Building a new PC Need advice.

L

Luni

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 8, 2011
Messages
156
Hello Hard Forum, I have come here before seeking everything from headphones, to graphics cards to even monitors, now I come for a general topic, building nearly from the bottom up, a new PC. The only thing I plan on keeping is my GTX 670 FTW+ Edition, and my Corsair AX 1200 PSU. I have about 1000$ To spend on a Motherboard, Processor, Memory, Liquid cooling for the CPU, a Solid State drive, and potentially (I'd really love to) a new case to house it all. I have been told that if one does not plan to overclock, and is looking to save money and have equal performance, AMD is the way to go, since the 8-core is cheaper then an Ivy Bridge i5. However, all I can say is, I will -not- be under -any- circumstances be overclocking (Scares the bejeesus out of me) and I want my bang for buck, I'd rather not throw down 300 dollars on a processor and find out if I waited 2 weeks, the new amazing one that totally kicks it's ass for only 20 dollars more, is released :p The PC will be used ONLY for gaming, and websurfing while doing so (Looking up guides, and reading forums and such) What's my best bet Hard Forum? Should I build now, wait a little for that amazing piece on the horizon, if building now, what am I looking to get?

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc: Gaming, I would only be web browsing, to listen to youtube, or look up a guide while gaming.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?: A thousandish dollars, it can go a bit over if it's worth it financially but nothing huge.
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible: U.S, Texas, Denton
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need: CPU, Motherboard, Memory, Preferably liquid cooled Heatsink, SSD, Case
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model: Corsair ATX 1200w PSU, and EVGA GTX 670 FTW edition
6) Will you be overclocking: No. Not at all. Terrifies me
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it? 1920x1080 2x 24" LG Monitors
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC: August, or as soon as I can save the money needed for all the parts
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc: I would like USB 3.0 As it's going to become standard, I don't plan on doing SLI or Crossfire, and don't use Firewire, Sata would probably be needed for hard drives
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit:64 Bit Windows 7 Considering future upgrade to Windows 8 or whatever comes next
 
Last edited:
Luni said:
I have been told that if one does not plan to overclock, and is looking to save money and have equal performance, AMD is the way to go, since the 8-core is cheaper then an Ivy Bridge i5.
Click to expand...

In addition to what cinohpa linked, I should add that going AMD would involve far greater heat and power use. So the lower price is offset by those two rather large disadvantages. In addition, Intel CPUs are generally faster than AMD CPUs when it comes to gaming. While yes an i5 would cost more but only by an extra $30 to $40 if you're not overclocking.
 
Well, would the power use be a really big deal, as opposed to the increased cost, because being that I work retail, saving money for purchases is far more difficult then getting a self contained liquid cooling kit for a CPU. And I have a 1200w PSU.. but in the end, I am not the one who scours the internet looking at benchmarks and such, I defer to people who may know more then I
 
Luni said:
Well, would the power use be a really big deal,
Click to expand...
IMO, yes.

Out of curiosity, what are the specs of your current PC?

Also, can you actually save up enough money before the end of August? If not, then really not a good idea to plan a build then as our recommendations can change in a month and sometimes even in as little as a week. So if there's good chance that you may have to buy the PC in September, then you're better off waiting until you actually have that $1000 and ask for advice then. That is, if you want the latest advice.

EDIT: With that said, your needs aren't exactly high-end considering that you already have the PSU and GPU and you're not overclocking. If you could buy within the next two weeks, I'd recommend:
$200 - Intel Core i5-4570 CPU
$88 - MSI H87M-G43 Intel H87 mATX Motherboard
$51 - Corsair CMX8GX3M1A1333C9 8GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$172 - Samsung 840 Series 250GB SSD
$75 - Corsair Hydro H80i Liquid Cooling System
---
Total: $586 shipped

