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Help With PC Build?
monochrome19
Member UncommonPosts: 723
Hello everyone I'm trying to build a PC and I was hoping someone could help.
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What will you be doing with this PC? Be as specific as possible, and include specific games or programs you will be using.
3D Modeling (Blender), Gaming (WoW, Tera, FFXIV), Source Filmmaker (Animation + Rendering), Photoshop, etc...
What is your maximum budget before rebates/shipping/taxes?
I have a budget of $1,000 but I would like to spend around $500 preferably.
When do you plan on building/buying the PC? Note: beyond a week or two from today means any build you receive will be out of date when you want to buy.
Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
What, exactly, do you need included in the budget? (Tower/OS/monitor/keyboard/mouse/etc)
Tower.
Which country (and state/province) will you be purchasing the parts in? If you're in US, do you have access to a Microcenter location?
United States, Chicago, IL and yes.
If reusing any parts (including monitor(s)/keyboard/mouse/etc), what parts will you be reusing? Brands and models are appreciated.
Dell: monitor, keyboard, mouse, and speakers.
Will you be overclocking? If yes, are you interested in overclocking right away, or down the line? CPU and/or GPU?
No.
Are there any specific features or items you want/need in the build? (ex: SSD, large amount of storage or a RAID setup, CUDA or OpenCL support, etc)
Nothing I can think of. As long as it can use the aforementioned programs without any hiccups that'll be fine.
Do you have any specific case preferences (Size like ITX/microATX/mid-tower/full-tower, styles, colors, window or not, LED lighting, etc), or a particular color theme preference for the components?
No.
Do you need a copy of Windows 7 or 8.1 included in the budget? If you do need one included, do you have a preference for one or the other?
No.
Extra info or particulars:
Source Filmmaker System Requirements:
OS: Windows 7 / Vista (Windows 7 64 bit suggested)
Processor: 3.0 GHz P4, Dual Core 2.0 (or higher) or AMD64X2 (or higher)
Memory: 2GB (4 GB suggested)
Hard Disk Space: At least 15 GB of Space
Video: NVIDIA GeForce 200 series card or better, or AMD Radeon 3000 series or better (NVIDIA GeForce 400 series or AMD Radeon 5000 series preferred)
Audio: DirectX 9.0c compatible
Comments
Your budget is a huge swing - $500 gets you into entry level gaming (Barely), $1000 gets you something pretty nice, and there's a lot of ground to cover in between.
Sure, you'd always like to spend less rather than more, but I think your budget needs to be a bit better defined. If $1,000 is the number you absolutely can't go over, then these guys will suggest builds going up to (and slightly over, as we love to try to convince you that it's worth it) that mark. If you set it at $800, then that's the mark. If you say $1,000 but I'd rather not spend more than $500, expect to get $1,000 builds, not $500 builds.
Also, keep in mind Holiday sales aren't terribly reliable. They can be anything from a severely limited number of items at that price, to making you go in and physically fight for the item for that sale price, to not publishing the sales price until moments just before the sale. The vendors aren't trying to get you to buy the sales items, they are trying to get you into the door so you'll buy the tons of other stuff that isn't so much on sale.
Getting a few good builds from these guys will help - you'll know what components you should be looking for, what prices are good (so you will know a good deal when you see it), but keep in mind that a lot of times these guys are recommending particular models. Power supplies are especially prone to this, but it applies to a lot of other parts as well: not every power supply is built the same, and just because Brand A is XYZ Watts doesn't mean thatn Brand B that's on sale and is alos XYZ Watts would be a good deal (at any price).
I agree with Ridelynn: you need to decide on your budget. You can get something functional for $500 so long as you don't mind turning down graphical settings, or you can get something that will probably do everything you want and do it pretty well for $1000. Or you can get intermediate results at various intermediate price points.
Ultimately, you're the one that needs to decide on that, both because it's your money and because you're the one who has to live with the computer once you have it. What you should get depends on a variety of factors, ranging from how much you'll use it to do things where the extra performance will matter to your current financial situation. (E.g., "a max of $1000 because that's how far I am from maxing out all my credit cards" calls for spending much less than "have no debt and plenty of money in the bank, but would like to keep it that way".)
I would say shoot for around $800 and go from there. Once you see what you can get for $800 spend a little more if it is not powerful enough to suite you.
A $500 PC will be bare bones functional and likely not able to perform at a level you will be satisfied with, unless you have very low expectations.
$800 will get you something that performs well and will likely meet most of your needs.
$1000 will get you something that performs very well, exceeds your needs and will continue to meet them going forward.
Overall you need to decide an amount you want to spend. Most people wont mind listing components for a build, but not several builds when it is undecided what your budget is and will change.
Personally I would suggest going ahead and building something at the high range of your budget. Something that will last years before you have to even consider an upgrade.
wondering why you need a tower case, unless your really going to fill that with disk drives and other hardware it's a waste of space.
these days you can build decent mini and midi systems. save a few bucks there. you mention tower then further down have no pref'.
you say you want to build a pc, might it not be an idea to buy one made to your specs? that way if anything goes wrong it will be under warranty and if things go pear shaped you'll not have to pay to sort it out while it's under the warranty and most of the people who build these things do it for a living so have probably seen most problems before so your kit should work ok
shame your in the states, not sure if you can get a copy of a mag called custom pc there, they have loads of info on kit in there, including a list of hardware to build different levels types of pcs, including budget and gaming machines
i look this wrecked because i've got GIST.
