Help with custom pc

[pandsfriends]

Hello everyone.
As you may have guessed from the title, I am very new to building PCs. In fact this is the first real thing I've done with PCs, but I am willing to invest lots of time and money into the project. Right now I have been searching through parts on newegg and how found some parts that run supposedly well and are on the cheaper side, because this is my first pc (I can upgrade later if needed.) I have a few questions:

1. Out of these processors which is best (most bang for your buck, best performing)?
-Intel Core i5 2500k 3.3GHz Quad-Core 95W
-Intel Core i7 2600k 3.4GHz Quad-Core
-AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4GHz Quad-Core 125W

2. I have heard lots about motherboards, however I am not sure what is true. Stuff like Asus boards burnout. If you have any motherboard tips let me know. Out of these motherboards would you say is the best/most reliable? (I only have intel MOBOs below)
-ASUS P8H77-V LE
-ASROCK P67 EXTREME4 GEN3
-ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3
-ASROCK Z68 EXTREME3 GEN3

3. I honestly have no clue about anything that has to do with graphics cards. For example what does the __-bit refer to? How does the storage (__gb) affect the card? What does the "PCI __x____" mean?

Whether you answer one question or all I would be very thankful!

 

[ja6on]

dont bother with the sandybridge processors (2xxxk etc,2nd gen) as you can get the ivybridge (3xxxk, 3rd gen) for a few dollars more. 3rd gen's are way ahead of the amd phenom II,

mobo, in my opinion stay away from asrock an asus. i buy msi or gigabyte.

if your going to get the 3rd gen processor, get a z77 chipset mobo.
Newegg.com - MSI Z77A-G45 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

however we need to know what your going to be using it for an your budget.

 

[Edsterr]

Like ja6on said, we need to know youre budget and what you're going to be using the pc for, but here are my suggestions for your questions:

1) Out of those 3 the i5-2500k would probably be best, unless you need the hyper-threading the i7 offers. However I would recommend checking out the i5-3570k, it's the newer version

2) I tend to get Asus motherboards and have never had a problem before. So for that reason, if you get the 2500k then get the Asus P8Z68-V (PRO), if you get the 3570k then get the Asus P8Z77-V (PRO)

3) There are several things to note with GPUs. First of all there are 2 main companies; Nvidia and AMD. It makes very little difference which you choose, just go for the better of the cards inside your budget.
For AMD cards; the first number refers to the gen (e.g. 7xxx = latest gen, 6xxx = 2nd latest gen ...), the second number refers to its class (e.g. x9xx = highest class, x8xx = 2nd highest class ...), and the third number refers to its tier within its class (e.g. xx5x = first tier, xx7x = 2nd tier, xx9x = 3rd tier)
For Nvidia cards; the first number refers to the gen (e.g. 6xx = latest gen, 5xx = 2nd latest gen ...), and the second number refers to its class (e.g. x9x = highest class, x8x = 2nd highest class)

 

[cb600fshornet]

Graphics cards can be pretty confusing however.

For example, an Geforce 8800GTX would outperform a GT 610

Benchmark websites are a good way to go, but yes, I do agree with what Ed has said, good advice.

 

[BikerEcho]

from those 3 CPU's you have chosen i will say the i5. but as the 2 first said, you should look into the new generation.
it's not that much more expensive and you get a very fast CPU. go for the i5-3570K.

never just take those kind of comments as a fact, like: asus does not do this and that. nvidia overheat and amd is crap in everyway.
it's not true. all companies makes good and less good products. i happen to own an ASUS rampage 3 extreme. very great board.
chose some motherboard that have the features you need and read reviews about them.
then chose the motherboard that stands out for the better deal for you.
some does power management better and some has a better bios. some overclock a little better and some are running more cold.

Edsterr made some good statements about GPU's.
here is some more:
the among of storage only makes a card better when the game requires more memory.
higher resolution (more then HD or multiple monitors) can kill a cards performance if the card does not have memory enough.
some games requires more memory because of the things going on in the game.
combine those to things and you have a memory hungry gameplay. 1½GB is enough in most games with HD resolution.
if the card does not have memory enough it sends the data to the RAM.

the bit in the card is like the size of the bandwidth. the bandwidth is like the road the data travel to get to a destination.
more bit = more data at once. now, we also have a memory speed. that is like the speed limit on the road.
the overall speed the data can travel is the theoretical transfer speed.
you calculate that by taking the bit * memory speed (mhz) / 8 (making bits into bytes) / 1000 (making the megabyte into gigabyte)
so let's say 128 * 1400 / 8 / 1000 = 22,4 gb/s. that is what the card can maximum deliver in second.

 

[pandsfriends]

Thanks guys for all the answers!!! I have a few followup questions though. I ended up with these motherboards:
-MSI Z77A-G45 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
-GIGABYTE GA-Z68A-D3H-B3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard (or the UD3H version with supposedly better BIOS)
-ASUS P8H77-V LE LGA 1155 Intel H77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Any comments on the above?? Ill probably end up going with the Intel Ivy Bridge i5 3570k processor. My budget for this project is <$1300 I already have a good monitor though, so i just need the PC, mouse and keyboard. Do any of you have any suggestions for the following parts: (with my budget)

-Case
-Video Card (Need help, although Edsterr and EchoNatek, you were both very helpful, so thank you)
-RAM (the main question is whether its worth the extra 50 or so dollars to upgrade to 16 GB instead of 8GB)

So to recap, these are my major questions.

MOBO??? Case???

8GB or 16GB RAM???

VIDEO CARD!?!?!?!

Once again thank you Edsterr and EchoNatek and Joedaman633 and ja6on!

 

[Edsterr]

Mobo - Out of those three I'd choose the MSI motherboard simply done to the fact it has a Z77 chipset which works well with your CPU. However I have never had an MSI mobo before so I don't really know what they like.

Case - I'd recommend Fractal Design for their cases. I currently have the Fractal Design Define R3 which is a great case, as long as you're willing to spend that amount of money. Other than them, Cooler Master and NZXT are two of the more popular brands of cases.

RAM - 8GB will do you fine (depending on what you are using the computer for), maybe just try to get it at 1600mhz

Video Card - This really depends on how much you are willing to spend on the graphics card, but here's a quick couple of cards from both AMD and Nvidia which you should check out; Gtx 560, Gtx 460, HD 6870, HD 6850

 

[mac_attack]

The 2500K will be perfect for you, it's fast out of the box and has huge overclocking potential.

 

[Edsterr]

The 2500K will be perfect for you, it's fast out of the box and has huge overclocking potential.

There's not much point seeing as their is the i5-3570k. Granted, it doesn't OC as well as the 2500k does, but that doesn't mean a 4.5GHz 3570k isn't as good (if not better) than a 4.8GHz 2500k

 

[BikerEcho]

another thing is that the 3570k is more power efficient then the 2500k.

you get a overall better cpu for not much more money, and you are up to date with the latest CPU architecture.
i would go for the 3570k, and it only cost like 30$ more where i come from.