Assistance Please?

[tony1892]

Hello everyone I am posting here today because I would like help building my first gaming PC. Now what I expect from the components I choose to build this PC with are for them to be able to run Past, Present, & future games on High - Max settings, To be able to run high resolution mods, and mods that affect the entire world space without a major fps drop. I have a pretty big budget for this but I would still like to keep the final price at max 1500 dollars if possible. Below are just some components I have selected from Newegg.com Once again I am taking all advice especially to help me optimize my shopping list.

 

OS~ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986

 

Monitor~http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236052

 

Keyboard & Mouse~http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823126188

 

Case~ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021

 

Processor~ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072

 

Mother Board~http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121442

 

SSHD (unsure whether or not it is the same as HDD) ~http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148591

 

 

 

 

**Note that I have not selected a DVD/Blu-Ray Drive mainly because I don't know how to fit them into the case I have selected. I also don't have a PSU as well because I don't know how to select one.

 

 

 

 

 

[Rennn]

The monitor looks good. It's a reliable name for a fair price, and it includes speakers. I'm not sure how good those speakers will sound, but the reviews are good. If you get it and the sound happens to be really low quality, here are a couple speaker suggestions as well.

 

This one is really, really cheap and very meh. I bought this same version once, and one speaker stopped working after a while. It was decent while it lasted, considering it's only a $10 speaker set.

http://www.amazon.com/Dell-AX210-USB-POWERED-SPEAKERS/dp/B001VHO5LQ/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1340504049&sr=1-2&keywords=pc+speaker+dell

 

These are still a little cheap, but high quality for the price.

http://www.amazon.com/LOG9702640403-X-140-2-0-Speaker-System/dp/B001V5208I/ref=sr_1_48?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1340503664&sr=1-48&keywords=pc+speaker

 

In case you want to match your case :) :

http://www.amazon.com/GOgroove-BassPULSE-Computer-Speakers-Desktops/dp/B007GEE2S4/ref=sr_1_9?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1340503911&sr=1-9&keywords=blue+led+pc+speaker

http://www.amazon.com/GOgroove-BassPULSE-Hi-Fidelity-Subwoofer-Home-Theater/dp/B004ALYGI2/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1340503911&sr=1-1&keywords=blue+led+pc+speaker

 

 

 

I have one bit of advice about the keyboard and mouse: get a good mouse pad. Gaming mouse pads really enhance your game for very little money. I couldn't believe how much one helped!

This one is a little less than I paid for mine, and I haven't personally tested it, but it looks about right and the reviews are good.

http://www.amazon.com/SteelSeries-Professional-Gaming-Mouse-Black/dp/B002NIO792/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1340503227&sr=8-5&keywords=rocketfish+mouse+pad

 

 

 

That motherboard is really cheap, and it's bundled with a terrible Intel Atom 1.8Ghz x2 cpu. Find another motherboard, and make sure it's compatible with an intel i5, and make sure it also has at least one PCI-E slot. This one looks good, as an option. It's a little more expensive than the one you were looking at, but I wouldn't trust the motherboard you linked to for gaming, and this one's still a good value.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131781

 

 

 

You didn't mention a power supply unit, but those aren't too hard to pick as long as you know what connectors you need. This should be sufficient for just about any normal gaming hardware, it's a good name, and it's not too expensive. It's a good deal, as far as power supply units are concerned. You don't necessarily need one this strong, but I doubt you'll find many this good for ~$100 and the psu is probably the single most important part of any pc.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139021

 

 

 

You haven't listed a graphics card, but you'll need a good one if you want to max many games. This one is a little more than you need:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130787

 

And I would guesstimate that this one is about the minimum you can get away with, assuming you want to put any game on ultra with several graphics mods.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121446

 

This one is actually faster with more vram than the slightly more expensive 560, but be aware that it's superclocked. That'll generate more heat and can wear on the card faster.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B0050I1PI8/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new

 

 

 

I didn't list AMD cards only because I'm much more familiar with Nvidia's, so I'm more qualified to give accurate advice in that case. Besides, Nvidia lets you force effects such as ambient occlusion, which really enhances graphics in many games. You said you wanted to put games on max settings, and ambient occlusion is pretty much necessary if you're entirely dedicated to making games look as good as possible. If you're on more of a budget, AMD cards can be a very good choice.

 

I'm not going to weigh in on the HDD/SSD, because I'm not sure about it.

 

All together, assuming that you were to buy the parts I recommended, that would cost roughly $1000 not including shipping, unless I forgot to add something. Seeing as you can spend a max of $1500, I definitely would get the GTX 670 2GB.

 

I probably missed something, so hopefully if those recommendations aren't perfect someone will correct me.

 

Edit: Oh! I forgot RAM, lol. Someone else can find that, I'm not very good at figuring out which kind of slot RAM fits into. RAM isn't very expensive normally. Make sure that no matter what kind of RAM you decide on, get 8GB of it, and make sure it's DDR3.

Edited June 24, 2012 by Rennn

[tony1892]

Thank you for the reply Renn! I'd prefer to go a little bit above what I need for the gpu so I will Buy the gtx 670 I will most definitely buy the psu as well I was completely lost in that area! What do you think about the case and are their specific DVD drives that need to go with it Edited June 24, 2012 by tony1892

[SineWaveDrox]

I have the Antec 1200 full-tower case, and I have never had a problem with it, so I would assume that the same could be said of the case you have picked out. As for disk drives, I have LITE-ON for both DVD and BD and I have been quite satisfied so far, though I have yet to to burn BD.

