So I Want to Build a Computer

[Paragon Fury]

Well, since I've finally broken down to admitting that my gaming habits are killing my laptop, I've decided to finally break down one other wall; I will attempt to build my own computer. Obviously this isn't a rush out and do it sort of thing; it probably won't occur until the Spring or early Summer.

However, it must occur, and since so many people claim that it is soooo easy, I might as well learn sooner or later. I'm no computer expert, but understand enough of the basics so that I wouldn't be totally lost. However, since I'm not that up-to-date on computer parts and pieces, I don't know where to start there.

So since I know there are more than a few tech-savy people here, I figured I compile a list of wants and see what the Escapist can come up with for recommendations/directions. So here you go.


Basic Wants/Needs/Ideas
NOTE: This is going to be a desktop, so I'll need a case too.

- Price Range: $1,000-$1,500USD ideally, $2,000USD maximum for all parts and equipment combined.

- Memory: 250GB+, RAM 4GB+

- OS: Windows 7 x64 Bit

- Processor: Duo or Quad Core

- Sound: Game Quality Sound, Optical Sound Output/Jack if possible

- Graphics/Video Bar: Ability to play Starcraft II, Fallout 3/New Vegas, Battlefield on high or maximum without FPS loss or overheating. Basically I want to be abel to max or near-max most modern games, and be able to handle a few upcoming games, notably Guild Wars 2 and a couple of others. Preferred Brands: NVIDIA, ATI

- Cooling: Air cooling preferred. I don't really want to mess with water or other fancy stuff.

- Media: CD-DVD + Blu-Ray Drive, Headset, Microphone Jacks

- Networking: Ethernet and Wireless networking capable card please

- Display: 1440x990 or better, 15 inch screen or better

- Other: HDMI Output Plugs, at least 4 Built-in USB Ports, also whatever that little plug you need to hook up to projectors with (with all the little prongs)

 

[6unn3r]

Most colleges or adult education places have evening classes on how the insides of a computer work and which bit does what. I find they are good places to start in order to get to know the basics of computer building and maintanace.

Graphics wise i would go with the GTX 460. It's a fairly inexpensive card at around $205 and has very good stats especially if you go for the 1GB version. Dont forget you'll need the right motherboard to use it.

Motherboard i would choose the Gigabyte X58A-UD3R. For the above reason, plus it has the chipset for the...

... processor, personaly i cant fault Intels 900 series, depending on how much you want to spend on it also depends on the power you will get from it. 930 is a good chip and easy to overclock.

Hard Drive, honestly you can get 1TB drives fairly resonably these days and if you are going to upgrade your system at any point in the future, having a large hard drive makes it alot simpler.

Oh and most important of all DO NOT EVER SCRIMP ON POWER SUPPLY always always buy the best you can get or you will be paying for it twice in the future.

NB: ill add links when i find them.

 

[Antonidious]

So since I know there are more than a few tech-savy people here, I figured I compile a list of wants and see what the Escapist can come up with for recommendations/directions. So here you go.

I recently built my own computer with very similar wants in mind so if it'll help here is the computer I built:

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=12155511

I got the monitor and wireless card elsewhere so they are not included and the RAM and processor are currently out of stock but this should give you a good idea on where to start. This computer can run Starcraft 2, BF:BC2, Fallout New Vegas, and other games on max settings with no real issues.

Including the wireless card and monitor I bought off Amazon I spent about $1,500 on this which was about the same you said you wanted.

I got a 21" 1920x1080 monitor and a USB N wireless card if that helps as well.

Good luck, and if you have any questions let me know. I'll be happy to help.

 

[Paragon Fury]

This is [https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/MySavedWishDetail.aspx?ID=12847911] what I came up with. I'm not quite sure if A: My power supply is right, B: I didn't see a specific sound section on Newegg, thus I don't know if I need a seperate card for that, and C: If it will all work togther. From the descriptions I'm sure most of it will, but I can't tell, because I've never had to do this before.

 

[Ziadaine_v1legacy]

This is the setup I use, except with a GTX 460 instead of my 480.

Spoiler: My list of stuff

PwS: http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=15_535&products_id=15160
i7 Quad:http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=187_346_930&products_id=15316
EVGA nVIDIA GTX460: http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=193_687&products_id=15879
HD 1TB: http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=210_344&products_id=12095
RAM: http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=186_538_914&products_id=14538
Mobo: http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=138_711_775&products_id=14844

Now obviously you'd have to pick your own case, monitor etc etc. but this is $1110 AUD (Which would come out a "bit" cheaper then US). Its $499 for the GTX480 Which is pretty much the same as the 580, only difference is it generates a bit more heat. (580 is $699)

The i7 is the latest Processor (Quad) and the RAM pack is a Triple Channel. With the i7, It's HIGHLY recommended you put in lots of 3 for the RAM for better performance. (i5/Duo can do lots of 2) so this pack is 3x2GB DDR3.

