Thinking about building a new computer...

[Gusyen]

So, I've made a few threads like this before, but I never got around to buying anything from them. However, today I figured I could finally start making money (don't ask how) and I could finally build my own computer. So, I have a few things I need to check off. My only requirement really is that it can run Titanfall, but I also need to choose between SSDs or HDDs, and what backup should I use. So, let's get started shall we? Also, I'd like to know what software would be useful after setting up the computer.

 

[pillar]

Hey bud, before we even begin, have you actually built a computer before? If so, do you have any idea what kinda build itll be? Do you know if you want AMD or Intel? SSD or HDD's should be talked about a lil more down the line. I mean an SSD is like to own, but it needs to fit into your budget. Do you even have a price range of what your looking to spend?

One site I would suggest you look into is www.pcpartpicker.com. They give you all the parts that you're interested in with prices, based on the ratings of that particular online retailer that sells them.

Also, will you be needing an lcd monitor? Keyboard & mouse? Make sure not to forget bout the operating system. We shall wait for your response.

 

[Gusyen]

Hey bud, before we even begin, have you actually built a computer before?

Well, I really don't, but I plan on using Ph?bus's or Newegg's guide on how to build one.

If so, do you have any idea what kinda build itll be?.

I'm thinking something similar to this, but of course, less expensive and less lights.

Do you know if you want AMD or Intel?

I'm thinking AMD, but I've heard Intel makes faster CPUs and motherboards.

Do you even have a price range of what your looking to spend?

Around $800 to $1000, unless we can find stuff to make it cheaper of course.

Also, will you be needing an lcd monitor? Keyboard & mouse? Make sure not to forget bout the operating system. We shall wait for your response.

I already have one, though it's a little dirty. I have a mouse and keyboard, but the keyboard is really dirty and gross too, so I'll replace that with [ame="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007XH6CD2/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=1M83QLVKGV3K0&coliid=I22WMPMRMOLQNY"]Amazon.com: New Dell Slim USB Multimedia Keyboard w/ Volume Control - 1RW52 / D/PN 01RW52: Computers & Accessories@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41Rv06jUT7L.@@AMEPARAM@@41Rv06jUT7L[/ame].

Also, if anyone actually does play Titanfall, do you know what the medium settings are for the most part? I don't want to have to spend too much money, but I don't want to run it at absolute minimum settings either.

Anyhoo, I hope i'm on the right track. :thumbup1:

 

[Wizekraker]

Well, I really don't, but I plan on using Ph?bus's or Newegg's guide on how to build one.



I'm thinking something similar to this, but of course, less expensive and less lights.



I'm thinking AMD, but I've heard Intel makes faster CPUs and motherboards.



Around $800 to $1000, unless we can find stuff to make it cheaper of course.



I already have one, though it's a little dirty. I have a mouse and keyboard, but the keyboard is really dirty and gross too, so I'll replace that with this.

Also, if anyone actually does play Titanfall, do you know what the medium settings are for the most part? I don't want to have to spend too much money, but I don't want to run it at absolute minimum settings either.

Anyhoo, I hope i'm on the right track. :thumbup1:

Hmm I don't know what kind of GPU you are getting but if I were you, I would wait till nvdia releases there 800 series...

 

[FinePrint]

Hmm I don't know what kind of GPU you are getting but if I were you, I would wait till nvdia releases there 800 series...

Yeah i agree. You should wait one more cycle for the release of the next series of gpu and cpu so that everything drops in price. then you will be rewarded greatly

ps..maybe 2-3 months

 

[Wizekraker]

Yeah i agree. You should wait one more cycle for the release of the next series of gpu and cpu so that everything drops in price. then you will be rewarded greatly

ps..maybe 2-3 months

That, or you can get better GPU.
800 series are supposedly be really power efficient.

 

[Gusyen]

Does the motherboard really matter much or does a regular ones do fine?

 

[Snipeye]

Does the motherboard really matter much or does a regular ones do fine?

