Topic: I want to build a PC and run every good and maybe the next gen stuff. Advice?

[Oblivion]

I just need to know what parts that would be good for what price, and I want to future-proof this enough so I wouldn't need to mess with it for like the next four years.


I also have no idea what to do to build one. I'm half-tempted to pay somebody to do it for me.

[BranDonk Kong]

No such thing as future proof with a gaming PC.

[Oblivion]

Damn. Alright, then what about being able to run everything that has been released and everything coming out this year, not including the next gen? I'll be using my 60hz television to display it so I won't need anything that goes above that.

[Ceric]

MMO-Champion does a set of computer builds per month.  Not a bad set of kit.  Though I would say SSD isn't really optional.  Here's the Link.

[Louieturkey]

Well, an SSD is essential.  A motherboard that you can do Crossfire or SLI on is also essential for future proofing.  I'd maybe wait and see the reviews on the new Haswell Intel chips since they are coming out fairly soon.  Get an unlocked i5 (or i7 if you want to spend the money) along with the board.

The only way to future proof is to make it so you can add on later without having to replace huge amounts of the build to do it.  There are some better forums for something like this such as Toms Hardware.  You'll get many different opinions and people will even link to the products they are suggesting.  There are other places as well, but I can't think of them right now.  You can also see what others have done and see if you can build around what they did.

[Oblivion]

Why are SSD's essential? They just speed up boot and load times, right? I'm not really interested in my SSD failing after a certain amount of writes.

[magicpixie]

Why are SSD's essential? They just speed up boot and load times, right? I'm not really interested in my SSD failing after a certain amount of writes.

I skipped out on SSD.  Occasionally, I feel the urge to change, but it really hasn't bothered me.  I keep a lot of games loaded at all times on multiple HDs, and load times are still reasonable to me.  Maybe I'm still used to WiiU load times, but a few extra seconds/minutes isn't going to make/break my experience.

Output to a TV is nice, because it limits your resolution options so you don't have to go spec crazy.

I built my system recently and it's played everything on my TV at high settings with nary a hitch.

i5 2500 CPU
GTX560Ti Video Card
8 GB RAM
etc...

I don't foresee having a huge issue with "next-gen" games, but my motherboard can handle some upgrades.  You can build a decent rig for under $1k, but you can easily spend well over that.

Building a computer these days is fairly easy.  It's almost like paint-by-numbers.  There are a few things to keep in mind regarding static electric discharge and such, but once you know what you're doing, you can't really mess it up.  The only thing the pros do better is keeping everything nice and neat inside your tower.  If you know someone that can do it, I would suggest enlisting them to show you how to do it so you can upgrade components/build another one later.

Don't cheap out on your power supply.  Make sure you get as big and obnoxious a tower as you can find; something that flashes blue, red, and green lights would be best.

Ultimately, questions like this are very hard to answer without knowing more about exactly what it is you're looking for.

[Ceric]

Why are SSD's essential? They just speed up boot and load times, right? I'm not really interested in my SSD failing after a certain amount of writes.

SSD writes are now to the point that its like Burn-In on a Modern Plasma.  You can do it if you try but even heavy users would have to try.

Your harddrive is the slowest part of you machine that is essential.  SSD speeds up a lot of things.  But yeah load and boot times are the main thing but its a night and day difference.

[Louieturkey]

Your harddrive is the slowest part of you machine that is essential.  SSD speeds up a lot of things.  But yeah load and boot times are the main thing but its a night and day difference.

This. It's the difference between waiting for 2 minutes for a game to load and less than 10 seconds.  Not huge, but not bad at all.  I guess essential was not the right word.  Highly convenient and worth the money are probably better terms.

[Oblivion]

Why are SSD's essential? They just speed up boot and load times, right? I'm not really interested in my SSD failing after a certain amount of writes.

Ultimately, questions like this are very hard to answer without knowing more about exactly what it is you're looking for.

WHat exactly do you need to know?


@Ceric and Louie: Alright. I might have both, just in case? Is that a good compromise?

[Ceric]

If you have an SSD you'll still want a regular harddrive simply for the raw space.

[ymeegod]

A few things we would have to know:

1.)  What resolution do you plan on playing on?  720P/1080 or higher.  If you're stuck on a lower resolution then you wouldn't exactly need a top of the end graphics card.

2.)  What's your budget going be?  Do you have any parts from your current rig that can be reused (keyboard, mouse, power supply, ect).

3.)  Are you planning on overclocking?  Heat a big issue with any PC so you have to plan ahead on what to buy.

I would suggest going to Anandtech forums and looking at some of their recommended builds (they have them for every budget).

[Oblivion]

1. 1080p on my HDTV.
2. I don't have a previous rig. I have a laptop I use for school, browsing the web, and running some older games on lower settings. I'd say my budget will be trying to keep it under 1000.
3. I doubt it. I don't see the point with the risks involved. I want to keep things simple.

[magicpixie]

For $1000, you should have no problem building something that will play games for the foreseeable future.  At that cost, you're probably already ahead of the "next-gen" console specs, even if you were to build today.  Do you have any restrictions on size?  Some people don't want a big, bulky tower sitting around their home entertainment center.  That could change the components/scope of your build a bit.

I would say to prioritize RAM and GPU.  Try to spend around $300 on a video card, I'd say.  Unless you go with Linux, you'll need to set aside some money for an OS(go OEM).  For gaming, if you're going the Intel route, an i5 chip will work fine.  Most games aren't set up to take full advantage of hyperthreading, so the i7 would not be worth the extra cost.  RAM can be found fairly cheap, and is going on sale all the time at various vendors; 4 GB is the absolute minimum for "future-proofing" I think.

