Building a gaming computer

[hoofhearted4]

i wouldnt build a $1000 without an SSD. hell i wouldnt build any PC without an SSD.

 

if you have the money to build a Gaming PC, you have the money and youll have the desire to grab an SSD, at least a 120gbfor your OS and some games and apps

 

if youre looking to build a cheap cheap PC, then you probably dont need a lot of space, for example my parents. in their case a 120gb SSD is nearly as cheap as a 1TB HDD, and they only need ~60gb of storage anyways. so now they get plenty of storage with way more speed, that they will apreciate

 

 

i got a 120gb SSD for my PC, but im going to be upgrading to a 500gb SSD shortly, so i can have all my non-Steam games on there, apps, and at least 2 OSes.

Edited December 26, 2013 by hoofhearted4

[VoiceOfAutism]

Been a little while, did a little research and hopefully I am not building anything really stupid here, if you guys have any suggestions they're definitely appreciated and if you see anything stupid I did that you could explain I'd appreciate that too. http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2zBnh And if I forgot anything this is pretty much my max budget so please point that out as well, thanks.

Edited January 11, 2014 by VoiceOfAutism

[obobski]

Looked it over - few thoughts come to mind:

 

1) What's up with the RAM? You have two different sized modules going on there. It would work, but you'll get better performance with two of the same size module running them in what's known as "dual channel" - I'd probably get two 4GB modules in a kit (you can snag such a thing on Amazon for $69.99 too).

 

2) Do you really need a GTX 780? To determine: what games do you really want to play, and at what resolution?

 

3) Do you really need Blu-ray read/write capability? A DVD read/write drive would be less than half that price. (And Blu-ray recordable media is very expensive for its size)

 

4) Do you really need Windows Ultimate? Most users are generally more than covered with Home Premium; Professional edition adds some networking and crypto features that very few people will likely ever touch, I honestly forget what Ultimate adds beyond that - my point is, I'd probably cut down to 7 HP or 7 Pro and save $40-$100.

 

5) I'm unfamiliar with the maker of the monitor you selected (by itself probably doesn't mean much), but it seems like quite a lot of money for a monitor. ~$200 for a Samsung is probably more than good enough; if you want something ritzy (and with an equally ritzy warranty) look at the Dell Ultrasharp monitors.

 

The PSU and Case look fine, and the CPU/mobo combo are compatible, and will give you good performance.

 

You don't seem to have a storage hard-drive in there; a single 128GB SSD is pretty limited. If you're right up against it on the budget, I'd probably cut the SSD and replace it with (at least) a 1TB hard drive. On the other hand you could trim some of the "fat" off the machine (e.g. drop down to a less expensive version of Windows, a DVD writer, sort out the RAM, drop to a GTX 770, etc) and keep the SSD and add in some big hard drives for storage (or upgrade to a larger SSD or multiple SSDs, etc; you have a reasonably large budget and have a lot of options as a result).

 

Oh, I meant to link some resources for building a PC too...

 

This is somewhat older, but has some good info and a lot of pictures: http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/how-to-tech/build-a-computer.htm

 

Also, I'd be very cautious about suggesting or dealing with Systemax (this means Tiger Direct, Circuit City, CompUSA, etc); in recent times their ResellerRatings rating has gone into the absolute toilet:

http://www.resellerratings.com/store/Tiger_Direct

 

 

(last time I pulled that up it was still over 2.5...sheesh)

They used to be a great company to deal with, and I have no idea what happened, but apparently it was pretty significant.

Edited February 3, 2014 by obobski

[VoiceOfAutism]

So recently I've done more research ordered a few parts and am working toward getting all the parts I need so I can finally build this incredibly frustrating project. This is my current parts list http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2P82w , and these are the parts I own out of said parts list; the motherboard, the ram, the cpu, the case, the SSD, and the wifi adapter. To answer your questions Obobski...

 

1. Fixed that it was because I figured I need 12 gigs of ram and was originally gonna go with a triple channel motherboard...

 

2. Planning on using this thing for a while assuming that's something I can use to run games at the top settings possible for the next 2-3 years, if anyone has suggestions I'm open to them.

 

3. Yeah I need to fix that again open to suggestions otherwise I am gonna be looking.

 

4. Fixed that I knew nothing about windows and just figured that would have some features I'd want to use.

 

5. Gonna look into some better monitors.

 

6. To address the rest of what you said and some current problems I am facing. The mobo I purchased has gotten a lot of bad reviews, I am a computer idiot so I am trying to figure out what all these bad reviews mean and how they effect me if at all. I bumped up the SSD and added an hard drive as well. I plan on figuring out recording eventually and either doing tutorials with games or let's plays or something along those lines down the line so hopefully I've picked the right parts for those and thanks again to everyone who's looked at this and helped me get this far, I look forward to posting my working build.

