PC Build Advice

I've been thinking about building a PC, and I was wondering if anyone in the community had any advice on the subject. My primary use would be for gaming, though I would use it for plenty if other purposes as well. I found this article; I was wondering what you all think of it:
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/can.../1100-6418829/
Price is a factor for me, though I do have a but more to work with than $550 USD.

One other thing I would like advice on is something that falls out of the realm of a typical PC build: a capture card.
I don't need anything too fancy; what I'm looking for primarily is a card that can receive composite input from PAL and NTSC devices (S-video or coaxial) and can output in real-time to the screen. HD capture would be nice, but I have a feeling that would cost more than I would be willing to spend.

the article is very informative though

I'm not sure about capture cards, because I've never had a use for one myself. I'm assuming you're talking about something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Elgato-Capture...c+capture+card

If something like that will work for what you need, then its simply an add on separate from your PC build. Unless you go with a capture card that requires connection to a PCI port inside of your PC.

Here is one that requires a PCI port:

http://www.amazon.com/AVERMEDIA-Broa...c+capture+card

Something you'll have to look into as well, is which particular one has good software along with the device as well. I assume there are adapters that either come with these devices or that you can buy that will fork for what you need. You might have to do some research on that.

They don't appear to be terribly expensive, so it shouldn't adversely effect your budget if its reasonable. Something like $800 could get you a decent gaming PC + a capture device. $800 will get you the latest Intel I5 processor + a mid range GPU, 8GBs of ram, and a good hard drive along with your capture device.

A new line of Nvidia cards is coming out really soon, and IMO I'd wait for the newest mid range Nvidia card. It would be something like a 960. Where the 970 would be mid-high, and the 980 would be top end. They skipped from 7XX to 9XX it seems. I believe the 980 is already out, because they typically release the flagship cards first, and then the lower to mid range cards get released in coming months. They should be out before December.

If you want a solid mid-range AMD GPU then the R9 280 is the one to get. Get the regular R9 280, not the 280x. Its not worth the premium. But the 960 will most likely beat it.

Thanks, but I think I would rather an internal card. The second card you listed only supports HD and VGA input. What I would use the card for primarily is analogue composite video.
On this topic, would a USB capture card bottleneck the throughput? I would like to be able to simultaneously maintain optimal quality and a realtime video feed.

Considering the price compared to power, I would currently choose an AMD card. Are there any benefits that would make me choose an nVidia card over a current model AMD card?