Haven't built a pc in a decade...let's do this!

[phalnax]

Logged on for the first time in 8 years...nice to see things haven't changed. I am building this system over the course of a year or more while my 2 year old son watches.He is fascinated with me putting things together, be it Lego or furniture so I figured it would be a great time to build a new system. To make it easier on my budget both financial and time wise I would prefer to buy parts slowly and at the best price possible. Thank you for your help in advance!


1. What will you be doing with this PC? Work ( day trader ), Gaming (play most games on high ), Everything ( my wife will be using this system as well )

2. Will you be overclocking? (If so, are you looking to watercool?) Possibly, but I would definitely like to water cool anyway. I am moving to Arizona and have heard of high end machines, especially SFF overheating with ease.

3. What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included in this budget? Is your budget flexible? Is cost a driving factor in component selection? 2000. Tax and shipping are included, budget is definitely flexible.

4. Where do you live? Do you have any big B&M (brick and mortar) computer chains nearby (e.g. Microcenter, Fry's, etc)? I will be moving and am unsure what is around the area, I am happy ordering online.

5. What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU,RAM,case,ssd,hdd,optical drive,water cooling,decent case fan,psu ( if case doesn't come with one),wire management ( sleeves,ties,whatever you recommend ), Windows 8

6. If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? None.

7. What specific features do you need in a motherboard? Honestly, I haven't built a system in over ten years so not sure where to start. I would like at least 4 usb ports, but beyond that nothing specific.

8. What resolution output do you need? Hoping to use this as a media solution for the house as well so streaming HD video. ( 1080 p )

9. Does this system need to fit into a particular space and do you need an optical drive? I prefer an optical drive but if the case suggested is too good to pass up, I am fine with none. I would really like the system to be as small + powerful as possible.

10. How comfortable are you with custom case design/modification and electrical wiring? Really don't want to do get into modding a case, I am comfortable putting the system together, but have never installed water cooling. Quite excited at the prospect.

11. How important is the noise/silence of this sytem? Important. I have immense dislike for loud pc's.

12. How mobile does this system need to be? Would love it if it was moveable but a minimalist case is the goal, not dragging it around the house.

13. Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? None

14. When do you plan on building/buying the PC? Immediately, in a couple weeks, 3-5 years?

 

[WiSK]

Hiya

I suggest starting with choosing a case. Watercooling in SFF can be a challenge, so you have to decide how small you need your rig to be. For CPU+GPU cooling you really need at least a 240x120 radiator or a 180x180 rad.

For example, smallest SFF that can hold a 240 radiator is the NCase M1 (see thread in this subforum), but you'd have to wait for the next production run.

Otherwise I'd recommend the Silverstone TJ08e (180 rad) or PS07 (240 rad) to give you a bit more space and allow a full ATX PSU. They are over twice the size of the M1, but more conventional layout and allow microATX motherboard.

 

[Zap]

Do not buy parts over a large period of time. A couple weeks to a month is fine, but do NOT buy parts over the course of (let's say) several months to a year. Reasons:
1) Return periods are short. Often places won't let you return stuff after 2-4 weeks. This is important because returning to vendor is usually the fastest way to swap a part, if necessary. What if you have a part damaged in shipping or is just mysteriously DOA? How would you know, if you don't have other parts to test it with?
2) Warranty is ticking. Some parts may only have a 1 year warranty, or 3 year warranty. Why would you eat up a good chunk of your warranty this way?
3) Availability of parts. Let's say you buy a particular CPU because it is on sale. A half year later you decide to buy the motherboard, only to find out that the industry has moved on and not only is your chosen motherboard no longer available, you almost can't find motherboards for that CPU at all.
4) Pricing. Sure, you might find a good sale, but as a general rule of thumb pricing goes down (with exception of some stuff like RAM). To give you an example, I have in my possession an Intel 330 180GB SSD, brand new in box. I think I paid $90 for it, which was excellent at the time. Well, these days similar (Sandforce 2281 controller) SSDs are going for $100 or so for a 240GB. Yup, I need to practice what I preach.
5) Technology marches on. Let's say you buy the CPU and mottherboard today. Well, come two months from now the Haswell refresh will come out, along with Z97 chipset motherboards. There are also mid-cycle refreshes.

How long do you expect to use this system before upgrading or replacing it? Another 8 years? How good are you with maintenance? Why I ask is because I've known two people who have gone long term with liquid cooling, without maintaining it. One ended up with really high temps. Other one had his pump die from being gunked up (he was already at stock speeds by then). I think these guys were at around the 4 year mark on the liquid cooling. This is on top of the periodic cleaning the dust out of your system.

I would agree with WiSK in saying that when going SFF, case is probably your most important choice which everything else revolves around. Also this is one of the parts which you can buy early with a clear conscience, since case warranties are almost never needed, outside of immediate shipping damage, which vendor deals with. Also, case pricing typically does not drop much, if at all.

My recommendations:
1) Find your most acceptable case. (You won't find "perfect" if you are at all picky.)
2) Start saving up money.
3) Come back and ask for more specific recommendations after you have your case, and are within a month of having the money saved up.

 

[phalnax]

Understood on all accounts. If I am not water-cooling, what are the best cases for airflow? I honestly have no idea where to begin looking. The last time I built as SFF was when the xqpack was the greatest thing around and Shuttle still made gaming pc's.

Absolutely no idea how to pick a case at this point with literally hundreds of options.

 

[D4rkn3ss]

Understood on all accounts. If I am not water-cooling, what are the best cases for airflow? I honestly have no idea where to begin looking. The last time I built as SFF was when the xqpack was the greatest thing around and Shuttle still made gaming pc's.

Absolutely no idea how to pick a case at this point with literally hundreds of options.

thats the most important part, everything else would be based on that choice.

this are the three that i like most (im using the first one for four years, with several upgrades over the years):

SG05
SG08
FT03-MINI

im not a Silverstone fanboy but coincidentally, i really like their designs, these are the three best in my opinion (yep, all three from silverstone )

 

[WiSK]

Absolutely no idea how to pick a case at this point with literally hundreds of options.

Well you are in the SFF section, so presumably you want a small case. So there are no longer hundreds of options. You have to think about what are you comfortable with on your desk. I mean, do you really want SFF (under 20 litres), or is a smallish microATX case okay as well (e.g. 30 litres)?

Your major requirement was gaming on high settings so you want something that fits a full GPU. So you might want to look at the Silverstone SG08, the Coolermaster Elite 120/130, and the Fractal Design Node 304. All SFF, good aircooling cases. Would you rule any or all of those out based on looks, then we can suggest other cases.