Motherboard? I guess you can find a cheap motherboard from somewhere hehe :P.

how much is your budget?

Well there are various different possibilities you can choose from. You can go with an i5-2500k or it's variants from the Sandy Bridge codename or the i5-3570K or of course it's variants from the Ivy Bridge Gen.

If you want overclockable CPUs, I suggest getting the 2500k or the 3570k. Here are some pros and cons

CPUs;
2500k
Pros;
-Cheap
-Fast
-Great Temps without aftermarket heatsink

Cons;
-Not as fast as Ivy equivalent
-Limited by PCI-E 2.0 Speeds***

3570k
Pros;
-Faster than 2500k
-Great Temps with an aftermarket heatsink
-Uses PCI-E 3.0 Speeds***

Cons;
-Gets hot when overclocking on stock cooler
-A lot more $$$ than 2500k

***, PCI-E 2.0 vs 3.0 isn't really noticeable, only newer cards have the 3.0 standard and even that the newer cards don't even utilize the full 3.0 bandwidth speed, Hell most newer cards barely even utilize the full 2.0 bandwidth. I would only recommend getting a 3570k and a PCI-E 3.0 motherboard for future proofing.


CPU Aftermarket Heatsinks;
These aren't needed UNLESS you are overclocking to high speeds and putting a lot of strain on the CPU itself. There are plenty of air coolers and closed loop coolers ranging from $20 to even $120. If you want an aftermarket air cooler then go for the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus. If you want to go with a closed loop water cooling solution then the Corsair H100 and H80, to me, are the best.


Motherboard;
Motherboards are all different, if you are going with a Sandy Bridge CPU then I would recommend a Z68 motherboard chipset because for Sandy Bridge that's its native chipset and will run the best on it. If you are going with an Ivy Bridge CPU then a Z77 chipset would be best as the Z77 chipset has native PCI-E 3.0 features, which the Ivy Bridge CPU helps utilize.

If you put a Sandy Bridge CPU on a Z77 motherboard nothing bad will happen but you'll be wasting features as the Sandy Bridge CPU can't utilize the PCI-E 3.0 bandwidth but the Ivy Bridge does. This is primarily your choice.


RAM;
RAM is really cheap right now, you want to be looking for DDR3 240pin DIMMs, I would strongly recommend getting Kingston brand RAM as they have LIFETIME warranty as apposed to other brands. But other brands such as G.Skill and Corsair make some REALLY nice RAM, I would stay clear of tall heatsink coolers like this; CORSAIR Vengeance

The tall heatsinks can interfere in most configurations with an aftermarket heatsink for your CPU, RAM like this is ideal for aftermarket heatsinks; Kingston HyperX

If you plan on using a stock cooler forever then by all means go for any RAM you want, but make note that some RAM can interfere with aftermarket heatsinks. Also, RAM with speeds of 1333, 1600, 1866, 2133 etc. There's no real difference except price. There's a huge difference between 1333 and 2133 BUT there's little to no difference between 1333 and 1600 speeds. If you can spare the extra dough for some fast speeds then go ahead and buy the 2133 RAM but in my opinion it's a waste.


GPU;
This is entirely up to you, I prefer Nvidia and I own a GTX 550 ti. I highly recommend the brands of EVGA and MSI. EVGA has excellent warranty but MSI has VERY good cooling. I would also recommend getting a GTX 560 TI. This would be an amazing GPU especially for cooling MSI Twin Frozr II GTX 560 ti.


Case;
This is up to you, make sure the case supports the form factor of the motherboard you're going to purchase and you're good.


Hard Drive;
I HIGHLY recommend getting a small SSD for your OS. 64GB<-- would be plenty for Windows 7 and all the programs you have. Install Steam and store other media onto your 1TB drive and you're set. SSD brands I recommend are OCZ, Samsung, Crucial, and Intel.

1TB and 2TB drives I can recommend are pretty much just Western Digital branded. The black series is the best you can get but if you're looking for something more ergonimical then go for the blue series. Also, PLEASE get a 7200RPM drive, this is the standard for desktop hard drives, 5400RPM is almost always used for laptops ONLY but sadly most HD manufacturers makes 5400RPM desktop drives and it just drives me insane...

1TB Black; newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533
1TB Blue; newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136767
2TB Black; newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136792

If you're going to look for other brands please use 7200RPM and Sata 6GB/s features...

PSU;
I will be able to recommend some great power supplies when you figure out your GPU situation


Have any questions?