As for cases, I recommend the following:
$100 - Corsair Carbide Series 400R ATX Case
$100 - Antec 1100 ATX Case
$100 - Fractal Design Define R4 Arctic White ATX Case
$112 - Fractal Design Define R4 with Window Arctic White ATX Case
$110 - Antec P280 ATX Case
$90 - Lian Li PC-7HX Black Aluminum ATX Case
$105 - Corsair Carbide Series 500R ATX Case
$100 - Corsair Vengeance Series C70 Gunmetal Black ATX Case
$120 - Corsair Vengeance Series C70 Arctic White ATX Case
$150 - Corsair Graphite Series 600TM ATX Case
$135 - Fractal Design Define R4 with Window Black Pearl ATX Case
$135 - Fractal Design Define R4 with Window Titanium Grey ATX Case
$140 - Corsair Obsidian Series 550D ATX Case
$144 - Silverstone RV03B-W ATX case
$144 - Silverstone RV03B-WA ATX case
$154 - Corsair Special Edition White Graphite Series 600T ATX Case
$168 - Silverstone TJ04B-EW ATX Case
$167 - Corsair Obsidian Series 650D ATX Case
$230 - Silverstone FT02B-USB3.0 ATX Case
$250 - Silverstone FT02S-W-USB3.0 ATX Case
$245 - Corsair Obsidian Series 800D CC800DW ATX Case

So yeah, you're going to be well below your $1000 budget.
 
Last edited:
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
Yeah, I have a guaranteed 1000$ in August, if I was needing more, it would be saved for by september or depending on the part I'd buy everything but that and wait. I did want 16 gigs of ram just so I could max out at least home premium, You know, use all 1000$ and have a blast of a PC that I can be proud of and is "Epic"
 
Sorry, right now I have a Dual Core E6850 at 3.0 ghz, and 8 gigs of ram (No idea the mhz) and a Asus p5n-e sli board.
 
Some of those mid towers are freaking gorgeous, but aren't full towers better then mid towers for building PC's as they give better cooling and more room to work with?
 
Yes and no. There's no set definition as to what makes up a "mid-tower" so many of them have more than enough room for most users' needs.

The Corsair series of cases is a good example as many of the mid-tower cases are larger than what most people used a few years ago.
 
Luni said:
Sorry, right now I have a Dual Core E6850 at 3.0 ghz, and 8 gigs of ram (No idea the mhz) and a Asus p5n-e sli board.
Click to expand...
And you got a 1200W PSU for that system?
Luni said:
Some of those mid towers are freaking gorgeous, but aren't full towers better then mid towers for building PC's as they give better cooling and more room to work with?
Click to expand...
In addition to what Tiraides said, considering that you're not doing any sort of multi-GPU configs, heavy duty water cooling, and/or dozens of hard drives, current "full sized" cases aren't really worth it for your case.

As for your 16GB of RAM desire, just get a second stick of that RAM I linked to earlier.
 
The 1200w PSU was a gift, so I was like COOL my only true limitation from experimentation is gone! So, if I ever want to try multi-gpu, I get the chance and don't have to worry. I liked the look of the SIlverstone case with the 90 degree motherboard placement, That looks wicked brilliant since hot air rises, and you have nearly all the hottest components near the top. Would it be cheaper or more efficient to get a smaller solid state and a larger standard Hard drive, leaving the OS on the main drive, and maybe one game, and put the other games on a standard drive? And is it wrong to try and future proof a rig, since you can make it last longer, or to build a rig that will blow the current gen out of the water, and then do the same again, sooner? (First build from the ground up. Original rig was bought in '07 as a gift from a family member, and the GPU and PSU, were a gift from a friend so this is the first time I am building from scratch)
 
Just want to chime in you'd probably save the difference in cost between an intel and amd CPU for your needs in what you would save on your electricity bill in <1 year.

Don't worry about future proofing so much. You're getting a good system. It will still be playing recent games in 4+ years from now. You might end up adding a little ram but only if the industry moves to write applications which can take advantage of it for normal users. With 16gb that is probably unlikely too though. I doubt that will become the standard any time soon.

Btw isn't liquid cooling crazy overkill for this build? Couldn't he get away with the stock cooler, especially if he isn't over clocking?

Also I agree you don't need a bigger case. If you we're going for dual GPU and 5 HDDs in raid and 2 optical drives.... Then maybe.
 
Luni said:
Would it be cheaper or more efficient to get a smaller solid state and a larger standard Hard drive, leaving the OS on the main drive, and maybe one game, and put the other games on a standard drive?
Click to expand...
YOu still have room in your budget to get a standard hard drive:
$92 - Seagate Barracuda ST2000DM001 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive

But yes, in general, we tend to recommend the small SSD + HDD route if the budget is limited and there's a good chance that 250GB of storage isn't enough for the user.
Luni said:
And is it wrong to try and future proof a rig, since you can make it last longer, or to build a rig that will blow the current gen out of the water, and then do the same again, sooner?
Click to expand...
Generally, it's better to do the latter. The only part I'd splurge on in the name of "future proof" is the RAM since pricing for RAM tends to go up over time. Not to mention that RAM usage has increased over the past few years. Five years ago, we use to say that 2GB of RAM would be more than enough to start with. Now we're setting up systems with 8GB of RAM to start.

cinohpa said:
Btw isn't liquid cooling crazy overkill for this build? Couldn't he get away with the stock cooler, especially if he isn't over clocking?
Click to expand...
Not really since the OP lives in Texas. From what I hear, it gets pretty hot in that state in general.
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
Yeah, in Texas, summer can be anywhere from a scorching 98-110 Fahrenheit, and that is god awful to live in. Would you recommend Anything else man cause right now I am sitting at.. 876 before tax tag and title, like any tips, things I should look into getting or perhaps something I am missing?
 
Nothing really, just making sure I am not missing something, as this will be my first ground up build. Is there anything bad/wrong with a Micro ATX board, and if not why are they so much cheaper then a normal ATX board, and is it worth comparing Newegg, to Amazon to Tigerdirect, or is it just comparing apples to apples?
 
Last edited:
Luni said:
Nothing really, just making sure I am not missing something, as this will be my first ground up build.
Click to expand...
Can't exactly tell you what you're missing when you haven't posted a list of parts that you're considering. Hence why Tiraides asked that question. So again, what parts are you considering right now?

Luni said:
Is there anything bad/wrong with a Micro ATX board, and if not why are they so much cheaper then a normal ATX board
Click to expand...
Well since they're smaller, that means less material is used and therefore generally a lower price.
Luni said:
and is it worth comparing Newegg, to Amazon to Tigerdirect, or is it just comparing apples to apples?
Click to expand...
Still worth comparing. However, if you use Amazon.com links from this forum, HardOCP gets a little bit of a commission. Hence why all of the links in the build I listed are for Amazon.com. Newegg doesn't support HardOCP at all. As for Tigerdirect, they rarely have free shipping on their parts and always (an asshole move IMO) lists parts by their MIR price first. Hence why I generally avoid Tigerdirect whenever possible.
 
It's not difficult to get there, or to get to fry's electronics, it's usually just a 45 minute drive, I just prefer shopping online cause it can be a bit cheaper, or easier on gas, or not having to worry about stock and such, but if the savings are worth the drive in gas then let me know lol. Only other things I was considering was the jump to Windows 8, since I know with windows you really have no choice but to get used to changes and learn and adapt, or deal with it and stay an OS behind and such. I also wanted to make sure this rig will run all the latest and greatest games on high settings, and if so, when I should look into upgrades, my current rig is more then 7 years old, and it's been awful saving for parts and such, and I know it only got that way, cause I slacked on upgrades :p also, is there any software I can get for free, to benchmark the hell out of the rig from top to bottom, and make sure everything is stable and okay, cause BSOD's scare the beejeesus out of me and give me an anxious feeling of "Omg, did I do something wrong, or is the part defective omg omg omg"
 
Also just remembered my DVD drive in my rig is hooked up through IDE, I didn't see the specs on that board saying it had an IDE, I... think it does.. but I am not sure.
 
Luni said:
is there any software I can get for free, to benchmark the hell out of the rig from top to bottom, and make sure everything is stable and okay, cause BSOD's scare the beejeesus out of me and give me an anxious feeling of "Omg, did I do something wrong, or is the part defective omg omg omg"
Click to expand...
Intel Burn Tool, OCCT, Furmark, etc
Luni said:
Also just remembered my DVD drive in my rig is hooked up through IDE, I didn't see the specs on that board saying it had an IDE, I... think it does.. but I am not sure.
Click to expand...

That MSI mobo doesn't have IDE. A SATA burner is only $20:
$20 - LG GH24NS95B DVD Burner
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
You know danny, you really are awesome. If only because every single hiccup I run into you're just like BAM it's gone.I'll see if I can keep thinking of things that I might need, so far all thats left is one more paycheck on the 15th, and it's shopping time. Any tips for a first time builder?
 
I have one: Read the FAQ.

It's not just a shameless plug... the FAQ has a section with links for first-time builders.
 
I don't have an anti-static band, and after I went online and priced all the parts out, it's 979 after tax tag and title, My funds were a weeeee shorter then a grand, and I don't have any coupon or promo code but I can make it happen. I live in a fully carpeted home. When I build since it's from scratch, all parts will be unplugged and on the floor. Is there anything I can do besides buying a wristband that will prevent me from messing my parts up ((Oh how I wish things were tax free online :p))
 
Use a large cardboard box (laid flat, of course) to assemble your stuff.

Wait... which parts did you price out? From where?
 
Luni said:
I don't have an anti-static band, and after I went online and priced all the parts out, it's 979 after tax tag and title, My funds were a weeeee shorter then a grand, and I don't have any coupon or promo code but I can make it happen.
Click to expand...
What parts did you select?
Luni said:
I live in a fully carpeted home. When I build since it's from scratch, all parts will be unplugged and on the floor. Is there anything I can do besides buying a wristband that will prevent me from messing my parts up ((Oh how I wish things were tax free online :p))
Click to expand...
Yeah, don't build on carpet. Also, if you already have a PC in the home, just touch the back of the case for a minute to discharge a bit of the static.
 
The ones on the front page picked by you Danny, plus the silverstone Fulltower, the platter drive, and the SATA DVD drive, I can't escape the carpet in my home, so I guess I'll put a cardboard box under the case and build into that while continuing to tap the back of the case. All the parts I picked were from Amazon, cause well, if it supports you folks that help me, it works :)
 
In that case, good luck with the build! Also place a cardboard box underneath your feet as well.
 
Yeah, we have huge cardboard boxes left over from when we moved in, I might use those and cover my bedroom floor in them XD! I assume if I run into issues, I can ask you guys for assistance?
 
Yes. But try to google your issue first. And read the FAQs
 
All right, I officially ordered all of the parts on Amazon, using my roommates Amazon Prime account. Did I need to buy Thermal Paste, or do heatsinks come with that stuff all ready bundled in/applied?
 
The HSF already comes with thermal paste.

Good luck with your build!
 
Thanks for the luck, will post pictures and results here if all goes well. Figured I'd order off amazon and support yall, since you all helped me so much ;)
 
I have an issue, everything is plugged in, all is connected, go to boot up the PC starts a normal boot, the corsair heatsink lights up, and then it will cut off all together, I think that means it is overheating but I do not understand how what should I do?! I have been trying and retrying rerouting cables in near vain hope.
 
I am going to try using the stock Intel heat sync that came with the i5 and see if it does the same
 
Does the entire system shut down or just the H80i appear to go off?
 
Welp, that was the issue, baby works fine now lol. Guess I gotta get a refund for a liquid cooled block.
 
K, I need to know, for my own sanity's sake, and so that I can make sure my system stays running buttery smooth, What are acceptable temperatures for this new CPU, since it's on a standard Heatsink, also, I use Precision X to control a fan step, so if it gets over a certain degree, fan speed kicks up, is there any program that will let me do that, on the stock intel heatsink?
 
Anything over 70C is considered bad for a CPU.

But if you haven't touched your BIOS/UEFI yet, then you have nothing to worry about. Most motherboards have auto-shutdown features activated by default, which cause the CPU to shut down before it exceeds a "fatal" temperature level.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top