Loaded question. It really depends on the amount of use you want to get out of it. If you're overclocking, then yes, the motherboard does have an importance, because certain parts and materials in the mobo will help with heat dissipation, and wattage. If you plan on using a lot of hard drives, say an SSD with four or five regular HDDs for storage, then you want to make sure the motherboard you get has enough SATA connections. If you're building a small-form factor PC, then you want to be sure you get a mini-ATX or micro-ATX mobo to fit inside the case.

Let's assume you're not going to be doing much, if any, overclocking, you'll have a normal allotment of hard drives (say up to four total), and it'll be in a mid-tower or full tower PC. Then the first step is isolating which CPU type it's for: Intel vs AMD. Next is cost. For a regular mobo with average or above average quality, I would say you're looking for something in the $100-160 range. The variances in price would be for the number of different USB ports available (USB 2.0 or 3.0), if it would include an HDMI port or DVI/VGA, number of SATA ports, heat dissipation design, warranty and MIR options.

Personally, I favor Gigabyte boards over ASUS (had negative experiences with ASUS in the past). But that doesn't mean present ASUS boards are bad; mine is a brand preference at this point, but if I find a good deal, I can be swayed to buy an ASUS one instead. When it comes to Intel boards, within the $100-150 price range, I'd be looking at Gigabyte, Biostar, ASRock, and Foxconn. The latter three are brands I've associated with bargain prices, but that doesn't mean they do not produce high quality and reliable boards.

 

[_Sushi]

Personally, I favor Gigabyte boards over ASUS (had negative experiences with ASUS in the past). But that doesn't mean present ASUS boards are bad; mine is a brand preference at this point, but if I find a good deal, I can be swayed to buy an ASUS one instead. When it comes to Intel boards, within the $100-150 price range, I'd be looking at Gigabyte, Biostar, ASRock, and Foxconn. The latter three are brands I've associated with bargain prices, but that doesn't mean they do not produce high quality and reliable boards.

Your preference of Gigabyte over ASUS may by coincidence not be as unfounded as you may think, as ASUS is infamous for having abysmal warranty service. You can do some googling if you want to read some RMA horror stories online.

In addition to that list, a glaring exception appears to be MSI, which is for sure a brand worth looking at.

 

[Gusyen]

I think I'm gonna go with Gigabyte, seems to be really good quality, and everyone seems to be liking it here.

 

[_Sushi]

I think I'm gonna go with Gigabyte, seems to be really good quality, and everyone seems to be liking it here.

It also depends on the current sales at the time. If you stick to EVGA, ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI, ASRock, Biostar you can't really go wrong unless there's an inherent problem with the board (you would be able to see that in customer reviews on the site you buy the board from).

 

[Cloakedsphere]

It also depends on the current sales at the time. If you stick to EVGA, ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI, ASRock, Biostar you can't really go wrong unless there's an inherent problem with the board (you would be able to see that in customer reviews on the site you buy the board from).

Asrock is by far the low end of the spectrum IMO. Zotac and Asrock mang...

 

[Lethedethius]

Rad. My advice... I'm stupid but I also got a pretty hefty rig. and I built it for less than $1k. *Granted I didn't buy a new monitor...*

Go get yourself an AMD processor. Get an 8core. I use and recommend the FX-8320. Why not the 8350 you ask? Because I'm poor, but that is a decent buy as well. Why not the 9370 or 9590 you ask? BECAUSE THAT IS STUPID! It uses 220Watts versus the others 125Watts. You can have all that gloating power available on the market, but when that electric bill comes I'll be the one paying my car and electric bill while you're picking one or the other. Makes sense to choose the lower watt one and overclock or just be satisfied. Note, This line of processor is a step up from the phenom series. Unlike the FX predecessor. They switched their architecture and it had amazing results.

Get an MSI Motherboard, there is just no alternative. If you don't you're a bad bad evil person. Get one that is mediocre. Seriously you won't need the best of the best, DO NOT (I REPEAT DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT DON'T!) Get that military spec junk. If you pay me $30 I'll solder some hard plastic on you're motherboard and shove it in an ammo can, that'll be REAL milspec (Junkier than anything you've seen is what mil-spec essentially is). Seriously it's a waste of cash. But my offer stands.