Hopefully I didnt confuse the crap out of you.

We also can't view your stuff because its inside your account. Take a screenie.

 

[Paragon Fury]

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Also, why is Rosalina nibbling on a star in your picture?

 

[Ziadaine_v1legacy]

Why ISN'T she?

 

[Kabutos]

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Also, why is Rosalina nibbling on a star in your picture?

Your CPU is incompatible with your motherboard.


That being said, if you want to save money, I'd keep the CPU and ditch going for an i7. The i5 750 is really all you need for gaming on the CPU side; so dropping down to 4GB of RAM and a different mobo [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131405R&cm_re=ASUS_P7P55D_PRO-_-13-131-405R-_-Product] will save you some money which you can put towards another 460 to run in SLI or something.

EDIT: Also, get a Samsung Spinpoint F3 instead of a Seagate, and drop down to 1TB. You can always add more later.

2nd EDIT: Drop the V8. If you aren't overclocking, then a stock cooler is fine; if you are, then get a CM Hyper 212+ or Scythe Mugen II or something.

 

[Paragon Fury]

So if I got that motherboard you listed, would my CPU and GPU still work with it?

 

[loc978]

one I recently priced out:

local shop
Case: Antec Nine Hundred Two~ $129
Proc: Phenom II Quad-Core 945 3.0GHz 8M~ $152
RAM: 6GB(2x3GB) Crucial 1333MHz~ $122
HDD: WD Velociraptor 600G 32M 10000 SATA III~ $318
DVD: Asus E818A6T 18x DVD-ROM Black SATA~ $22

internet
PS: Tagan ITZ series 700W~ $120
MB: MSI 790FX-GD70 AM3 AMD~ $165
BDR: LG Black 10X Blu-ray Burner - SATA WH10LS30~ $80 (this one's on sale, so... probably not a fair price)
Vid: MSI N460GTX Hawk 1GB 256bit GDDR5 PCIe2.0x16~ $215

Total~ $1323... plus shipping on four of the parts.

An average 19" LCD monitor should run you about $130.

A note on operating system: you do not want to run Windows 7x64 on a gaming machine. Most games run in 32-bit, and 7x64 has terrible 32-bit emulation.

A Note on cooling: the fans in an Antec nine hundred series case will cool not just your CPU, but your room as well. Mine is making my legs cold as I type.

A note on sound: most motherboards these days have HD Audio controllers on-board... the one I listed has an 8-channel Realtek ALC889 on it... good enough for an average home theater system, though not a movie theater or DJ setup.

A note on hard drives: the drive I listed is very much on the bleeding edge for access speed. I would recommend getting a smaller one if it's too expensive, but going down to a 7200 RPM drive can cause a pretty serious bottleneck in your system. If you must, get a second (or second, third, and fourth, like my current system) drive to store multimedia files on... but run your OS and high-end games completely from the 10000 RPM drive.

A note on wireless networking... if you must have one on a desktop computer (I never do, I need my 1GBps network)... get yourself a long corded antenna and set it up somewhere in view of your base station.

 

[Paragon Fury]

one I recently priced out:

local shop
Case: Antec Nine Hundred Two~ $129
Proc: Phenom II Quad-Core 945 3.0GHz 8M~ $152
RAM: 6GB(2x3GB) Crucial 1333MHz~ $122
HDD: WD Velociraptor 600G 32M 10000 SATA III~ $318
DVD: Asus E818A6T 18x DVD-ROM Black SATA~ $22

internet
PS: Tagan ITZ series 700W~ $120
MB: MSI 790FX-GD70 AM3 AMD~ $165
BDR: LG Black 10X Blu-ray Burner - SATA WH10LS30~ $80 (this one's on sale, so... probably not a fair price)
Vid: MSI N460GTX Hawk 1GB 256bit GDDR5 PCIe2.0x16~ $215

Total~ $1323... plus shipping on four of the parts.

An average 19" LCD monitor should run you about $130.

A note on operating system: you do not want to run Windows 7x64 on a gaming machine. Most games run in 32-bit, and 7x64 has terrible 32-bit emulation.

