first time builder

Hello everyone. My current rig is quickly going out of date and I have decided to build my next computer. I'm pretty familiar with the basics and what components I need to have a complete machine, but beyond that my knowledge is pretty limited. My goal is to build a machine that is well balanced, reliable, and stable. As far as CPU's/motherboards/RAM/hard drives/video cards/and all other components are concerned, I do recognize some of the better chip sets and brand names, but I don't know which models/brands to pair with which for optimal performance and stability and to avoid bottlenecks. I'm sure this is very subjective and that there are a billion different possibilities, but I'm also sure that the majority of you have a better understanding and more experience than I do. Any links/resources/tips would be great. Even better, though, would be specific setups and component combinations.


-budget is around $1800
-designed for gaming/amateur media projects (macro media/win movie maker, etc)
-planning to use 2nd/3rd/4th latest components most of the time for cost
-strong video card(s) is a priority (something like the X1900 radeon series)
-was considering water-cooling, but not sure about how this affects reliability
-Not picky about the CPU(s) speed, just as long as it works with everything else.
-at least 2 Gigs of Ram (not sure what the newest type is, was thinking corsair)
~150GB hard drive
-I have very poor knowledge of motherboards...would like something with great video card(s) compatibility and good CPU/ram potential.
-planning to upgrade in the future as well



Thank you very much 8)

If this fits your budget it's a really nice build. Personally, I like a board with 3 PCI slots, e.g., sound card, wireless car, and tv tuner. I also like onboard firewire for my digital camcorder. Something like this.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131070

ASUS does have boards with onboard wireless but don't know how well they work, you could check reviews. Right now Intel is out performing AMD, if you haven''t done so check out the CPU comparison chart on tomshardware. Right now my 3 newest computers are running AMD so I'm not anti AMD. I'm running them because they are less expensive and more than meet my needs, the most resource intensive thing I do is video light editing/burning. If you prefer AMD, you could certainly put together a really nice machine with your budget.

thank you very much guys, also links provided have been very helpful

bodu thank you as well