1500 budget gaming pc components recommendations?

[rabidtrout]

I want to be able to play upcoming games on max settings with a steady frame rate. Can you guys recommend what build I should go? Keep in mind it's my first build so I'm not completely sure what I'm doing.

2500k - $210
Coolermaster V6GT - $55
Mushkin Silverline Stiletto 8GB - $45
GTX 580 - $515
Corsair HX 850W - $170
Gigabyte Z68XP-UD4 or ASUS P8Z68-V Pro - $190
WD Black 1TB - $90
V100 64GB - $80
Any DVD drive $25

Those were my thoughts but I don't know if those parts are compatible or worth it. What are your thoughts? Can you guys list a better build that might be cheaper?
and what is an ssd? I honestly don't know what that is or the function of an ssd.

[Skyllz]

Looks ok, you could save some money by stepping down to a HX650. You dont need 850w for this build, even overclocked.
Same for the CPU cooler, something like a +212 or a CNPS10X would be a few buck cheaper.

Some people here will try to sway you into a 6950 instead, it really depends if you prefer green or red IMHO.

SSD = Solid state drives. These days lots of people including me are running them for boot drive with the OS on it and games/apps off a 1tb and up seperate drive. Makes for faster load times overall.

You already have a case, monitor, mouse, keyboard?

[CloudFire]

If you have a microcenter near your house, pick up the 2500k from there instead, i got mines for 194$ after tax, 174$ shelf price. I agree w/the above poster bout the CM 212+, one of the best bang of the buck cooler you can get and it'll handle any mild/moderate OC just fine.

I say the z68 platform is a waste of money, if you're gonna go with an SSD, there is no use for the ssd cache which is the main point of the z68 platform. I'd save a few bucks and go for the ASROCK P67 Extreme 4. Probably the best bang for your buck p67 board. For SSD, Crucial M4 or the Intel 320 would be my choices for their reliability. Cut out the 580 as well. Go with SLI 560Ti, for the same price as a single 580, you get over 1.5x the performance. Some people say that sli/xfire have some bugs and microstuttering, but I personally never experienced any in all of my computing experience, so as far as I know, it's a non issue. On the ati camp, you could get xfire 6870's, other than that drivers have come a long way that scaling is amazing with both ati/nvid and it's so worth it to get 2 midrange cards rather than a single top tier.

[Valamyr]

I am new to SSDs myself but I definitely recommand them, very much so. I got a cheap 64gb one to act as cache for my system and games disk and its blowing my mind away.

Basically with Smart Response, a SSD can be used as a supersized cache that tracks your most used files and then give you MUCH improved loading times, and read/write in general, than any Raptor disk ever could. For us gamers its most noticeable when it comes to loading times. They're insanely fast with an SSD, even if you have modded textures and things like that.

High end GPUs lose value too fast, IMO. That 500$ card is neat but only if there's something you really need to run demanding games on it right NOW. There's better long term value in slightly-more-frequent upgrades of upper-mid-range GPUs like the 6950 or a 570 I think, but YMMV. It depends on your short-term needs.