can anyone give me a good list of parts or at least a brand to look for? I'm trying to build a reasonably powerful gaming rig for 1000 or less. I wouldn't need a monitor, speakers or mouse. my first idea was to buy the premade alien ware x51 but i was told for what I'm spending i can get a lot more for my money. any help would be great.
You can always get more for your money when you build. If you want serious advice from some serious people check out MLG.com Check out the tech discussion forums and the people in there will give you multiple parts an they find the cheapest prices.
Intel i5 ivy bridge would be the best bet I think to start from. What graphics preference do you have my first grow 250w wardrobe widow http://forum.grasscity.com/indoor-marijuana-growing/1135257-first-grow-auto-widow-wardrobe.html
I recently built a computer with an i5 3570k processor. Highly reccomend. The i5 3570k is an 1155 socket CPU so you will need a motherboard that supports that. Any 1155 board will do but some have more features than others. Get at least 8gb DDR3 1600mhz RAM. I also reccomend an SSD (at least 120gb) for installing your OS and most used programs on. Have another standard HDD for all your media etc. I just purchased a HD7870 graphics card for my rig a few days ago, was the best I could see from what I wanted but you may want to research this for yourself. Good luck, it's a fun and satisfying process in a nerdy sort of way. Enjoy it!
haha i also went with an intel i5 3570k...really good reviews on newegg and one of the best for a modest price
basic parts your gonna need is case, power supply unit, video card, motherboard, processor, ram, hard drive, disc readers, probably some thermal compound. Good brands are intel, nvidia, corsair, NZXT, if you wanna buy parts then the best site is newegg, it has everything your gonna need to build it and never buy alien ware , rip off.