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

[jwilphl]

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

Motherboard: Spend about $200 less, not that that's a bad motherboard, it's just more than you'll ever need. Right now Newegg has an MSI Z77 board with thunderbolt for $145 after $15 rebate plus it comes with 8GB of ram.

Ram: Covered, so $150 less, but if you don't do the newegg deal only spend around $50 for 2x4GB.

CPU: I'd go down to the I5-3550k, but there's nothing really wrong with the I7, it's just that for $100 more you aren't seeing the gains unless you are doing serious video editing or 3d modeling.

GPU: I would look at either GTX 670 or Radeon 7970, they'll run you about $400, they are neck and neck in terms of speed. It might be worth waiting a few months though, with new cards coming soon.

PSU: 1200w is overkill, especially without an SLI heavy setup. IMO though, don't even think about SLI unless you are a tweaker hobbyist. There is microstuttering with SLI, then you have to deal with some games not set up properly for SLI, then you are waiting for patches and driver updates. I say simplify and go with less money and a single card. A solid 650w PSU will run you a third of what you had, and still be plenty of power for a single GPU system.

CPU cooler: If you are even thinking about going liquid cooling, go ahead and do it now. Get one of the self contained CPU watercoolers, like a Corsair H50

Yeah, Microcenter, if you have one close watch for sales. When I built my PC microcenter would have saved me $150 on the CPU/Motherboard alone.

Man to be honest, I would drop down of some of that, spending way too much unnecessary money.

Ram - $150 for 8gb?! no... You can get good 8GB ram for $50-70(at most)
GPU - Do what you can afford, if thats the 680 do it.
CPU - I would honestly stick to the highest i5 for gaming. i7 has hyper-threading which can be used for other things, but not gaming. I reccomend i5-3570k best bang for the buck and overclocks superb.
PSU - OVERKILL. Simple. Drop down to something around ~$150 (850w will suffice..), yield similar results.
SSD - Look at reviews and decide if you really need a 256 or if 120gb will suffice. Does not change that much in gaming, load times yes, but not really worth the price of admission.

That is my quick opinion that could save tons of money used for more important things.. new screen? etc..

The best part about making your own PC is that you can pick and choose parts to fit your needs and your wallet. If you are making it for gaming and not much else (no video editing, music production, etc.) I strongly urge you to reconsider some of the items you picked.

Thanks for the tips, all. Checking out Microcenter I can actually get the i7 for over $100 less than it is on newegg, so I figured I'd just stick with it (unless the i5 is better for gaming).

I found this motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130665 -- can anyone explain exactly what Thunderbolt is? It looks a new interface to me but I can't figure out exactly what it is used for.

As for RAM, I found this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231638 -- Would it be better to get four sticks of 4 GB each (packs of 2 x 4 GB), or is it better to get sticks at 8 GB each so I could have up to 32 GB of RAM? Also how much of a speed differential is there between, for example, DDR3 2400 (PC3 19200) and DDR3 2133 (PC3 17800)? I honestly don't even know what those other numbers mean.

I haven't decided on a video card just yet. I may wait until the next set of cards comes out. Does 2 GB v. 4 GB on a video card matter much right now?

[SuperBowlNachos]

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

What use do you have for 32GB of RAM? 8GB is overboard for 90% of people and maybe .01% have a legitimate use for 32.

[Cusefan]

What use do you have for 32GB of RAM? 8GB is overboard for 90% of people and maybe .01% have a legitimate use for 32.

With Ram being so cheap, some people just do it without really thinking about the payoff. I have 16gb but I know it's overkill, I have never had a PC with enough ram and now I do, with some to spare.

[Burns11]

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

You don't want that ram, go with DDR3 1600, 9-9-9 timings, with as small of a heatspreader as you can find. DDR3 doesn't need a heatspreader at all so all it's going to do is be in the way. Intel actually only recommends 1333, but 1600 is stable, 1866 and above can be unstable.





Just go 1600 and save money.

[bghost]

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

Thunderbolt is a connector that Apple was pushing, apple and intel I think, anyway if I recall correctly it allows for stupid fast transfer speeds or some such

Think if it as something like a USB port, but much faster and less universal.... currently less universal... millions of Apple users out there.

[cubsfan203]

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

Even PS3 style graphics would be fine for me. There's just so many more games available on PC that I'm interested in, but don't have Mac ports.

Definitely going to bookmark Tom's Hardware. Hopefully in a few months when I have some free cash I can start putting one together.

Just keep looking of sales and you can put a really solid PC together and save some money. For example, after rebate/code here is a power supply for $16 less than the one in that $500 build posted.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...=corsair%20430

[IlliniM1ke]

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

Already built a PC for gaming about 5 months ago and have been using my monitor that've had for a while, looking to go to a dual monitor setup anyone have any experience with IPS monitors or have any opinions on how this looks for a primary monitor?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824260055

$250 is about the most I'm looking to spend right now and someone recommended this one to me so it's the front runner at the moment but figured I'd see what some others thought as well.

[SuperBowlNachos]

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

I need some of you to double check some specs for me. I currently have a 7870 with 2 MiniDisplay ports, 1 HDMI and 1 VGA. I am wanting to add another 7870 and play bioshock on an Eyefinity set up. I will be using 3 HDTVs that I would have to use HDMI on. So one of the TVs I have covered with the normal HDMI and I will need to use at least one or both of the MiniDisplay ports.

Monoprice has come through with a $7 MDP to HDMI adapter, just want to make sure I am not missing anything as far as it working. http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

[Redacted01]

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

What use do you have for 32GB of RAM? 8GB is overboard for 90% of people and maybe .01% have a legitimate use for 32.

