Building my first gaming desktop. Need advice on hardware selection.

You have been of tremendous help Wishmaster. Thank you sincerly.

Now on to the monitor. What monitor would you all recommend? I'm not looking for a huge one,just something in the low 20 inch range that also might fit near my budget.

DeaconFrost said:

I have two of the cases you plan to use, and I love them. One is my primary system and one is running my WHS 2011 server.

I would consider the CoolerMaster Hyper 212+ for the CPU cooler. It's cheap, and still one of the best air coolers out there. I also have two of them, and they are very quiet.

Since you know the parts you want, just build the computer yourself. It's actually extremely easy....easy enough that before my wife got into I.T., I had her build her own. This way, you can either save some money, or put that money towards better hardware.

Thanks Deacon,I think I will use the Hyper 212+. I do plan on assembling it myself when I found out the shop quoted me at $90 labor. I have upgraded parts on my desktop and laptop before, namely the video card on my desktop a couple of times,and memory and hard drives on both my desktop and laptop. Plus on my old desktop I modified it by installing a plexiglass window with a small neon light inside. Assembling one shouldn't be too hard.

I found 4 sticks of G.Skill 2GB Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBNQ RAM for only $40 shipped from an individual. According to around 1000 reviews on Newegg, the RAM holds a very good average rating (4 of 5 stars). Plus it is compatible with the motherboard I am going with, which is a Gigabyte GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3. Not a bad deal for the RAM IMO!

If you can find it at a good price, I would go with 2 X 4GB sticks rather than 4 X 2GB sticks. It is easier on the CPU and will not require any voltage tweeks. The Ripjaws X serise was made for Sandy Bridge and will work well in it. I also agree with Wishmaster on the SSD. I ran my system for almost year on a Crucial M4 64GB. There is plenty of space if you move your user files and games to another hard drive. Also, for an OS drive the 2 most important things are 4kb reads and access times. Those will not improve with a raid set up. Plus, you lose trim with raid.

essenbe said:

If you can find it at a good price, I would go with 2 X 4GB sticks rather than 4 X 2GB sticks. It is easier on the CPU and will not require any voltage tweaks. The Ripjaws X series was made for Sandy Bridge and will work well in it. I also agree with Wishmaster on the SSD. I ran my system for almost year on a Crucial M4 64GB. There is plenty of space if you move your user files and games to another hard drive. Also, for an OS drive the 2 most important things are 4kb reads and access times. Those will not improve with a raid set up. Plus, you lose trim with raid.

Thank you. I did some research after you suggested going with 2x4GB sticks over 4x2GB and you're completely right. It supposedly makes it easier to overclock your CPU if you have less memory sticks and it is also better to have only 2 sticks for a dual channel setup.

Wishmaster said:

...they are only 650W but they are far more power than you'll need. Plus, just better PSUs all around.
Wattage alone doesnt tell the whole story.

I agree. I am running both of the systems in the "My System Specs" listing off of quality 600W PSUs. Check the tool here to see how you stack up: Newegg.com - Recommended Power Supply Calculator.