Mostly for games, lag-free at that. I'm tired of my computer as it is now, out of date. I've never really built my own computer, but as I see it if I get all the all the parts it can't be that hard to build. I'm a nooby when it comes to computer hardware lol, alot of you seem like tech experts so I thought this would be a good place to ask.
Anyways, would anyone mind giving me some advice on what to get that will run games very nicely, in the future too? I plan on keeping this for a few years or so. My Budget is around $800, 850 MAX.

So.. I'd need a
MB:
RAM:
GFX:
Processor:
Case:
PSU:
HD(2x, 1 for booting/installations. other for storage, this is okay right? lol)
Don't think I need a sound card
And... Do you really need a network card?

I think that's the essentials for a computer? I'd also need some good cooling on it but I don't know anything about it all. Someone help please!

Here are My recomendations
CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115005
Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131032 (sli compatible for future video upgrades)
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227126
HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822144701 (unless you go for RAID or a 10K rpm drive for the boot drive there is realy no reason to have more than one and your budget makes two HDDs dificult to justify)
Video Card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125038
Case:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119068
Powersupply: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817104954
DVDRW drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827152076
Total $862.93

For that you get a core 2 duo, geforce X1900Gt,1GB ran,250Gb sata HDD,18x DVD burner.You also get sli support for future video upgrades.

To answer your question about network cards. Most moderin motherboards have integrated networking so a seperate NIC card is nolonger necessary.

Hi Pindle

heres a quick list

I ADVISE YOU to wait till DX10 vid cards come out in about a month to build your mechine becuasse you will jsut end up upgrding anyways

CPU: core 2 dueo e6300: $180
Ram: 1gb :$ 100-200 depdning if you want 1 or 2 gb
psu, look to spend maybe: $100
im sure people on this board wil l tell u a good one 2 get
Mobo look at some from ASUS, DFI, Gygibyte or MSI
around $125
A good vid card will probibly cost the mose look at maybe $100-400 we are not sure yet because they are not out
the more you can spend on the vid card the better
hard drive can cost anyware from $50 to $500 depending on the size, if you want to do raid, or want a raptior, leets keep it simple and say $50
DVD burner $30
case keyboard mouse speakers say : $100

so
CPU $180
MOBO $130
PSU $100
VID $ 200
Ram $ 100 (if we assume you only want 1 gb
HDD $50
DVD $ 30
Case $50
rest $40 ( if you need it)
all comes out to about 900 dollors depending on the case and all the junk if you need a keyboard mouse speakers, if you dont it may be less




good luck

thanks to the both of you for your suggestions, I do not need a keyboard/mouse/speakers/DVDRW. I have them . Also about the DX10 Vid cards, I would imagine they are going to cost a fortune when they come out so I won't be able to afford it .

If anyone has any other suggestions please do post and i'll look around

is this an OK PSU? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817148008

also will I need any other type of cooling? or will the case + PSU be enough

That PSU is not made by a well known brand so it's probably of poor to marginal quality and may be overated. I recomend a PSU from one of the following brands: Antec, Enermax, FSP, PC Power & Cooling (the best PSU's out there but a little expensive), Seasonic (also expensive)
Here are some links to recomended units.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817104954
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817194009
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817194005
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817104015
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817703005
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817703006

the wattage that you will want depends on weather you plan on upgradeing to SLI or a Direct X 10 video card in the near future. A good 400w (450w recomended) would be suficient for any setup you are likely to build with that budget. But sli or Direct x 10 video cards may require a PSU with 600w+.

This would take care of both the case and psu:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129155
Especially with the rebate!

Sooo.. I managed to get my budget up justtt a little and I'm goin with this. (It's pretty much what dmill89 said, with a few adjustments to the Processor and RAM.

Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119068
HD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822144701
GFX: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125038
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227060
MB: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131032
Processor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115004
PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817148008

I'm probably going to exchange the PSU I chose for http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817104954 like dmill said, and I don't think the PSU i was going to get is compatible with the GFX card anyways(not sure, like i said i'm a noob at hardware stuff.)

what do you guys think now?

looks good.

I thought so too lol, the reason why I asked about the PSU is because I read a few reviews onthis one and a few said something about it not being able to support a PCI-e cable or something, so I guess that's a problem or I misread it. Would it work with that graphics card?

I believe it will work since this card uses a 4-pin molex connector and the motherboard has a standard 4-pin P4 conncetor.(no 6-pin PCI-e connector is required) However there are also several reviews stateing capacitor problens with the Apevia after 8 mos. to a year. Since it is a unknown generic manufacture it is unlikely that that PSU will put out any thing near 520w as cheep and generic units are oftain overated (rated at extremly low temperatures [like -50C] which gives them a much higher rateing than what will actually be acheved at normal operateing tempratures.)This is why I recomend Antec, Enermax, FSP, PC Power & Cooling , Seasonic. Those companys make reliable powersupplies that are rated at or above operateing temprature so the rateings reflect the actual output in real world conditions.

Don't forget an os! Get XP pro if you can.

I was looking at reviews on that MB and their seems to be a lot of overheating problems :s

The coolermaseter cses should help a little. it has a mesh front, 80 mm front fan,and 120mm rear fan so it moves alot of air. I have seen many northbridges run hot without overheating. It has a passive heatsink so it needs an external fan to blow air across it which should not be a problem in the coolermaster case as the front fan is almost directly in line with the heatsink. Many boards with this chipset have fan based northbridge coolers which run cooler initially but oftain die in a year or so. I think as long as you have a case with good ventalation that the northbridge on the ASUS board will run at acceptible levals.

The coolermaseter cses should help a little. it has a mesh front, 80 mm front fan,and 120mm rear fan so it moves alot of air. I have seen many northbridges run hot without overheating. It has a passive heatsink so it needs an external fan to blow air across it which should not be a problem in the coolermaster case as the front fan is almost directly in line with the heatsink. Many boards with this chipset have fan based northbridge coolers which run cooler initially but oftain die in a year or so. I think as long as you have a case with good ventalation that the northbridge on the ASUS board will run at acceptible levals. If you use the stock cooler that comes with the core 2 duo cpu it will also blow across the northbridge however if you decide to upgrade the CPU cooler make sure to get one with a heatsink that has slots in the fins on all sides like the stock intel cooler so it can blow across the northbridge heatsink. Some aftermarket coolers only blow air from front to back and not down across the northbridge which along with a case with poor airflow could be the cause of some of the overheating problems.