Author Topic: Anyone want to help me come up with a gaming PC build?  (Read 5975 times)

Bobbias

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Anyone want to help me come up with a gaming PC build?
« on: February 20, 2016, 12:26:29 AM »
I'm looking at maybe putting together a nice gaming system, but I'm so out of the loop I don't know where to start, or what my budget should even look like. I don't want to do anything too insane (no SLI titans for me), but I'd definitely like to put together a respectable rig that will last me a while.
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Spectere

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Re: Anyone want to help me come up with a gaming PC build?
« Reply #1 on: February 20, 2016, 01:28:03 AM »
How much future-proofing do you want to do? For example, are you planning to pay a bit more for a DDR4-based rig or would you rather keep costs down and stick with DDR3 RAM (which is currently cheaper and should be price-competitive for at least a couple of years)? Also, are you willing to put up with some minor hassles* for additional performance at a lower price (i.e. getting two 970s instead of a single 980 Ti)?

* SLI hassles include (but are not limited to): 1) the drivers occasionally "forgetting" that you have SLI enabled during updates, 2) newer games, particularly lower-budget or indie titles, not having built-in SLI profiles (though working profiles can often be fudged together using NVIDIA Inspector), 3) some game engines simply not supporting SLI at all due to how the renderer is built (note: this is quite rare).
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Bobbias

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Re: Anyone want to help me come up with a gaming PC build?
« Reply #2 on: February 20, 2016, 03:11:57 PM »
Hmm, what's the sort of cost increase for doing that level of future proofing? I'm going to say that I PROBABLY won't be going for the DDR4, but without really being able to see how that affect costs I won't rule it out.

I'm also thinking I should get an SSD this time around, since I still haven't had a system running an SSD yet.

And I'm definitely looking at getting a good, nice looking case this time around.Every other time I've upgraded or built a system I've just reused old tower cases from the 90's.

The main thing is that I flat out have no idea what hardware I should even be looking at. Apart from the GPU. I knew that would either be 970 or 980's.
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Sneaky

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Re: Anyone want to help me come up with a gaming PC build?
« Reply #3 on: March 15, 2016, 01:58:51 PM »
You will need to choose between Intel and AMD.. I have had an AMD rig for the past while now, going from an FX-4170 to an 8350 (4 vs 8 core) was a huge jump and the SSD definitely helps. I have a GTX 760 and I can run new games on high without much issue. For me the AMD works well, even though ideally i would like a high end intel chip, they are just cost prohibitive.  I also run DAW and video editing software regularly with no hiccups. Lots of people go with AMD for there power vs cost ratio.

In the current CPU landscape, intel is ahead of the game in terms of chip tech, as AMD is still lagging behind with their Piledriver based desktop. The next AMD architecture is called Zen and is slated for release in 2016 at some time, which will support DDR4 and compete with the current lineup of Intel CPUs. The good news is all these new chipsets will drop the price on the prior gen stuff.

If you can afford it, spend the money and get a nice mid to high range intel CPU (check out this list).

The majority of your budget should go to the video card, as that is one of the larger bottlenecks for current gen gaming. CPUs have come a long way and you don't need as much as you think to have a great setup.

If you have a PC already and have a HD to salvage from it, I would definitely try and get a decent sized SSD to boot from windows and keep some essential programs on, as it is truly incomparable to any normal HD experience

For RAM, I would stick with a 4GB x 2 (8GB total) setup for now as there isn't really reason to go higher than that unless you are a super power user with the media editing and what not. Perfectly fine for gaming

Corsair makes some nice cases with great cable management features, and I plan to upgrade this year.

good sites if you didn't know already are newegg.com and pcpartpicker.com
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Spectere

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Re: Anyone want to help me come up with a gaming PC build?
« Reply #4 on: March 15, 2016, 08:54:33 PM »
I disagree with only putting in 8GB at this point. My gaming PC is more or less specialized at this point and there have been times where I've started to see titles pushing past the 4GB barrier. Keep in mind that the current gen consoles have access to 5GB of shared RAM now, so by the time you factor in PC-specific enhancements you could easily see games that are pushing 6GB+ within this generation. I'd future-proof a little and stick with 16GB, minimum. It's generally not much more expensive than 8GB and it'll give a bit more headroom. Windows, since Vista, makes very effective use of otherwise unused system RAM, so having a bit of extra could only help performance.

