Computer question-advice for mobo and pcu.

[gos]

Actually, you aren't correct. AMD's architecture is different from Intel. They go with shorter execution strings to cheat "faster" clock times. AMD is less expensive for a reason. Intel i5 is the way the go. Plan on about $300 for a good i5-3570K is the way to go for top end chip. You can get a good motherboard for about $200. I wouldn't bump the m/b up to $300 and would instead spend that on the better cpu, or better video card.

this is good advice

You can build very good systems for about $1000. Once you've spent $1000, the only worthwhile upgrade is the video card, in terms of gaming frames-per-second.

[gos]

this is good advice

You can build very good systems for about $1000. Once you've spent $1000, the only worthwhile upgrade is the video card, in terms of gaming frames-per-second.

Oh, and don't forget an SSD if you have the money.

Personally I'd stick with either the Intel SSD 520 or the Samsung 840 PRO, for best performance and quality. Both will cost roughly $1 per GB.