New Gaming PC help.

[EvilAngel]

After about 2-3 years or so completely out of the desktop PCs world im pretty out of shape and would appreciate some guidance on building a new gaming pc.

My last desktop before i switched to a laptop was a AMD Winchester 3200+, 1GB of Corsair XMS ram, a MSI K8N neo2 and a 6800gt video card, a nice setup when i got it that overclocked like a charm and served me well until the mobo died and i gave the surviving remains to friends.

Ive been trying to catch up in the last couple of days but im honestly very confused about whats what

My budget: ~$1,500 not including monitors, keyboard, speaker, etc.

The PC would be used mostly for gaming with the occasional Photoshop/video encoding. I plan to run 3 Monitors when multitasking and 1 22"-24" when gaming.

Right now on my laptop i just play WoW, TF2 and a couple older games but i want to build something capable of running new games without issues.

Some mild overclockability* would be nice but nothing too hardcore solid stability would be my main focus.

Any help or pointer is welcome.

TIA,

E.A.

 

[tiraides]

Check some of the build threads that have been posted recently... they have most of the parts we would normally recommend.

Here is a nice starting point:

And here are some motherboard choices:
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L Intel P35 Motherboard - $90
MSI P35 Neo2-FR Intel P35 Motherboard - $110
DFI BloodIron P35-T2RL Intel P35 Motherboard - $120
Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3R Intel P35 Motherboard - $125
DFI LanParty DK P35-T2RS Intel P35 Motherboard - $140
Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3P Intel P35 Motherboard - $144
Abit IP35 Pro Intel P35 Motherboard - $170
Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS4 Intel P35 Motherboard - $170
Gigabyte GA-EX38-DS4 Intel X38 Motherboard - $207

Just to help you out: If you don't need RAID, more than 4 SATA ports, check out the DS3L. If you need 5 SATA ports, 2 eSATA ports, and a second PCI-E x16 port, then get the Neo2-Fr. If you want heavy overclocking abilities and six SATA ports, check out the Blood Iron. If you like the BloodIron but want significantly better overclock stability, go for the LanParty. If you want 8 SATA ports, RAID, and legacy ports and high overclocks, than the DS3R is a good choice. If you want the DS3R but need Firewire and a second PCI-E x16 port, then go for the DS3P. If you want something that can overclock pretty damn high along with, RAID, eSATA ports and firewire connections, than the IP35 Pro. If you like the DS3P but want better cooling for overclocking, then go for the DS4.