Building a new compuater

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Herro wrote on 2014-02-16 04:21

I wish to build a new computer, but I do not know anything about it. Does anyone have any suggestions or tips to get started?

If anyone is wondering I'm just looking for a system that will be able to run the games I play (skyrim, pso2, mabi, league) smoothly regardless of whatever setting I have it on. A good gaming rig. @_@
Evaris wrote on 2014-02-16 05:20

The main question is: what is your budget?

The second question is: What do you consider "good?"

Are you looking for:
Just the cheapest PC that will run your games at high settings and not fall apart?
Something that can be upgraded and will be rock solid in reliability for a decade with the above?
A good 'gaming' PC capable of playing all the latest games on high (or higher) settings as well as what you play regularly?
Said good gaming PC that will last for a decade?
or absolute best performance within -insert budget here-?

Answer that first... mostly because budgets control what we're looking at.

After that, we can get into part selections. Though speaking of just the bases, you're looking at at least a quad core CPU, at least a AMD R9 270 / Radeon HD 7870 / Nvidia 660 / Nvidia 760 Video Card, 8GB of DDR3 RAM, a 550w 80+ bronze single rail power supply, preferably superflower, CWT, or Seasonic based (various brands rebadge these like Corsair, Rosewill, and Antec). I would also recommend for long-term usage, an aftermarket heatsink (like the popular Coolermaster hyper 212 as a basic one.) and some decent thermal paste such as GELID GC-EXTREME. I would get a basic $40-60 mid-tower unless you intend on going fancy or are looking at a budget above $1000. For case choices, I'd recommend NZXT, Antec, or Corsair. Then on your processor, you've got AMD or Intel. AMD you have two socket choices, with more cores on the AMD AM3 chipset, cheaper prices per feature on the FM2+ chipset, or otherwise you have everyone's mainstay Intel.
Hyoheki wrote on 2014-02-19 03:00

I agee with Evaris that first you need to establish a budget. You can make a computer for a few hundred or a few thousand depending on what you buy. Also a not really important but side important question.

Do you know if you'll be overclocking? If you decide you want to go into overclocking it'll also effect how you buy.
Herro wrote on 2014-02-19 04:08

The budget for the computer can range anywhere from 400-2k dollars. I want something that I can use to play games on settings beyond lowest.... With the help of some friends (Read: 100% their work @_@) an idea of waht to get started to form.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2VQ6C <-----What does nation think?
Evaris wrote on 2014-02-19 06:49

crapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrap PSU. Spend a bit more on it, price for reliability / performance, I recommend this PSU if you're willing to spend a bit more; http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151137
Crap RAM, you want dual channel, so a 2x 4GB set. the brand is good though. Though you may want to go low-profile for a bit more, you don't need the decorative heat spreader unless you're overclocking your RAM for benchmarking. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231653
You're still missing a case (I recommend a Corsair Carbide r200) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139018
And a hard drive ( Hitachi for reliability, Western digital as 2nd choice by statistics)
Hitachi: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA0ZX15J2046
Western: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236339
Then a disk drive / operating system. There's the windows 7 legal loophole if it's for personal use, Otherwise go get windows 7 through any possible retail vector (or 8 if you.. like that stuff for some reason) and a disk drive is optional really though i still like having one..
Compass wrote on 2014-02-19 18:44

Don't get a MSI motherboard.
They have unreliable VRM and heatsinks when it comes to overclocking. If you plan on overclocking or want it to be an option get something else. If you don't want to dabble in overclocking there's really no need to get the K version and a third market cooler.
Gigabyte is by far the most recommended brand, followed by Asus, and AsRock.

With that price range I'd do a mITX build
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2Wbwu

That's not counting the peripherals such as mouse, keyboards, monitors, headphones, ect
Evaris wrote on 2014-02-21 17:33

Quote from Compass;1199819:
Don't get a MSI motherboard.
They have unreliable VRM and heatsinks when it comes to overclocking. If you plan on overclocking or want it to be an option get something else. If you don't want to dabble in overclocking there's really no need to get the K version and a third market cooler.
Gigabyte is by far the most recommended brand, followed by Asus, and AsRock.

With that price range I'd do a mITX build
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2Wbwu

That's not counting the peripherals such as mouse, keyboards, monitors, headphones, ect

MSI isn't really that bad, and that gamer series motherboard has great reviews... pretty much everywhere.
Gigabyte is however, the most reliable motherboard brand, followed by AsRock. Asus tends to be most popular on the high-end for their RoG boards, but if you're going for features, you can't beat AsRock. MSI boards are generally not that good, but their recent gamer series additions are okay and up to par with the big 3, and their super-high-end big bang series have always been adequate for the price.