I don't know anything about computer parts and I need help with my first PC.

[The Robster]

I'm looking to buy a $1000 (at most) budget PC, like everyone else.

The thing is, I'm willing to sacrifice things like RAM (Who needs 8 gigs as opposed to 4?) and storage(I don't need a Terabyte. 500GB at most).

Now, the thing is that I don't know how to make an educated purchase on an optical drive or a sound card. I'm most likely just going to be using headphones.
I'm also going to be completely clueless on whether or not a piece of hardware is going to work with a certain motherboard.
Oh and I don't know what motherboard to get so I'm planning on copying off of you guys and getting this one: [URL]http://pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-motherboard-z87g45gaming[/URL]

I plan on running high end 3d applcations on it.

So in question form: [B]How do I pick my optical drive, sound card, and tell whether or not things are going to work with my motherboard?[/B]
Thanks in advance.

[RandomGamer342]

8GB ram is recommended for multitasking and gaming, as it's not that hard to go above 4GB of ram(or at least make windows believe you will and switch to the harddisk pagefile which slows everything down)

The difference between a 500GB and 1TB harddrive is negligible, and most of the time the 500GB ends up costing more due to less demand and deals on the 1TB.

You don't need a soundcard unless you're a serious audiophile, as you're not going to notice a difference. I don't know what to recommend if you are, though.

The optical drive is irrelevant - just get the cheapest one. You're not going to be using disks enough to spot a difference between something more expensive unless you want to read blu-ray disks

With "high end 3D applications", do you mean rendering models/maps/etc or just high-end games?

[The Robster]

[QUOTE=RandomGamer342;43741824]
With "high end 3D applications", do you mean rendering models/maps/etc or just high-end games?[/QUOTE]

I mean games and software render programs like 3ds Max.

also, motherboards come with built in sound?

[Death_God]

Most do, yes.

And I would suggest getting 8 gigs at the minimum if you're running programs like 3ds max.