The Ultimate 'Build-A-PC' Thread. Complete With Pricings & Recommendations (06/06/10)

ColFantastic said:
I also skipped getting a PS3 but just like you, there are several exclusives I want to play (including The Last of Us). I will be getting a PS4 at some point and plan on holding off on the PS3 titles because of the future implementation of Gaikai and backwards compatibility. I am under the assumption that the BC will only work on digital downloads, so by the time I get a PS4 most of the titles I want will be cheap(ish) digital copies.
Click to expand...
Wait, Gaikai is coming to the PS4?

 
Shifty Effect said:
Wait, Gaikai is coming to the PS4?
Click to expand...
Oh yeah. It's one of the most enticing options of the PS4, even though it won't be live until some time in 2014. There haven't been a whole ton of information on the service yet other than it will allow some sort of backwards compatibility and will start sometime next year. I'm very curious to whether there will be a distinction between digital and disc media....This probably doesn't belong in this thread but still very cool.

 
Ok, so this is pretty close to my final build.  I'm going to try to take a trip down to Microcenter this weekend to get the CPU and M/B.  I decided to go with mATX because the case fits better and has better reviews than the Antec I previously linked.  I ended up finding a deal on an SSD so I jumped on it.  I won't be doing any overclocking any time soon so I'm going to hold off on a CPU cooler for now.  I'm still debating between the 7970 and a 770, but for the price, I think the 7970 will be more than adequate for 1080p gaming.  Either way, this will blow away that Revolt I was thinking of buying at $1200 :lol:

Any thoughts?  

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1Cc5o

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($199.99 @ Microcenter) 
Motherboard: ASRock Z87M Extreme4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($80.00 @ Microcenter) 
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($57.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Toshiba Q Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk  (Purchased For $150.00) 
Storage: Samsung Spinpoint F4 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  (Existing) 
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card  ($274.99 @ NCIX US) 
Case: Rosewill Line-M MicroATX Mini Tower Case  ($39.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: Corsair Enthusiast 550W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply  (Existing) 
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer  (Purchased For $15.00) 
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit)  ($88.88 @ Outlet PC) 
Total: $906.84
 
encendido5 said:
Ok, so this is pretty close to my final build. I'm going to try to take a trip down to Microcenter this weekend to get the CPU and M/B. I decided to go with mATX because the case fits better and has better reviews than the Antec I previously linked. I ended up finding a deal on an SSD so I jumped on it. I won't be doing any overclocking any time soon so I'm going to hold off on a CPU cooler for now. I'm still debating between the 7970 and a 770, but for the price, I think the 7970 will be more than adequate for 1080p gaming. Either way, this will blow away that Revolt I was thinking of buying at $1200 :lol:

Any thoughts?

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1Cc5o

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87M Extreme4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($80.00 @ Microcenter)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($57.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Toshiba Q Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (Purchased For $150.00)
Storage: Samsung Spinpoint F4 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive (Existing)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card ($274.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Rosewill Line-M MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Enthusiast 550W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply (Existing)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (Purchased For $15.00)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($88.88 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $906.84
Click to expand...
I'm jealous.

 
Newegg has the 7950 for $200 after a $20 rebate so I ended up getting that instead.  I didn't think the extra $75 was worth +20 on the video card :)  Especially since I won't be playing any newer games.  

I'm taking a trip to MicroCenter this weekend to pick up the CPU and M/B.

It's slowly coming together...

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Update: I stayed up till 3am last night building my pc but I got it running.  Everything seems to working great except I haven't been able to modulate the front case fan.  It's running at full bore and it is loud as hell.  I don't know if the m/b supports voltage control on both chassis fan leads, so I'll have to do some research.  

I ended up getting a fully modular PSU to make things easier to connect and it was easier dealing with the cables when not attached.  However, I had a hard time connecting them to the PSU at the end.  There is no way you can plug them in with the PSU installed.  You have to plug the cables in and then slide it into the case.  This wouldn't be an issue with a standard ATX case, but it was a pain trying to slide it in in my small mATX case.

Anyway, here is my final build.  I'll post up some final pics once I get everything running and finish with the cable management.