Don't OC a freaking cpu without a decent cooler! It will melt.lol.:D

here's what I have in mind:

NO OC BUILD
Case: IN WIN MANA134 Black SEEC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case $40 newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811108407
CPU: intel i5-3450 Ivy Bridge 3.1Ghz $200 newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116506
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-H77M-D3H LGA 1155 $80 newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128548
HDD: Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB $90http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148840
Ram: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL $46 newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231428
PSU: SeaSonic M12II 520 Bronze 520W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS 12V v2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE $60 newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151093
GPU: HIS IceQ X H777QN1G2M Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 $140 newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161414

$656

You can try this one i got mine for $25.95

ATI Radeon HD 4300/4500 I like it personally its good for games like skyrim etc..

I think you should use it, not saying that this one is better then the others because there are some better ones out there but really expensive

well these guyz said the words right out of my mouth but heres a few tips that you could use when buying most computer parts.
1. i dont recommened gpus made by galaxy because they are big in any size case compared to most gpus
2.i highly recommened asus motherboards because asus adds so much extra slots if you want to do sli
3.dont get radeon unless is for low end videos....raedon is good with videos but that video EDITING highly recommend intel core i5 or if u want more i7 2700k
4. i dont think youll ever need 2 tb even for videos just get 1 ssd for 64gb and a 1 tb hdd would be good enough, its not like you are going to keep every single video you make and you might download 500gbs in game and most games take 10 gbs so i doubt you'll buy 50 games or even do 100s of videos without deleting.
5. i want to recommend this case newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119225 it has like 4 fans just in the case! you can overclock it (alittle) with a regular heatsink!
6. RAM i recommend corsair ram its very good and fast newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233185
7.your psu i recommend a modular by corsair good company means good psu(apevia is good 2) and since you are getting a 550 it seems you might for for 900 watts i beleive?http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817148036


and i believe thats it well good luck on choosing your pc i just woke up so i could of gave more information probally... *BROFIST*

^The one I give is modular + 5yrs warranty. He doesn't need 900w, it's too much and too much is bad. Radeon is actually good, it's just that they didn't see Nvidia suddenly boom their video cards right now. But price wise, you can get Radeon cards in entry level builds.

The gpu I gave can play everything @ high. You can lower it down anyways if you want. here's a review.

guru3d.com/article/his-radeon-hd-7770-ghz-edition-review/19

Asus Motherboards are great. So is Gigabyte, it has dual bios so when one bios crash, you can change to the other one.

The case is too big imo, he's not that enthusiast I believe and it costs too much. He's not going to put 4 cards in there.

sorry didnt see your modular and i didnt check the benchmarks of 550 gtx and how much power they need like i said just woke up so i went from the top of my head but id like to build a computer and buy parts that i can use for awhile incase i do want to add 4 gpus xD and i mean radeon is better then nothing but if i had the money id get a nvidia for sure

300 GBP is a little steep...and you already have a copy of Windows 7 to use correct?

PSU;
Well right now, if you are planning on getting a 550ti, 560, 560ti I would recommend a 500w PSU. It'll be more than enough power. Do you plan on getting another GPU later on for SLI/Crossfire? If yes then I would recommend getting a 750w PSU. Brands such as Corsair, Seasonic and XFX make excellent long lasting PSUs. From there you can choose to get a modular one or non-modular.

Nvidia;
I love my 550ti, it does very well on resolutions of 1440x900 and 1680x1050. I do not own a 1920x1080 monitor so I can not recommend a 550 ti if you're going to game on a 1920 resolution. A 560 is a beefy card BUT a 560 ti is only a couple more pounds so why not get that one? If you can fit it into your budget then you should undoubtedly get one.

AMD;
A 7770 would be a decent card, it performs close to and even better than a 550ti and costs around the same depending on the VRAM. If you are able to spend some more pounds for a 560ti, the 7850 is the equivalent of the 560ti and costs around the same as well. The only thing bad I've heard from AMD GPUs is the drivers...not everyone has problems but I've heard a lot about bad drivers for AMD.

It's best to buy all your hardware at once and ship it all to you at once. If you buy 1 part and wait a couple months and buy another part etc. etc. soon the parts you bought in the beginning will be outdated or even less pounds to buy later than it was to buy them in the beginning. In my opinion you should wait and save up for around 400-500 GBP.

7770 is equal or greater than 6850, mind you. And 2 7770>7970 and it requires 620w only I think or maybe less than.

550ti is good but it is shit for its price.

NEW Nvidia cards are great but their drivers suck so bad.-.-

Never had a problem with drivers and I've never heard of anyone having driver issues with new Nvidia cards. A 550ti, depending on the amount of vram, goes from $120-$160 before mail in rebates. Right now, you can get a 560 for a little more while maintaining under $200, you could possibly even get a 560 ti after mail in rebate for less than $200 as well.

