gaming pc build

[team flex]

Right, I have been thinking, and to put this into perspective, I have kind of decided to buy a gaming PC instead of a P*. I haven't fully chosen it, but logically I need a new computer and I could combine all my money I have saved up, and maybe get my parents and all family around to chip a bit in. Whithin a few months I could be able to afford it, depending on my parents' view on it.

 

I know very little to nothing about gaming but I miss console gaming a lot, and TF2! I am addicted to watching it and my current laptop can't run it properly, and it's about 5 years old. It's time to get a new pc methinks.

 

Anyway, I have been reading up and I think AMD would be a better budget processor for me, instead of an I7/5?

So, this is by no means completed, and I don't even know if any of this is any good, that's why I have asked you!

 

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor

 

Motherboard: ASRock 970 Extreme3 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard

 

Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory

 

Storage: Toshiba Q Series Pro 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive

 

Storage: Western digital 2tb hard drive (forget the name)

 

Video Card:

XFX AMD Radeon R9 290X Graphics Card 8GB

(btw whats the difference between the xfx and MSI one? apart from £50 difference?) thanks

 

Case: Cooler Master Storm Enforcer ATX Mid Tower Case ( i can worry about that later)

 

Power supply: corsair 650 watt rm650 psu

 

extras: corsair h100i

 

 

Now, I have no idea on a few of these things, especially the graphics card. I seem to think it would be compatible because it is AMD, and the 8gb stands out but is it any good? also, is this a good build? what would you change? thanks for any feedback, all appreciated!

[CES_williamson]

try to go for intel proccessors and geforce gtx GPU's they are more expensive but friends have AMD stuff and its just no where near as good as mine!

[BBrotherwood]

There is no point at all getting the 8GB version of GPU unless you are planning on running multiple VERY high resolution monitors. 3-4 GB is more then ample for 1080p.

You dont need 16GB of memory unless you have a specific function for it, i.e CAD work, Video editing, rendering e.t.c. 8GB will be more then enough.

The motherboard is the one I use and it is showing its age now. It was old when I got it over a year ago. Go for the later ASROCK board with a 990x chipset or an equivalent.

Go for a Samsung Evo SSD, much better track record then the Toshiba.

[BBrotherwood]

What is your actual budget for this? Intel is fine and dandy until you have a budget.

[Esoterick]

Personally I'd swap the 290 out with a Geforce 970, the video memory basically won't get used until you go beyond a 1920 x 1080 resolution. You could also get away with 8GB RAM unless you are planning on doing high end CAD stuff as well.

[team flex]

ok, so reading your comments, I shall do that. the budget is £1000 give or take 50 quid. OK so, a Nvidia ge force 790 saves 100 quid, and is it good? I see a lot of people saying how good it is, and I will only be running 1080p at the moment budget wise. Ok, and maybe an intel, which one? I would like an i7 but IDK which would be best. What motherboard would you recommend for this then? thanks guys, appreciate it!

[team flex]

Oh, and also what are the differences between geforce 970 and 770.

 

Also, what are reference cards?

[BBrotherwood]

970 is the latest version of the 770

[BBrotherwood]

Not much point buying a 770 tbh as the new ones are good value for money and have better performance.

An I7 would not really give you any benefits if your gaming at 1080p, save some money and get yourself an I5, I think the latest chips are Haswell?

Spend some of that money on getting a nice 24inch display.

Gigabyte and ASUS boards always have a good reputation.

[team flex]

970 is the latest version of the 770

oh ok, thanks for that.

 

As for intel, what do people recommend. I want a high performance rig that is quite affordable. This as well as an motherboard that supports these components. Oh yeah, one final thing. Would this all be fine with the stock fans and the corsair h100i?

[team flex]

Not much point buying a 770 tbh as the new ones are good value for money and have better performance.

An I7 would not really give you any benefits if your gaming at 1080p, save some money and get yourself an I5, I think the latest chips are Haswell?

Spend some of that money on getting a nice 24inch display.

Gigabyte and ASUS boards always have a good reputation.

thanks, you just answered the question I just posted, will check it out. As for overclocking, what kind of ghz is very fast for bf4 or games like that in good quality settings, not ultra, with a 1080p display?

[BBrotherwood]

Dont worry about over-clocking, its not going to make a particularly noticeable difference. Its nice to do if you can but its just putting more strain on your parts and will reduce their lifespan, no matter how well you cool them.

