Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 20 of 31
  1. Default Advice needed on buying/building a PC


    My current laptop is a little over 5 years old, and even though it's still in decent condition, I'd like to look into upgrading. I'm not really looking for anything extravagant or over-the-top in terms of specs, but it needs to be able to handle top of the line gaming and heavy work loads without issues. I'm willing to spend up to $700 ish, but obviously the cheaper the better. This budget does not include any accessories like monitors or speakers or anything like that. I'd like to stay away from laptops if possible (desktops should be cheaper anyway, right?).

    Recently I've been looking through a lot of different black friday specials and stumbled upon newegg's DIY bundles (for example: this or this), which seem pretty cheap, but to be honest I've never built a computer myself and although I could probably figure out how to put it together, I have no idea where I'd need to go from there, or if this would even be a good route to go.

    I'm mostly just looking for suggestions on what to look for and what to avoid. I want to learn.

    Let me know if more information is needed on anything.

  2. Monster Truck Tire Straight Male
    IGN: Triggernometry
    Server: Supports
    Job: TeamSecret
    Guild: BigDaddy<3

    Default Re: Advice needed on buying/building a PC


    That's a really decent computer.
    You could totally take out that SDD that you probably won't need if you are not targeting for ultra high performance, and instead of buying that, switching for a better GPU.
    Even a GTX 760 will give you a better performance and you wouldn't need to change the powersupply.
    Also you can pick up this CPU for +6$ that your current one.
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-286-_-Product

  3. Certified Pimento Bi Male
    IGN: xxxxFenixR
    Server: Bera
    Level: Mix
    Job: Severals
    Guild: None
    Alliance: Nada
    Farm: Wut?
    venezuela

    Default Re: Advice needed on buying/building a PC


    Those 2 bundles look kinda good to me, specially at that price and the components. Then again i don't know much about AMD processors an Chipsets. I can tell you that the video card 750(It's a good one but not Heavy Duty, its more like the middle between budget and power) the 120gb ssd and the 1tb HD all around the 99$ each (Without any % off of course).

    PCpartpicker.com can help you in picking the pieces and telling you where is cheaper so you can take that as reference if you don't wanna build everything yourself and decided to get that bundle.

    Edit: @Chew i would keep the SSD and install the OS and any common use application like office and web browser, it makes your day less raging about slow loading times.

  4. Default Re: Advice needed on buying/building a PC


    See, this is part of what I meant when I said I've never built a computer. Brand names and parts are all completely over my head. I don't even completely know what a SSD is, which is sad, I know. Those two only stood out to me because they offer 8 GB memory and a 4 GHz processor at the cost of a laptop that wouldn't even have two thirds of that.

  5. Donator Straight Female
    IGN: icephoenix21
    Server: Scania
    Level: 212
    Job: Bishop
    Guild: DremithCross
    Alliance: Evolution
    Farm: IcePhoenix
    canada

    Default Re: Advice needed on buying/building a PC


    I recently built my own pc for the first time.

    I used http://pcpartpicker.com/

    But first I read this article and it was pretty helpful: http://lifehacker.com/5827145/how-to...buy-your-parts

  6. Monster Truck Tire Straight Male
    IGN: Triggernometry
    Server: Supports
    Job: TeamSecret
    Guild: BigDaddy<3

    Default Re: Advice needed on buying/building a PC


    Proccesors;
    AMD = Great performance, reasonable price
    Intel = Excellent performance, need big budget.

    GPU's:
    AMD = Great performance, great prices within R7 and R9 series.
    Nvidia = Best performance you'll get in gaming generally, prices are great for the Gtx 9XX series (as performance/price goes).
    We could argue about the performance in videogames as they vary from game to game depending on what engine are they running and if they are running on DX, Mantle etc etc. But I think this pretty much sums it up.

    HDD: your common hard disk

    SDD: Superior writing/reading disk drive.

  7. Default Re: Advice needed on buying/building a PC


    EDIT: Nevermind, I give up trying to write a guide. SP keeps logging me out while I'm trying to type things, then my reply gets lost when I try to post. I tried copy+pasting to get around that, but then somehow my last copy didn't get everything. Too frustrated to try again.

    EDIT2:
    +1 for pcpartpicker
    Also try /r/buildapc and /r/buildapcforme and /r/buildapcsales
    Microcenter has GREAT bundles for CPU+MoBo - better than any other deal you'll get, if you live near one
    Newegg Black Friday bundles aren't always good deals. The ones you posted are mediocre imo.

