Summer Project

[KnightFire]

Well ratatat's latest topic kind of was the last straw. So now I'm finally set on making my own gaming pc when I head back home for summer break. The only problem is... I have no idea what to do.

 

I mean I have a decent idea. Anyways, I know this topic is pretty general so if any of you guys could help me pick out parts/link me stuff that will help me put it together/give me pointers I'd really appreciate it.

 

So yeah, basically throw anything out on here. Any GFX cards I just have to buy, etc etc. Hell, if you have the time maybe even find everything I need to make what I want. I'm looking to stay within like a $600-800 price range. But if I make enough money between now and summer I might even be willing to bump it up a bit.

 

Thanks a lot in advance guys and gals.

[Ratatat]

http://pcpartpicker.com/

[Supa]

i5-2500k = $200

ASRock Motherboard = $100

Memory = $40

Case = $100

Cooler = $25

Harddrive = $120

 

That doesn't include an optical drive (extra $20), and a mouse, keyboard or monitor. If you really want to stay below $800 you can probably drop the i5-2500k and get an i5-2400 for about $140. A good video card is going to run you dry though.

 

Case

Motherboard

Processor

Aftermarker CPU Cooler

Memory

Power Supply

 

For hard drives, stick with WD or Samsung. Spinpoints are very good drives, incredibly fast for being a 7200RPM drive. I've never had issues with any of mine, or those I used on friend's machines.

 

Those are the main components, GPU is your choice, but any of the mid end cards will cost you upwards of $250. Might wanna keep an eye out for sales, or wait until the new series are released so the price on the 6000 series AMD and 500 series Nvidia cards drop. Gaming computers tend to cost quite a bit more. A budget gaming computer is really just a high end personal computer.

[KnightFire]

Thanks for the reply both of you.

 

Supa: So I have a few questions...hope you don't mind xD

 

1) In terms of cooling, is there anything you can speak on for fans versus water-cooled PCs? I mean obviously I'd have to have someone do it right and having water in a PC to begin with is kind of sketchy, but are there any pros and cons you can tell me about?

 

2) For my GPU, is the SLI technology used by NVIDIA (as far as I'm aware) worth it or not? I mean obviously 2 GFX cards versus one will cost more but if I had 2 lower end ones that were better priced would that still work for a gaming pc build?

 

3) If I, say, switched out one CPU for another or a motherboard or a PSU, how do I know if all my parts will still work together flawlessly? Is there some sort of way of knowing if the parts I choose will/will not work with other components?

 

and last but not least!

 

4) Should I buy the majority of my parts from Newegg or are there other reputable sites you prefer/advocate?

 

Thanks again.

[Supa]

1) In terms of cooling, is there anything you can speak on for fans versus water-cooled PCs? I mean obviously I'd have to have someone do it right and having water in a PC to begin with is kind of sketchy, but are there any pros and cons you can tell me about?

You can get a Corsair water cooling setup for your CPU, which only costs $60. Since your budget is around $800, I don't think a full water loop would be wise, as you'd end up with about $200 left for the rest of your parts.

 

I actually use a Corsair H60 (one of their CPU pre-built water cooling coolers), and I've noticed a huge drop in temp., over my dual fan CM Hyper 212+.

2) For my GPU, is the SLI technology used by NVIDIA (as far as I'm aware) worth it or not? I mean obviously 2 GFX cards versus one will cost more but if I had 2 lower end ones that were better priced would that still work for a gaming pc build?

Depends on the game. Most games nowadays have full Crossfire/SLI support, but I've found that it's more troublesome going SLI over a single power card. (Partly why I spent $550 on my video card is I didn't wanna deal with SLI. In addition, that's more heat inside such a small area if you've got a mid tower case.)

 

If you were to say, go and get 2 GTX 560 Ti 448 core processors, you'd be getting an overall (although very slight) performance boost, but would be losing out on some of the memory. I had that option with my old 560 Ti, and decided that getting a single card that wouldn't be as "powerful" as the 2 mid-range cards and getting the extra 3GB of VRAM was the better decision.

 

Shadows/Anti-aliasing use up a lot of VRAM, so if you really want the performance to match the quality you'd need to spend the extra buck to get it.

3) If I, say, switched out one CPU for another or a motherboard or a PSU, how do I know if all my parts will still work together flawlessly? Is there some sort of way of knowing if the parts I choose will/will not work with other components?

All PSU's work with all components from 2010 onward. There hasn't been much change in terms of how power supplies are designed, besides the demand and sale of modular supplies going up for hassle free wiring.

