A clueless soul looking for guidance!

[Uglyduckly]

I am looking into purchasing and building a pc for the first time, so I will start with the template:

Approximate Purchase Date: As soon as I am satisfied with the build and feel confident about it, so 5 days tops I think

Budget Range: around 1000 USD was the thinking, but I am relatively flexible on this part

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming really

Are you buying a monitor: Yes, I will need a new monitor, 25 inch 1920x1080

Parts to Upgrade: Need a complete build

Do you need to buy OS: Yes, thinking about going with Windows 8


Preferred Website(s) for Parts: using edbpriser.dk to find the cheapest retailers on the specific part, but please if there are better that deliver to Denmark post it.

Location: Denmark

Parts Preferences: None, no loyalty from me

Overclocking: At some point in the future

SLI or Crossfire: At some point in the future

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080 was what I was thinking

Additional Comments: What I would like is a PC where the performance is top as is and with easy upgrading in a few years. So a MOBO ready for crossfire/SLI, 2x4 GB ram which could be doubled if required later and an unlocked CPU with a stock cooler, so I could buy an aftermarket cooler in a few years and OC it as needed.

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: Currently living in two places and only have a gaming computer at one of them, so would like to build another.


Parts:
CPU: I5 3570K
Bit in doubt if I should go with I7, while games may not support the cores as is, it might last me longer?

GPU: Radeon HD 7970
I thought I would be going with the GTX 680. However according to http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-6.html the Radeon HD 7970 would be a better purchase, so I think I am going with that.

MOBO:
A hard one as I have no idea what I am looking for in brands, I see a lot going with ASrock, but as long as it has LGA1155 Socket and 2x PCI Express 3.0 x16 it would seem fine to me, yet there are hundreds if not thousands with that description.

Case: I do not much care what it looks like, as long as the computer makes whats on the screen look good I am happy

Ram: Here I was thinking with going 2x4, bit more than what is required today and with the option of upgrading should the need for RAM go crazy. In general a lot of numbers which I understand very little off.

PSU: The GPU requires a 500 Wattage, how much the rest of the components require I can't quite figure out, the CPU for instance listing what it calls the Thermal Design Power at 77 W, where I must admit I am clueless again.

As for storage it seems the standard for this type of build is a smaller SSD and a larger HDD, however again brand knowledge seems key

 

[TheBigTroll]

a good place to start would be the i5 3570k for gaming. you dont need i7 to game. they dont help you

8gb of ram should be fine. just pick the cheapest set with low profile heatspreaders

the hyper 212 evo should be good enough for moderate overclocking

for the motherboard id suggest something like the gigabyte z77x-ud3h. good board overall and is priced well

any 1tb hard 64mb cache hard drive will do. the seagate barracuda or the WD blue series is what id get

a good 120/128gb SSD will also work well. samsung 830, crucial m4, mushkin chronos deluxe (if you have those) are great options

for the video card, either get a 7970 for a bit more performance or a gtx 670 if you want more stablilty and overall better support. it still maxes out games easily. 680s are not worth it

just get a 23inch IPS panel. the larger the screen, you just pay for a less clear image

 

[hytecgowthaman]

Or buy Amd 8350 better than I7 (cost wise) study gaming comparisons I7 ~ 8350 .
So future upgrade is possible .

 

[Uglyduckly]

Indeed the reason I am considering the I7 is not for todays gaming but for in a year or 2, I would expect to see more games using it?
As for overclocking, it is not something I would be doing now, when receiving it, but when the system needs the extra power, hence also just running with the stock fan CPU cooler until such a time as something stronger is needed.

 

[TheBigTroll]

dude, hyper threading decreases performance in some games. futureproofing is impossible. stop trying. it wont do.

in 5 years yes, but in 5 years, you are getting a new CPU anyways. get what you need now, not what you think you will need.

 

[Uglyduckly]

After a lot of searching and reading this is what I have come up with, and yes I really do not need more storage than this, I have a laptop I use for movies (I either watch on the go or hook it up to the TV), so I will install OS + as many games as might fit on the SSD and leave the rest on the HDD.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/zUOU
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/zUOU/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/zUOU/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£161.99 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U9B SE2 37.9 CFM CPU Cooler (£37.06 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (£95.18 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£45.31 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Crucial M4 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£80.54 @ Scan.co.uk)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£37.19 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card (£299.75 @ Scan.co.uk)
Case: Cooler Master HAF 922 ATX Mid Tower Case (£79.99 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: Corsair Enthusiast 650W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£67.10 @ Ebuyer)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£12.98 @ Scan.co.uk)
Total: £917.09
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-27 19:53 GMT+0000)

I included the Noctua, not really use it will be needed as I do not know when I might want/need to OC it but it's relatively cheap anyway.

The optical drive is just the cheapest I could find, I plan on using it to install the OS with it and then not use it for anything else really, might disconnect it to save it from having to boot up.
PCPicker UK does not seem to have windows 8 as an option? very odd, from what I could gather from a google search the MOBO should be compatible with it.

If there are ways to make it cheaper without sacrificing performance (if I have choosen horribly possible overpriced components) please do tell.