I bought my 550ti and I have not regretted it, I am actually thinking of getting a 2nd one for SLI soon. That or save up some dough for a GTX 670 for some extra eye candy.

7770 vs. 6850 is rather, confusing. They trade blows back and forth, some games perform better on the 7770 while others are better on the 6850. The only thing the 7770 has on the 6850 is lower wattage and better GPU utilization. And, in my opinion, 2 7770's can't beat 1 7970. They can come close with a 7870 and even closer to a 7850 but nowhere near a 7970 nor a 7950.

Personally I would go for a 7970 so you have the possibility to crossfire the cards later on with either another 7970 or a 7950. With a 7770 you are limited to just that, a 7770 and a 7750 crossfire situation. Here is a chart of compatible configurations for crossfiring cards: sevenforums.com/attachments/gr…-gpus-xfire5xxxto7xxx.jpg

A 7770 is a bit better than a 550ti no doubt but they are both low end cards themselves. I am not surprised a 7770 can beat a 550ti because it is a newer GPU that released far later and in a new series than the 550ti's time. Wait for the GTX 650/650ti and it'll beat a 7770 and might even come close to a 7850 with a bit of overclocking.

tweaktown.com/reviews/4572/sap…in_crossfire/index11.html

7770CF vs 7970, 7950 and some nvidia cards.

Please note that the 7770s are indeed overclocked, also the Nvidia cards are the old 500 series. A single 7770 actually almost has the same power consumption as a 7950 and even some 7970s. And the 7770 will consume more power than some 7950s as well...

Oh and since we are doing benchmarks...

7770 stock vs. 7970 stock-The 7770 doesn't even come close to being even half of a 7970.
anandtech.com/bench/Product/508?vs=536

7770 stock vs. 7950 stock-About half way, not bad but the power consumption on the 7770 is atrocious.
anandtech.com/bench/Product/550?vs=536

7770 stock vs. 7870/7850 stock-More than half way but again, the power consumption is relatively the same and the temperatures are just ridiculous.
anandtech.com/bench/Product/548?vs=536
anandtech.com/bench/Product/549?vs=536

But like the topic says, for a starter card right now I can recommend a 550ti/560 or a 7770. If you want to future proof your system for ~3-4 years then get a 7950 or a GTX 670. Hell, just wait for the 660ti to release even, guestimated price for it is $300 and since Tweaktown leaked some benchmarks from a leaked GPU they recieved from a 3rd party manufacturer, I'm thinking it was EVGA to be honest. The benchmarks for the 660ti even show it's within a 5%-10% difference of performance to a 670 and therefore we can overclock it to reach the same speeds and performance of a 670 and maybe even for a 680!

Thanks for the conversation.xD It's great to know more when I'm talking with techy guys.:D

660ti is already released? I read a reviews, it's great.:O

No, it isn't. A "leaked" 660ti was given to Tweaktown, they didn't say who did it but I'm guessing EVGA did because there was a leaked picture of a 660ti cooler from EVGA. Right now, the only benchmark review I saw is the Tweaktown and I'm guessing it's a fake to be honest...why? Because they posted a GPU-Z screenshot and the bus interface reads it as PCI-E 2.0 when it should be read as PCI-E 3.0 because it's a 600 series card. I'm trying to get this confirmed by one of my buddies over on the Steam forums that has a similar setup as the Tweaktown benchmark guys.

Either way, Tweaktown seems to have what we expected and that's a little less power but it can easily be overclocked to surpass the 670 and MAYBE the 680. I'm gonna guess the retail price is $300 USD. So we will see for sure in the upcoming weeks if the mid-August guess release is right.

Nice observation right there. If it's onyly $300, that would be great.

Most people believe the the graphics card is what makes a computer.
Although it is a MAIN component in providing decent graphics,
it goes hand in hand with the processor of the PC.

For instance, if you buy a top of the line Graphics card,
but you have a 2.8 dual core, it's not going to run great at all.
Sure, it'll play games.
But getting Skyrim on Ultra settings won't work.
So be sure not to skip out on getting a decent processor.
Bottlenecking is something a lot of people do because they think slapping a new graphics card in their crappy Dell computer will make it better.

My new PC parts will be here Monday and the processor I ended up with is an AMD Phenom II that I'll overclock to 4.2ghz.
I also bought a custom CPU Cooler, which is a MUST HAVE. You want to keep your CPU temps as low as possible, especially when overclocking.
With everything i've gathered and the ATI HD6850, it's more than capable of running the games I want to play at ultra settings.

It's not top of the line, but it's close enough and it leaves me the options of upgrading in the near future.