Advice needed on buying/building a PC

[KhainiWest]

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.

Keep in mind something about laptops, you're paying almost double for essentially inferior hardware and mobility. If you decided to go laptop, look at lenova, I think it's the only 'gaming' level laptop that you can actually change parts out of it, like a desktop. There was one on newegg for a grand that I was thinking about getting, but I decided to wait until next year's cyber monday.

[Green4Ever]

Keep in mind something about laptops, you're paying almost double for essentially inferior hardware and mobility. If you decided to go laptop, look at lenova, I think it's the only 'gaming' level laptop that you can actually change parts out of it, like a desktop. There was one on newegg for a grand that I was thinking about getting, but I decided to wait until next year's cyber monday.

Yeah I'm aware of that. Laptops are just so much more convenient, it's hard to resist.

[KhainiWest]

Yeah I'm aware of that. Laptops are just so much more convenient, it's hard to resist.

In my personal experience, it's better to invest into a great desktop, then invest into a decent laptop. Once you make the initial investment of the laptop, all you really have to do is update the graphics card, which is only 300-400 dollars depending on the quality, if you're really anal about keeping up on the front line, you could sell the previous card for probably half to 2/3's of the new card. By that strategy you'd have a top of the line desktop with a average to top of the line laptop in a 3-5 year time line.

I personally started with a laptop, ended up getting a desk, then replaced my old laptop with an up to date cheapy, which I'm still using, but I plan on getting a new graphics card/laptop by next october, a long with a custom made iron man suit but that's another story for another time

[Green4Ever]

So I have a little more money set aside now, and I'm not quite as clueless as I was before. This is what I'm looking at as of right now. I'd like to start buying parts by next month.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/zTNXBm

I'm still not very knowledgeable on which brands are good and which aren't, so that's mostly where I'm looking for improvements on. I'd prefer to keep the cost down as much as possible, but I'm willing to go up to $1700~1800 if it means improving performance drastically.
- I had a GTX 980 added in originally, but I spent some time comparing the two and came to the conclusion that a 980 wasn't worth the extra ~$200.
- I'm utterly clueless when it comes to motherboards, but I will be running off of wireless internet, and this one seemed alright for the price.
- Don't worry about the monitors. The ones I have added are just there as an example of what I'd like to aim for, and how much I'm willing to spend. I'll start looking into monitors a little more in depth once I'm settled on parts.
- I'd like to set some money aside for a better sound system as well, but that's not an immediate need.

[Zelkova]

So I have a little more money set aside now, and I'm not quite as clueless as I was before. This is what I'm looking at as of right now. I'd like to start buying parts by next month.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/zTNXBm

I'm still not very knowledgeable on which brands are good and which aren't, so that's mostly where I'm looking for improvements on. I'd prefer to keep the cost down as much as possible, but I'm willing to go up to $1700~1800 if it means improving performance drastically.
- I had a GTX 980 added in originally, but I spent some time comparing the two and came to the conclusion that a 980 wasn't worth the extra ~$200.
- I'm utterly clueless when it comes to motherboards, but I will be running off of wireless internet, and this one seemed alright for the price.
- Don't worry about the monitors. The ones I have added are just there as an example of what I'd like to aim for, and how much I'm willing to spend. I'll start looking into monitors a little more in depth once I'm settled on parts.
- I'd like to set some money aside for a better sound system as well, but that's not an immediate need.

I swapped a few parts out for cheaper components/better parts for the price.
-Mobo
-CPU Fan
-HDD
-PSU
Overall I saved you about 40 bucks + you'll be getting better parts.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/hZWYBm

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant


CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.99 @ Micro Center)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($26.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI Z97-GAMING 5 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($129.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Kingston Fury Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($53.91 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($97.95 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.60 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card ($339.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair RM 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSC0 DVD/CD Writer ($14.98 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($86.88 @ OutletPC)
Case Fan: Corsair Air Series White 2 pack 52.2 CFM 120mm Fan ($17.79 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Acer H236HLbid 60Hz 23.0" Monitor ($149.99 @ Best Buy)
Monitor: Acer H236HLbid 60Hz 23.0" Monitor ($149.99 @ Best Buy)
Total: $1497.02
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-05-22 10:14 EDT-0400

I have the same monitors you are purchasing. I really like them for their super thin bezels.
I noticed you're going for the Gigabyte 970. I personally almost went Gigabyte but opted for MSI. I think it was a good choice.

[Dudewitbow]

So I have a little more money set aside now, and I'm not quite as clueless as I was before. This is what I'm looking at as of right now. I'd like to start buying parts by next month.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/zTNXBm

I'm still not very knowledgeable on which brands are good and which aren't, so that's mostly where I'm looking for improvements on. I'd prefer to keep the cost down as much as possible, but I'm willing to go up to $1700~1800 if it means improving performance drastically.
- I had a GTX 980 added in originally, but I spent some time comparing the two and came to the conclusion that a 980 wasn't worth the extra ~$200.
- I'm utterly clueless when it comes to motherboards, but I will be running off of wireless internet, and this one seemed alright for the price.
- Don't worry about the monitors. The ones I have added are just there as an example of what I'd like to aim for, and how much I'm willing to spend. I'll start looking into monitors a little more in depth once I'm settled on parts.
- I'd like to set some money aside for a better sound system as well, but that's not an immediate need.

Not going to go out and modify the build entirely, but will guide the build in some sort of way.

1. Branding. for MOST parts, branding should not be a thing. There are very few companies that at least at some point has NOT made a blunder at one point, and part choice should be dictated by price/perf/features. Generally companies with high tier brands tend to have the "brand tax" because they know for well that they can get away with it.

2. For the most part, if on a budget, you are doing the right choice by not going for the 980. Its still pretty ludicrous people are willing to buy non full chips(980 is GM204, and not GM200) for pretty much top tier pricing.

3. Motherboard is the most finicky thing to explain. but for the most part motherboards is about looking at features you need. One does not technically need a high end mobo unless they are looking for a specific feature as in stable overclocking(statistic to look for are motherboard power phases, generally displayed like "Power Phases: 4+1"). Other features would be like

THOUGH if you want to play the gamble game(its probably going to be in your favor since its newegg), Newegg has the Z87 Asus Maximus GENE VI m-atx for 156$ (-35 more if you actually DO rebates) as well as a free stick of 8gb ddr3 ram

What your gambling at is if the bios was not updated to accept devils canyon cpus, but most likely it will at this point in time on average, unless the board itself has been sitting on a shelf since its existance. Your gains is that its a top tier option for Asus boards at the cost that its a m-atx board(m-atx is shorter than standard Atx, for those who do not use all their PCI-E expansion slots(e.g m-atx supports up to 2 cards in xfire/sli, atx supports more). Since the ram is free, Cost goes significantly down. draw back is no built in wifi, so you would need to buy a seperate wifi dongle(which should easily be gotten since if you took this route, price dropped alot). I believe the board has a m.2 slot in the back so it can also use a m.2 wifi/bluetooth addon if pci-e/usb doesnt want to be used

4. Its hard for me to talk about monitors without going into it for a long time. so get what you can afford and want(refresh rate/viewing angle/color accuracy/input delay)

5. as for sound, do not aim for computer methods for sound if you want a really good one. Home audio equipment tend to give off better sound per dollar. requirement is just getting a DAC and a set of bookshelf speakers to go with it. (good DACs are cheaper than good computer Sound Cards)








on a side note, if you want to keep OS cost low Plug for MSSS

[Green4Ever]

I swapped a few parts out for cheaper components/better parts for the price.
-Mobo
-CPU Fan
-HDD
-PSU
Overall I saved you about 40 bucks + you'll be getting better parts.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/hZWYBm

I have the same monitors you are purchasing. I really like them for their super thin bezels.
I noticed you're going for the Gigabyte 970. I personally almost went Gigabyte but opted for MSI. I think it was a good choice.

Looks like the main change was to the motherboard? I'm assuming it will still support wireless without the need for a wireless adapter? How can you tell if a motherboard does or does not support wireless? Is there a port or something I should be looking for?

