PC Gaming Help for a Total Newbie

[Jolly Co-operator]

UPDATE: I've worked out a price range. Somewhere around $600 to $1200.

UPDATE 2: I really just want to thank everyone who's helped. You've all made what seemed like a daunting task far beyond my expertise so much less intimidating. Thank you.

My birthday is coming up, and I'm hoping to use that, combined with what will likely be an entire school year of straight A's, as leverage for getting a gaming PC. I'm asking you, my fellow Escapists, for help in regards to picking one. I'm competent enough with my computer, but I wouldn't call myself savvy. It's also a Mac, so I expect to have quite a bit to learn. I have a few main questions:

Where should I buy one? On a website, or in a retail store? Which site, or which store? Any specific brands?

What parts should I focus most on? I see a lot of different specs listed when I check out any computer, and not exactly being tech savvy, I don't know which parts are most important to gaming.

What quality of specs should I be looking for?

Do the deals on Steam and GOG.com really compensate for the initially higher price of a PC?

How often do you typically have to upgrade, and how expensive and difficult is it to do so?

I apologize for my ignorance on the matter of PC's, and I greatly appreciate any help that anyone can offer. In addition to the questions I asked above, if there's anything else you feel I should know, please educate me, if you have the time. I'm also sorry that I haven't been able to list a price range; I'll have to work that out with my parents. I'll post it when I do.

Again, thanks to anyone who can help. I've been interested in PC gaming for a while now, but have been intimidated by the vast array of things I don't know about it, combined with the high initial price. The Escapist community, from what I've seen, is very knowledgeable about these things, and often quite helpful. Thank you for your time.

EDIT: Thanks for the help so far, guys. I think I have an idea now on what parts to focus on, and the sites I've been linked to have been very helpful, and I really appreciate how fast people were to respond.

If, for the sake of what stores would be most readily available to me, you are wondering what country I'm in, I live in the USA.

UPDATE 3: Here is the build I'm currently considering. Your thoughts?

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor

Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme 4

Memory: Corsair 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory

Storage: Corsair Force 40GB 2.5" Solid State Disk

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card

Wired Network Adapter: Belkin F5D5000 10/100 Mbps PCI Network Adapter

Case : Antec Eleven Hundred ATX Full Tower Case

Power Supply: Corsair CX 500W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply

Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit)

 

[Bostur]

I can't really give specific advice on hardware or brands, partly because I upgrade so rarely that I don't keep up to date, and partly because it depends on where you live. I know there is a lot of knowledgeable people here that will happily cover that aspect.


In general you want to focus mostly on the GPU, and have adequate specs in all other areas. A good GPU adds very little to the overall cost while giving a lot of performance for games.

I use a few other rules of thumbs for PC gaming systems:

- Never buy a laptop.
- Never buy something with a brand, brand PCs underperform and are expensive. This advice don't work for all though, I live in a place where I can go to a computer store and buy a custom built PC. I know this is not an option everywhere.

Do the deals on Steam and GOG.com really compensate for the initially higher price of a PC?

That would depend on your buying habits and what other system you are comparing with. There are very good deals on Steam and GoG, but if you only play a few games and they are available on other platforms, it may not be cost effective. If however you buy a wide selection of games or want to play something exclusive to the PC then it does compensate.

I play games on a PC for a variety of reasons. I like using an open platform where I decide what to install, what peripherals to use and even what OS to run. I also need a PC anyway so I save money by using it as a gaming system as well. And most importantly because I like the wide selection of games available.

How often do you typically have to upgrade, and how expensive and difficult is it to do so?

I tend to buy a new PC every 3-5 years. Some people go longer, some people upgrade more often. I usually upgrade the graphics card during one generation of a PC, that adds a lot of performance for an aging PC. Exchanging graphics card is very easy, but you need to be able to use a screw driver. Most PC parts are easy to exchange, it's very modular and parts only fit into the right spots. Choosing the upgrades is the hard part, and asking for expertise when you need it is the way to go here. The place I go to, to look for advice is:
http://www.tomshardware.com/
Both their articles and forums have a lot of good information.

