Getting into PC gaming

[JonCole]

No less than an hour ago I bought a Corsair PSU from Newegg, they have a couple of solid deals going after rebate -

 

Corsair CX430M 430W Modular PSU - $44.99 -> $24.99 after $20 rebate

Corsair CX500M 500W Modular PSU - $54.99 -> $34.99 after $20 rebate

 

Nothing too wild but if you're going pretty solidly budget like I am, $20 can make a difference.

 

Good luck and feel free to ask any questions you may have. That PCI-E thing compares to a SATA II vs SATA III vs SATA 3.0Gbps vs SATA 6.0Gbps crisis I had last time I build a computer, so I know that feeling of dumb terminology getting the better of you.

[Irishjohn]

Thanks a lot! I am going solidly budget as well. I may take you up on the offer of advice actually, though I might message you or something. I don't want to clog the thread up with yet more newbie stuff (though I have before!)

[bakelite]

Fractal Design cases are worth checking out too:

http://www.fractal-design.com/?view=product&category=2∏=100

 

Don't know about the availability in <your country>, though.

 

I have the Define R4 and couldn't be happier. Quiet, easy to work with and the design is so simple that you barely notice it. Just a black box.

[Irishjohn]

Cheers guys. I am in the US so in theory I should be good.

 

I actually have connections in Taiwan but the shipping would negate the value of getting better prices on ASUS gear.

[JonCole]

Fractal cases are available here, but $100 is a quite a lot for a light budget. There are plenty of cases around the $50 price point that should be more than sufficient and that money would be better spent on going from a dual-core to a quad-core or from a 1GB GPU to a 2GB GPU.

[Irishjohn]

Yeah, that's where I am at the moment. I had a Cooler Master in mind with the PSU built in but a quick review of the comments revealed that the PSU's wattage was not as high (in daily usage) as advertised. I was a bit iffy about that anyway. I'm trying to figure out how cases work; Amazon has cases for $26 or so but that just seems nuts (i.e. too low to make sense).

 

I'm looking at the next two at the moment:

 

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BCXF6KS/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2RJWK1R96JVYH&coliid=IM21E4EFJ9RZE

 

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005MMW4DM/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2RJWK1R96JVYH&coliid=I1IDITHCS33EP6

 

Frankly, if I can do a bit cheaper I'd like to. 

 

By the way, really appreciating the help, and I hope I'm not gunking up the thread. I don't mean to use the Idle Thumbs community as my personal IT group, I'm just a nerd and I figure if you're nerds like me you're ok with it. But speak up if I should hang back a bit.

[Irishjohn]

Screw it, I'll just share the whole list I have at the moment, please feel free to ignore it. There are repeats here and there, though I'm mostly interested in keeping the CPU and GPU. It's a tiny bit higher than I'd like right now price wise, but that may just be the way it has to be.

 

http://amzn.com/w/2RJWK1R96JVYH

[JonCole]

That's basically the same exact computer I have planned to build for my girlfriend for her birthday early next year. I went with a more expensive case and 80 Plus Gold PSU because I know she'll hang onto them for a long time. The only thing I'd point out is that the FX-6300 supports up to DDR3-1866 memory, so I went with an ASRock mobo and 1600MHz memory instead to take advantage of that ceiling. The NZXT Source 210 was on my shortlist for cases for my HTPC, I only went with something more expensive because of USB 3.0 Ports. I'd discourage buying a case with blue LED case fans, only because I consider them fairly ugly and not very appealing at night if it's the only piece of hardware on in the house.

[Irishjohn]

That's basically the same exact computer I have planned to build for my girlfriend for her birthday early next year. I went with a more expensive case and 80 Plus Gold PSU because I know she'll hang onto them for a long time. The only thing I'd point out is that the FX-6300 supports up to DDR3-1866 memory, so I went with an ASRock mobo and 1600MHz memory instead to take advantage of that ceiling. The NZXT Source 210 was on my shortlist for cases for my HTPC, I only went with something more expensive because of USB 3.0 Ports. I'd discourage buying a case with blue LED case fans, only because I consider them fairly ugly and not very appealing at night if it's the only piece of hardware on in the house.

 Excellent, thanks a lot man, this is a big help for me. Is it okay that I am nerding out like crazy over building my first PC?

[Dewar]

Building them is half the fun.