    P.S. If there are specific questions / parts you wanna ask about, then I can answer those one at a time rather than trying to post everything. (Or if there's a better way to write a long reply without SP forgetting that I'm typing...)

    The gist of it is:

    Order of picking usually: Case > CPU + MoBo > GPU > HDD/SSD, RAM, Other parts (e.g. optical drive) > Power Supply
    Order of importance (you don't want to skimp on the important ones): CPU = GPU = Power Supply > MoBo >> HDD/SSD > RAM > Case
    Last edited by Haishiro; 2014-11-24 at 07:37 PM. Reason: Stupid auto-logout deleting my edits, gah.

  8. Default Re: Advice needed on buying/building a PC


    I skimmed through this a little bit and it looks like it has some pretty useful information. I'll be sure to give it a more thorough read a little later.

    I'm not really in any rush to buy one, I just have some spare cash right now from working lots of overtime the past month and decided this would be a good use for it.

    I most likely won't be upgrading/adding onto it unless it's absolutely necessary, so something massive won't really be necessary, but I'd also like to stay away from smaller cases just so I can avoid any possible issues later on down the road, so something in between would be fine, I guess.

  9. Certified Pimento Bi Male
    IGN: xxxxFenixR
    Server: Bera
    Level: Mix
    Job: Severals
    Guild: None
    Alliance: Nada
    Farm: Wut?
    venezuela

    Default Re: Advice needed on buying/building a PC


    You can always get a new case if you want to make some changes, but i don't think its that necessary. Those Combos include pretty much the basics for what you need for a computer and a decent to great performance for gaming.

    If anything you can always change the Video Card for Even better Gaming, SLI is only if you want to exaggerate (SLI is connecting 2 or more Video Cards so the performance increase, but its only like a 60-80% increase from using just one iirc), overclocking i don't think will be that necessary (And doing that would mean getting a better Fan Cooler for your processor and case, overclocking increase temps like crazy if you overdo it). 8gb ram is standard for most stuff, you can expand if you tend to have lots of craps open at the same time.

    SSD is a HardDrive on steroids, read/write times are extremely fast compared to a HardDrive, usually people tend to speak of their experience booting windows, with a HD they need to wait 10+ secs for it, with a SSD its immediate basically. (Sadly that SSD is too small for gaming, otherwise Loading Time between screens/world/sections/etc would be non existent)

    All in all, take your time to study the combos, what are the popularity and product of each brand and what exactly is part of a computer, you might know exactly what you want that way.

  10. Default Re: Advice needed on buying/building a PC


    pcpartpicker 5 lyfe.

    If I had 700 dollars to build a gaming PC, this is how I would spend them.

    PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant


    CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.52 @ OutletPC)
    Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($97.99 @ Newegg)
    Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($79.98 @ OutletPC)
    Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.49 @ OutletPC)
    Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 760 2GB TWIN FROZR Video Card ($179.99 @ Newegg)
    Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case ($44.99 @ Micro Center)
    Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ NCIX US)
    Total: $720.95
    Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
    Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-25 00:48 EST-0500

    Backstory

    CPU: I build gaming PC's with Intel, servers with AMD. This i5 is Generation 3 iirc but that isn't a bad thing, its still a very good processor.
    Mobo: I use ASRock and MSI motherboards. Most manufacturers are great, I just choose to stay away from Biostar.
    Memory: I have never purchased G.Skill RAM but I don't hear anything bad about them. They're just cheaper than most brands.
    HDD: WD HDD's all day every day. I've had 3 Seagate HDD's crash before a WD has. Also, pineapple Hitachi drives, pomegranate always dies after 3 years.
    Video Card: I've never had trouble with MSI. The video card is a couple years out but its still a good midrange one. STAY AWAY FROM EVGA! THEY USE pomegranateTY SOLDER!
    Case: Pick your own case, I just grabbed a good one for 50 bucks.
    PSU: Corsair PSU's have never failed on me. Learn to love them. This one is "Semi-Modular" meaning that some cables are removable.

    Afterthoughts

    If you have a spare 10 bucks pick up 2 case fans to help with cooling.
    If you have an extra 20-30 bucks pick up an after market CPU heatsink/fan. I usually run coolermaster.
    Last edited by Zelkova; 2014-11-25 at 10:58 AM.

  11. Default Re: Advice needed on buying/building a PC


    This looks pretty good, but is a little on the high side for me. I realized I'd have to pick up a copy of Windows too, and it doesn't seem like you can get those anywhere for under $80. If I were to swap out the CPU for one of the cheaper AMD ones would that cause any issues? If so, is there anywhere else I could cut costs? Maybe I should just save up a little more instead...

