Getting into PC gaming

[JonCole]

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

 

That Corsair case (and most Corsair cases, really) has both an intake and exhaust fan, which is pretty good for stock. I can't imagine he'd need much more than that.

 

Re: K-series, unlocked multiplier CPUs... I'd just think about that seriously before ponying up any extra money unnecessarily. I can't imagine how many gamers were recommended those CPUs and never overclocked them, but it's a huge amount from what I've seen anecdotally. That's not to say there's no value in overclocking, I've seen plenty of people on forums like Tom's Hardware talk about how they elevated their $100 CPU to compete with a $150-200 CPU and so on, I just know that I'll never do that myself.

[Architecture]

Overclocking has been incredibly simplified over the years. I spent a few days reading about it and after a night's tinkering, I had a stable build running a full 1GHz faster than stock.

 

Also, Haswell chips run plenty hot, especially when under a load (ie: gaming). Getting the 212 EVO will drop his CPU temp by 15-20° C. Necessary? No. a decent investment? Sure.

[tegan]

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.

 

You should totes get a-one of these.

 

[JonCole]

You should totes get a-one of these.

 

For what it's worth, that's a Razer Nostromo. It's no longer for sale (I'm sure you can get it used) but its successors are the Razer Tartarus and Orbweaver. The former is around $60-70 and is laid out very similarly to the Nostromo, the latter is upwards of $100, has mechanical keys, and has an extra row of keys.

[tegan]

I actually have the Nostromo and love it.

In all seriousness, I kind of have a problem when people talk about the superiority of mouse+keyboard over a controller for playing games because it's really both situation-dependant and only half-true. A mouse is definitely a lot more precise and useful than a controller in a lot of cases, but a keyboard is still a piece of office equipment that was never designed with gaming in mind and WASD is still a terribly uncomfortable and unintuitive method of moving a character as compared to an analog stick or d-pad. That's why I really like accessories like the Nostromo with their little pseudo analog stick nubbins. I basically can't play FPS games any other way.

[clyde]

This might be a good time to ask. I've been using an aircompressor (like the kind that you plug in and is super loud that you use to inflate car tires) to blow all the dust out of my computer. Is this a bad idea? It seems to work really well.

[eot]

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.

It's hard to know, but I don't think VRAM will be an issue. You need to be running 1440p (or even higher) with massive textures to use all that memory, or use tons of MSAA. If you're fine with a single monitor setup at 1080p having 4GB is overkill. I think a 250GB SSD is a much better investment.

[JonCole]

Some people purport that air compressors create a degree of static electricity that can damage computer components, but I know of a lot of professional PC builders/maintainers who use them with no measurable negative effect across hundreds of cases. I would only worry about the compressor actually doing damage to the components due to high pressure, which you could subvert if you drop your compressor to something like 30 PSI and keep it a reasonable distance from fragile parts of the motherboard and such.

[JonCole]

It's hard to know, but I don't think VRAM will be an issue. You need to be running 1440p (or even higher) with massive textures to use all that memory, or use tons of MSAA. If you're fine with a single monitor setup at 1080p having 4GB is overkill. I think a 250GB SSD is a much better investment.

 

I think his monitor is 1920 x 1200 or better, I'm not completely sure. Those Cinema Displays are generally a high 16:10 resolution, even the older ones. I know that Battlefield 4 at Ultra recommends 3GB of VRAM, I can't imagine it'll be the last. Though of course, that's to run it at ultra - I'm sure it isn't necessary to run the game at those settings, but having the ability to sure is nice.

 

Maybe 1) I'm just crazy or 2) I don't have the very latest SSD (I have a last-gen Samsung) but I don't really feel a huge payoff from using mine. This is not to say that there isn't one, I just don't really detect it. It's much easier for me to feel the advantages of running a game at the maximum graphics settings over having textures load 50% faster or startup times reduce by 10 seconds. It's a personal preference, but I'm just sharing it.

[Codicier]

This might be a good time to ask. I've been using an aircompressor (like the kind that you plug in and is super loud that you use to inflate car tires) to blow all the dust out of my computer. Is this a bad idea? It seems to work really well.

The debate here seems to be centred around a couple of things:

1st there's the static issue, everyone seems to agree that it's theoretically a problem but in reality not many people seem to report actual problems happening. (Perhaps the tolerance of components has substantially improved).

A more practical & common issue is with fans bearings if they are allowed to spin to quickly &/or freely' and with dust getting blown deeper into the components by over zealous spraying.

In the end from what I understand it a reasonably low pressure spray from a decent distance back is the way to go if you are prepared to take the static risk.

