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Compiling parts/prices list for a new PC
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Compiling parts/prices list for a new PCPosted:

Pashka
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Hello Ladies and Gentlemen, hope you're having a good day, and if not, I hope it gets better )

First time building a PC, as I got tired of gaming on my macbook. (I know, I know, it's garbage)
What I would like, is your expertise and advice on creating a complete list of items, and prices, for building a PC from scratch. Personally, I have very little knowledge about hardware, and although I'm willing to learn, I must politely ask that you take the brunt of the work - deciding and finding the parts needed, although, if necessary, I will look for items myself, as long as you provide the names. Thank you in advance, truly appreciated

Needed: every single part that goes into building a computer, including miscelaneous wires or fans or anything I might not think of myself. What I have is a mouse and a mouse pad, so keyboard and monitor will be needed as well.

Budget: 800 USD (however, this isn't set in stone. I don't want to spend too much, but at the same time it would be stupid to refuse to spend extra 100-150 for a significant performance improvement. At the same time, if you can achieve target goal for cheaper, I will think of you every time I turn on my beastly PC. ;) So, choose what best fits, use 800 as guideline only). Side note: I rarely run AC at my place because hot summers don't bother me, so a well cooled/ventilated rig would be important.

Target Goal: I'm mostly a moba/strategy gamer (starcraft, Warcraft, league of legends, dota) with some other games in between ( counter strike, skyrim, Runescape once in a while). So I want to make sure I can still run those games without any problems. I'm sure I'll be trying out some new games, so I'll definitely need good performance overall. I don't care about playing on highest graphic settings. I don't care about Virtual Reality. I will be looking into some video editing and streaming eventually, but not immediately - so if for a small price bump you can make sure my comp still runs the game smoothly while streaming, let's do that. But if that's too costly, disregard streaming, and focus on gaming performance only.

I don't need a top-end rig, but a good PC that will run my current games, as well as have some potential for future/newer games.

I tried to be as informative as I could, but feel free to ask anything else.

Again, thank you
#2. Posted:
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I'd do this if you can manage to spend around $800, not including monitor;
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CPU: [ Register or Signin to view external links. ] ($197.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: [ Register or Signin to view external links. ] ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: [ Register or Signin to view external links. ] ($65.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: [ Register or Signin to view external links. ] ($55.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: [ Register or Signin to view external links. ] ($47.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: [ Register or Signin to view external links. ] ($149.99 @ Best Buy)
Case: [ Register or Signin to view external links. ] ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: [ Register or Signin to view external links. ] ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Keyboard: [ Register or Signin to view external links. ] ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $812.69

GTX 1050Ti is a little bit low end for this budget, but mid ranged GPUs like the RX 480/580 and GTX 1060 are still stupid overpriced and the 1050Ti will be good enough for the games you're intending on playing so I'd probably just get the 1050Ti, at least for now. I've included a nice case, a nice fully modular PSU, and a nice mechanical keyboard. You can save some money by getting any <$20 membrane keyboard and maybe save a bit of money on the case if you really want. You could also get the 4 core R5 1400 instead of the 6 core R5 1600 if you want to save another $40. If you do all that, you'll manage to save $100-150 which would be enough for you to get a monitor as well and stay around the $800 mark.

As for monitor, you have a couple of choices. You could just get a cheap 1080p monitor and be done with it. One of these would be a good choice;
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However, what I would do, if possible, is spend a bit more on monitor to get something a little nicer that will hopefully last a little longer as well. You could go with a nice ultrawide;
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(I have one of these, I love it).
Or, you could go with a 1440p monitor;
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The Lenovo option isn't great, but it's a cheap way to get on to 1440p. The Acer monitor is a nice middle ground between cost and quality. The last one, the QNIX QX2710 is the best choice IMO. Most people have been able to overclock their QX2710 to 96-120Hz easily, and it's already a nice 1440p monitor at 60Hz.
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Pashka
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Thank you for your advice, as well as going the extra mile with suggestions, much appreciated)))


Is there anything else I need to worry about, cords, fans, lights, cooling system or such, before attempting to put it all together? Or do the main items come with all the accessories needed?

