So... Building a PC

[MASTACHIEFPWN]

Hello forum friends,

I've recently come to the realization that my store bought PCs CPU is, after 3 and a half years, no longer up-to-the-cut for gaming (Intel i5 2320). Because of the fact that most recent game releases require something a bit newer/more powerful in terms of CPUs, I figured I'd just upgrade it- and to my dismay I discovered my motherboard is only compatible with a couple of outdated CPUs, and then I discovered that windows is authenticated through your motherboard, and I pretty much just figured at this point it'd be a better decision to just go ahead and build my own PC, because I'm weird and don't want liquid cooling like most of pre-made "Gaming PC" websites require, and the fact that I already have a new GPU installed in my system.

So I guess what I'm really asking, to all the people around here who have built their own systems, is how'd it turn out? I mean, I know everything I'll need, and have all the components picked out, but how difficult was putting everything together?

And, more importantly, are these acceptable components? I want the actual system to last me around 4-6 years, sans GPU, probably (Because I usually opt for mid-line ones)

Processor: AMD 8370 (4ghz)
GPU: (Already purchased and currently being used) Nvidia GTX 960
Motherboard: MSI 970
OS: Windows 7 (Now, I realise Windows 10 would be the far better choice, but I'm quite tepid on how I feel about it. I'd be fine with shelling out 100$ for a new OS 2-3 years down the line, especially if that means it'll have some kinks worked out of it, or by the off chance there will be a new option, Windows 8 is only 3 years old, after all.)
RAM: Crucial Ballistix Sport (God, that is a stupid name) 16gb DDR3 1600
Storage: Western Digital 2tb HDD
600W PSU
And of course a Case, Disk drive, Wireless card and stuff of that nature.

All the things I have not bought on this list total out to 630 USD (Pre tax and or shipping), which I feel is a fair price, seeing as how, even factoring in how much I paid for my GPU, it's still around the same price a less powerful store-bought dell XPS. So, is all of this, you know, acceptable? I am trying to make this still modestly powerful, but not wanting to go over 700, as my place of employment over hired for the season, and I don't want to entirely decimate my checking account.

And finally, just for a little discussion point, How do you guys/gals feel about building your own PCs? Is it a necessity for you? Does the thought scare you? etc.

EDIT: Also forgot to mention that I don't plan on overclocking or anything fancy like that with the CPU.

 

[kurupt87]

The only thing on there that I could point to and hmm at is the lack of an SSD.

A 250 GB Samsung 850 EVO (held by many to be the best consumer brand SSD) is only $85. The difference in having your OS and regularly used programs/data held on an SSD and not held on an SSD is large. You can still have your 2TB mechanical to store everything else (music, docs, movies etc).

In fact, I'd say going from mechanical to SSD results in the most noticeable day-to-day user experience improvement of any hardware upgrade.

 

[Remus]

Meh, load times have never been that big an issue for me. When I built my PC all the money went into a high end GPU - R9 295x2 - quad channel mobo with ddr4 quad to match, and other bells and whistles. If I had the hundred to spare for an SSD I might've got one but in the end I needed that money for a fresh copy of Windows - old one was OEM so one install, one use. While nice, believe me, SSD is not necessary. When I build, I build to last into the next decade - don't do it often enough to give advice or make a career of it and I prefer to stay that way. So yea, I'm with you on no overclocking. Don't want to unnecessarily shorten your PC's lifespan when you may easily upgrade parts later on. It's great when you already have parts to transfer into a new rig. I had upgraded from 500GB to 2TB a year or so ago so simply swapped it into the new case and reinstalled.

 

[Neonsilver]

You certainly could add a ssd. They aren't that expensive with adequate sizes anymore.
I think the PSU has more power than you actually need, 500W is probably enough and still has room if you want to add more components later. But to make sure you should look into the power that your components need.
I would prefer a good intel cpu to an amd. My cpu is an intel I5 3570K. It's already a few years old, but still runs everything I throw at it without problems. An I7 is good if you have extra money, but an I5 is in my opinion good enough.

In regards to building a PC, I think it's a necessity, at least if you want to play videogames without having to worry about system requirements of the games for a while. That's more because a proper gaming pc is usually quite expensive if you buy one finished.

