertain to me since I solely use them at home with my desktop computer and keyboard.

It is also worth mentioning that these came with a 6.3mm to 3.5mm adapter so that I could either use the headphones with my Digital Keyboard or my computer/smartphone. It also included two cables, one long and one short.