I want to start building a gaming computer. I could use any ideas you have. From the tower to the floor. I would like to make it a mid range priced machine. The machine I have now has a 750 watt power supply and a Gforce GTS 250 i would like to use if possible. Any ideas on mother board, memory, hard drive, cpu etc. I know the BK family will do me proud.

MB  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131636    
RAM  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231303&cm_re=G.SKILL_Ripjaws_Series_4GB_240-Pin_DDR3_1600-_-20-231-303-_-Product
CPU   http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103808    
CASE  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021

COST   http://secure.newegg.com/Shopping/ShoppingCart.aspx


i think this would keep you smiling for while

I am going to start ordering parts for my new machine. Would anybody change any of this if you were me. Trying to keep it as cheap as possible and still get a good gaming machine. Using old video card and power supply and hard drive.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
MB  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131636    
RAM  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231303&cm_re=G.SKILL_Ripjaws_Series_4GB_240-Pin_DDR3_1600-_-20-231-303-_-Product  
CPU   http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103808    
CASE  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021

I say go with a cheaper case and grab one of the more expensive quad cores.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119233
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103894

I would agree with Tet and go for a quad core if you can afford it.  I've never been one to spend a lot of money on a case as long as the case has good air flow for cooling purposes.

I am doing one as well. I posted this in the Product section on the new rig I want to build - maybe it will help.

New RIG


There are some great deals - I think the Core i5 (Lynnefeild) is the way to go for the money.  (QUAD-CORE)

Let me know what you end up doing.

Spend the extra money to ensure maxium upgrade-ability in the future. I think with this board you will be able to use your new and old graphics cards as long as your PSU will is big enough.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131667&cm_re=crosshair_iv_extreme-_-13-131-667-_-Product
It is a tad over kill. Its the one I want.

OK, my opinion would be buy a good full tower case. You will never run out of room
and you will be surprised at what you can do with one.  My for instance I use drive drawers
and have 3 bootable OS's. win 7 Vista and win2000. I use win 2k for older programs. But all I have to do is turn a key for the drive I want to boot up. Also with the extra room I use some of my older drives for storage. With still plenty of room for airflow. As far a cpu and motherboard
buy what you can afford, because the best today will be mid range in a few months. I still use and intel board and a dual core duo chip and run everything with no problems.

Buy as much ram as you can also, but whatever MB you buy check their specs  for what
ram they recommend.

My 2 cents

My 2 Cents......

Most programs are still base of a x32 matrix, meaning that the program can only use up to 4gb of memory even if you have a x64 bit OS. (see me for some advance commands to help Win7 64 read more then auto set)  

Like WannaB said, I run dual monitors and I can see what my programs are running.  I have 20gb of memory and on default mode I only use 2-3gb of memory during program run even with multiple programs running.  Any memory after that is just sitting there taking juice from the power supply that you dont need to lose.

As for the chassis I do agree with falcontx. My theory in life is its better to have and not need instead of need and not have.  Good air flow, room to expand, always a good thing.

Just so you know for present and future vid cards you might put into the 900.
You have 11 3/4 inches max space from the bracket to the front housing without putting the extra HD fan on the HD cage.
If you use the extra HD fan you have 10.5 Now if you do what I did{not shown in pic} I pulled my HD cages out farther you can get a max length
of vid card with the extra fan of 11 1/8 inches
For my next case I will only be looking at full tower cases as vid cards keep getting longer,
that said, I love my 900 and it's got LOTS of air flow{using all the extra fans}.

Hey Silent,

Thanks, did a bit of checking after your comment on ram, your correct  3 gig seems to be the sweet spot and anything more than 4 gig is a waste. We are always learning...

Trooper,

What ever you do, my advice is not to ignore the case. Yes you can save some money upfront by using a smaller and less expensive case.

Consider though the larger case will give you plenty of options to expand. Don't just think about additional drives either. You want to SLI video cards? You're probably going to need a larger power supply, that in combination with the extra card means you'll need more space.

Don't forget cooling as well. A larger case with lots of fans will alllow more airflow and keep those expensive cards cool. What good is saving $100.00 on a case when you fry a video card because it gets too hot? Also it's easier to brush or blow the dust out of your components with a larger case. A cleaner computer is a cooler computer.

One other thing, a larger case makes for an easier build.

My two cents. When you're done upload some pics and let us know what you did. Good luck and I hope it turns out well for you.

Actually the newer cards on the nvidia lineup have actually gotten smaller ;)

As for the 250 getting hot i just don't see it; As for a larger case being easier to clean / build i totally agree :P

On your power supply make sure the rails are strong enough; Ive seen a lot of people go cheaper on the PSU just for it to be to weak for their rigs.

Btw i have 12 gigs i could put into this couple but honestly its just a waste of my time ^_^

I have a corseair 750 power supply

750 850 1000 that doesn't matter much ( well it does but not for the point im trying to purvey )

Being that its Corsair, it probably has decent rails but make sure its rails are pulling the correct voltage.