First Time Builder

[Grimmauld]

I've been gaming for years, but this will be my first experiment in system building. I've never even owned a desktop computer, only a variety of gaming laptops, so this is going to be interesting. With that in mind I am open to any suggestions and tips to get me started. I can't really post a components list because I have no experience with any of them. I like the look of some of Marest's sample builds, but I have a few questions about things I've heard of but am no expert in.

I'll be mostly playing WoW and Diablo III and would like to be able to run both at max settings. I also want something that can run the more demanding titles well enough, although I don't play any of those at the moment. I'm looking to stay within a price range of $1000-$1500, and that will need to include a monitor and an OS.

I'm interested an SSD if the performance increase is as dramatic as I've heard. I've also heard a lot of great things about the new Ivy Bridge processor, but I don't know that much about it, either. Thanks a ton for the help and advice.

[hapylol]

Hey Grimmuld,

This is what I would suggest. This should be able to play all games @ max, and will crush WoW/d3.

Part list permalink / Part price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($179.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.90 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($142.86 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($44.99 @ Newegg)
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($119.95 @ B&H)
Hard Drive: Crucial M4 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($139.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card ($259.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Fractal Design Arc Midi Tower ATX Mid Tower Case ($109.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair 650W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Sony AD-7280S-0B DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Amazon)
Monitor: Asus VH236H 23.0" Monitor ($139.99 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64-bit) ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1395.61
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
(Generated 2012-04-24 16:25 EDT-0400)

If you want to go lower or higher just change the GPU.

Let us know if you have any questions(and I am sure Notarget will nitpick my choices!)

[Deleted]

@Grimmauld

Above build from hapylol looks really good and will definitely handle any of the needs you listed. SSD is for your OS, programs and games, it'll makes everything load faster, feel smoother and snappier. It will not have any performance gain FPS wise but it's well worth it. Only downside is, you never not want an SSD again =p

Just stick with the i5-2500k, especially if you can get it at $180 at MicroCenter, in fact I'm going there right now to pick one up

i5-3570k is a little better clock for clock and use less power but overclocking is a little trickier and requires tweaking, avoid anything above 1.2-1.3v or you'll be able to fry eggs on it.

[Grimmauld]

Thanks a lot for the help, guys. My only issue is that I'm having trouble finding that video card available anywhere. Any ideas?

[Deleted]

Just pick any of these depending on which are in stock:

http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/video-...5&m=8,18,27,41

I'd pick the Gigabyte or ASUS card but any of them is fine really.