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Computer Building novice seeking guidance

G

guidedbyechoes

Member
Hi I'm looking to build a computer that will handle current generation gaming as well as simple video editing.

I'm hoping to build something in the range of 6-700, though I'm not sure that feasible.

I will be most likely buying my parts from newegg in the US unless someone knows of a better source.

I really have no brand preference I hear good things about asrock, gigabyte and asus. I was leaning towards amd, but have been told the i-5 might be more what I am in need of.

About the only thing worth salvaging from my current computer would be the dvd drive just to have one. I rarely use it as is.

I'm planning to overclock.

Not sure what resolution works best. I'm actually using a 32 in Vizio tv which looks pretty great at 1920x1080 otherwise 1280x768 also works

I plan on starting in June.

I'm hoping for 64 bit win 7 or 8 if they get that straightened out. Any guidance would be great.
 
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I'm happy with Windows 8 and it's much cheaper than 7. There are options you can use (software) that will bring back the start menu from Windows 7.

You'd probably be looking above your set $700 budget just from a quick look. Building an system from newegg right now, all told is around $1000 with an Asrock Extreme 4 Motherboard, 3570k CPU, 8GB g.Skill DDR3 1600 memory, 1TB WD HDD, AMD 7850 GPU, 500w Corsair PSU, Antec Three Hundred case, and a CPU heatsink suitable for some overclocking.

I didn't go bargain bin hunting I will admit, but for an overclocked gaming system I do recommend getting decent stuff (not the cheapest all the time).
 
cmdrdredd said:
I'm happy with Windows 8 and it's much cheaper than 7. There are options you can use (software) that will bring back the start menu from Windows 7.

You'd probably be looking above your set $700 budget just from a quick look. Building an system from newegg right now, all told is around $1000 with an Asrock Extreme 4 Motherboard, 3570k CPU, 8GB g.Skill DDR3 1600 memory, 1TB WD HDD, AMD 7850 GPU, 500w Corsair PSU, Antec Three Hundred case, and a CPU heatsink suitable for some overclocking.

I didn't go bargain bin hunting I will admit, but for an overclocked gaming system I do recommend getting decent stuff (not the cheapest all the time).
Click to expand...

Holy crap that is a huge jump! I can build a rig to play most modern games now for under 400! I might just have to stick to consoles. :thumbsdown:
 
guidedbyechoes said:
Holy crap that is a huge jump! I can build a rig to play most modern games now for under 400! I might just have to stick to consoles. :thumbsdown:
Click to expand...

Eh what? No you can't... a DX11 card that could even touch Crysis 3 at reasonable framerates at 1080p (Very High and High Quality)is going to be ~$200.

I bet PS4 will be near $500 when it releases too.

The difference is a good PC will last easily as long as a console, then just upgrade the GPU and you're in business because I really don't see a 4Ghz i5 being considered "too slow" or a "bottleneck" for a long time yet.

Components that are known for good overclocking are not the cheapest either. I hate to sound like a downer and I'm not trying to be but I don't think things are as you expected. If you hunted for every deal out there and bought gear from people on the forums when they did an upgrade you might be able to do it for your budget. As I said, I simply selected good quality components from reputable companies that I know are good for an overclocked system and didn't price hunt.
 
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cmdrdredd said:
Eh what? No you can't... a DX11 card that could even touch Crysis 3 at reasonable framerates at 1080p (Very High and High Quality)is going to be ~$200.

I bet PS4 will be near $500 when it releases too.

The difference is a good PC will last easily as long as a console, then just upgrade the GPU and you're in business because I really don't see a 4Ghz i5 being considered "too slow" or a "bottleneck" for a long time yet.

Components that are known for good overclocking are not the cheapest either.
Click to expand...

Yeah, hence why I said most, I forget that most pc gamers play in 1080p. I'm used to 720... For 500 I can get this http://teksyndicate.com/videos/build-best-budget-gaming-pc-february-2013

not sure what all it can handle though.
 
cmdrdredd said:
Eh what? No you can't... a DX11 card that could even touch Crysis 3 at reasonable framerates at 1080p (Very High and High Quality)is going to be ~$200.

I bet PS4 will be near $500 when it releases too.

The difference is a good PC will last easily as long as a console, then just upgrade the GPU and you're in business because I really don't see a 4Ghz i5 being considered "too slow" or a "bottleneck" for a long time yet.

Components that are known for good overclocking are not the cheapest either. I hate to sound like a downer and I'm not trying to be but I don't think things are as you expected. If you hunted for every deal out there and bought gear from people on the forums when they did an upgrade you might be able to do it for your budget. As I said, I simply selected good quality components from reputable companies that I know are good for an overclocked system and didn't price hunt.
Click to expand...

Yeah I understand. What are the options for mobos that will work with quad core that are upgradable to 6-8 cores later on? I still have all the other systems from this console generation if I wanted to play crysis.
 
guidedbyechoes said:
I plan on starting in June.
Click to expand...