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  (Purchased For $213.00) 
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 76.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  (Purchased For $19.99) 
Motherboard: ASRock Z87M Extreme4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  (Purchased For $95.85) 
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  (Purchased For $57.99) 
Storage: Toshiba Q Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk  (Purchased For $150.00) 
Storage: Samsung Spinpoint F4 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  (Existing drive) 
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 640GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (Existing drive) 
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card  (Purchased For $199.99) 
Case: Rosewill Line-M MicroATX Mini Tower Case  (Purchased For $33.14) 
Case Fan: Rosewill RFX-120 87.5 CFM 120mm  Fan  (Purchased For $1.00) 
Case Fan: Rosewill RFX-120 87.5 CFM 120mm  Fan  (Purchased For $1.00) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic 760W 80 PLUS Platinum Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply  ($99.99) 
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer  (Purchased For $15.00) 
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit)  (Purchased For $86.99) 
Total: $973.94
 
 
9801541614_2dfa3cbbc7_c.jpg

9801611373_d1cc930d7f_c.jpg

9801334284_ce91dc9996_c.jpg

 
9801317764_767e662461_c.jpg

 
9801701043_61b1453cec_c.jpg

9801620053_dde7665a93_c.jpg

 
edit: some final pics.  I still need to work on cable management though.
 
9821866023_22344d58eb_c.jpg

 
9821863773_a2c64c889f_c.jpg

 
9821799285_8509e29733_c.jpg

 
9821865324_e2d6bfd5b5_c.jpg

 
Last edited by a moderator:
So I am thinking of extending the life of my current 5 year build. I can tell that my first two hard drives are slowing down big time and they might be ready to die. I was thinking of replacing my primary drive, reinstalling windows 7 and keep going as long as I can. However recently I have been hearing some strange grinding noises coming from inside my PC. I thought it was the primary CPU fan but it was ok as there was no wires in contact. I checked other fans in the case and found nothing in contact with the fan. I took the pc apart and cleaned it out good but the noise keeps coming every once and awhile. could it be a hard drive (1 out of 3)? So should I just keep the machine going with a new hard drive for a bit longer?
 
ITDEFX said:
So I am thinking of extending the life of my current 5 year build. I can tell that my first two hard drives are slowing down big time and they might be ready to die. I was thinking of replacing my primary drive, reinstalling windows 7 and keep going as long as I can. However recently I have been hearing some strange grinding noises coming from inside my PC. I thought it was the primary CPU fan but it was ok as there was no wires in contact. I checked other fans in the case and found nothing in contact with the fan. I took the pc apart and cleaned it out good but the noise keeps coming every once and awhile. could it be a hard drive (1 out of 3)? So should I just keep the machine going with a new hard drive for a bit longer?
Click to expand...
A solid state and ram can make a huge difference on performance.. Really depends on what you are going for in your build, gaming, video editing etc. upgrade to your needs best way to go.
 
Should I wait till Black Friday to put together a HTPC? I'm wanting something I can game on and possibly install SteamOS on when released. I was wanting to spend around $600 or so, majority cost on the CPU and GPU.
 
Blade3D said:
Should I wait till Black Friday to put together a HTPC? I'm wanting something I can game on and possibly install SteamOS on when released. I was wanting to spend around $600 or so, majority cost on the CPU and GPU.
Click to expand...
That's tough. I guess it depends on if you can wait 2 more months to put it together. You might be able to save another $100 on the build vs. buying it now, but then again, who knows. Are you going to get a monitor or any other peripherals as well?

Here's what you could get for $650 if you were to buy something now. You could probably get a cheaper case and PSU to get down below the $600 mark. This doesn't include the OS either.

http://pcpartpicker.com/b/Gca

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Initially I was thinking:

AMD FX 8350

ASUS M5A78L Motherboard - get this together for $205 at Microcenter

Apevia HTPC case $70

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811144231

PNY GeForce GTX 660 $190

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133470

G.SKILL Ripjaw Series 8GB $73

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231311

Cooler Master AIO Liquid Cooler $70

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103180

I have a 120GB SSD I'd use for the time being, and eventually add a 2TB+ hard drive. I just sold my Mac Mini, and was wanting to use that towards the items. I really don't think there will be a way better deal on the motherboard/cpu, as those were the exact items I was wanting. Maybe I'll just get those 2 items and the case...

