Best Guide for Building a New PC?

Hardware and technical stuff
1

So I’ve got the 3 year itch – the “it’s time to upgrade my PC” itch. Sad thing is, I figured it had been two, two and a half years, and I had at least six months to wait. I went back and checked the receipts, and it’s been 4 years since I built my last system, with the only major upgrade along the way being the addition of a SSD for the boot drive. The sad thing is, my current machine is perfectly capable, but, well, the tax refund check is coming, and, damnit, I’ve got the itch.

So, recognizing that I could probably buy a Dell and add a video card and do just as well, I have it in my head that I need to build this system. Unfortunately, I’ve been completely out of it for the last 4 years. What sites put together the best “low end/mid-range/high end” guides these days?

2

Tech Report’s system guide.

3

Tom’s Hardware have good build guides. Keep in mind that new Intel CPUs (‘Haswell’) are a little over a month away.

4

I used this about 2 months ago and,as a first time builder, it was brilliant.

5

That’s a great reminder… I may need to hold off on scratching that itch (I assume that the release of Haswell will also lower the price of Ivy Bridge, or whatever the current latest-gen chips are…)

6

The best resource for someone who knows how to build a PC but has been away for some time, the neogaf “I need a new PC!” thread:

If you are planning on building something other than a standard tower, there’s SPCR and missingremote.

7

Thanks for all the great suggestions! I’m leaning towards putting together a mini-ITX system (because, well, why not?), and have found some great info at these links. If something else comes to mind, please keep the info coming!

8

If you’re looking for a SFF / mini-ITX gaming PC, you might want to check out this thread. Some interesting pre-built options: Alienware X51, iBuypower Revolt, Digital Storm Bolt. Even if you don’t go with one of them, they give you some idea of what you can squeeze into a mini-ITX PC these days.

9

http://hardforum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=102 for a SFF forum
http://www.itxgamer.com/

10

what CPU and graphics card is considered fairly decent that will run FPS games for the next 2 years at a reasonable level?

looking for a new puter…

11

So, just to report back, I’ve finished with the build of the new machine. I stole some parts from my existing machine (hard drive, power supply), and bought a new CPU (i5-3570K), motherboard (Z77), cooler (intel water-cooler), and case (Bitfenix Prodigy). I was heavily inspired by the build they did over at Tested.com a few months back (with special guest Loyd Case, whose advice has been worth gold to me more than once!) I had a fantastic graphics card (GTX 580) thanks to a friend who decided his SLI rig made too much noise, so, after putting it all together, I now have a great computer again. Woohoo!

Also, it makes almost no noise at all (except when gaming), which was/is important to me.

Thanks all for the advice/links!