Build: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/uxuM

On the Case: That was given to me for christmas. I would not bought it myself, but that's what I have.

This is meant primarily as a gaming machine, but I would like to leave it open to upgrades in the future. I'm over-budget currently, so I really don't want to raise the price any more.

I do not overclock or render.

An SSD would be nice but I really don't think I can afford one right now.

EDIT; whoops, put it in wrong place. Sorry.

 

Why the hell do you need 16 gigs of RAM? Literally no game requires pass 8 for great performance.

And are you still a student? Just buy Microsoft's student discounted Windows, if you really want Windows at all. Linux + WINE would work fine for gaming.

Remove the fan if you aren't going to overclock. The packaged one is more than adequate.

 

Yeah, get 8gb of Ram, also, lose the cpu cooler, completely unnecessary, unless you're over clocking.

Just had a quick look.

 

cpu: 165 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115089
mobo: 125 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157330
ram: 39 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231308
ssd: 100 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148442
gfx: 215 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500270
psu: 90 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151088
windows: 100 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986

Total: 834 + however much storage you want

For cutting the price further, you can either drop the ssd or not buy windows.

I recommend not buying windows. You can go forever without activating (you just get a non-intrusive pop-up occasionally, and a 'do you want to activate windows now?' screen when you start up).

(I didn't include the case here, since you said it was already bought)

 

Why exactly would you recommend another graphics card that has effectively the same stats but for the ZOTAC being around 8% slower in the core clock. Is the brand that better or the like? I ask because I am interested in buying a graphics card around that range.

 

Ram is the best thing ever, don't be hatin'. Get RAMdisk and install the most used programs, the difference is huge.

 

I'd look at an AMD 7870. Newegg has some cheap ones for around $200-$220. Tom's Hardware puts the 7870 between the 660 and the 660TI. And it looks like you are going with an overclocked 660, not a 660 TI. But it doesn't make a huge difference. So honestly you could probably go off of whether you liked AMD or Nvidia better, or which game you wanted with your graphics card.

I would also consider how much storage you want. $60 isn't too bad for a 1 tb hd. But $60/tb is kind of expensive if you want a bigger hd.

But yeah, 16gb of ram seems overkill and the cpu cooler is probably unnecessary. But that cpu seems to be the recommended cpu for gaming, so you can't go wrong their.

Edit: Are you a student? If so, can you get access to MSDNAA through your school? If not, can you get an IEEE student membership and get into MSDNAA that way? If so, then you can get free copies of Windows 8, and I'm almost certain Windows 7 is still available through them.

 

paying more for a pre-overclocked card is silly.

 

Just wanted to thank everyone for the advice. I went with most of the suggestions from the site CheddarTrek suggested. I still used the RAM and gfx suggested by Kai.

All the parts are ordered and I will be building it within the next two weeks. Thanks again.