 
Blade3D said:
Apevia HTPC case $70

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811144231
Click to expand...
I have this case, but I don't recommend it for new builds. The longest card you can fit is 9" and it only accommodates cards with a board height of 4", and that's if the card has the power connection on the end and not the top. That doesn't leave you with many options if you plan on upgrading in the future. The short height also doesn't give you much room for a good cooler. There is also no front fan, so air flow isn't very good. It sounds great on paper since it can fit an ATX M/B and it worked fine with my build, but my temps would be at 50-60C on idle and rose to 80C on load. I paid $25 for the case though, so I lived with it.

Here's a pic of how cramped it is. I added the side fans to help with the temperatures and they did help.

ydvz.jpg


Granted, I could have done a better job in cable management, but there's not much room behind the drives. If you want a small case, I recommend getting something like the Rosewill Line M I posted above. It's still pretty cramped, but you can fit a full size CPU cooler and a bigger video card. That is if you don't mind going mATX, you can still get a discount at microcenter.

You should also be able to get a 7950 for $10 more than that 660 if you don't mind going to the red team.

 
Thanks for the info, I was really wanting something I could lay on it's side. I think I am going to stick with nvidia for now as SteamOS supposedly will have better support for streaming with it. I also may get a better like a 760 or 770, as I think I'll most likely wait till Black Friday to get this.

 
Yeah, that's what I was looking for too, but settled for the Line M.  Technically, you could lay it on its side  since there are no ventilation holes behind the motherboard.  You could just put some mounting pads on the side.  That's what I was going to do, but my wife didn't like seeing the "bottom" of the case from the side :lol:

You can also look at the Silverstone cases.  I'm not sure how tall they are, but they do seem a lot nicer than the X-Master.  They're more expensive though.

http://www.silverstonetek.com/product_case.php?tno=0&case=c_htpc&area=en

 
Last edited by a moderator:
encendido5 said:
Yeah, that's what I was looking for too, but settled for the Line M. Technically, you could lay it on its side since there are no ventilation holes behind the motherboard. You could just put some mounting pads on the side. That's what I was going to do, but my wife didn't like seeing the "bottom" of the case from the side :lol:

You can also look at the Silverstone cases. I'm not sure how tall they are, but they do seem a lot nicer than the X-Master. They're more expensive though.

http://www.silverstonetek.com/product_case.php?tno=0&case=c_htpc&area=en
Click to expand...
Thanks, I think I'll spend a little more and get one of those Silverstone cases, most likely the Silverstone Tek GD05B.

 
It may be better to see how well the new AMD cards that are coming out this month fare against the price points of the current cards out now.



This. The new AMD cards could eff up the whole world.
 
Why do i have to reinstall a new windows if i upgrade my motherboard!!! why!! Has anyone tried to install an OEM on a new board, and call microsoft to get a new code? I want to get rid of my crap H61 board. It's really holding my rig back.

 
Nekopanchi2012 said:
Why do i have to reinstall a new windows if i upgrade my motherboard!!! why!! Has anyone tried to install an OEM on a new board, and call microsoft to get a new code? I want to get rid of my crap H61 board. It's really holding my rig back.
Click to expand...
I've had to call them in the past for Windows XP and Office licenses and they gave me no hassle when I was transferring licenses. They just asked if I was still using the old computer.

 
Welp, installed my Z77, and all went well. I even punched in my OEM product key and it worked! I'm pretty sure it's, because i had to call Microsoft once before for a new code when my hard drive died. I really like this motherboard. It has 4 sata III ports, 4 USB 3.0 ports (+2 more on the board) and 4 sata II ports!,  UEFI Bios, and 2 PCI-e 3.0 slots. **** Heads up though. 2 of the Sata III ports will not push your SSD to maximum speeds (500/mb/s read/write) Only the two lower INTEL ports will. You will get around 380 on the other two.

