technology Wanting to build a Gaming PC. Advice anybody?

[RainbowDashie 767]

Hello,

 

I want to build up an entire game station. Obvioulsy one important part in it is a good gaming PC, therefore i would like to build my own. Only one slight problem: I have no idea where to start with it. I'd like to keep it under 500$, including screen, excluding mouse and keyboard.

 

My main needs in this PC are: 

- Ability play the next gen games on at least medium graphics.

- Ability to play hours and hours without overheating. (It happened to me)

- Wireless internet connection. (My dad refuses to get an internet cable to my room...)

- It has to run on Windows.

 

If you have any advice for me i'd love to hear from you.

 

Thanks for your time,

 

~RainbowDashie

[ProjectRKA 2,848]

If you want a pc that is able to play next gen games, you're going to spend at least 700 dollars on it.

A 500 dollar pc wouldn't be able to run many of the next gen games, if any at all. 

[RainbowDashie 767]

If you want a pc that is able to play next gen games, you're going to spend at least 700 dollars on it.

A 500 dollar pc wouldn't be able to run many of the next gen games, if any at all. 

 

Alright, thanks for the info. Do you have any idea on where to start though?

[ProjectRKA 2,848]

Alright, thanks for the info. Do you have any idea on where to start though?

Figuring out what type of hardware you want, as in AMD or Intel. I prefer AMD, simply because their hardware is very affordable, and it is pretty good.

The only thing I hear bad things about is their support, but that's just about it. I run an AMD pc myself.

[RainbowDashie 767]

Figuring out what type of hardware you want, as in AMD or Intel. I prefer AMD, simply because their hardware is very affordable, and it is pretty good.

The only thing I hear bad things about is their support, but that's just about it. I run an AMD pc myself.

Thanks, this already helps a lot!

[ProjectRKA 2,848]

Thanks, this already helps a lot!

You can take a look at this blog entry if you want to. It's the current hardware in my pc.

I still need to upgrade my GTS 250 graphics card, though xD

[Nuke87654 1,849]

Hello,

 

I want to build up an entire game station. Obvioulsy one important part in it is a good gaming PC, therefore i would like to build my own. Only one slight problem: I have no idea where to start with it. I'd like to keep it under 500$, including screen, excluding mouse and keyboard.

 

My main needs in this PC are: 

- Ability play the next gen games on at least medium graphics.

- Ability to play hours and hours without overheating. (It happened to me)

- Wireless internet connection. (My dad refuses to get an internet cable to my room...)

- It has to run on Windows.

 

If you have any advice for me i'd love to hear from you.

 

Thanks for your time,

 

~RainbowDashie

 

If you want to play next gen games on at least medium settings, as RKA said, you'll need to be able to spend more than 500 as getting a rig to play next gen games at medium settings will require something like a GTX 760 or R9 270 to be able to pull that off for a couple of years. Both are around 200$ and you'll want an intel quad core or AMD 8 core cpu that will also be around 200$. Another thing, getting a windows OS (preferably a windows 7 professional) will require another 100$ so that's around $500 spent already and we haven't gotten to a computer case, memory, a power supply, a cpu cooler, the needed wifi adapter card needed for you to play games online without needing cable, a hard drive, and a motherboard to accommodate all of that.

AMD FX-8320 Vishera: 153$ http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=FX-8320BOX&c=CJ

 

Arctic 5 Silver thermal paste: 7$ http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=FAN-ARS-35&c=CJ

 

MSI 970A-g46 motherboard: 79$  http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-970A-46&c=CJ

 

G-skill ripjaws 8 GB 1866 speed: 80$ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231527

 

Sapphire Duel X R9 270: $180 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202090

 

Western Digital 1 TB Hard Drive: $60 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236339

 

Rosewill Challenger Black Mid atx case: $40 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147153

 

Raidmax 635w bronze certified power supply: 71$ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817152046

 

Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO: 35$ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

 

Asus DVD drive: 24$ http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00CWI0PBM

 

TP-Link TL- WDN4800: $39 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833704133

 

Windows 7 professional: $113 [blog=http://www.discountmountainsoftware.com/miwi7prsp1oe14.html?cmp=pg&utm_source=pricegrabber.com&utm_medium=cse&utm_term=Microsoft+Windows+7+Professional+SP1+OEM+64-bit+DSP+-+DOWNLOAD+ONLY&utm_campaign=pricegrabber][/blog] Note this is through electronic delivery via your email so you may want to figure out how to install through that method if you're unsure. Contact their support if you wish to figure out how to use the download link to install an OS to your new computer.

 

All of this totals at 857$ from what I found. You can find something cheaper of course to your liking as I made this post to use as sort of a reference guide for you.

