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First Time Building PC
RainbowDoll59
Member UncommonPosts: 11
in Hardware
I really want to build my own PC so that I have something to distract my mind from the loneliness I constantly feel and increase my low self esteem. Beside I think it would be fun to do. My plan is to make a pretty high end computer since I am a graphic design student. The only problem is I've never build a PC before so I'm kind of nervous. I'm starting out buy researching computer parts and reading up on how to build a PC on wiki how? I really hate to ask for help but does anyone have any tips on building a computer that might help me.
Comments
Decide on Intel or AMD for your CPU, then pick a mainboard that supports that chip socket. This is easy to see when you look at either parts on a website, or just ask the salesperson if you're shopping in a store. Each CPU will be a certain socket type so just pick a MB that has that socket, easy peasy. Pick RAM that fits your mainboard. Again ask the clerk or read the MB specs, it will tell you what RAM it takes. If you're not sure and your shopping online, phone them. They can give you a combination of CPU, MB and RAM that will work together.
If you do GD you probably want a dedicated graphics card rather than onboard graphics so you'll want a decent power supply in your case, say 500W plus. Cpu's and Gpu's tend to pair up, AMD with, oddly enough AMD. Or you can go Intel and Nvidia.
The rest is just generic stuff, hard drives, DVD drive etc. It's a few screws a SATA cable and a power cable. And they only go on one way, you can't do it wrong.
Make sure you get Thermal Paste! It's probably the most common mistake first timers make. It goes on the CPU before you stick the heatsink on. Very important.
And short yourself out to get rid of any static. Just grabbing the case usually does it if you don't have an anti static wrist strap.
And read something like Building PC's for Dummies. I know it sounds insulting but the whole "Dummies" series of books are really great at explaining things in simple terms. I've read a couple of them and they're great. I learned how to build websites from a Dummies book.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Building-For-Dummies-Mark-Chambers/dp/0764507826 I'm sure there's a version on Amazon.com if you're across the pond.
Apart from that just grab a screwdriver, take a few deep breaths and stay calm. It really isn't that hard. If you're clever enough to use Graphic Design software then trust me, you can build a PC.
Wherever you buy your stuff at - make sure it has a good return policy. It's not common, but parts do ship DOA. It seems every couple or three builds I end up with one component or another that's defective out of the box, and an easy return policy is a lot faster and easier to use than trying to rely on warranty service. Don't tell anyone, but sometimes even if it is my fault, I'll return it as DOA if it's inside the return policy window.
I like to buy all my stuff at one or two places rather than picking the absolute lowest price for each component across all dozen or so parts that a build may contain. That way is usually ships all around the same time, and I have one or two invoices on my credit card for the build. Not a necessity, and I may pay a few dollars more than I could have, but I find it convenient. And I've not had my identity stolen by a shady retailer that happened to have an SSD drive priced $1 less than Amazon (yet).
Make sure you have a nice, clean, well lit, open area to work on your build. There are a lot of little screws that get dropped, a lot of somewhat awkward components to lay out (non-modular power supplies with those bulky cable bundles come to mind), and on your first build it won't be uncommon to find out you have to take it all back apart and reassemble it two or three times because you forgot a heat sink adapter or figured out a better way to route the cables or something.
Your nice, clean, well lit and open area should not be on a carpet if you can help it. I don't usually use anti-static bands or anything, but if I had to be working on this stuff while shuffling around on a carpet, I probably would.
Heat sink compound - as little as you can possibly use to cover the area you need to cover. Like butter on toast, not peanut butter on PB&J.
Don't be afraid to post questions if you run into issues on the build. Pictures help there. Be patient, don't get in a rush to turn it on, and be willing to take stuff back apart a few times if needed.
RAM DIMMS - you need to push them harder than you think you would. A lot of times I feel like I'm going to break them. They are keyed to only fit one way (little slot/groove in the pins) - make sure you have the key lined up correctly, and you need to push them all the way until the DIMM socket locks it into place. Sometimes this applies to PCI cards as well.
It's your money - you buy what you want. A lot of people have a lot of opinions, and nearly all of them mean well with their advice, and most all of their builds will result in a pretty good computer. Some are just more passionate than others about particular items. It's your dime, you get what you want to get.
Your first build - get a big case. At least a mid-tower, if not a full tower. You want all the room you can get to work. Smaller builds look pretty, but it gets much more difficult the smaller you try to make your build.
A first time build - I would plan on 4-5 hours just getting the hardware together (and that may not all be on the same day), and another 4-5 hours getting Windows installed and all the drivers updated. It's not hard, just a lot of asking questions, figuring things out for the first time, and taking your time to do a good job. Once you get the hang of it, that goes down to under an hour for each. Not trying to scare you off with the estimate, just I think that's a realistic number.