1. Branding. for MOST parts, branding should not be a thing. There are very few companies that at least at some point has NOT made a blunder at one point, and part choice should be dictated by price/perf/features. Generally companies with high tier brands tend to have the "brand tax" because they know for well that they can get away with it.

2. For the most part, if on a budget, you are doing the right choice by not going for the 980. Its still pretty ludicrous people are willing to buy non full chips(980 is GM204, and not GM200) for pretty much top tier pricing.

3. Motherboard is the most finicky thing to explain. but for the most part motherboards is about looking at features you need. One does not technically need a high end mobo unless they are looking for a specific feature as in stable overclocking(statistic to look for are motherboard power phases, generally displayed like "Power Phases: 4+1"). Other features would be like

THOUGH if you want to play the gamble game(its probably going to be in your favor since its newegg), Newegg has the Z87 Asus Maximus GENE VI m-atx for 156$ (-35 more if you actually DO rebates) as well as a free stick of 8gb ddr3 ram

What your gambling at is if the bios was not updated to accept devils canyon cpus, but most likely it will at this point in time on average, unless the board itself has been sitting on a shelf since its existance. Your gains is that its a top tier option for Asus boards at the cost that its a m-atx board(m-atx is shorter than standard Atx, for those who do not use all their PCI-E expansion slots(e.g m-atx supports up to 2 cards in xfire/sli, atx supports more). Since the ram is free, Cost goes significantly down. draw back is no built in wifi, so you would need to buy a seperate wifi dongle(which should easily be gotten since if you took this route, price dropped alot). I believe the board has a m.2 slot in the back so it can also use a m.2 wifi/bluetooth addon if pci-e/usb doesnt want to be used

4. Its hard for me to talk about monitors without going into it for a long time. so get what you can afford and want(refresh rate/viewing angle/color accuracy/input delay)

5. as for sound, do not aim for computer methods for sound if you want a really good one. Home audio equipment tend to give off better sound per dollar. requirement is just getting a DAC and a set of bookshelf speakers to go with it. (good DACs are cheaper than good computer Sound Cards)



on a side note, if you want to keep OS cost low Plug for MSSS

1. That and personal preference have been my assumption for the most part, but I figure it can't hurt to get some input on what people have had good experiences with. I'd rather buy something that I at least have some background on than some off-brand part that I know even less about.

2. The videos I watched comparing the 970 to the 980 were only showing a ~20 fps difference at the very most, which is why I opted for the 970. My main concern, though, is if I'll still be able to play newly released games in 3-4 years without running into performance issues.

3. I've seen people mention overclocking all over the place, and I've read a little bit about it, but I still don't entirely understand what it is. Is it even something I should consider? To me it seems like something that could easily be screwed up if not done properly, costing you even more money than you would've originally spent on a higher end model.


As for the reddit sub, I've seen that before, and would love to save money in that area if possible, but it seems a little fishy to me. Where do they get their keys, and how can they afford to sell them for so little? How can I be sure that the key is legitimate and not being reused?

[Zelkova]

Looks like the main change was to the motherboard? I'm assuming it will still support wireless without the need for a wireless adapter? How can you tell if a motherboard does or does not support wireless? Is there a port or something I should be looking for?

I completely blanked on the mobo having a wireless card built in.
No the mobo I picked out DOES NOT have a wireless card.

At this point its up to you really. I've never had wifi on a mobo. I'd be afraid that the coverage wouldn't be that great but idk its up to you I guess.

[Green4Ever]

I completely blanked on the mobo having a wireless card built in.
No the mobo I picked out DOES NOT have a wireless card.

At this point its up to you really. I've never had wifi on a mobo. I'd be afraid that the coverage wouldn't be that great but idk its up to you I guess.

I'm on the opposite side of the house so I don't really have any choice. :x Running a cable across the house is something I'd really rather not do.

[Haishiro]

Agree with most of Zelkova's suggestions with some additional opinions:

-Original MoBo was overkill IMO. I have the same CPU with an AsRock Z97 Extreme4 and it's still more than I really need. That's $30 immediate savings. I would advise against getting one with integrated wireless; although I haven't used one it seems kind of gimmicky to me. Why not just get a "regular" MoBo and then get a cheap wireless dongle (<- 5 second Google search, not a specific recommendation)? If you just plug it in to one of your back USB slots it shouldn't be too big of a deal unless you have 6+ USB devices connected all the time, but even then you should be looking at getting a USB hub.

