Maximum PC

I'll start with the basics. I'm new to gaming PC. Haven't built one yet, but looking to play games like Skyrim, Elder Scrolls Online, Shooters like Battle Field, etc. Budget around 700-800.

When looking into GPU's and CPU's, What exactly are you looking at to determine whats better than the other one?

Also what brand is best to buy over other brands. I read Intel but I also read AMD for the price so I am confused as to which one I get.

If any of you have a budget like I have or did have, could you post up your specs so maybe I can follow the same direction? When I get more time later, I'll go shopping online and post up my possibilities.

Thanks guys.

When your deciding on a CPU it depends on what types of applications your going to be running aside from gaming that determine what CPU is best for you. Typically Intel is better when it comes to gaming and AMD is pretty good when it comes to heavily threaded tasks like video editing/encoding. You are only gaming from what it sounds like so I would recommend Intel for your computer build. If you are going to play a lot of games that have PhysX support then you'll want to go with an Nvidia video card but Raedeon cards offer very good value at the $130 to $150 price point.

This is my recommended build for you

Corsair Carbide 200R Case $50 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139018

Intel i3-3220 Processor $130 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116775

Heat Sink Stock $0

ASrock Z77 Motherboard $140 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157295

4GB of Gskill RAM $27 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231396

Sapphire 7770 GHz edition video card $115 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202011

WD 1TB hard drive $85 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236339

Corsair CX430 power supply $45 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139026

Lite-On DVD Burner $17 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106289

Windows 7 Home Premium $100 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986

Total $705

Yes,mainly for gaming. Besides the usual web browsing. Video watching.

What's the difference between dual core and quad core

Ok I read it.

I am not computer savvy, but I'm guessing I should go with an i5 or i7 instead of an i3?

A Core i3 is fine for video gaming.

Do you think an I3 would be good for gaming down the road in about a year? For up to date games like Skyrim with Mods and Elder Scrolls Online, open world games etc.

It's probably good for at least 2. Games are often GPU bottlenecked than CPU bottlenecked.

Ok and for the graphics card above, you think that's good enough to run skyrim with mods? And look great?