26 replies to this topic

[Scumbag]

Got a new job recently which made a lot of sense. I earn pretty much the same but for less hours, so I have some more time on my hands for gaming and such.

 

I was going to wait until Steam Machines came out but I'm the most impatient person in the world so just decided to build my own. I heard the saying with buying a gaming PC - go hard or go home. I went home. A little more on my budget later.

 

So, the specs are pretty poor I guess. Not even sure if it's close to PS4 or not but here it is:

 

Case-                   CiT Knight Midi ATX Gaming Case
CPU-                     AMD FX-6300 Piledriver Black Edition 6 Core 3.5 - 4.1 GHz

Graphics Card-       XFX AMD Radeon 7850 2GB gddr5 DD Edition

RAM-                    Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR3 1600MHz, 4GB

Mother Board-        ASRock 960GM/US3S FX Gaming Mother Board

Power Supply-       CiT 500W Gaming PSU

Hard Drive-             Western Digital Caviar Blue SATA III 6Gb/s 500GB 7200rpm Hard Drive
Optical Drive-          LiteOn IHAS124-04 24x SATA DVD Drive
Operating System-  Windows 7 64bit Pro

 

That cost around £450 but when you add the new 23'' 1080p HDMI Monitor, new desk, gaming mouse, gaming mouse mat, speakers and gaming chair I just bought my budget ended up being £700.

 

Few questions: Will 4GB RAM and lack of DirectX 11.1 in Windows 7 keep up with PS4? Anything I should upgrade immediately?

Edited by Toilet_Snaker, 19 February 2014 - 01:16 PM.

[Big Boss]

I think you're gonna want more ram. 

[Raiden]

I am not all knowing on  PC building. Just use my Asus G75 which even at 2 years old is a beast for a Lappy  but man you need more ram. 6-8 at least.

Edited by Ryudo, 19 February 2014 - 01:19 PM.

[Scumbag]

I think you're gonna want more ram. 

 

Thought so, damn it!

 

I thought even PS4/Xbone ports only require 4GB for the PC vesion. I did buy this mainly for last gen ports though but will buy extra RAM pretty soon, not in a hurry.

Edited by Toilet_Snaker, 19 February 2014 - 01:26 PM.

[Tom]

Unoptimized games like CoD Ghosts usually require 6GB of RAM, even though it only uses about 4.

 

That being said, you might want to throw in 4 more gigs of RAM in the thing and you'll be set.

 

I would also like to suggest to also get an SSD if you have the extra money. It's totally worth it.

Edited by Tom, 19 February 2014 - 01:32 PM.

[tboss]

id upgrade the ram. 

 

once you do that, that rig should be able to keep up with anything the PS4 or X1 kicks out, Plus you get PC exclusives. 

 

AMD GPU would work fine because its more compatable with next gen ports. AMD CPU, will be more compatable, but only worth over a I series if your trying to stay cheap. 

[SailtheSeas]

Upgrade your RAM to 8GB and with that spec you should be able to run a game like Thief on high settings.

Edited by SailtheSeas, 19 February 2014 - 01:52 PM.

[Nollog]

Yeah, 4GB is nowt, I have 6GB and it's pretty low now, entry is usually 8GB and has been for a year or two.

I hear next gen amd cpu's are going to be good.
You should get windows 8, and a second monitor.

[Scumbag]

Another 4GB stick and maybe Windows 8. Got it.

 

Will be happy with one monitor for now since it's my first gaming PC, just getting used to keyboard and mouse will be a challenge in itself!  Recommend any good and cheap games on Steam?

[Merky Water]

All depends on what you're into.  If ya like RTS or TBS games, I know a few.  Most of the rest of it I play on consoles so I'd not be much use at all

[MatrixChicken]

Just like everybody else here is saying, you should probably get another stick of ram.

 

I have a few questions about computer building. :3 My dad and I are gonna build one... I was just wondering... What was the process you used for choosing parts? I guess I'm mostly wondering about the case; is there a list of all the popular computer part manufacturers out there? Also, how did you figure out whether the parts are compatible? Such as if the motherboard will fit in the case? Heh, sorry for asking so many questions. x3

[tboss]

at toiletsnaker

 

i would not recemend windows 8. It is functional, but that OS tends to cause more frustration than innovation, not to mention a larger OS load overhead. also 2 monitors are unnecessary, overall a waste of money unless you have a high end graphics card. 

 

at MatrixChicken.

 

what power range or cost range are you looking at. also is there anything you are using from a old computer such as a keyboard, mouse, or monitor? The case is fairly simple, get one that is big enough to fit whatever your going to put in. 7in in its shortest direction is enough. i would also recemend PC part picker. It will tell you about CPU to mother board compatibility, though its not very helpful beyond that. a simple guidline is that the last number usualy says how many pins the CPU and mother board have. usualy something along the lines of CPU name 1115 or 1110 1050 or something similar. that number should mean the number of pins are on the CPU and make sure it matchs up with the slot number on the mother board. the mother board usualy says whats compatable in the discription, but you should still check the slot name/pin number. 

