I took the plunge today and ordered the parts. They'll come in probably Thursday or Friday and I'll assemble them into my next PC. Here's my parts list for anyone that cares:

Fractal Design Define R4 Black Silent ATX Midtower Computer Case
COUGAR CF-V14HB Vortex Hydro-Dynamic-Bearing (Fluid) 300,000 Hours 14CM Silent Cooling Fan (Black)
EVGA SuperNOVA 650 P2 220-P2-0650-X1 80+ PLATINUM 650W Fully Modular EVGA ECO Mode Includes FREE Power On Self ...
Intel Core i7-6700K 8M Skylake Quad-Core 4.0 GHz LGA 1151 91W BX80662I76700K Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics ...
Noctua NH-D14 120mm & 140mm SSO CPU Cooler
ASUS TUF SABERTOOTH Z170 MARK 1 LGA 1151 Intel Z170 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
G.SKILL TridentZ Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3000 (PC4 24000) Intel Z170 Platform Desktop Memory ...
OCZ RD400 M.2 512GB PCI-Express 3.0 x4 MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) RVD400-M22280-512G
ADATA Premier SP550 2.5" 960GB SATA III TLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) ASP550SS3-960GM-C
ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1080 AMP! Edition, ZT-P10800C-10P, 8GB GDDR5X IceStorm Cooling, Metal Wraparound Carbon ExoArmor ...
THRUSTMASTER 2960720 Hotas Warthog Joystick
Thrustmaster TFRP T.Flight Rudder Pedals
HTC Vive VR Headset

So, I'm all in. Very excited. I will definitely be "working from home" whatever day the parts arrive.

Damn man...this must be costing you a bundle.

So you went with a GTX1080 after all? How much is that costing you?

Are you going to overclock your CPU?

Fucking jealous. I've recently been thinking I should go for a more middle range system for financial reasons. Then I see this shit and go like...maybe I'm not that bad haha.

Well, my last box lasted me 7 years. I made the mistake of going for a 'reasonable' $800 laptop and was so disappointed I gave it to Shiny and bought another, more expensive one. So, no more of those mistakes. It just costs more in the long run (in my opinion).

So, yea, it's costly. The graphics card ran about $670. All together, including the $800 VR headset and $400 joystick, it's a bit over $3k.

I can't wait for all the parts to get here. Unfortunately, ordering it all at once apparently doesn't guarantee they ship at the same time. My case, joystick, VR headset and CPU cooler have shipped. Everything else is still being packaged or something. If I have to wait until next week to start putting this thing together I'm going to be annoyed. But, I'm an American. We're not known for our patience.

When satis turns on his new pc

Hahaha, that made me laugh out loud Peltz.

And lol @ the shipping. You could have just told them to hold it all until they could ship it in one big shipment. Then you wouldn't have this trickle of parts and peripherals coming your way, getting you all wet (and angry).

Very jealous. It's gonna be a monster. I've also never tried VR goggles yet (it's not exactly a cutting edge PC gaming market here in Malta), so there's that to be jealous about as well.

Did you buy the joystick and VR goggles so you could play Elite/Star Citizen/whatever and pretend to be in the cockpit?

For some reason all those embedded videos aren't working for me here, so I'll have to watch em later. I'm sure they're amusing.

So, my CPU cooler came in yesterday (Tuesday). My VR goggles came in this morning and I'm due to get the case some time today as well (Wed). Tomorrow I'm supposed to get my flight stick (Thurs). Everything else is supposed to come in on Friday. Ugh. BTW, that CPU cooler is a freaking beast.

I did indeed get the flight stick to play Elite: Dangerous, and probably No Man's Sky. Star Citizen I still half-think is a ponzi scheme or something. I won't be going in that direction until it's a fully realized game, if then. I also got a free set of rudder pedals due to some sort of promotion I happened to luck into.

As for holding all the parts, I'm not sure I had that option, but I may have missed it. It's too bad I couldn't have gotten the core pieces first, just to get a functional PC, then everything else trickling in after. That would've been optimal, and completely not the way the world works.

