New Build Questions

[XrayPunk]

Hi all you computer guru's,
I'm looking at building a new system for myself. This will be my first ever attempt to build a rig. I would like to stay around $1000, but could drop as much as $1300. It will mostly be used for playing WoW, SWToR and BF3, along with whatever games might be out in the future. I have a monitor ( Asus 23"), keyboard and mouse, so I wont need those. I will need a OS and wireless card though. I was also thinking about an SSD too if the budget allows for it. Are those harder to install? Thanks in advance for any and all input.

 

[clutchc]

SSDs are no harder than HDDs to install. They do, however, require some tweaking to get the best performance out of them. Here is an excellent tutoial on setting one up.
http://www.overclock.net/t/1156654/seans-windows-7-install-guide-optimization-for-ssds-hdds

Of course, you'll want to go with Windows 7 x64 for an OS. As far as a good range wireless card, this is the best I've found if you don't want to spend a lot of money.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833704045
It plugs in any USB port, is easy to set up, and comes with an extension cable if you need to position it in a better location for reception.

I would recommend going with an Intel i5-2500K processor and an Asus, Asrock, or Gigabyte Z68 board. Of course, you'll get as many opinions as you get responses...

 

[g-unit1111]

I'm looking at building a new system for myself. This will be my first ever attempt to build a rig. I would like to stay around $1000, but could drop as much as $1300.

Fill this out and we can better assist you: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261222-31-build-advice

I would recommend going with an Intel i5-2500K processor and an Asus, Asrock, or Gigabyte Z68 board. Of course, you'll get as many opinions as you get responses...

And a lot of people are very loyal to the brands they pick 'round here. I'm definitely one of 'em. :lol:

SSDs are no harder than HDDs to install. They do, however, require some tweaking to get the best performance out of them. Here is an excellent tutoial on setting one up.
http://www.overclock.net/t/1156654 [...] -ssds-hdds

There is a lot of tweaking and a few more rules to running an SSD - the main thing is you never want to do anything that distorts the drives' read-write times drastically (formats, benchmarks, etc), and you never want to do a full format or run the drive over 80% capacity - that will also decrease RW times.

IMO, things like wifi cards are the least important part of a system. I have the same one mentioned above and as long as it works and I can sync to my router with no problems I'm fine.