im not going to be doing hardcore gaming on it id just like to have the option too and if i dont have to get a water cooler im not, my dad basically forced me to put it on mainly because his friends cpu got fried and im definitely not overclocking, and with the money not going to the water cooler i can put it towards a video card.

And Sanctorum, what intel cpu would you recommend?

also never mentioned but budget is 500-700 USD

element-flip-z wrote im not going to be doing hardcore gaming on it id just like to have the option too and if i dont have to get a water cooler im not, my dad basically forced me to put it on mainly because his friends cpu got fried and im definitely not overclocking, and with the money not going to the water cooler i can put it towards a video card.

And Sanctorum, what intel cpu would you recommend?

also never mentioned but budget is 500-700 USD

An Intel core i5-4570 would be a good card. If you plan on over-clocking, get the 4670k. Around 10 years ago, water-cooling was necessary in gaming builds but not anymore. Components don't heat up too much and with a $700 build, there is no way you'd need water-cooling. Air cooling is just as good as water-cooling now and is much, much safer. If anything goes wrong with water-cooling, you could destroy your entire build. If you want to stay safe, stick a CPU cooler in there.

now if i go with the i5-4570 what would be the optimal mobo? I'd like to spend ~150 USD or under

element-flip-z wrote now if i go with the i5-4570 what would be the optimal mobo? I'd like to spend ~150 USD or under

One of the B85 chipset motherboards will do the job.