Building a computer, where do I even start?

[lordlundar]

and Tom's Hardware usually says the *70 or above isn't much of an improvement over the *60 for the cost.

They are right on that. It's a massive price spike (almost double the price if not higher) for a negligible improvement. In fact, unless you must have the new features (the 900 series for example is DX12 capable) you can go with a lower series and save a chunk of cash.

For a comparison, I just got a new video card which is a GTX 960 Overclocked. I payed $260 for it and it is miles better than my previous card (a GT 650). Any card with similar performance is at LEAST $150 more and is an older series.

[Chromatix]

Graphics cards are a bit of a topic of their own. Some generalisations however:

- The first digit of the model number tells you how new it is, the second indicates how fast it's meant to be for its time. The latter is much more significant; the low-end models of today are generally *not* faster than the high-end models of even several years ago.

- The biggest advantage of the faster models is increased VRAM bandwidth; an upgrade in shader performance without a corresponding upgrade in VRAM bandwidth is unlikely to be noticeable.

- VRAM bandwidth is also the main advantage of the low-end cards over integrated graphics, since the latter has to rely on the CPU's memory which is optimised for capacity and upgradability rather than bandwidth.

- Performance is not the only reasonable concern - check also power requirements (mainly what type of PEG supply it needs, if any) and noise output of the built-in fan. Some third-party cards (eg. MSI, Zalman et al) have identical performance and model numbers but use a different heatsink, precisely for this reason.

[Dreamstalker]

The motherboard was equally unhelpful, with the various slots and ports labelled with codes (S2, P4, etc) and nothing in the manual in print or online that identified what those codes stood for.

Power supplies are notorious for this. The only obvious ones are the main motherboard and SATA connectors. Even I was confused for a bit (a modular one would have really helped minimize the chaos).

One thing I suggest is a motherboard speaker. Some motherboards include them, some don't; it's a tiny piezo speaker that plugs into the pins marked "SPKR" (or similar). Super helpful at least for diagnosing issues with the initial setup. If you end up needing one let me know, I have a load of spares (I got 25 for about $5 on Amazon).