Tiefen Wald

How are you not cherrypicking? If you're going to accuse me of that, read your own posts because you've been doing the exact same thing. My argument is that IEMs can be good for gaming, from what you've said you come across as favoring over ear headphones a lot more than IEMs and I don't think that's justified.
 
You were implying that soundstage is the only important factor. You even said yourself that other factors are "irrelevant". You can say all you want one or the other would "most likely be better" in most games, but until you have actual first hand experience with them rather than relying on other people's opinions it doesn't mean anything.
 
Obviously "some IEMs are a good value, and some are not", likewise with over ear headphones. My point is that on average IEMs seem to hold a superior value, especially considering how the vast majority of IEMs hardly benefit from an amp unlike with over ear headphones.
 
I don't see why comfort "shouldn't be mentioned", it's a valid point and with each headphone there is usually a general consensus as to how comfortable it is.
 
Actually, sound quality is quite important while gaming. I remember trying really cheap headphones and not even hearing many sounds that would be beneficial to hear such as footsteps. I never said that it's always important, but it's definitely worth considering especially since these IEMs will likely be a more budget friendly solution and the headphones that these people would be coming from will almost definitely be very poor sounding. Like you said, "going from a 10 dollar to 50 dollar headphone" will be a "big leap".
 
Again, I never said that soundstage isn't important, but you're largely overemphasizing its importance. In popular FPS games like Battlefield 3, headphones with a narrow soundstage won't make as noticeable of a difference in your performance as you may expect (at least from my experience), this is where sound quality does become important (being able to distinguish footsteps from another noise is important).

"The soundstage isn't that great (about the ES5)
However, if you really want soundstage, you will probably need full size headphones. (about the Westone 4)
that soundstage would never match an open hp, but if I could get slightly more, I would be happy (about the se530, which according to the thread are fairly similar to the W4)"
 
That isn't cherry picking? If you're going to accuse me of doing it, you should read your own posts first. Also, I never said that you explicitly said they are bad for gaming, but the way that you're describing them is unfavorable and that "only in some instances are they actually good".
 
You practically did. We're arguing about how good IEMs vs over ear headphones are for gaming and you won't even talk about any other factors than soundstage.
 
Quote: "Also, you keep bringing up completely different subjects such as "performance" or "value" and so on, while I've been talking about soundstage. Please try to stick to one thing and don't be all over the place when having a discussion."
 
That thread also says that on ear headphones are a worse value because many "good" ones require an amp to show their full potential. I also never said that because they don't benefit from an amp, they're a good value ("Do you even read my post or do you just read 1/3 of them?")... it's the fact that it's one less component that needs to be purchased or used if you're buying IEMs.
 
I know what subjective means... sound quality is also subjective and yet you don't seem to be against talking about that. There is often a general consensus as to whether a product is ugly, comfortable, has better sound quality, etc. (subjective measurements), so it's at least worth noting.
 
"Please try to keep your arguments objective"? Whether one headphone sounds better than another is subjective, if anyone doesn't know what the meaning of subjectivity is it's you.
 
For some reason I thought you said sound quality is not important for gaming.
 
I never said that "being able to distinguish footsteps from other noises does not equal good sound quality", but it is indicative of it. 
 
I'm not arguing that sound quality is more important than soundstage or anything like that anyway, it really depends on what they'll be used for. The point is that you're overemphasizing soundstage as being the ultimate determining factor for whether headphones are suitable for gaming or not, and won't even consider things like value (These are probably going to be targeted at budget-oriented consumers... If you're only going to be paying <$100 which most gamers wouldn't be very willing to exceed, it's actually quite important).
 
I never said that you said "IEMs are bad for gaming" either, but the way you describe them makes them seem undesirable. It's like if you said "luxury cars generally aren't a good purchase", sure you aren't saying that all luxury cars shouldn't be purchased but you're saying that they mostly aren't, save for a few. What I'm saying is that they're better than you think, to be completely honest it doesn't sound like you have much experience with using them in games at all.
 
How was I cherry picking? Battlefield 3 is a fairly good sounding game in some aspects that would benefit from a decent soundstage. It's not like I'm choosing some random game and saying that they work fine, hundreds of thousands of people still play this game actively.
 
We already do, what we don't agree on is that IEMs are better for gaming than you think.

Why did the chicken cross the road?
 
To escape North Korea's long range missiles.

This is a great kit that can easily support a GPU as well with very respectable temperatures.
 
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/16893/ex-wat-221/XSPC_Raystorm_750_RX240_Extreme_Universal_CPU_Water_Cooling_Kit_New_Rev_4_Pump_Included_w_Free_Dead-Water.html
 
If you can't fit a 60mm radiator with a set of fans on it (85mm), this will also work well.
 
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/16891/ex-wat-219/XSPC_Raystorm_750_RS240_Extreme_Universal_CPU_Water_Cooling_Kit_New_Rev_4_Pump_Included_w_Free_Dead-Water.html

I used to be an adventurer like you, until I took an arrow to the knee.

Thanks for the post.

1. Higher fan speeds doesn't necessarily mean that it will be noticeably louder.
2. Not always, especially with a very well performing cooler such as my GTX 680 DirectCU II TOP. (almost at a custom loop's temperatures, yet it's extremely quiet and wouldn't benefit with higher overclocks if its temperatures were lower)
3. If you're worried about the cost of electricity, why would you be spending money on a custom loop?
4. I said almost doubled, and in many common scenarios it is.

I think that you might be better off making the top radiator an exhaust and have 140mm intakes in the front. That'll reduce dust accumulation and eliminate the need for a top dust filter.

They usually offer better performance and looks than air coolers, and take many of the benefits of air cooling and custom water cooling solutions with a somewhat modest price. In addition, you can have a nearly silent closed loop configuration like my H100i with NF-F12s.

Thanks for posting a guide on this. It's unfortunate that there are still some people that post topics needlessly without reading this article.

I highly recommend the Razer Blackwidow Tournament Edition. You can set macros but it doesn't have any dedicated macro keys, though you don't need them anyway. If you want a wrist rest don't expect anything great from an included one. I think you'll like the 3M wrist rest.
 
Keyboard: http://ncix.com/products/?sku=78285&vpn=RZ03-00810200-R3U1&manufacture=Razer&promoid=1360
 
Wrist Rest: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826998142
 
Sorry that they're not in the UK, but they're just to give you an idea.

It really depends on your budget. If you're fine with spending $110, the Razer Mamba 2012 is practically the best mouse out there, from what I've used.
 
http://ncix.com/products/?sku=63458&vpn=RZ01-00120400-R3U1&manufacture=Razer&promoid=1304

Edit: Sorry, misinterpreted.

Based on the reviews it sounds like an excellent value, though you will notice a better sound experience as you spend more, generally ($200 is very cheap for headphones, especially when it's a limited edition product).

The 3930K is very comparable to the 3960X. It's great for video editing, but is overkill for most games.
 
As for the GPU, it really depends on what you play.

Most of your parts are well picked, but I have a few recommendations.
 
First of all, two GTX 670's won't always get you a constant 120FPS in-game, but 60FPS shouldn't be a problem.
 
16GB of RAM is excessive for almost everyone. For reference, most games can only utilize up to ~4GB since they're 32-bit applications.
 
The G600 is more suitable for MMOs, if that's fine with you. If you want a mouse better suited for shooters, I can vouch for the Razer Mamba 2012.
 
Other than that, it's a good build. Just keep in mind that a cyan case with red RAM and a black motherboard is a little bit of an odd color scheme, so you might like these RAM sticks: http://ncix.com/products/?sku=59431&vpn=CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B&manufacture=Corsair&promoid=1280

1. Try using a premium thermal paste, and apply only a pea sized blob in the middle of the heat spreader. I recommend NT-H1, it's about $10 for a tube and it can be used 10+ times. Underclocking your CPU is not a viable option for the long-term.
 
2. Many DIMMs will refuse to run at higher clock speeds and/or timings without a voltage increase or from raising their timings/lowering their clock speeds. Try running them at 1600MHz @ 9-9-9-24-1T, 1.5V, many DDR3 modules will be capable of it. Try not to exceed 1.525V for long term use, changing the timings and clock speeds won't degrade your DIMMs but the voltage can if it surpasses that limit. Be sure to manually set all of the above settings!
 
As a side note, I'd highly recommend that you avoid TVs for gaming, since they have very high input latency. For around $300 you can get a very nice 144Hz monitor.
 
Good luck.

I have the Mamba 2012 and find it to be a strange experience on a Scarab. I don't use it.

Nice build, and that's one impressive camera

ASUS Rampage IV Formula.

There are few instances where faster memory will benefit you noticeably. One of the rare examples is when using your RAM as a drive, and for some benchmarks.

The Samsung SSDs are very reliable, and they offer a 120GB capacity. I highly recommend them.
 
Excellent value: http://ncix.com/products/?sku=77210&vpn=MZ-7TD120BW&manufacture=Samsung%20Memory%20%26%20Storage&promoid=1280
 

Tearing generally occurs when an LCD monitor receives a signal that exceeds its refresh rate. In theory, a 120Hz monitor won't have this issue as much as a 60Hz monitor would (at least with current hardware), and this seems to be the case, at least for me.
 
I highly recommend choosing a 120Hz+ panel if you don't mind having worse colors and want to maximize your gaming experience (in terms of your score). The difference is very noticeable, it's a must-have for any extremely competitive player, but I don't recommend using it for all purposes.

A good mouse, keyboard and a fast monitor are very important. Also, be sure that you have at least 60 frames per second constantly, it'll help you out the most.

Probably just a troll.