Building a new comp, first time in a while, would love some advice :)

[candydirt]

Hi all! I'm going to be building myself a new system soon and would love to have some advice on what I am putting together. I built myself a basic system back in 2004 or so, with a 3.50 ghz single-core processor, 2 gigs of ddr2 ram, and a 516 MB graphics card all crammed into a tiny microatx case. It worked great for me at the time but now I hardly use it--it is really loud, and it doesn't meet the minimum requirements for TES5:Skyrim. I'm a very casual gamer, I only play WoW and Elder Scrolls, pretty much, and I have a smaller monitor (1280x1024 resolution)--so I'm basically building this comp exclusively for Skyrim and what few graphics programs I work with for my art without going overboard. I want the game to run great, but I don't need a massive overlocked gaming monster machine XD
It has been years since I built a system, I remember *how* to do so fine but I am currently amazed by how far technology has come since I last investigated, so the speeds and sizes are new to me.
Here is what I was thinking about getting:
This MoBo:http://www.frys.com/product/5817923?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG
This CPU: http://www.frys.com/product/6185909?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG
This video card: http://www.frys.com/product/6646364?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

Thing is I'm a little confused as to the maximum GB of RAM that the MoBo can hold, since the website doesn't tell me (at least I don't think so!). I think 4 gigs will be fine for now but I'd like to upgrade it later if I can to 8 or even 12 if necessary.
Also, what wattage power supply do you think would work best for this system? I currently have a 450w.
I already have an empty ATX case lying around and a 500 gig hard-drive that I can use, and want to add a second, larger hard-drive later. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if I put the old hard-drive into the new computer, I will need to reinstall my OS, right?

Okay, that's enough questions from me :) I hope you all can let me know if I'm going in the right track or not!

Thanks,
Julee

[RickyTick]

Hi Julee. Welcome to the forums.

That video card is good to go, but the mobo and cpu are quite old technology. And yes, changing your motherboard will require a new Windows license.
Since ram prices are so low, now is a great time to load up on a lot of ram. I would suggest 8gb for sure.

[candydirt]

Hi RickyTick! I am not well-versed with mobos or cpus, I only know that I need at least a dual-core processor that should be 2 ghz or higher. Do you have any recommendations for a mobo/cpu combo that would keep me on track with future technology?

[ARchamps]

Why not get a Quad Core? You can get an AMD Quad Core for a little more and get better performance. That is an older chipset and older generation CPU.

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103808
+
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131767

AMD is usually the best option if you are on a budget. These are just suggestions :)

[candydirt]

Okay, I did a little more research and found these:

This MoBo: http://www.frys.com/product/6639834?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG
This CPU: http://www.frys.com/product/6487372?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

But the poster's above combo is a lot cheaper. Is it comparable?

[RickyTick]

What you have there Julee is a Z68 motherboard, which has a lot of nice features, and is a nice board for overclocking. However, you picked a cpu that cannot be overclocked. Not a good combo. You could move up to the i5-2500k and that would allow for overclocking the cpu, but that adds about $40 to the price. Alternatively, you could keep the i5-2400 and change the motherboard to maybe a H67 that is still feature rich, but doesn't bother with the overclocking capabilities. Maybe something like the ASUS P8H67-V (REV 3.0). This would be comparably priced to the AMD system that ARchamps suggested, but would be a much faster system.
Hope that helps.