Help would be appreciated.

Noobcakes

Noobcakes

CAG Veteran
Hi all.

As obvious as it may seem, I'm a cheap ass, who enjoys gaming. But I'll get straight to the point.
I'm trying to build a gaming PC from scratch. I have no experience, but according to everyone i've asked, building it myself is the way to go. I'm definitely on a budget, meaning I want to keep it as cheap as possible. I don't really plan on running anything wicked, like Crysis, I just want to be able to run my World of Warcraft at maximum settings, and maybe the occasional fps, too.

Like I said, I have no experience. I don't know which companies are any good, except for the common sense ones, such as nvidia and the such. I know I probably have no place building a PC myself, but I figured I might as well take a try at it anyways.

Any help would be appreciated, thanks.
 
Asus is usually a good company to go with. Corsair for RAM. Western Digital for HDDs. Really depends on what you want to spend though. Nvidia and AMD are what I'm running right now for graphics/processor.
 
Well, I am no expert on pc building, but there are a handful of things that you will need. These are: Motherboard, Video Card (assuming this pc is for gaming), CPU, Case, Power Supply, Hard Drive(s), RAM, amongst other things.

Here is a link to a basic walkthrough of someone putting together his pc:
http://www.corsair.com/systembuild/report.aspx?report_id=12472

Hopefully that will at least give you a basic idea of what putting together a pc is like.
 
thegamer4787, is the PC you're building a gaming PC? And if so, do you plan on sticking with the motherboard you first mentioned?
 
Take a look at the previous builder threads in here. I think the majority of them (including mine) are under the 1K budget, with them having Crysis-ready specs. So WoW should be no problem.

My old thread: http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=168028 The parts in there should be even cheaper now (especially the 8800GT). I never ran WoW on it, but it runs Tablua Rasa and Crysis pretty-damned good.

Once you've picked out the parts, make sure to keep us updated so we can offer some recommendations.
 
Was going to say something about the PSU, but you said you might sell it anyway (not sure how much you would get for it). Though I'm not too fond of that side intake (mostly due to the noise factor).

How much are you planning to spend on another PSU? For certain you won't want the one that comes with that case if you're building a rig in the $750 - $1000 range, or anything above that.
 
I haven't done much looking in the PSU area yet, do you have any suggestions? When it comes to price, I'm willing to spend what needs to be spent so I don't find myself crying over a blown power supply. I still want to keep it within reason though.

Here's what I've decided on so far;

Chassis -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811156098
-or-
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811208008

Hard Drive -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148262

Memory -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231098


Can you tell I'm trying to keep it cheap?
Like I said, I'm a noob when it comes to building PCs and any constructive critisism/advice/recommendations are welcome, and needed!


And just for the record, due to how new I am, I'm not even going to try any overclocking, this time around.
 
I built a system a year ago and used the same hard drive. It's solid. I also went with Gskill ram which has not disappointed. However XION screwed me on a $50 rebate for a psu, so don't count on it if you happen to pick up their case.
 
GA-P35-whatever

Q6600

2gb XMS Corsair

520 Corsair PSU

Cooler Master 5 Case

1 Extra fan to put in it

HD size of choice

Optical Drive of Choice

GeForce 8800 GTS 512 MB

Congrats a gaming PC for under 1000$

270$ Video Card
114$ PSU
50$ Case
250$ CPU
50$ Memory
70$ HDD
150$ Mobo
30$ CD/DVD
10$ Fan
---
994$
 
Okay, I've picked most of what I need so far, except for the motherboard... I think. Let me know If i'm missing anything, or if you have any recommendations for replacing what's on the list. I'm open to change. Also, please, please let me know if any of these are horribly outdated, as I would be the last person to know. :whistle2:#


Chassis -
Haven't decided on a case yet. Any suggestions?

HDD -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148262

MEMORY -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231098

PSU -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139004


VIDEO CARD(using 2 for SLI) -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130332

OPTICAL DRIVE -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135159

MOUSE -
http://www.razerzone.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=72

KEYBOARD -
http://www.razerzone.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2_21&products_id=76

MONITOR -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236028

PROCESSOR -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103771


That's everything, so far. Again, all advice, suggestions, and opinions are welcome and NEEDED!
 
[quote name='Noobcakes']thegamer4787, is the PC you're building a gaming PC? And if so, do you plan on sticking with the motherboard you first mentioned?[/QUOTE]

Yeah, I'm trying to build a gaming pc. It's not going to be the greatest gaming machine in the world, but it should turn out well. I'm sticking with the motherboard that I mentioned as I don't plan on running 2 GPUs in SLI or anything like that.

If you're interested in a burner, this is the one that I just picked up for my build:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151154
Edit: Above link should be fixed.
 
Now that I think about it Redline, I could use a burner. Can you make any suggestions?

(The link you provided sends me to an error page on NewEgg, thegamer4787. Sorry. :/)
 
[quote name='Noobcakes']Now that I think about it Redline, I could use a burner. Can you make any suggestions?

