Need help with a first time build gaming pc *newbie*

[Elec749]

Approximate Purchase Date: By the end of February 2012

Budget Range: $500 - $650

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, Streaming Video, Surfing the Internet

Parts Not Required: Keyboard, Mouse, Video Card ( PNY Geforce GTX 550ti), Speakers, 19" Widescreen Monitor, HDD (750 GB Seagate), sound card

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg.com

Country: USA

Parts Preferences: Intel CPU I7

Overclocking: Maybe

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe

Monitor Resolution: 1440x900

Additional Comments: I don't know much about pc building, I run an AMD II Athlon 630, 4GB Ram, 2 HDD ( 60GB for Windows 7 & 750GB for programs), Geforce 550ti Video card now & it just isn't enough. Noise factor isn't a concern for me. Looking to run games like Diablo III, and Skyrim on High or Ultra. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[drunkducki]

what's your power supply? if it's strong enough you can just upgrade your cpu, mobo and gpu

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072 - $224.99
Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 BX80623I52500K

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065 - $29.99
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 "Heatpipe Direct Contact" Long Life Sleeve 120mm CPU Cooler Compatible Intel Core i5 & Intel Core i7

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157271&Tpk=asrock%20z68%20extreme3 - $121.99
ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125401 - $209.99
GIGABYTE GV-N560UD-1G GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Total: $586.96

 

[blazorthon]

If the PSU doesn't have enough wattage for that upgrade just get a new PSU too. With the 560 ti you would go well with an ~600-700w PSU.

Also, the i7s only benefit over the i5s is hyper-threading, granting ~30% more multi-threaded performance... Games aren't really multi-threaded and thus the i5-2500K would have indistinguishably close performance to the i7s.

 

[Elec749]

My existing PSU is a Rosewill 550W, which I will have to upgrade as well.

 

[blazorthon]

550w is close enough to 600w, it should be just fine.

 

[Elec749]

Thanks for all your help

 

[blazorthon]

Your welcome.