Windows 7: Building a budget windows 7 gaming rig (first time))

Alright I'm really confused, are most desktop parts universal? Like i could go out and buy like and Asus or Gigabyte motherboard, stick an Amd cpu in there, and run use a graphics card like so?
EVGA - GeForce 9500 GT 1GB DDR2 PCI Express Graphics Card - 01G-P3-N958

No not really.

When you buy the gigabyte motherboard, it will be rated with a certain socket type. This is the type of cpu it can handle. It will also be rated with a certain amount and type of PCI slots.

I.E. LGA 775 for Core 2 Duo & 1x PCI Express 2.0 x16 & 2x PCI Express x1

When you buy a graphics card, it will require a certain amount of power and a certain PCI slot.

I.E. 400 Watts and a PCI Express 2.0 x16

When you buy a hard drive, it will require a certain type of connecter for both data and power.

I.E. Sata & X number of pins

When you buy a CPU it will have a certain type of socket, it will only fit in motherboards which support this socket type.

I.E. LGA 775

There are many other factors as well including:

Motherboard size (Micro ATX, ATX, etc)
Case Size ("")
Memory Type and Size (nGB, DDR2-3, Dual/Tri Channel, XXXMhz)
Sound Card Socket (PCI Express, etc)

In other words, yes you can buy a gigabyte motherboard and stick an amd cpu in it, but the gigabyte motherboard has to have to correct socket for that AMD CPU (AM2, AM2+, AM3)

I highly recommend finding/buying a beginner's guide to custom pc building.

What's your price range?

If the graphics card is PCI-X and the Motherboard has a PCI16 slot, it makes no difference if its ATI or Nvidia. Both will work just fine.

Keep in mind however, if you want to run multiple graphics cards in the future, SLI or X-Fire, you will need the appropriate chipset on the motherboard.

You can not run multiple ATi cards on a Nvidia chipset, or multiple nvidia cards on a crossfire chipset.
So if you know what type of GPu you want, and plan on multiple cards later, choose the appropriate Motherboard/chipset.

The most important thing is that Intel CPU's use different motherboard models than AMD CPU's. That part you absolutely most get right. Also, the type and speed of RAM you get is based on what speeds the mobo can handle. So, once you know which CPU and mobo, you can focus on RAM.

ATX sized motherboards will fit in ATX cases. A micro-ATX board can fit in a standard ATX case or a micro-ATX case. However, you cannot get a micro-ATX case and put in a full size ATX motherboard.

Since you are talking about a budget gaming box...crossfire or SLI is probably something you won't ever do. I used to game quite a bit and I won't even consider going with a dual video card setup yet. I just don't really see the need.

The other things like optical drives, hard drives, and other cards are usually pretty universal.

To give an idea of cost and what you can get,

TR's March 2010 system guide - The Tech Report - Page 1

Maximum PC just recently did a story on a $647 box that was pretty decent.
How to Build an Awesome Gaming PC for $647 | Maximum PC

Going this route might save you some worries since they tell you what works and show you exactly how to put it all together.

That's not a bad build at all for the price. Assuming you already have a copy of windows that knocks $100+ off right from the start. The 5770 is also considerably better than the 9500 GT mentioned in the first post. Good link.

Also if your looking to build your own get the parts from an online retailer. Best Buy (at least in my area) often has much higher marked up prices.

That's the trade-off with retail stores. You can wander in, look at the products and quick and easily return them...but there are costs associated with all of these things and they have to be paid for by somebody..so they can passed to the consumer through higher markup prices.

Where these stores really make a killing is on cables and connectors. It's absurd how much they ask for a cable. But then again, when somebody buys a $2,000 TV...what's $100 for an HDMI cable? Of course, I know you can get an equivalent quality cable for less than $10 from monoprice.com....but Best Buy and the like bank on most people having no idea and not wanting to skimp on the connectors once they buy their new fabulous high quality TV.

Thats a very good article... And they use the same CPU as my Desktop has