First build, need help!

F

ffbtime

n00b
Joined
Sep 29, 2011
Messages
9
Hey everyone,

I have heard good things about you guys. I am looking to build my first gaming PC, I would like to play games like BF3 on high settings. Forgive me, I dont know a lot about computers so I will answer any questions the best I can.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming mainly, web browsing, misc school work

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
1000$(+-100$), tax+shipping included

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
US, California

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc.
I am not 100% on this, I dont know my way around computers but as far as I know these are the essentials..motherboard, cpu, ram, video card, hard drive, power supply, case, monitor, fan.(is this all I need?)

6) Will you be overclocking?
No

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
I need a monitor

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Next 7-10 days

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video?
I do not know what any of this means, forgive me. So I guess not.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
Need Windows7

I would like to have the ability to upgrade this machine in the future as well.
 
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ffbtime said:
Hey everyone,
I have heard good things about you guys. I am looking to build my first gaming PC, I would like to play games like BF3 on high settings. Forgive me, I dont know a lot about computers so I will answer any questions the best I can.
Click to expand...
Considering that this is your first PC build, I highly recommend looking through the General Hardware FAQ:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1352293

Especially look at post #2 for the "PC Building Guides" links.

ffbtime said:
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
US, California
Click to expand...
Considering that you live in California, try to buy as much of your parts as possible from Amazon.com as they do not charge CA residents tax.

Out of curiosity, do you live anywhere near Santa Clara or Tustin?
 
All right this should do the trick:

$190 - Intel Core i5-2400 CPU
$120 - Gigabyte GA-Z68A-D3H-B3 Intel Z68 ATX Motherboard
$44 - Kingston Hyper KHX1333C9D3B1K2/8G 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$186 - XFX HD-687A-ZHFC Radeon HD 6870 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$60 - Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$21 - Lite-On iHAS-324-98 24X SATA DVD Burner
$93 - XFX Core Edition PRO650W 650W PSU
$100 - Corsair Carbide Series 400R ATX Case
$100 - Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64bit OEM
$90 - HP S2031 20" LCD Monitor
----
Total: $1004 shipped.


Lemme know if you have any questions about the above build.
 
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Danny Bui said:
All right this should do the trick:

$190 - Intel Core i5-2400 CPU
$120 - Gigabyte GA-Z68A-D3H-B3 Intel Z68 ATX Motherboard
$44 - Kingston Hyper KHX1333C9D3B1K2/8G 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$186 - XFX HD-687A-ZHFC Radeon HD 6870 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$60 - Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$21 - Lite-On iHAS-324-98 24X SATA DVD Burner
$93 - XFX Core Edition PRO650W 650W PSU
$100 - Corsair Carbide Series 400R ATX Case
$100 - Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64bit OEM
$90 - HP S2031 20" LCD Monitor
----
Total: $1004 shipped.


Lemme know if you have any questions about the above build.
Click to expand...

This is a very good build by Danny. But, personally, I'd go cheaper on the case like the Antec 300 case, go bigger on the monitor with a 22" 1680 x 1050 res display. The extra size and higher res, especially the vertical height pixels of 1050 on the 22" vs 900 on the 20" will help when viewing documents, spreadsheets and webpages. Plus, you'll have a more immersive gaming experience on a bigger monitor. Also, the Antec EA650 Green for $68 w/free shipping should easily meet his needs. The only issue I see is if you upgrade the video card later to a longer 10.5"+ inch video card. It may not fit in the Antec 300 case due to the HDD cage. But, that XFX 6870 will have no problem fitting in the case. You can also upgrade to a Core I5 2500 cpu and still be under $1K
 
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Thank you guys, I think I will upgrade to the i5 2500 as Guru suggested.

As far as the monitor goes, I am fine with 20", I find any bigger is too much for me.

I have heard to try and go for the Radeon 6950, can we fit this in somewhere? Will the 6870 be capable of playing new games on high settings?

