Adrian Țepeș
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2015
Anybody have any advice for building a PC?
- Thread starter Jan_Hus
- Start date
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2013
idosometimes
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2016
Though I really would get an i5, something like this would be a decent solution for gaming on low settings.
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2013
Maybe something like this?
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($110.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H110M-A Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($53.88 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Crucial 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($35.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: A-Data Premier SP550 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($37.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($47.49 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 950 75W 2GB Video Card ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Zalman ZM-T1 PLUS MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($27.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($43.33 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $577.63
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-14 18:40 EDT-0400
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2016
Can I second the avoiding generic power supplies. At best, they're not going to put out as much power as they say they will. At worst, they're fire hazards. If you don't believe me, check out JonnyGuru's "Death of a Gutless Wonder" series.
- Joined
- Aug 21, 2016
I'll add in a third mention of getting a decent power supply. Used to have a pretty cheap eMachines computer with a "mandarin designed" power supply. One day I pushed the power button, and a second later a spark jumped out the back. Fried the PSU, the motherboard, and the hard drive control board. The PSU is the one component that can kill an entire build. Luckily, the difference between a bad one and good one can be only $20 or so. Eat beans and rice for a week, but get a decent one.
The two PCpartpicker list both have good ones, though. EVGA is a pretty trustworthy brand.
Sorry I don't have too much advice, since I don't follow the market much, but building a PC is really fun, so good luck!
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2016
The quad-core CPU in my rig is around 8 years old and is one of the things I really credit myself for picking. Had I not seen where the market was headed I doubt it would be half as usable today, in value for money terms definitely go the quad-core. As has been said don't skimp on the CPU or Motherboard. If you want to upgrade the RAM I wouldn't leave it for years either, it gets expensive as it becomes fairly rare. Something like this is an invaluable resource as far as graphics cards go:
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu_value.html
Just because a graphics card is newer doesn't necessarily mean that it performs better.
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu_value.html
Just because a graphics card is newer doesn't necessarily mean that it performs better.
- Joined
- Sep 6, 2016
Just pirate Windows 7 Ultimate and put it onto a flash drive you can boot it from. Win 10 is adware garbage (monthly fees on a lot of shit as well)
Put that $100 into:
cpu; get a good i5 quad core 3.2+ or so
or
graphics card; get a GTX 1060.
You could get an AMD for a CPU but most of them will heat the fuck up, so you need liquid cooling ($$$$$$$) so you end up spending a fuckload of $ on CPU anyways.
A good guideline is to nevar spend more on cpu than on gpu if you go all out.
my suggestion would be to get a good intel CPU over the GPU. Then when you have more $ saved get a GTX 10__ as they are godlike. You can go for the competitors and it'd prob be a lot less costly initially but the energy would be a lot hotter on your bill in the long run.
Put that $100 into:
cpu; get a good i5 quad core 3.2+ or so
or
graphics card; get a GTX 1060.
You could get an AMD for a CPU but most of them will heat the fuck up, so you need liquid cooling ($$$$$$$) so you end up spending a fuckload of $ on CPU anyways.
A good guideline is to nevar spend more on cpu than on gpu if you go all out.
my suggestion would be to get a good intel CPU over the GPU. Then when you have more $ saved get a GTX 10__ as they are godlike. You can go for the competitors and it'd prob be a lot less costly initially but the energy would be a lot hotter on your bill in the long run.
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2013
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2016
You're quite likely right, but I don't see what that has to do with anything. With a few upgrades along the way I still have a very viable gaming rig this long after I purchased it. Had I gone with a dual-core at that time I doubt that would be the case now.
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2016
Oh I know all about avoiding generic power supplies, got a generic one for my MacBook, nearly melted the box. Fortunately Apple gave me an actual charger for free when i brought them the Chinese melted one.I'll add in a third mention of getting a decent power supply. Used to have a pretty cheap eMachines computer with a "mandarin designed" power supply. One day I pushed the power button, and a second later a spark jumped out the back. Fried the PSU, the motherboard, and the hard drive control board. The PSU is the one component that can kill an entire build. Luckily, the difference between a bad one and good one can be only $20 or so. Eat beans and rice for a week, but get a decent one.
