Official "I want to build a New PC!" Thread

[stevieaces]

Re: Official "I want to build a New PC!" Thread

Add another 8GB of RAM and you will be fine. Technically though you should be able to do what you are trying to do with just the 8GB of RAM you already have, unless you have slow speed RAM. What is the speed of your RAM ?

Ddr3 1600mhz. Im starting to think its my main HDD. Running some tests now.

[trobinson97]

Re: Official "I want to build a New PC!" Thread

I've never had any issues multitasking using my 8350.

[stevieaces]

Re: Official "I want to build a New PC!" Thread

Its my main HDD thats the bottleneck. Its running at SATA II and both my storage drives are at SATA III. Slight overlook on my part when I was putting everything back together. Doooh lol

[BenGerman]

Re: Official "I want to build a New PC!" Thread

Okay, so with the help of some OSer's, I put together what seems to be a decent PC on iBuyPower because they have some really strong deals going on right now, and they let you customize your PC pretty much anyway that you want. Anywhere, here are the specs:

Processor: 1 x Intel® Core™ i5-4690 Processor (4x 3.50GHz/6MB L3 Cache)

Cooling: 1 x Asetek 510LC Liquid CPU Cooling System [SOCKET-1150] - Standard 120mm Fan

Memory: 1 x 8 GB [4 GB X2] DDR3-1600 Memory Module - Corsair or Major Brand **FREE Upgrade to DDR3-1866 ADATA XPG V2**

Video Card: 1 x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti - 2GB

The only thing I'm mildly concerned is the Gefore GTX 750 Ti. Even though it got great reviews, it seems to be pretty dated at this point. Now, part of the reason I'm getting this PC is because I've heard how easy their PC's are to customize and upgrade.

Now, my hopes are to use this to run just about any PC game out. I don't need it to be super beautiful, and I don't need to be able to load a ton of mods onto it. But will this do the trick? I know the processor is pretty solid, at least.

Edit: Looks like I can get a AMD Radeon R9 270x for cheaper than the GeForce 750 Ti, and it is apparently much more powerful.

[SuperBowlNachos]

Re: Official "I want to build a New PC!" Thread

Do you plan on overclocking? IMO there is no need for liquid cooling unless you plan on doing that. Just get a third party heat sink and fan for about $30. I would put the difference towards a better video card right now.

*edit* I just went to the site and saw the liquid cooling is a free upgrade.

Make sure the power supply can handle a future upgrade too. I say this because I made this mistake

I would take the free headset as opposed to free McAfee too. Free anti-virus like Avast, AVG, Avira is just fine.

[BenGerman]

Re: Official "I want to build a New PC!" Thread

Do you plan on overclocking? IMO there is no need for liquid cooling unless you plan on doing that. Just get a third party heat sink and fan for about $30. I would put the difference towards a better video card right now.

*edit* I just went to the site and saw the liquid cooling is a free upgrade.

Make sure the power supply can handle a future upgrade too. I say this because I made this mistake

I would take the free headset as opposed to free McAfee too. Free anti-virus like Avast, AVG, Avira is just fine.

Thanks for the reply (and good advice), Nacho! And how would I make sure that it can handle a future upgrade or not?

[Gotmadskillzson]

Re: Official "I want to build a New PC!" Thread

I would spend an extra $200 and get a 770 to be perfectly honest. A 750 ti is really weak for a gaming PC.

Here is a graphics card ranking chart:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...ew,3107-7.html

[BenGerman]

Re: Official "I want to build a New PC!" Thread

I would spend an extra $200 and get a 770 to be perfectly honest. A 750 ti is really weak for a gaming PC.

Here is a graphics card ranking chart:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...ew,3107-7.html

Thanks GMX. I actually ended up with the R9 270x. Here was my final build:

CPU: AMD FX-6300 CPU
Graphics Card: AMD Radeon R9 270X - 2GB - Single Card
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-970A-D3P -- AMD 970
PSU: 600W
Processor: Asetek 510LC Liquid CPU
Memory: 8 GB [4 GB X2] DDR3-1866 Memory Module - ADATA XPG V2

All for $800, and free shipping. Also got two free games, a wifi card, free headset, and a $120 Asus 22 inch monitor.

Feel pretty good about it, but I'm hoping I'll be able to upgrade the CPU sometime in the future. I know the 6300 is a little back end.

[SuperBowlNachos]

Re: Official "I want to build a New PC!" Thread

Thanks for the reply (and good advice), Nacho! And how would I make sure that it can handle a future upgrade or not?

Unless you are going to eventually have two video cards in sli/crossfire you probably don't need to change whatever the default is. I don't imagine iBuyPower would let you get anything under what you actually need to power the initial machine.

http://images10.newegg.com/BizIntell/tool/psucalc/index.html?name=Power-Supply-Wattage-Calculator

http://support.asus.com/powersupply.aspx

http://www.coolermaster.outervision.com/

http://us.msi.com/power-supply-calculator/

http://www.corsair.com/en-us/psu-finder

These are all power supply calculators. I just went ahead and listed the few that came up at the top of Google. They should all come out fairly close.