Edited May 18, 2014 by Nuke87654

[Lateon 589]

The overheating issue is solved relatively easily. If you get a Nvidia video card, you can download EVGA's software that allows you to control nearly everything regarding fan speeds in your machine as well as over/underclocking your hardware.

 

If you don't get a Nvidia card, you can download SpeenFan to control your fan speeds, but it doesn't allow over/underclocking (don't quote me on that!). However, the card you get usually comes with a driver and a software suite that allows you to do that anyway (for example, while I haven't needed to use it, my AMD R9 270X functions with AMD's Catalyst Control Center). I haven't figured out how to set up automatic fan speed curves with SpeedFan yet (i.e. as the temperature rises, so do the fan speeds to acceptable levels without my interference), but by controlling it manually I usually set the GPU's fan to around 65% speed and don't really pay much attention to the CPU fans. That keeps everything at around 50-60 degrees Celcius or less, which is acceptable and will not cause damage to your hardware. The damage range, for reference, is around 70+ degrees for the CPU and 80+ degrees for the GPU. I've also heard recently that you really ought to be below 65 on both fronts.

 

Wireless internet is standard in any machine these days. If for whatever reason yours doesn't come with that particular driver, it isn't difficult to find it on the internet.

Edited May 20, 2014 by SirHandMan

[Gay Bird 421]

500 just won't happen sorry. I'd recommend

 

Intel i5 3570 or the newer 4570

Nvidia GeForce GTX 560, 660, or 760 (all similar just newer/older versions)

1tb hard drive (western digital or Seagate)

8gb ram

comparable Asus motherboard (Asus makes the best motherboards)

Case

power supply (80plusv certified is good)

DVD drive

Wireless card

 

And that should work. Might be able to use less expensive AMD FX processor and AMD GPU.

Edited May 20, 2014 by DudeGuy676

[WesBur13 7]

Hows my build im doing sound?

WD Blue 1 TB Desktop Hard Drive: 3.5 Inch, 7200 RPM, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64 MB Cache - WD10EZEX

EVGA EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Superclocked w/ G-SYNC Support 1GB GDDR5 128bit,

Windows 8.1 System Builder OEM DVD 64-Bit

EVGA 430W 80PLUS Certified ATX12V/EPS12V Power Supply 100-W1-0430-KR

Corsair Vengeance Blue 8 GB (2X4 GB) PC3-12800 1600mHz DDR3 240-Pin SDRAM Dual Channel Memory Kit 

ASUS M5A97 R2.0 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

AMD FD8320FRHKBOX FX-8320 FX-Series 8-Core Black Edition

 

All total :$675

 

Im not looking for the best of the best just something that can run games. it is going to be my first major ground up build! any advice is great!

[long gone 8,929]

Made a few adjustments to my own personal dream machine to bring the price down for this thread while not sacrificing performance, although the processor is better than what I have actually.
 
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks
 
CPU:  AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor  ($142.99 @ NCIX US) 
Motherboard:  Asus M5A97 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard  ($77.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory:  Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($77.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage:  Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($88.97 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card:  EVGA GeForce GTX 760 2GB ACX Video Card  ($234.99 @ NCIX US) 
Case:  Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Titanium Grey) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($104.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply:  SeaSonic 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($99.99 @ Amazon) 
Total: $827.91
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-05-21 01:40 EDT-0400)
 
The AMD FX-8320 is basically a lower-clocked, more affordable FX-8350 (that is supposed to be one of the better processors out there) and the GTX 760 is a very dependable, yet affordable 1080p-optimized GPU (I personally recommend EVGA for nVIDIA-based products because of how good their warranty service is, from what I've heard.) As for the PSU, Seasonic is a great manufacturer and, if you have a PSU by them or a rebrand (such as some Corsair models), you know you're in good hands. Oh yeah, the Fractal Design Define R4 has great airflow and great cable management options, and it has a window on the side panel so you can show off your PC's internals! As for the price, well... if you want good performance with some of the latest games, $500 is gonna scrape the bottom of the barrel, with $700 - $900 being more desirable budgets for a good, future-proof gaming PC.

Edited May 21, 2014 by Daring

[Wayzer 1,418]

Like some others said, if you want a somewhat cheaper pc I'd recommend to go for an amd processor. For the video card, I always go for nvdia so I can't really help that much there, I've no idea how ati video cards are. If you want to compare processor or video card specs I'll advice you to search it up in a benchmark. Helped me a lot with my pc, and it's fast as hell , though my budget was somewhat bigger than yours

 

Still though, 500$ isn't much for a gaming pc. You might want to consider buying a somewhat more expensive one, and have fun for somewhat longer without having to upgrade really soon. Or you can buy a card that works well with sli or crossfire and buy a second one later on

Edited May 21, 2014 by Wayzer

[WesBur13 7]

I don't plan on 120 fps on ultra settings for $700 I'm just going for 45-60 fps now on high and later next gen games on lower graphics at 45-60 fps with room for upgrade

[Nuke87654 1,849]

I don't plan on 120 fps on ultra settings for $700 I'm just going for 45-60 fps now on high and later next gen games on lower graphics at 45-60 fps with room for upgrade

 

It looks fine. The build you posted will last you a good two years before you'll need to upgrade your Graphics Card. My only problem with it is the power supply doesn't leave you with much expansion options unless you get a new power supply to accommodate those new more powerful expansions in the future.

