Need advice on video card and processor please

[cruz_medic]

So I'm building my own computer and I was taking the advice of a friend but the last month he's been too busy with work to help me finish. Currently I'm missing three items but only two of them I'm not sure on what to get. My goal for this computer is to play games like Battlefield 2 and World of Warcraft and I want things to run pretty smoothly and be able to play on max resolution settings. This is what I have so far:

Motherboard: EVGA P55 SLI 132-LF-E655-KR LGA1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel

Monitor: Acer G215HAbd-1 Black 21.5" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 ACM 50,000:1

Power supply: Rosewill Green Series RG630-S12 630W Continuous @40°C,80 PLUS Certified, Single 12V Rail, Active PFC "Compatible with Core i7,i5"

Case: Antec Three Hundred Illusion Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

RAM: CORSAIR XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 Desktop Memory Model CMX8GX3M2A1333C9

Driver: a basic blu-ray driver

Missing items:

Processor: I want an i7 processor but I'm not really sure what's the highest I could go with my system I was told a 940 was a little to much for my system and I should purchase something around 930 or 920.

Video card: Here's my biggest headache and I honestly don't know where to go with this. With all the options out there I'm just trying to find something that will allow me to play video games at max resolutions and run smoothly.

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

 

[boiler1990]

First off, I'm guessing neither you nor your friend know what you're doing, since an i7-900 CPU won't work in a P55 board (Socket 1366 vs. 1156, respectively). Plus, I wouldn't invest in either of those two sockets, since the new 1155 socket CPUs cost almost the same as the 1156 CPUs, but you get an incredible increase in performance.

Secondly, fill this out so we have a better idea of how to help you.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261222-31-build-advice

 

[dalethepcman]

Processor - your looking at the 900 series I7 CPU's. These CPU's are only compatible with the X58 motherboards, not the P55 that you own. You will need to look at the I5 socket 1156 series CPU's like this one.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115067 $209

For video cards, I recommend purchasing near the top end. Nothing less than a 560ti or 6950 for smooth gameplay at max resolution. Check out the article here.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-gaming-graphics-card-geforce-gtx-590-radeon-hd-6990,2879-4.html

 

[cruz_medic]

Thanks guys for the advice. I agree, I really don't know what I'm doing, I'm a paramedic in the military. I deal with guns and the human body, I suck at computers and electronics, not enough space in my brain to learn it all.

 

[mdd1963]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007671%20600005864&IsNodeId=1&name=LGA%201156

The i3/550 is but a dual core, but works with your MB, and gives admirable gaming performance at a very reasonable price point.

The GTX460(1 gb) is a nice mid-range card, IMO....; the next price point/logical jump is with a 6950.