Motherboard parts for Gaming PC

[nickgrunsby]

I am in need of some help.

This is my first time building a computer ( I am 16) and I am feeling a little overwhelmed by this whole process.

I am trying to build a new gaming PC and am not sure where to start.

I inherited an ASUS P5E3 Deluxe Motherboard WiFi-AP/@n mainly because my uncle worked for a major computer company for many years. This Motherboard already came with RAM that's for certain but I'm not quite sure what parts came with it (I'm almost positive it came with some sort of processor because there is a huge fan covering the one part of the motherboard where I am assuming it would normally go but am not sure how to check it.)

After that I am completely clueless on what to do. I have tried to read things but it is tough to wrap my head around what is going on since the instances are not specific to me. If someone could at least give me some general ideas for a Graphics card, Hard drive, Case, Power supply, and whatever else I might be missing please post it would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[farrengottu]

you could pop that fan off, by turning the screws on the 4 corners of it the opposite way of which the arrows point. then type the model number into google. though if you do this you will need thermal paste to put the fan back.
the other option is to take a power supply and video card. plug them both in, put it all on something non-conductive(like a cardboard box) and connect a monitor. then see what the boot screens say the processor is.

now if neither of these seem possible to you then you can hope you dont have an old single core slow POS as a processor. from there your budget and what you want the computer to do determine what to get.