 

[Requia]

Concerning price: You don't really truly need to pay much more. You'll need to replace your current PC eventuall anyway, so going from a 500$ barrel scraper to an 850$ home build that is actually a pretty minor price increase from a 500$ barrel scraper+a 100$-600$ dollar console (depending on when you buy it, if you feel like going through the entire 360 back catalog buying right now would be really cheap). Most of the price increase will probably come from buying a new 100-150$ graphics card in 3-5 years.

(If you don't have the technical expertise to build a system yourself, well, you have to pay a lot more, but you probably can, as most of the hard parts have been removed these days).

 

[xPrometheusx]

One thing I'm surprised wasn't mentioned immediately is that it seems as though you're looking at buying a prebuilt PC. From what I've seen, I'd recommend against that. Build one yourself. It's cheaper, and you'll probably get better performance and life out of it, ESPECIALLY if price is a factor. I, personally, recommend Newegg. [http://www.newegg.com/Store/MasterComboStore.aspx?StoreID=7] They sell kits on their website of individual parts to save you money and you assemble it yourself. If that's not an option, just... you should probably do what these guys have said. One other thing I can say is that retail will ALWAYS rip you off. ALWAYS. Do NOT buy from a retail store.

Also, a quick and easy route I came up with is to look up the specs for various gaming commentators on youtube. They often have them right on their channel. If you know the commentator and how they feel about that PC, consider getting the same one for yourself.

Otherwise, yes, Steam is well worth the initial price. I bought left 4 dead 2 for 60 dollars when it came out on consoles. During the winter sale last year I got most of the Valve collection for something like 40, either in package deals or by snagging the individual sales. That's Half life, portal, l4d... For example, I bought l4d2 on impulse during a flash sale and got it for less than $5. And steam aside, there's a lot of other great deals out there too. Between Minecraft (and the associated PC modding community for it) and League of Legends, I've probably burnt more time on my crappy, non-gaming laptop in the past year than I have on my xbox in the past 4.

If I'm mistaken about anything, someone else who sees this please correct me. Just saying.

 

[Jolly Co-operator]

Thanks for the advice so far guys, I really appreciate it. Thanks especially for the warning against buying retail; I'll look into building my own.

 

[sagitel]

Where should I buy one? On a website, or in a retail store? Which site, or which store? Any specific brands?

this i cant comment on since im not from america or even europe so i dont know which sites are good there.

What parts should I focus most on? I see a lot of different specs listed when I check out any computer, and not exactly being tech savvy, I don't know which parts are most important to gaming.

if the PC is only for gaming then you will need a powerfull GPU. normal-slightly better ram and some adequate anything else.

How often do you typically have to upgrade, and how expensive and difficult is it to do so?

if you build the top of the line pc you wouldnt need to upgrade in a long time. say more than 7-8 years. if you are a fan of good graphics however after 7 years you wont be able to run new games in their highest settings.
and upgrading is not hard.(assuming you have the slots. which means you need the motherboard which you need an expert to install it on the pc) its mostly: you open the case, you see the part you want to change. you get it out (may need to open some screws) you put the new one in. nothing will happen there. and its pretty easy to spot what you want to change.

I apologize for my ignorance on the matter of PC's, and I greatly appreciate any help that anyone can offer.

ignorance is not to be ashamed of. not wanting to learn is.

In addition to the questions I asked above, if there's anything else you feel I should know, please educate me, if you have the time.

find the modding communities. seriously. do find them. they make any game X100 times better.

 

[Auron]

Building your own computer is a magical and fulfilling experience!(Okay at least I have a lot of fun with it.)

Where are you in the world? That's kind of important when you want references of sites, if you're in the US I believe the already linked newegg to be the best alternative.


What you need for a basic setup other than the peripherals and Monitor is a Motherboard, a Processor, a Video card and Ram memory, a case too of course. All of those have multiple brands and models and it can get a bit daunting at first, I'm not sure if it's our place to suggest a certain model or brand people will start to disagree. I'd do the research on tom's hardware and newegg and either ask there or even here if something's worth the price.

