Desktop Computers

Fucking beast!

Mire_sl said:

Suck it bitches!

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Renault_sl said:

As someone who hasn't built a computer since my current one (Core2Duo) I've got a few questions before Black Friday comes around.

First off what video cards should I be watching for in the mid range? I use dual monitors at 1920x1080 and want to be able to play the current gen games (D3, FC3, Bioshock etc) but I'm not concerned with max fps and ultra settings.

Secondly is 8GB RAM still plenty for pretty much everything or are there compelling reasons to bump it up to 16GB now and in addition is there any reason to wait for DDR4?

Lastly having never used an SSD before how much of a difference is there between the low / mid range $80-90 ones and the $140-160, any key models to watch out for? Also is 128GB pretty standard nowadays for system + couple games and apps?

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Video Card: Depends really on your budget. The GeForce GTX 760 at $240~ is a very solid midrange card. The 660 silence recommends isn't a bad choice either, the AMD equivalent of that card would be the R9 270. If you're thinking in the $155~ish range the GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost 2GB is the best bet imo.

RAM: 8 GB is plenty. As far as DDR4 is concerned, 1) Intel's Skylake microarchitecture, which isn't due out until 2015 or 2016, will be their first to natively support DDR4 and 2) You'll pay a hefty premium for DDR4 when it is first released. So unless you're really interested in being hyper bleeding-edge, there's no need to wait for it.

I agree with Silence. The Samsung 840 Pro's are crazy fast and great drives. And again I agree the EVO are a good value drive, not quite as fast as the Pros but if you're coming from never having used an SSD, prepare to be blown the fuck away. SSD's are amazing.

I personally used a 128 GB drive and keep BF4, LoL, WoW, and CS:GO on the SSD (along with Windows, Office, Photoshop, and other small programs like Pidgin, foobar, etc). I still have 30 GB left over on my SSD but I would 100% recommend also having a HDD for storage as well. A WD Blue or similar is just fine like he recommended.

I agree with the recommendation for the i5-4670k as well. Such a great value of a CPU.

good idea to buy my whole set up on black friday?

Cyber Monday is what you want. Wait until the Monday after Black Friday. That's when I built my PC last year. I pieced together most of the parts I wanted in early November, and by waiting to purchase until Cyber Monday. the cost went from like $1250 to a tad under $1000. Made a crazy difference. Saved a good 20% or more.

Crazy deal like 32GB (4x8GB) DDR3 1866 G.Skill Ram for $109, Seasonic 750W Gold-rated modular PSU for $89, etc. I watch prices all the time, and I still never saw some of the stuff I bought any cheaper this entire year of 2013 than what I got them for on Cyber Monday deals.

I'd say if you see an obvious killer deal on Friday get it, but Monday should have most of the really good PC building deals. That is my strategy this year.

I'm going to be building a PC on Black Friday/Cyber Monday as well. Lets keep this post up to date with the best deals.

Just FYI, if you have a Microcenter near you, they will pricematch any pricing, even for online competitors. So if you use something like PCPartpicker to find the best prices on parts, print that list out and you can take it to Microcenter and not have to wait for shipping(although you will have to pay sales tax, which you might avoid otherwise depending on where you live)

Also

Black Friday Deals 2013 - Sales, Ads & Coupons | Slickdeals

They will have the ads for Newegg, Tigerdirect, and Microcenter posted at least a few days before black Friday. About half the stores they track already have ads available now, so those 3 might not be too far behind.

sorry i meant monday, not actually friday but yeah i think i might do this, i dont think theres any point waiting, no new high end shit coming out that i should potentially wait for?

Damn havent built a pc in a while, anyone know where i can get some advice on what shit i should pick up, my cousin built my pc a while ago but hasnt kept up with all the new hardware and such since he has had kids and stopped gaming, anyone know where i could get some advice, im looking to spend 1k-1200 and i only want to use it for gaming.

Do some reading here:

Reddit - Build a PC

not too much rampant fanboyism(although there is some), but theres some really helpful people that post there.

newegg / tigerdirect still the best places to buy from? someone threw out amazon, im 2 hours from a microcenter

Anyone want to help a brother out? I haven't kept up with tech since like... 2005 when I built this computer. This fucker still runs somehow, even plays Skyrim and SC2 among other titles. I'm just looking to be able to run most games, I'm not an avid gamer anymore. Mostly just play SC2 and Hearthstone right now, might play EQNext, etc.

What's a good price range for a mid-tier comp that can run pretty much any game on the market? I remember spending like $1400 back in 2005, but I'm pretty sure I could build something in the $500-600 to do what I'm looking for, no?

