I'm looking into building my own rig.

Id go with something along these lines. You didnt mention if you needed OS and monitors included in the price though.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£161.99 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.00 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (£101.98 @ Dabs)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£41.96 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Crucial M4 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£80.54 @ Scan.co.uk)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£92.88 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card (£359.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Case: Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced ATX Full Tower Case (£107.96 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: XFX 650W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£73.14 @ Aria PC)
Optical Drive: Samsung SN-208DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (£17.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Total: £1062.43
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-02-03 16:07 GMT+0000)

Thank you for the quick reply.

Just some questions I have about choices really so I can learn some things myself:

Why do you choose one card over two?

If I plan on having multiple monitors (2-3) will this set up be sufficient?

Is the sites you chose to look on just because it compares multiple sites? I had heard that ordering parts from Germany would be quite a bit cheaper since they have a low vat cost on electronics.

He/she decided on 1 GPU since crossfire is really only good with higher end cards. There are too many issues with mid range cards, such as microstutter, when they are put into crossfire. As for multiple monitors, you can either have 1 or 3. 2 is only good for having 1 monitor in game and 1 monitor for everything else.

Partly the above. In addition one card uses less power and produces less heat. It also means in the future you can add a second card if performance isn't to your liking.

That card will be fine for multiple monitors.

The sites wernt chosen for any specific reason, just listing some parts for you. If you know cheap places to order from then go with that.

So if I decide on having 3 monitors there should be no problem?

Is there a huge difference between the I5 core selected and an I7?

This is a copy and past from the program Speccy about what I currently run.
Would there be a hugely noticeable difference in what is suggested?


CPU
Intel Core i5 760 @ 2.80GHz
Lynnfield 45nm Technology

RAM
16.0 GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 667MHz (9-9-9-24)

Motherboard
ASUSTeK Computer INC. P7P55D-E LX (LGA1156)

Graphics
PHILIPS_FTV (1920x1080@60Hz)
AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series (ASUStek Computer Inc)

Hard Drives
977GB SAMSUNG SAMSUNG HD103SJ ATA Device (SATA)

The RAM I never could get to what should be 1600. when I tried to look into it I just didn't understand it.
It's Kingston HyperX ram btw.

Heating always seems to be a problem for me. I don't know why but it does so is it worth it investing in an extra fan?

I also keep 3/4 of my media on external hard drives.

Depends on what games you are wanting to play and the resolution across the 3 monitors.

Yes you should see noticeable improvement. You could re use that HDD too.

For gaming an i5 is the best choice of CPU, an i7 will give no noticeable improvement.

With the CPU cooler and case i suggested you shouldn't have an issue with heat.

Yes, but fans are cheap. The diffrence between the 2 processors is that the I7 has more cores, BUT you can unlock the extra cores on the I5 to make it a I7 Extreme, because the I5 has hidden cores, and all an I7 is is a unlocked I5.

It depends which i7 you're talking about. The 4 core has hyper threading which act like additional cores but are not, games don't utilise this though hence the choice of i5. The hexacore i7 is way overkill for gaming also.

See it's all this ^ that I don't get. I have a rough idea but the terms Hyper threading and hexacore mean nothing to me.

If I was to upgrade to dual cards in the future I would guess that is is a better idea to get two of the same card?

Next question would be obtaining two decent sized and nice monitors.
Any recommendations there?

What about extra wires for the monitors so they could all run from the one card?

What would I need to do specifically to make them all at once. I tried dual monitors with my custom rig but it was a bit messy.

For simplicities sake, the i5 3570k is the best gaming CPU you can get. Hexacore just means it has 6 cores.

Yes you will need to get another of the same card.

Tbh i use my tv for my pc so monitors isn't a great one for me, hopefully someone else can help you there. Yes you will need cables for each of the monitors.

It shouldn't be messy, connect up the monitors then you can configure your monitors with the graphics card utility, for amd cards its catalyst control centre.

Yeah I currently use a tv myself I just plan on changing the set up as I'm gonna move the tv to the living room for family use.

Thanks a whole load for your help. I'll be looking into pricing what you've suggested. Then I'll make the decision  

You're welcome, good luck with you build and enjoy  

After doing a price comparison of the German site I was recommended:

http://lb.hardwareversand.de

it would turn out that I would be paying 10euro less but also having a 2tb HDD instead of the 3tb like you suggested.

I am unsure if they have all the parts ready in stock/at all.
I think it was missing the RAM/Cooler/optical drive.

Even then it's hard worth straying from recommended for such a little difference when I don't know what cost is worth it.

Thanks again for the help. I am highly excited to get things moving.

It appears that the Bronze cooler is out of stock on both websites.

Can anyone suggest another one just as good? Preferably from Aria.

Nevermind that message above^ I can't delete or edit it.

What I meant to say is the power supply is out of stock. If anyone could suggest another from Overclockers or Aria.

First pick would be the 750w XFX, thats in stock, second choice would be Corsair TX650, those are from Aria.

The 650w XFX is in stock at overclockers. Also there is the Seasonic G 550w and the Antec HCG 620W.