[Esoterick]

thanks, you just answered the question I just posted, will check it out. As for overclocking, what kind of ghz is very fast for bf4 or games like that in good quality settings, not ultra, with a 1080p display?

 

You should be able to run BF4 on ultra at 1920 x 1080 on any decent AMD CPU or i5/i7 without any overclocking.

 

Whilst sadly a lot of Tom's hardware went downhill, their best for the money articles are still worth a read:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106.html

 

Just note there may be price differences between here and the US between models.

[team flex]

Ok, reading through that suggests an i5-4960k that can overclock and be powerful, and is £150 ish.

 

also, is this Asus Z97-PRO WI-FI AC ATX Motherboard any good for a motherboard. It is 150 quid as well. I will price this up in a minute. thanks for the guidance.

 

EDIT: btw tomshardware recommends that, not sure if that is one of their bad reviews or not, will have to check on that later.

[BBrotherwood]

There must be a version of that board without WIFI, might as well go for it and save some money. ASUS Republic of Gamer boards are nice

[team flex]

There must be a version of that board without WIFI, might as well go for it and save some money. ASUS Republic of Gamer boards are nice

heard they were expensive, and saw it too will check it out. On there now, do you know if I will want an x79, z77, etc?

[BBrotherwood]

Whatever chipset matches up with your CPU. I'm not big on Intel tbh, you would need to do a bit of research on that.

[BBrotherwood]

Mainly because I dont have the money to spend on it

[team flex]

ok thanks for that. mouse wise is the razer deathadder good? It seems to have many good things said about it. Keyboard wise the corsair k70 vengeance?

[team flex]

Mainly because I dont have the money to spend on it

yeah I know how you feel

[Esoterick]

You just need to match up the socket number/model. Z97 accepts socket 1150 chips, the tech specs for CPUs and motherboards always tell you which socket they are.

 

Funnily enough I have exactly that keyboard and mouse. The Deathadder is easily the most comfortable mouse I've ever used(which is a lot over the past 15+ years) and despite some people saying their quality control is bad I know tons of people with Razer kit and not a single one has ever experienced issues. Logitech mice are decent too, it largely depends what you find comfortable.

 

The K70 is mechanical, I would recommend you look at the different types of switches as there are a ton of them and they all feel different. Only thing is it is hard to fully appreciate what they are going on about with using one. That said I would never go back to using a membrane keyboard and funnily enough it's almost always people that have never used a mech keyboard that say they don't make a difference.

[BBrotherwood]

I have a Gigabyte Mouse M6900? I believe it is. Its about £25 and its a pretty solid bit of kit, comfy, decent tracking and has survived plenty of tumbles. Trouble is I fancy trying a death adder or the Corsair M65 but want to wait until this mouse dies which is looking like it wont be for a while

The Gigabyte Osmium is meant to be a nice bit of kit keyboard wise. I almost brought one before settling on the Membrane version which was half the price, I now regret it as the one I have drives me up the walls sometimes.

[team flex]

Well, I asked my parents and once I have my side of the money they will put some money towards it. Any tips for building a pc?

[BBrotherwood]

Plenty of videos on you tube detailing the process. Build it on a wooden desk and rub the edge of the case before touching anything to get rid of your static charge. No video ever said to do this so I fell fail of it and had to take the motherboard back out. First thing your should do is pop the I/O panel into the case housing. If not your in for a world of cursing when you realise you have not fitted it and the only way to fit it is to take the Mobo back out again.

[Esoterick]

As above touch the case to ground yourself, don't worry about getting an anti static strap - they are a pain in the arse and modern components aren't THAT sensitive to static discharge. Provided you don't crack out the woolly jumper and balloon

 

Try to avoid touching the contacts on the RAM and graphics card.

 

Also cases have these little brass(I think) risers that space the motherboard away from case and the motherboard has screws that line up with them. Figure out where you need to screw the risers in, which should be easy as it's based on the motherboard form factor - which will almost certainly be ATX.

 

There are a load of techniques for applying thermal paste, main ones are spreading it or putting a small blob in the centre of the CPU. whichever you use don't apply too much as you run the risk of it getting into the CPU socket. You can confirm the CPU cooler is seated properly and your thermal paste is applied properly by running prime 95 and checking how high the temperature rises once everything is installed.

 

It's a very good experience, albeit a daunting one if you have never done it before. Good thing is most of the stuff you can do wrong will just mean it won't boot or things like the case power button won't work. All the cables will only fit one way so it's a case of running through everything making sure it has a cable plugged into it as necessary.