Building a computer

[Nudu]

So, I've been thinking of getting into the whole PC gaming cult, and decided that my old laptop isn't up for the task. Looking a little around, I've been considering building a PC. But what I had a hard time finding what the following:
What sort of price can i expect to be looking at for a pretty good gaming PC? The game I'm looking at right now is Skyrim, so say I want to run Skyrim at good graphics and a good speed and what price am I looking at? And how much higher would I have to go for absolute highest settings at superspeed? I realize the specifics aren't out yet on this particular game, but I assume some rough estimates can be made. And on a related note, how often does the market change? Specifically, will I save a meaningful sum of money if I wait a couple of months?

 

[evilneko]

Depends on how much you want to spend on the video card. I always get one in the $100ish range and just upgrade later, rather than buy something freakishly expensive. All of my builds have been under $500, and although none of them were really planned from the start to be a gaming PC, they each filled that role well enough in their own time. My current rig is approaching three years old and may not be able to run Skyrim without reduced settings, though it's run everything else I've thrown at it just fine. I've upgraded the video card once.

The key components for running a game are CPU and video card. I sincerely doubt Skyrim will be akin to Far Cry, Crysis, etc in that only the gaming elite'll be able to run it well, that just doesn't seem like something Bethesda would do. It took them this long to ditch Gamebryo, for cryin' out loud.

CPU shopping isn't all that hard, the prices are generally pretty closely related to actual performance and it's pretty easy to research and pick out the best bang for the buck--if that's what you're going for. You can save a bunch of money here by finding CPU+Mobo combo deals (definitely absolutely check Fry's Electronics, if you have one in your area). Generally, AMD will provide the most bang for the buck. CPU prices trend steadily downward and you may save money by waiting.

Video cards are a whole different can o' worms. You're liable to spend 50-100$ more for each marginal improvement. It takes a lot more research to find the best one for your budget. Since you're just starting out it's a little easier since you don't have to compare it to your existing card and say, "is this extra performance worth this much money?" That's the truly annoying part. I recommend doing your video card shopping online at NewEgg or something. Physical stores simply don't have a big enough selection. Prices on GPUs don't drop as easily as CPUs do. Waiting may or may not save you money.
There's no rule of thumb here. I've purchased and had both good and bad experiences with both ATI and Nvidia. Neither is better than the other in general. Keep that in mind.

RAM is a secondary concern and I've never been a big believer in premium memory. More trouble than it's worth IMO. Just find a good deal on 4GB or more. Preferably more, but perhaps not too much -- Free memory is wasted memory. If I were building a system today I'd probably put in 6, but no more than 8. I have 4 currently and rarely even use 3.

Long story short I'm betting you can build a computer today for around 500$ and still run Skyrim just fine. If you want to run it on absolute highest settings, be prepared to spend double if not triple that--the video card alone will likely be 400-500 bucks!

Like I said, I'm a budget builder, I go for the best priceerformance ratio I can. If you want to invest more heavily in your CPU or GPU, go right ahead--that's easy.

 

[BigTortoise]

All I need is your budget. I enjoy putting together shopping lists for computer parts ^_^

 

[Nudu]

Depends on how much you want to spend on the video card. I always get one in the $100ish range and just upgrade later, rather than buy something freakishly expensive. All of my builds have been under $500, and although none of them were really planned from the start to be a gaming PC, they each filled that role well enough in their own time. My current rig is approaching three years old and may not be able to run Skyrim without reduced settings, though it's run everything else I've thrown at it just fine. I've upgraded the video card once.

The key components for running a game are CPU and video card. I sincerely doubt Skyrim will be akin to Far Cry, Crysis, etc in that only the gaming elite'll be able to run it well, that just doesn't seem like something Bethesda would do. It took them this long to ditch Gamebryo, for cryin' out loud.

CPU shopping isn't all that hard, the prices are generally pretty closely related to actual performance and it's pretty easy to research and pick out the best bang for the buck--if that's what you're going for. You can save a bunch of money here by finding CPU+Mobo combo deals (definitely absolutely check Fry's Electronics, if you have one in your area). Generally, AMD will provide the most bang for the buck. CPU prices trend steadily downward and you may save money by waiting.

Video cards are a whole different can o' worms. You're liable to spend 50-100$ more for each marginal improvement. It takes a lot more research to find the best one for your budget. Since you're just starting out it's a little easier since you don't have to compare it to your existing card and say, "is this extra performance worth this much money?" That's the truly annoying part. I recommend doing your video card shopping online at NewEgg or something. Physical stores simply don't have a big enough selection. Prices on GPUs don't drop as easily as CPUs do. Waiting may or may not save you money.
There's no rule of thumb here. I've purchased and had both good and bad experiences with both ATI and Nvidia. Neither is better than the other in general. Keep that in mind.