In your experience, approx how long does it take to get all the items shipped to me after i purchase them? I know you can't give exact dates obv, but just approximation (if it's a few weeks, I'd probably just go to a store and buy them for slightly more, but get it done with)
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So, went to the Micro Center store with the recommended build, to look for parts and compare prices (it's only 10 mins from my place, was hoping to get the parts there, save time and money on shipping "hopefully"). The representative there looked over the build, said it's great, and started looking for the items. Halfway through, he said they're selling a pre-built for about the same price (850 USD), but it already comes with windows 10, 16Gb ram instead of 8, bigger SSD, GTX 1060 instead of 1050ti, and so on.
Here's the link to the pre-built (note: scroll down and click "specs" for more info than what shows on the headline)

It does look more powerful, with more stuff, like OS, cd/DVD driver, etc etc, BUT I'm no expert. So please, if you could, take a look at it, and tell me if it's worth getting (and saving me a lot of hassle of getting parts and trying to build on my own for the first time), OR there's something irrevocably wrong with it, OR perhaps if they used 1-2 trash parts but it could be fixed by easily/cheaply substituting those parts.

I apologize if I'm being annoying, redundant, or simply dumb - I am a noob when it comes to PC hardware, so please be patient. I simply want a good PC with minimal headache and hassle
#5. Posted:
TaigaAisaka
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Pashka wrote So, went to the Micro Center store with the recommended build, to look for parts and compare prices (it's only 10 mins from my place, was hoping to get the parts there, save time and money on shipping "hopefully"). The representative there looked over the build, said it's great, and started looking for the items. Halfway through, he said they're selling a pre-built for about the same price (850 USD), but it already comes with windows 10, 16Gb ram instead of 8, bigger SSD, GTX 1060 instead of 1050ti, and so on.
Here's the link to the pre-built (note: scroll down and click "specs" for more info than what shows on the headline)

It does look more powerful, with more stuff, like OS, cd/DVD driver, etc etc, BUT I'm no expert. So please, if you could, take a look at it, and tell me if it's worth getting (and saving me a lot of hassle of getting parts and trying to build on my own for the first time), OR there's something irrevocably wrong with it, OR perhaps if they used 1-2 trash parts but it could be fixed by easily/cheaply substituting those parts.

I apologize if I'm being annoying, redundant, or simply dumb - I am a noob when it comes to PC hardware, so please be patient. I simply want a good PC with minimal headache and hassle


Forgot to link the build lol

OR there's something irrevocably wrong with it, OR perhaps if they used 1-2 trash parts but it could be fixed by easily/cheaply substituting those parts.


That's kind of the problem. If they put in a rather bad CPU, now you're adding on almost another $200 to fix it. Seeing how it's a prebuilt, you're either getting a shit PSU and motherboard; maybe CPU. The GPU is also probably a reference cooler, instead of an open air cooler, which means it'll get hotter quicker and in turn throttle it's speeds to not overheat, which will make you have stutters in game if it reaches the throttling temp.

Once you link the build back, we can take a look at it and tell you what's right and wrong with it.
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I sure did forget, sorry :/

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#7. Posted:
TaigaAisaka
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So a few things with the build you linked.

The motherboard is a ASRock B250 Pro 4, which doesn't support overclocking at all. If you had plans to overclock, you are out of luck with it.

The CPU they have in there isn't bad at all, being the i5-7500. The i5 does have better clock speed and single-core speed; however, the Ryzen 5 1600 that 13 linked completely blows the i5 away with multi-core speeds and paired with the fact that it's a 6 core CPU, it will fair better for your video editing you mentioned. What also baffles me, is they mention "Turbo Boost Speed: Up to 3.8GHz" yet they throw in a motherboard that won't allow you to OC at all and even then, the i5-7500 isn't known for it's OC speeds, since it's max multiplier for OC'ing is only 38 x 100Mhz or something like that.

Storage is a little nitpick for me, but they didn't mention which brands for the HDD or SSD. They mentioned the storage amount and the RPM on the HDD which is a plus, but without the brands, you could be getting some cheaply made storage.

GPU, which I was right, is the reference cooler. They listed NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060, which is a reference cooler instead of open air cooler. Now does this mean the GPU is shit? No. It simply means that is will get hotter quicker, which will make your game start to have stutters as it'll eventually throttle speeds to keep itself from reaching a dangerous temperature. Of course your cooling in the case and overall ambient temperature matters too, but it'll still reach the throttle threshold faster than an open air cooler would. The reference cooler would be fantastic if you were to watercool your GPU, but since you're not, an open air cooler would be much more suited for temps.