Intel still > AMD? What about nvidia vs. ati? Should I go for 8 GB or 16 GB RAM? And are terabytes really THAT fucking cheap now? I'm so lost bros.

Oh, I'm right by a microcenter, but I remember newegg shitting all over them in terms of price so...

Itlan_sl said:

Anyone want to help a brother out? I haven't kept up with tech since like... 2005 when I built this computer. This fucker still runs somehow, even plays Skyrim and SC2 among other titles. I'm just looking to be able to run most games, I'm not an avid gamer anymore. Mostly just play SC2 and Hearthstone right now, might play EQNext, etc.

What's a good price range for a mid-tier comp that can run pretty much any game on the market? I remember spending like $1400 back in 2005, but I'm pretty sure I could build something in the $500-600 to do what I'm looking for, no?

Intel still > AMD? What about nvidia vs. ati? Should I go for 8 GB or 16 GB RAM? And are terabytes really THAT fucking cheap now? I'm so lost bros.

Oh, I'm right by a microcenter, but I remember newegg shitting all over them in terms of price so...

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if you print out the price list or something i was told they price match, but you have to pay sales tax or w/e id look into it if you're close to one.

im basically in the same boat is 600$ really gonna get a rig that can play most games that are out now? like bf4 and what about future games, i was thinking 1k$ would be like a cut off for a decent rig that would last a few years.

Well I think the most important part is investing in a mobo that is future proof, so you can upgrade individual parts as you go. But I could be wrong here.

Itlan_sl said:

Well I think the most important part is investing in a mobo that is future proof, so you can upgrade individual parts as you go. But I could be wrong here.

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Here's a decent $1k example build to start from:Intel Core i5-4670K, Gigabyte GeForce GTX 760, Cooler Master HAF 912 - $1k example build - jeydaxs Saved Part List - PCPartPicker

CPU's aren't really the bottle neck right now for the majority of games - GPU's are. So future proofing with the MOBO isn't too terribly as important as it used to be.

CPU
Intel i5-4670k = $200~

Motherboard
Pick one of these: Gigabyte Z87X-UD3H or Asus Z87-Plus = $160~

RAM/Memory
Basically you can choose any 2x4GB (8GB total) DDR3-1600 sticks that preferrably are rated for 1.5V and have 9-9-9-24 timing. I personally G.SKILL or Corsair but Crucial and several other manufactuers work as well. = $70-80~
Example:G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL - Newegg.com

GPU
This is going to be your biggest choice, honestly. It really depends on what you want to do with your games. You can go cheaper or more expensive but a great value video card right now is the GeForce 760 for roughly $250~

SSD and Storage
Grab a value SSD in the Samsung EVO 120 GB for $100~ and storage drive such as the Western Digital Blue 1 TB (Newegg.com - Western Digital WD Blue WD10EZEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive - All Desktop Hard Drives) for ~$70. You can grab a WD Black for an extra $30.

Power Supply
I am a mega fanboy of SeaSonic drives but a Corsair would suffice just as well. Grab a Bronze or better 650W+ PSU for $100-$130 such asSeaSonic X Series X650 Gold EPS 12V V2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Full Modular Active PFC Power Supply - Newegg.com- I never skimp on the PSU but others can agree or disagree with me on this suggestion. I also prefer modular for airflow/building ease.

Case
Cases aren't my forte and probably the most objective pick of the build. I threw the Cooler Master HAF 912 just for shits and giggles. You can spend as little as $60 or as much as $200 on a good case - again, subjective more than any other piece.

Is a SSD necessary? I literally have no idea what they do, I'm pretty sure they were brandy new when I built my last PC.

Should I wait until Christmas? or "cyber Monday" or whatever?

SSD is about the single most performance enhancing item you can buy for a PC. The faster load times are unreal.

Sterling_sl said:

SSD is about the single most performance enhancing item you can buy for a PC. The faster load times are unreal.

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This times 1000. An SSD nowadays is an absolute must.

As far as waiting, your best bet as most people have pointed out is purchasing most stuff on Black Friday or Cyber Monday. If you have a Microcenter near you, get a list of items you want to buy, bring it in and they should match it. Otherwise browse online for good deals on Friday/Monday.

Mist_sl said:

Always spend the extra money on a motherboard with an onboard Intel NIC. All sorts of weird shitty problems I've had with broadcom and realtek onboard NICs.

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Everytime I've had issues with broadcom it was a driver issue. They released so many bugged drivers it was like they took a play from the MMO playbook.

Mist_sl said:

Always spend the extra money on a motherboard with an onboard Intel NIC. All sorts of weird shitty problems I've had with broadcom and realtek onboard NICs.

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This is wisdom. Stay far the fuck away from anything realtek/broadcom.