RAM is a secondary concern and I've never been a big believer in premium memory. More trouble than it's worth IMO. Just find a good deal on 4GB or more. Preferably more, but perhaps not too much -- Free memory is wasted memory. If I were building a system today I'd probably put in 6, but no more than 8. I have 4 currently and rarely even use 3.

Long story short I'm betting you can build a computer today for around 500$ and still run Skyrim just fine. If you want to run it on absolute highest settings, be prepared to spend double if not triple that--the video card alone will likely be 400-500 bucks!

Like I said, I'm a budget builder, I go for the best priceerformance ratio I can. If you want to invest more heavily in your CPU or GPU, go right ahead--that's easy.

All I need is your budget. I enjoy putting together shopping lists for computer parts ^_^

Thank you both for your responses. Honestly, I'm not really building after a budget. I can go pretty high, I'd just rather not. So I'd like to see what options I have. I would prefer a high-end PC, but running games as good or sligthly better then they would on console is enough for me if there's a huge price difference, I'd just like to weigh my options before I make my decision. As a side note, do you guys know anywhere I can compare components and prices?

Let's say $2000. What can I get for that?

 

[Nudu]

I looked a bit around and came up with this list:

Spoiler

• SAMSUNG CD/DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-222AB - OEM ([link]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151233[/link])
  
  NZXT Phantom PHAN-001WT White Steel / Plastic Enthusiast ATX Full Tower Computer Case ([link]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146067[/link])
  
  Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive ([link]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148697[/link])
  
  EVGA 015-P3-1580-AR GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 1536MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card ([link]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130587[/link])
  
  CORSAIR Enthusiast Series CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply ([link]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005[/link])
  
  Crucial Ballistix sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 Desktop Memory Model BL2KIT51264BA160A ([link]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148421[/link])
  
  ASRock P67 EXTREME4 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard ([link]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157229[/link])
  
  Intel Core i7-950 Bloomfield 3.06GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor BX80601950([link]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115211[/link])

Please tell me if I've made some horrible mistake.

 

[kaioshade]

I looked a bit around and came up with this list:

Spoiler

• SAMSUNG CD/DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-222AB - OEM ([link]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151233[/link])
  
  NZXT Phantom PHAN-001WT White Steel / Plastic Enthusiast ATX Full Tower Computer Case ([link]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146067[/link])
  
  Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive ([link]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148697[/link])
  
  EVGA 015-P3-1580-AR GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 1536MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card ([link]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130587[/link])
  
  CORSAIR Enthusiast Series CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply ([link]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005[/link])
  
  Crucial Ballistix sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 Desktop Memory Model BL2KIT51264BA160A ([link]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148421[/link])
  
  ASRock P67 EXTREME4 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard ([link]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157229[/link])
  
  Intel Core i7-950 Bloomfield 3.06GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor BX80601950([link]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115211[/link])

Please tell me if I've made some horrible mistake.

The motherboard and cpu you have together are not compatible. You chose a 1155 Motherboard, but are trying to pair it with a 1366 CPU. The CPU you chose is also a previous gen i7, the 2k series of core i7s are the current generation.

Here is a suggestion:

CPU - Intel Core i7 2600K - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115070

Motherboard - P8Z68-V PRO - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131730

Memory - What you have is fine. I usually stick to GSkill or Corsair, but i dont have memory fail on me too much.

HDD - I prefer Western Digital, but all drives imo are about as reliable as the next, I have had drives of all brands bite the dust. What you have is fine.

Video Card - Fine.

CD/DVD - Might as well get a blu-ray burner. They are cheap enough to put in a rig now.

Case - your call, but do not skimp on the power supply. The Supplies that usually come in cases are not too good. Get a good separate like Seasonic, or OCZ.

 

[Nudu]

I looked a bit around and came up with this list:

Spoiler

• SAMSUNG CD/DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-222AB - OEM ([link]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151233[/link])
  
  NZXT Phantom PHAN-001WT White Steel / Plastic Enthusiast ATX Full Tower Computer Case ([link]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146067[/link])
  
  Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive ([link]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148697[/link])
  
  EVGA 015-P3-1580-AR GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 1536MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card ([link]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130587[/link])
  
  CORSAIR Enthusiast Series CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply ([link]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005[/link])
  
  Crucial Ballistix sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 Desktop Memory Model BL2KIT51264BA160A ([link]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148421[/link])
  
  ASRock P67 EXTREME4 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard ([link]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157229[/link])
  
  Intel Core i7-950 Bloomfield 3.06GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor BX80601950([link]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115211[/link])

Please tell me if I've made some horrible mistake.

The motherboard and cpu you have together are not compatible. You chose a 1155 Motherboard, but are trying to pair it with a 1366 CPU. The CPU you chose is also a previous gen i7, the 2k series of core i7s are the current generation.

Here is a suggestion:

CPU - Intel Core i7 2600K - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115070

Motherboard - P8Z68-V PRO - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131730

Memory - What you have is fine. I usually stick to GSkill or Corsair, but i dont have memory fail on me too much.

HDD - I prefer Western Digital, but all drives imo are about as reliable as the next, I have had drives of all brands bite the dust. What you have is fine.

Video Card - Fine.

CD/DVD - Might as well get a blu-ray burner. They are cheap enough to put in a rig now.

Case - your call, but do not skimp on the power supply. The Supplies that usually come in cases are not too good. Get a good separate like Seasonic, or OCZ.

Hey, I found out that Newegg doesn't ship to my area, so I went over to Amazon and made a new list. Sorry for wasting your time.

Anyway, here it is:

Spoiler

• 
  Corsair TX750W 750-Watt Power Supply [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000X2677A/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=A2NG4HB43UEDVL]
  
  Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced Full Tower Case with SuperSpeed USB 3.0 - (RC-932-KKN5-GP) [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001EPUQAE/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER]
  
  LG WH12LS30 12X SATA BLU-RAY BURNER BLACK W/SOFTWARE LIGHTSCRIBE BLUK [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004LPLE50/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&m=A23NVCSO4PYH3S]
  
  Western Digital WD2002FAEX Caviar Black 2 TB Desktop Hard Drive [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004CSIG1G/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER]
  
  EVGA GeForce GTX 580 1536 MB GDDR5 PCI-Express 2.0 Graphics Card - Lifetime Warranty 015-P3-1580-AR [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004B8VL64/ref=ox_sc_act_title_5?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER]
  
  Corsair XMS3 8 GB 1333 MHz PC3-10666 240-Pin DDR3 Memory Kit CMX8GX3M2A1333C9 [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003N8GVUY/ref=ox_sc_act_title_6?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER]
  
  ASUS SABERTOOTH P67 LGA 1155 SATA 6Gbps and USB 3.0 Supported Intel P67 DDR3 1800 ATX Motherboard [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004K330KK/ref=ox_sc_act_title_7?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER]
  
  Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64bit (Full) System Builder DVD 1 Pack [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004Q0PT3I/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER]
  
  Intel Core i7-2600K Processor 3.4GHz 8 MB Cache Socket LGA1155 [http://www.amazon.com/Intel-i7-2600K-Processor-3-4GHz-LGA1155/dp/B004EBUXSA/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1311458898&sr=1-1]

By the way, do you think the i7 is worth the extra investment? How much of an improvement is it on the i5?

Also, while I am willing do spend quite a bit on this, I would like to know if there's anything on the list you think is an necessary investment. Or anywhere I should invest more, I don't know.

 

[kaioshade]

I looked a bit around and came up with this list:

Spoiler

• SAMSUNG CD/DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-222AB - OEM ([link]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151233[/link])
  
  NZXT Phantom PHAN-001WT White Steel / Plastic Enthusiast ATX Full Tower Computer Case ([link]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146067[/link])
  
  Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive ([link]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148697[/link])
  
  EVGA 015-P3-1580-AR GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 1536MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card ([link]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130587[/link])
  
  CORSAIR Enthusiast Series CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply ([link]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005[/link])
  
  Crucial Ballistix sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 Desktop Memory Model BL2KIT51264BA160A ([link]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148421[/link])
  
  ASRock P67 EXTREME4 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard ([link]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157229[/link])
  
  Intel Core i7-950 Bloomfield 3.06GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor BX80601950([link]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115211[/link])

Please tell me if I've made some horrible mistake.

The motherboard and cpu you have together are not compatible. You chose a 1155 Motherboard, but are trying to pair it with a 1366 CPU. The CPU you chose is also a previous gen i7, the 2k series of core i7s are the current generation.

Here is a suggestion:

CPU - Intel Core i7 2600K - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115070

Motherboard - P8Z68-V PRO - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131730

Memory - What you have is fine. I usually stick to GSkill or Corsair, but i dont have memory fail on me too much.

HDD - I prefer Western Digital, but all drives imo are about as reliable as the next, I have had drives of all brands bite the dust. What you have is fine.

Video Card - Fine.

CD/DVD - Might as well get a blu-ray burner. They are cheap enough to put in a rig now.

Case - your call, but do not skimp on the power supply. The Supplies that usually come in cases are not too good. Get a good separate like Seasonic, or OCZ.

Hey, I found out that Newegg doesn't ship to my area, so I went over to Amazon and made a new list. Sorry for wasting your time.

Anyway, here it is:

Spoiler

• 
  Corsair TX750W 750-Watt Power Supply [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000X2677A/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=A2NG4HB43UEDVL]
  
  Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced Full Tower Case with SuperSpeed USB 3.0 - (RC-932-KKN5-GP) [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001EPUQAE/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER]
  
  LG WH12LS30 12X SATA BLU-RAY BURNER BLACK W/SOFTWARE LIGHTSCRIBE BLUK [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004LPLE50/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&m=A23NVCSO4PYH3S]
  
  Western Digital WD2002FAEX Caviar Black 2 TB Desktop Hard Drive [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004CSIG1G/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER]
  
  EVGA GeForce GTX 580 1536 MB GDDR5 PCI-Express 2.0 Graphics Card - Lifetime Warranty 015-P3-1580-AR [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004B8VL64/ref=ox_sc_act_title_5?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER]
  
  Corsair XMS3 8 GB 1333 MHz PC3-10666 240-Pin DDR3 Memory Kit CMX8GX3M2A1333C9 [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003N8GVUY/ref=ox_sc_act_title_6?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER]
  
  ASUS SABERTOOTH P67 LGA 1155 SATA 6Gbps and USB 3.0 Supported Intel P67 DDR3 1800 ATX Motherboard [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004K330KK/ref=ox_sc_act_title_7?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER]
  
  Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64bit (Full) System Builder DVD 1 Pack [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004Q0PT3I/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER]
  
  Intel Core i7-2600K Processor 3.4GHz 8 MB Cache Socket LGA1155 [http://www.amazon.com/Intel-i7-2600K-Processor-3-4GHz-LGA1155/dp/B004EBUXSA/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1311458898&sr=1-1]

By the way, do you think the i7 is worth the extra investment? How much of an improvement is it on the i5?
Also, while I am willing do spend quite a bit on this, I would like to know if there's anything on the list you think is an necessary investment. Or anywhere I should invest more, I don't know.

Everything looks good. The core i7 is a worthwhile upgrade from the i5. You will be pleased with it. The only other thing i can see you changing is adding another 580gtx to the rig.

 

[Nudu]

The core i7 is a worthwhile upgrade from the i5. You will be pleased with it. The only other thing i can see you changing is adding another 580gtx to the rig.

I don't agree with that, I have an i5 750 @ 3.8 Ghz and have yet to need all that power, the i5-2500K would be more than enough and he could get a cooler and overclock if he really needed more power rather than spending a huge amount of cash for a relatively small gain in power.

Could you guys perhaps give me an example of a situation where i5 would be insufficient or something?

@OP If you want to splash out you should look at 1600Mhz RAM rather than 1333 and perhaps get an SSD for really the OS to run very fast.

Would you mind giving me a link to an example of what you have in mind? I'm just really afraid of buying something that's incompatible. Something like this [http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-DOMINATOR-PC3-15000-Processors-CMT8GX3M2A1866C9/dp/B00539LUVG/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1311464439&sr=8-11] okay?

 

[kaioshade]

The core i7 is a worthwhile upgrade from the i5. You will be pleased with it. The only other thing i can see you changing is adding another 580gtx to the rig.

I don't agree with that, I have an i5 750 @ 3.8 Ghz and have yet to need all that power, the i5-2500K would be more than enough and he could get a cooler and overclock if he really needed more power rather than spending a huge amount of cash for a relatively small gain in power.

Could you guys perhaps give me an example of a situation where i5 would be insufficient or something?

@OP If you want to splash out you should look at 1600Mhz RAM rather than 1333 and perhaps get an SSD for really the OS to run very fast.

Would you mind giving me a link to an example of what you have in mind? I'm just really afraid of buying something that's incompatible.

EDIT to your edit: Yes the RAM you linked is fine. The stuff I linked below is half the price and should be a very similar speed.

An i5 won't be insufficient for anything for quite a while, the i7 is just faster so if you encode some video it will do it in a few minutes less, you won't be bottlenecked in games for it for years unless you play a game like X3 and have hundreds of stations in 1 sector.

Any DDR3 1600Mhz should work, I'll link some.

http://www.amazon.com/G-Skill-Ripjaws-240-pin-PC3-12800-unbuffered/dp/B00339X1EM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1311465232&sr=8-2

That RAM should work or if you want even faster RAM this stuff below is 1866Mhz instead of 1600.

http://www.amazon.com/G-Skill-PC3-14900-1866MHz-9-10-9-28-Channel/dp/B004TGFWCW/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1311465696&sr=1-2

On a different note if you want to know a bit about decent coolers I'll recommend 2 of them.

http://www.amazon.com/Noctua-NH-U9B-Cooler-Heat-Pipe-Bearing/dp/B002SLJMQ2/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1311465492&sr=8-4

That is what I own, amazon doesn't list 1155 as compatible BUT BUT BUT the official website does and the only difference between 1156 and 1155 is 1 pin. As I said before it gets my i5 to 3.8 Ghz so you should get the i5-2500K to 4.5 Ghz and perhaps beyond.

http://www.amazon.com/Noctua-Sockets-Heatpipe-2x140mm-Bearing/dp/B004DUMQVY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1311465466&sr=8-1

That above is the big brother to the one I linked and is and absolute beast but is huge, unless you know the size of your motherboard I would avoid it in case it blocked out all your RAM slots or something like that or your case wasn't big enough.

You could also water cool but that's a whole other story.

The watercooling i disagree with. If someone does not know enough about everything on their own to ask people for help, watercooling might be out of their league for the time being. When they are a bit more familiar with components and how they all run together.

Get the 1600 memory, although you will not see a huge difference between 1333 and 1600. But might as well get the better memory, as it is not much more expensive.

As for the i5 vs the i7, the extra money gets you 2 extra mb of cache and hyper threading. Just about all games will run perfectly fine on the i5, but you will see a benefit from video encoding and other media related tasks. If you have the budget, there really is not a reason not to get the i7. You also say you have your i5 at 3.8 ghz. Again advising someone not familiar with the components they will be buying and overclocking it is dangerous in my opinion.

I dont disagree about the SSD, but the size/cost ratio is still too high imo.
I am hardly the authority on computer building and there is a wealth of good advice that isnt mine either. Thats part of the fun of building it.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

The watercooling i disagree with. If someone does not know enough about everything on their own to ask people for help, watercooling might be out of their league for the time being. When they are a bit more familiar with components and how they all run together.

For open loop watercooling systems I'd agree with you but the new closed loop systems (like the Antec Kuhler series or the Corsair Hydro series) aren't much more hassle to deal with than aftermarket HSF, can be a bit fiddly to install but that's it. Not as efficient as open loop systems but that's the trade off for less maintenance and fuckarsing about... other than that, the only other real drawback to closed loop systems is that I've yet to see any made using a GPU waterblock.

 

[Nudu]

Honestly I'm not so sure about overclocking right now. Maybe at some point in the future. Is the aftercooler necessary if I'm not overclocking?

 

[kaioshade]

The watercooling i disagree with. If someone does not know enough about everything on their own to ask people for help, watercooling might be out of their league for the time being. When they are a bit more familiar with components and how they all run together.

Get the 1600 memory, although you will not see a huge difference between 1333 and 1600. But might as well get the better memory, as it is not much more expensive.

As for the i5 vs the i7, the extra money gets you 2 extra mb of cache and hyper threading. Just about all games will run perfectly fine on the i5, but you will see a benefit from video encoding and other media related tasks. If you have the budget, there really is not a reason not to get the i7. You also say you have your i5 at 3.8 ghz. Again advising someone not familiar with the components they will be buying and overclocking it is dangerous in my opinion.

I dont disagree about the SSD, but the size/cost ratio is still too high imo.
I am hardly the authority on computer building and there is a wealth of good advice that isnt mine either. Thats part of the fun of building it.

The reason I said the water cooling was "a whole other story" was becasue I find it is more complicated than air cooling and I wouldn't advise it just yet.

As they have the cash I suppose the i7 is worth getting like you said. About overlocking though, it may not be easy but there are plenty of guides on the net to help, I just had to look through a lot of guides and do some tweaking to get used to the BIOS, sure it took a few hours but it was worth it.

The plus side is the i7 can be overclocked too (obviously) so he really should learn to do it eventually as there is a lot of untapped power that could be unlocked if he just took the time to get used to it.

True enough. I have rarely overclocked, so i am not very familir with the difficulty nowadays with it. Definitely take Matthew94's advice on that one. Heh i have learned something as well.