If anything I can at least tell you what I'd build, at least a 6 core, I use an AMD Phenom here and like it very much lots of people despise AMD and prefer intel though I say go with the more cost-efficient(usually AMD) and 8 gb RAM(any recognizable brand like kingston will do.) with a decent mid-high range video card, Nvidia 460 is what I'm currently using and it runs everything pretty fine it's getting relatively old though as you may notice if you search it's up to 700 or 800 now. There's also the Power supply, it's pretty important for mid-high end systems to have a decent power supply but I'm afraid I can't recommend any my current one is actually rather subpar.





edit - Yes, Steam and Gog are worth it, the winter and summer sales on Steam are full of excellent games at the price of bread. Just be sure to learn how to use the store the first rule of the steam sale is only buy it if it's on a daily/flash sale otherwise wait until the last day... Many people usually buy lots of stuff on their first time only to see it enter a better sale later on. There's also a bunch of genres that didn't grow on consoles like strategy and crpg's.

 

[Tom Waits' hat]

Welcome the PC gaming. The most important thing is to figure out how much you are willing to spend on your PC. If you have a budget is would be a lot easier to figure out what parts to buy. Based on my personal experience $700-1300 seems to be the sweet spot for it. But you can always go more if you want to.

I wouldn't worry too much about making it future proof by dropping $1000 on a top of the line graphic card. Just aim for bang for buck hardware on the market is fine, as you can always upgrade those hardware a few years down the track.

Parts you should focus on are Graphics card, CPU and RAM. Spend more on Graphics card than CPU. RAM are cheap, just go nuts with it. Again, without knowing your budget, it's hard to recommend.

A lot of people tend to go cheap on Power supply. They're not too expensive, but it's important that you don't go el-cheapo on that. Pick a well known brand. Last thing you want is to set your new computer on fire.

Motherboard as long you're not planning to overclock just get a standard one will do. No need spend crazy money on that.

SLI and Crossfire function (using two graphics card) I wouldn't worry about it too. As they haven't quite master that technology yet, you don't actually get 100% boost, probably looking at maybe 30%? It's a waste of money in my opinion. But again, personal preference.

RAM, you can by some generic brand/ generic looking one to save some money, no much difference in performance. RAM are dirty cheap these day. 4GB should be enough, but going 8GB is not going to hurt your wallet.

Harddrive, it's personal preference, but I wouldn't buy SSD yet. I'd wait for the price to drop even more first. But that's really personal preference.

Operating system, if you planning to have more than 4GB RAM, you'll need to remember to get a 64 bit version.

Putting it together might be a bit tricky for the first timer. But you can always take it to the shop and pay some people to do it for you.

 

[devotedsniper]

I'm not going to say go spend thousands, my current rig cost me roughly £850 + £120ish on watercooling bits but if you don't include all my hard drives and the watercooling your looking at around £700. It runs pretty much anything on high/ultra @ 1680x1050. If your smart and do some research you can get a decent rig (just the tower) for about £450, my first one i built cost under that and played games on high for a good few years.

My point is be smart, if your smart (and build it yourself) you can get a gaming rig for very cheap money, you will have to upgrade it sooner than if you were to spend more BUT if you get say 8GB RAM and a fairly decent CPU (e.g. my FX8120 was £150, not the greatest at benchmarks but handles anything very quickly), you won't have to upgrade those for at least i'd say 3 years from now? The thing you'll find yourself upgrading the most is the graphics card depending on how much your willing to spend.

And as some have said don't skimp out on the power supply, i've brought perfectly good cheap ones which lasted years but when they die they can take the whole thing with it, not to mention the generally the more expensive the more energy efficient they are (saving you money in the long run) and there more stable.

Oh and you mentioned deals on Steam and GoG, one other place is GreenManGaming, they pretty much always have 10-20% off for pre-orders and week 1 releases.

One final thing you can buy pre-built's but you will pay a premium and i've always found pre-builts generally start having issues a year in after heavy use, where as any machine i've built lasts longer, not saying customs are flawless, i have had some issues but they've always been an easier fix. There also meant to be upgraded unlike pre-builts.

 

[Kaymish]

i almost never keep to budget on my rigs but build something halfway decent and you will get your monies worth out of it but i like AMD for dollar to power ratio i have an 8 core AMD running at 3.5GHz and there is a lower grade version if you are not going nutso on it also i like to brand match it seams to avoid some problems like Intel with Nvidia and AMD with ATI
and SSD is not really required for this generation you might want it for faster loading and boot times
i think GPU is the most important thing to focus on however you must balance that with the other parts too you also save going with 1 nice graphics card rather than crossfireing 2 cheaper ones i have found it is a little finikie too

also avoid Prebuilt like the plague they are expensive and cheaply made and difficult to upgrade (goes with being cheaply made because everything in them is bear bones to support whats currently in there)

finally i would not bother over clocking until you have learned more about PC's mostly because it can cause instabilities

 

[Bellvedere]

I would recommend checking out Ars Technica's system guide [http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/12/ars-technica-system-guide-december-2012] if you're looking for somewhere to start building your own PC.