A Note on cooling: the fans in an Antec nine hundred series case will cool not just your CPU, but your room as well. Mine is making my legs cold as I type.

A note on sound: most motherboards these days have HD Audio controllers on-board... the one I listed has an 8-channel Realtek ALC889 on it... good enough for an average home theater system, though not a movie theater or DJ setup.

A note on hard drives: the drive I listed is very much on the bleeding edge for access speed. I would recommend getting a smaller one if it's too expensive, but going down to a 7200 RPM drive can cause a pretty serious bottleneck in your system. If you must, get a second (or second, third, and fourth, like my current system) drive to store multimedia files on... but run your OS and high-end games completely from the 10000 RPM drive.

A note on wireless networking... if you must have one on a desktop computer (I never do, I need my 1GBps network)... get yourself a long corded antenna and set it up somewhere in view of your base station.

1: Yes, but 32x bit systems can only access 2GB of RAM, where 64xbit can use 4GB at a time. Why waste 2GB?

2: I like the monitor I found, and it comes with speakers too, which I don't have, so thats a bonus.

3: Already ditched the cooler. But I did add a second GPU (another 460), so maybe I should look into another 120mm fan for the opening on the side, just in case?

4: I must have wireless. At home, Ethernet does not reach all the way to my room (its over 75 feet from the modem to my room, through several other high foot-traffic rooms). At college, my room only has one Ethernet jack, and since my 360/PS3 must share that jack (wireless console connections aren't allowed here), my desktop would need to have wireless.

 

[loc978]

1: Yes, but 32x bit systems can only access 2GB of RAM, where 64xbit can use 4GB at a time. Why waste 2GB?

in my case, because I'll be dual-booting KUbuntu. In your case, you can save the money and go for 4GB, or get 6 and hope Microsoft fixes their issues with 32-bit emulation... or hope the software market evolves to the point where everyone's coding in 64. Either way, that emulation issue will slow you down a lot more than a couple gigs of RAM one way or the other... my current system only runs 2GB (under XP SP3, though... much more streamlined), and I've never had a problem with any software I've tried.

2: I like the monitor I found, and it comes with speakers too, which I don't have, so thats a bonus.

good stuff.

3: Already ditched the cooler. But I did add a second GPU (another 460), so maybe I should look into another 120mm fan for the opening on the side, just in case?

Not a bad idea, but probably unnecessary, unless you plan on getting an Intel multi-core and overclocking the crap out of it.

4: I must have wireless. At home, Ethernet does not reach all the way to my room (its over 75 feet from the modem to my room, through several other high foot-traffic rooms). At college, my room only has one Ethernet jack, and since my 360/PS3 must share that jack (wireless console connections aren't allowed here), my desktop would need to have wireless.

Ouch. Sorry, man... there's no way for you to run the cable up high through walls at home? I'm hooked up with 100ft of Cat6 in the form of two cables and a signal booster... I ran it along the ceiling and drilled through a few walls... but I have my own house.
As for your dorm... can't you get an ethernet switch? That would solve your problems right there.

 

[Paragon Fury]

1: I went with the 4GB RAM list with that ASUS motherboard mentioned earlier. But still 32xbit can only address 2GB at a time, so.

2: I want to get that Intel Quad-Core that is listed on my Wish List. No overclocking though.

3: That would involve drilling through a bathroom, including a shower stall. Bad idea. And at college I already have to trick the system in order to get full use of my PS3/360, so adding an Ethernet switch would only bugger that up.

 

[loc978]

Understood. So, cooling isn't an issue, I guess I can't help you on the RAM issue, though 2GB has so far proven to be plenty in my experience... and for networking, I guess get yourself a nice card with a good long extension on the antenna. I really can't be a whole lot of help there, as I only use wireless on my laptop.

...just bothered to look at the parts you had listed (apologies for not doing so earlier)... and I feel I must reiterate one point: do not use that Hard Drive (the Seagate 2TB 5900RPM one) for a primary system drive, or to run high-requirement games from. Your system will be twiddling its thumbs waiting for that thing to access on load screens and during precaching. I really recommend getting a 10000 RPM drive with 32+MB of cache for high-end stuff. Getting a WD Velociraptor sped my system up exponentially.

 

[Paragon Fury]

New Internal HDD [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136322]

Would that work with the CPU I have there and the ASUS motherboard from Madnezz's post?

And by "bare drive" I assume it means no fancy package or instructions, right?

