Thanks everyone for the replies and advice so far. I've been suggested various build options and contemplating what to change. I just haven't had the time to sit down and really put a second build together.

Quote Originally Posted by Harner View Post
You're building a gaming rig and not going with an i7? I'd also recommend going to a 10000rpm drive and 12GB RAM.

If you save a couple dollars going with a cheaper but similar quality case, you may be able to squeeze the extra horsepower in.
I'm going to pass on the 10000rpm HD. I'd like to get an SSD drive sometime in the future. I've come across reasonable arguments for and against getting an i7. I think the i5 is good for me now because it achieves what I want and will last me. However, I'm really interested in the i7 and will dwell upon it further. I have an interest in video editting though not enough warranting an i7. While I've been mentioning that the government is paying for this I don't have a blank check(I wish).

Quote Originally Posted by sailor jack View Post
why did you get lots of money/can i have some?
Because I'm a baller.

truth


Quote Originally Posted by Nick2.1 View Post
That memory is triple channel. 1155 boards do NOT support 3 ram sticks at a time. You might want to go with a Z68 board in case something goes wrong with the GPU you can still run the integrated GPU. Horrible time to buy a HDD unfortunately.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231422
Yes thank you. A lot of people have pointed that out and I feel goofy and thanks for the suggestion. I partially blame pcpartspicker because it is only suppose to show compatible parts when building, and I blame myself for not knowing the difference.

Quote Originally Posted by ShitFace View Post
Sorry Harner, you're usually on the ball with these things, but have you taken some retarded pills or something?
You don't need an i7 for gaming at all, its pointless. Unless you're doing graphics rendering or CAD or something, you don't need an i7.

The only benefits over an i5 that an i7 has is that it has multi-threading and some extra cache. Games don't even use multi-threading properly at the moment, and you can overclock the i5 to much higher speeds than i7, even if you overclocked the i7.

You may say well, what about those that don't want to overclocking?
I say, its easy as fuck now. Motherboard tech make it very easy now, gui bios etc. Some places even overclock it for you.

tl;dr : don't get i7 if its just for gaming, get an i5 2500k and overclock the shit out of it

@MPR: I will take a proper look sometime at the weekend (lol adjusting to new job), unless I get some free time before then. But I am more than willing to make a decent build with awesome prices for you if you want. (lol if i can get better prices than you...replied before reading whole thread...*hangs head in shame*)

@Looshius: You get the one I picked? How you like it?
Well I am thanking you for posting this pcpartspicker site in a thread somewhere else on this site because this process would have taken me a lot longer without it.

Quote Originally Posted by Harner View Post
Retarded pills? Yes. However, if you're building a computer called a gaming rig, why settle for a mid-level CPU? MPR is looking at a high end box to put all this shit in, and only going middle of the road on a CPU.

Fuck overclocking.

I have somewhat of a gaming rig as well, and only really skimped on the video card (which I now regret). I like to host VM's, have 100 apps open, and run Skyrim on high settings at the same time. My i7 doesn't give a shit, and it's only the 920. Both are excellent processors, and if you're just gaming, the i5 will be fine. The $100 difference probably cannot be justified with gaming.

TL;DR- I don't really give a fuck.
I'm actually thinking about changing the box because I could shift some cash to other areas of the PC such as getting an i7. While I'd take pride in my computer the least important aspect to me right now is the box. I've been given suggestions of other boxes that would do just as fine and incredibly more affordable. This is my first computer build and really I just want something better than I can get at the store or online without paying the exorbitant prices of Alienware/Cyberpower/etc. I think, at a minimum, a year or two from now I'll build a better rig with $2000 budget.

Quote Originally Posted by sycld View Post
Yer, what the all-knowing Nick said. You're assuming that all i5's are superior to all i7's, but just a little bit of research would bear out that the i5-2500k is better for gaming than the i7-920.

Also, MPR, you're not being a sucker because you're taking advantage of Microcenter's "my god did they steal these processors or how the hell are they making a profit" pricing. Good for you.

Other than that, I'm no expert. But I like my gaming rig.

Are you sure that you can live with a 500 GB hard drive? I don't think I could.
I have never heard of Microcenter until using pcpartspicker, but browsing around and comparing some of the prices I occasionally find cheaper parts.

Quote Originally Posted by sycld View Post
I never built a PC before myself, but I had hardly any issues after assembling it. I really just had some problems with molex power connections (including one with a loose pin). There was nothing that ever put any system component in jeopardy. Just be sure to read the manuals and literature that comes with the products, to be extra sure that you haven't forgotten or overlooked anything. Most connections only let you make them one way.
I'm already paranoid that I'm going to fry the parts because of some rogue static charge that built up in me. Also, speaking of shocks, while researching building computers there was something I read that when building a computer there was some part or component of a PC that if touched while charged or not wearing proper protection could kill you. For the life of me I can't remember but that kind of jolted me up out my seat.