BTW, I haven't tried VR since I was in college in the early 90s. But I was sold then.

hmm looking over the list..hmm..not seeing it...maybe..no..not it.. Cant see a sex robot on the list so vr is just money wasted

I got the box running. Everything worked first try with the exception of the 1TB supplemental SSD, which I got working pretty easily (loose power cable). I also got my VR headset working. I have not hooked up my flight stick and whatnot, and I still need to adjust the headset I think. It's not super comfortable. It is, however, pretty damned neat. This machine freaking owns. I can run everything at max settings and it's happy.

so far I have not put any controllers through my monitor. We'll see if my luck continues.

Motherfucker.

Good luck! Happy to hear it's working as intended so far. I'm guessing tonight is all about losing your VR virginity? At home anyway.

Yup. I hooked up my flight stick and throttle, then played a lot of games. I played all the VR games it came with that I can (not enough open space for the ones that require it) and then downloaded a bunch of free ones. It is surprisingly immersive. I mean, that's what it's all about, but it's one thing to read about it and another entirely to experience it yourself. I had Shiny play with tiltbrush a little (a 3d painting program) and she was surprised. To me, Elite: Dangerous may have been the most immersive. Not so much the gameplay, but looking around the cockpit. You can look to your right and see an empty seat, for instance, then lean toward it and the perspective shifts exactly like you're there. Then you can look over your shoulder to the left and see the box that's been cargostrapped into a corner. It's just amazing how much it makes you feel like you're there.

I still have various minor issues to work out. Space is a big problem, as is comfortable using the VR headset, headphones, and the flight stick and throttle. Haven't even tried the rudder pedals yet. No room. I have a lot of tidying of cables and stuff to do.

Anyway, here are some pics of the build. I took about 5 hours going from parts in boxes to a booting system.

Yeah, it's frustrating to hear how awesome it must be without actually being able to see it in any other way than actually trying/buying VR goggles. Also imagining myself as your co-pilot haha. No homo.

That painting software does look pretty cool for some of the more creatively inclined people (ie not me).

lol @ that CPU cooler. Seems like overkill. How much did the m.2 SSD set you back again?

Love the look of the motherboard and the PC case. What's the name of the case?

The m.2 SSD was just over $300. When I built my last PC in 2009, I bought a 160GB second generation SSD for like $500. Getting an early-generation m.2 SSD that's 512GB for that price seems like a steal in comparison.

The case is a Fractal Design R4. It was a really nice case. Both side panels come off (as is probably obvious from the pics). You can mount 2 SSDs under the hard drive tray. All the hard drive cages at the front are quick release. The side panels have some sort of noise absorbing foam or something on them. It even has a fan speed control knob, which I didn't hook up. I was impressed. Not bad for $90.

That isn't that expensive no. I would have expected it to be more expensive. So I understand you wanted to go for one.

What you are describing (the 160 GB SSD) is exactly the reason why I'll be holding off on VR goggles for at least a year longer though.

I'll have a look around here in Malta, because I really like the case. And the price isn't too bad either.

The VR goggles are something you should hold off on. It's lighter and better than I expected, but there's so much room for improvement. My face gets hot after 20 minutes or so of use. Not sweating in my eyes kind of hot, but still, not really fully comfortable either. Getting the contraption on your head and putting on headphones is a bit of a pain in the ass, but I'm getting used to it. There's also the 'screen door effect', which is computer-noob talk for being able to see the pixels. It makes reading print like shows up in Elite: Dangerous sometimes a bit difficult. Also, the headset has a displayPort to mini-displayport connector that doesn't work. Like, at all. You have to use the HDMI cable. That's pretty weaksauce, but should be fixed in a future version.

With the Vive, there are a lot of games that want you to be able to move around, so if you want to do that, you need the space. It requires a minimum of 1.5m x 2m if you want to do that move around play stuff. This may seem like it's asking a lot, but I tried playing in a much smaller area (maybe 1m x 1m) and the immersion is oh so much more. I plan on setting it up in my living room where I should be able to get a good 2m x 3m this weekend. We'll see if I get around to it, because setting everything up is a huge pita. If you don't have the space, you can still do a standing-room only version, which is what I use at my desk. It works, but limits you on the games you can play.

Here's a link to the case I have. There's also a version with a side window, but it's $20 more and I prefer not having a side window anyway.

You're not the first person to lament the comfort of the goggles, or the fact that it's a pain in the ass to wear with headphones. You would have thought at least one of them would have considered implementing the sound IN the damn thing, but apparently not. I guess that's what's coming in the future!

Let me know how it goes this weekend. Very curious.