Video card, This is where you have to be the decision maker. Are you playing the latest games or are you playing CSGO, TF2... PS2... the games that can settle for a Radeon HD 7770. Heck I bought mine on Black Friday for $100. I'm sure it's less now. Or step it up to a newer version, I'd steer clear of NVidia... in my experience it's always been NVidia and Intel, and AMD and ATI(ATI is Radeon), In fact AMD now Owns ATi. The technology in the motherboard is the same as in the video card... all the tech is coming from the same building *Awesome idea especially in Mobile Devices!* Either way I'd just stick to ATi... if you're playing basic games then don't break the bank. Video cards go down in price quite often, as new tech comes out. Expect a $50-$100 drop every year on cards, maybe more.

Ram is where you don't skip, if you're building a 64 bit system then get a ton of ram. Why not? It's dang near Future proof, DDR3 ram will not be leaving us in the dust anytime soon. Yes the voltage does change from board to board, but almost all boards are backwards compatible. So Get 8GB at least, I got 16 in mine. Get a reputable brand too.

The Harddrive. Ok SSD... It sounds cool but GEE C'MON! My Win8.1 starts in from the push of the computer to the login screen in idk... 5-10 seconds... why would I care about solid state? Normally if you're hdd is running slow, it's because of malware in your computer, SSD is not even on my mind, it's expensive tech that I want more space out of before I consider it. I got myself 3.5TB of SATA drives. The Serial ATA keeps getting better and cheaper. GO FOR IT!


Case: The case is w/e. As long as it's a Mid - Full size ATX do what you will, now listen it HAS to be ATX, if you get another platform in case you may find out your motherboard won't fit... Doesn't have to be great or expensive, almost all cases perform well now days. Just make sure it'll fit what you're doing, consider the size of the processor fan, are you running watercooling? Will you be pouring Liquid Nitrogen to OC to 13GHZ (Ok I'm kidding... although it does get done quite a bit )

the MOST IMPORTANT thing if you discard the rest of my post *UNDERLINES THIS PARAGRAPH*

Power Supply, While building your computer get the total wattage of all your devices, make sure your power supply can handle the wattage PLUS some. Consider USB devices, Charging Cell phones, etc. nothing worse than a power supply that can't push the juice.

SECONDLY on this matter, if it says SLI or Crossfire technology... Just slap the store consultant for treating you like you're an idiot. To explain electricity pretty simply.... POWER IS POWER in this case. What that SLI and Crossfire junk mean is they have the connectors ready, however anytime you buy a video card it has the necessary connectors with it. Most powersupplies have it anyways... it's a marketing gimmick. So pay $110 for an SLI compliant power supply and I'll just laugh at you.


Now my last bit of advice. Look at refurbished. a Refurbished part is a new part that failed and was reconstructed with even more scrutiny than the normal underpaid assembly line worker. It get's redone by the one who makes .10 more an hour.... so you get a better quality device. Why on Earth (or Mars since we'll be there soon) would you pay so much $ for brand new when Refurbished IS new? That's like buying a brand new Mossberg 500 for $1000 when you're buddy who only fired 100 shells outa his is selling it for $300. You should be smacked for not being cheap!


I hope my long winded advice helps you. I've built about 5 computers now, and fixed a dozen others. I've even soldered a few computers back together including Honda Accord TCU's Good Luck!

 

[Wizekraker]

There is one flaw in your argument Lethedethius. You talk buying components that take less wattage. AMD isn't company that is known for that intel and nvida are though.
Also one dont cheap out on your power supply. You don't want to have faulty PSU.

 

[Lethedethius]

Oh Contraire Dear Wizekraker. There is no flaw, and it's not even an argument. My P.O.V. is based SOLELY on experience and pricing. If you noticed I did put out there that buying the 220watt processor is silly. I am energy conscious however, Intel charges a butt load, you're paying more for the name than you are the power. Plus (And I didn't say this before, Linux has been known to run better with ATi tech more recently, NVidia has to step up their game in the Penguin market)

And you are absolutely wrong on the power supply. I never spoke about cheaping out-the only point I brought up was to look for refurbished and to NOT buy into the gimmicks of SLI and Crossfire tags. There are TONS of brands out there, and most have fine reputations.