This. I have lost count how many people brag about having 8 and 16 GB of memory and all they do is game and don't realize that it is sitting there useless for the most part. Unless you are doing some insane numerical simulations and have it using substantial memory (and even then I haven't used up 4 GB) or doing video work that would use it, 4 GB is plenty, get 8 to future proof if there is a deal on it. Sure, it's cheap, but you can get 4 GB DDR3 1600 for ~$35 (which I think I paid maybe $75 a couple of years ago; wish SSD's would drop like this) and the 16 GB would cost you over $100. Sure, you are paying less per GB, but that is $65 or more you could put in something else.

[Kashanova]

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

Having a lot of ram is extremely convenient especially when wanting to hold on to a computer for a number of years. I myself have 64gb. As the months go on Web browsers, Games, Photo editing programs etc use more memory so what better way to stay ahead of the curve by having more memory. Try using a computer that it's 95% of it's physical memory and you'll know why having a lot of random as excessive as it may seem is a good thing.

[Redacted01]

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

I don't see how anyone could justify 64 GB of memory. 1st you would need a motherboard that could handle 8x8GB of memory. 2nd, the cheapest kit is $360. And the thing is, the things you list, their memory usage isn't going up fast enough (certainly not at a monthly rate) to have to futureproof that much. That is money just down the drain unless you plan on using the same computer for a decade, and most won't. 64 GB may be necessary in 5 years, but I doubt the specs on your memory would even compare to what is out at that point in time (or the price for that matter).

I have 4 GB on my desktop and 6 GB on my laptop and even turning on a dozen or more big applications, I don't use more than 50-60% of memory depending on what's open. I once tested on the desktop just to see what it could handle. I turned on 38 applications, including the entirety of the Adobe suite, NBA 2K something or other, all of Office, among other things. It was still at only 90% and eventually froze once I tried to run a memory benchmark on top of it. And no one in their right mind would be multitasking between 37 applications at once. Even then, 8 GB would be plenty enough for that.

[Phobia]

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

I don't see how anyone could justify 64 GB of memory. 1st you would need a motherboard that could handle 8x8GB of memory. 2nd, the cheapest kit is $360. And the thing is, the things you list, their memory usage isn't going up fast enough (certainly not at a monthly rate) to have to futureproof that much. That is money just down the drain unless you plan on using the same computer for a decade, and most won't. 64 GB may be necessary in 5 years, but I doubt the specs on your memory would even compare to what is out at that point in time (or the price for that matter).

I have 4 GB on my desktop and 6 GB on my laptop and even turning on a dozen or more big applications, I don't use more than 50-60% of memory depending on what's open. I once tested on the desktop just to see what it could handle. I turned on 38 applications, including the entirety of the Adobe suite, NBA 2K something or other, all of Office, among other things. It was still at only 90% and eventually froze once I tried to run a memory benchmark on top of it. And no one in their right mind would be multitasking between 37 applications at once. Even then, 8 GB would be plenty enough for that.

I agree that 8 is plenty enough right now. With that said, I would go 16g to future proof the system.

I will explain my situation. I built a gaming system 6 years ago. It is still going strong, but 6 years ago I went with only 4GB of ram. It is now to the point where it makes do, but I wish I would have added 8 GB. Then I know this current system can make it through the next several years.

I also don't want to go buy ram to match my mobo because it is older specs and cost more than faster newer tech ram. I can't see spending more money for older & slower. So, I'll just wait till I do a mobo, proc, ram swap.

[Kashanova]

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

I don't see how anyone could justify 64 GB of memory. 1st you would need a motherboard that could handle 8x8GB of memory. 2nd, the cheapest kit is $360. And the thing is, the things you list, their memory usage isn't going up fast enough (certainly not at a monthly rate) to have to futureproof that much. That is money just down the drain unless you plan on using the same computer for a decade, and most won't. 64 GB may be necessary in 5 years, but I doubt the specs on your memory would even compare to what is out at that point in time (or the price for that matter).

I have 4 GB on my desktop and 6 GB on my laptop and even turning on a dozen or more big applications, I don't use more than 50-60% of memory depending on what's open. I once tested on the desktop just to see what it could handle. I turned on 38 applications, including the entirety of the Adobe suite, NBA 2K something or other, all of Office, among other things. It was still at only 90% and eventually froze once I tried to run a memory benchmark on top of it. And no one in their right mind would be multitasking between 37 applications at once. Even then, 8 GB would be plenty enough for that.

My work desktop is at 90% while only using Chrome(multiple tabs opened) and Outlook(81 processes)(4gb 32bit desktop). When I ever I use Audio/Video production programs I easily go over 16 gigabytes used. Everyone has different needs and the needs I have warrant the memory for me

[WTF]

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

http://www.newegg.com/Special/ShellS...3-_-03042013_1
Crucial M4 256GB SSD shell shocker for $159.99

10% more off if you have a Visa and use "V.Me". I just ordered. Great deal on a pretty good sized SSD. Think it was right at $143 shipped 2Day through shoprunner.

[SuperBowlNachos]

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

http://www.newegg.com/Special/ShellS...3-_-03042013_1
Crucial M4 256GB SSD shell shocker for $159.99

10% more off if you have a Visa and use "V.Me". I just ordered. Great deal on a pretty good sized SSD. Think it was right at $143 shipped 2Day through shoprunner.

Was this discount taken off right away? I can't get it to total up correctly.