Desjardins' Mustache Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 Hey there, I'm looking to build my own PC. Has anyone ever done it? Any advice for a newbie? Prices, best websites, etc. Thanks Cheers, DM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NightHawkSniper Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 Use NCIX, pricematch parts from other sites and save a ton. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niloc009 Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 I'm actually in the process of building my first one right now! PCPartPicker is an awesome website. It let's you put together your entire build and uses prices from about 10 different websites. Also has a compatibility filter that will make sure all your parts work together, and a very active forum that you can go to for more help. Another place is on Reddit, r/buildapc. They have some great links on the sidebar for logical upgrading increments, and again a very active community that you can go to for help! Good luck man, I'll be checking back in here as I need the advice too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desjardins' Mustache Posted July 19, 2014 Author Share Posted July 19, 2014 I'm actually in the process of building my first one right now! PCPartPicker is an awesome website. It let's you put together your entire build and uses prices from about 10 different websites. Also has a compatibility filter that will make sure all your parts work together, and a very active forum that you can go to for more help. Another place is on Reddit, r/buildapc. They have some great links on the sidebar for logical upgrading increments, and again a very active community that you can go to for help! Good luck man, I'll be checking back in here as I need the advice too Haha. Thanks man Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caboose Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 How can we give advice without knowing your budget? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Korea Bob.Loblaw Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 Check garage sales. I bought a computer for ten bucks, took out the graphics card, put in a spare hard drive and fiddled around with it until I got it to work. First time I ever worked with a computer. I bought RAM sticks and a new graphics card and made a system I can play games with. My specs are awful but I can play Starcraft II on a machine I spent around 60 bucks for. It's what I've been using for a year now. So yeah, check garage sales and experiment. That way you don't have to be so nervous about breaking stuff the first time around. Also get a geeky friend to give you some tips when you get lost. YouTube helped me a bit too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mimerez Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 How can we give advice without knowing your budget? This. What are you going to use it for? Gaming? Video editing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desjardins' Mustache Posted July 19, 2014 Author Share Posted July 19, 2014 800, and for gaming Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asian player Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/BDL_MM00000103 If you could bump your budget up to $1000, the intel core i5 4670k processor is really good and I would highly recommend it. It can easily be overclocked but since your budget is $800, AMD should do the trick integra r2 750w power supply -- $70 Seagate 1TB HDD -- $55 any 2x4GB RAM ---$90 any case of your choice --- $80-100 Asus 24x DVD drive --- $20 Radeon R9 270x --- $200 that adds up to about $800. You get a better graphics card if you're into more serious gaming but this graphics card should hold its own. It's not great though. You can probably get a cheaper case and get a better graphics card idk this should do the trick though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desjardins' Mustache Posted July 19, 2014 Author Share Posted July 19, 2014 Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roland Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 Buy from NCIX or Newegg. Try to spend as much as you can instead of buying the cheaper components and upgrading later Radeon video cards are generally better for budget PC's. ( I prefer Nvidia, though) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JiffyPB Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 1. Price-match whatever you can. $5-10 per component can go a loooong way. Newegg has perhaps the largest catalog of items but returning stuff is a pain in the rear vs. using memory express. 2. DO NOT BUY COMPONENTS BASED ON "FUTURE-PROOFING" OR "ITS CHEAP." When building a PC it's all about "cost-efficiency." Imagine a bell curve for money spent on a PC. You are getting the most in terms of price to performance in the $750-$1000 range than you are outside of it. Buy quality components the first time or you will seriously repent not doing so. 3. 8 GB RAM is a must. 4. DVD/CD drive not necessary. 5. CPU wise the lowest you should go for 1080p gaming is an intel i3. Games tend to be more GPU dependent than CPU dependent. Unless you are building a high-end rig (based on your budget you are going more medium-end) the average frames-per-second difference between an i3 and an i5 is not worth spending the extra ~ $100 on a medium or low end card. Proof: 6. If it comes down to either a weaker CPU with a stronger graphics card or a stronger CPU with a weaker graphics card go with a weaker CPU and stronger graphics card. >90% of games are more GPU dependent (i.e. Crysis, Battlefield, Borderlands) than CPU dependent (i.e. Skyrim, Planetside 2, Watch Dogs) so you get more bang for your buck in terms of what performance you will get. An intel i3 paired with a GTX 760 >> intel i5 with a GTX 750. 7.I would not bother with an i7. Most games don't make use of its power and even then on that budget you won't get to high enough settings on your graphics card to even make use of it if you tried. Stick within a $120-$200 budget for a CPU. If you are getting an i5 don't bother getting the top-of the line i5 with the "K" suffix unless you plan on overclocking (more $$ on the i5 itself, motherboard, cooling, power supply if you do this). 