Whats your excuse?
http://deadmanrambling.com/
This is good advice. The difference between a $800 and $1000 PC is mostly just going to be a better video card, and maybe a bigger SSD. The difference between a $500 and $800 PC is much much larger, nearly every component would be different.
Also, with regard to Tower case: Yes, you can build mini and micro builds. They aren't necessarily cheaper, and they are a royal pain in the ass to assemble. I don't think the OP necessarily meant a full-sized tower.
A nice mid-tower is what I recommend most people build unless they have specific needs for something else. They have enough room to make air flow easy, big enough to get your hands in and on various components, and aren't so big that it makes them hard to put on top of a desk or underneath on a shelf. Plus, mid tower is the commodity size, so they tend to have the widest selection and can be found at low prices.
Here is an example of what $800 roughly can get you. You stated you did not need an OS, so one is not included. If you do then add $100.
Case~ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147153 $49
Optical Drive ~ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135305 $15 after using promo code
Motherboard ~ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130637 $80
PSU ~ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139012 $60 after promo code and Mail in rebate. $90 before mail in rebate.
RAM ~ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220836 $73 before mail in rebate, $68 after
CPU ~ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113286 $ 109
SSD ~ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148694 $ 100
GPU~ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121867 $ 220 before Mail in rebate, $200 after. Also comes with 3 free games.
CPU Cooler ~ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065 $30 before rebate, $20 after
Total $783 before rebates and promo codes.
Total $768 after promo codes at checkout.
Total $703 after rebates and promo codes.
Your getting $65 back from mail in rebates. I personally use those and send them in, takes a month or so to get back but it helps keep overall costs down if you can afford to spend it up front.
If you wanted to spend a bit more you could add a bigger SSD, HDD, better GPU, fancier case, more expensive motherboard, ect. Personally I may add an HDD for storage, which would keep you under $800 after its all said and done.
Sales and prices will be changing almost daily over the next 6 weeks. If you know what to look for you can find some deals most likely. Otherwise find a build that is good and buy everything the same day. Trying to wade through black friday / cyber monday for deals which may save you $20 overall is a pain in the ass.
I think in this context it just means the OP needs a case of any kind.
OP: If you haven't purchased yet, pay attention to web retailers over this week and next. If you see an item go on sale in the build you want, now is the time to buy. The build above will give you solid performance for games and the other software you want to run. It doesn't include a mechanical drive. If you need to store terrabytes of data, you need one. If you aren't storing much media, you only need a SSD.
Said you have access to Microcenter.
The processor with tax will almost always be cheaper there than any site.
You can go there and ask them the same questions, and they can lead you to to a close direction at the least.
Do your price gauging that way, then check the cost between the store and online. I almost always find myself able to save money paying tax and buying in store... not to mention there is no shipping delay. Regardless the cost is always very close that I 99.9% of the time will just buy from microcenter.
Microcenter will let you return anything you buy. Obviously, you would like to receive everything fully functional, but it doesn't always happen store bought or shipped. (Also, living in Chicago you are more likely to see weather related delays extending delivery time). As others suggested, starting at a low budget then working your way up will work a lot better at a store that will willingly take back any part if it does not do what you need it to do... makes it much easier to start at a budget and build up from there.
Going on a fairly cheap end and just about clicking the first low-mid end compatible parts that met or exceeded your requirements:
Bundled: $290 (additional rebate available)- Still within your specs you can save $60 going the next bundle below on their website even keeping the same processor you could save $30 with a cheaper motherboard
MSI Z97-Gaming 5 1150ATX Intel Motherboard SKU: 248427 (DDR3 ram)
Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz LGA 1150 Boxed Processo SKU: 302356
___
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 750 Ti Overclocked 2GB PCIe 3.0x16 Video Card: SKU 156729- $155
Micro Center 4GB DDR3-1333 (PC3-10666) CL9 Dual Channel Desktop Memory Kit (Two 2GB Memory Modules) SKU 168237 -$42 (and yes there is still a cheaper option than this)
$487 total... Now you just need to buy a case, power supply, hardrive, and whatever disc drives you need. These are all fairly cheap. Under $100 for PSU and you can get a decent HD for under $100. Case only needs to depend on parts fitting and what you want it to look like.. can be very cheap probably under $50.
This exceeded your processor requirement. Met the preferred ram. Exceeded the preferred video card. So you can still look on the cheaper end as necessary.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/dfhnjX
More of a gaming build but will last another 4-5 years with out any major upgrade outside of a SSD.
I typically upgrade my video card as needed.
But once it becomes time to upgrade the Processor I typically will do a complete rebuild since I end up needing a new motherboard, new ram and obviously processor... I've for the most part bought a new computer (I never go over $400 on videocard because I know over 3-5 years I will upgrade the videocard whenever I feel the machine isn't performing as well as it could). Then I just use my old computer for something else or give to a family member/friend.
Eventually you end up considering a build trash, but you can keep many of the parts for secondary HD or the case to put the next 1 in etc. (Although, I would move my newest parts to the newest case).
You can make a very solid built for about 600 USD.
Check some older threads:
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/423322/Budget-Holiday-PC.html
You can make a very solid built for about 600 USD.
Check some older threads:
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/423322/Budget-Holiday-PC.html
I may not agree with everything Gdemami recommends, but yeah, he's right - it takes about $600 to get in the ballpark of what you are looking it. Going up to around $800 will be a noticeable improvement over that, and then going up to $1,000 would be noticable over that again. You start hitting diminishing returns pretty quickly over about $1,000 US.