PC build thread

[marurun]

Amazon's been cutting costs at every turn lately after the last shareholder report. Their packing quality has dropped a bunch. Make sure anything like computer parts you look over very carefully to make sure it arrives in good condition.

[flex wood]

Amazon's been cutting costs at every turn lately after the last shareholder report. Their packing quality has dropped a bunch. Make sure anything like computer parts you look over very carefully to make sure it arrives in good condition.

Yea most definitely, even though I always keep an eye on the condition of anything I order from anywhere, I'll be keeping sure to look everything over twice. I guess if I need anything from newegg I'm going to be creating another account so I can get the 30 day trial of their premier service, so I don't have to pay shipping and a restocking fee, since I already used my accounts 30 day trial.

I am really glad I have a microcenter near me it is nice to know that if I am in a hurry I can just run out there for any part I need. Even though the have a smaller selection and somewhat higher prices for everything but CPU's then the online retailers, they have an amazing return policy.

[noiseredux]

ah gotcha. Sucks because your current pieces probably aren't worth the price to just upgrade. Are you gonna start planning a new build, albeit earlier than you had planned?

Yup, all new build sometime soon. Started looking into costs and components yesterday. Hopefully have something up and running by the 4th of July weekend or so, if not sooner.

cool cool, what'chu got planned so far?

[marlowe221]

First time builder here.

Can we talk about cases for a minute? Can someone explain to me (or post a link) the differences between the various case sizes? I'm kind of confused about ATX vs. mATX vs. ITX....and then there are full towers and mid towers...

[Ziggy]

ATX is a standard form factor, and it has become THE standard form factor. An ATX board will fit inside and ATX case (the mounting holes will line up). mATX is micro ATX, which is the same form factor only smaller. It's just a shorter board. It will often have less expansion slots, could use low profile cards, might have less RAM slots, etc. A micro ATX board will fit inside a standard ATX case, but a standard ATX board will be too large to fit inside a micro ATX case.

A mid size tower is gonna be ATX. A full size tower is gonna be larger, like server size. It'll still fit an ATX board, but there's a lot more room inside.

You're really only gonna use a mini ITX board/case for a home theater box or something similar. The ITX boards are low power consumption. They require less cooling, and therefor have a smaller size overall.

[marlowe221]

Ok thanks. It sounds like a mid tower ATX is probably what I need then.

[dsheinem]

so for a budget of $750-$1000, what would folks reccomend for a pretty decent gaming rig that should be good for major releases for the next ~5 years? I figure something that outperforms the PS4/Xbox One handily would suffice...

I don't need a case, an OS, speakers, peripherals, or a monitor (but if your suggested build includes a 24" or so monitor, even better )

[MrPopo]

I'd take a look at the latest Tom's Hardware system builder challenge. They run them every so often and create builds around a few price points, including the range you're looking at, and the builds tend to be targeted at gamers.

[s1mplehumar]

so for a budget of $750-$1000, what would folks reccomend for a pretty decent gaming rig that should be good for major releases for the next ~5 years? I figure something that outperforms the PS4/Xbox One handily would suffice...

I don't need a case, an OS, speakers, peripherals, or a monitor (but if your suggested build includes a 24" or so monitor, even better )

I'm assuming you plan to game at 1080? Do you need a heatsink?

MOBO: ASRock Z97 Extreme6 @ $150
CPU: i5-4670K @ $225-ish
GPU: Radeon R9 280X @ $265.00
Memory: whatever - go for 16GB. 8 is probably sufficient for your needs, but 16 is often cheaper, pound-for-pound. We'll say $100.
PSU: SeaSonic X Series X-850 @ $150

Total: $890

[emwearz]

so for a budget of $750-$1000, what would folks reccomend for a pretty decent gaming rig that should be good for major releases for the next ~5 years? I figure something that outperforms the PS4/Xbox One handily would suffice...

I don't need a case, an OS, speakers, peripherals, or a monitor (but if your suggested build includes a 24" or so monitor, even better )

I'm assuming you plan to game at 1080? Do you need a heatsink?

MOBO: ASRock Z97 Extreme6 @ $150
CPU: i5-4670K @ $225-ish
GPU: Radeon R9 280X @ $265.00
Memory: whatever - go for 16GB. 8 is probably sufficient for your needs, but 16 is often cheaper, pound-for-pound. We'll say $100.
PSU: SeaSonic X Series X-850 @ $150

Total: $890

Do you ever plan to overclock dave? If not then I would drop the Mobo and the CPU back a bit and put the funds into a better GPU.