The two PCpartpicker list both have good ones, though. EVGA is a pretty trustworthy brand.
Sorry I don't have too much advice, since I don't follow the market much, but building a PC is really fun, so good luck!
- Joined
- Aug 21, 2016
I'll admit, that's pretty cool of Apple, not a fan, but their customer service isn't bad.
I don't know energy cost where @Jan_Hus lives, and i'll admit I live in a pretty cheap area, but really, Wattage isn't a huge deal, unless you're always running 3Dmark or something. I think the average price is about $0.10/KwHr in the US...so if something (always) uses 100 watts more, over the course of a day, it's using...an extra $0.20 roughly. I mean, it's still money, but it'd barely be noticeable over a months time. The extra heat from 100 watts is something though. My old build had an AMD Athlon 64, and that thing always ran way too hot, still does even.
I'd probably agree that bumping up the CPU to a quad-core i5 would be an overall good idea, as it's a pretty big jump from a Dual-Core. Not every program will use all the cores, but it does help, usually.
One of the most difficult things about building a PC is staying in budget, I wind up talking myself into getting more expensive stuff way to often. My current build was looking at about $800, but wound up a hair over $1k...
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2013
i3s are dualcores with hyperthreading, so they have 4 threads.I'll admit, that's pretty cool of Apple, not a fan, but their customer service isn't bad.
I don't know energy cost where @Jan_Hus lives, and i'll admit I live in a pretty cheap area, but really, Wattage isn't a huge deal, unless you're always running 3Dmark or something. I think the average price is about $0.10/KwHr in the US...so if something (always) uses 100 watts more, over the course of a day, it's using...an extra $0.20 roughly. I mean, it's still money, but it'd barely be noticeable over a months time. The extra heat from 100 watts is something though. My old build had an AMD Athlon 64, and that thing always ran way too hot, still does even.
I'd probably agree that bumping up the CPU to a quad-core i5 would be an overall good idea, as it's a pretty big jump from a Dual-Core. Not every program will use all the cores, but it does help, usually.
One of the most difficult things about building a PC is staying in budget, I wind up talking myself into getting more expensive stuff way to often. My current build was looking at about $800, but wound up a hair over $1k...
- Joined
- Aug 21, 2016
Ah, but 4 threads isn't really 4 cores. I guess my confusion is, you'll see a lot of topics of an i5 vs an i7, and generally, the main benefit of the i7 is hyperthreading, but an awful lot of responses say hyperthreading doesn't really help games, it's mostly for video rendering/editing. I'm mostly ignorant of the finer details of such, but not all programs can even use hyperthreading, I think? Then again, not all programs use all cores so it's probably not all the different in the end.
Either way, by most accounts an i3 is fine for general use, but an i5 may have more longevity. That being said, "future-proofing" is kinda dumb, since stuff advances so rapidly and comes down in price rapidly as well*. (* except the aforementioned RAM, which seemingly never gets cheaper)
As long as you don't go AMD you'll be alright
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2013
Hyperthreading works for any program that can use those threads. Most games don't use more than 4 threads.Ah, but 4 threads isn't really 4 cores. I guess my confusion is, you'll see a lot of topics of an i5 vs an i7, and generally, the main benefit of the i7 is hyperthreading, but an awful lot of responses say hyperthreading doesn't really help games, it's mostly for video rendering/editing. I'm mostly ignorant of the finer details of such, but not all programs can even use hyperthreading, I think? Then again, not all programs use all cores so it's probably not all the different in the end.
Either way, by most accounts an i3 is fine for general use, but an i5 may have more longevity. That being said, "future-proofing" is kinda dumb, since stuff advances so rapidly and comes down in price rapidly as well*. (* except the aforementioned RAM, which seemingly never gets cheaper)
As long as you don't go AMD you'll be alright