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new build, haven't built one since 2009

U

ultra99

Member
My last custom built pc was in 2009, I have been using a laptop ever since. But now I'm going into my thesis and research...would like some gaming. I'm not a gamer, however I like to play FPS or strategy games as a stress reliever.

Most of the time I'm using my laptop at home, connected to a monitor, keyboard and mouse. So I thought why don't I built a pc?

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.

Thesis writing, research, a lot of tabs opened in Chrome and Firefox, pdfs, word docs, excel.
I like to have a VM or two opened. I connected to my HP Microserver (for backup).

Casual gaming, Civ 5, Age of Empires 3, BF3 and 4, COD.

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread

max $800 CAD

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.

4. IF you're buying parts OUTSIDE the US, please post a link to the vendor you'll be buying from.
Buying from Canada. I could use Newegg.ca, Amazon.ca or Canadacomputers.com

5. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc.

Not really, I'm open, but have used Intel and Nvidia only in the past.

6. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are. Nope

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds. Nope

8. What resolution, not monitor size, will you be using?
1920x1080

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?
Like NOW.

I don't need software or OS.

Thanks!!
 
Between multiple VMs and multiple games, it sounds like a lot of what you do could use an SSD. Multiple VMs probably also need ample RAM. So I made both larger than normal for you. That left less in the budget for a video card than I'd like, but it looks like 750 Ti's are relatively cheap in Canada.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: *Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ NCIX)
Motherboard: *ASRock B85 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($59.50 @ Vuugo)
Memory: *G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($147.98 @ DirectCanada)
Storage: *Crucial MX100 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($225.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Video Card: *EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Superclocked Video Card ($119.99 @ Memory Express)
Case: *Antec GX700 ATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Memory Express)
Power Supply: *EVGA 430W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($9.99 @ NCIX)
Optical Drive: *LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer ($13.99 @ NCIX)
Total: $797.41
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-25 13:14 EST-0500

Let us know if you prefer to skew the budget a different direction.
 
Ken g6 said:
Between multiple VMs and multiple games, it sounds like a lot of what you do could use an SSD. Multiple VMs probably also need ample RAM. So I made both larger than normal for you. That left less in the budget for a video card than I'd like, but it looks like 750 Ti's are relatively cheap in Canada.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: *Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ NCIX)
Motherboard: *ASRock B85 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($59.50 @ Vuugo)
Memory: *G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($147.98 @ DirectCanada)
Storage: *Crucial MX100 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($225.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Video Card: *EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Superclocked Video Card ($119.99 @ Memory Express)
Case: *Antec GX700 ATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Memory Express)
Power Supply: *EVGA 430W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($9.99 @ NCIX)
Optical Drive: *LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer ($13.99 @ NCIX)
Total: $797.41
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-25 13:14 EST-0500

Let us know if you prefer to skew the budget a different direction.
Click to expand...

wow, thanks! what graphics would you recommend other than the above if were to increase budget?
 
ultra99 said:
what graphics would you recommend other than the above if were to increase budget?
Click to expand...

Depends on the budget. Better graphics would also likely need a better PSU, which would also have to factor into the budget.

The next step up would probably be an R9 270, which is likely to work with that PSU, but I'd be more comfortable with a better one.

With a reasonably large budget, ~600W PSU and a GTX 970, but that's at least $250 more.

Are you playing these games on your laptop now? What are its specs? Just the 750 Ti may be a significant step up for you.
 
Ken g6 said:
Depends on the budget. Better graphics would also likely need a better PSU, which would also have to factor into the budget.

The next step up would probably be an R9 270, which is likely to work with that PSU, but I'd be more comfortable with a better one.

With a reasonably large budget, ~600W PSU and a GTX 970, but that's at least $250 more.

Are you playing these games on your laptop now? What are its specs? Just the 750 Ti may be a significant step up for you.
Click to expand...