[tony1892]

What does it mean to have l Lite on both of your drives? Sorry I'm new to all of this.

[SineWaveDrox]

LITE-ON is the brand. They are inexpensive, and, as far as I can tell, they work well.

[Rennn]

LITE-ON is the brand. They are inexpensive, and, as far as I can tell, they work well.

 

Oh, nice. I've been meaning to get another dvd drive, but I had no idea they were that cheap.

[hoofhearted4]

DVD drives are like $20....Blu Ray more around $50 or so i believe (never looked at them since i have a PS3)

 

unless you plan on high OCing, your better off getting an Ivy Bridge CPU. faster at stock then its SB counterpart and uses slightly less power. however, because of its smaller architecture, it doesnt OC as high as its SB brethren. you can still get up to like 4.5GHz on it though. give or take....and a Motherboard to go with it.

 

If you want a Hybrid Drive (which is what you have listed) then get This one instead. SATA 6.0Gb/s as opposed to 3.0..8gb NAND Flash Memory as opposed to 4gb and 750gb HDD space as opposed to 500Gb. basically better in ever way lol.

 

i noticed you didnt list RAM. RAM is cheaper and it doesnt really matter what you get. This is perfectly fine RAM for example.

 

My suggestion for a PSU. its fully modular. however slightly more expensive, but also slightly more power efficient.

 

as for a monitor. This one is also a good one. 2ms response time (though can one even tell the difference between 2ms and 5ms? idk. i only list it because its the one im considering for my PC. no speakers though)

 

Case is fine, OS is fine, keyboard and mouse is preference.

 

as for a GPU. with a high spending limit, you will want yo bring your attention to either the GTX 670s, the Radeon 7950s or the best ones the Radeon 7970s

 

and i think thats it. other things to consider. possibly a 3rd party heatsink. the Stock heatsinks that come with CPUs just arent that good. even if you dont plan on OCing, its just a good idea to get a 3rd party heatsink anyways. something to think about.....and also, even with a nice Hybrid Drive, you might want to consider an SSD maybe just to throw your OS on. which is not only safer, but also speeds up your PC as a whole. however, ill say that the Hybrid Drive had some very good reviews, so an SSD isnt all that necessary, plus without one you can instead invest in a much better GPU. and ofc you can always get an SSD down the road :thumbsup:

 

 

hope some of my opinons/suggestions help. and by no means am i really telling you what to get, only giving you more options. the best thing to do is d research. dont just get the first thing someone tells you to (even if you end up finding out they were right in their suggestions) the more you research and the more you learn, the better this build will go and the more fun you will have building it and ultimately the better your build will be in end. and ofc dont be afraid to ask questions, esp here in the extremely helpful great community of The Nexus!!!

Edited June 24, 2012 by hoofhearted4

[Sarissi]

I bought the LITE-ON retail box BD Combo Drive from Newegg. The reason, is that it is very little more in price, AND you get the Power DVD software, and hardware. If youe get the OEM drive, you will have to spend an additional $100 for the software.

 

An alternative for you, is to get an Acer Premium Entertainment laptop. I have the 8950G-9839 and love it. Intel Core i7. Mine came with a 2GB discrete ATI Radeon HD card. The newer ones have nVidia graphics. I love mine. These are only available from Acer Channel Partners and NOT fro,e Acer's website. $1,500 for the notebook + $160 for 16 GB (4 x 4 GB) DDR3 SODIMMs to bring it up to it max memory capacity. Triy configuring that at the Dell website and it will cost at least TWICE the Acer price.

 

Hint: 18.4 inch 1080p

[K00L]

I'd like to hear how much you end up spending on this.

EDIT: I think I'm going to have to get a new computer anyways (my one no longer starts! http://www.classicrockforums.com/forum/images/smilies/Smiley-Crying.gif), so reading all this is useful. Edit #2: Come to think of it my Power supply may have kicked it. It was fairly new, but who knows where my dad got it or at what discount price (anything that's cheaper than normal... Buy it! And then it breaks right away). It was making a peculiar whining sound (the fan... just was weird)... Or one of my brothers got some virus from all his weird downloads.

I am currently thinking about upgrading my computer... And by upgrade I mean build a new one. Everything I have is outdated, of course nothing stays new in this age of super fast technological advances, right? I would have no idea what to get if I wouldn't have seen this. I have a PNY Geforce GTX 560 Ti XLR8 for my graphics card, and that's the newest and best thing in my computer. But I do love my monitor... Forgot what it was but it was really cheap and a decent size with HDMI.

My biggest problems are with Processors and stuff like that... I have no idea what the stuff means. I do know that mine is awful, along with my RAM (stuff from a basic six year old computer). But I read that if you were going to change your processor you should just start completely over...

I've been struggling with whether I should buy a gaming computer or build one, but I've been told its much cheaper to build an equivalent to many you can buy. So I'd like to see how this ends up for you. I'd love to be able to run Skyrim on the highest settings. Actually... Any game on the highest settings. (Okay okay, I have a lot that do work on the highest... But they are old!)

 

Edited June 26, 2012 by K00L