They do a new one every so often, you can steal a build directly from there. It's also good even if you're going to build something different since they explain why and how they chose each part which is a good way to learn. The same site also has guides about putting everything together, configuring the bios, and starting with a fresh new PC.

If you do want to buy a pre-built, just make sure that all the components are brand name. Sometimes the retail PCs can use generic parts that aren't compatible with the stuff you can buy and you'll be stuck with a system you can't upgrade at all. You can definitely get some great pre-built systems for a reasonable price - I'm not in the states so I'm unfamiliar and can't recommend anywhere but these things exist.

Good luck with your new PC!

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well it's important to know what price range you can go for and then hit PC buyers guides that get put together for this very purpose, because new components are out every month it is pretty vital to check this right before purchase and not rely on an old wives tale.

For anyone with at least one PC under their heel I would say hit online shops because they will supply the exact components at competitive prices, but for a complete newcomer it is best to hit a retailer that can walk you through things, just make sure you dictate the researched components and not them hocking shit in supply.
And don't let them talk you into pre-built stuff because those are put together for non demanding customers who get dazzled on high numbers of low relevance.
So instead of gushing over flashy keyboards, mice, monitors, blu-ray, printers, OS, shinny PC cases and absurd hard drives put money into CPU, GPU, motherboard and RAM primarily, because those are your actual work horses.

 

[banksy122]

In regards to GoG and Steam game prices. Yes, it will compensate. PC games on launch are already cheaper then on console and if you want to wait a few months the prices drops much faster on PC. If you wait for steam sales, you can get games for half price or much less. If you save 50%+ on each game you buy, consoles start costing heaps more after only a few games.

 

[Jolly Co-operator]

One thing I'm surprised wasn't mentioned immediately is that it seems as though you're looking at buying a prebuilt PC. From what I've seen, I'd recommend against that. Build one yourself. It's cheaper, and you'll probably get better performance and life out of it, ESPECIALLY if price is a factor. I, personally, recommend Newegg. [http://www.newegg.com/Store/MasterComboStore.aspx?StoreID=7] They sell kits on their website of individual parts to save you money and you assemble it yourself. If that's not an option, just... you should probably do what these guys have said. One other thing I can say is that retail will ALWAYS rip you off. ALWAYS. Do NOT buy from a retail store.

Also, a quick and easy route I came up with is to look up the specs for various gaming commentators on youtube. They often have them right on their channel. If you know the commentator and how they feel about that PC, consider getting the same one for yourself.

Otherwise, yes, Steam is well worth the initial price. I bought left 4 dead 2 for 60 dollars when it came out on consoles. During the winter sale last year I got most of the Valve collection for something like 40, either in package deals or by snagging the individual sales. That's Half life, portal, l4d... For example, I bought l4d2 on impulse during a flash sale and got it for less than $5. And steam aside, there's a lot of other great deals out there too. Between Minecraft (and the associated PC modding community for it) and League of Legends, I've probably burnt more time on my crappy, non-gaming laptop in the past year than I have on my xbox in the past 4.

If I'm mistaken about anything, someone else who sees this please correct me. Just saying.

I followed your link to NewEgg, and it's a very helpful site. Not being computer literate, I don't really know the comparative quality of one PC to another. I see the numbers, but I don't know how high those numbers should be, is what I'm trying to say. Here are the specs of a build I'm interested in:

Intel Core i7-3770K Quad-Core, MSI Z77 MPower Motherboard, Mushkin DDR3 Memory, Mushkin 240GB SSD, Rosewill ATX Mid Tower Case, Rosewill 850W PSU, Rosewill CPU Cooler, Rosewill Gaming Keyboard, Rosewill Mouse SuperCombo

So I have a base of comparison to go on from, how does this build look?

 

[BlackStar42]

One thing I'm surprised wasn't mentioned immediately is that it seems as though you're looking at buying a prebuilt PC. From what I've seen, I'd recommend against that. Build one yourself. It's cheaper, and you'll probably get better performance and life out of it, ESPECIALLY if price is a factor. I, personally, recommend Newegg. [http://www.newegg.com/Store/MasterComboStore.aspx?StoreID=7] They sell kits on their website of individual parts to save you money and you assemble it yourself. If that's not an option, just... you should probably do what these guys have said. One other thing I can say is that retail will ALWAYS rip you off. ALWAYS. Do NOT buy from a retail store.

Also, a quick and easy route I came up with is to look up the specs for various gaming commentators on youtube. They often have them right on their channel. If you know the commentator and how they feel about that PC, consider getting the same one for yourself.

Otherwise, yes, Steam is well worth the initial price. I bought left 4 dead 2 for 60 dollars when it came out on consoles. During the winter sale last year I got most of the Valve collection for something like 40, either in package deals or by snagging the individual sales. That's Half life, portal, l4d... For example, I bought l4d2 on impulse during a flash sale and got it for less than $5. And steam aside, there's a lot of other great deals out there too. Between Minecraft (and the associated PC modding community for it) and League of Legends, I've probably burnt more time on my crappy, non-gaming laptop in the past year than I have on my xbox in the past 4.

If I'm mistaken about anything, someone else who sees this please correct me. Just saying.

I followed your link to NewEgg, and it's a very helpful site. Not being computer literate, I don't really know the comparative quality of one PC to another. I see the numbers, but I don't know how high those numbers should be, is what I'm trying to say. Here are the specs of a build I'm interested in:

Intel Core i7-3770K Quad-Core, MSI Z77 MPower Motherboard, Mushkin DDR3 Memory, Mushkin 240GB SSD, Rosewill ATX Mid Tower Case, Rosewill 850W PSU, Rosewill CPU Cooler, Rosewill Gaming Keyboard, Rosewill Mouse SuperCombo

So I have a base of comparison to go on from, how does this build look?

i7 is a bit overkill. AFAIK an i5 will be fine for gaming. If you're not going to overclock it, then the standard cooler that comes with the processor is more than sufficient, so you don't need to include that. Are you sure you need a power supply that powerful? I'd have thought 500W would be all right, but I don't know how much power your components need.

 

[rasputin0009]

My friend just bought a $2000 "build-your-own" PC from ibuypower.com because he's lazy. But I was looking at some of the deals they have for pre-built gaming PC's under $1000 at the same time and they give you a decent bang for your buck (able to max BF3, will last 5 years). His PC should be able to max game settings for minimum 5 years but he'll probably just buy a new one 2 years from now for the fuck of it. I have a 2 year old gaming laptop that can do BF3 on medium-high graphics and that will last me at least another 3 years or until Battlefield 5 comes out.

And my preference is to keep my gaming computer use separate from my day to day computer use so as to cut down on viruses and malware on my gaming computer. As in, I don't watch porn or torrent movies on my gaming laptop. I do that on my school/work laptop because priorities.

And Steam can make you spend more money if you're a sucker for sales. I have a huge catalogue that I've barely touched. But definitely cheaper for AAA titles in the long-run.

 

[Jolly Co-operator]

One thing I'm surprised wasn't mentioned immediately is that it seems as though you're looking at buying a prebuilt PC. From what I've seen, I'd recommend against that. Build one yourself. It's cheaper, and you'll probably get better performance and life out of it, ESPECIALLY if price is a factor. I, personally, recommend Newegg. [http://www.newegg.com/Store/MasterComboStore.aspx?StoreID=7] They sell kits on their website of individual parts to save you money and you assemble it yourself. If that's not an option, just... you should probably do what these guys have said. One other thing I can say is that retail will ALWAYS rip you off. ALWAYS. Do NOT buy from a retail store.

Also, a quick and easy route I came up with is to look up the specs for various gaming commentators on youtube. They often have them right on their channel. If you know the commentator and how they feel about that PC, consider getting the same one for yourself.

Otherwise, yes, Steam is well worth the initial price. I bought left 4 dead 2 for 60 dollars when it came out on consoles. During the winter sale last year I got most of the Valve collection for something like 40, either in package deals or by snagging the individual sales. That's Half life, portal, l4d... For example, I bought l4d2 on impulse during a flash sale and got it for less than $5. And steam aside, there's a lot of other great deals out there too. Between Minecraft (and the associated PC modding community for it) and League of Legends, I've probably burnt more time on my crappy, non-gaming laptop in the past year than I have on my xbox in the past 4.

