Help Building Gaming Pc

[zack1293]

I've been playing oblivion at 10 fps on my old laptop and had a blast with that. Even with the settings on low and low poly mesh replacers and such I have tons of fun with the game. I've decided to start planning to build a gaming pc to play skyrim. I had so much fun on the xbox and after seeing the difference in pc oblivion and xbox oblivion I don't think I'll live without pc skyrim. I've found plenty of guides to buying parts for a decent-fantastic machine anywhere from 400 to 5000 dollars. I would like to spend closer to the 400 mark to start with a pc that won't struggle with skyrim on medium (preferably with texture replacers and the like) but it doesn't need to be fantastic, then upgrade as I get the money. I would appreciate it if someone could tell me what parts I would need to drop more cash on to start for the most upgrading potential or point me to some guides that would help me figure it out myself. Most guides I found were very general. I know what most parts of a gaming computer do but I'm fairly clueless when it comes to telling what the difference between all of these newfangled graphics cards things do. Thanks in any advance for answers and help.

[Erik005]

For advise I would really need a more precise budget.

 

400 is not a lot, 100 for windows 150 for a monitor doesn't leave much for the rest so expect to spend more like $600

 

I would advise the AMD A10-5800K for a processor and using it's igp. 8gb of ram, a decent case and psu, a 1tb hdd and a socket fm2 motherboard.

Edited September 29, 2012 by Erik005

[zack1293]

I don't really have a precise budget I'm really looking for a ballpark goal to save toward so 600 seems like a perfect mark. I have a crappy monitor and the like to start and I'll just get new toys as the money becomes available. By my understanding the motherboard would be the only part I'd run into trouble when it comes to upgrading. I would rather spend 400 dollars on the motherboard alone as long as it means that later on I can get myself better hardware.

[Aegrus]

I don't really have a precise budget I'm really looking for a ballpark goal to save toward so 600 seems like a perfect mark. I have a crappy monitor and the like to start and I'll just get new toys as the money becomes available. By my understanding the motherboard would be the only part I'd run into trouble when it comes to upgrading. I would rather spend 400 dollars on the motherboard alone as long as it means that later on I can get myself better hardware.

 

 

Newegg is probably your best friend. Here are some suggestions. . .

 

Video Card: 560 super-clocked is what I use atm. It has only about a 5 fps difference from a 560 TI. It can easily run Skyrim on ultra. ($170)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130661

 

Ram: This is very good Ram, actually. And for an amazing price. ($43)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233144

 

CPU: This is a very solid cpu. 4 cores is the most you'd ever need for a modern game, 3.4 ghz will max most games if it's not bottlenecked. And since this is a blakc edition, it's very over-clockable. ($100)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727

 

PSU: This is my model of psu, but a line lower. It's modular, so you don't need to worry about running out of cables. ($144)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139010

 

Hard Drive: 1 tb is plenty for most purposes. My gaming pc has a 1 tb hard drive. ($99)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148697

 

Case: Cooler Master builds large cases, good for cooling and compatibility. I'm not sure of the dimensions on this one- you probably want to look it up more. I think it comes with fans. Not sure, though. ($150)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119245

 

Mobo: AS Rock makes a very good motherboard. This should support the RAM (and then some), and has 2 pci-e slots. It also is listed to work with Phenom II cpus, like the one I listed. ($90)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157280

 

So, total price: about $800. I know it's more than you wanted to spend- but these are just suggestions. I fully expect you'll want to sub out some parts for different or cheaper ones. You want to run Skyrim on medium- this pc should run any game on ultra, so it's kind of overkill. I just mean these listed prices sort of as a guide. I'm sure you can find the same prices on sale for less somewhere else, anyway. But I think this is a good base to work with. (Assuming it works, and I didn't forget any parts or screw up compatibility, lol.)

Edited September 30, 2012 by Aegrus

[zack1293]

I don't really have a precise budget I'm really looking for a ballpark goal to save toward so 600 seems like a perfect mark. I have a crappy monitor and the like to start and I'll just get new toys as the money becomes available. By my understanding the motherboard would be the only part I'd run into trouble when it comes to upgrading. I would rather spend 400 dollars on the motherboard alone as long as it means that later on I can get myself better hardware.

