I've lost touch, help design new gaming PC

[BrianPeach]

So i pulled this from the forum sticky, i used to build pc's regularly back in 2001-2008 then fell into my career and lost touch with it. I finally got some time and income and would like to get into pc builds again, please help me get started on my first gaming pc in a long time. I have no idea what i need so please assist, thank you!

"If you're gonna ask us to build/list a PC for you or seek advice about a build, please answer all of the following questions:"

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming, some movies.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$1,000, tax/shipping not included.

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

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, ram. Graphics, HDD, sound card possibly? New operating system, blu ray drive or dvd drive.

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
I own a 2007 cooler master cm stacker and 600w psu, so hopefully those are still usable with the new build. Not sure on psu make model anymore, will replace if recommended

6) Will you be overclocking?
No

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
50inch LED sony bravia, 1920xsomething resolution.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Next 1-2 weeks, cash is in hand.

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 dont know anymore, last pc i built was 5 years ago, i used to make one every 2-3 months and now i have lost touch. Need lots of advice.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Windows xp 32 bit, i wont be using. I want to get windows 8 64bit.

 

[tiraides]

Wait for Haswell. Haswell-based motherboards and processors should arrive (in sufficient quantities) in about two weeks.

Dallas, you say? Are you within (a short) driving distance from a physical Fry's or Micro Center store?

Which games do you play? At what level of video quality?

About those movies, are you streaming them or watching Blu-rays?

If you can't identify the brand and model of the power supply, I suggest playing things safe and buying a new power supply. You don't have to spend over $100 for a good one.

Can you save up an additional $100 or more within two weeks' time? While $1000 can buy you a decent system, including the OS, having more money to spend does give you more options.

 

[BrianPeach]

Yes, I am near microcenter, tigermart and there is a fry's 20 minutes from me as well.

I play skyrim, counter strike source, diablo iii, fallout, battlefield 3 and prefer max settings.

I am streaming netflix, I have about 100 gigs of movies on an external HDD but want its reading over a USB 2.0 which sucks, i need to install a dedicated higher quality drive.

Yes, I am flexible on this budget but am eager to keep it around $1000 - i do realize this is a hobby where equipment can touch into $2-3k with little effort

edit: The brand of PSU is "toughpower", can't recall if that is a quality name or not.

 

[Dangman]

Yes, I am near microcenter, tigermart and there is a fry's 20 minutes from me as well.

Cool. Keep waiting for more Haswell reviews and parts to come out then. I'm stilling for the Haswell related Z87 motherboard reviews to come out.

I am streaming netflix, I have about 100 gigs of movies on an external HDD but want its reading over a USB 2.0 which sucks, i need to install a dedicated higher quality drive.

Are you planning on getting an external hard drive with eSATA or USB 3.0? USB 3.0 is a bit of a given since virtually every new mobo has it these days. But requiring eSATA does narrow down the field of buyable motherboards a bit.

edit: The brand of PSU is "toughpower", can't recall if that is a quality name or not.

The brand is "Thermaltake". "Toughpower" is a model line of Thermaltake. But for the most part, Thermaltake's Toughpower PSUs are decent if a bit overpriced. But double-check to make sure you actually have a Toughpower.

 

[BrianPeach]

Haswell mobo will be my goal then, whats special that makes it the go-to board? Expandible options? On-board features? What model would you recommend? Im going to start googling this today to learn more.

I do not plan on keeping my external HDD, I was using it as a temporary storage. I want to buy a new internal 1-2TB storage and something smaller to run games off.

Yea it says toughpower with big one inch lettering on the side, if those are still good i'll stick with it then.

I saw there are 8 core CPU's now, should that be a goal or is there something better to be had?

 

[tiraides]

Haswell is the successor to Ivy Bridge and Sandy Bridge. Haswell-based processors run faster than Ivy/Sandy Bridge processors but they come in a different CPU socket (LGA1150) that make them incompatible with LGA1155 boards. Danny and I are telling you to wait for Haswell because this is what Intel will focus on (on the mainstream level) over the next 12 to 18 months.

