Building a New Computer

I rarely post in or visit the tech. boards, but I imagine this question is pretty common amongst the lesser knowledgeable Anonymi: What should I buy/look into if I was interested in making a moderately good gaming computer?

My old one, which a friend put together, lasted me for about three years (seems so long) but allowed me to play games like HL:2 and the like with full graphics with no lag whatsoever. Recently, to my dismay, the power supply died and brought the motherboard with it. And I figured instead of replace the two, I could just build a new computer.

It'd probably be too much to ask if I were to hope for posts detailing what parts to get, etc... Instead, if you wouldn't mind, a rough summary of your own current system specs if you have a gaming computer would suffice. I'm not really looking for the omigod four-video card and 4tb hd computer set-up; a simple few month-year old mobo, one graphics card, etc, list would work just fine.

If anyone does help, I'd appreciate it if this didn't turn into a brand troll fest. Thanks.

Trust me, I asked the same question and every one was like, "Yeah, just buy like 5 512video cards, 8 flat screens etc." My only asvice is to go to newegg.com and browse through products until you find what you need. For things like video cards, the reviews (if the product is at all good) will say if it can play games like Oblivion at max settings etc.

My computer is:
Standard grey case, 3.2GHCPU, 256video, 2gigs of ram, and an 80gig hard drive. The motherboard is some generic thing that had good reviews. Just remember that the power supply that comes with most cases is usually not enough power.

Just make sure to read outside sources (andandtech, arstechnica, tomshardware, hardocp, etc.) and talk to other gamers, as the reviews on newegg, while they can be informing as to product reliability, there are also massive untold legions of n00bs heralding 1.6GHz Applebreds with 64k of L2 cache and PCI FX5200s as the most awesome things evar because "liek it works, and its fast enough for most people! lol". Keep in mind that YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.
Side note on graphics cards: The amount of memory they have on them is important, but too many people fall into thinking that it is the only thing they need to think about. Things like memory bus width (128bit is minimal, 256bit is preferred) number of pixel pipelines (at least 8, 12 or more is better) memory clock speeds, core clock speeds, are all important, and some (like pixel pipelines and memory interface can be MORE important than just "lol 256mb"

For example: compare a 512mb X1300 Pro to an older 128mb X800, the X800 would destroy the the X1300 Pro in every conceiveable benchmark, by a wide margin, due to having several times as many pipelines, 256bit memory interface, more pixel/vertex shaders, and much higher memory clocks. And the x800 would only cost a little more due to being "obsolete". In fact, the X800/X850 series (like to GTO cards) are a great way to get to serious graphics power on a tight budget. You won't have the latest graphical bells and whistles (like PS/VS 3.0 or HDR), but you will still get all of DirectX9.0c at good framerates at good resolutions.

>>3
It doesn't support SM3.0, but you get all of DX9.0c? Contradictory

>>2
>>3
The biggest issue for me is that everything would work together. Are there any guidelines I should know of?

>>5
For making sure everything works together, start by deciding what kind of CPU you want (AMD Athlon X2 and Intel Core 2 Duo are the the mid-high end on the market currently), finding a motherboard that supports said cpu type on newegg (there is a drop-down menu in the motherboards section that lets you filter out motherboards based on which cpu's they support). Once you've found the motherboard, you should be able to tell what RAM it uses from newegg's specs (most/all use DDR2 currently), and pick that type of RAM out (again, dropdown menus on newegg). For video cards, make sure the one you get is PCI-Express (NOT AGP) and it will be fine. For the power supply, go with 450 or 500 Watts. That will be fine unless you're building some SLI system or something with 18 hard drives or whatever. Your hard drive(s) should be SATA. Beyond this, any other parts (DVD drive, sound card (optional), and so on) will be compatible with practically anything.

if you wanna build on the cheap, but powerful, try getting an amd mobo that supports socket 939 and get a compatable cpu. the 939 series is being phased out, so you can get cpu's at half the pirce they used to be. the 4800+ used to be like 700, but it's at newegg for 307 last i checked. even if they're phasing out 939, you wont have to change cpu's for a long while, esp. since it's a dual core too.

dont rush the buying process. price shop anything and everything. never use ebay for essential items like ram and cpu and stuff. better to have a reputable online store to return faulty parts to than some guy in ohio selling his old shit out of his garage. understand that simply waiting a few months can drop the price significantly, not to mention sales and shipping specials. i bought my video card for like 550, and two months later i saw it at a retail store for a little over 400. never hurts to be patient.

>>4
 No.