Hopeless noob needs a coach... Let's build a computer.

[moonWaffle]

Ok, let's talk for a minute...
My pathetic excuse for raiding machine just blew up... The majority of my gaming career was played on a MacBook aluminum thing. It overheated, had worthless FPS and constantly offered me nothing but issues. But, finally, it's dead and I'm ready for something serious.

I have barely any knowledge or experience with the ins and outs of technology so I'm reaching out for a bit of help.
Unfortunately I'm not comfortable building this potential rig myself, so I am thinking about using a site such as cyberpower or ibuypower... Frustrating to say the least.

Anyone willing to spend a tiny bit of time working on something with me?
Im starting from scratch and am willing to spend close to $2000 (including a monitor) to make sure the job gets done right.

Any takers?!

[mercutiouk]

As a starter get the best i5 they offer below the extreme.
Take a P67 board in the pro range or with a "name" from any manufacturer (shoot for gigabyte/msi/asus/abit though).
Get around 8GB of RAM as a starter
Take the option of a 2nd drive raided if available
Take the option of a blue-ray reader + dvd burner (hard drives are cheaper than writable blue-ray discs)
Take the best graphicss option below "sli"

Alternatively:
Grab an i5 laptop with a decent graphics card and 1920x1080 resolution screen. Will still be a huge step up and you won't loose mobility.

[muCephei]

Sure. Do you just want a list or do you want to learn about the parts and how they go together as well?

[llDemonll]

I'm guessing that since you're on a US server, you live in the US or Canada so you can use Newegg.

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500K
MB: MSI P67A-G45 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
GPU: MSI R6970 Lightning Radeon HD 6970 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5' Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
SSD: OCZ Vertex 3 VTX3-25SAT3-120G 2.5' 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
PSU: SeaSonic X Series X650 Gold ((SS-650KM Active PFC F3)) 650W ATX12V V2.3/EPS 12V V2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active
CPUHS: Noctua NH-D14 120mm & 140mm SSO CPU Cooler
CASE: SILVERSTONE Fortress Series FT02B-W Black Aluminum / Steel Computer Case
Total Price: $1717 (+30% ~ 1220€)
Configure More

That's my suggestion + a monitor. Call up a local shop and ask how much they would charge to assemble it if you brought them all the parts

[moonWaffle]

Thanks for the contructive feedback thus far!
I would love to learn more about the inner workings of what makes a good setup work, but considering ,my time constraints (my maclol was my only game ready machine , and I am an officer in my raiding guild so getting back online as quickly as possible is my priority ATM) I am just looking to get started right now.
I want to steer clear of getting another laptop. I feel like I'm cursed as far as mobile computing goes.
I shall definitely check out the suggestions thus far and contact the only computer store I know to see what they think about building it for me.

[Wrestler10307]

You can always check out the build of the month or check the stickies on the computer forum, they are all pretty good. If you're at least semi-computer literate you can put together yourself, which will allow you to get more for your money. Alternatively you can see if you can find somewhere to put the parts together for you.

This is something you're going to be spending a good amount of money on, don't rush it. Your guild will be just fine.

[dicertification]

With a $2000 budget I'd go with a 2600k for longevity. You don't express what games you play, but as games advance the added hyperthreading and cache will go a long way as game engines advance (physics, animation, etc) and are able to utilize more threads. I honestly feel bad for people buying i3's for budget gaming systems. They are the bomb in WoW but I'm really curious what they are gonna do in a game like Battlefield 3 or other next gen titles that aren't to far away.

edit: I will add. I could be way off and perhaps the game developers will find other ways to achieve their goals.

edit 2: Also I highly suggest against laptop gaming rigs. Unless you really need the portability.

[Keller]

I would personally wait for Bulldozer/llynda. That an option? ( gonna be Q3-Q4 this year )
(On another note, you can get a perfect wow machine for 250ish Euros, so you can get that as a temporary, because when the next gen is released , your rig's value will go down from 2k to 1200ish. but hell, what do I know.)

[moonWaffle]

Well I do play a lot of Warcraft. Like I mentioned I'm an active raider and would love to play on a machine that can sustain max settings. My MacBook was $2500 1 1/2 years ago and regardless of what I did I never hit over 10 FPS and would experience overheating related stuttering. I had to have a deskfan pointed directly at the stupid thing. It was awful...
I dabble casually with other games ( never really had the opportunity to play anything fancy or new) so I would like to have the ability to play anything without an issue.
I called a few computer repair type places and the number $250 was consistently thrown around for an endeavor like this. So unless the community is confident that someone like me (lost in almost every sense of the word when it comes to this) can do this myself I'm not exactly sure what my options are unless I use one of those stupid sites.

[Keller]

Well I do play a lot of Warcraft. Like I mentioned I'm an active raider and would love to play on a machine that can sustain max settings. My MacBook was $2500 1 1/2 years ago and regardless of what I did I never hit over 10 FPS and would experience overheating related stuttering. I had to have a deskfan pointed directly at the stupid thing. It was awful...
I dabble casually with other games ( never really had the opportunity to play anything fancy or new) so I would like to have the ability to play anything without an issue.
I called a few computer repair type places and the number $250 was consistently thrown around for an endeavor like this. So unless the community is confident that someone like me (lost in almost every sense of the word when it comes to this) can do this myself I'm not exactly sure what my options are unless I use one of those stupid sites.

Easy to screw up. Even if it's like lego, a person who doesnt know what they're doing can screw up.
Wow max settings aint anything special, even with dx11 render.
You can run max wow on a 500$ machine, the question is are you going to play other games on it ? if so get a higher tier rig.
Also, would be wise to get parts and have it constructed at the local computershop of your preferenece, would probably cost you way less then a prebuilt.

[moonWaffle]

Yep, like I said I want a rig with the potential to handle anything I throw at it with ease considering the budget I set myself up with to work with.
Basically the issue I'm having is either biting the bullet and have a site fabricate this thing for me or pay the seemingly ridiculous $200+ service charge to have someone locally make it.
Thank you mr. ||Demon|| for giving me a great idea to get started with!

[Gumbeez]

$2,000.00 is definitely a good budget to start with. Have you ever put together a pC before?

[moonWaffle]

Never! I'm real dumb and I panic when I have naked computer parts in front of me. I found a place that can put it together for me for $80 an hour (apparently it'll take 2-3 hours to do this project). So the ball is rolling! Time to start ordering parts!

[georgevonfranken]

I built my first computer about 2 months ago and only previous experience i had was installing gpu and a new psu. I was very nervous but i just read the manuals and it all works fine

[mercutiouk]

edit 2: Also I highly suggest against laptop gaming rigs. Unless you really need the portability.

While they generally do lag behind, the MSI GX660 series are actually rather decent for the money (get the ones with decent resolution screen tho). Make use of mine when away from home (I have a proper rig too) and generally not been disappointed. They are priced rather well too.

I will be adding a few upgrades (doesn't void warrenty in EU) like a pair of momentus XT drives and maybe more ram but it's done very well. Was happily tanking a 5 man on the battery in an airport terminal last month during a long connection so that should speak volumes (this was with it's turbo mode disabled etc - gave me 2 hours on the battery).

[llDemonll]

Never! I'm real dumb and I panic when I have naked computer parts in front of me. I found a place that can put it together for me for $80 an hour (apparently it'll take 2-3 hours to do this project). So the ball is rolling! Time to start ordering parts!

Tell them you want it done in three hours. No computer should take longer than that to put together out of the box, especially by a place that does it "for a living". If they take longer, they are just milking money out of you