[douglar02]

I am a pretty big gamer and i like to think of myself as somewhat of a pc guru; although i dont really know the inner-workings of a pc. Anyway i currently own a dell and am looking to start a new pc from scratch. I am looking to spend $1250-$1750 on this puppy. My main concerns would be Graphics card, Memory and RAM. Is there something else i should be concerned with? I need lots of space for music and games and i want my pc to run fast. Some things i dont understand is what type of cooling system i need? Some cases come with liquid system, should i go for that? Fan? How do i determine what power supply i need? How do i know if my parts will fit into the case when i buy them? Thanks for any help!

[scorpions]

im not a computer tech so i cant help you, but i hope this link will

http://www.pcmech.com/byopc/

[Mithrilhall]

Your best bet is to start looking at parts on www.newegg.com or some other website.

Once you've got some base system specs post them here and people will be able to help you along.

[loserOlimbs]

When looking at case, pick a size, and stick to it when you buy your motherboard.

ATX is my size of choice, plenty of room for the future.

When your looking at PSUs, get a good brand. Of all the things that can go wrong, a power supply going out is the only item that can take the entire system with it. Antec, Enermax, Thermaltake all make good PSU.
500w is enough for most systems (Maybe not if your going SLI)
Get one with 20A on the 12v rail, or 18A on the dual 12v. (Those amps are about the minimum.

[Geli]

Originally Posted by scorpions

im not a computer tech so i cant help you, but i hope this link will

http://www.pcmech.com/byopc/

Nice website. Whether you want to build your own pc or not it's a good way to understand a bit more of what's going on in your system

[loserOlimbs]

Any other question?

Thought I'd also pop these tidbits into your head.

For your price range you can build a very nice system.
I would Go AMD, if you go for the X2, get an ATI motherboard, the Nforce 4 is the other gamers chipset, but it locks the system up with the X2s.

[ferrija1]

for fans liquid colling systems are super-quite and work well, but when you want to upgrade they can be hard to move without breaking something. On the other hand fans are noisy and don't work that amazingly but they arn't that big or bulky. You pick.

[ferrija1]

You probably want a MB that supports DDR2 RAM because DDR2 doesn't get as hot and it uses less power than DDR RAM

[loserOlimbs]

DDR2 is not suppoted by AMD system however, not until the M2 socket premiers.

DDR2 also has a higher #CAS.

If your serious about gaming go AMD, and DDR for now.

[ferrija1]

oh. I didn't see he wanted an AMD processer

#CAS??

[loserOlimbs]

Originally Posted by ferrija1

#CAS??

#CAS,
CAS latency.

Memory timings.
also tCAS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAM_latency

[ferrija1]

thanks

[loserOlimbs]

Your welcome.

BTW, wikipedia.org is a great site, if ever you have a doubt try it out, you can learn more there in a week then most people learn in high school!

[ferrija1]

yeah i use it a lot

[loserOlimbs]

Just spreading the word!