Help me build a gaming pc

[Archangel90]

Hello everyone I am tiring to build a decent gaming computer for my son for graduating college. Problem is that I don't know jack about computer hardware and the people i ask say go buy retail, which is pretty pricey. So a friend of mine suggested that i build form ground up. So if you guys could help me fulfill my promise I made to my son I would really appreciate it. If you could send me links to parts or a shopping list kind of thing that will all come together to make such a machine. I am sure I could find someone to put it all together once I have all the parts. My son only has these simple requests, that it is black case and has green lights and can handle playing crysis and supreme commander at a good frame rate with room for upgrades. I am also willing to send some money through paypal for some assistance in this matter. So to anyone reading this please be my savior and help me build this machine.

[vtfanmv5]

Budget?

[andper10]

I have a clear case with 6 green LED fans, so I'm glad to see that others like green computers too. I would recommend the Antec 120mm Green LED case fan ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835209012 ). However, I would not recommend paying the outrageous $15 newegg wants for them. I got mine on sale for $4 each from Fry's Electronics a while back. You should be able to do better than newegg's pricing for that fan by looking for it on other websites. If you need 80mm fan(s), you will probably want to get Antec also so the green matches:
( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835209008 ) I own 2 of the 120mm's and 1 of the 80mm's and they work well. They have switches on them so that you can choose low, medium, or high based on how much airflow & noise you want. I also have a cooler master 80mm green led fan, which I would recommend for a low flow intake fan, but it is a slightly different shade of green (it doesn't bother me). I don't know if you would be able to find them anymore. They are no longer listed on newegg.

I would not recommend Logisys fans, I have two of them and I had to under volt them from 12v to 5v so that they were reasonably quite, and now they don't move much air. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811999450

As far as a case, it is really up to you. They all do the same thing, so set a budget for the case and pick one your son likes within that budget. A cheap case will do about as well as the more expensive ones. I personally don't see why some people like to get the expensive Lian Li cases. Some common "gamer cases" include:
Cooler Master Centurion 5 - $70 ($20 more than I remember it being a year ago...) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119077
Antec 300 - $55 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835209012
Antec P180 (you wouldn't be able to see green leds very well in this case) - $80 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129041
Antec 900 - $120 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129021
Thermaltake Armor - $120 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811133062
Antec 1200 - $170 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129043
(You can probably find better prices at other websites for most of your computer parts, so check other computer parts websties before you order everything from newegg.)

Like the above poster asked, what is your budget? Without it, we can't really recommend the right parts.

[mjkovis]

First off, no need to pay anyone for their advise here. That is what we are here for, to help people like you!

Next, what type of budget are you on (as vtfanmv5 already asked)? Within that budget, do you need a monitor as well as a keyboard and mouse? Any preference as to the manufacturer of the CPU (Intel or AMD)?

In order for us to help you, you need to help us too with this information.

[David M]

A good gaming computer can be anywhere from $1000 to $5000 or more. You can get a very fast gamer for under $2000 though. Prices increase almost logarithmically with speed. How much did you want to spend? We cant accurately answer your question until you come back with a price.

[Khalil]

2 things here. You want a stable easy to build system as a first time builder and we need to know what games your son enjoys. MMORPG, Crysis types, does he pvp? pvp rigs can run upwards of $4000 as David mentioned there is a huge range.
I build gaming machines for the local market from under $1000 to 4k+ but those under $1000 rigs will not own in games like Crysis but will play World of Warcarft or EQ2 very well. Budget is really the big question here.