The more SSDs, the merrier. I currently have a 180GB Intel 530 for the OS and general applications and two 500GB Samsungs (one 840 EVO, one 850 EVO) for games. It's amazing how much of a difference it can make in load times.

As far as CPUs go, another thing to keep in mind is that some games--particularly ones that use heavy Lua scripting--cannot multithread effectively, so per-core performance can be paramount depending on what you're doing. World of Warcraft, for instance, tends to bottleneck harder on the CPU than the GPU. My iMac (in OS X) tends to outperform most mid-range PCs I come across despite having a mobile GPU, simply because it has a desktop i7-3770 in it.

Best bet is to run MSI Afterburner with the overlay and play a few games. If any single CPU core is pegging, you'd probably be better off with an i5/i7. If not, AMD will be fine and should offer more bang for your buck.

Heh. I still need to come up with a sample build of some sort. Completely slipped my mind; sorry about that! <_<

Also, keep in mind that Bobbias is in Canada, so I imagine he'd probably prefer something domestic instead of our exotic international goods (i.e. customs is a bitch).

Edit: Regarding the RAM remark, I just fired up The Division and it consumes an average of 6.2GB of RAM, going up to around 9.2-9.5GB during area transitions. I'd say 16GB is more or less becoming required at this point for modern games.
« Last Edit: March 16, 2016, 04:49:03 PM by Spectere »
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Sneaky

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Re: Anyone want to help me come up with a gaming PC build?
« Reply #5 on: March 18, 2016, 10:42:34 AM »
Wow had no idea games were taking up that much; in that case then yes go with the 16, it really isn't that much more money. I like the G.Skill, it has treated me well over a few builds.
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Spectere

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Re: Anyone want to help me come up with a gaming PC build?
« Reply #6 on: March 18, 2016, 11:41:48 PM »
Yeah, they've inflated quite a bit since modern consoles got a rather healthy (and much needed) boost. I think even GTA5 blew past the 4GB mark with the PC port.

+1 on G.Skill. I've been using them for my past couple of builds. It's amazing RAM for the price. Timings are generally a tighter than average and from what I understand they OC fairly well (though there isn't generally much of a gain when you OC RAM, not to mention that doing any serious overvolting can quickly nuke your CPU's memory controller).
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Bobbias

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Re: Anyone want to help me come up with a gaming PC build?
« Reply #7 on: March 19, 2016, 04:07:55 AM »
I've used AMD for quite some time, although my current laptop has an i3. I think I'm gonna head over to intel for this one, since I think I can afford a bit of a premium for the extra performance.

I was definitely thinking 16gb. And I was thinking G.Skill as well since I've literally only heard good things about their stuff.

I don' have any HDs I can salvage since my last few computers have been laptops (I guess I could salvage the HDs out of them, but I think I'd rather keep them around until they actually die), but I was definitely thinking of getting an SSD for the system and potentially other stuff (I'd bet games like stepmania and osu would see some benefit from being on an SSD, osu more than sm since you can actually scroll through songs in sm quickly without terrible lag).

One thing I'm totally lost on is cases. I'm thinking I'd like one that has lots of room for fans and storage (I can see myself buying HDs whenever I begin to run out of space, rather than actually bothering to clean up the unused crap), but apart from that I really don't know what I'm looking for, and what sort of price range I should really be looking at.
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Spectere

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Re: Anyone want to help me come up with a gaming PC build?
« Reply #8 on: March 20, 2016, 12:54:56 AM »
Depending on the size of your SM directory, I'd probably skip the SSD. In my experience the only thing that's really affected are load times. I recently had an old Pentium 4 with an PATA hard drive (mechanical, obviously) running a build of StepMania 5.0 with all of the DDR/ITG songs with a bunch of customs (total chart count was around 1500) and the load times weren't even all that bad thanks to its caching. Definitely throw it on one if you have extra room or your library is fairly small, but I wouldn't feel obliged.

osu! lags on an SSD, just not as badly. To be honest, I don't think I've seen a system that osu! hasn't lagged on at least a little bit. That makes me more than a little sad.

As far as cases go, expect to pay around the $130-180 price range. That'll give you a solid steel-based mid- or full-tower case with cable management and reasonably good airflow. Fans are typically included for that price as well. If you see a case in that range that doesn't offer cable management, it's either royally overpriced (dunno if they're still in business--I honestly hope not--but avoid X-Clio at all costs) or just makes up for it with bling-factor.
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