 

As for CPU/Motherboard, you want to keep an eye on the socket. For example, the i5-2400, 2500k, and i7-2600 and 2600k, are all LGA 1155 socket processors. Means you need to get an LGA 1155 socket motherboard to house it, as they will not fit in any other motherboard. For the socket coming out in March, you can have either an LGA 1366 socket CPU or the new LGA 2012 socket CPU's and have them fit in the same board, however that will be the cheaper upgrade option. If you end up building this during the summer you'll want to go straight after the new processor/motherboard.

4) Should I buy the majority of my parts from Newegg or are there other reputable sites you prefer/advocate?

For you? Amazon might be the more cost effective. Living in California, each time I buy a part from Newegg, I pay 8% sales tax. When I first built this machine I spent $1100 + $100 tax. From Amazon, depending on the dealer, you would only be paying shipping, and in some cases they'll have deals on shipping.

 

I personally like buying things from a single distributer so they all arrive at once, but that's because I've always had nothing else to use as a backup machine.

[KnightFire]

You can get a Corsair water cooling setup for your CPU, which only costs $60. Since your budget is around $800, I don't think a full water loop would be wise, as you'd end up with about $200 left for the rest of your parts.

 

I actually use a Corsair H60 (one of their CPU pre-built water cooling coolers), and I've noticed a huge drop in temp., over my dual fan CM Hyper 212+.

 

Hmm, interesting...have you noticed a big drop in the sound it emits when it's running at full speeds? That's one of the major reasons I'd go for liquid cooling over just fans; the drop in temperature and overall sound. There's nothing I hate more than just listening to a computer's fans run like they're keeping the computer from melting.

 

Depends on the game. Most games nowadays have full Crossfire/SLI support, but I've found that it's more troublesome going SLI over a single power card. (Partly why I spent $550 on my video card is I didn't wanna deal with SLI. In addition, that's more heat inside such a small area if you've got a mid tower case.)

 

If you were to say, go and get 2 GTX 560 Ti 448 core processors, you'd be getting an overall (although very slight) performance boost, but would be losing out on some of the memory. I had that option with my old 560 Ti, and decided that getting a single card that wouldn't be as "powerful" as the 2 mid-range cards and getting the extra 3GB of VRAM was the better decision.

 

Shadows/Anti-aliasing use up a lot of VRAM, so if you really want the performance to match the quality you'd need to spend the extra buck to get it.

 

Yeah I think I'll probably go the same route as you did and just get one GFX card. You said GPU was my decision but I'm really lost on what I'd need to play the games I like without going overboard. I mean I play games like TF2, Alien Swarm, Call of Duty Series, League of Legends, and Dota. So are there any cards you could suggest for me to get the best bang for my buck?

 

All PSU's work with all components from 2010 onward. There hasn't been much change in terms of how power supplies are designed, besides the demand and sale of modular supplies going up for hassle free wiring.

 

As for CPU/Motherboard, you want to keep an eye on the socket. For example, the i5-2400, 2500k, and i7-2600 and 2600k, are all LGA 1155 socket processors. Means you need to get an LGA 1155 socket motherboard to house it, as they will not fit in any other motherboard. For the socket coming out in March, you can have either an LGA 1366 socket CPU or the new LGA 2012 socket CPU's and have them fit in the same board, however that will be the cheaper upgrade option. If you end up building this during the summer you'll want to go straight after the new processor/motherboard.

 

For you? Amazon might be the more cost effective. Living in California, each time I buy a part from Newegg, I pay 8% sales tax. When I first built this machine I spent $1100 + $100 tax. From Amazon, depending on the dealer, you would only be paying shipping, and in some cases they'll have deals on shipping.

 

I personally like buying things from a single distributer so they all arrive at once, but that's because I've always had nothing else to use as a backup machine.

 

Ah I see. Ok that makes my search a lot easier lol. I've never overclocked a PC before, but I plan to if I end up getting the i5-2500k since it seems to have more OC'ing potential than the 2400K. I assume I'd have to adjust my PSU accordingly? Any light you can shed on that topic? Also perhaps the best way to go about overclocking for a newbie xD

 

Again, can't thank you enough for your help Supa.

[Supa]

Hmm, interesting...have you noticed a big drop in the sound it emits when it's running at full speeds? That's one of the major reasons I'd go for liquid cooling over just fans; the drop in temperature and overall sound. There's nothing I hate more than just listening to a computer's fans run like they're keeping the computer from melting.