 

[freaper]

I'd recommend an SSD too, but I think they're still priced 1GB/1$, so not cheap.

I don't think I could go back to a pre-built PC after having assembled mine. It's relatively easy and at least you know what you put in, plus it saves you at least 50 bucks.

 

[Hoplon]

I'd recommend an SSD too, but I think they're still priced 1GB/1$, so not cheap.

lol no. not for while now. like 5 years. a 128 gb which is fine for an OS install shouldn't breach $50 (might be wrong translating from pounds sterling)

An SSD is the part to get, possibly an i5 over the AMD but can be a pricey so understood if not.

 

[infohippie]

I could not live without my SSD now, the difference is amazing. I did not think it would be so helpful but it's the best upgrade I've bought in a long time.

 

[Anti Nudist Cupcake]

Went over it and I think it's a decent build. Personally I don't bother with more than 12 gb ram and it honestly depends from person to person whether you'll ever actually use a full 2 TB hard drive. Everything seems compatible but I'd make sure the PSU has the connectors needed for the GPU and cpu (two 6 pins and one 8 pins is usually the standard). Maybe even get a 650-700 watt PSU because trust me, graphics cards get outdated fast and need to be upgraded to something beefier most often in my experience.

Lastly, there are ways of getting a free operating system....

I only ever build/upgrade my own custom built PC. Buying a pre-built model is unthinkable because they tend to be more expensive and I can always find areas where less powerful hardware can be used so that you can afford more powerful hardware in other areas that would actually make a noticeable difference in performance. It's not as intimidating a task as one would think. Everything I know about building computers I found out by googling. Modern desktops are very modular and universally compatible with most software compared to how the first desktops were many decades ago.

 

[Neonsilver]

Maybe even get a 650-700 watt PSU because trust me, graphics cards get outdated fast and need to be upgraded to something beefier most often in my experience.

In my experience a decent graphics card lasts easily 3-4 years (currently using a gtx660TI for 2-3 years). If you are satisfied with less than maximum settings in games they last even longer. I don't think a newer card will need 150-200w extra. The GTX 980 for example needs only 40W more than the 960 if I'm not mistaken.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

1. Get an SSD, as everyone else has said. I don't really view them as "optional" any more. If nothing else, you want one to use as a boot drive.

2. I'd personally recommend Intel over AMD. Personal choice, but I've had far better success over the years with Intel.

The resultant PC is perfectly fine for everything currently out. There's a few games that won't run particularly well, but those are games that don't run particularly well for ANYONE.

 

[Albino Boo]

You will get 40% increase in performance for about the same price by going for an i5 4690k with 8gb of Ram.

 

[kurupt87]

The price for that SSD I mentioned earlier is from newegg, in US zone.

And yeah, AMD you want if you're gonna OC. Intel are better stock.

 

[The Enquirer]

Out of curiosity, how much RAM does your GPU have? And is the already purchased GPU included in the budget?

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

If this rig is primarily for gaming, I'm going to have to recommend an Intel CPU. (And this is from a guy who uses an AMD octo-core.) Most games still heavily depend on single-core performance, and that's where Intel is stronger.

Also, yes, you definitely want an SSD for your primary drive. A 120GB SSD can be had for ~$70, and that's more than large enough to serve as an OS/important programs drive while you get a larger HDD for games and such. When you're at your desktop twenty seconds after you push the power button, you'll wonder how you ever did without. (And if you're looking for high-performance gaming, having separate drives for your OS and games is crucial.)

 

[Antari]

Hello forum friends,

I've recently come to the realization that my store bought PCs CPU is, after 3 and a half years, no longer up-to-the-cut for gaming (Intel i5 2320). Because of the fact that most recent game releases require something a bit newer/more powerful in terms of CPUs, I figured I'd just upgrade it- and to my dismay I discovered my motherboard is only compatible with a couple of outdated CPUs, and then I discovered that windows is authenticated through your motherboard, and I pretty much just figured at this point it'd be a better decision to just go ahead and build my own PC, because I'm weird and don't want liquid cooling like most of pre-made "Gaming PC" websites require, and the fact that I already have a new GPU installed in my system.

