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First time buyer/builder, need info.
Digimmortal
Member Posts: 6
Howdy MMORPG forums, I've been lurking this particular sub-forum in hopes of finding some more info on gaming rigs, how to build them, where to buy the parts, and what specs I need on a tight budget.
I'll start by saying I'm not tech-savvy at all.
My budget is ~$1,000.
I need a monitor with this setup as well.
Specifically looking for a gaming machine to at least not lag, not overheat and get decent FPS on games such as Aion, upcoming GW2, Rift, and Vindictus.
The computer doesn't need to even be able to play them at full graphics, which is why I'm on a budget. I just wish to enjoy the games for what they are, while they look decent and I'm not getting -1 FPS.
So, give me a hand. Which site do I buy parts from, what parts do I need to meet my expectations, and the cost of them matters as well.
Thank you!
Comments
If you are from the US, newegg and amazon will be your best bet. Whenever buying individual parts try to find bundles with other parts. This will save you an immense amount of money! It just takes a little more effort to put together.
I've been to Newegg, and I like their prices, still a little squeemish on what I need though; are there specific things I need in order to run the games I listed? Graphics cards, fans, etc. So lost, heh. Thank you for the info though.
do you have a computer right now you can cannibalize parts from? like keyboard, mouse, UPS, etc...?
I actually have this Sony VAIO, I can't tell you anything else about it except that it's terrible. It's a desktop, so to speak. Everything is rolled into the monitor, literally.
Which is why I need a new monitor heh. I believe it has integrated graphics as well, and not to sure if I can scavenge anything from it.
tomshardware.com for hardware recomendations + newegg.com for buying the parts (newegg customer reviews are also useful if there's more than 30 or so for the part).
If you don't worry about it, it's not a problem.
I really like that tomshardware site. Exactly waht I was looking for in terms of recommendations. Thank you.
As others have said newegg is probably one of the best sites to grab your parts from. Best way to start is to first decide if you are going with a Intel or a AMD build then choose your case. Then it is just a matter of picking the parts that will work together(mainly your motherboard, processor and RAM) I thought it would be hard to build a new comp for the first time also. Did my first build last year and it was fairly easy. If you just follow the directions that all the parts will come with it will go quite easily. If you need any help I will be glead to help you quote some builds you can choose from.
That would be great, quite honestly have no idea what I'm doing. I don't know whether to choose from AMD or Intel like you said, and I am on a budget. So if you could possibly pick some of the cheaper, or rather affordable builds between the two that would be awesome, or even send me some links to look at.
Here is one possible build.
Case - $159.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119160
Case 1a - $139.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146067
Motherboard - $65.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131672
CPU - $119.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103808
Ram - $59.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231225
Graphic Card - $154.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102908
Power Supply - $104.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371049
Hard Drive - $89.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284
Operating System - $99.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986
CPU Fan - $27.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065
Total - $883.91 from Newegg (all free shipping)
$863.91 with Case 1a
Extras
24 inch HD LCD Monitor - $199.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236049
That would give you reasonable gameplay if you are not looking for the best graphics right away and leave you room for upgrades later on (bigger vid card, new mobo to run 2x vid cars) if you chose to.
It sounds like you got an all-in-one, which really isn't the best idea. That gets you the drawbacks of both a laptop and a desktop, together with the advantages of neither.
Let's see what we can get you for $1000. All prices including shipping and before rebates:
Motherboard: $90
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131767
Socket AM3+ with a 900 series chipset means that it's guaranteed to take a Zambezi processor when they launch, in case you need a faster processor later. It will likely accept future processors after that, too. It also has all the features you need, plus some you don't, without any obvious flaws or cut corners.
Processor: $115
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727
Four cores clocked at 3.4 GHz is a decent amount of speed. This was AMD's top of the line two years ago, and while it's somewhat dated, it's still useful. It's also a lot cheaper than it was two years ago.
Power supply: $59
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371047
That's a rebranded Seasonic S12II, so it's pretty good. It can handle considerably more power consumption than the computer you'll build on a $1000 budget that includes peripherals, so it should handle future upgrades well, too.
Memory: $45
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231422
How cheap can memory get? I mean, really. 8 GB is more than you'll likely have any use for in the useful life of the machine.
Optical drive: $20
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151233
Reads and writes both CDs and DVDs. And it's cheap.
Hard drive: $65
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319
A good solid state drive doesn't fit your budget. The next best thing is a WD Caviar Black.
Case/mouse combo deal: $80
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.720116
Better case than I had planned on picking on your budget. But it comes with a free mouse. Is the mouse any good? No idea, but a wired, laser USB mouse is probably good enough, and it's normally $60.
Video card: $175
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102948
Pretty good gaming performance, with not too much power consumption. AMD seems to be cutting prices on their Barts cards, too. Also has a $20 mail-in rebate.
Operating system: $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986
Because you need an OS or else the computer won't run. And because Linux isn't good for gaming.
Keyboard: $14
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823126096
It's cheap and it will work.
Speakers: $13
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16836121013
They're cheap and they'll work.
Surge protector: $17
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812120403
Actually, it's vanishingly unlikely that your old surge protector is built into your old computer, so you could probably just re-use it. But just in case you need a new one, here it is.
Monitor: $200
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236049
Honestly, I don't know what to get. Go ahead and pick something else. But that's about your budget for a monitor.
Total: $993, including shipping, and before rebates. Well, there's only one rebate on any of the products I linked. But that is for a complete desktop including peripherals.
Regarding Tewyn's build:
Nice cases, but you don't spend $140+ on a case on a $1000 budget that needs peripherals, too.
There's no need to grab such a low end, feature barren motherboard that can barely handle the processor.
You can get a 200 MHz faster version of the same processor for $5 cheaper.
Phenom II processors come with two memory channels, so you want two memory modules, not three. Or for 16 GB of memory, you'd want four modules, but still not three.
Nice power supply, but way overkill for a system that will never pull 300 W from it.
If you want a 1 TB WD Caviar Black, then the newer generation is $10 cheaper for the same capacity:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533
The newer one is likely faster, too.
The stock cooler that ships with Phenom II black edition processors is good enough, so there's no need to buy an aftermarket cooler.
Ironically I said nearly the same thing about that build. If your only spending 1k on a whole computer including a monitor, you have to realize thats an easy 200 off the top. Quizzy has a great build and if I were you I'd follow his lead. The only thing I would change is possibly the video card for another 6870 that is offering a free game with it. Those cards are 15-20 bucks more so you have to take into consideration that your basically paying 20 bucks for SHOGUN, or Deus Ex. Also Neweggs product spotlight has 8GB of DDR3 1600 Kingston ram for $45 which also comes with a cheap game.
LOL I do tend to overkill a build since I am still learning myself. Probably comes from always thinking about future upgrades and always wanting space for them. So I still have much to learn. lol maybe I will have to come here and ask for advice on my next build cause I already know its a big overkill. But thanks for the insight Quizzical.
Wow Quizzical, you're the man. I can't thank you enough, I mean even giving me info on the hardware, quite amazing to have someone like you lurking around these forums.
I truly thank you all for posting and helping me out, this is more than enough. Thank you.