CPU- i5 2500k Overclocked
PSU - Seasonic x series 650x Gold
GPU - ASUS GTX 770 Overclocked to 1241MHZ (GPU Boost 2.0)
MB - Asrock Z77 extreme4
RAM - 8GB (crap)
Case -Azza  Spartan

CPU Cooler - CM Hyper 212 EVO
SSD - 256GB Toshiba
HDD - 3TB Hitachi
HDD2 - 1TB Hitachi

Picture2_zps97d02839.jpg


 
Last edited by a moderator:
Nekopanchi2012 said:
Welp, installed my Z77, and all went well. I even punched in my OEM product key and it worked! I'm pretty sure it's, because i had to call Microsoft once before for a new code when my hard drive died. I really like this motherboard. It has 4 sata III ports, 4 USB 3.0 ports (+2 more on the board) and 4 sata II ports!, UEFI Bios, and 2 PCI-e 3.0 slots. **** Heads up though. 2 of the Sata III ports will not push your SSD to maximum speeds (500/mb/s read/write) Only the two lower INTEL ports will. You will get around 380 on the other two.

CPU- i5 2500k Overclocked
PSU - Seasonic x series 650x Gold
GPU - ASUS GTX 770 Overclocked to 1241MHZ (GPU Boost 2.0)
MB - Asrock Z77 extreme4
RAM - 8GB (crap)
Case -Azza Spartan
CPU Cooler - CM Hyper 212 EVO
SSD - 256GB Toshiba
HDD - 3TB Hitachi
HDD2 - 1TB Hitachi
Click to expand...
Have you tried the wake on LAN? I can't get it to work on my asrock z87 extreme4 from the internet. It works on wifi though.

I'll have to check where I plugged in my SSD because I don't think I paid attention to that.
 
If you use windows 8 the hybrid shutdown could be causing WOL to not work correctly. Not sure. For the SSD run a free program called "AS SSD". (you've probably heard of it). It'll show you your speeds.

 
Nekopanchi2012 said:
If you use windows 8 the hybrid shutdown could be causing WOL to not work correctly. Not sure. For the SSD run a free program called "AS SSD". (you've probably heard of it). It'll show you your speeds.
Click to expand...
Cool, thanks! I turned off the hybrid shutdown so I'll see if that helps. I realized my board has 8 SATA III ports. I ran the AS SSD and I'm getting 495 read and 152 write so I guess I'm good.

 
I'm starting to look into assembling some tiny computers. Does anyone have experience working with Mini-ATX form factor motherboards? I'm kind of prepping for SteamOS, and also considering a re-build for my current Linux box. (Ubuntu) So we're talking moderate power at best, I'm not going to need these tiny boxes to scream.

 
Richard Kain said:
I'm starting to look into assembling some tiny computers. Does anyone have experience working with Mini-ATX form factor motherboards? I'm kind of prepping for SteamOS, and also considering a re-build for my current Linux box. (Ubuntu) So we're talking moderate power at best, I'm not going to need these tiny boxes to scream.
Click to expand...
Do you mean mini ITX? I built a microATX, but when I was researching my build I looked at mini-ITX builds and they didn't seem any more difficult to build aside from cable management and making everything fit.

 
encendido5 said:
Do you mean mini ITX? I built a microATX, but when I was researching my build I looked at mini-ITX builds and they didn't seem any more difficult to build aside from cable management and making everything fit.
Click to expand...
Yes, I meant mini ITX. I have two cases that would work with this form factor. I was really looking for recommendations on brands and features.

While I think it would be a good space-saving idea to have the wireless adapter built into the motherboard, this generally increases the cost of the board. I also have a spare wireless adapter that might work fine with a new box. (and USB wireless adapters aren't very expensive these days)

For the GPU, I was thinking of compromising on a 3D card that better optimizes space. I won't ever need SLI for a mini itx box, so a larger card probably isn't necessary.

 
Richard Kain said:
Yes, I meant mini ITX. I have two cases that would work with this form factor. I was really looking for recommendations on brands and features.

