Gaming rig - $ 1300 +

Hey there!

I think the build that came out of my discussion might be of help.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/311651-31-first-build...

Scroll to the bottom. There are two options. Amp up the graphics card and you should be good to go.

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But to answer your specific questions:

1. Stick with i5 unless you know how to overclock. You'd be looking at only a 6% increase in performance for a cost of 90$.


2. Vengeance is fine. But the Corsair XMS 3 is on sale after rebate for $75. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=20-145-...

3. I'm not sure the reason. But according to this chart I found elsewhere in the forum... you should go with Nvidia


4. As for Z68.... The biggest benefit I am aware of (and I'm a newb so don't rely only on this) is the ability to do SSD caching. By the looks of it... I think you're okay with the harddrive choice for doing SSD caching. What I've heard is if you decide to pursue SSD caching check that your Read is ardound 200MB/s and your write is around 100MB/s. But hey the Asus Z68-Pro is sold out on Newegg if that's where you wanted to buy from.

5. This is what I was given to see if SSD caching was worth it. I'm leaning on yes.... but like I said I am kind of a newb (I'm just working on my first build).
http://api.viglink.com/api/click?format=go&key=984ed3ed...!%20Need%20Review%20(%241000%20All-Purpose%20PC)&txt=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.legitreviews.com%2Farticle%2F1612%2F2%2F

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Good luck. Hope yours turns out awesome. AND DONT BUY OUT ALL THE PARTS I WANT!!! Haha. Twice while I was choosing components the ones I wanted got sold out.