Hey there OP. I'm replying to you from my university campus, which has Newegg blocked on the grounds of it being a shopping site. Apparently stimulating the economy through purchases isn't allowed here...ColdBlooded said:
Anyway, despite this, I'll try and give you some general tips to look at as it seems you're new this business.
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CPU's: If you have the money, Intel. If you're a gamer, quad core I5 is the way to go. Not as powerful as the I7, but also lacks a useless feature for gamers that gives the price difference. If you're going to be doing graphic design/CAD/CAM/3D modelling, then look at the I7. If money is an issue, and your budget doesn't allow an I5, then don't be afraid to go for an AMD A8 or A10. They don't have the power as the Intels, but they still get the job done.
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Memory: CORSAIR, CORSAIR, CORSAIR. FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, CORSAIR. 1600MHz DDR3 is the sweet spot for price/performance. If you want to go higher, expect to get into the realms of diminishing returns.
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Motherboards: People really piss me off when looking at motherboards, because they tell me their uses for the PC, and then proceed to get a full ATX board. "Oh, do you need all those extra slots and features?". "No.". "Then why don't you look at a micro-ATX board. Smaller, cheaper, same performance, less useless features you won't use, space savings in the case.". "But I may need them later.".
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF.
If you don't need a full ATX board, seriously consider a micro ATX board.
As far as brands go, Asus and Gigabyte are really the only ones you want to be looking at. Avoid ASRock at all costs.
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GPU: This is to do with:
A) How much money you have to spend
B) What the resolution of your monitor is
C) What kind of games you're wanting to play
If you have a bit of money to spend, then feel free to go for a higher end card like a 680 or a 7970. Just know that much of the processing power is lost on a 1080 screen. It's totally overkill. If you're wanting super-ultra quality graphics, or are wanting to cap gameplay via FRAPS then it may be necessary, but otherwise, you can get away with a nice 660Ti or 6870 for the sake of price. Also, and I can't stress this enough, don't be a damn fanboy. AMD and Nvidia both have excellent offerings. In the real world there is very little difference between two equivalents. The only thing you need to be looking at is price, and the warranty. Also, CUDA and PhysX are not damn selling points.
SLI and Crossfire is pointless in most situations. If you have an existing GPU, can't be bothered selling it, but want to add more graphics power, then add a second one in. But in most cases, forget SLI or crossfire and just upgrade to a more powerful single card. It's so much easier in terms of power supply, case management, heat, and the fact you don't get 100% scalability in performance between the two cards. In fact some games won't even recognise the second GPU. So, again, contrary to what a lot of people say on here, just stay away for the sake of your life being easier.
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Sound Card: Unless you're an audiophile, save your money and stick with on-board.
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HDD: Anything by Seagate is good, Western Digital are good too. How big depends on your needs. 1TB is minimum for a gamer, I'd say. 3TB is the upper limit you're reaching on one disk.
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SSD: Okay, I'm going to try and remain calm while saying this: If you see a SSD with a SandForce controller, run for the damn hills. I've heard nothing but horror stories. The only SSD's I'd properly endorse are the Samsung 830 Series and the Crucial M4 series. Yes, they don't have the 1337 transfer times of Sandforce controllers, but those numbers are incredibly misleading. Look at any test, the "slower" Samsung and Crucial ones soundly beat any SandForce based SSD due to not suffering dramatic performance penalties with uncompressable data (which SF SSD's do suffer).
128GB is a minimum. DO NOT put anything else on here except for your OS and some basic programs like AV. Be sure to move the page file to your HDD.
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Case: Completely up to you really, this is mostly a looks issue. Silverstone, Coolermaster and Corsair are all good case makers. Just make sure that you get a case that can fit your motherboard (so don't get a micro-ATX case if you've got a full ATX board).
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PSU: Oh jeeze. OP, you've no idea how much shit I read on this forum regarding PSU's. So I'm going to give you some pointers to go off.
1) If it's a brand you haven't heard of, RUN AWAY VERY VERY QUICKLY.
2) The 80+ rating thing is a bit of a scam and so many people on here fall for it. 80+ rating != a good PSU, it just means an efficient one. Efficient != reliable. A number of Corsair PSU's, a make known for its reliability above all else, do not even achieve 80+ bronze. All I'm saying is, don't look at the 80+ rating as the sole determiner for the quality of a PSU.
3) Wattage means nothing, and everything at the same time. Don't look at wattage alone. You need to look at how many amps are being put out on the 12V rails. And how many rails there are. Single rail PSU's (Corsair and Antec typically do these) are the best as this configuration is more reliable (there is reason and science behind that but I can't be bothered linking you, please trust me). The only multi-rail configuration PSU I'd trust is Enermax, but they are typically expensive.
4) 550W will suit a single mid range CPU and a single mid range GPU. 750W will suit a single CPU and a dual-GPU set up. 850W will suit a high end CPU with overclocking headroom and up to a dual GPU setup. 1000W+ is for a high end overclocked CPU, a high end dual GPU setup with potential overclocking.
5) Griffolion's trusted brands - Corsair, Antec, Enermax, Silverstone.
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Optical drive: Just get what is cheapest. DVD/RW drives are so well made now that any brand is okay.
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Heatsink: If you're into overclocking, you'll need one of these. Things to make sure when looking at a heatsink is the dimensions, and if they can fit in the case. There's no real numbers to properly quantify the performance of a heatsink as it's all relative to the climate, your case, the processor and its clock. I use a Prolimatech Armageddon personally, and it does the job well. Closed water cooling loops, in my opinion, are a waste of time. They don't provide much more cooling than typical air coolers, they cost much more, there's more to go wrong vis-a-vie water leakages and mechanical failure of the pump. If you're going water cooling, do it properly and do it yourself. Otherwise, just stick to air.
A quick look at thermal paste. Thermalright Chillfactor 3. That's all you need to know.
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[a href="http://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Andy+Hall/pc-building-the-beginners-guide-209622.phtml"]Here's a blog post on Destructoid that I did about PC building.[/a] You'll get more in depth info there.
Credentials: System builder for a long while. CompTIA A+ qualified technician.
