total noob to pc builds

[technoob]

I don't know much about pc builds, and I have a budget of about $500-$1000

I'm looking for suggestions from you guys on building the fastest pc for the money.

I plan on using it mostly for browsing, and school papers, but I occasionally play games like minecraft or Counter Strike.

Any response will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

BTW: I live in the US

[Conelton]

If it were me I'd go for something like this:

CPU: Intel i3 3220

Motherboard: AsRock H77 Pro-4

Graphics card: Nvidia GTX 650 ti

SSD: 128GB Vertex 4 (or pretty much any 128GB SSD from OCZ, Samsung, Corsair, Kingston)

RAM: 8GB Corsair Vengeance 1600MHz

PSU: any 500W form Seasonic, Corsair, OCZ, Antec, etc.

Plus a small case such as Corsair 200R or Antec One.

I believe that would cost somehwere in the region of $700 (maybe less), so you could add some extra storage or upgrade the CPU and stay within your budget if you wanted. As it is, it would handle games pretty well. You can trust me because I have an almost identical rig :)

I hope I haven't either patronised you or gone over your head there, but I thought I'd give you my 2 cents. :)

[technoob]

Thank you very much for your reply! I have one question, though. Where did you, and every body else on these forums get their start? Where should I go to learn about PC hardware?

[TheNorthHarrier]

Thank you very much for your reply! I have one question, though. Where did you, and every body else on these forums get their start? Where should I go to learn about PC hardware?

I just ordered the parts watched some tutorials online and put it all together. It worked out great! Good luck and have a fun build ;-)

[Helltech]

The difference between a 500 build and a 1000 dollar build is a lot. If you truly only play minecraft and counterstrike you can get an APU and have a very decent machine that is very cheap.