[WesBur13 7]

I'd be fine with buying a new psu. This is just to get by lol. How well would the nvidia shield work with this? I have 35 down and 6 upload?

[Nuke87654 1,849]

I'd be fine with buying a new psu. This is just to get by lol. How well would the nvidia shield work with this? I have 35 down and 6 upload?

 

It will work as according to their website [blog=http://shield.nvidia.com/faq/][/blog] you'll need at least a 660 GPU and a hexacore AMD cpu to operate it so you're good to go.

[WesBur13 7]

I spend most of my time at school and work soo I won't be able to use it as much as I want. Anyone got any experience with the shield?

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,824]

You may need some external drivers and powerful RAM that allow for a large space of memory to avoid crashes. 

[long gone 8,929]

Remember to not cheap out on the PSU. Serious. It's the life of your PC. You want something reliable.

 

Buy based not on brand, but manufacturer. If you're not sure about the manufacturer, look it up. Should only take 5 - 10 minutes of your time.

[lomk 20,663]

I built my PC using this Corsair PSU. My PC is about 14 months old at this point and this PSU is still running strong. 650 watts may be overkill for a budget PC, but I figure far better be it to overspend on the power supply than to get a cheap one that burns itself out or even messes up my whole system. Anyway, it's $90 and it gets the job done. Not modular so cable management is a bitch but once you have it put together, the only reason you should open it is to clean it for dust.

 

As for a CPU, I'm using an AMD FX-6300 Vishera. As far as I can tell, it doesn't bottleneck my games much at all. It was $140 last year. I've seen people recommending the FX-8350. I would have got it but it's a $200 chip. The 6300 has handled pretty much everything I've thrown at it so far.

 

You should definitely put more money into a GPU for a gamer. I'm using an AMD Radeon HD 7770 GPU. It's recommended to get something comparable to that, at minimum, if you want to play next gen games. 

 

Everyone says you need 8 gigs of RAM. I've been gaming on only 4. 4 gigs works very well as long as you're not running a lot of other stuff at the same time as your games. You don't need 8 gigs. I mean, consoles were playing this generation's games on only 512 megabytes so a PC with 4 gigs will do just fine. 

 

You'll need either a USB wifi receiver or a wifi expansion card. Network cards aren't expensive. I got this one for 20 bucks. I used to have my PC and my router in different places but now they're next to each other so I go ethernet these days.

 

You can skim on a case. Just make sure that it'll work with the cable management you've got going. 

 

And you can probably get away with skimming on your mobo.

 

At the end of the day, I highly doubt $500 will cover the entire cost of your PC plus a monitor for next gen gaming unless you visit a pawn shop and find a monitor for $20. I did that with one of my old roommates who had a computer monitor they weren't using anymore so I offered twenty bucks for it. But the monitor I use these days cost me about $180. You're probably going to have to bump your budget up a couple hundred dollars. I started with a base of $850 when I built my PC, and that didn't include peripherals like the monitors and the keyboard and mouse. I didn't even have a DVD drive or something to do sound when I finished it. 

 

Anyway, when I was getting into PC gaming, I watched A LOT of Tek Syndicate videos. Their "Kill Your Console" series is very helpful and educational. Here's one that might pertain to you

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGrvRItaCDY

[WesBur13 7]

What psu do you recommend? All I know it is branded evga so who knows the quality lol thanks for that note!

[long gone 8,929]

Read this for information on PSUs and why you shouldn't cheap out on them. They also mention some good manufacturers, like Seasonic, Antec and some Corsairs.

[WesBur13 7]

Thanks everyone. I have learned the errors of my ways!

[Jon the VGNerd 886]

I myself can't even afford parts for gaming PC. Not only they are expensive (because i'm reasonably short on cash), but even if I were to have earned a lot of money, my money would be going for BronyCon and not for PC parts.

[Nuke87654 1,849]

I myself can't even afford parts for gaming PC. Not only they are expensive (because i'm reasonably short on cash), but even if I were to have earned a lot of money, my money would be going for BronyCon and not for PC parts.

 

Sorry to hear your unfortunate issue