Building my first 'gaming' PC

get an i5-2500K
a Gigabyte or Asus or ASRock or MSI Z68 motherboard
8 GB of DDR3-1600 RAM.
500GB - 1TB Hard drive
120 GB SSd for boot drive
Hd 7950
case and fans to your taste up to $50
600-700w Power supply from corsair, Antec, or XFX
Win7

this should run $900-ish

Right now they are having a good sale.

Core i5-2500k processor - $179.99 - http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml...

Hyper 212 Plus Cooler - $19.99 - http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml...

Get one of the ASUS or Gigabyte z68 motherboards that they have on sale for $50 off with the combo deal.
$69.99 - http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml...
$59.99 - http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml...

Kingston HyperX DDR 3 1600 ram 8gb kit(2x4gb) - $34.99 - http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml...

Get whatever hard drive fits the budget. Western digital 500gb SATA 6gb/s. $99.99 - http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml...

Coolermaster HAF case - $44.99 - http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml...

OCZ Power Supply - $49.99 - http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml...

Video card - Nvidia 560 Ti - $239.99 - http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml...

DVD Drive - Samsung - $17.99 - http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml...

Win 7 home Premium 64 bit - http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml...

With the exception of the motherboard/CPU combo, check prices against Newegg.com and Amazon.com, and TigerDirect.com If you find a better one, print the page out and and take it with you and Microcenter will match.

Buy these from microcenter:

CPU: Intel Core i5 2500K LGA 1155 Boxed Processor $179.99

MOTHERBOARD: ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 LGA 1155 Z68 $159.99

HDD: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 7,200 RPM SATA 6 $99.99


Buy these from newegg:

Memory:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... $42

Video Card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... $150

Case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... $50

PSU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... $65

SSD:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... $125

CD/DVDROM:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... $23

TOTAL: $894

I'll give you a carbon copy of my build. I personally love it and would recommend it very highly.

Antec Three Hundred Illusion Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - 69.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Antec NEO ECO 620C 620W Continuous Power ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - 69.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor - 229.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

GIGABYTE GA-Z68XP-UD3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard - 154.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory - 41.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

SAPPHIRE 100314-3L Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card - 169.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

LG DVD Burner 24X - 16.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Seagate Barracuda ST500DM002 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - 84.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - 99.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

TOTAL = 938.91 - 30.00 MIR = 908.91 (shipping not included)

It more than runs everything I throw at it on maxed settings, overclocked easily even on stock cooling is completely stable, booted right up first try and was completely simple.

Fortunately I live near a microcenter and got my 2500k and MOBO there and saved 100 bucks.

x

Okay, so with all your guys help and some replacing of items so I can pick everything up tomorrow, I have these.

CD/DVD
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml...

Windows 7 64
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml...'

HD
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml...

CASE
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml...

CPU
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml...

MB
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml...

RAM
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml...

PS
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml...

GFX
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml...


Total of $976.49, everything look good? keep in mind aiming to run BF3 smoothly on at least medium, maybe high?

This is a dumb question, do I need to buy fans for the case? do I need anything else to assemble this computer, cables ect?

Do I need a heat sink or does that come with something? (like I said, I don't have any PC knowledge so thanks in advance!)

Thanks for all your help!

You can if you wish. I would recommend you do so. It will come with a 120mm rear and a 140mm top fan. I liked the look with the blue led's and all the fans come with the case, which is why I went with the illusion.

Motherboard standoffs should be able to be screwed in by hand if not then use a 5mm nut driver, a fillips screwdriver, some black zip ties, and have fun.

Get Microcenter to do a Newegg price match on the Antec power supply. $16 savings.

You can use the stock heatsing/fan that comes with the processor. The Coolermaster I included as extra was for future overclock purposes.

If you are going to drop down to the 560 card, you might as well get a AMD 6870. Same performance and a better price right now. Sapphire is the best for AMD. http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml...