Give this build a rating from 1-10

I just created this in about 10 minutes, wondering how good this build is and what I could improve on. Remember, if you aren't in Australia, select the Australia button thingy on the top right or you probably won't get the full price.

http://au.pcpartpicker.com/p/Eh3J

And can someone explain to me what Direct CU II means?

Direct CU 2 is Asus' fancy cooling heatsink where the copper pipes touch the GPU directly.

Basically, Asus has all it's gpus in direct contact with the copper piping that provides cooling for the unit. It's rather effective, with Asus now holding top places in almost all  benchmarks where cooling goes in it's respective price brackets.

CU II is the premium version of the cooling that Asus uses on only the higher end gpus, like the 7950 and 660 upwards....

I'm considering a build with a 7950 Direct CU II atm ;) 

Right. So that card is reeeeally good.

You could say that. :)

However keep in mind that pcpartpicker doesn't have all Asus models in their database, so give newegg's site a look too.

 

The card is a little overpriced for its performance to be honest with you.  Asus do have a good reputation but their Direct CU 2 have been lacking somewhat this generation.  You could get a Powercolor 7870 Tahiti LE card which will perform better than that Asus card out of the box and its cheaper @ $229.  The card can get a little noisy however, but performance wise it's almost as good as the more expensive GTX 660ti.  If your case has good airflow and you're willing to overclock the card, it should level/surpass a stock 7950 (non boost) and stock GTX 660ti.

[url=http://au.pcpartpicker.com/p/EhHe]PCPartPicker part list[/url] / [url=http://au.pcpartpicker.com/p/EhHe/by_merchant/]Price breakdown by merchant[/url] / [url=http://au.pcpartpicker.com/p/EhHe/benchmarks/]Benchmarks[/url]

[b]CPU:[/b] [url=http://au.pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80637i53570k]Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor[/url] ($229.00 @ PCCaseGear)
[b]CPU Cooler:[/b] [url=http://au.pcpartpicker.com/part/cooler-master-cpu-cooler-rr212e20pkr1]Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler[/url] ($35.00 @ PCCaseGear)
[b]Motherboard:[/b] [url=http://au.pcpartpicker.com/part/asrock-motherboard-z77extreme4]ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard[/url] ($135.00 @ PCCaseGear)
[b]Memory:[/b] [url=http://au.pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-memory-cml8gx3m2a1600c9]Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory[/url] ($54.00 @ Foxcomp)
[b]Storage:[/b] [url=http://au.pcpartpicker.com/part/western-digital-internal-hard-drive-wd20earx]Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive[/url] ($105.00 @ Scorptec)
[b]Storage:[/b] [url=http://au.pcpartpicker.com/part/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz7td250bw]Samsung 840 Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk[/url] ($195.00 @ Scorptec)
[b]Video Card:[/b] [url=http://au.pcpartpicker.com/part/powercolor-video-card-ax78702gbd52dhppv3e]PowerColor Radeon HD 7870 XT 2GB Video Card[/url] ($229.00 @ PCCaseGear)
[b]Case:[/b] [url=http://au.pcpartpicker.com/part/antec-case-threehundredtwo]Antec Three Hundred Two ATX Mid Tower Case[/url] ($79.00 @ PCCaseGear)
[b]Power Supply:[/b] [url=http://au.pcpartpicker.com/part/antec-power-supply-hcg520]Antec High Current Gamer 520W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply[/url] ($89.00 @ PCCaseGear)
[b]Optical Drive:[/b] [url=http://au.pcpartpicker.com/part/samsung-optical-drive-sh224bb]Samsung SH-224BB DVD/CD Writer[/url] ($22.00 @ PCCaseGear)
[b]Operating System:[/b] [url=http://au.pcpartpicker.com/part/microsoft-os-gfc02126]Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 3-Pack (OEM) (32-bit)[/url] ($99.00 @ Scorptec)
[b]Total:[/b] $1271.00
[i](Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)[/i]
[i](Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-02-18 22:39 EST+1100)[/i]

$10 more and you get

- A more powerful graphics card, which is cheaper

- More HDD capacity. 2TB

- A Samsung 250GB SSD! So you can store a few games as well as your OS.  The 64GB drive just isn't big enough.

- A higher quality PSU.  Antec 520W PSU is a rebadged Seasonic unit.  Seasonic make the best PSUs period.  It also has extra long cables, useful if you plan on routing your cables at the back of the case.

- The Antec 302 could be swapped out for your Bitfenix Raider case if you so wish.  I have to say the Antec One Gaming case looks better and performs just as well with practically the same features and the Antec 302. 


Awesome. Thanks. 

Personally I prefer the GX700B to the Three Hundred Two.