If you pay attention in bigger computer stores like Fry's or Microcenter you will find some companies will put similar power supplies out there, one that is plane jane and the other which has all those cool looking colors and hot game chicks. Hey seriously if $40 extra and a cute 3D chick is what makes you feel comfortable about your computer by all means, I empower you to feed the market, if you just want raw performance and don't care about the box then heed my warning and take my advice... It's time tested and Lethedethius Approved!


You simply got to make choices, no matter which way you lean you're going to get great performance, but if you build on a budget like me then you're going to choose AMD and ATi (which are the same). I'm sorry but 95 watt processor vs my 125 watt will not make a giant dent in my power bill, you would match the Intel price tag in about 3 years. By then you're searching for a new gaming computer anyways I'd hope.

 

[Lethedethius]

Something I ran across... http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/323296-28-best-brands

Hope that helps. Remember.......REFURBISHED IS BETTER THAN NEW

 

[runo]

Asrock is by far the low end of the spectrum IMO.

I guess that's why they have all those 5- and 4-star, top-rated AMD and Intel motherboards that fans and professionals are always raving about.

 

[Snipeye]

Something I ran across... http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/323296-28-best-brands

Hope that helps. Remember.......REFURBISHED IS BETTER THAN NEW

Your advice is now suspect in my book because of this one comment.

Refurb is not better than new. It's cheaper. The manufacturer signed off on it because they had to re-inspect it, repair any damages/issues on it, and are trying to still make some money from it. If you noticed (which you did, but failed to mentioned), refurb also come with a much shorter warranty than a new, retail one, which is understandable.

Refurbs can be a bargain route to go, especially when you buy a part that does last significantly longer than the manufacturer warranty, and lasts until you replace it, say 3-5 years down the road. But again, it doesn't mean it's better than new, just cheaper with a shorter warranty because they've already failed once, and had to be fixed and re-sold.

As for the comment about the SLI/Crossfire gimmick. The PSU's you most likely would buy, you aren't buying for that sticker alone. More often than not, they also happen to have another important sticker related to energy efficiency, which is an important feature for the electricity/reliability conscious. I don't think anyone on here that is giving advice, recommending parts, are doing so because the picture on the box is "pretty."

As for the cheapening out comment; I don't think you said that, but I can see how it would appear that way when you mock a person buying a PSU with the SLI/CF labels, and then suggest go with refurbs instead of new. I shudder to think if you built PCs for clients, and you put in refurb parts instead of brand new without their knowledge.

Also, I found a useful comparison chart in regards to wattage/performance. Obviously, Intel's Atom processors are going to be the standard bearers, but if you look at the desktop CPUs from Intel and AMD, you'll see 30 Intel CPUs, including Atom, i7, i5, i3, Celeron, and a low-performace Pentium, listed before AMD's A6 APU hits the charts. That honestly surprised me; I had to go back to read the charts separately to verify that AMD only have 2 CPU's that got a score better than 150, whereas Intel got around 80 CPU's having a score of 150 or higher.

Honestly, I thought that chart model has to be in error. So I looked up a review on tomshardware about you're recommended CPU, the AMD 8350. And truthfully, the review shows that Intel CPU's are more energy efficient than AMD. http://www.anandtech.com/show/6396/the-vishera-review-amd-fx8350-fx8320-fx6300-and-fx4300-tested/6

 

[Gusyen]

Also, I should probably edit my post as well, but I'm gonna need some recommended software I should install with the computer since I like things to be as non-frustrating as possible. Also, once I build the computer, how do I install the OS (Windows 7 64-bit most likely)?

 

[Snipeye]

Two options. One, you can put in a disc drive for about $15, and buy Win7 Home Premium for $100 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986)

Option 2: Install Win7 via USB. Here's quick link that describes the process: http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windows7/a/install-windows-7-usb.htm

You will also want to install the latest drivers for the motherboard and video card. However, typically if it's a new mobo version, the included drivers on the disc can suffice. But it never hurts to check the website to verify that you have the latest drivers. Those are the first twothings I worry about installing on the computer once it's put together. OS, Drivers.