 

Ram is straight forward, you put it in the slot till it clicks. same with GPU, sound card, and other accessories. intact most part littery just plug into the only slot it is meant to go in. when you get your parts, you will find these brass screws, you screw them into the holes in your case, put your motherboard on top, and use your normal screwed to the screw your motherboard in. they simply raise your motherboard from the case. also your mother board should feature a colorful plug, you will need to read your case manual for that for it controls your case plugin's. they, unlike the rest of the computer, are not streightfoward. 

 

also look at the PCI/PSI slots on the motherboard, that will tell you what sticks fit, also if you get strong enough of the GPU, it will take 2 slots or cover up 1 of the slots. The easist way to see where it would fit is look at the picture on the box and see if the connector looks like it will fit in the slot.

with the power supply, overshoot what you should need by 100-200 watts. you dont want it to operate near max, and if it does, your computer may just quit for no apparent reason. 

 

also plug your computer into a wall, not a power strip. only the wall outlet will provide enough power for it to turn on if you make strong enough of a computer.

[grahamf]

Generally the motherboard is a specific form factor (ATX, MicroATX, and MiniITX are the most common),and you just have to ensure your case supports that motherboard size. When you're considering parts usually the case is completely independent of the internals unless you use a specialized form factor case like a HTPC case. And when you get the parts AMD CPU's are cheaper, but they use a pin connector that can be broken if you're not careful. Most heat sinks, including the stock one come with that thermoconductive gel (forget the name), but if they don't you need very very little.

[Scumbag]

@MatrixChicken

 

It depends where you are from. I'm in UK so used a PC part picking site. When you chose what parts you want the site will check compatibility for you.

 

I decided on AMD CPU and GPU because generally they are cheaper and supposed to give decent perfomance when overclocked. With an AMD PC make sure the motherboard is AM3+, decide on what size case you want and work from there. I wen for a mid size tower so most parts would fit, you can build a really powerful rig even if you went for a mini case but make sure the parts are small form factor. Some graphics cards are smaller for a purpose such as that.

[Dunkeroos]

You can game on a computer wow I never knew that. I thought the only systems you can game on were dem consoles. Btw I got a computer for the first time 2 months ago and internet just last week wow. The internet is like a TV, phone, and game thing combined just wow. This is amazing but how you game on a computer I have windows xp and a dell computer. Can you game on a dell computer and where do you get games?

[Nollog]

at toiletsnaker
 
i would not recemend windows 8. It is functional, but that OS tends to cause more frustration than innovation, not to mention a larger OS load overhead. also 2 monitors are unnecessary, overall a waste of money unless you have a high end graphics card.

Windows 8 ui is the future of windows, better to start getting used to it now than in 2 years, or next year if rumours are true.
Also, it's a great OS, more robust than 7.
Also, it's cheaper than 7.

Also also, a second monitor is a great addition to any gaming PC.
It's for multitasking, if you don't think you need to multitask while gaming though, that's okay.

You can game on a computer wow I never knew that. I thought the only systems you can game on were dem consoles. Btw I got a computer for the first time 2 months ago and internet just last week wow. The internet is like a TV, phone, and game thing combined just wow. This is amazing but how you game on a computer I have windows xp and a dell computer. Can you game on a dell computer and where do you get games?

What?
Go Wii your ogre in the pegasus generator.

Edited by Nollog, 20 February 2014 - 08:04 AM.

[tboss]

@MatrixChicken

 

It depends where you are from. I'm in UK so used a PC part picking site. When you chose what parts you want the site will check compatibility for you.

 

I decided on AMD CPU and GPU because generally they are cheaper and supposed to give decent perfomance when overclocked. With an AMD PC make sure the motherboard is AM3+, decide on what size case you want and work from there. I wen for a mid size tower so most parts would fit, you can build a really powerful rig even if you went for a mini case but make sure the parts are small form factor. Some graphics cards are smaller for a purpose such as that.

 

 

if you used a online website, then you will want to overshoot the power supply the websight says by a decent margen. The sight i used initialy said i needed a 450 watt supply, in reality i needed a 750 when the 600 i had would just randomly crap out when underload.

[Scumbag]

if you used a online website, then you will want to overshoot the power supply the websight says by a decent margen. The sight i used initialy said i needed a 450 watt supply, in reality i needed a 750 when the 600 i had would just randomly crap out when underload.

 

Yeah noticed that too. Think my 500w psu should suffice as I intentionally went for the DD Edition 7850 which uses less power while clocked higher at base compared to the standard 7850.

 

Just finished building my desk and have everything ready (saved some money as my monitor came with HDMI and DVI cables which was nice) and picked up Skyrim today. Just waiting for PC to arrive now

[Plutonas]

windows 8 is problematic... u wont like it , u hate it...

 

stay with win7... Add 4gigs more ram.

 

If I were you, I would choose an r9 280x or 270x over the 7850 gpu.  The reason is mantle support and dx11.2 (for feature games)

 

anyway...have fun

Edited by Plutonas, 20 February 2014 - 03:52 PM.

[Raiden]

Win7 all the way. Win8 is the modern WinME. Not even saying Vista because Win7 is a more polished version of Vista and now Vista and WIn7 are great.

Wait til 9 in 2016 or whatever. Win7 be supported for many years. Only this year they stopped support for XP and like 5 years ago for Win2000. They support older versions for quite some time. 8 is junk.

Edited by Ryudo, 20 February 2014 - 03:51 PM.