At the very least I would choose the Corsair CX### over the "default" that you can't even see the brand of. These things have efficiency ratings and the one default I looked at was less than 65%. A "80 Plus Bronze" ratings is at least 80% efficient.

----------------

Just order it now! I was going to suggest to just spend that little extra amount and go up to at least one more level on the video card. It can never end though so just click buy before you spend $300 more

[BenGerman]

Re: Official "I want to build a New PC!" Thread

Unless you are going to eventually have two video cards in sli/crossfire you probably don't need to change whatever the default is. I don't imagine iBuyPower would let you get anything under what you actually need to power the initial machine.

http://images10.newegg.com/BizIntell/tool/psucalc/index.html?name=Power-Supply-Wattage-Calculator

http://support.asus.com/powersupply.aspx

http://www.coolermaster.outervision.com/

http://us.msi.com/power-supply-calculator/

http://www.corsair.com/en-us/psu-finder

These are all power supply calculators. I just went ahead and listed the few that came up at the top of Google. They should all come out fairly close.

At the very least I would choose the Corsair CX### over the "default" that you can't even see the brand of. These things have efficiency ratings and the one default I looked at was less than 65%. A "80 Plus Bronze" ratings is at least 80% efficient.

----------------

Just order it now! I was going to suggest to just spend that little extra amount and go up to at least one more level on the video card. It can never end though so just click buy before you spend $300 more

Haha I know that's the truth. That's why today I just told myself I was going to get something that would do what I wanted it to (play just about every game on decent settings), and the upgrades will come later. I'm not too worried about anything right now, I just wanted the PC so I could get familiar with everything before really breaking the bank.

I do think I'll be fine with the R9 270x, though. It seems to have gotten really good reviews, and it will hold me over until I eventually upgrade the CPU.

Thanks for the help, everyone!

[SuperBowlNachos]

Re: Official "I want to build a New PC!" Thread

I had the HD 7870 which according to that chart are is on the same level. Got it right around two years ago and I am still very happy with it! If I played more than 3-4 hours every couple weeks I might have upgraded by now, but it played Bioshock Infinite on the ultra settings and I am currently play Spec Ops: The Line with out any issue on high.

The one thing I would say to actually change is the power supply. See what I said about it being more efficient (not necessarily adding on more wattage). In the long run it would save on electricity and quickly make up the difference.

[Kearnzo]

Re: Official "I want to build a New PC!" Thread

Graphics cards are all pretty much plug n play save for very rare specific cases (it those upgrading quite a bit and not having a power supply big enough to support new parts.) The main issue with upgrading normally comes from the motherboard/CPU socket being the biggest limitation.

Thanks for the info man.

I'm looking to realistically spend around $500, give or take $50, and would like to have a solid gaming PC. Unfortunately, I'd need to get a new monitor as well, as my current monitor is ancient.

Do you guys think that for $500, a good gaming PC is possible? I'd like (again, being completely at a loss for knowledge when it comes to calculating this stuff) to be able to run games like Skyrim on Ultra, and be able to run games like BF4 pretty solidly as well. I don't know how realistic that is, but that's sort of a goal I have in mind.

It can't be said enough how helpful you guys are for people like me who are oblivious to what goes into building a PC. Thanks!

[SuperBowlNachos]

Re: Official "I want to build a New PC!" Thread

It's definitely possible if you aren't including a monitor in with that $550. Just following that chart from a few post back with a couple upgrades would do the job. Start with the "good", but with the R9 270 subbed in from the category below. I have the 7870 that the site references being better than and I am more than happy with it. Will run all of those games with no problem.

[BenGerman]

Re: Official "I want to build a New PC!" Thread

Thanks for the info man.

I'm looking to realistically spend around $500, give or take $50, and would like to have a solid gaming PC. Unfortunately, I'd need to get a new monitor as well, as my current monitor is ancient.

Do you guys think that for $500, a good gaming PC is possible? I'd like (again, being completely at a loss for knowledge when it comes to calculating this stuff) to be able to run games like Skyrim on Ultra, and be able to run games like BF4 pretty solidly as well. I don't know how realistic that is, but that's sort of a goal I have in mind.

It can't be said enough how helpful you guys are for people like me who are oblivious to what goes into building a PC. Thanks!

It's very possible, just from my recent studies. I was going through the exact same thing a week ago, and even though I eventually just upgraded a few things because I got greedy, I was able to put together a really solid one from iBuy for $800. Here's a good site that someone suggested for me:

http://choosemypc.net/

[Kearnzo]

Re: Official "I want to build a New PC!" Thread

It's very possible, just from my recent studies. I was going through the exact same thing a week ago, and even though I eventually just upgraded a few things because I got greedy, I was able to put together a really solid one from iBuy for $800. Here's a good site that someone suggested for me:

http://choosemypc.net/

Thanks for the link man.

Just went through and put in my budget, and came out with this configuration.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/NfXn99

What do you guys think? Seems like a solid build to me, but again, I'd like it to be viable for future upgrades as well. Does this build give me room to upgrade features as I choose?