Keyboard and mouse they included with it is probably some Dell or HP, mouse & keyboard combo. I know you only need a keyboard, so a mechanical keyboard would be the better suit for you.

PSU is what really bothers me as every pre-built PC has the same issue. They either don't even bother to mention the PSU at all or they're very vague about it, like this one is. "Power Supply: 500 Watt" ...doesn't mention the brand, model/make or rating such bronze, gold, ect. That is a grey area that would make me feel sketchy about, because all it takes is one shit PSU to kill your whole system.

This isn't too big a concern, but I just hate these designs as it doesn't let fans use their full potential. So the case is well ventilated like you said you need for the summer, however it's too ventilated. I know that sounds arbitrary, but it is. For one, the case is literally just holes with nothing to cover it. That is a dust build up waiting to happen, which forces you to clean your PC more often than others. Yes it will provide more cooling but once the dust builds up, it's going to get hotter than ever before. On the left side panel, there is two fan mounts, which, you either face to blow air onto your hardware, but also blow more dust on them or have them push air out, which at that point kind of defeats the purpose of the front fans as you want the air to force their way out, instead of just being sucked out. If things worked that way, there would be no point in having a side panel other than to protect your hardware. Then we get into the talk of too much negative or too much positive air pressure. Seeing how the whole front panel is just holes, paired with the top, side panel, back and of course any other small gaps, there is going to be too much air to escape. The idea of fans is to have air trapped in the case and find it's way out through force so it has room to cycle through and cool what components it can. This case design nullifies that. It's great for letting air in, but it's also great for letting air out too quickly. This goes back to the thing with the side panel I mentioned. A lot of people think keeping the side panel off is great for cooling, it is, but not like they think. If they're doing a benchmark and want to test with the ambient temperature, then that's what they need; however, keeping the panel off, allows air to be pushed into the case and immediately sucked right out the side, cooling very little on the way. What you typically want is less exhaust fans than you want intake fans.




So for this case, we'll be using an example of how things should be going; we'll just tape over all the holes on the front panel near the optical drives (DVD and such.) You would want 2 fans in the front, one on the bottom on the inside of your case and both fans on the side panel pulling air into your PC. The fan at the back and 2 on the top would be pushing air out. What that does, is it forces air to come in through the front of the case, the side panel and from the bottom, the will try to escape from what it can but there is very little for it to escape from. The fan at the bottom pushes the air up, where there is cools at a higher level too, while still trying to escape, now it's reaching where the fans can push it out which it's supposed to do. The air was forced to move upwards from the bottom fan to find where it can escape. Now we take the tape off all the holes on the case that are there by poor design and that air is free to escape and low-mid level, only really cooling your GPU and some of the motherboard, ignoring the RAM and helping somewhat your CPU cooler out (this wouldn't matter too much for AIO, instead the top fans would focus on the radiator.) So this is the problem with that type of case design, it really doesn't allow fans to their full potential due to them offsetting the air pressure. The case 13 linked is optimal. Tempered glass for air tight seal on the side panel, plus just looks nicer (be careful with it though, it is glass, but tempered glass shatters like a fine powder should your break it.) On the very front of the case near the top, there is a few vent holes, which again, is great since it's at the very top. Looking inside as best I can from the image, looks like it supports 2 140mm fans. No clue what the front panel is like, but I'm positive you can mount 2 fans in the front to create their own air to push inside the case.




Long reply, my bad lol.

Anyways, the build 13 linked you is far better off. You get a CPU that can overclock, has more cores for your editing. A motherboard that allows you to overclock. A GPU that is an open air cooler. A case that looks better and actually allows the fans to preform how they should. PSU with it's rating and a decent one at that. Mechanical keyboard is always nice too. Plus he leaves you room for a monitor. You can get an OS, such as Windows 10 keys for like $15-$30 on Kinguin, maybe G2A or head over to [ Register or Signin to view external links. ] and see if anyone is selling an OS key or CD for cheap. Just read the rules there to make sure the transaction goes well for you, even if you have to ask if anyone is selling a key for you. If you need, I might have a Windows 8.1 CD lying around I could upload and send it to you, so you can create a bootable USB and use that to install. I have it installed on another PC, so don't know if the product key will overwrite mine, but you don't need the product key for Windows 8.1 if you're upgrading to Windows 10 anyways.
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Pashka
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Don't worry about long replies, I welcome them, so long as they're informative - which it has been so far, thank you!

