Building a (gaming) PC

[SpursRiot2012]

Just as a hobby, but also because I'd like one, I'm going to build a PC. A gaming PC. I have never, ever done anything of this nature before and, given my budgetary constraints, I'm going to be buying a component a month, max, until I can put the whole thing together.

 

My actual total budget is probably going to be between £500-£700 once I'm all in. From my research, that's a pretty good budget for a mid-level PC that's going to play new games at a decent rate, right?

 

So, has anyone done this sort of thing before? Particularly interested in hearing from people who, like me, did it without any sort of prior experience in that sort of thing.

 

[Merzbow]

buying a component a month, max, until I can put the whole thing together.

 

Maybe not such a good idea, by the time you've bought everything the earlier parts will probably be a bunch cheaper.

[SpursRiot2012]

That isn't including a monitor. That's something I'll have to consider. Is it out of the question to just run it through my HDTV?

 

Thanks for the link.

 

Also, do you have any suggestions for good places to buy components or are they going to be similarly priced everywhere? 

[SpursRiot2012]

My TV is pretty good, so shouldn't have any worries there.

 

Yeah, it's a project. Something to do. Something I'd considered doing for years. 

 

Another thing i wanted to ask. Whilst it would be primarily a gaming PC, I'd like it to be able to run video and image editing software well, as well. Is that pretty much going to be covered by the features I'm looking for in a mid-level gaming PC anyway?

[SpursRiot2012]

Nah, nothing like that. Just want to be able to run InDemand and stuff.

 

Ok, I need to start making a list...

[Lawz]

I did this about a year ago now. Although my budget was about £2000 which is alot larger it can still be done for your price range. What helped me alot was PC Part Picker which allows you to select the compatible products together and gives you the best prices. I'd reccommend checking it out. You'll also be able to see other peoples builds and pick and choose from the best.

 

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/

[TUFCfan]

I just built my first ever PC last week which didn't cost too much more (though ultimately will end up around £1000), so happy to give a couple tips from my research, though johnnyboy and Lawz have given some good advice. I think you'd definitely be looking at the higher end of your budget if you want something decent though. I mostly used Amazon, with a couple items from Scan, as I have Amazon Prime so worked out cheaper overall with the free postage. Ebuyer are good, and though I've not used them Overclockers seem to have a decent rep as well. Also remember to factor the cost of Windows in to your budget if you're using it/haven't got your own copy already as you likely won't be able to use any versions that came with a pre-bought PC as are often OEM and tied to the system.

 

Processor-wise, for a decent gaming PC it's really a toss up between an i5 4690k or an i7 4790k at the moment. Both should give you longevity and good gaming performance. I chose the i5 4690k, which is the go to processor for gaming it seems, as the i7 is about £100 more and doesn't offer a huge advantage in games as most don't use the hyperthreading. If you're doing some serious video editing then you may wish to splurge on the i7 as that's where the hyperthreading will really come in handy, but if just using it generally the i5 should suffice. If you're not overclocking, the stock cooler that comes with the processor will be fine. For a cheaper AMD option an FX8350 would do a decent job.

 

For a motherboard, you'll need an LGA 1150 socket motherboard if you use one of the two Intel processors I mentioned, which'll generally be called something like a Z97 or H97 (the Z97 is better if looking for future upgrading due to SLI/Crossfire support). MSI, Asus and Gigabyte as known as the better motherboard brands to buy. I bought an MSI Z97 Gaming 5 which is very good, but the Z97 Gaming 3 would also be a very good choice in your budget range as has similar features but cheaper.

 

For RAM you'll want to have 8gb for gaming (make sure to get a pair of 4gb modules), There's no benefit to having more than that and it's relatively cheap enough to buy 8gbs and it'll futureproof you for a bit. If you are doing heavy video editing then you will likely need double that, but for general use 8gb should be fine for that and excellent for gaming. You don't need really fast ram unless you want to squeeze every last extra FPS, so 1600mhz ram should be fine, with a CL of 9 (or lower) should also be good. I bought some Crucial Ballistix Sports but there are some good options for similar price range which often come up on deal sites like the hyper X fury ram.

