Here are the latest recommended high end gaming computer builds for this month to help you get the most bang for your buck. Firstly there is the High End Gaming Build which will appeal to those with a larger budget than most who want the very best gaming performance for their money.

Then there's the Extreme Gaming Build which is only suitable for a select few who need extreme performance for certain professional or high-demand tasks, or also if you're lucky enough to have no spending limit and want to build the most powerful cutting-edge gaming system possible.

If the high-end and extreme builds are out of your price range, you can still build a capable high-performing gaming computer for quite a bit less (see the Budget and Mid Range Gaming Builds).

High End Gaming PC Build

Motherboard

ASUS Sabertooth P67 B3 TUF Edition ($200)

CPU

Intel Core i7-2600K ($320)

CPU Cooler

Corsair Hydro H100 CPU Liquid Cooler ($110)

RAM

Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600MHz 16GB (4 x 4GB) ($100)

Video Card

EVGA GeForce GTX 580 (1536MB GDDR5) ($470)

Sound Card

Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme 7.1 ($50)

Hard Drives

Seagate Barracuda XT 2TB (64MB cache) ($230)

OCZ Agility 3 Series Solid State Drive 120GB ($130)

Optical Drive

Asus 12x Blu-Ray Burner ($70)

Case

Cooler Master HAF 932 Full Tower ($140)

Power Supply

Corsair TX850W ($135)

Total Cost: $1955 (USD)

High-End Gaming Build February 2012

Build Summary:

The High End Gaming Build will tackle any game, at any setting, on any resolution, with ease. Enough said! The build has all top of the range components that provide the absolute cream of the crop in high-end gaming performance, whilst still giving you the very best value for your money.

Every part is researched and compared thoroughly before being included in the build, and their higher price must be justified by better performance or other reasons to be included in this hardcore build.

To put it simply, the high end gaming computer build has absolutely everything you would ever want in a gaming system. You will experience blistering performance in every single game that you throw at it, and there is a lot of room for upgrades in the future.

With the amount of power in this build and the overall lastability, you won't be needing to upgrade anything for quite a while as it is very future-proof and will last you for at least a few years playing the latest games.

The Components:

If you want the best gaming processor right now, look no further than the Intel Core i7-2600K. The Corsair H100 cooler is a great companion to help keep it running as cool as possible, and this cooler is considered by many as one of the very best.

Combined with a quality high-end ASUS motherboard with all the features you would ever need, a massive 16GB of super-fast Corsair DDR3 RAM, and the extremely powerful GeForce GTX 580 and you have the perfect gaming platform for a long while to come.

Also included in the high end build is an additional SSD for storage, which is effective for super fast loading of your games, operating system and other programs. The OCZ Agility 3 Series 120GB is a great choice if you're looking for reliability and value. OCZ solid state drives have a great reputation.

We have also recommended a Blu-ray burner in this build, but this is entirely optional. If you want to save some money you can go for a standard DVD drive instead like we suggest in our previous custom gaming builds.

A build such as our recommended high end build has great lastability, and future upgrades are easy if you ever wish to upgrade further on down the track (such as adding more RAM, and/or adding another GeForce 580 card running in SLI mode) to boost performance even more.

But with all current games out at the moment and also games that will be released over the next year or two you won't need to upgrade this build at all. You can expect flawless performance for a long while to come even on the highest settings with the high end build.

With the high end gaming build or a similar customized build of your own, you will be in the very best position to tackle high end gaming over the next few years. Now to the final build for this month, the Extreme Gaming Build, and I'm sure some of you may be thinking why you would ever need such power.

Extreme Gaming PC Build

Motherboard

Asus P6T WS Professional Motherboard ($285)

CPU

Intel Core i7-990X Extreme Edition ($1000)

CPU Cooler

Corsair Hydro H100 CPU Liquid Cooler ($100)

RAM

Corsair Vengeance DDR3 2000MHz 12GB (3x 4GB) ($165)

Video Card

2 X EVGA GeForce GTX 580 (1536MB GDDR5) ($940)

Sound Card

Asus Xonar Essence STX PCIe 7.1 ($180)

Hard Drives

Seagate Barracuda XT 2TB (64MB cache) ($230)

OCZ Agility 3 Series Solid State Drive 120GB ($130)

Optical Drive

Asus 12x Blu-Ray Burner ($70)

Case

Corsair Obsidian 800D ($250)

Power Supply

Thermaltake TPG-1200M ToughPower Grand 1200W ($300)

Total Cost: $3650 (USD)

Extreme Gaming Build February 2012

Build Summary:

Unfortunately, the Extreme Gaming Build is only a dream for most people as not everyone has over 3000 to spend on a custom PC. Only extreme, well-respected, top of the range components are included in this build, and no part makes the list unless it's the absolute best of the best and provides cutting-edge performance, quality, and reliability to last.

There's really only two main reasons you would put together a system of this calibre:

1. You need the extreme performance for certain professional fields such as 3D rendering, engineering, professional editing etc, or you plan to run many different demanding applications simultaneously.
2. Money is no concern and you want the absolute latest in cutting edge technology for the most immersive gaming experience possible, and to last you as long as possible so you won't need to build another for years.

The Components:

The Intel Core i7-990X Extreme Edition is the fastest consumer processor available on the market today. It contains six cores and the latest multi-threading technology, as well as a huge 12MB L3 Cache. It doesn't really get much better than this, and Intel has held the crown for high-end processors with the i7-990X at the top of the pile for a while now. Although, at this point in time games don't fully take advantage of 6-core CPUs, it's very handy for multitasking or if you want your CPU to last you as long as possible.

We have opted for two EVGA GeForce GTX 580 video cards running SLI, and you could even add a third for even more grunt. For the extreme build we suggest either Windows 7 Professional or Windows 7 Ultimate to take full advantage of the extra RAM and for the best experience overall (Windows 7 Home Premium only supports up to 16GB of RAM). Also keep in mind it's good practice to check the amount of RAM your motherboard supports too (for the extreme build, the motherboard supports up to 24GB so we're good to go).

The sheer experience of playing a great game on this sort of rig is unforgettable and will blow you away especially if you have a great monitor and surround sound setup too. There is nothing quite like it, and you won't want to go back to your old setup ever again.

Return to Budget and Mid Range Builds from High End and Extreme Builds.