I wasn't planning or even considering overclocking - I have no idea what it is (I welcome you to explain the process and the benefits of overclocking - if it's even relatively important)

I5 vs ryzen 5: gaming is my primarily concern, while video editing and streaming is something I might start dabbling in in the future (even if I start, I don't think I'll need top-notch set up for it, I don't even know how to edit yet, just something I look forward to learning at some point). From the tidbits of information I've gathered reading posts, I understand single core speeds are better for gaming?
Not trying to argue, just trying to stress that gaming is my primary concern. To rate importance on a scale of 10, gaming: 10, streaming: 3, video editing: 2.

Hdd/SSD - Toshiba (preliminary, unreliable info, trying to verify via microcenter, will let you know as soon as I know)


PSU - EVGA


Gpu - how likely is it to get hot? Does it depend MOSTLY on how long it's in use, or how demanding a certain game is? I'd like to point out that I'm playing games that aren't very demanding (I try new games once in a while, but always return to old favorites, such as counter strike source, dota 1, league of legends, Runescape, starcraft 2). Although I understand the concern about GPU reaching high temperature, I'm wondering if it's likely?

Same thing for the case - I understand that its not the greatest design, but how likely is it that it would be an issue? (Note: I played all above mentioned games, except SC2, on a 2010 macbook pro. I did use minimal graphic settings for the games, but the Mac was able to get it done for 6 years)

With the new info at hand (ill get back to you about HDD/SSD), does your opinion change in regards to the question "is this good enough of a price and quality to buy, and save myself the hassle of building a PC?" Or do you still think it's absolutely not worth it, and I should take a build-your-own route?

Any input is welcome, knowledge is power!
And again, thank you for your time, expertise and knowledge, as well as patience
#9. Posted:
TaigaAisaka
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Pashka wrote Don't worry about long replies, I welcome them, so long as they're informative - which it has been so far, thank you!

I wasn't planning or even considering overclocking - I have no idea what it is (I welcome you to explain the process and the benefits of overclocking - if it's even relatively important)

I5 vs ryzen 5: gaming is my primarily concern, while video editing and streaming is something I might start dabbling in in the future (even if I start, I don't think I'll need top-notch set up for it, I don't even know how to edit yet, just something I look forward to learning at some point). From the tidbits of information I've gathered reading posts, I understand single core speeds are better for gaming?
Not trying to argue, just trying to stress that gaming is my primary concern. To rate importance on a scale of 10, gaming: 10, streaming: 3, video editing: 2.

Hdd/SSD - Toshiba (preliminary, unreliable info, trying to verify via microcenter, will let you know as soon as I know)


PSU - EVGA


Gpu - how likely is it to get hot? Does it depend MOSTLY on how long it's in use, or how demanding a certain game is? I'd like to point out that I'm playing games that aren't very demanding (I try new games once in a while, but always return to old favorites, such as counter strike source, dota 1, league of legends, Runescape, starcraft 2). Although I understand the concern about GPU reaching high temperature, I'm wondering if it's likely?

Same thing for the case - I understand that its not the greatest design, but how likely is it that it would be an issue? (Note: I played all above mentioned games, except SC2, on a 2010 macbook pro. I did use minimal graphic settings for the games, but the Mac was able to get it done for 6 years)

With the new info at hand (ill get back to you about HDD/SSD), does your opinion change in regards to the question "is this good enough of a price and quality to buy, and save myself the hassle of building a PC?" Or do you still think it's absolutely not worth it, and I should take a build-your-own route?

Any input is welcome, knowledge is power!
And again, thank you for your time, expertise and knowledge, as well as patience


Overclocking is basically pushing your system to run harder and faster - if done right. If you overclock your CPU, GPU, RAM, you're pushing them to be in use that is above their official clock speeds. This is where luck of the draw comes in. A person can get a CPU that can OC 1 or more GHz than the official clock/boost speed says it can go, another person could get one that makes it to about 0.6 GHz over the official speeds, one person may get a CPU that can't even overclock even though it should and another person may end up getting a CPU that has worse clock speeds in general than the official speed; this is rare, but still a factor. Overclocking also raises the heat your CPU will generate, which if it gets too hot can shorten it's life and in the extreme rare cases, just flat out kill it.