After that, you'll need a hard drive, tower, PSU and mobo.  Maybe an optical drive, up to you, but they can be had for cheap too.  I don't even know if they make conventional HDs with less than 500 GB these days, which is... a start.

That will probably get you right in at around $1k, depending on how you do your shopping.  I spent about that much on my rig 6 months ago, and it won't have any issues playing games on my tv for a while.

[Louieturkey]

Yes, if you get an SSD, you need an HDD for the extra space, unless you like constantly deleting things.  The SSD would be used as the boot drive and the drive you put all your most essential programs (OS, games, music players, Photoshop, etc).  The HDD would be used as a storage device.  It's where you would put all your music and videos and things that would not benefit from faster read/write speeds.

My suggestion is to review deal sites like slickdeals.net that people are constantly informing others of good deals (not just pc components).  On there, you can find good deals on power supplies, CPUs, GPUs, SSDs, HDDs, and everything inbetween.  Then pick them up as you find them.  If you want it all at once, I'd go to anandtech or tomshardware forums and check builds there as they are usually based on current prices.  A thousand can get you a lot.  Toms Hardware System Builders Marathons always have pretty good builds and they mention the prices and reasons for going with the builds they pick.

[Louieturkey]

Most games aren't set up to take full advantage of hyperthreading, so the i7 would not be worth the extra cost. 

Remember that the PS4 has an 8 core chip and rumors are the 720 will be the same.  My guess is this new generation will have a lot more games that are threaded much better just because of these two systems.

With that said, I'd say an i5 is good enough right now.  If you really feel the need for an i7, you can grab one down the road for much cheaper when you actually will need it.

[Oblivion]

For $1000, you should have no problem building something that will play games for the foreseeable future.  At that cost, you're probably already ahead of the "next-gen" console specs, even if you were to build today.  Do you have any restrictions on size?  Some people don't want a big, bulky tower sitting around their home entertainment center.  That could change the components/scope of your build a bit.

I would say to prioritize RAM and GPU.  Try to spend around $300 on a video card, I'd say.  Unless you go with Linux, you'll need to set aside some money for an OS(go OEM).  For gaming, if you're going the Intel route, an i5 chip will work fine.  Most games aren't set up to take full advantage of hyperthreading, so the i7 would not be worth the extra cost.  RAM can be found fairly cheap, and is going on sale all the time at various vendors; 4 GB is the absolute minimum for "future-proofing" I think.

After that, you'll need a hard drive, tower, PSU and mobo.  Maybe an optical drive, up to you, but they can be had for cheap too.  I don't even know if they make conventional HDs with less than 500 GB these days, which is... a start.

That will probably get you right in at around $1k, depending on how you do your shopping.  I spent about that much on my rig 6 months ago, and it won't have any issues playing games on my tv for a while.

I don't understand those terms. And I really don't have a restriction on size, I couldn't care less how big the tower is.

[ShyGuy]

Original Equipment manufacturer. A copy of Windows licensed to sell with a new PC, versus an upgrade version.

Hyperthreading is Intel's technology for running multiple tasks on a single CPU core.

PSU is Power Supply Unit. Get a good quality one.

Mobo is motherboard.

[Oblivion]

Ah, okay. Thanks.

[ShyGuy]

I'm an AMD fan myself, but Intel CPUs are ahead of the game at the moment. I prefer Nvidia over AMD video cards, but mainly because of Linux performance.

Mini-Itx form factor is a good way to go if you want something small to go in the entertainment center. If you're going to rock a full size ATX board, the smallest case I found is a CoolerMaster 361, which I use.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119258

[Oblivion]

Only two USB 2.0? Isn't that a little old?
benefit of Nvidia over AMD video cards?
Is there any other

[ShyGuy]

well. your modern motherboard will probably have like six usb in the back, two of them USB 3.0...

AMD video cards are usually cheaper, but some people say that Nvidia drivers are better for Windows games.

[ymeegod]

You really can't go wrong with neither an AMD 7870 or an Nvidia 660 Ti cards--both around $200 and can ran at full 1080P with high settings with every game out there.  Both cards are around the $200-225 range.

Just about everyone recommends the I5 (quadcore) series for CPU ($150-200 depending on model). 

I would go with 8GB 1600 DDR ram though, you can get them cheap $50-60. 

For PSU get a brand name (generic ones seem to die or not carry the correct voltage).  You can get a good Brand name PSU for about $50 to $60 for 600 watt models.

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A big part of me says to wait for the first UE4 game to release prior to building an gaming PC.  Usually when a new engine is released a flood of new graphics cards come to the market and you usually can score a better deal that way and also future proof your system since engines tend to last a few years at least.

Also why the sudden need for a gaming PC?  The PS4 is an x86 system which means just about everything that's going be released on the PC will likely coming to the PS4.  Might as well get an PS4 and save yourself $500 for more games . 


 

[Oblivion]

Also why the sudden need for a gaming PC?  The PS4 is an x86 system which means just about everything that's going be released on the PC will likely coming to the PS4.  Might as well get an PS4 and save yourself $500 for more games .

I want to run PC games I can't get anywhere else, and I want to get better graphical fidelity.

[pokepal148]

steam interests me far more then the ps4 and microsoft has long lost me