Do I need a fan in there somewhere?

Thank you again, I can not express how grateful I am for the help here.
 
Personally I do not recommend the Antec 300 in this day and age unless it was $30 shipped. There are far far better cases out there even at the Antec 300's price point.
ffbtime said:
Thank you guys, I think I will upgrade to the i5 2500 as Guru suggested.
Click to expand...
I see no reason to upgrade to the Core i5 2500. I'd rather save the money for other parts in the PC.

ffbtime said:
As far as the monitor goes, I am fine with 20", I find any bigger is too much for me.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, the monitor I chose for you went up in price last night. So I recommend this monitor instead:
http://www.amazon.com/AOC-2036S-20-...ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1318449134&sr=1-2

ffbtime said:
I have heard to try and go for the Radeon 6950, can we fit this in somewhere? Will the 6870 be capable of playing new games on high settings?
Click to expand...
At your resolution of 1600x900 or even 1680x1050, the HD 6870 will definitely be enough. A HD 6950 would be overkill.

ffbtime said:
Do I need a fan in there somewhere?
Click to expand...
The CPU already comes with a heatsink/fan.
 
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Danny Bui said:
I see no reason to upgrade to the Core i5 2500. I'd rather save the money for other parts in the PC.
Click to expand...

Are you suggesting we should add/upgrade something else? Is there any room in the budget to make a significant upgrade? If not, I would prefer to keep it as close to 1k as possible.
 
ffbtime said:
Are you suggesting we should add/upgrade something else? Is there any room in the budget to make a significant upgrade? If not, I would prefer to keep it as close to 1k as possible.
Click to expand...
The monitor swap already takes up the cash not spent on the Core i5 2400.
 
Danny, how does this compare to your build?

CPU Intel Core i5-2400 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor $187.99
Motherboard ASRock P67 Extreme4 Gen3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard $163.49
Memory G.Skill Sniper 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory $49.99
Hard Drive Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive $58.99
Video Card XFX Radeon HD 6950 1GB Video Card $209.99
Case Corsair 400R ATX Mid Tower Case $99.99
Power Supply OCZ 600W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply $59.99
Optical Drive Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer $18.99
Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64bit OEM $100.00
*the monitor you suggested
 
No on the motherboard, video card, and power supply. The motherboard is overkill for your needs and its warranty is poor compared to other brands. (Search for "AsRock warranty" in this forum for more details.) The video card is stupid overkill for your monitor's meager resolution. That power supply is made from a company with a history of QC and design issues, so I wouldn't recommend it under any circumstances.

Please answer these questions for me:

- Which games are you (planning on) playing?
- Outside of gaming, what's the thing that you'll use your computer most often for?
- How long do you want to keep this system for?
- Can you explain why "larger" monitors are such a problem for you?
 
The build I posted above was just something a buddy put together, he is also an amateur.

I will be playing BF3, Valve games on the Source engine, Bioware games, Skyrim and maybe some other miscellaneous games I have.

Basic web browsing, school work which consists of mainly of using Microsoft office programs. Gaming is the main use.

I would like the system to last ~ 1+ years before needing an upgrade.

The monitor is not a huge issue, I am open to slightly bigger. My problem is I find it hard to play some games on a large monitor. Again, I am open to others.
 
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ffbtime said:
I would like to have the ability to upgrade this machine in the future as well.
Click to expand...

this should be your last concern.

1. PC hardware is outpacing software and general user needs. my last system was a Q9550 and it lasted me 3 years. it was still fast enough for everything i threw at it and i would still have it if I didn't need more RAM for running more VMs.

2. related to 1)... because hardware has such staying power, by the time you need to upgrade, none of your old hardware will be compatible with the new stuff, most notably cpu/mb socket.

typically, the only things you'll be able to carry over to your next upgrade are the case, kb/mice, dvdrom and maybe the HDD/RAM/PSU.

buy what fits your needs and budget now. worry about the future when it arrives.
 
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