Edited February 7, 2014 by VoiceOfAutism

[obobski]

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! Forum software ate my reply!!! :mad:

 

So now to retype it!

 

1. Looks good.

2. Won't work exactly that way - usually if features come down the development cycle that outmode hardware, its based on hardware feature support - the entire GTX 700 series would fail together, not just the less-expensive parts. The benefit of the top-end cards is higher performance with maximum IQ/resolution settings - if you need to support a very high resolution (QHD or 4K or multi-monitor) gaming environment the GTX 780 or Titan would have advantages, but otherwise I'd save the money and go with the 770. Take that money and put it in the bank - in 2-3 years if you need more graphics power, you'll do much better buying a new card (which will likely be double-over the performance of the 770) than having spent it all on the 780.

3. Unless you want to watch Blu-ray movies on your PC (which is a hit-and-miss experience), I'd probably dump it; just go with a DVD drive - it'll let you load software with no problems, and it'll handle physical media for games (I'm not aware of any game that uses BD-ROM).

4. See these articles on Wiki for comparison:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7_editions

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_8_editions

 

If you're going with Windows 7, Home Premium or Professional are good choices (64-bit either way), for Windows 8 I don't remember Pro costing much more, so I'd probably splurge on it (I think it's only a $20-$30 upgrade). Both have relatively long support life-cycles on the current Microsoft roadmap; Windows 7 isn't "doomed" anytime soon.

 

5. In my experience, Dell, Samsung, and Viewsonic are good places to start. Unless you really want a very high resolution display, I'd probably stick around 1080p - it'll mean less performance requirement on the graphics card, and still gives you a big enough display for work. If you need more workspace, I'd go with a second monitor, as opposed to a larger single monitor.

 

6. What do the bad reviews say, and where are they coming from? Also, do they seem rooted in a specific time period - if they're all from say, 8 months ago, and you read positive things now, the issue was probably fixed via BIOS update (and new shipping boards probably have that update too). The hard-drive configuration looks good to me - you may find you need more space down the road, but you can always add later. I'd put Windows on the SSD, and probably your favorite or most demanding games and applications (whether or not they realize benefits from it is dependent on how they access data from disk - but most applications will see at least some benefit from faster read and lower latency access times). For recording, you can go software (like the paid version of FRAPS) or hardware (like capture devices from Diamond (inexpensive and simple) or Matrox (expensive and complex)) - I'd probably start with software (it costs less) and move to hardware if you need the extra functionality and performance.

[VoiceOfAutism]

Once again thanks for the reply and for retyping the reply lol hate it when that happens to me. After considering the suggestions here is my updated list yet again planning on going out and buying the rest of the parts I need and probably sending back my original ram and my original mobo given suggestions reviews both user based and professional. Here is my hopefully finalized build. http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Voice_Of_Autism/saved/3FQ9

 

2. Gotcha fixed that considering what you and other's have told me.

 

3. Fixed that finally.

 

4. Decided on Win's 8 Pro.

 

5. Fixed decided on Asus seen a friends monitor similar to mine, he's happy with it, looks great and it will do what I need.

 

6. The reviews on new egg have been saying either it's blue screening a lot, the computer isn't booting up at all, problems with BIOS not fully fixed with update, bad help from tech support ect... Gonna just go with a z87 Asus no really bad reviews and it's stable from what I've heard from buyers in the chat on here. From what I have seen needs wise the SSD will cover my important stuff and the HD will cover everything else. I've got some friends into lets plays so when summer rolls around and hopefully I've found a part time job I'll start that off but right now I'm gonna be busy working on some education stuff and trying to get used to windows.

 

By the way is there any kind of guide for new pc users about maintenance like defragging, problems I'll likely encounter with pcs, or anything any of you reading feels important please share? I read on an early post not to defrag my ssd or it would ruin everything on it or even the SSD itself or something?