Your storage setup and gaming preferences are why I asked about your budget flexibility. For example, your $1000 budget allows you either a 120-128GB SSD or a 1-2TB HDD, but not both. We normally recommend that you buy both an SSD (for your primary drive) and an HDD (for storage).

Please find out the particular model and age of your Toughpower PSU. Some specific models were good but others weren't. Age also affects the power supply's reliability as all PSUs decline in quality as they're used over the years.

Ignore the AMD eight-core processors. For the tasks you have in mind, Intel (through Sandy/Ivy Bridge and assuming the use of a separate video card) outperforms them.

 

[tiraides]

Oh joy of joys, Haswell's here!

Go to Micro Center for the following:

$260 - Intel Core i5-4670K and MSI Z87-G41 bundle (in-store special)
$60 - Crucial Ballistix Sport 2x4GB DDR3 1600 CL9 1.5V (possible $10 discount with Haswell purchase, contact store first)
$100 - Seagate Barracuda 2TB HDD (retail kit)
$16 - LG GH24NS95 SATA DVD burner
$300 - MSI GTX 660 Ti Twin Frozr IV
$100 - Microsoft Windows 8 64-bit OEM DVD
=====
$836 - Subtotal (not including taxes or other rebates/discounts)

If you can spend a bit more, I suggest that you buy the Samsung 840 250GB SSD in addition to the 2TB HDD. The SSD will store your OS and your frequently-used programs while the HDD stores everything else.

The MSI Z87-G41 has two PCI-E x16 slots (running at x16 and x4, respectively), six SATA 6Gb/s ports, support for both USB 2.0 and USB 3.0, and onboard 5.1 audio. As it has just been released, I don't know anything about the board's overclocking capabilities. I went with the i5-4670K/Z87-G41 bundle as it was cheaper than buying the i5-4570 (the processor that you really "need") and the Z87-G41 separately.

I would like some more information on your current PSU (the specific model number).

 

[BrianPeach]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ2BQ4F7dAM

Any thoughts on this layout? It was just posted the other day and includes the new hardware you were describing. Thumbs up or down from my gurus please

 

[Dangman]

Not commenting since you haven't answered Tiraides' question about your current PSU. So please provide the info that Tiraides requested 3 days ago.

 

[tiraides]

Don't ignore the question about the PSU. Just because it's a Toughpower doesn't make it a good power supply.

Thermaltake, in the past, has made some substandard power supplies that were unable to handle heavy loads properly. Plus, power supplies lose some of their power and efficiency over time, more so if they were in constant heavy use.

Since a bad power supply can literally destroy your computer, we don't want you to take the chance of powering your new system up with something potentially bad. If you have enough cash to consider an SSD, you should allocate some of those funds for a new, (known) good quality power supply.

 

[BrianPeach]

Dan and Tir, given the trending recommendations to get a new PSU, im going to go with buying a new one as well to protect the build. Im gonna just donate the entire old case and increase my budget to a more workable $1200 to offset any additional costs from psu and new case.

Thank u guys for being so helpful this far.

 

[Dangman]

In that case, start with Tiraides' build but add this PSU and the SSD mentioned earlier:
$80 - Seasonic G Series SSR-550RM 550W Modular PSU

Case wise, I recommend any of these cases:
$60 - Corsair Carbide Series 200R ATX Case
$80 - Corsair Carbide Series 300R ATX Case
$98 - Corsair Carbide Series 400R ATX Case
$92 - Antec 1100 ATX Case

As for that youtube build, the pricing is a bit off considering he's using NCIX. In addition, it's unsuitable for you since it doesn't include an OS, the PSU is so-so, and the case isn't the best choice since there are better cases available for the money. Are you willing to buy some of the parts online in order to cut costs a bit?