When you do first turn it on - listen to the motherboard. Most of them have a speaker on them someplace and they will beep when you turn it on (not the speakers that plug into the sound card). That beep is a code. If the monitor doesn't turn on the first time, or it does other weird stuff when you first turn it on - the beep code can help figure out what's wrong - particularly if you don't happen to have a lot of spare parts you can just swap in and out to find the troublesome part. Some of the more fancy motherboards have an LED readout that prints out the code, or a diagnostic daughtercard that can be plugged in.
If you're just dealing with 2D pictures, then monitor(s), drawing tablet and mouse are probably most important parts of the computer for you. Also get SSD hard disk for any computer used to work/studies to speed up loading times, and have a lot of RAM on the computer.
If you're dealing with 3D models or animations then you'll need to pay a lot attention to performance.
Depending on how valuable you think your work and data are, you might also want to have two hard disks in RAID 1 to have two copies of all your data. Plan how you're going to back up your work before building the computer.
Basic's that you should know before you purchase (with as little Bias as i can manage)
1.-Intel over AMD on the CPU its as simple as that AMD has not released a competitive high end CPU in a while now so stick with the trusted intel.
2.-This is a bigger one at the moment and it all depends on what you really plan on doing with the system, DO YOU NEED DDR4 RAM (dont want this bit missed) - DDR4 over DDR3 isnt going to make much of a difference on standard things photoshop most design programs, games etc unless your doing alot of heavy rendering or number crunching (the higher the RAM speed the bigger the latency)
3,-The reason for the above question was that if you decide to go DDR4 you have to purchase an X99 chipset or z170 chipset both are expensive now on the z170 front i would steer clear, Skylake which is the z170 intel CPU is only 5% quicker then the old z97 haswell i7 and the price difference in a full build is about £250-300. If you do decide to go for a DDR4 build x99 is a valid choice and the i7 5830k is a good chip without being a silly price. If you decide you don't need DDR4 go for a i7 4790k (previous gen) but it is still more then enough for everything out at the moment and you save a lot of money.
4.- Finally ONLY BUY 1 GRAPHICS CARD, don't sli don't crossfire it will drive you up the wall, if you can afford 2 card's you can afford the next one up if there's not next one up there's no need for 2. (there is one exception to this rule dont purchase a titan x the 980 Ti is cheaper and better - go greens and there silly pricing)
Again some of this is Bias but as i look at between 30-40 systems daily with a mix of the above builds and AMD stuff this is what i stick by at the moment.
I want this computer to last as long as possible and I am hoping to eventually get into game design and hopefully use the computer for that.
As for PC specs, here are necessaries. An intel CPU, a high end GPU, and an SSD. For GPU I would target a $300 consumer GPU from either AMD or nVidia. The brand does not matter so much when you are developing. Its nice to use a professional GPU instead of a consumer GPU when working with 3D, but its not necessary and you would need a minimum of $1000 to get something that can play games as decently. It's bettter to reserve those funds for software or other essentials. I would also plan to spend $300 on an IPS monitor. That should get you around 27".
CPU: either Intel i7 or AMD FX 8300-8350 (AMD is cheaper and bit slower option) No other CPUs makes much sense to buy.
For more informed choice look at the specific tests for software that you might use in the future
CPU cooler: Coolermaster 212 EVO, its just good cooler, but definitely buy aftermarket cooler preferably in 25-30$ range
GPU: either AMD r9-390x or NVidia GTX980. Those are high end GPUs and will last a while. For what is known AMD might be a bit better on DX12 side of things.
HDD: probably 1-2 TB classic HDD, depending on how much stuff you tend to store and 480-500GB SSD
PSU: qualitiy 700-800 W power supply, i prefer XFX due to top performace for a bit cheaper price than others at that quality range
RAM: 16 GB RAM, theres plenty of brands to choose from, in 2x8 GB setup
MOBO: depends on CPU, for Intel for instance do you buy -k version and intend to overclock or (probably)not and for AMD Gigabyte FX990FXA-UD3 or 5
Case: No need to spend over 70-80$. For instance Raijintek Agos is very good or Corsair 300R.
Rest are peripherals, where theres really myriad of things to choose, depending on how much money you want to spend
The action of putting it all together is pretty starightforward ;P The only iffy point could be installing CPU cooler for which you have to remove metal backplate from mobo and install provided one and applying thermal paste on CPU.
And about the PC build here are few things you should consider when buying one.
If you want to purchase a company manufactured model like from (Dell,HP,IBM, LENOVO etc) or you want to build a custom computer.
for first time user, I would suggest to go with branded systems because they come with few extra features. But If you really want to go for custom than here is the list of items you have to look into:
- Processor (Intel or AMD)
- Motherboard (Asus,Gigabye,MSI etc)
- Ram
- Hard disk
- Graphics Card (Nvidia or AMD)
- Sound Card (If you like loud music with accuracy)
- Power Supply (Cooler Maste, Corsair, Thermal Take etc)
- Chassis (Casing)
You will find many brands offering these items. I only listed few names. Selection of model is entirely upon on your budget and range.I hope this information will help.