 

[loc978]

Perfect. The motherboard in question is capable of double the drive's transfer rate, but 3GBps is still very, very fast... and one good thing about hard drives is as long as you've got the right hookup, it'll work. SATA connections are SATA connections, SATA II and III just sit on a faster bus and require bigger cables to take advantage of speed... but they still technically work with SATA I hookups.

Bare Drive means just what you said. All it comes with is a static bag and a receipt. You'll need to have mounting screws and cables for it. Your case should come with a bunch of extra hardware, so the screws shouldn't be a problem, and for a cable, something like this [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812816117&cm_re=sata_cable-_-12-816-117-_-Product] should be perfect overkill (technically all you need is a SATA II cable... but this one doesn't actually cost more than most of 'em anyway, and all SATA stuff is backwards compatible).

 

[Paragon Fury]

Ok. Everything I have except for two things seems to come fully prepared. However, for the

Open Box: ASUS P7P55D PRO LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard

and the

Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000HLFS 300GB 10000 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive


which seem to come with nothing other than the part listed there, what else will I need?

 

[chuketek]

Quick piece of advice, I don't think there's any point in getting 3 sticks of RAM for the simple reason that p55s are designed to work dual channel. I'd go with 4 sticks or 2 sticks.

(Dual/Triple Channel means that the board is designed to efficienctly use two/three sticks of RAM in conjunction, rather than all of them separately. The up-side is that it goes faster. The down-side is that in order to keep the memory synced you need to make sure that the two/three sticks are identical. They sell RAM in 2 and 3 stick bundles to meet with these two configurations)
In other words if you get 3 sticks now then:
a: it's not going to use those extra 2 gb very efficiently
b: you've basically roped yourself into buying one more stick of identical RAM if and when you upgrade because if you get anything else it's going to be out of sync with the stuff you'll be pairing it with. Either that or you'll be throwing one of the sticks away.

Also, for anyone else planning a gaming PC and thinking about the possibility of having 2 graphics cards either now or in the future, I highly recommend you read this:
http://www.hardware-revolution.com/p55-motherboards-crossfire-sli-performance-problem/

 

[Paragon Fury]

Ok, after reading all the suggestions, and some of the material provided by people here, this is what I plan on. Please go over and see if there are any compatiability issues, or things missing.

Case: Antec Nine Hundred Two Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129058] - $110

Motherboard: ASUS LGA1156 Intel P55 DDR3 - 2133 ATX Motherboard P7P55D Deluxe [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002LITZ96?ie=UTF8&tag=hardwarevol03-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B002LITZ96] - As recommended by that article from Chuketek, and because it comes fully boxed with instructions and cables from Amazon for $50 less than Newegg. $150

Processor: Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor BX80605I5750 [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115215] - $200

Internal HDD: Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000HLFS 300GB 10000 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136322] - $170

Power Supply: CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005] - $90

GPU: GIGABYTE GV-N460OC-1GI GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125333] - $200x2 = $400

RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277] - $60

Media: Sony Optiarc Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA CD/DVD Burner - OEM [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118039] - $20

Networking: Linksys WMP600N IEEE 802.11a/b/g, IEEE 802.11n Draft 2.0 PCI Wireless Adapter with Dual-Band WEP, WPA & WPA2 Personal, WPA & WPA2 Enterprise [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833124342] - $55

VisionTek Bigfoot Killer 2100 Gaming Network Card [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833189002] - $86

Monitor: Asus VE228H 21.5" Full HD HDMI LED BackLight LCD Monitor w/Speakers ASCR 10,000,000:1 [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236100] - $160

OS: Windows 7 Home Premium - $180

Total Cost: $1,681



Anything else I need? Like for the HDD and Media Drive, since they're listed as "Bare Drive" and "OEM", so I assume that means no cables or instructions for either of them? (I assume that SATA cable from above will work for the HDD still, but what of the Media Drive?)

 

[Kabutos]

Internal HDD: Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000HLFS 300GB 10000 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136322] - $170

Um, I'd stick with just a regular 7200RPM Spinpoint F3 drive, seeing as how they're $100 cheaper; a faster hard drive will really only increase load times.

OS: Windows 7 Home Premium - $180

You can get the OEM version for about $100

Anything else I need? Like for the HDD and Media Drive, since they're listed as "Bare Drive" and "OEM", so I assume that means no cables or instructions for either of them? (I assume that SATA cable from above will work for the HDD still, but what of the Media Drive?)

You can use any SATA cables that come with your mobo.

EDIT: I'd also recommend the CM 690 II over the Antec 900 but that's because I'm just a fanboy.