-CPU Fan that Zelkova suggested is THE best for the price point. However, if you don't even understand overclocking, let alone plan to do it seriously, why are you buying a CPU fan? Intel CPUs come with a stock cooler fan, so you don't need to buy one unless you're looking into overclocking your system. Same thing with the case fans except in extreme cases (like, you put your desktop in a really hot room or on a rug). These are unnecessary purchases if you want to save some money. (Unless you really want to overclock ... then go ahead).

-I disagree with getting a 1TB HDD. First of all, if you don't have a lot of things to store on the drive, then you can make do for now and put stuff on the SSD. Contrary to what a bunch of people say, SSD read/write limits are not a major factor with the current level of SSD technology unless you are a heavy user. If you do need lots of storage, then go for the best $/TB HDD at the moment which is 3~4 TB HDDs at about $30/TB. You're paying an extra 66% on that dinky 1TB for marginally more space than the SSD. Your upfront cost for getting a bigger HDD will be higher, of course.

-I personally feel like the GPU is a bit pricey for 1) the general prices that 970s go for nowadays, and 2) given that the next generation is coming soon^TM. But that's just my opinion; it's a great GPU choice.

[Green4Ever]

Agree with most of Zelkova's suggestions with some additional opinions:

-Original MoBo was overkill IMO. I have the same CPU with an AsRock Z97 Extreme4 and it's still more than I really need. That's $30 immediate savings. I would advise against getting one with integrated wireless; although I haven't used one it seems kind of gimmicky to me. Why not just get a "regular" MoBo and then get a cheap wireless dongle (<- 5 second Google search, not a specific recommendation)? If you just plug it in to one of your back USB slots it shouldn't be too big of a deal unless you have 6+ USB devices connected all the time, but even then you should be looking at getting a USB hub.

-CPU Fan that Zelkova suggested is THE best for the price point. However, if you don't even understand overclocking, let alone plan to do it seriously, why are you buying a CPU fan? Intel CPUs come with a stock cooler fan, so you don't need to buy one unless you're looking into overclocking your system. Same thing with the case fans except in extreme cases (like, you put your desktop in a really hot room or on a rug). These are unnecessary purchases if you want to save some money. (Unless you really want to overclock ... then go ahead).

-I disagree with getting a 1TB HDD. First of all, if you don't have a lot of things to store on the drive, then you can make do for now and put stuff on the SSD. Contrary to what a bunch of people say, SSD read/write limits are not a major factor with the current level of SSD technology unless you are a heavy user. If you do need lots of storage, then go for the best $/TB HDD at the moment which is 3~4 TB HDDs at about $30/TB. You're paying an extra 66% on that dinky 1TB for marginally more space than the SSD. Your upfront cost for getting a bigger HDD will be higher, of course.

-I personally feel like the GPU is a bit pricey for 1) the general prices that 970s go for nowadays, and 2) given that the next generation is coming soon^TM. But that's just my opinion; it's a great GPU choice.

- I just feel like wireless adapters would be more of a hit or miss type of thing than having it built into the motherboard would. I spent the last ~40 minutes browsing newegg for wireless adapters under the $20 mark and reading their reviews, and none of them seem to be completely stable. Lots of people mention having their internet drop several times throughout the day, or not having the signal strength be as strong as it should be, etc.

- Stock fans aren't very good though, are they? I don't mind spending a little extra if it means extending the life a bit. I like to play lots of games and run multiple programs in the background at the same time so anything to help keep it cooler is a worthwhile purchase in my book.

- My current laptop is just a 500 Gb hard drive and I'm scraping for space on that, so I think 1 Tb in combination with a 250 Gb SSD is plenty. I'd rather not spend extra on space I'll never use just because it's more cost efficient. I guess I could drop the SSD down to a 120 Gb since I won't be installing games on there though.