My laptop has a Intel HD3000 😀 It runs Civ5 on low/medium, AOE 3 on high. BF3/4, COD are obviously not playable. However, I played BF4 on an Intel HD4400.
 
ultra99 said:
I know I said my budget is $800 CAD, i'm looking into the $500 CAD range, this might be very hard....
Click to expand...

At $500, you're either going to have to make heavy sacrifices in the office work use case or the gaming use case. Which is more important to you?
 
mfenn said:
At $500, you're either going to have to make heavy sacrifices in the office work use case or the gaming use case. Which is more important to you?
Click to expand...

Office work is more important.

But can I be demanding and ask for 2 builds: work vs gaming?


I might have my T420 directed towards office while this build could be my relaxation station. 😛
 
For $500 CAD, not much to choose from. You are not going to save much by building your own.

For work, might as well get a Dell or other cheap desktop.
For gaming, get a console.
 
What do you guys think?

PCPartPicker part list: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/tb7M23
Price breakdown by merchant: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/tb7M23/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor ($64.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Motherboard: *MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($53.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Memory: *Kingston 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($69.81 @ DirectCanada)
Storage: Sandisk Ultra Plus 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($60.52 @ DirectCanada)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.99 @ DirectCanada)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 280 3GB Black Edition Double Dissipation Video Card ($199.99 @ NCIX)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($35.99 @ NCIX)
Power Supply: *EVGA 430W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($9.99 @ NCIX)
Total: $545.25
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-25 21:24 EST-0500
 
Last edited:
A dual core is just a bad idea in 2015, you'll need to upgrade faster than with a quad. If you take Ken g6's build and swap out the PSU for an Antec Neo Eco 620w, the GPU for a 970 and the CPU to a 4690 (3.1GHz is just too low for clock speed, that 4690 will boost stock to 3.7GHz) you'll have a box that can do it all with no real compromises.
 
Ken g6 said:
If you want to look at a $500 gaming system, take [thread=2389797]my American low-end gaming build[/thread] to Canada and drop the OS. It has a lot of compromises, though, and Oly might be right:
Click to expand...

Would a $650 budget help out? I can live with 8gb ram for now and a 120gb ssd for boot.
 
For such a low budget, you need to find the deals. Look at both NCIX and Newegg Boxing day sales and be ready to snatch up anything cheap. Try to find the cheapest quad core Haswell chip you can, preferably with a motherboard combo. Same for an SSD and video card, minimum 750Ti or AMD equivalent, but faster is always better if you can afford it.
 
escrow4 said:
A dual core is just a bad idea in 2015, you'll need to upgrade faster than with a quad. If you take Ken g6's build and swap out the PSU for an Antec Neo Eco 620w, the GPU for a 970 and the CPU to a 4690 (3.1GHz is just too low for clock speed, that 4690 will boost stock to 3.7GHz) you'll have a box that can do it all with no real compromises.
Click to expand...

And that bumps the budget way beyond what the OP can afford, so it's not really the most useful advice. You keep trying to perpetuate this idea that you need a top-end i5 and a GTX 970 in order to game, and that's just not true.
 
ultra99 said:
Would a $650 budget help out? I can live with 8gb ram for now and a 120gb ssd for boot.
Click to expand...

Yes, $650 is much more tractable than $500. To lose $150 off of Ken's build, you can do something like this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: *Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ NCIX)
Motherboard: *ASRock B85 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($59.50 @ Vuugo)
Memory: Team Dark 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($77.48 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Crucial M500 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($96.98 @ DirectCanada)
Video Card: *EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card ($119.99 @ Canada Computers)
Case: *Antec GX700 ATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Memory Express)
Power Supply: *Antec 450W ATX Power Supply ($19.99 @ Memory Express)
Optical Drive: *Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($17.75 @ Vuugo)
Total: $611.67
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-27 13:36 EST-0500

Basically this swaps the RAM down to a single 8GB stick and gets a 240GB SSD. You can upgrade the RAM later on by grabbing another 8GB stick.
 
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