While I think it would be a good space-saving idea to have the wireless adapter built into the motherboard, this generally increases the cost of the board. I also have a spare wireless adapter that might work fine with a new box. (and USB wireless adapters aren't very expensive these days)

For the GPU, I was thinking of compromising on a 3D card that better optimizes space. I won't ever need SLI for a mini itx box, so a larger card probably isn't necessary.
Click to expand...
Go with a Asus mini card for the GPU. Like the 760.

I don't own one but these Bitfenix Prodigy's are very well received.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I bought some cheap dust filters, and of course they block nearly all of the air coming from my case fans. :/ Anyone know of some good ones? or materials for filtering? Not really that important just asking.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Anyone know if GPU's (or other components for that matter) tend to go on sale during Black Friday?  Going to be building a new system in the next few weeks and sort of holding off on buying stuff.

 
Mooby said:
Anyone know if GPU's (or other components for that matter) tend to go on sale during Black Friday? Going to be building a new system in the next few weeks and sort of holding off on buying stuff.
Click to expand...
Newegg usually runs something for Black Friday... but I have no idea what it will be.

 
aShufflinZombie said:
Go with a Asus mini card for the GPU. Like the 760.

I don't own one but these Bitfenix Prodigy's are very well received.
Click to expand...
I had actually already picked up a BitFenix Prodigy box as part of an Amazon sale. It's one of the reasons I was looking for a mini-ITX solution in the first place.

I ended up going after some decent Fry's sales, and put together the new Ubuntu box over the weekend. It was a bit more expensive than I had been planning, but I'm quite pleased with the final product.

I went with a Pentium 2120 for the CPU, an MSI motherboard, and an MSI GT 640 Nvidia GPU. (2 GB RAM) Since this wasn't primarily focused on being a gaming rig, I was able to compromise on the GPU and got one that fit in the box a lot better. I also got a Corsair Hydro 80 liquid CPU cooler. It's a bit of a pain to install and set up. But the noise reduction is quite pronounced. My Ubuntu box is the one computer in my house that I tend to just leave running. Cutting down on the power consumption and ambient noise was a major point of upgrading the box. (and going with the mini-ITX configuration)

I also dropped a 1 Terabyte laptop drive in the box. It is also pretty quiet, and plays well with the BitFenix case. The whole thing is very slick, and is running really well. Very pleased so far.

 
aShufflinZombie said:
Damn man, if I had known that you were going for that level of GPU, I would have given you a good price on my old GTX 650.
Click to expand...
It's cool, I got it on sale. It also had to be an NVidia. NVidia generally tends to do better on drivers for Linux than AMD/Radeon. And this was always going to be a Linux box.

The Windows 7 machine that I built earlier in the year and use as my primary gaming rig is sporting dual GTX 660s in SLI mode. That's where I went for a bit more rendering performance. (though I still compromised a bit for the sake of value)

 
So I'm zeroing in on a build dependent on what AMD possibly adds to their bundle for 280x cards.  That said I know almost zero about tech and have been relying on internet advice.  Given an AMD 280x GPU and an Intel 4670 CPU (I have no interest in over clocking) what would be a good (and most 'cost efficient/cheap') Gigabyte brand mother board to compliment those?  $120ish or lower would be ideal.  Thing is since I'm so tech illiterate I'm bringing some guts into a local store to have them flesh it out and assemble it but I want to bring in the main parts so they can't push some overpriced components that I don't need on me.  With the big three taken care I know enough about PSU requirements and quality, storage, etc. so the rest will be easy.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hmmm personally I would grab the 4670k and a $120 z-board with all the future consoles around the the corner I would like a little headroom to do a mild OC, maybe 4.2-4.5 depending in the silicon. Nvidia just lowered the prices on all their cards I've seen a gtx760@$209.99 and amd just released the R series so all their old cards have been on sale recently 7950'[email protected]$200 and 7970's@$250ish. Also depends on what type of monitor, how many monitors and how many frames per second your looking for. All the cards I have listed can beast just about any game 1080p on ultra at 60fps but can't handle 1440p at the same fps.
 
I got a second 770. The gigabyte one is 340 after shipping on Newegg. I just hope it fits in my case :(

EDIT: The Asus 2GB 770 is now $340 as well :(. looks like i may be returning my gigabyte one.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top