[shammack]

I think I want to build a PC that can run games somewhat decently. But it's been over a decade since the last time I built one and I don't really know what I'm doing anymore. After consulting a thread on Somethingawful I came up with this parts list:

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-4570 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($192.99 @ NCIX US) 

Motherboard: ASRock B85M Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($69.99 @ Amazon) 

Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($68.99 @ Newegg) 

Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk  ($139.00 @ Amazon) 

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($49.99 @ Amazon) 

Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 760 2GB WINDFORCE Video Card  ($249.99 @ Amazon) 

Case: Corsair 350D MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($59.99 @ Newegg) 

Power Supply: Antec TruePower Classic 550W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply  ($79.99 @ Newegg) 

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 - 64-bit (OEM) (64-bit)  ($94.98 @ OutletPC) 

Wireless Network Adapter: Intel 62205ANHMWDTX1 802.11a/b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter  ($33.99 @ Amazon) 

Total: $1039.90

(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-05-07 20:44 EDT-0400)

 

 

Does that seem adequate? I'm not super picky about cranking up every graphics setting, as long as I can get a consistent frame rate. I also don't tend to play a lot of super-demanding AAA kind of stuff anyway. I don't care about overclocking. And I don't want to spend more than $1200 (U.S.).

 

(I'm currently playing games on a 2009 MacBook Pro, so I would like it to at least be an improvement over that.)

[prettyunsmart]

I think that would work for what you're looking for. I built a PC for less than $1000 a year ago and I'm still running pretty much everything on high settings with solid frame rates. If anything, I'd say you might not need the SSD. Otherwise, the rest of the parts look pretty good.

[Codicier]

That is more than adequate, infact that's likely to have you future proofed for a good couple of years too.

What monitor are you running that beast through btw?

& have you picked out a decent mouse & keyboard yet?

[clyde]

This may be anecdotal, but I used the stock fan for the cpu and it caused a problem that could have easily been avoided with a $15, more powerful fan.

[shammack]

I have a 23" (I think) Apple Cinema Display. Keyboard is a Saitek Cyborg which I mostly just bought because it was funny, and I use a Kensington Slimblade trackball.

[JonCole]

Yeah, that is a bit better than adequate. Only thing I'd consider is getting a 4GB video card and decreasing the capacity of the SSD (if you want to keep the price consistent). Only a couple games at the moment make use out of greater than 2GB VRAM, but it may prove useful in the future with ports of console games that use lots of VRAM.

[Architecture]

WORD OF WARNING, THAT GIGABYTE CARD IS FUCKING HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE. I have the 760 as well, and it's just shy of 13" long, so make sure you have enough space in your chassis.

 

I would also stick with the 250GB SSD at the least--I opted for a 120 and now it's Titanfull. I actual plan to pick up a 500GB SSD shortly for nothing but game storage. I have a 1TB HDD, but I'm loathe to install games on it because I've been spoiled by Samsung SSD speeds.

 

You might also consider spending a fistful of dollars more and step up to the i5 4670K. It's got faster stock speeds and also features an unlocked multiplier, meaning you can overclock her should you feel the desire. I'm currently sitting pretty with a 4.4GHZ 4670K. Though if you plan to increase the multiplier, make sure you've got a better cooling option lined up (the Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO is great for the budget-minded PC gamer). If you're tight on budget, consider dropping the WD drive for a minute as you can always install it later.

 

But yeah, that's a solid build with enough juice to run circles around both new consoles.

[shammack]

Stupid followup question: how do I actually get Windows installed on this thing? I don't want to buy a DVD drive just to install Windows and then never use again. But I haven't been able to find a way to just download Windows onto a USB stick. You can apparently buy a DVD and dump the ISO, but can I just bypass the disc entirely?

[Architecture]

A DVD burner will run you $15, you should just buy one.

[shammack]

[Architecture]

You should also probably have one of these on hand, just in case:

 

[Merus]

Yeah, DVD players aren't expensive. You have room.

[Bjorn]

I think that would work for what you're looking for. I built a PC for less than $1000 a year ago and I'm still running pretty much everything on high settings with solid frame rates. If anything, I'd say you might not need the SSD. Otherwise, the rest of the parts look pretty good.

 

Yeah, I spent $800ish on a new build last spring, and have yet to find anything it can't run at or near max quality (admittedly there are a few games I haven't tried that might push it).  But that build looks plenty powerful to last for awhile. 

[Codicier]

Honestly if i was doing a new build these days i might even pay a little extra to get a Blue Ray burner just for archiving my work, howver If your purely going to use this as a gaming rig that is of course a non issue.

 

whats happening gamepad wise? There are actually a lot of pc games where you will be glad to have one.

do you have a old xbox control to use? I'm not sure if its still a issue but for a while the wireless dongle needed to use the xbox wireless pad because very difficult to get hold of, If you want to splash out on i understand razer do a pimped up version.

 

Also i'll 2nd the recommendation on the Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO, as a very quiet running replacement for the stock fan. 

 

​Lastly have you thought about adding dust filters &/or extra fans (if your case requires them) they can make a huge difference to a pc's long term life expectancy and how much maintenance you need to do

[Architecture]

Speaking of dust filters, is there a good place to acquire some screen material to line the exhaust and intake holes on my case? Corsair uses a breathable fabric, but only over a portion of the ventilation holes. I want to cut it to size and mount it inside the chassis to help prevent excess dust from making its way into the box.