So I guess what I'm really asking, to all the people around here who have built their own systems, is how'd it turn out? I mean, I know everything I'll need, and have all the components picked out, but how difficult was putting everything together?

And, more importantly, are these acceptable components? I want the actual system to last me around 4-6 years, sans GPU, probably (Because I usually opt for mid-line ones)

Processor: AMD 8370 (4ghz)
GPU: (Already purchased and currently being used) Nvidia GTX 960
Motherboard: MSI 970
OS: Windows 7 (Now, I realise Windows 10 would be the far better choice, but I'm quite tepid on how I feel about it. I'd be fine with shelling out 100$ for a new OS 2-3 years down the line, especially if that means it'll have some kinks worked out of it, or by the off chance their will be a new option, Windows 8 is only 3 years old, after all.)
RAM: Crucial Ballistix Sport (God, that is a stupid name) 16gb DDR3 1600
Storage: Western Digital 2tb HDD
600W PSU
And of course a Case, Disk drive, Wireless card and stuff of that nature.

All the things I have not bought on this list total out to 630 USD (Pre tax and or shipping), which I feel is a fair price, seeing as how, even factoring in how much I paid for my GPU, it's still around the same price a less powerful store-bought dell XPS. So, is all of this, you know, acceptable? I am trying to make this still modestly powerful, but not wanting to go over 700, as my place of employment over hired for the season, and I don't want to entirely decimate my checking account.

And finally, just for a little discussion point, How do you guys/gals feel about building your own PCs? Is it a necessity for you? Does the thought scare you? etc.

EDIT: Also forgot to mention that I don't plan on overclocking or anything fancy like that with the CPU.

Everything looks good but I'd bring that power source up to 750 or 1000. If you want a quiet system go with 1000, it will never need to turn its fan on. I run the 8350 and its a great CPU not much can stress it. Just make sure to give it plenty of fast ram. I'd recommend 16 gig PC3-14900 DDR3 from either Kingston or Patriot, Crucial has a lot of DeadOnArrival parts. Another optional is the motherboard. If you can find it and afford it Gigabyte will give you better performance for equivalent board compared to MSI. Also if you can, try not to take your system drive over 2 gigs unless you want it to take 2 days to defragment at times. Throw big size drives in for storage not for system. An SSD is fast, but has a limited lifespan. A good 1 terabyte WD Black will do the job for about 10 years or better.

 

[AT God]

I built my own PC for the first time over the summer and it luckily turned out wonderful. It took me about 5 hours to assemble because I had never done it before and I struggled for a while with a few steps (motherboard placement, I/O shield lining up, and CPU/Heatsink installation) but other than that and a fair bit of tedious reading to find where all the cords go, it went incredibly well. Booted first time, only lingering annoyance is one of the hardware installers always tries to launch whenever the computer reboots. Too lazy to find out where it is launching from and removing it.

As far as parts, I wanted to get parts that would keep me from having to build up from scratch for a long time. I didn't buy a new GPU, so I overspent on a CPU and made sure I was getting a nice solid MOBO and case. My GPU is the only old piece of tech in my computer now and I am waiting to see what the future holds for either Nvidia's next wave of cards or at least to see the 980TI drop in price.

Here is a link to the PCPartPicker page I used to select parts: [link]http://pcpartpicker.com/user/ATGod/saved/PQR6Mp[/link]

As I said, no GPU was bought, I had purchased a Geforce 680 in 2012 and didn't want to spend the money to replace it just yet. With the setup in the link I am able to run most games fairly well, generally anything that taxes the CPU can be maxed out, only my GPU keeps me from doing things like maxed out physics and texture stuff. I don't own too many games from this year so I cannot say how well it holds up to the new stuff but things like Wolfenstein The New Order ran fine at 60 on mostly maxed settings, and older games from late 00's will run at my monitor's 144FPS fine on highest settings.

In summary, I don't know anything about AMD processors but 4ghz is what I have speed wise and it works great. I also bought a Windows 7 OS but I actually took the free upgrade to Windows 10 and find it is superior for gaming. Only thing I tweaked was I downloaded a program called ClassicShell which reverts the Start Menu to how Windows 7 Works. I would consider making sure you can upgrade to 10 for free if you buy 7, otherwise I would recommending buying 10. Haven't really had any issues with compatibility, but I am aware some issues exist for various things.

