This does very much depend upon what you want to use the rig for really. Usually the i5 would be the go to chip but it looks like you are now tighter on the wallet so:
Give us the budget
What you need to get
What you've got already (including things you can re-use)
What you want to use it for and we'll see what we can do!
In the meantime the i5 is better and as for mobos there are a vast number of excellent z77s out there (it's hard to go wrong). MSI are my personal favourites too, you don't need the top of the range for an i5 chip. The GD55 is more than enough, G43 is plenty too.
Okay, I'm going to start off with what i have at the moment. I have;
Mobo, no idea what it is, there doesn't seem to be any documentation on it but it socket 775.
CPU, Pentium D 2.8GHz
Memory, Two 1GB sticks, DDR2, don't know what make
Graphics, Asus Radeon 6670
PSU, Corsair CX600
So that's what i have at the moment, i want to get;
CPU, i5 3570k (Unless some-one gives me a really good reason to get an AMD system)
Memory, 8GB probably Corsair Vengeance Ram, DDR3
Mobo, i don't really know
OEM copy of Windows 7
My price range is probably about £400 for all of that.
My PC shall be used for gaming and the occasional video encoding. I shall probubly overclock the CPU at a later date, when i decide to get a heatsink.
Also, i would prefer the CPU to be a retail product. I could do with the heat sink but if it's noisy please let me know and i'll buy a different one. And later on i will probubly get a higher end graphics card, but i wont be thinking about that for another year or so i would say.
Thanks for all the help guys, much appreciated