 

The graphics card will depend on your budget. At the moment, the standard card to aim for is the Geforce GTX 970, which'll run pretty much anything at 1080p on the highest settings and likely will for a while. It isn't that cheap though (about £270), so a cheaper option would be a the GTX 960, which for £100 less will still be a good 1080p card for a while, though not as futureproof as the 970. Importantly the 900 series is supposed to be fully compatible with Direct X 12 (which older cards aren't fully supported) when it comes out as well. The CUDA cores on the GTXs will be useful for any photo/video editing. The AMD equivalent is the R9 290x which is similar-ish to the 970 though does use more power. Couldn't afford a 970 yet so still using my old 750ti which is a decent cheaper stopgap before upgrading as can play most things I'm playing on at least high on 1080p.

 

For a power supply, for a similar build to what I've suggested you'd need a 500-550w power supply. Best to go for anything rated 80+, gold preferably but there are some good cheaper bronzes as well. Basically go for anything made by Seasonic, either with the Seasonic brand or made by them for others (such as the Coolermaster V series or some XFX power supplies). Failing that look for ones with Japanese capacitors as these should last a lot longer as some other (often cheaper) power supplies will use lower quality capicitors that will likely fail a lot quicker. A semi or fully modular one is advised as it reduces the clutter in your case (and can improve air flow). I bought a Seasonic G Series 550w one, which seems good so far and seemed to be highly recommended.

 

You should have your OS on an SSD, if you haven't had that before it makes a huge difference. Intel or Crucial SSDs are often best. If it fits in your budget get a 120-128gb or 250-256gb one (the Crucial BX100 range are good) as you can fit a game or two on there if they'll benefit from being on an SSD. For a gaming build a 7200rpm mechanical hard drive is the cheaper option for the bulk your main game storage (and better than a standard 5400rpm drive). WD Blacks are good and reliable, though can be slightler dearer.

 

Before you do it, look on youtube as there are plenty of videos with PC building guides which were all very helpful when it came time to build one for real (look for users like linustechtips who often do PC builds of various degrees of difficulty on their channel).

 

A TV will be fine, though be aware the input lag will be much higher on most TVs than a monitor.

[SpursRiot2012]

Graphics card, CPU and motherboard wise, I was thinking along the lines you've mentioned there TUFC.

 

What about cases? I suppose it's the least important component, but any suggestions?

[TUFCfan]

Cases are more of a personal preference I guess. Coolermaster and Fractal Design seem to be well thought of along with the likes of NZXT.

 

Given all the options out there, what I found really useful was going to PC Specialist's website and using their configure a desktop option to look at the range of case options they have for their PCs. If you have a browse at them it'll give you a good indicator of what type and model of case you'd want (look, features, price range, etc).

[Lawz]

Regarding cases I went with Corsair as the cable management is awesome for someone like myself who is very untidy. Everything is tucked around the back of the case through specially created holes and your main area is left quite spacious. 

Here's a picture to illustrate my point, I suspect alot of cases might have this though.

[Chest Rockwell]

I wish there was somewhere that took bets on all the things Jobber has said he was going to do but hasn't. You'd get terrible odds, mind.

[SpursRiot2012]

Before I even clicked on the thread I knew that that was what you'd have said Chest.

[Undefeated Steak]

Stupid question I know but what's so good about a gaming PC? I know they must be good because people rave about them. I've never seen one though. Why would you spend £1,000 on one instead of a few hundred on a PS4? I don't mean that in a smarky way, I'm genuinely curious.

[Rey_Piste]

If you're a graphics whore then a PC will be of higher graphical fidelity for the most part. The other thing is that there are a ton of indie games which won't come out for consoles.

[Chest Rockwell]

I'm not a PC game myself these days, but I still maintain that PCs are definitely still the best way to play FPS games. The mouse is just so much more responsive than a controller can be when it comes to aiming, and having a whole keyboard for hotkeys and shortcuts just can't be matched.