It's way, way too early to talk about specific parts for your build. Deals change all the time, so you really want to start looking in earnest about a week or so before you buy.

$700 will get you something like this:

Intel Quad Core $180
Reasonable motherboard $80
8GB of RAM $40
Midrange GPU (7870 or GTX 660 probably) $240
1TB HDD $70
~500W PSU $50
Some inexpensive but decent case $40
 
Know what? Looking at all the games on steam I can probably occupy myself with enough games to not care about the new generation until prices come down enough to able to build what I want. So what are my chances at getting a rig that can run games like day z for under a grand?
 
mfenn said:
It's way, way too early to talk about specific parts for your build. Deals change all the time, so you really want to start looking in earnest about a week or so before you buy.

$700 will get you something like this:

Intel Quad Core $180
Reasonable motherboard $80
8GB of RAM $40
Midrange GPU (7870 or GTX 660 probably) $240
1TB HDD $70
~500W PSU $50
Some inexpensive but decent case $40
Click to expand...

That's absolutely true. I'm just trying to get an idea what kind of components I would need to achieve my goal. To an outsider it's difficult when you don't know what the specs mean and what they do.
 
guidedbyechoes said:
Know what? Looking at all the games on steam I can probably occupy myself with enough games to not care about the new generation until prices come down enough to able to build what I want. So what are my chances at getting a rig that can run games like day z for under a grand?
Click to expand...

Your chances are pretty good; even sticking under your $700 budget originally is possible if you accept medium or high settings rather than ultra at 1080p (plus reduce effects like shadows and anti-aliasing).

If you'd like, I can type up a basic guide to parts.
 
Sleepingforest said:
Your chances are pretty good; even sticking under your $700 budget originally is possible if you accept medium or high settings rather than ultra at 1080p (plus reduce effects like shadows and anti-aliasing).

If you'd like, I can type up a basic guide to parts.
Click to expand...

It sure couldn't hurt. Thanks! Is it anything like this build?
 
Here it is. It is a monster, covering 5.5 pages. I may convert it to BBcode if people want it shared.

Fair warning: it's more of a general guide to what parts do than advice on what parts to get.
 
This helped a lot. Everything was easy to understand except the sata area but I've never even gotten close to maxing my harddrive every since I had more than 60 gb of HDD.
 
When you boot up a program or start a game, stored data on the hard drive needs to be accessed. This data travels to the motherboard through SATA (Serial AT Attachment) cables. The SATA cable standards have been revised to be faster and faster as time goes on.

The bottleneck for starting programs has been this drive-to-motherboard connection for a while now: your CPU actually has to sit there and wait for the hard drive to feed it the data necessary. Hard drives are slow enough that they cannot fill the SATA 3Gb/s protocol. Meanwhile SSDs are able to most of the 6Gb/s protocol. That's part of why SSDs are much faster than HDDs.

This is also why you want to connect the SSD to the faster ports and the HDD can (doesn't have to be, but can) be put on lower speed ports if necessary.
 
Sleepingforest said:
When you boot up a program or start a game, stored data on the hard drive needs to be accessed. This data travels to the motherboard through SATA (Serial AT Attachment) cables. The SATA cable standards have been revised to be faster and faster as time goes on.

The bottleneck for starting programs has been this drive-to-motherboard connection for a while now: your CPU actually has to sit there and wait for the hard drive to feed it the data necessary. Hard drives are slow enough that they cannot fill the SATA 3Gb/s protocol. Meanwhile SSDs are able to most of the 6Gb/s protocol. That's part of why SSDs are much faster than HDDs.

This is also why you want to connect the SSD to the faster ports and the HDD can (doesn't have to be, but can) be put on lower speed ports if necessary.
Click to expand...

I meant the PCIe and so forth. I know about mhd being basically slow and SSD being faster but the drawback is they don't last as long or can hold as much because the residual electricity. So I guess the real question is :how long before they manage to come out with more stable SSD's?
 
guidedbyechoes said:
I meant the PCIe and so forth. I know about mhd being basically slow and SSD being faster but the drawback is they don't last as long or can hold as much because the residual electricity. So I guess the real question is :how long before they manage to come out with more stable SSD's?
Click to expand...

You do not have to worry about the lifespan of an SSD for a typical client machine. It'll last 7-10 years before you hit the rated limit.
 
guidedbyechoes said:
I meant the PCIe and so forth. I know about mhd being basically slow and SSD being faster but the drawback is they don't last as long or can hold as much because the residual electricity. So I guess the real question is :how long before they manage to come out with more stable SSD's?
Click to expand...

Pretty much every SSD is stable enough that you could replace it only every 7-10 years or so. No need to worry. 😛
 
Alright I'm ready to start the build. The games currently in my gaming library are the newest dues ex, witch er 1 and 2, alan wake, divinity 2, and a new beginning. I want to be able to play those as well as planetside 2, the new tomb raider and bioshock infinite. I'm not a huge needs to be played on high quality at 60 fps type person, but the budget is still in the 700 dollar range. That doesnt include the keyboards, moniter, mouse and OS.
 
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