Looking to upgrade your rig or build a brand new one from scratch?

Check out my recommended gaming rig for September 2012 (for under 10 000 NOK), from Dustin Home Norway.

Remember to add an operating system (I recommend Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit), any accessories and a monitor if needed. Generally, I recommend sticking with Logitech for accessories and Samsung or BenQ for monitors.

You do not need to add: A good soundcard is built-in to the motherboard, CPU fan is included with the CPU and the R4 chassis comes with two good fans included, and has a built-in 3-speed fan controller supporting upto 3 fans.

Go green! Why did I choose the slightly more expensive AV-GP variant of Western Digital 3TB harddisk? Huge storage with much better performance than the slightly cheaper options. Check this review by StorageReview.com for some impressive AV-GP benchmark results.

Still have cash to spend?

If your main priority is gaming: I’d spend it on replacing the GTX 660 graphics card with a GTX 660 Ti or GTX 670 – preferably the OC or SC editions for some added performance boost.

If your main priority is video editing: You may want to add another SSD to use as a “scratch disk”.

This is just a suggested setup, I’m not affiliated with Dustin Home. An additional 99 NOK for shipping takes the total price of this gaming rig to just below 10 000 NOK.

Last update 23.09: Replaced SSD with Intel 330 Series, replaced PSU with CM Silent Pro M2 520W, replaced GeForce GTX 660 OC with GeForce GTX 660 TI SC. The 660 TI is superior to the standard 660, and SC (“SuperClocked”) cards from EVGA can be overclocked more than standard versions.