8. If you are not planning on overclocking and/or using SLI/crossfire (using 2 graphics cards in tandem) do not bother getting a motherboard with the "Z__" chipset on the intel side. You will save a bunch of cash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Magician Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 Anything from Origin is really good for gaming (although quite expensive). http://www.originpc.com/gearshop/ Motherboard - EVGA SRX Processor - Intel Xeon 2687 (Cpu x2) Cpu Cooling - Frostbyte 360 x2 Memory - 96 GB Corsair Dominator Platinum (1600 Speed) Graphics - Nvidia GTX Titan (x4 Graphics SLI) Hard Drive - 240 GB NeutronGTX Solidstate (x2 Raid 0) Case - Corsair 900D (Custom Alliance Paint) Power Supply - 1500 Watt EVGA Supernova Classified These are pretty much the best specs for gaming. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caboose Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 Anything from Origin is really good for gaming (although quite expensive). http://www.originpc.com/gearshop/ Motherboard - EVGA SRX Processor - Intel Xeon 2687 (Cpu x2) Cpu Cooling - Frostbyte 360 x2 Memory - 96 GB Corsair Dominator Platinum (1600 Speed) Graphics - Nvidia GTX Titan (x4 Graphics SLI) Hard Drive - 240 GB NeutronGTX Solidstate (x2 Raid 0) Case - Corsair 900D (Custom Alliance Paint) Power Supply - 1500 Watt EVGA Supernova Classified These are pretty much the best specs for gaming. Good luck! Ignore the above post and stick to your budget. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aGENT Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 -I personally only use Asus motherboards, so I recommend them. -For your budget/needs I'd probably go with an i3 or i5 CPU. Find a "happy medium" for price/power/efficiency. -MAKE SURE you get a good quality (and quiet/120mm fan) power supply. -I agree with the 8GB RAM as a minimum. -Get a SSD drive for your OS/Software. Then get a USB3.0 external drive (or two) or even better a NAS for your data. -On a related note to that ^^, keep your case small (but well ventilated). Motherboard, CPU, RAM, power supply, graphics card, one hard drive maybe an optical drive is all that needs to go in there beyond the associated cabling and fans. Lian Li, Silvertsone etc make good, efficient cases. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niloc009 Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 Curious, is there any use in getting an higher priced motherboard (>$100)? I only plan to use one graphics card and 2 sticks of RAM. Anything I need to keep an eye out for while picking parts? Edit: this is the one I currently have as part of my future build https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-ga970ads3p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aGENT Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 Curious, is there any use in getting an higher priced motherboard (>$100)? I only plan to use one graphics card and 2 sticks of RAM. Anything I need to keep an eye out for while picking parts? Edit: this is the one I currently have as part of my future buildhttps://ca.pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-ga970ads3p You generally only need to spend more $ if you're doing something "specialized" and/or bleeding edge. If you're just building an "average" PC, no. Just make sure it's the right form factor, compatible with your CPU and video card(s) will accept enough RAM, has enough SATA ports, USB 3.0 etc. Beyond that it becomes more a matter of specifically meeting requirements of a specialized task or equipment. For example I'm looking to build a custom NAS box which needs to be mini-ITX form factor but also have 6+ SATA ports and have either an efficient onboard CPU or accept say an efficient (low heat) celeron or i3. It's slim pickings for those requirement and one of the onboard CPU solutions was $240. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KoreanHockeyFan Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 Anything from Origin is really good for gaming (although quite expensive). http://www.originpc.com/gearshop/ Motherboard - EVGA SRX Processor - Intel Xeon 2687 (Cpu x2) Cpu Cooling - Frostbyte 360 x2 Memory - 96 GB Corsair Dominator Platinum (1600 Speed) Graphics - Nvidia GTX Titan (x4 Graphics SLI) Hard Drive - 240 GB NeutronGTX Solidstate (x2 Raid 0) Case - Corsair 900D (Custom Alliance Paint) Power Supply - 1500 Watt EVGA Supernova Classified These are pretty much the best specs for gaming. Good luck! LOL overkill much? Just keep this in mind when buying your parts, never cheap out on the motherboard. I've always gone with AMD for CPUs just because of the cheaper price, but NVDIA has been my go-to for GPUs. It's all about personal preference so don't bother getting all caught up in the AMD vs Intel/NVIDIA debate. Make sure to get 8GB of RAM, and if you have some cash, buy a small SSD to install your OS in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niloc009 Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 These are the parts I'm planning to use, any advice/comments anyone? CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($133.69 @ Vuugo) Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($78.27 @ Vuugo) Storage: Seagate 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive ($85.58 @ Canada Computers) Video Card: MSI Radeon R7 265 2GB Video Card ($176.28 @ Vuugo) Case: BitFenix Shinobi Window ATX Mid Tower Case ($58.83 @ NCIX) Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($43.83 @ Memory Express) Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($21.13 @ Vuugo) Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($106.77 @ DirectCanada) Other: Monitor ($150.00) Other: 2x4GB RAM ($90.00) Total: $944.38 (RAM iI'll decide later, will just pick up whatever's cheapest with the best reviews when i go to buy it) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KoreanHockeyFan Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 These are the parts I'm planning to use, any advice/comments anyone? CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($133.69 @ Vuugo) Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($78.27 @ Vuugo) Storage: Seagate 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive ($85.58 @ Canada Computers) Video Card: MSI Radeon R7 265 2GB Video Card ($176.28 @ Vuugo) Case: BitFenix Shinobi Window ATX Mid Tower Case ($58.83 @ NCIX) Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($43.83 @ Memory Express) Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($21.13 @ Vuugo) Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($106.77 @ DirectCanada) Other: Monitor ($150.00) Other: 2x4GB RAM ($90.00) Total: $944.38 (RAM iI'll decide later, will just pick up whatever's cheapest with the best reviews when i go to buy it) That looks pretty good, but you can probably save around 30 bucks on your hard drive by going with a Western Digital Blue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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