Help with new build... $600-$800

[n00ti]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
gaming

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$600-$850max including tax&shipping

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Los Angeles, CA

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
I need ATX mobo, CPU, memory, video card.. that's it.

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
700w OEM ATX PSU, Seidon 120m liquid CPU cooler, SoundBlaster x-fi sound card, 3 seagate 500GB sata hard drives, DVD burner, alienware fulltower case.

6) Will you be overclocking?
no

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
1920x1080

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
asap

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
need pci slot for sound card, need onboard ethernet, USB. nothing fancy.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
I have a new & legit windows 7 home 64bit license

 

[Dangman]

Which Alienware case?
Which 700W PSU?
What games are you planning on playing?

 

[n00ti]

Which Alienware case?
2006 Alienware Area 51 tower

Which 700W PSU?
OEM. came with alienware case. label says "HIPRO"

What games are you planning on playing?
World of warcraft. Skyrim. 2012-2013 releases if possible. Steam.

 

[Dangman]

So here's what I recommend:
$180 - Intel Core i5-4440 CPU
$88 - Gigabyte GA-H97M-D3H Intel H97M mATX Motherboard
$74 - Crucial Ballistix BLS8G3D1609DS1S00 8GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$113 - Crucial MX100 256GB SSD
$210 - SAPPHIRE DUAL-X 14-202-099 Radeon R9 280 3GB PCI-E Video Card
$60 - XFX TS Series XFX TS 550W PSU
$50 - NZXT Source 210 Elite Black ATX Case
---
Total: $775 shipped plus tax.

Let me explain the build:

Your current case and PSU are not good enough for a current generation gaming system. I'm more than willing to bet that the above $50 case will outcool that Alienware case. As for the PSU, it wasn't that great to begin with so after 8 years with it, it's time to replace it. Hence the new PSU and case, both of which are superior in almost every way.

Yes that's a mATX mobo but your budget (once tax was factored in) really couldn't fit in a decent ATX mobo. Plus you didn't really say anything where an ATX mobo would be absolutely recommended.

Even if you had all three of your 500GB hard drives in a RAID 0 array, they would still be slower in overall responsiveness than a single SSD. A SSD makes the biggest difference in a current generation gaming PC since the storage/OS drive will almost always be slower than the rest of the PC. So might as well get a SSD to close that performance gap.

 

[n00ti]

So here's what I recommend:
$180 - Intel Core i5-4440 CPU
$88 - Gigabyte GA-H97M-D3H Intel H97M mATX Motherboard
$74 - Crucial Ballistix BLS8G3D1609DS1S00 8GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$113 - Crucial MX100 256GB SSD
$210 - SAPPHIRE DUAL-X 14-202-099 Radeon R9 280 3GB PCI-E Video Card
$60 - XFX TS Series XFX TS 550W PSU
$50 - NZXT Source 210 Elite Black ATX Case
---
Total: $775 shipped plus tax.

Let me explain the build:

Your current case and PSU are not good enough for a current generation gaming system. I'm more than willing to bet that the above $50 case will outcool that Alienware case. As for the PSU, it wasn't that great to begin with so after 8 years with it, it's time to replace it. Hence the new PSU and case, both of which are superior in almost every way.

Yes that's a mATX mobo but your budget (once tax was factored in) really couldn't fit in a decent ATX mobo. Plus you didn't really say anything where an ATX mobo would be absolutely recommended.

Even if you had all three of your 500GB hard drives in a RAID 0 array, they would still be slower in overall responsiveness than a single SSD. A SSD makes the biggest difference in a current generation gaming PC since the storage/OS drive will almost always be slower than the rest of the PC. So might as well get a SSD to close that performance gap.

Excellent. Yes, this is exactly what I am looking for. Everything makes sense. Will purchase now. Thank you.