  12. Certified Pimento Bi Male
    IGN: xxxxFenixR
    Server: Bera
    Level: Mix
    Job: Severals
    Guild: None
    Alliance: Nada
    Farm: Wut?
    venezuela

    Default Re: Advice needed on buying/building a PC


    What's your experience with EVGA? I have like 3-4 Video Cards bought with them and so far none of them had problems. (They are 1-2 years old each card btw)

  13. Default Re: Advice needed on buying/building a PC


    Swapping your CPU out for AMD will require a different motherboard.
    AMD will also perform slightly not as well as Intel. If you don't really care then go for it. @LadyJenJen; uses my old AMD server as her desktop and it works just fine.

    Me personally, nothing since I don't buy EVGA. I've heard horror stories from my friends/coworkers about how they try to oven their graphics cards only to find out that the solder that EVGA uses is not oven-able.

  14. Certified Pimento Bi Male
    IGN: xxxxFenixR
    Server: Bera
    Level: Mix
    Job: Severals
    Guild: None
    Alliance: Nada
    Farm: Wut?
    venezuela

    Default Re: Advice needed on buying/building a PC


    Oven like, that trick i just googled to revive the card? or something im missing?

  15. Donator Straight Female
    IGN: icephoenix21
    Server: Scania
    Level: 212
    Job: Bishop
    Guild: DremithCross
    Alliance: Evolution
    Farm: IcePhoenix
    canada

    Default Re: Advice needed on buying/building a PC



    I know of such..places.

  16. Default Re: Advice needed on buying/building a PC


    IMO there's better options than this list. Do you live near a Microcenter? If so, that makes things so much better:
    i5-4690k + ASUS Z97-AR ($279.98) Less money for a better CPU and decent MoBo.
    Or if you want to go cheap, get the Intel G3258 and read up on overclocking. That's $60 (savings of $160!!!!) for a CPU which you can easily overclock to work just as well as the mid-high tier CPUs. All you'd need is an aftermarket fan, like the Hyper 212 Evo - just wait for it to go on sale for $25, which it does several times a year.

    You can probably cheap out on RAM: Team Vulcan 2x4GB ($56.99). It looks awful and comes from a company which doesn't have a big reputation like G.Skill, but the RAM is cheap and decently reliable. And honestly, as long as your RAM isn't DOA or dies in less than a year, there's no problem with going cheap. I have Team ram in my desktop, no problems at all.

    For storage, it really depends on how much space you use. I would recommend getting an SSD anyways because of how much of a difference it makes in loading times - it's more than you'd think - this is like 2 seconds boot up time vs 30 seconds and IMO that's worth it. You could grab a cheap one for just your OS and 1-2 big programs, like this and then wait until a good deal for a HDD comes along (aim for ~$35 / 1 TB). $50 / TB for that HDD is insanely overpriced IMO.

    Video Card and Case suggestions are good as is, unless you wanted to pimp out your case.

    For the power supply, Corsair CX line isn't the best quality out there. A lot of people have complained about the shoddy capacitors. (Even though I say this, I have a CXM 600W). Whatever you do, don't skimp on the power supply.

    P.S. I had this in my original post before it disappeared, but you can get MUCH better deals by being a little patient and doing a little bargain hunting. I watched /r/buildapcsales for about 4 months and was able to get more discounts than any Black Friday bundle would get you.
    P.P.S. If you want to make the most out of discounts, make sure you do your mail-in-rebates properly.

  17. Default Re: Advice needed on buying/building a PC


    Normally I would, but I'm not a huge fan of going down that route with this sort of thing because of reasons I'll leave unmentioned.

    I've never heard of Microcenter, but after visiting their website it would appear none are even located in my state, which is probably why I've never heard of it. I appreciate the other suggestions though, I'll keep them in mind.

  18. Default Re: Advice needed on buying/building a PC


    Microcenter is great if you're near one but yeah >> if you don't have one then nevermind.
    They often have sales on CPU + Mobo combos. I recently purchased my server combo and got 30 bucks off the mobo. Not bad.

  19. Default Re: Advice needed on buying/building a PC


    Honestly I'd wait and save at least a grand, although you can get a very good computer with a $700 price range, 1k typically gives you the B+ comps. My first gaming PC ran me about $1200 bucks but that includes speakers/keyboard/mouse/monitor

  20. Default Re: Advice needed on buying/building a PC


    Yeah that's probably what I'm going to do. I'm currently helping my dad find a new/cheap laptop that he can use to travel with so I've been keeping my eye out for a higher end laptop for myself as well, just in case I change my mind about going with a desktop.

  21.  

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •