First Rig in my life time. (noob)

awesomenuts

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Hi Guys,

I have been wanting to build one for a long time, now that i have saved up some money i want to build one, but with all the options it's pretty over-whelming...can you guys give me some idea what i should buy?? I am thinking to build a Gaming computer, around 800-1000$ budget....

here's my rough draft:

CPU: i5 quad core
Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500K

MotherBoard: suggestions?
ASUS?
ASUS P8Z68-V PRO LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

GPU: Definitely need advice on this

RAM: dont know the difference...

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL

Power supply: no idea....Quiet and around 650w?? idk...

Hard Drives: one or two drives??
Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Case: cooer master
COOLER MASTER HAF 912 RC-912-KKN1 Black SECC/ ABS Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Monitor: ASUS
ASUS VH242H Black 23.6" 5ms HDMI Full 1080P Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 ASCR 20000:1 (1000:1) W/Speakers

Cooling fan:??
Sound Card:? do i even need one?
Keyboard & mouse:? cool products you know of?
Buying OS:? I think i should get Win 7, right?
Wireless: if i dont want to connect ethenet cable...what should i buy?

please tell me what other things that you think i might need...

Thanks Guys! ;)

And also can you give me website that can help me to put them together?
 
The CPU looks great, that's pretty standard fare for a new build these days. Your motherboard choice is also fine, and you picked the z68 chipset, so you've done some homework there as well.

The GPU is up to you, what's your budget left over with the other parts purchased?

RAM - either kit is fine, they're essentially the same on the circuit board level. Pick the one that looks better to you, G.Skill is a fantastic brand.

Power Supply - Depends on what you get for your video card, but a 650 watt Corsair unit should be plenty. Don't skimp on this.

Hard Drives - depends on your data storage needs. a 1TB WD Black is going to be spacious AND fast. It's a great drive.

Monitor - personal preferences on this one, but the one you chose looks fine.

Cooling Fan: Not necessary, comes with the CPU and the case

Sound Card: Not unless you do a lot of editing or recording, integrated audio isn't as craptastic as it used to be.

Keyboard & Mouse: I'm a die hard Logitech Trackball user, don't use mice anymore, but the keyboard I usually go for a Microsoft 4000 series ergo. I love the feel and I can type really well. Personal preference here, you just have to find a set that you like and feels good. Going to a store to try some out is never a bad idea.

Buying OS: Windows 7 is the gold standard, buy the Home Premium 64 bit OEM copy. You can only install it on this particular PC, but being that it's $99, that's a pretty damn good deal.

You look like you've got the bases covered, but unfortunately you're coming up on that $800 limit, so you either need to find a way to cut some corners, (usually the motherboard and monitor) and make some room in your budget for a Corsair power supply, Windows 7 and a good video card. Your build is going to go over $1000 if you aren't careful.

Websites to help put them together is tough - Maximum PC has some great how-tos on their site, and YouTube's videos are my second source, look for Tiger Direct's assembly videos (along with MaxPC's)

You can save some money if you go with this motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128520

and this CPU if you don't intend on overclocking:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115073

This monitor will save you a little there as well:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009245


The Power Supply, and GPUs I recommend:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139020

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161387

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161379
 
Hello, it sounds like you have a pretty good build going so far. For the RAM you should go with the G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series. For the Power Supply you should go with something like the OCZ ZS Series OCZ-ZS750W 750W ATX12V v2.2 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Performance Power Supply. And for the OS go with Windows 7 Home Premium 64Bit. Now, you won't need a sound card, mostly because most motherboards nowadays already have one integrated, and as for the mouse and keyboard, I would highly recommend the Logitech G500 for the mouse, and the Microsoft Sidewinder X4 for the keyboard, both are very good for gaming. And as for the other parts that og has suggested, those would also be very good to go with.
 
wow, thanks, the choice of monitor and CPU is great, i think i will switch on the CPU, the motherboard is great too, what am i sacrificing on the motherboard?(almost a hundred $ and seems like the specs are close)

for the graphic card, i actually intended to pay around 200 for it, so does the extra 100 dollar buy much difference on the Graphic card??
and can you tell me more about the two graphic cards? i only knew GeForce so i have no knowledge...

Thanks for the detailed reply!
 
The motherboard loses a few PCI Lanes, but it shouldn't be noticable for 98% of the things you'll use it for (I use a similar board with CrossFire, zero issues)

The graphics card at $300 if you do that instead of $200 does buy you a bit more. If you intend to stick with that price point, you can go a few ways:

Compare a Radeon HD 6870 ($200 limit) to a 6950: ($300 limit)
Video Card Comparison - GPUReview.com

and Bechmarks:
Radeon HD 6950 & 6970 review (3DMark Vantage)
Radeon HD 6950 & 6970 review (BF Bad Company)

So as you can see, not much of a difference on the AMD side.

For nVidia:
GeForce GTX 560 vs GeForce GTX 560 Ti

Compare:
Video Card Comparison - GPUReview.com

Benchmarks:
ECS GeForce GTX 560 (3DMark)
ECS GeForce GTX 560 (DiRT 2)

So as you can see, you get a little bit of a spread there, but surprisingly enough (especially to me) there isn't much of a separation. You might be able to overclock the cheaper cards to meet the higher end cards (in this price bracket) but ultimately, if you want to take the $200 card, and pocket the extra $100, don't feel bad doing so, there doesn't appear to be much of a major performance spread.

If we compare both of the $300 cards, the HD 6950 and the GTX 560 Ti, you get this:

http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=641&card2=639

Benchmarks:
http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-6950-1gb-vs-geforce-gtx-560-ti-review/12 (3DMark)
http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-6950-1gb-vs-geforce-gtx-560-ti-review/14 (DiRT 2)

in these two benchmarks, the 6950 is the better card, so that would be the route to take, if you wanted to spend a bit more on the video card. In the other benchmarks I saw, the 6950 kept a commanding lead on a few titles, so it is still the card I'd recommend at the high end. At the lower end, either one is a wash, so take your pick.
 
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