If I'm mistaken about anything, someone else who sees this please correct me. Just saying.

I followed your link to NewEgg, and it's a very helpful site. Not being computer literate, I don't really know the comparative quality of one PC to another. I see the numbers, but I don't know how high those numbers should be, is what I'm trying to say. Here are the specs of a build I'm interested in:

Intel Core i7-3770K Quad-Core, MSI Z77 MPower Motherboard, Mushkin DDR3 Memory, Mushkin 240GB SSD, Rosewill ATX Mid Tower Case, Rosewill 850W PSU, Rosewill CPU Cooler, Rosewill Gaming Keyboard, Rosewill Mouse SuperCombo

So I have a base of comparison to go on from, how does this build look?

i7 is a bit overkill. AFAIK an i5 will be fine for gaming. If you're not going to overclock it, then the standard cooler that comes with the processor is more than sufficient, so you don't need to include that. Are you sure you need a power supply that powerful? I'd have thought 500W would be all right, but I don't know how much power your components need.

Thanks for the tips. I really don't know if it's overkill or not, because like I said, I'm pretty inexperienced with this. I really don't know what numbers are considered "standard" or "average" quality. But if it might be overkill, I'll do some more looking, and see if I can find one a bit cheaper, without the unnecessary power.

 

[BlackStar42]

One thing I'm surprised wasn't mentioned immediately is that it seems as though you're looking at buying a prebuilt PC. From what I've seen, I'd recommend against that. Build one yourself. It's cheaper, and you'll probably get better performance and life out of it, ESPECIALLY if price is a factor. I, personally, recommend Newegg. [http://www.newegg.com/Store/MasterComboStore.aspx?StoreID=7] They sell kits on their website of individual parts to save you money and you assemble it yourself. If that's not an option, just... you should probably do what these guys have said. One other thing I can say is that retail will ALWAYS rip you off. ALWAYS. Do NOT buy from a retail store.

Also, a quick and easy route I came up with is to look up the specs for various gaming commentators on youtube. They often have them right on their channel. If you know the commentator and how they feel about that PC, consider getting the same one for yourself.

Otherwise, yes, Steam is well worth the initial price. I bought left 4 dead 2 for 60 dollars when it came out on consoles. During the winter sale last year I got most of the Valve collection for something like 40, either in package deals or by snagging the individual sales. That's Half life, portal, l4d... For example, I bought l4d2 on impulse during a flash sale and got it for less than $5. And steam aside, there's a lot of other great deals out there too. Between Minecraft (and the associated PC modding community for it) and League of Legends, I've probably burnt more time on my crappy, non-gaming laptop in the past year than I have on my xbox in the past 4.

If I'm mistaken about anything, someone else who sees this please correct me. Just saying.

I followed your link to NewEgg, and it's a very helpful site. Not being computer literate, I don't really know the comparative quality of one PC to another. I see the numbers, but I don't know how high those numbers should be, is what I'm trying to say. Here are the specs of a build I'm interested in:

Intel Core i7-3770K Quad-Core, MSI Z77 MPower Motherboard, Mushkin DDR3 Memory, Mushkin 240GB SSD, Rosewill ATX Mid Tower Case, Rosewill 850W PSU, Rosewill CPU Cooler, Rosewill Gaming Keyboard, Rosewill Mouse SuperCombo

So I have a base of comparison to go on from, how does this build look?

i7 is a bit overkill. AFAIK an i5 will be fine for gaming. If you're not going to overclock it, then the standard cooler that comes with the processor is more than sufficient, so you don't need to include that. Are you sure you need a power supply that powerful? I'd have thought 500W would be all right, but I don't know how much power your components need.

Thanks for the tips. I really don't know if it's overkill or not, because like I said, I'm pretty inexperienced with this. I really don't know what numbers are considered "standard" or "average" quality. But if it might be overkill, I'll do some more looking, and see if I can find one a bit cheaper, without the unnecessary power.

Just make sure you get a reputable brand. With power supplies, you generally get what you pay for, so it's definitely worth getting a good one. Oh, and what graphics card are you looking at? In general for gaming, the graphics card is more important than the CPU.