 

[MASTACHIEFPWN]

Out of curiosity, how much RAM does your GPU have? And is the already purchased GPU included in the budget?

2gb. The GPU has already been purchased, and it wasn't included in the 630$ total. It was 200, so with that included it would be 830$

 

[MASTACHIEFPWN]

You will get 40% increase in performance for about the same price by going for an i5 4690k with 8gb of Ram.

Same price, more or less, until you factor in the Motherboard. I'm getting my CPU and Motherboard at a local electronic store that has bundle deals, and the AMD bundle is about 60$ cheaper. I'll still consider it, though, as the 4690k is a lot newer than I suspected. I take it the i5 doesn't hyperthread, though.

 

[MASTACHIEFPWN]

I'd recommend an SSD too, but I think they're still priced 1GB/1$, so not cheap.

lol no. not for while now. like 5 years. a 128 gb which is fine for an OS install shouldn't breach $50 (might be wrong translating from pounds sterling)

An SSD is the part to get, possibly an i5 over the AMD but can be a pricey so understood if not.

Most the ones I've seen are about 65$ USD. I've heavily considered an SSD, but with most games being 35-60gb installs now, I figure a larger HDD will do me better. As of now I have 2 1tb hdds in my PC, all together taking up about 1.6tb with everything I have on them. I'd add in the newer drive I have (like 1 and a half years old) with the 2tb one, but I'd still consider one. It would be nice as a boot drive.

From what I've gathered, Intel is superior, but on the budget I have AMD really seems like the way to go. The closest appealing chip I can find would factor out to be at least 60 USD more, with having to change the mobo.

 

[MASTACHIEFPWN]

I built my own PC for the first time over the summer and it luckily turned out wonderful. It took me about 5 hours to assemble because I had never done it before and I struggled for a while with a few steps (motherboard placement, I/O shield lining up, and CPU/Heatsink installation) but other than that and a fair bit of tedious reading to find where all the cords go, it went incredibly well. Booted first time, only lingering annoyance is one of the hardware installers always tries to launch whenever the computer reboots. Too lazy to find out where it is launching from and removing it.

As far as parts, I wanted to get parts that would keep me from having to build up from scratch for a long time. I didn't buy a new GPU, so I overspent on a CPU and made sure I was getting a nice solid MOBO and case. My GPU is the only old piece of tech in my computer now and I am waiting to see what the future holds for either Nvidia's next wave of cards or at least to see the 980TI drop in price.

Here is a link to the PCPartPicker page I used to select parts: [link]http://pcpartpicker.com/user/ATGod/saved/PQR6Mp[/link]

As I said, no GPU was bought, I had purchased a Geforce 680 in 2012 and didn't want to spend the money to replace it just yet. With the setup in the link I am able to run most games fairly well, generally anything that taxes the CPU can be maxed out, only my GPU keeps me from doing things like maxed out physics and texture stuff. I don't own too many games from this year so I cannot say how well it holds up to the new stuff but things like Wolfenstein The New Order ran fine at 60 on mostly maxed settings, and older games from late 00's will run at my monitor's 144FPS fine on highest settings.

In summary, I don't know anything about AMD processors but 4ghz is what I have speed wise and it works great. I also bought a Windows 7 OS but I actually took the free upgrade to Windows 10 and find it is superior for gaming. Only thing I tweaked was I downloaded a program called ClassicShell which reverts the Start Menu to how Windows 7 Works. I would consider making sure you can upgrade to 10 for free if you buy 7, otherwise I would recommending buying 10. Haven't really had any issues with compatibility, but I am aware some issues exist for various things.

Little late for this info now, but Newegg and other PC part places offer Win7 pro for about 40$ less than what you bought home premium for, as Pro is the only one still produced for market by MS. Nice looking build, though.

I don't blame you for not upgrading your GPU yet, I got a 550ti a few years ago, and that did everything I needed until about this year, so I finally coughed up the 200 to get a 960.