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Extreme noob to computer building

Last response: in Systems

I am brand new to building computers, I barely know what I am doing at all. I was hoping to save a little bit of money and also get some computer knowledge while doing that :p  I was browsing this website and saw this build on another thread
I was wondering if this was a good build the price, I plan on buying all those parts in a week when I get paid. The computer will be used for gaming, music recording and editing, and regular day to day processes. My budget is up to 700, and I don't need a new monitor or OS with it. Help me build a computer please :D 
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That looks pretty good for a first build, just keep in mind that you'll have to buy some version of Windows to go along with it (unless you're going Linux).

But, I have a couple of questions that might let me help you a bit more.

What are you planning on using this for?
How long are you planning on using this build?
If you're using this for gaming, what is the resolution of your monitor, and what games will you be playing?


Just noticed the lack of a hard drive. Nice call rumor, I feel kinda dumb for missing it :lol: 

I am going to be using this for gaming and music recording and editing, games like skyrim and oblivion, and I was hoping to use it over the next 5 years and upgrade as I need to. Thanks for reminding me about the HDD I didn't even realize this wasn't a full build :sweat:  But I will be using a for my monitor. Unless you would suggest buying a new monitor as well. Also would this be a good HDD? I am super new to this so sorry for the dumb mistakes haha

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Good start. First change I'd make:

If you don't plan on overclocking your processor, there's little need to pay $30 more for an unlocked chip; the stock 2400 will be plenty enough for your needs.

Second change, you're going to want 8GB of memory:

Third change, more of an addition, a hard drive:

I'm usually partial towards Western Digital or Samsung's F3, but pick your poison in this regard; I chose a terabyte since you're thinking of doing music recording, editing and gaming. You will need a 64-bit operating system to address the 8gb of RAM, and you won't be able to simply move one OEM license from say an old Dell to this new machine; it doesn't work that way unfortunately, you'll need a full version of Windows that allows transfers, or a fresh OEM.

That's a great case and power supply; you could get a bit more power but for your needs it's sufficient. Someone else will have to weigh in if that motherboard is worth it. I know the P67 is many chipsets old now, there may be a newer board with more updated features, at an even better cost. I personally think the 6870 is a fine choice for your budget and will balance with your build, but I'm sure there will be some other opinions on the matter.

If you're planning on using this over the next five years, then you obviously want to future proof it to some degree. The motherboard is pretty much the cornerstone of upgrading. You have a decent motherboard, but I would recommend the newer Z77 series of boards, so if you really need to you can throw in a PCIe 3.0 card. It shouldn't run you too much more (maybe $20-30 for a cheapish one), but it might save you some money down the road. If you plan on using that monitor though, their shouldn't be much the 6870 can't play with eyecandy turned all the way up. Other than that, look at joafu's post. Pretty much everything you need to complete your computer there.

To clarify, when looking at mechanical hard drives, the other major thing to look at to determine its value besides the capacity is the speed. The 1.5TB drive you selected will hold more data, but it's 5900 RPM speed will increase the time it takes to reach the data over the standard 7200 RPM one. In terms of gaming, the actual play won't be affected, but the loading times between play will be increased. Then things like cache become a factor, but you should concern yourself with capacity, then proper speed, and fit it into your budget.

Possibly a good board, someone can second opinion this:

Bit spendy, but you'll have the options for Sata3, crossfire/sli, usb3 in the future. This one tends to be on sale a lot, so if you're not in a rush, you could save $10-20 on this, putting you near your original board in price. Plus it's a full size board, giving you a bit more room to play with. I always feel like I'm going to break the microATX boards when I'm setting them up.