Only the case fans will be running loud, and that's to keep your GPU from melting. As it is there are no aftermarket water coolers for the GPU only like there is for the CPU, there is going to be some noise coming out of the case, but the temps will be pretty low on the CPU with that cooler.

Yeah I think I'll probably go the same route as you did and just get one GFX card. You said GPU was my decision but I'm really lost on what I'd need to play the games I like without going overboard. I mean I play games like TF2, Alien Swarm, Call of Duty Series, League of Legends, and Dota. So are there any cards you could suggest for me to get the best bang for my buck?

You could get away with any 6800 series AMD card, or a GTX 550 Ti even for those games. TF2 is an older game, and doesn't require that much graphic power to run, Alien Swarm is the same deal, Call of Duty hasn't actually updated their engine in 6 years so it runs the same MW did on release (I get 250fps in MW3, just to give you an idea), League of Legends runs on a 5770 no problem so no worries there and Dota isn't that graphically intense.

 

I'd get either of the two I suggested, or spring for either a AMD Radeon HD 6950 or a GTX 560 Ti (both are around $250, 6950 cheaper than the two).

Ah I see. Ok that makes my search a lot easier lol. I've never overclocked a PC before, but I plan to if I end up getting the i5-2500k since it seems to have more OC'ing potential than the 2400K. I assume I'd have to adjust my PSU accordingly? Any light you can shed on that topic? Also perhaps the best way to go about overclocking for a newbie xD

Well, figuretively speaking you'd have no overclock potential with the 2400, because it's locked at a max of 3.9GHz, which is enough for some people, but childs play for Sandy Bridge. Everything you'd be adjusting would be CPU related (the only thing a power supply does for your computer is power it, nothing more nothing less. Once it's installed it's good to go).

 

Getting a 2500k you simply don't need to overclock until you feel like you can. I didn't overclock either of my CPU's until I knew I wanted/needed it and could handle it.

 

There are loads of topics on forums that are actually based around extreme overclocking that can give you the tips you need. As it is I just wing it, using numbers I know work and keep toying around with it until I find something that's stable and cool enough to feel safe.

[KnightFire]

So I kind of browsed newegg for hours and, with your advice, kind of made my own PC build. Tell me what you think.

 

Computer Case -> $49.99

So I compared this case to the one you showed me and, other than this one being a bit cheaper, this one also seems to leave more room for expansion/modifications if need be. What do you think of this case? (I might miss the blue-LED fans though...xD)

 

Motherboard -> $99.99

 

Memory -> $46.99

Picked out this memory. Only difference I saw between this memory and this one was DDR3 1600 vs DDR3 1333. It's only like 5 bucks but if there's a vital difference I'll go for the 1600 definitely. Was just about the same price as the memory you listed. Any thoughts about these 2 or the one you listed?

 

Processor -> $189.99

Decided to take your word for the 2400. The longer I stared at the $230 price tag and the more reviews I read of the 2400 being good changed my mind faster. I'm hoping it'll hold up for any games I plan to play in the near future.

 

Cooling -> $59.99

So I've never done this before...as you can tell...so would I just need this to cool my entire PC? From the description of the above case, and also the one you showed me, it looks like they come with 2 fans?

 

PSU -> $79.99

 

GPU -> $139.99

Also decided not to spend the extra bucks on the 560 Ti and settled for the 550 Ti.

 

Optical Drive -> $22.99

Couldn't choose between this drive and this one. DIdn't see too much of a difference besides a few neat features. Any advice here?

 

Keyboard -> $49.99

Pretty much just picked out the top-rated keyboard. Not too particular with my keyboard unless you think there's something better out there.

 

I already have a mouse so this brings my total to about $740 (without shipping) without the monitor or OS included which I can live with.

 

So how'd I do?!

[Supa]

I would try and get a metal case, they last longer. Plastic tends to also be flimsy, and of much lower quality. That's why I suggested a slightly more expensive case.

 

As for the keyboard, I currently use a Logitech G19 ($150, obviously not in your budget right now XD), but before I had a Logitech G110 that I've recommended to friends who didn't want to get Mechanical keyboards, and they've all loved it. It's about $10 more than that, but it's great quality.

 

For the cooler, that's exactly what I have right now. It's almost effortless to setup and use, all you really need to do is watch their To-Do video and read the directions and you're good to go, like with anything else.

 

Everything else looks solid.

[KnightFire]

Awesome. Thanks a lot Supa. I really appreciated all your help! :D