 

[BrianPeach]

Im flexible on case, would like it to be modular with good cable management. Yes, buying parts online is preferred. I definitely will shop the prices for a deal.

 

[Dangman]

I'm not sure what you're referring to when you say "modular". Did you mean the PSU? If so, the PSU I recommended is a modular PSU

Anyway, starting with Tiraides' build again, get the RAM, HDD, SSD and OS from these sources instead of Microcenter:
$47 - Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$89 - Seagate Barracuda ST2000DM001 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$91 - Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64bit OEM
$171 - Samsung 840 250GB SSD

The above swaps should save you around ~$41.

 

[BrianPeach]

By modular I meant something similar to the cooler master stacker series with a HDD bay that could slide out while plugged in (i have 4 HDD's and am looking to consolidate onto a pair), also the DVD drive is easy to swap out, etc.

Do you have any recommendations on an aftermarket heatsink or does it not matter tremendously? Just "go big"? I have done watercooling in the past but am not interested in starting that up again.

 

[Dangman]

Texas does seem like a hot place. I recommend this HSF:
$25 - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus HSF for LGA 1366 and LGA 1156

Here are some other cases to look at in addition to the ones I already listed:
$110 - Antec P280 ATX Case
$110 - Fractal Design Define R4 Arctic White ATX Case
$110 - Fractal Design Define R4 with Window Arctic White ATX Case
$100 - Lian Li PC-7HX Black Aluminum ATX Case
$110 - Corsair Carbide Series 500R ATX Case
$120 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-002GR Black Finish w/Green Trim Full Tower ATX Case
$120 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001WT White ATX Case
$126 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001BK Black ATX Case
$120 - Corsair Vengeance Series C70 Gunmetal Black ATX Case
$120 - Corsair Vengeance Series C70 Arctic White ATX Case
$135 - Fractal Design Define R4 with Window Black Pearl ATX Case
$135 - Fractal Design Define R4 with Window Titanium Grey ATX Case
$130 - Corsair Obsidian Series 550D ATX Case
$144 - Silverstone RV03B-W ATX case
$144 - Silverstone RV03B-WA ATX case
$160 - Corsair Graphite Series 600TM ATX Case
$165 - 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

 

[BrianPeach]

Danny can you recommend a similar PSU from microcenter? im going to try and one stop shop this Monday (im trapped at work all day Sunday).

Also, I went to order and the link for the CPU/mobo combo is no longer posted, I missed the boat on that deal im still gonna buy but sad about that.

 

[tiraides]

Danny can you recommend a similar PSU from microcenter? im going to try and one stop shop this Monday (im trapped at work all day Sunday).

Checking the Dallas MC site, the following modular PSUs were available:

$55 - Corsair CX430M 430W
$65 - Corsair CX500M 500W
$85 - Corsair CX600M 600W
$90 - Antec HCG-520M 520W
$90 - Corsair CX750M 750W (possible $15 discount when purchased alongside Haswell, contact store beforehand)
$98 - Antec HCG-620M 620W
$120 - Corsair TX650M 650W (possible $15 discount when purchased alongside Haswell, contact store beforehand)
$130 - Corsair TX750M 750W (possible $15 discount when purchased alongside Haswell, contact store beforehand)
$130 - Corsair HX750M 750W (possible $15 discount when purchased alongside Haswell, contact store beforehand)

Out of the above list, the CX750M and the HX750 make the most sense, but call the store beforehand to see if they will honor the PSU discounts on top of what they're offering for the processor and motherboard.

Also, I went to order and the link for the CPU/mobo combo is no longer posted, I missed the boat on that deal im still gonna buy but sad about that.

The link that I posted earlier was a list of some of the Intel processor/motherboard bundle deals. The processor and the motherboard are listed separately and they're both in stock. Micro Center will still offer the discount when you pair them together in your shopping cart.

 

[BrianPeach]

bought everything yesterday, phantom 630 case. i will post pics when the build is complete later this week. thanks for helping me out so much guys i really appreciate it.