Check my first build

r0aringdrag0n

Distinguished
MoBo is overpriced...Now-a-days the MoBo is just a "docking station" for all the other components, I recommend one that is ~$150-170 price range

You can save money by going for the i5 2500k instead, basically the same thing only without hyperthreading, but there aren't many programs that use more than 2 cores now (I assume this is a gaming computer)

Do you REALLY need that case? You can save $40 for a Antec 900 and use that to get 8GB of RAM (8GB is overkill but it'll future proof your system)

If you are getting 8GB of RAM though, I would suggest you go with the i7 but PLEASE change the MoBo!
 

Soma42

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Aug 11, 2010
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If you're going to spend ~$180 much on a mobo, might as well get the Z68:
$190 GIGABYTE GA-Z68XP-UD3P

or this one:

$165 GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3

The 2600k only gives you hyperthreading, which isn't worth the extra $100 for me. If you overclock the 2500k it will give you the same or better.

For $300 you can pretty much get a 6970, which is better than a 6950 OC. Or even go for a GTX 570 for about the same.

$320 after rebateMSI R6970-2PM2D2GD5 Radeon HD 6970

You can get a 6950 1GB for ~$200 and the performance difference is nil compared to the 2GB models unless you are running Eyefinity or at a high resolution (2500x1600+).