Lord Sojar

Makarious, you don't want to pair any sort of decent GPU with the A8 in Hybrid Crossfire.  Crossfire is already... iffy...  Hybrid is a nightmare.  Avoid it like the plague.  

Better off just getting a stand alone GPU and calling it a day.  I recommend either the HD 7770/7850/7870 or the GTX 650 Ti Boost/660 Ti, depending on your budget.

Put in an SSD, drop the 3770k to a 3570k.  This will help normalize the build and improve its overall performance vastly.

So, let's clarify some things here.

TITAN is better than the 690, but the 690 outperforms TITAN.  Okay, so you're probably pondering my sanity right now after that contradictory comment.

So... why?  TITAN's raw performance isn't as high as the 690, that much is true.  However, there are 2 factors that give TITAN (or any GK110 based GPU in general, aka the upcoming GTX 780) an edge.  Those 2 factors are:

Purebred single GPU
Absurdly low frame latency (even for a single GPU)  and frame interval

So, the single GPU argument is the easiest one to understand.  While the GTX 690 offers higher performance overall, on games that don't play well with SLi or that have microstutter, you're either going to have to disable SLi, effectively castrating the 690 to that slightly below the 680, or you'll have to live with the SLi based issues.   With TITAN, there's never a reason to settle.  It performs, always, the same way; it's a single GPU and its performance is grounded on that premise.  

The 2nd issue is a bit more complex...  AMD recently received a lot of flak for their frame latency issues on their cards (single cards, but especially Crossfire), but nVidia isn't guiltless in this arena either (though Kepler is quite low, and Big Kepler is a marvel of engineering in this regard)

While you can achieve higher maximum frame rates with a GTX 690, HD 7990, or SLi/Crossfired 680s/7970s, what you'll find with all of these setups, frame latency (which when too high is what creates microstutter, or just a generalized sense of low frame rate despite a seemingly high frame rate) is elevated, at times to absurd levels.  

AMD has already pledged to offer driver fixes in the future to help address the pipeline rendering issues the 7000 series are having with regards to frame latency, but they aren't addressing frame interval issues, meaning perceived microstutter issues will likely remain until a hardware refresh is done addressing the render pipeline.  nVidia's SLi uses a different manner of display, and thus, the issue is lessened (but not eliminated)

TITAN, being a single GPU, doesn't have these issues.  But, as a single GPU, it has the lowest frame latency and the best intervals of any card ever built.  This means that game play appears smoother, more often.  Coupled with fantastically high frame rates (though not as high as dual GPU solutions obviously) you get a perceptible difference in how a game runs, even if maximum and, at times minimum, frame rates are lower.


TL;DR -  TITAN is better than than multi GPU setups in a couple ways, and it gives overall smoother game play at the expense of lower maximum and sometimes minimum frame rates.  

As for recommendation?  Waiting for the GTX 780 is your best bet.  While it won't quite best TITAN, you'll be able to purchase 2 of them and put them in SLi for nearly the same cost as a single TITAN setup (or barring that, get dual GTX 770s which have an improved frame interval fix for dual SLi)

I have the Tiamat 7.1, but I hear the 2.1 is excellent as well (and should be in your budget if you can find it on sale?)

http://www.amazon.co... headset tiamat

The trick to the TIamat is that you MUST adjust your sound to match them.  They use very high quality drivers, and you'll need HD sound on your motherboard (Realtek's adjustments in their software suite suffice, as do any stand alone sound cards)  If you don't have Realtek HD audio on your motherboard or something better, avoid the Tiamat and go with these:  

http://www.amazon.co...s=Razer headset

The Kraken, while not as high quality as the Tiamat, are still very good and extremely comfortable.  Saves you a few bucks too.

Uh... this is quite easy.  

The question is, is a monitor included in that cost?  

If not, here goes:

Motherboard:  http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813157330
Can't go wrong with ASRock these days.  The Extreme3 overclocks very well, even on auto modes.  It supports a lot of features and it has a lot of extras that you'd pay more for on an ASUS or Gigabyte board.  

CPU:  http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819116504
Tried and true, the 3570k doesn't offer Hyper Threading, but it clocks quite high (especially the newest chips Intel is pushing out)  Put a hefty overclock on it, and will chew through anything you can throw at it, save massively parallel workloads. Unless you need the 3770k i7 (which is the same chip, just with Hyper Threading) then stick with this and save yourself over a $100 to throw at the SSD and GPU.  


RAM:  http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820231550  
This RAM is probably the best choice on the market.  The ARES series uses excellent modules with low heat production, even at very high speeds/tight timings.  The 1866 speed gives you some wiggle room with overclocking on Ivy Bridge, and the lower heat is nice for reducing heat on IVB, which can grant you another 50MHz in some instances.  

Case:  http://www.newegg.co...N82E16811147107
Ask me a year ago if I'd be recommending Rosewill and I'd have laughed at you.  But...  their newest cases are a marvel of engineering vs price.  The Blackhawk is no exception, and is nothing short of superior quality at an extremely reasonable price.  It's not over the top looking, but it's not plain either.  The cooling and cable management is icing on the cake.  

SSD:  http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820248016
Here we are again.  While less than 3 weeks ago, I'd say spend the extra for the Samsung 840 Pro 256GB drive... there's absolutely no reason to.  This is Seagate's first full, pure SSD, and they've already proven they can compete with flying colors.  This drive has more consistent performance than Samsung's offerings, and at a very hefty price reduction.  You lose a TINY bit of peak performance in lighter workloads, but gain a substantial amount in very heavy and diverse multitasking workloads.  Did I mention it's a good bit cheaper? It's available to order on May 28th, but you can preorder it now with your order and likely receive it at the exact same time as the rest of your build.  

PSU:  http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817250011
Nippon Chemi-Con pure bred; High Power is new to the PSU market, but they use extremely high quality components.  Plus, it's fully modular.  Win win!

GPU:  http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814127697
This is purely a placeholder.  The GTX 760 Ti will be available at the same pricing in just a few more days.  That's what you'll want to get.

Total price as configured:  $1,032.93

This rig will topple any game at 1080p, most if not all at high or ultra settings.


EDIT:  Bah!  Totally forgot a CPU cooler.  The build can be tweaked to fit it.  For the best overclock, you'll want this puppy:

http://www.newegg.co...&Tpk=35-181-030