Okay, a while ago I asked for some recommendations on a new PC, I didn't really need one at the time but I thought I'd get a few opinions. However, with Skyrim coming out I'll need a better PC. Thing is, I don't know how to build one.

I've been looking at some custom-built PCs and they've got a lot of options. One option that they never seem to have is the option of letting me remove items that I don't want. I don't need a graphics card (I have an Nvidia GeForce GTX 460) and I don't need a hard drive (I have multiple 500Gs), so these things are useless to me and just add to the price. I was wondering if any of you, the awesome members of teh BGSFz, could help me with building a PC, or direct me to a place where I can get myself a custom, a true custom.

Price isn't really a problem but cheaper is always better.

Well if this computer is for Skyrim, please for God's sake, wait. Things will be cheaper for the same components now, or you can get better for the same price now. Also we
don't know what the requirements are yets, so Wait. Do your home work now like you are doing, but DO NOT buy anything yet until October.

You will just regret it. What is powerful now, can be or will be obsolete come November.

Skyrim is only a partial reason. I can barely even play New Vegas without it lagging up like hell. Basically I need a new PC, Skyrim or no.

So the question is, can you wait? If you can't wait, the other question is, will you, can you, have money to upgrade later if need be?

So you can start on the mother board, power suply, memory, Operating System, Hard Drive, (how an solid state or what ever they are called hard drives?) DVD player or Blu Ray player, sound system, proccessors and what ever fancy gadgets you want. On your graphic card make sure you have HDMI output so you can hook up to your TV if you like. I would hold off on the Graphics card the last if you are going to buy piece meal. More than anything if you buy now, it will be the Graphic Card that will be replacing.

Did you even read my OP? -_-

I don't need a graphics card or a hard drive.

Why wait if I can upgrade now? I know enough about computers to know that the system I have in mind will not be needing to be upgraded for a while.

I saw some pretty good deals on PCs with intel i7 quad cores and PCs with 8G of RAM. They were less then $700. However they all came with things that I did not need, such as a graphics card.

Definitely just build your own, and skip the search for a "custom PC". Far superior option. If you already have a 460, might want to get a second for SLI.

There's really nothing wrong with buying a PC now for Skyrim. No new hardware is coming out that will make a difference before then other than potentially bulldozer, and two dual-GPU flagship cards that are probably not anything you'd be looking to buy, and we still have no idea how Bulldozer will perform, or when it will come out, and the difference between another modern CPU and Bulldozer for gaming will be very little, if anything at all.

So, considering that you don't need an HDD, and already have a 460, what is your budget?

No budget to speak of, however less then $1000 would be the best option.

I don't even use the 460 though. Got it as a birthday present and it doesn't even fit in my computer.

It's a nice card though and I don't plan on getting rid of it.

It can easily come in under $1000 since you already have a graphics card.

If you are willing to wait a couple weeks for the P67 motherboards to be back in stock, you can go with an i5 2500k, maybe a P67-UD4 (though there are quite a few good P67 mobo options), 4GB of RAM (or spend more and get 8GB if you're really worried about the "future proof-ness" of 4GB, and want the extra in case games actually start utilizing it soon. (literally as I type this I got an email saying that Newegg is getting small numbers of P67 motherboards in for replacing the defective ones, so expect them to be back in stock for purchase within 2 weeks at most). A few good options as far as cases go as well. 690 II advanced for a great, cheap mid-tower, or HAF 932 if you want full-tower. Obviously there are plenty of perfectly fine cases, those are just two I would suggest. Very easy to find something else that's good if you want. On the PSU I'd go 750w or 850w modular so you wont have to buy a new one for upgrades for quite a while. You could get away with less for one 460 and an i5 2500k if you wanted to save money there. An SSD boot drive with room for some games would also be a good choice.

I'm waiting to hear a price on the new AMD Zambezi CPU before I make a decision. If it's too expensive, I'll probably go with an i5 2500k + P67 mobo. If the price is comparable I'm going Zambezi + AM3+ mobo.

I need everything but monitor, speakers and soundcard (so long as this Audigy 4 will fit a new mobo). I'm looking at about $1600+ if I buy an i5 2500k + P67, a SAPPHIRE 100315L Radeon HD 6850 graphics card, Windows 7, 16 gig ram, 1000w PSU, tower, and 3TB harddrive.

Mind you, my current computer is an ancient Athlon 64 with 1 gig ram and a Raedon 9600xt graphics card, so a new PC that only costs $700 is a good upgrade for me, but I want one that will last a few years like this one did.

I don't buy into the whole intel vs amd thing, just like I don't buy into the amd/ati vs nvidia thing. I want the best price/performance ratio. It's not a question of "well the Zambezi is AMD so it's gonna svck", it's a question of "well the Zambezi is AMD so it might have the best price/performance ratio".

Is this only a gaming computer? That's a terribly unbalanced build if it is.

I just built the one in my signature for around $1,200, including an optical drive, and windows 7.
runs really cool too.
check newegg and tigerdirect for prices. make sure your parts run well together. learn how to build it properly.
check power requirements, then go a bit above that.

Please tell us,are you going to use your old monitor,mouse and keyboard or you want new of them too ?
And please tell us on what resolution you will be playing.

I built a rig myself not too much ago.

I used a Phenom 2x2 555,which is at 3.2ghz,with 6mb cache memory and I unlocked it to a quad core using a trick! :celebration:
It costed me 100 euros.

I combined it with an ASUS motherboard based on the 785 chipset,one with many things like firewire and e-sata ports,which costed me 90 euros. :thumbsup:

I dropped 2 gigabytes of ddr3 ram from Corsair because I read at many forums that Corsair has the most stable ram units.
I paid 42 euros for them,and I plan to get 2 more gigabytes in the near future. :whistling:

I currently have a very low end psu,one with 450 watts that costed me only 25 euros. There might not be problems with it,and I use it for 2 years,but I see most people on the internet suggest more expensive ones with higher wattage,so I guess you should buy a more expesive one. :mellow:

Last but not least I bought a Coolermaster case that costed me 75 euros.
Coolermasters are some of the best cases out there.Both in design and practicality.

So all these costed me 332 euros.

And it's a good setup for me,because I play at a resolution most people nowdays think is low,which is 1024x768.
And at that resolution,with the above setup and an ati HD 4850 I can play all games at playable framerates not only with their graphics at the highest possible,but I can also run Crysis at Very High while having 3 graphics enhancing mods at the same time.
And I play Mass Effect 2 with everything at the highest possible including 8x edge detecting antialiasing and 16x anisotropic.

I can say I'm satisfied from my system for the price I paid.

Well when you said you were barely to play New Vegas, I just assumed it would have been your Graphic Card. So you are talking about processors then.

What's unbalanced about it? The ram is a bit high, but Windows 7 64 bit can handle 16 gigs. The CPU is fantastic even if it's not the latest one. The PSU is overkill but is pretty upgrade proof. The GPU, well, that can change.

That comp setup was recommended to me by someone I trust, after I gave him my budget and before telling about the upcoming Zambezis.

EDIT: I'll give links to everything but the mobo which is deactivated due to recall:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072 (CPU)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129043 (tower)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182188 (power)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231312 (memory)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145472 (harddrive)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102908 (graphics card)

I'm waiting on the Zambezis, and hopefully by then a price war will spark and my patience will pay off

It's far too much money for a gaming computer that only has a 6850 in it. While Windows 7 can handle 16GB of RAM, it's utterly useless for gaming, as is anything above 4. The PSU is way, way overkill. You could easily make a i5 2500k build for $1100 that includes a 6950 or 560 TI which significantly outperform a 6850.

If you dont mind spending a lot of money on an awesome case, check out the Corsair 800d

I can't make one for $1100 that includes that CPU though. The big expense is the CPU + mobo. Dropping ram and PSU doesn't decrease the price all that much. If you can build a comparable comp for $1100 I would appreciate seeing it Like I said, those recommendations were from someone I trust after I gave him my $1500 - $2000 budget, and I do trust people here on this forum with computer recommendations.

I probably won't be going with that GPU. Not sure what I'll want, but I have the money for an overkill computer that will be upgrade proof for quite a while. It all depends on that Zambezi.

As for the OP, try to build your own. You will get a better price, and it's not difficult these days. I remember when I built this current comp I had to use a separate computer to put the SATA drivers on a floppy to then install on my new mobo, because for some reason my SATA drive didn't come with a floppy disk and the mobod didn't recognize the drive without it. I don't think those problems exist these days, it seems very easy to do now.

Sure you can. I own a 2500k and a 6950, and it cost me $1050 with shipping to Hawaii. I'll make a specific build for you to look at after I eat dinner.

I'm needing to upgrade my graphics (going to be getting a GTX 470) but otherwise my computer runs most everything well with my current 8800.

CPU/RAM actually play a really big part in terms of performance, so make sure those are both up to par.

http://i51.tinypic.com/xauxrk.png, plus it needs a motherboard when they are back in stock. Probably an extra $150 or so for a P67 mobo if you buy it as a combo with the 2500k. Pretty much exactly $1100. Getting a non-modular PSU to save money, or a higher wattage PSU if you might want to crossfire in the future for a little extra. Case is obviously a more subjective choice, and you could easily spend more on that. But there's really no reason to spend $1600 on a gaming computer and only get a 6850.

Additional information: I plan on using my current keyboard/mouse (Although I may get more specialized ones in the future). I run on a resolution of 1920x1080 in most things. My 40" TV demands it.... it talks to me...

I just so happened to be looking around the net and I come across this: http://www.ibuypower.com/Store/Intel_P67_Core_i5_i7_Configurator

Now I wouldn't actually get that due to it forcing parts I don't want on me, but it seems pretty good for that price. A lot better then what I have now for sure.

That's all something to think about, and I'm really gonna have to compare the components because that's a few hundred dollars difference.

Dumb question: What's the difference between Windows 7 full and OEM?

OP, are you paying attention to this? This is a much better route than trying to buy a prebuilt computer Ask for advice and you shall receive.

@ SimpsonFly: I guess, for the price. but I don't trust it. you don't know the quality of all the parts for one.
but then again , it's that way with pre-builts anyway.
I started off like you, but then decided to go it alone. I was actually nervous about doing it myself, and crossed my fingers when I first booted it up.

I don't think the oem has microsoft support and it can only be used once...or something like that.
I didn't want to chance anything so I spent extra on the full version.
I am no expert on it though.

It turns out my original selections aren't much different in total price than yours. I may not remember the total correctly, but with the 3TB harddrive it's not much different at all. My original tower was double the price, and mobo might have been expensive (not available from newegg now and I don't remember what it was), but the 1000w PSU is not much more expensive, and 16 vs 4 gigs ram is a $150 difference.

Right now the prices are virtually the same, roughly $100 difference between them, without mobo but including 3TB harddrive. Yours is obviously the better choice because of the sapphire 6950, but it has low ram. Add mobo and it's between $1300 - $1400. Add full Windows 7 instead of OEM and it's about $1500 which is not far off my original choices. The difference is a more expensive and better GPU instead of more expensive and better ram and tower, which just makes sense. The difference in PSU is negligible.