The GTX uses two PCIe power connectors, the rails don't matter. You can have all connectors connected to the same rail as long as you have enough amps.

that sounds quite impressive just a few ideas:

i don't think you need the quad core processor. very few games are optimized for dual core, let alone quad core. i'd suggest going for the core 2 duo e4300 which should be coming out here in a few weeks. it will retail for around $180 and is highly overclockable, up to 3.7GHz with the standard cooling and everything. in benchmarks and other tests, the overclocked e4300 is beating out the core 2 extreme processors which cost a great deal more. cheap doesn't necessarily mean bad, here. i'd recommend going with that for now and then, when games become more accustomed to dual/quad core processors, upgrade.

2gb of RAM should be enough. apparently the 32-bit version of windows cannot utilize more than 3.25gb of RAM anyway. i don't know how the 64-bit version fairs with it, but 2gb is plenty for current games. corsair value select is a decent brand of RAM, but if you're really concerned you could go with kingston or OCZ. i don't know much about them, but OCZ makes watercooled RAM, if that tells you anything.

ditch the soundcard. unless you're an audiophile, onboard sound is quite good these days. granted it does give the CPU slightly more work to do, but it's not really an issue anymore.

wait on the dx10 cards. ATI is about to release their dx10 cards (the R600) series and it looks like they're going to walk all over nvidia (but who knows). so i'd wait a few months on that and see how it shapes up.

do not skimp on the PSU. go with well known manufacturers like antec, enermax or thermaltake and make sure that it has (in your case) 4 12V rails with at least 18A on each.



that said, it's all up to you on building a computer. it's not as hard as it used to be and there are a multitude of guides on the internet if you get stuck. there's really only one way everything can fit together, so it shouldn't be too bad

if you do decide to go with prefab, i am partial to the site www.ibuypower.com they built my current PC and it's quite wonderful. relatively cheap, too.

He wants an ultimate gaming PC, not a budget PC.

Time for Mr Alpha's short guide to the 12V rail.

First of all the 12V rail isn't a physical thing you can pick up and throw out the window. The 12V rail is the 12V power supplied by the power supply. Inside the power supply there is a transformer with a tap wich spits out 12V:ish power which is the regulated to 12V. It is this transformer which determines how many amps you can get on the 12V rail.

So what about the multiple 12V rails? I'm glad you asked. There is this mandate that says you shouldn't have more than 240VA running in a wire a consumer might play around with. Intel took this in account when upgrading their ATX spec, limiting the power supply makers to 18A in any 12V wire. What do power supply makers do then? They take the 12V power an split it in two, with current limiters limiting it to 18A. It is still the same power from the same tap on the transformer, but split to two different wires. As power requirements continued to grow the dual 18A wasn't enough (thanks ATI & nVIDIA!), and the 240VA limit was unofficially dropped.

What did power supply maker do? Well, we still se multiple 12V rail advertised. Why? Three reasons: One, they get the cool compliance sticker if they stick to 18A per 12V wire. Two, a power supply with lots of 12V rails sounds cool and gives you something to brag about. Three, they can fool the consumer. With 4 12V rails, all limited to 18A, make it sound like the power supply can do 64A of 12V power. In reality it is the transformer which limits how much power you get from the 12V tap, which might be only 50A. This is why you want to know the actual combined output of the 12V rails.

Is multiple 12V rail a good idea? No really, if you have two 12V rails with 18A each and you need 20A from one and only 5A from the other your screwed. This is why some power supply manufacturers don't actually have any power limiters on the separate 12V rails. And also why some manufacturers, like usasma's favored PC Power & Cooling, have gone back to using a single 12V rail in some models.

To sum it up: When people talk about the 12V rail they might be referring to either the different wires with 12V power, or to the 12V power tap on the transformer. When you are figuring out the power on the 12V rail it is the tap on the transformer which counts.

i think my confusion on the 12V rail was that i had mistakenly assumed that the 6-pin PCIe plug was the 12V rail. i didn't realize that it was just a plug for PCIe and contained a 12V rail but was not, itself, a 12V rail.