AWKWARD ZOMBIE

With your budget, I'd suggest a newer CPU and video card. When I discussed GPU longevity with Madican, I was speaking from my experience which has always been with low-budget builds. You could easily jump up to an i5 4570, the gen 4 version of the one you have. You'd need a different motherboard (LGA 1150 instead of 1155) but that's not too difficult. I'm no expert on AMD cards (actually, if possible, I'd suggest nvidia over AMD because of superior drivers) but you could still probably go a fair bit higher.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4570 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($159.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD3H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($65.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($96.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($44.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $817.91
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-07-07 21:14 EDT-0400)

How's this?

How important is a SSD? I know it's faster than a HDD, but it seems more like a luxury part than something actually needed. If I took it off and purchased it at a later date with some extra cash, it wouldn't be too hard to move files around, right? Plus it'd drop the price down to near $750, which is fantastic. (also will it all fit in the case?)

A SSD is not important at all. Like you said, it's a luxury. With your OS on it the computer will boot up faster but honestly that's probably less than a minute and it's not like you have to be waiting around for it to finish.

You should check if you have a Microcenter nearby - I got my 4570 from them, but only because we already had plans to be in the area. Microcenter seems to always have a cheaper base price than Newegg, but I expect that might balance out if you pay for shipping from Microcenter.

Otherwise, it looks pretty good.

My two cents on the SSD: Have you ever been terribly bothered by computers taking around a minute to boot up? If not, then you probably wouldn't even notice the benefits of an SSD.

Every time I hear that I think the person saying it might not have tried using one. It doesn't just affect computer start up, but also programs. Loading browsers and other programs take no time at all. Opening the file browser and going down the folder tree is magnitudes faster than a HDD. An SSD is by no means mandatory, but they do speed up a computer markedly.

Madican and YCobb, do you have nearly a year's worth of experience with SSDs in daily use? Because I've been using them since last September and I would never go back to using a regular HDD as a system drive. Investing nearly 200 bucks in a processor only to have it bottlenecked in the most mundane tasks because your computer has to wait for your HDD to do its job is very frustrating. No, an SSD is not mandatory, but it hasn't been a luxury (like say, watercooling) for a couple of years now because it offers a noticeable boost in overall performance for any modern system. You shouldn't get one if it means you'd have to make sacrifices in other components, but it should be the first thing you get when you have any extra cash you're willing to spend on your computer. I was willing to spend 110€ on my school laptop which sees considerably less use than my desktop because whenever I used it, I'd have this tingling feeling in the back of my head going "god, this could be so much faster".

So yeah CN, you could do just that, skipping the SSD now and getting one when you have more cash. It's possible to clone data between drives but I'd recommend a clean install of Windows to avoid any complications. It's a good idea to reinstall Windows once a year for optimal performance anyway.

Also, you didn't mention what you plan on using the computer for, but if your first priority is games, I'd recommend going with the original CPU/GPU combo, it'll give you better performance because that CPU will only bottleneck the highest tier cards or if you're playing a poorly optimized game that doesn't utilize multiple cores. So there's not much point in spending less on a GPU and using that cheddar on the CPU if it won't give you better performance in the activities you plan on using the computer for.

I have used a SSD before in school labs, but I'm not in any great hurry and never had problems waiting a few seconds for the 400 GB external to open up. My older computer was different, but this one is still fast. I preferred to put the cheddar a SSD would have consumed into more powerful parts.

Alright here's the last one.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3470 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($179.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: MSI ZH77A-G43 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($74.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($66.98 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB Video Card ($199.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($44.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $704.89
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-07-08 14:29 EDT-0400)

Gonna pick up a SSD possibly at a later date, who knows? Also is the CPU Cooling SUPER DUPER IMPORTANT NEEDED RIGHT AWAY or could that also be delayed (not as long as the SSD, the cooling is like 1/3 the cost)?

You'll be fine on stock cooling, just that your rig'll run considerably louder and a fair bit hotter than with an aftermarket cooler. I didn't replace the stock cooler until two years after I built my computer. I don't remember what state you live in though, if it's one of those with really hot summers then it might be wise to invest in cooling right away.

I live in Assballs Nowhere, Kentucky. Average July temperature is 88 F (31.1 C).

So I'm getting my dad's laptop, and i was wondering about transferring the data to it.

Best Buy can do it for $100 but I don't know if I need to do that.

Geek Squad is a huge ripoff.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/wind ... r-computer

Wow thanks, all i need is a $20 cable, then!

HELLO BUDGET CHANGE

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Mushkin Blackline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($69.79 @ NCIX US)
Storage: OCZ Vertex 4 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($134.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 7870 XT 2GB Video Card ($229.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 431 Plus (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk II 750W 80 PLUS Silver Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($113.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Keyboard: Logitech K360 Wireless Mini Keyboard ($24.36 @ Amazon)
Total: $1038.04
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-07-10 21:08 EDT-0400)

Good, bad? Interested in OCing.
Keyboard, SSD, and CPU cooler (for when I get to OCing) will be purchased at a later date. I already have a keyboard (inconvenient chunky oldish thing). All research I did screamed at me that despite more cores and such, an 8-core AMD CPU is still not as good as a as an i5 when it comes to gaming. Any comments on that?

Don't bother overclocking. You shorten the life of the part and the benefit is negligible compared to just having good parts.