Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Taking the dive into PC building

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Taking the dive into PC building

    I know. Me again with nubcake questions.

    After years of buying premade PCs and upgrading / cleaning them out / reapplying pastes / etc., I've decided I should try and make my own computer. I've held off doing it and rigged up my laptop to use a desktop video card, but it's time to move on and get past the old Core 2 Duo CPUs. lol :s

    Currently, I'm looking at this for a general guide (The "hot rod"): Ars Technica system guide: December 2011 However, I wanted to get some general input from you all, as well. Any advice on parts, building, anything else?

    Edit: Forgot to mention, I already have a 1080p monitor to use and was hoping to use my current Radeon HD 5670 (for now), until I can afford something better.
    sigpic

  • #2
    Re: Taking the dive into PC building

    Try to buy your parts from a local store. Hopefully they'll have employees who can help make sure all your components are compatible and if they aren't it's easy to bring them back and yell at them.

    Get a nice roomy case if you can. Nothing's more frustrating that trying to shove all your components into a tiny box. It gets messy and makes life more difficult than it has to be.

    Not all video cards fit nicely in all motherboards. My current rig has two PCI-express x16 slots, but any worthwhile video card will only fit in one of the slots because of the placement of some copper piping behind one of said slots. It's not a big deal for me, but it's the kind of thing you want to watch out for when you're picking out components.
    Server: Midgardsormr -> Quetzalcoatl -> Valefor
    Occupation: Reckless Red Mage
    Name: Drjones
    Blog: Mediocre Mage

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Taking the dive into PC building

      Tom's Hardware periodically puts out articles called "Best Video Card for the money, <month> <year>" and "Best CPU for the money, <month> <year>". You can find them in Articles -> CPU and Articles -> Graphics. I like to use those articles as a general guide, and reference their benchmarks (in the Charts tab) to compare other hardware to the ones they recommend.

      Also, not sure how much you know about PC hardware but bear in mind that your motherboard needs to support your processor and memory. You can generally use any PCI-express video card with any motherboard, but if you want two cards at the same time then you can usually only use two GeForce or two Radeons, depending on the motherboard. Since you're going for a mid-range PC, and this is your first time, you probably don't want two cards though. Also, make sure to leave some wiggle room in your power supply choice. E.g. If the power of your hardware adds up to 490W, don't pick a 500W power supply, pick something bigger.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Taking the dive into PC building

        Thanks you two. I'll keep that stuff in mind and will definitely check out Tom's Hardware. Will have to do some investigation on the local store thing. Outside of the general chains of electronic stores... Not much else out my way.
        sigpic

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Taking the dive into PC building

          I would definitely suggest a full tower case, that way if you ever upgrade or add to your build you'll have sufficient room down the road. Anyway, what kind of price range do you have for the build?

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Taking the dive into PC building

            Originally posted by Absentia View Post
            I would definitely suggest a full tower case, that way if you ever upgrade or add to your build you'll have sufficient room down the road. Anyway, what kind of price range do you have for the build?
            Was thinking around $700, since I already have a video card and monitor. Was going to upgrade the video card later on.
            sigpic

            Comment


            • #8
              Re: Taking the dive into PC building

              Anything from Corsair is usually very solid & reliable. (They mostly deal with RAM but I thought I'd seen some other parts made by them).

              Coolmaster is also a great brand for power supplies/fans.


              As for brands for video cards, I'm unfamiliar with Radeon makers sorry, but for nVidia E.V.G.A. I believe is usually the best.
              sigpic


              "BLAH BLAH BLAH TIDAL WAVE!!!"

              Comment


              • #9
                Re: Taking the dive into PC building

                Case: NZXT

                Graphics: Asus, EVGA

                Motherboard: Asus

                Power Supply: Corsair

                Comment


                • #10
                  Re: Taking the dive into PC building

                  Originally posted by Malacite View Post
                  Coolmaster is also a great brand for power supplies/fans.
                  I completely agree. One of theirs is the case I'm planing to buy when I rip my rig back open in a few weeks. Lemme see if I can find the link. I liked it a lot.

                  ---------- Post added at 05:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:00 PM ----------

                  Here: Cooler Master RC-942-KKN1 HAF X ATX Full Tower Computer Case - ATX, 230mm Red LED Fan, USB 2.0/3.0, 9x Expansion Slots. *Supports XL-ATX, 4-way SLI and Quad Crossfire X* at TigerDirect.com

                  Damn... the upcharged it. It used to only be $149.00. Fuckin' holidays.

                  ---------- Post added at 05:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:02 PM ----------

                  Edit: The 922 model has many of the same features for about half the price, but it drops you down to a Midsize Case.

                  This one: Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP Black Steel &#43; Plastic and Mesh Bezel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case


                  Bastok & Windurst Rank 10. ZM, CoP, ToAU, WoTG, ACP, MKD, ASA & SOA Complete.
                  99 Kannagi / 99 Armageddon / 119 Nirvana Adventuring Fellow: Level 99
                  99 SMN / 99 NIN / 99 COR / 99 WHM / 99 PUP / 99 BLM / 99 THF / 99 SCH / 99 GEO

                  Yyg's Blog: Tree of Awesome!

                  Comment


                  • #11
                    Re: Taking the dive into PC building

                    Originally posted by Absentia View Post
                    {links}

                    Total comes to about $722.00. I know it's above your price range, but it's decently close and I hope it helps. :3
                    Oh wow! Great! :D Only question is, what motherboard should I use? That's my main concern with all of it... I have no idea how to tell what motherboard to buy.
                    sigpic

                    Comment


                    • #12
                      Re: Taking the dive into PC building

                      There's a motherboard in the first link. It comes as a combo deal with the processor.

                      Comment


                      • #13
                        Re: Taking the dive into PC building

                        Yeah I wanted to grab a coolmaster silent cooler for my PC because it was on sale for boxing day for only $40, but my tower literally has no room in it so I pad to pass on it


                        Though I haven't had much issues with heating lately anyway, and I don't think there's much I can do about the GTX 465's noise anyways for that matter.
                        sigpic


                        "BLAH BLAH BLAH TIDAL WAVE!!!"

                        Comment


                        • #14
                          Re: Taking the dive into PC building

                          Originally posted by Malacite View Post
                          Yeah I wanted to grab a coolmaster silent cooler for my PC because it was on sale for boxing day for only $40, but my tower literally has no room in it so I pad to pass on it


                          Though I haven't had much issues with heating lately anyway, and I don't think there's much I can do about the GTX 465's noise anyways for that matter.
                          I've got one of these for my PC: Newegg.com - ZALMAN CNPS9900MAX-B 135mm Long life bearing CPU Cooler Blue LED

                          And I grabbed this for my 470 because that thing got as hot as an oven D: Newegg.com - ZALMAN VF3000F&#40;GTX580&#47;570&#41; EBR Bearing Dual 92mm Fans, FanMate 2, IHD Technology for Nvidia Fermi GTX580&#47;570 VGA Cooler


                          Those 2 components have dropped my temperatures during gaming by like 45-50. :3

                          Comment


                          • #15
                            Re: Taking the dive into PC building

                            Originally posted by Absentia View Post
                            Those 2 components have dropped my temperatures during gaming by like 45-50. :3
                            What?

                            Comment

                            Working...
                            X