My First Gaming Rig

[HiroshiChugi]

1. Are you building this computer yourself or having one built for you (Like HP, Alienware, or even a small shop)?
Getting a clan mate to build it for me.

2. What is your budget and does that include shipping/taxes?
1,000-2,000 USD. No.

3. Where do you live (Please list town, state, and country)?
Posrtsmouth, Virginia. USA

4. What do you need this computer to do (like gaming, Photoshop, and so on)?
Gaming. Strictly gaming and nothing else (except for browsing the web).

5. What parts will you need for the computer? List what parts specifically, saying you need everything will not do.
Processor, Graphics Card, RAM, Motherboard, Hard Drive. I'm building it from scratch, so if I missed anything, let me know please.

6. Are you reusing any parts for this computer? If so say what parts (make and model).
No.

7. What kind of monitor/resolution do you have or want to get to use for the computer?
1360/720-1920/120-

8. Do you have already have a OS or do you need one? What OS is that?
I will need Windows 7 Premium (I think that's the highest, but correct me if I'm wrong.)

9. What are you looking for the motherboard to have feature wise? Like SLI, Crossfire, Firewire, USB 3.0, Sata 6.0 Gb/s, and so on.
I'm new to building computers so... I'm not quite sure what all there is and what they do.

10. Any plans to overclock the CPU or GPU?
Possibly.

11. What time kind of time frame are you planning on ordering these parts?
Sometime after bootcamp, A-School, and C-School (a few months from now).

[Rbstr]

You should probably wait a few months for the recommendations then.

Lots of stuff between now and then, Haswell ect.

[HiroshiChugi]

I just want a basic and general idea of what I should be looking for.

[Goku]

In terms of actual parts I can give some recommendations right now, but keep in mind that they may change as Haswell will be out by then.

Starting off in terms of a video card. I recommend looking into the AMD HD 7950 and GTX 670 to see, which will meet your needs best. Both perform on par I would say with each other, but the 670 is more expensive. Keep in mind the 670 has PhysX, so you will be able to use it for PS2. For the actual maker of the card I would look into ASUS, Gigabyte, or XFX for AMD and for Nvidia EVGA, Galaxy, or ASUS.

Second I recommend looking into a SSD. These really make your system fly. My secondary computer feels so slow compared to my primary that has one. For brands right now that I recommend is the Samsung 840 Pro or 840, Plextor M5/Pro series, and maybe the Crucial M500 if the price comes down. I'd probably look for about a 256GB drive at least anyway as that will provide sufficient space for the OS and your favorite games.

I can't really recommend any CPU and motherboard at the moment. Though the current top picks are the 3570K with the Z77 motherboard. The K in the 3570K show it can be overclocked and you need a Z77 motherboard for that to be possible. The Z77 can range from $80 to over $250, there are a lot of choices out there. Most likely you can probably settle on a mobo for around $125 to $150. I would probably go for ASUS or Gigabyte personally. There are some hear who will say Asrock is also good.

For overclocking if you are interested look up some video guides on how to overclock the 3570K. Its pretty straight forward and I recommend looking into it. This will at least give you a feel what you would do with the Haswell processor.

For your case have you thought about what size you want? There is very small to very large cases. I'll link you some examples from smallest to biggest. The BitFenix Prodigy (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811345017) is a mini itx case. You need a mini itx motherboard for this case, so you will only have one expansion slot. That means you can only place a video card, no sound card or some other kind of add on card. Next there are mATX cases like this Silverstone TJ-08-E (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163182&Tpk=tj-08-e&IsVirtualParent=1). Needs a mATX motherboard, but there should be enough expansion slots for anything you need. Next you have a midtower size case for ATX motherboards, like this Corsair Carbide 500R (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139010). ATX is the most widely used type of motherboard size, you aren't loosing much of anything going with it. Next we have full tower that is huge, like the NZXT Switch 810 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146089). This come in handy if you like a lot of space to work in your computer and if you have a lot in there. There a ton more choices out there, so keep that in mind. Feel free to search Newegg to find your dream case.

For ram all you really need is 8GB of DDR3 that consists of 2 4GB sticks. In terms of speed 1600MHz is good and going higher doesn't do much to improve performance. I personally like G.Skill, patriot, and corsair as brands for this.

HDD will be for your storage for games you don't need on the SSD, not frequently used programs, to your media. I'm not sure what size you need, but I would get a 2TB HDD if you can. I'm starting to run out on my 1TB right now after using it for several years finally. For brands I think either Seagate or Western Digital will be fine.

Power supply you will need between 500W to 650W for your setup. There are a lot of good brands out there. My top choices would be Antec, Seasonic, Corsair, and Enermax anyway. These do come with good warranties, which you want. A PSU can last multiple builds. There is no reason to cheap out on one.

[HiroshiChugi]

So how much will this all cost me in total?

[Goku]

So how much will this all cost me in total?

Could be $600 or $3,500. Totally depends on what you want to spend. What I listed is possible given the range you listed in your OP.

[HiroshiChugi]

Ok, thanks Goku. One more question, how do I get a change in color for my Forum name? @_@

[Goku]

Aside from being some being some kind of staff for the website or a SOE employee, you can donate $100 to the site to get your name changed to a yellowish color.

[HiroshiChugi]

Aside from being some being some kind of staff for the website or a SOE employee, you can donate $100 to the site to get your name changed to a yellowish color.

Gah, too much money for a change to a color I don't like. :P