Need advice on building a new computer

[Ecks]

Okay firstly i should say i've never build a computer. But everyone says its cheaper and what not so i thought its about time i made one.

Okay so my current system
AMD X2 4200+ 2.2Ghz
2 GB DDR
Asus a8n sli deluxe
BFG 8800GT 512MB

firstly i already know that my cpu is bottleknecking me a lot. The computer that i would like to build would mainly be used for gaming. I'm a hardcore gamer. My budget is well i'd like to keep the cost of it at 1000 Pound. I know the only worth keeping thing might be the video card if that. I'd like a quad core PC( i don't know if its worth waiting for a six core and if its even going to be good enough).

Don't know whether to go intel or amd
i'd like to have 6GB DDR3 Ram
i really have no idea about a good motherboard.

The other thing is i don't know anything about overclocking and most reviews that i see of cards and what not normally use the i7 920 but heavily overclocked.

Anyway i'd really like some help in deciding a good computer.

[BryanFury]

My suggestion.

Everything depends on your budget.
If you can afford Core i7, go for it and forget overclocking. Pair it with a decent graphics card. Radeon 5870 if you can. I do not generally suggest to Crossfire/SLI (multi-graphics), since not all games benefit from it. For motherboards, Gigabyte/Asus/MSI/EVGA are almost same in quality, again, depending on your budget.

[Psycho101]

Clock speed is still king in the current climate of poor support for multi threading in games.

6Gb of RAM is only really an option on i7. 4GB is plenty for gaming any way. Only reason to have 6GB would be to get triple channel working, which only the i7 1136 currently supports.

In my experience the architectural advances of Nehalem do not amount to much as far as 99% of modern games, especially GPU limited ones are concerned. Running any CPU at a nice 3.6GHz+ would be a big boost, especially if you're planning on using a 5800 series or a 5970 (dual GPU). Note that in some cases Hyper Threading can actually reduce FPS.

There are three ways to go really. The first is a budget PC with mid-high end GPU and 4GB of RAM This should be enough to play most modern games at 1680x1050 with max or near max detail and 4xAA. Pick up some parts on eBay for even more of a saving. Something like this:

E7200/E8400 OC to ~3.6-3.8GHz or AMD Phenom II X3 Black edition of your choice again OC to 3.6GHz+ Maybe even a Athlon II X4 620, but these have no L3 cache...
4GB of DDR2 or DDR3. Speed makes only a very slight difference. GO for DDR2-1066 5-5-5-15 or DDR3-1333 7-7-7-21 low voltage (1.65-1.7V)
Compatible motherboard, EP45-UD3 or AMD equiv.
HD4870 512MB/4890 1024MB/GTX 260 216

Even a E5200 OC to 3.6GHz would be pretty decent and you can get them brand new for around £40... Bargain!

Next would be a mid end system. Quad core, same 4GB of RAM etc

Q9550 OC to 3.8-4GHz or equiv Phenom II X4 Black of your choice
4GB of RAM again as above
Compatible motherboard as above, single PCIE 16x slot as we're talking mid range so no dual GPU needed
Single HD5850 or a GTX285. Could stretch to two GTX 260's if you can get a decent SLI board at the price range

Last would be what I would consider a "Hardcore Gaming Rig" although not necessarily everything is the highest end. IMO chasing high end is a recipe for disappointment. If you sh1t money then go for it, otherwise part of the game is sitting back watching your rig depreciate faster than a new Skoda:

Q9550 or Phenom II X4 Black as above is fine. Also consider a i7 920 D0 OC to 3.8GHz +
4GB of RAM for Socket 775 and AM3 or 6GB for i7, DDR3 preferably, at least 1333 7-7-7-21 IMO
Motherboard that supports two of your chosen brand of GPU in CF/SLI for futute upgrading.If you want to upgrade to two dual GPU cards then two PCIE slots that can run at 16 lanes each is needed. For two single GPU cards 8x/8x is more than enough.
HD5870/2x5870/single 5970 (dual GPU single slot), SLI GTX 275 or GTX 285, Single GTX 295

Storage would be the same on all systems to a point. My drive of choice for OS and Games, if wanting to use just mechanical disks would be a 1TB WD Caviar Black 32MB cache. This is a good choice for all the systems. Remember that storage doesn't get you more FPS, it merely cuts level loading time. Even this isn't effected by HDD speed as much as you'd think. Many games are compressed and loading is also dependant on CPU and RAM speeds.

For those wishing to go for a SSD, settle on a smaller drive, enough for the OS, Apps and a couple of Games you're currently playing and would like to load faster. I recommend an Intel X25-M 80GB if you're feeling flush or a couple of OCZ Vertex 30GB drives in RAID 0 for 60GB of super fast storage (400MB/s+ read, 300MB/s+ write). For the budget rig, a single OCZ Vertex (not the turbo's they're not worth the premium) would be OK for OS and a couple of games. Move Page file, Internet cache, temp files to your Mechanical HDD to save some space. Alternatively Kingston have released a "40GB SSD boot drive" based on a X25-M G2 but with half the NAND removed, giving a smaller but extremely quick drive for ~$100 after rebate.

Going from HDD toSSD is a dramatic change, but you get used to the instantness quickly. To remind you how slow a HDD is in comparison, use a SSD for a month then install the OS to your HDD. You'll hate your HDD now for OS use.