[obobski]

Build looks better, but I still have a few nits to pick (sorry!):

 

1. I'd drop the 4GB graphics card. You don't need that much video memory - nothing will benefit by it. Go with a 2GB 770 and save your money. Here's a comparison between them: http://alienbabeltech.com/main/gtx-770-4gb-vs-2gb-tested/3/

4GB doesn't look like it's doing a whole lot of anything besides costing more. You can even get an OC'd 2GB card and still save $100: http://www.amazon.com/PNY-GeForce-DisplayPort-PCI-Express-VCGGTX7702XPB/dp/B00CZ7Q028/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1391963606&sr=8-5

 

(Why PNY? Because I've always had good luck with them - that doesn't mean they're the only show in town though; this is truly just going with what I know - Asus, Gigabyte, PowerColor, XFX, HIS, etc all make good cards too)

 

You could save another ~$20 if you drop to a conventional GTX 770 (they're right around $300)

 

2. The RAM is good - I have the same stuff in my machine and it's been great.

 

3. Windows 8 is a fine choice - no problems there.

 

4. Motherboard should be a fine choice - Asus has a good reputation over time, and it's also helpful if you know someone who has the same (or similar) hardware; can make troubleshooting a lot easier. Same goes for the monitor - I forgot Asus made monitors actually. (Doh!)

 

5. As far as tutorials go - some of the stuff you've mentioned will be handled automatically within Windows (like defrag, updates, etc) since Vista (and remember: we do not defrag SSDs - they don't need it, and won't benefit (but may wear faster due to it; it should not instantly kill anything though)), other stuff I'd say just look up an answer on a per-issue basis. If you've never worked on a PC before (like, at all) there's some "day one" stuff I'd suggest, like:

 

1) Don't work on it with it plugged into the AC outlet

2) Don't mount the motherboard raw to the case; use standoffs or you'll short it (and it won't start)

3) Be mindful of ESD

4) Go slow, be careful, etc - don't force things, if things aren't going how they should, stop and consider why; most hardware is pretty fragile at the end of the day (plan a few hours for a complete build, especially your first)

5) When it comes to case fans, less is often more

6) Windows installers write the MBR in real-time, so be sure you're making the changes you want to make (with brand new HDDs you don't need to worry about this hardly at all, but it's worth keeping in mind - it isn't like Ubuntu or similar where it will ask you to confirm before it writes)

7) Make sure any important data is backed-up before you do anything potentially damaging - losing hardware or hardware configurations is one thing, having it eat your 300 hour Skyrim save-game or term paper is an entirely different story.

[Unredead]

Well I finally got my computer ordered and built and am now download the drivers and such. http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Voice_Of_Autism/saved/3FQ9 This was my final build, I got up to the wiring part and couldn't figure it out so I took it to fry's electronics and had them fix it for me and it's now running really great, hopefully I'll be using fallout with a few mods tomorrow my other account was closed but thanks for the help from everyone here is a picture of the finished product.

[Rennn]

Well I finally got my computer ordered and built and am now download the drivers and such. http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Voice_Of_Autism/saved/3FQ9 This was my final build, I got up to the wiring part and couldn't figure it out so I took it to fry's electronics and had them fix it for me and it's now running really great, hopefully I'll be using fallout with a few mods tomorrow my other account was closed but thanks for the help from everyone here is a picture of the finished product.

 

Epic build... But I just hope you don't regret that monitor. :3

After my last 2 cheap monitors, I've made it a rule to spend as much on a monitor as I do on a video card, to balance the visuals. A $500 video card is a bit of a waste on a $200 monitor, for example. Your card will be putting out details and colors that you won't be able to see. :s

Edited February 15, 2014 by Rennn

[obobski]

 

Well I finally got my computer ordered and built and am now download the drivers and such. http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Voice_Of_Autism/saved/3FQ9 This was my final build, I got up to the wiring part and couldn't figure it out so I took it to fry's electronics and had them fix it for me and it's now running really great, hopefully I'll be using fallout with a few mods tomorrow my other account was closed but thanks for the help from everyone here is a picture of the finished product.

 

Epic build... But I just hope you don't regret that monitor. :3

After my last 2 cheap monitors, I've made it a rule to spend as much on a monitor as I do on a video card, to balance the visuals. A $500 video card is a bit of a waste on a $200 monitor, for example. Your card will be putting out details and colors that you won't be able to see. :s

 

 

Very nice build indeed! No idea if the monitor is good or not - have no experience with Asus monitors. That having been said, monitor quality doesn't seem to have a lot to do with price in my experience: I've got a Hannspree on the desk that cost (no joke) $89.99 and it has fantastic color/response (let me put it this way: it's good enough to run in a triple-head configuration with flat CRTs and not stand out). Granted the price was probably helped along by its design, but the hardware is solid. On the other hand I've seen $500+ monitors be complete and utter pieces of junk. I'd say it depends more on who made the monitor than how much it cost, but there's probably evidence to refute that claim too.

 

I guess report back and let us know if the Asus works out or not - hopefully it's good. :blush: