This is going into a pre existing computer right? What are the rest of your specs? Your Ram and MB?

And seriously, if you have a credit card, then buy from NewEgg. Way cheaper. Also Id go for the 955 black since it will only be 20 bucks more from NewEgg and will last you longer than the dual core. Its what I use. What you save on the GPU (usually around 179-199 for the 560 at NewwEgg) you can put into a better CPU.
Just make sure your motherboard isn't bottlenecking anything.

Also, make sure you check that your power supply is powerful enough to support your hardware. If you're running a high end graphics card, you will probably want at least a 500-600W power supply.

nah, im starting from scratch

I have the 465 GTX and I play on Ultra with AA and AF on off.

Want budget build for best results?

i5 2500k

HD6950 2 GB (That card coming close to 580 with MSAA off on 1080p Ultra BF3)

4GB RAM

Trust me, I've quite an experience.

Edit: Games never uses more than 4GB of Ram. Skyrim is capped at 2 GB I believe.

So you'll need more than just a CPU and GPU. First go to NewEgg, then go to the tech thread in this Forums general discussions.
http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/af150/The_FalconO6/CurrentLogicalPCBuyingGuide/Guide.png

which one do you think will be able to run skyrim? modest, entry, good or very good?

Look buddy, I'm listing you best build for ultra gaming, and it's cheap as hell, it is also futureproof (Ivy Bridge)

i5 2500k (A better CPU than that for Gaming is a WASTE OF MONEY)

Sapphire HD 6950 2GB (That baby goes up to GTX580's levels with MSAA off on 1080p Ultra in BF3)

Kingston/Corsair 1600 MHz or more 4 GB DDR3 RAM (Games never utilize more than 4 GB)

P67 chipset motherboard (I recommend "ASUS P8P67 Deluxe" to be futureproof as possible and not costly at same time)

rest doesn't matter, you can decide on those.

Important Edit: 700 W PSU would be perfect for that build.

I'm running Skyrim on Ultra on an Nvidia 9800 GTX

Doubt it's playable.

whats your budget

about 200 to 500$

In my opinion, buy this, and you won't spend a coin for a long time:

nah, 700$ is to much

Intel i7 series, a 560 GTX (or better), whatever motherboard fits the proc socket AND has ram slots that will accept as much triple channel memory as you can afford (I'm partial to OCZ). PSU by Corsair with no complaints (850w), Sure this is probably overkill, but if you do the work now AND maintain the system, you'll thank yourself later. Take a week and learn everything you can about the technology and what it's compatible with. As for where to buy, there might be a Microcenter near you, or you can check out their website. With one in my back yard I dont have to worry about buying online, but they've never steered me wrong.

At most, $.02

Edit: Also keep in mind that whatever motherboard you decide to buy will dictate the processor and any potential upgrades later on. Also, you said you're starting from scratch... You also planning on buying a new case with that?

Games never use more potential than a i5 2500k, don't misguide him. A i7 nowadays always waste of money.

I have i7 2600k and I wish I did buy i5 2500k instead.

I have an AMD965 quad core @ 4.0 ghz and it rocks and much cheaper than Intel's 2500k.

For the op, if you look in my sig I got these parts and others for around $700 and is amazing.

Processor and board are separate. The board will probably cost you a similar amount as your processor.

First you need to pick your processor, then look for a good board that will be compatible with it.

Sites like Toms Hardware, Bit Tech and Anatech (sp?)are good.

It going to be tough building a PC for $500 - $700 that will run this game on Ultra :confused: Just my Graphics card and CPU cost that much, not to metion everything else

The i5 2500k is the best CPU for the money out there right now.

You can build a really nice rig in the price range. the i5 2500k, which really is all you need for a processor is $219 and newegg, The nvidia 500 series GPU's will be price dropping in the next few weeks before christmas. Pick up a nice ASUS z68 chipset motherboard around $120, DDR3 ram is cheap right now....small SSD for a boot drive and a large HD for storage. There you go.

I don't know what this guy means by 'neweer graphic cards' but on my system (in sig below) I run the
game on Ultra and monitor the FPS performance via FRAPS displayed on my Logitech keyboard display.

Solid 60 FPS for most of the time with dips to mid 40's in some areas.
When I see things drop to 30's I know it is time for a game restart. It always fixes that. Not sure if that is a driver
issue or game engine.

I''d say most any mid to upper range card could run at high- ultra and I'd also say one would be better off with a Intel
based system for gaming.

(yeah, I used to run AMD years ago but that was when it made sense).

Skyrim only uses 2 cores so you need to buy a CPU you can overclock.

Get an Intel i5 and overclock it to 4/5Ghz. AMD is poo for games that needs proper CPU power.

My i5 @ 4Ghz still gets as low as 45FPS in town where the CPU is the limiting factor.


http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/skyrim-performance-benchmark,3074-9.html

As for GPU, pick an Nvidia card, AMD has some drivers issues right now, a cheap GTX560 TI will do wanders.

No offense to anyone here but Proccesor, ask in the http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1247846-the-community-tech-thread-no-109/page__pid__18984218#entry18984218 in CD. Tigs (Tig Ol Bitties) has been helping people with this sort of thing for a long time.

Just follow this format:

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0354589

Yeah it's probably the best all around CPU for the money right now. I only mentioned i7 because that's what I bought for my system when I built it 2 years ago.