Perfect. Thanks for the links. I know about newegg I'm just new enough to computer building to not know exactly what all of it means haha. I don't think 800 would be too crazy for me I'm just looking for a machine to build on. If 800 will get me skyrim on ultra I'll be more than happy to play on oblivion until then. I played the crap out of both games on xbox and sold the system later for rent because I was bored and found my crappy laptop could play oblivion and a whole new world opened to me. I'll never play a console again. I don't think I can ever accept a game that forces me to accept the small things that bother me instead of giving me the option to rebuild all of it.

[FMod]

I don't really have a precise budget I'm really looking for a ballpark goal to save toward so 600 seems like a perfect mark. I have a crappy monitor and the like to start and I'll just get new toys as the money becomes available.

The monitor is important, you can't overestimate that one. Between a $1,000 rig with a 24" and a $600 rig with a 30", the latter wins by such a margin it's not even funny.

 

Do you just play Skyrim, Oblivion, etc, or are there other games in the mix?

For these games, that only really support two cores, you'd want a dual-core CPU with fast cores, like Pentium G2120. But it would be terrible value for other tasks. So only consider it if you only play Bethesda games. Otherwise that Phenom is simply the best value in its price class.

 

There are some other changes to suggestions above.

Samsung memory can be clocked much higher than Corsair for just an extra buck: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147096

 

That Corsair HX PSU is not good value for the money, it's not as good as it is expensive. This is the one you want: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139020

 

You can't splash for a $150 case in your budget either. I'm not good with low-end parts, but I've heard Zalman Z9 isn't bad. And it's just a box, really.

NZXT makes a lot of value-for-money products, their $39.99 case seems legit too.

But out of what I can see now, I think this case is the best pick: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042

It comes from Antec, that's good quality, it's the heaviest of the lot (heavier is better), perforated, but with dust filters.

 

Do NOT buy anything from Seagate unless you really have to. Their drives have build issues and they break down a lot. It used to be OK when you could just get most of your money back, but now they slashed their warranty to 1 year.

And not only is it substandard, it's also too expensive.

WD Blue is actually cheaper, and it's a fast drive - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236339

 

Finally, top it off with a serious video card - HD 7850. It's over 10% faster than 560 Ti, and it's a new generation one.

1GB is actually enough without mods: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Club_3D/HD_7850_RoyalQueen/22.html - it doesn't even make a difference.

But there's too little price difference to bother, so take this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161405

 

Black Edition CPU come with a decent heatsink, you can live with that. I think that's everything.

That comes out to $625, or $595 after rebates.

 

Overclock that thing after you buy it - you should get 3.7-4.0 GHz out of the CPU, 1100-1200 MHz out of the GPU, 1800-2200 MT/s out of your RAM. The lower values here should be a breeze to reach. It will give a solid boost in performance, since 7850 has about the highest overclocking gain on the market.

[Aegrus]

 

 

That Corsair HX PSU is not good value for the money, it's not as good as it is expensive. This is the one you want: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139020

 

You can't splash for a $150 case in your budget either. I'm not good with low-end parts, but I've heard Zalman Z9 isn't bad. And it's just a box, really.

NZXT makes a lot of value-for-money products, their $39.99 case seems legit too.

But out of what I can see now, I think this case is the best pick: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042

It comes from Antec, that's good quality, it's the heaviest of the lot (heavier is better), perforated, but with dust filters.

 

 

I agree with the changes I deleted from the above post.

 

-But I had a cheap 700 watt psu, and it died in about a year and a half. Even well-reviewed budget psu's die much sooner (on average) than the more expensive ones. Reviews don't usually mention this because the reviews are posted soon after the psu is received. More expensive psu's last longer and output higher and more stably than they advertise. What's more, a 650 watt psu will not be enough for overclocking the parts in that pc. It's also not modular, so you run a serious risk of running out of cables.

 

-The case you linked only has 2 fan locations- not nearly enough to sufficiently cool the other parts listed, especially if they're overclockd. It's also a mid-sized case, so future upgrading would be more limited than full sized, and there's a much higher risk of overheating and parts not. . .to put it bluntly, fitting.

Edited September 30, 2012 by Aegrus

[hoofhearted4]

 

 

That Corsair HX PSU is not good value for the money, it's not as good as it is expensive. This is the one you want: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139020

 

You can't splash for a $150 case in your budget either. I'm not good with low-end parts, but I've heard Zalman Z9 isn't bad. And it's just a box, really.

NZXT makes a lot of value-for-money products, their $39.99 case seems legit too.

But out of what I can see now, I think this case is the best pick: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042

It comes from Antec, that's good quality, it's the heaviest of the lot (heavier is better), perforated, but with dust filters.

 

 

I agree with the changes I deleted from the above post.

 

-But I had a cheap 700 watt psu, and it died in about a year and a half. Even well-reviewed budget psu's die much sooner (on average) than the more expensive ones. Reviews don't usually mention this because the reviews are posted soon after the psu is received. More expensive psu's last longer and output higher and more stably than they advertise. What's more, a 650 watt psu will not be enough for overclocking the parts in that pc. It's also not modular, so you run a serious risk of running out of cables.

 

-The case you linked only has 2 fan locations- not nearly enough to sufficiently cool the other parts listed, especially if they're overclockd. It's also a mid-sized case, so future upgrading would be more limited than full sized, and there's a much higher risk of overheating and parts not. . .to put it bluntly, fitting.

 

the PSU FMod listed is one of the most stable PSUs on the market at that price range. buying one that costs almost double that means nothing. if hes going to spend that much he should get the AX650 by Corsair. and 650W will absolutely be enough to overclock his CPU and GPU. and the only thing non modular PSUs mean is more cables laying around. which is ugly to most, but without a window who cares. and in crappy cases more cables means worse air flow. in a good case, it wont even matter.

 

The case he linked can have 2 fans in the front, one on the side, one in the back and one on the top. two in the front and one in the back will be enough to cool everything reasonably. adding one in the top will just add to that. and i happen to think side fan (mounts) are stupid and ugly so i dont use them :P. the Antec 300 has enough room unless he wants to start going Tri SLI or some crap. Full Tower Cases are over rated unless you wanna start doing W/C Loops, and even then, most FT Cases suck at this and only a select few are even worth buying for this purpose. if however he is worried about having room for upgrades or airflow, i would recommend the Fractal Arc Midi still cheap. great quality. more room. can even do W/C loops or CLC like the H100. thats the case im highly considering for my build here in a couple months.

 

also, a cheap solution for a gaming rig is getting an FM1 chip and crossfire it with a 6670 GPU. however this wont leave much for upgrading in the future and is outclassed by anything more expensive. like i said, this is just a cheap suggestion.

Edited October 1, 2012 by hoofhearted4

[Aegrus]

-My rig is very similar to the one we've been discussing, and a 700 watt psu wasn't enough for it, even with only my gpu overclocked. And my psu was supposedly stable. Your key phrase is "at that price range". Most other psu's at that price range at similar wattages have review sections filled with doa complaints. Consider that, while 650 watts may seem good enough on paper, a psu will lose about 100 watts in its first year of use. We're looking at a 550 watt psu here, and running a psu at capacity degrades it more quickly than running it with room to spare.

What's more, this psu is only 85% efficient. Notice all the reviews that state their psu was doa or dead after a ridiculously short amount of time (like a couple of months), compare it to the percent of expensive psu's that are doa. (It's about double) Buying a cheap psu is always a risk.

 

-Question about the listed case: why does it say under the details that it only has two fans? Are those just the ones that ship built in with it? Because I thought they were the possible areas for fans.

 

-Edit- I just checked two power supply calculators. Without any overclocking, this pc (my suggested base with Fmod's revisions) will draw almost exactly 500 watts. Another gave me 550 watts without overclocking.

Edited October 1, 2012 by Aegrus

[Rennn]

The 650w psu that you're talking about is DOA for quite a few people, and I'm not convinced that it'd run anything overclocked. Not only that, but overclocking can be very bad for your pc if you don't do it correctly, and no offense, but the OP doesn't sound like he knows enough about overclocking to do it safely. The PSU is very important. If it dies, it can take the rest of your PC with it in a small fireball. Really, you should probably spend more on a PSU than a CPU. Edited October 1, 2012 by Rennn