I could use some advice for new system.

[Blackthanos]

Hello all. I'm very very new here and would like to get suggestions for my new system. It's probably going to be a bare bones system for the most part which is fine as I plan on updating some things as time and money allows. I'm pretty open about most of the system since I've been out of the loop for a VERY long time so I realize I can't make any knowledgeable choices on my own at the moment. The only thing I am pretty set in stone about is I want it to have the intel i5 2500k processor in it. Other than that I'm pretty open. I am looking for reliability, semi future proofing, and a good bag for buck ratio. The only reason I can afford a new system at all is due to my small but happily received income tax refund. The budget is around $470-580ish.(if rebates are involved maybe a little more) I do have two old hard drives I could use if that helps with the budget but I don't know if that would be the wisest thing to do as they are 5400rpm and I suppose they could slow the system down? Anyway main use for this system will be gaming and video conversion, with some average use as well.(web surfing and playing/burning dvds) Any help would be greatly appreciated. Please list everything I would need as I have no clue..lol. Thanks.

 

[Roark]

A 2500K build for even ~$600 is going to be real tight considering the CPU itself is around $200 alone.

What other parts can you cannibalize from your last rig?
The 5900RPM hard drives will be slow, but it will also save you $75-100 up-front if you just upgrade them later.
If you have a CD/DVD drive, Windows license you can use, video card, power supply, Case, RAM, etc.. that would also help.

List any other hardware you have and we'll fill in the rest.

 

[Blackthanos]

Well I do have a DVD drive I could pull from my old system but I was really hoping to leave it pretty much intact as a backup system. The HD I listed in my op was a secondary drive I added. I knew that if I didn't cannibalize my system it would be a little rough and bare but I didn't think it would be impossible. I actually started looking around earlier today and it seems like it should be possible I just don't know if the specific models of hardware I was looking at were considered good or not. Plus the price on the i5 2500 has dropped some. Here are some links to some of the parts I was looking at while researching today.
Micro Center - Intel Core i5 2500K LGA 1155 Boxed Processor 179648 CPU
Micro Center - Thermaltake TR2 Series 500 Watt ATX Power Supply TR-500 PSU
Micro Center - ASUS P8Z68-V LX LGA 1155 Z68 ATX Intel Motherboard 809988 mobo
EVGA 01G-P3-1526-KR GeForce GT 520 Video Card - 1GB, DDR3, PCI-Express 2.0 (x16), Dual DVI-I, Mini-HDMI, DirectX 11, Single-Slot, Includes 3 Year Warranty w/Registration at TigerDirect.com GPU
Newegg.com - Patriot Signature 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model PSD34G1600K RAM

Again this is all new to me but from what I can see these things look like they would work and it doesn't seem like my budget would have to be broken or at least broken by much. I know I saw a decent DVD/CD drive on at site for $21 also.

 

[Peter.Cort]

a 5400rpm drive will make you weep! Honestly, I'd sacrifice the 2500k for an i3 SB proc and then bump up some other components. Also as roark said if you have stuff like a windows license, optical drive, monitor and case that right there is like 200-300 off the final cost.