[Dewar]

The debate here seems to be centred around a couple of things:

1st there's the static issue, everyone seems to agree that it's theoretically a problem but in reality not many people seem to report actual problems happening. (Perhaps the tolerance of components has substantially improved).

A more practical & common issue is with fans bearings if they are allowed to spin to quickly &/or freely' and with dust getting blown deeper into the components by over zealous spraying.

In the end from what I understand it a reasonably low pressure spray from a decent distance back is the way to go if you are prepared to take the static risk.

The static risk is increased if you live in drier climates. Up here in Seattle I don't have to worry about it much, but when I worked for a place that had techs in New Mexico, they were always shorting out parts.

As for the build, I'd consider doubling up the memory. 8gb is adequate now, but CoD is the first PC game that requires a 64 bit OS because it wants 6gb of memory, so I suspect we'll be heading that way soon. Additionally, if you like to host multiplayer games like Terraria, Minecraft, etc, those worlds can take a lot of memory.

You also might consider staying on Windows 7 if you like playing older games, as some of the Win8 compatibility mode stuff has been less than successful.

[SecretAsianMan]

For what it's worth, that's a Razer Nostromo. It's no longer for sale (I'm sure you can get it used) but its successors are the Razer Tartarus and Orbweaver. The former is around $60-70 and is laid out very similarly to the Nostromo, the latter is upwards of $100, has mechanical keys, and has an extra row of keys.

 

I have an Orbweaver.  I used to have a Nostromo (which I gave to tegan) and both are pretty great.  The extra set of keys on the Orbweaver is useful (I felt the biggest flaw in the Nostromo was the need for another row of keys) and it has more adjustment options to fit your hand.  They also make a "stealth" version with quieter but still mechanical keys.  I bought both items used from Amazon and didn't have any problems with either one.  I highly recommend both.

 

I actually have the Nostromo and love it.

In all seriousness, I kind of have a problem when people talk about the superiority of mouse+keyboard over a controller for playing games because it's really both situation-dependant and only half-true. A mouse is definitely a lot more precise and useful than a controller in a lot of cases, but a keyboard is still a piece of office equipment that was never designed with gaming in mind and WASD is still a terribly uncomfortable and unintuitive method of moving a character as compared to an analog stick or d-pad. That's why I really like accessories like the Nostromo with their little pseudo analog stick nubbins. I basically can't play FPS games any other way.

 

I agree except for the part about WASD.  I have a "gaming" keyboard, but it's such a waste because it's still pretty uncomfortable and the extra "gaming" keys are useless because they're not near the home row.  I grew up playing PC games so WASD is second nature to me, but using a dedicated keypad is so much better that I hate using a normal keyboard for games.  I also have a wired 360 controller for games that call for it.

[Architecture]

I think Microsoft has artificially kept the price of Win7 higher to force sales of 8.1, which is a shame.

 

I personally am holding out on doubling my RAM until autumn; I'll probably swoop in if Newegg has some good sales.

 

And Jon, I've no basis for comparison, but switching from an HDD-based system to a Samsung 840 Evo was night and day. I go from completely powered off to desktop in 15 seconds, and I hear 8.1 boots even faster than that. It essentially removed the extensive load times for Half-Life 2, and even new games like AC4 feet snappy and responsive. I'm pretty sure Tomb Raider was basically a load-free experience, from my perspective. You can certainly get away with a smaller SSD, but the experience spoiled me to the point that I'm about to spend a shit-ton of money to buy another, much bigger drive.

 

Also, it makes no noise at all. The loudest component of my build, by far, is the WD 1TB HDD.

[Architecture]

As far as keyboards are concerned, I'm still very happy with my Corsair K70. It's a needlessly expensive device, but I love the way it feels for typing and gaming. It doesn't feature a bunch of frills that are gaming specific; it's just a solidly-built back-lit mechanical kb with a beautiful fit and finish to it. I honestly enjoy having it as an aesthetic complement to my computer space as much as I enjoy using it to interface with my PC. It certainly is a huge step up from the Dell low-profile junker I've now got sitting on a shelf in my closet. They now offer the blue & brown switch K70s in the same black/red color scheme as the one with Cherry reds.

[toblix]

I just scrolled super-fast through this thread and just wanted to say that creating a Windows installer USB and installing from it is super easy, so you shouldn't buy/install an optical drive just for that.

[shammack]

I just scrolled super-fast through this thread and just wanted to say that creating a Windows installer USB and installing from it is super easy, so you shouldn't buy/install an optical drive just for that.

 

Too late.