(The link you provided sends me to an error page on NewEgg, thegamer4787. Sorry. :/)[/QUOTE]

Sorry about that, the link should be fixed (it works for me now).
 
i built a pc the other day. it was made from a bunch of dumb parts because i didn't know AMD was getting destroyed on the processor end nowadays. =) go with intel. it runs cooler, uses less power, and is just as cheap.

my first pc that i built... it's kinda terrible because it runs LOUD because i decided to get those fancy pants blue LED light fans. because of that i got an Antec P182 to keep it nice and quiet (and it was on sale!). i can't tell if it's on. it's so quiet, i got inspired to buy fans for my old computer. also to consider on a case are the input ports in front like usb, firewire, headphones. but whatever you do, don't get it JUST for the cool design!

my first pc also had screwless design. it sounded cool, but the rails were really screwy and hard to work with sometimes. there's a reason screws are still around from whenever they were invented =)

power supplies are beastly. they often come with a billion cables and you only need 2, so make sure you have some sort of cable management system on hand. like cable ties, sleeves, etc.

i'd also just get an 8800GT instead of dual SLI the GS. you can get GTs for super cheap now if you wait on slickdeals or something.

i'd also change the title of your thread. it's not very descriptive.
 
Thanks kainzero, I really appreciate all the advice. And no offense to you, but... Can anyone else back him up with getting one 8800GT instead of using dual SLI as I'd mentioned earlier, and about using Intel instead of AMD? It's not that I don't trust you kain, I just have to be sure that I'm doing the right thing. Hope you understand.





And kain, I looked at my case selection, and you're right, alot of my decision was based on looks. What do you think about this one?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021&Tpk=Antec%2bNine%2bHundred%2bBlack%2bSteel%2bATX%2bMid%2bTower
(Credit to thegamer4787 for finding it, I just stole it from his thread xD)

Or this one, I've heard a lot of good things about Cooler Master.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119068
 
I'd agree with spending a bit more time on the case decision. I went with a Sunbeam Transformer because it looks awesome. It is louder than my Carrier heating air unit. A year later I have gotten so used to the noise that when I shut my computer down the house gets too quiet and it freaks me out.
 
Yeah, I'm actually looking at cases right now. But every damn time I find a good one, it's ruined with a few customer reviews, claiming that either the power button sticks, or the screw-less mounts fall off. Can you suggest anything better, kokroach? or anybody?
 
Customer reviews are nice and all but you have to remember that someone will always find something to bitch about. The case is the most personal decision you make. Beyond making sure that its large enough to fit your motherboard and processor fan choice, everything else is personal preference to fit your situation. ie Do you need it to run quiet? Does it have to light up five different colors? Or will that give you epileptic fits. etc. I say find ones that fit your budget and that are large enough and then just pick the one you think looks the coolest. Cuz after all, you could tie your shit onto the insides of it if the mounts don't hold with all the extra unneeded wires you'll be getting with your mobo and video card. But if its ugly you'll have to look at the turd every day.
 
[quote name='Noobcakes']Yeah, I'm actually looking at cases right now. But every damn time I find a good one, it's ruined with a few customer reviews, claiming that either the power button sticks, or the screw-less mounts fall off. Can you suggest anything better, kokroach? or anybody?[/quote]
start with what you want in a case. do you want something quiet? how about installation? front-side ports, ease of installation? airflow machine?

most of what i listed was personal preference. mega quiet, screw design, usb / headphone jack in the front, the ability to route cables through the backside of the motherboard for a cleaner design. p182 worked really well for me. make sure if you get a huge powersupply, your case can actually fit it in there =) and k0kroach actually likes the noise level. my new computer, when it goes into powersaving mode, freaks me out because i can't tell if it's on. that's what i prefer.

you don't have to take my word for AMD vs. Intel. read tomshardware.com... their quadcores are getting destroyed by intel's lower priced ones. read any pc enthusiast forum, the majority of builds all use intel chips. i was confused too, i thought AMD was the cheaper of the two and just as good like it was a couple of years ago, but core 2 duo just destroys AMD.
 
I personally went with an Intel cpu in my latest build, for the record. I ended up picking up a Q6600 for $199.99 at MicroCenter. Also, I picked up the Antec 900 ATX case just the other day from newegg after reading a lot of great reviews for the product.

I completely understand where you're coming from with respect to the customer reviews Noobcakes. Throughout the course of buying parts for my new pc I would consistently find things that looked promising, only to find 5 minutes later that customers would complain about a plethora of things pertaining to the product. k0kRoach pretty much summarized the situation when he said that someone will always find something to bitch about. My one recommendation is that when reading reviews (especially customer reviews), don't just look at the ratings for the product. After seeing that a power supply that I was interested in received a handful of 1 egg reviews on newegg, I decided to look into the poor scores. It turned out that a lot of the poor reviews came from people who were trying to use the psu with incompatible MSI boards, and many others complained about the 24 (20 + 4) pin connector that comes with the psu. Now, don't get me wrong, these seem to be valid complaints, but I'm not using an MSI board, and I'm not sure that one cable issue warrants a 1/5 review score.

Finally, I agree that a lot of Intel's core 2 duo chips are fantastic. You can do some comparisons across different benchmarks here:
http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu_2007.html
 
Can anyone tell me the difference between DVI-I and DVI-D when it comes to monitors and video cards, if there is a difference?
 
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