HELP! Newbie building a gaming computer.

[Uber_Ninja]

Hey, I'm looking to build a computer for myself before i head off for college. I have some background on building computers and computer parts from classes i took in highschool, but i'm not really up to date on all the features newer parts have.
Anyway the computer i'm going to build will priomarily be used for gaming, and i've already decided on a AMD 3500(but what i need to know is what is the difference between the wincester and the regular version of this CPU). I need help deciding what to get for the motherboard, graphics card, and RAM. Also i was wondering what kind of power supply i'll need to make sure everything runs ok. In regard to price range i'm looking at spending around 150 for the mobo, 300 or less for the graphics card and around 100 for the RAM.
Secondly i was wondering how hard the building of the computer will be specifficaly installing and configuring parts to the motherboard.
Thanks for all your help,
Uber_Ninja

 

[mighty_chick]

the winchester is better to overclock because it can o/c alot. just get a PCI-ex mobo, the neo 4 platinum single pci-ex will do fine and i think 149.99 and tehn value select ram and then get a 6600gt, and get around a 400w-500w psu and your set

 

[Uber_Ninja]

Sweet thanks for the reply, i was wondering if i should go with the sli system, if i did that i would at first use just one GPU then later upgrade to 2, does that sound like a good idea?

 

[mighty_chick]

well thats what i did but it also costs more. not much more mind you...the neo 4 platinum sli mobo (king of sli mobo's) is only $199.99 i think from newegg

 

[george2]

Well you do gotta get a hd and a x 850 xl would be a bit over $300 but it's better than a 6600gt and better to overclock

 

[mighty_chick]

yes thats why i was thinking a single pci-ex slot, but SLI would be better for the long run but meh what can yea do

 

[george2]

yea well i guess it's up to him for now. goodluck

 

[mighty_chick]

think of it this way..SLI bounds you to only Nvidia cards, costs more, not as stable as single slots, higher psu needed

or

less upgrading later, more performance, cheaper Nvidia cards, looks cooler, u can brag

 

[george2]

nah SLI shits me it's newer so it costs more, limits you and is a pain in the arse to configure at times. I wouldn't unless you needed it. And could afford it

 

[mighty_chick]

well i didnt need it, but i got it so i can stop upgrading all the time (last year i upgraded about 6 parts of my computer, and some of those were upgraded and tehn upgraded again) so it is worth it in the long run