As for the Ryzen 1600 vs the i5-7500, I think the i5 has less than a 10% single-core speed difference from the Ryzen. It is faster in single-core speed yes, but I really don't think 10% will matter all too much, maybe the difference of 3-5 FPS.

Toshiba is kind of enough information. I've used the Toshiba X300 4TB in my builds before and they were great. One of them was a little loud but that's 1 out of 5 I've used so nothing too big. Yours might be the ACA100 Toshiba 1TB.

PSU, you're going to want to get more than that. If they're not telling you the model/make and rating, then they know it is a shit PSU. EVGA has shit PSUs and have the great PSUs. If it's the EVGA SuperNOVA G2 or EVGA SuperNOVA G3, then that's one of the better models. If they're using something like EVGA's NEX model avoid that shit lol.

All hardware gets hot, anything above 30 Celsius is almost 90 Fahrenheit, not exactly something you want to touch, especially metal. Besides that, it will get hotter. It as one fan on it, that is a reference cooler or also known as a blower design. Meaning it has the heatsink/heatpipe inside it, with very few openings or vents on it to let the heatsink dissipate some of that heat. Reference coolers suck air in, then have it blow out the sides to try and cool the GPU off where as open-air GPUs have the fan(s) sitting on the heatsink, the fans are bigger, and have enough open room on the card to allow the heat from the heatsink to dissipate with the fan cooling. As for how a GPU gets hot, it's both how long, how demanding a game is and the overall ambient temperature of where the PC is at. If you start your PC, load up Speccy and see your GPU is sitting at say 30c, don't touch anything for a few hours and come back, room temp is the same, that GPU will be a few Celsius higher. Nothing too big but an increase. Now if you're gaming, now you account for how much of your GPU is being used. Under full load you'll see the increased temps because your GPU is giving it all it's power. If it's at like 80% it won't be getting as hot as it would be 100%. Pair in use time with how much power your GPU is using and then pair in the ambient temperature and this is where you get the hotter temps. It reaching very high or dangerous temps is really relying on how hot your room is and what your case airflow is like. You could ramp your GPU fan speed up to like 70% or higher, but then you sacrifice noise for cooling.

The case won't be an issue at all, unless you just don't clean your room or have a lot of pets that will just have their fur getting everywhere. It's more an annoyance that you'll have to clean the dust off much more than you would something like the case 13 linked or even if it had some sort of magnetic filter on it. As for the air pressure in the case, it's going to happen, there's no stopping that. Your fans will still cool your hardware, they just won't be up their full potential because of air escaping too early. If it's blazing hot in your room, it won't make too much a difference because fans can't really produce cold enough air unless you have say the AC running to keep your room cool.





All in all, the build Microcenter is offering isn't bad - the PSU is the main concern for me until they give you the full information on it, because shitty PSU can kill your PC. If you reallyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy don't want to build anything and the PSU isn't bad, it's not a bad offer for the price. Just personally, I would take 13's build because it offers hardware that will suit your needs now and for things you want to get into.

The case, GPU and PSU he linked are more of my personal picks. I personally would never go with a single fan GPU again, but I would also prefer to have a single fan open-air GPU over a single fan reference cooler. The case just overall looks better, is going to have much better airflow and just look more pleasing aesthetic wise; especially with the PSU shroud to help your cable management look a little neater. PSU is also decent and something I would use if I was on a budget build. If you're worried about the 1050 Ti vs 1060, you could always look around the r/hardwareswap I linked yesterday so you can see if anyone is selling a 1060 or an R9 280, R9 290, RX 480 for around the same price at the 1050 Ti 13 linked.
#10. Posted:
Pashka
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Loving all the detailed info, much appreciated, and your effort isn't wasted - you've convinced me to build what "13" suggested.
Just one more thing I ask of you, if you'd be willing: could you go over 13's list and tell me if anything is missing, such as cords or fans or anything else? (You've mentioned that the case has mounts for fans, leading me to suspect that fans don't come with the case - just want to make sure). If something is missing, please advise on what to get.

Lastly, as you so eloquently put, I'm going to be a "nitpick" when it comes to your claim about anything over 30C being hot, especially metal: nope, nope, nooope. Human body runs at 36.6C, so even 40-45C wouldn't feel hot, but rather just warm. But I'm just being a mild pain in the ass teehee ;)

Again, thanks for your time
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