Computer building advice

jhoffy22

jhoffy22

yes i do, m8
Apr 28, 2011
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I've never owned a good computer in my life. For the past five years, I've owned two bottom line laptops and done all of my business and work from them. My current computer is a Lenovo B570 with a 2nd gen i3 processor and a 720p screen with integrated graphics and 4gb of memory. I intend to keep using this as my laptop, but I would like to build a solid desktop to use as my primary work unit and allocate my laptop for mobile use only. Between Skype and Chrome being the memory hogs that they are, my computer bogs down like crazy. I don't have expandable memory either. There are countless other reasons that it's time for me to upgrade too, overall the computer is just not in the best shape.

So what I am looking to do is build a desktop that is going to future proof me for at least the next 3-5 years. It's going to be my workhorse. I've never been able to experience PC gaming so I am being pulled down that rabbit hole a bit and want to build a gaming capable unit. I don't need the best of the best. Just something that is going to provide me with solid capability over the next 3-5 years. Looking to spend $800-1000. If the outcome of the computer is judged on a Bad/Average/Okay/Good/Better/Best scale, I'm looking for it to fall somewhere between good/better.

Thanks.
 


sephiroth said:
buy this.


Intel Core i5-4670K, Asus GeForce GTX 770, Cooler Master HAF 912 - System Build - PCPartPicker


also recommend a solid state drive. basically top of the line and will be good for years.
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I've got a spare 256GB Samsung SSD that I plan on utilizing in some way when I get around to building a computer. Maybe in unison with a 1TB harddrive.

Any reason you suggested the i5 and not the i7?

stamp said:
AMD/ATI for better value

AMD FX-8320, Sapphire Radeon R9 270X, Corsair 300R - System Build - PCPartPicker
Click to expand...

What is the argument between AMD vs Intel? Pros and Cons? Any compatibility issues?

Thanks for the advice both of you.
 
digitalstormonline.com

i bought a beast gaming pc off them and run tons of cpu hog software on the same computer. best computer purchase in history of mankind.

also, go with intel + nvidia.
 
For gaming an Intel(with a very high clock i5@3.4>>i7@2) & Nvidia combo is better. For everything else ATIs .They run cooler and consume way less power(compared to a similar performing Nvidia )
 
stamp said:
For gaming an Intel(with a very high clock i5@3.4>>i7@2) & Nvidia combo is better. For everything else ATIs .They run cooler and consume way less power(compared to a similar performing Nvidia )
Click to expand...

Can the i7 K models not be safely overclocked as far as the i5s?
 
jorarulit said:
i7 is more expensive, no reason get it because it won't give you a bump in performance. i5 is enough for your needs.
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3-5 years down the road, does this still hold true? You can't tell a difference in daily driving between the i7 and i5 at all?
 
If you want something that will still be good in the next 3-5 years time, then it's quite obvious that you have to go for a high spec PC now, so in a few years time it will still be decent.

Doesn't have to be i7 Extreme, especially if you're not a hardcore gamer, but take i7 without even thinking and then do the same for the rest of the build - high end graphic card, at least 8gb ram, min 1TB hard, etc, etc.

Do it properly or don't do it at all.
 
Gaming wise you don't want your processor to bottleneck your video card. So an i5 won't be bottlenecking your video card 3-5 years from now, unless you decide to get a newer one. And even then it probably won't bottleneck.

I built an ok gaming rig with i7-2660k + AMD Radeon HD 6780 in 2011, and I can still play all the new games on Med-High (sometimes Ultra) graphic presets, but without 4-8x MSAA at 1080p.

I also plan on getting a r9 290 soon and I was wondering if I needed to upgrade my processor - turned out I won't have to upgrade, maybe just OC my old one a bit.
 
Why are you so much into overclocking your hardware ? It voids the warranty and trust me GPU units need warranty . I have seen two day old card giving due to messed up heating/power issues and processors going shit loose because of insufficient thermal paste .

If you need a faster clock , buy a processor/GPU with a faster clock. These days , the only thing bottlenecking the over all performance of a PC is the graphics unit(well atleast for non-CPU intensive games ) .The 4th generation i5 is enough unless you plan to multitask in some crazy way . I am stressing on this so that you save cash + you have the liberty to spend it on something which actually demands it ,say, a ssd or a blue ray drive or whatever . i7 extremes are pretty much meant for the over clock junkies who have liquid cooled shit all over the place to achieve a 6 ghz burst.

Once you buy a PC , its definitely not about the hardware which is inside because shit gets outdated every six months. Or perhaps even sooner.
 
If you want to spend 3-5 years in a computer, get a nice i7, 32gb ram, ssd. I don't currently give 2 fucks about gaming on a pc, so idk about GPU's, though historically nvidia has been better bang for the buck.

If you look at performance of that SSD card, in the Samsung EVO line the 240 gets about half the performance the 480 gets (could just be 2 240's raid0'ed essentially). The jump from the 480 to the 1tb is not so significant, so I would recommend the 480 unless you actually need the 1tb.
 
I suggest the following:
Asus Rampage IV Extreme Intel X79 Socket 2011 DDR3 Sata III 6Gb/s Raid PCIe 3.0 (x16) Enhanced E-ATX Motherboard
512GB Solid state Drive
2 x 3Tb Hard Disk Drive in RAID 10
4x GeForce GTX 780 Ti in SLI
i7-4960X Extreme Edition
64GB (8 x 8GB) Corsair Dominator Platinum Memory 2133Mhz

Anything less will be like owning a mobile phone a year from now. A big, ugly mobile phone that you can't carry around.
 
Here's the workhorse computer build you are looking for:


  • Corsair Builder Series 500 Watt ATX/EPS 80 PLUS (CX500)
  • Gigabyte Intel Z77 LGA 1155 AMD CrossFireX/NVIDIA SLI W/ HDMI,DVI,DispayPort Dual UEFI BIOS ATX Motherboard GA-Z77X-UD3H
  • Western Digital WD1002FAEX Caviar Black 1 TB SATA III 7200 RPM 64 MB Cache Internal Desktop 3.5" Hard Drive
  • Asus 24x DVD-RW Serial-ATA Internal OEM Optical Drive DRW-24B1ST (Black)
  • Intel Core i5-3570K Quad-Core Processor 3.4 GHz 4 Core LGA 1155 - BX80637I53570K
  • Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB Kit (4GBx2) DDR3 1600 MT/s (PC3-12800) CL9 @1.5V UDIMM 240-Pin Memory BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00
  • Samsung Electronics MZ-7PD128BW 840 Pro Series 2.5-Inch 128GB SATA 6Gbps Solid State Drive
  • Rosewill Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case CHALLENGER
  • EVGA Geforce GTX660 FTW w/ ACX 2GB GDDR5 192 Bit Dual-Link DVI-I DVI-D HDMI DP SLI Ready Graphics Card (02G-P4-3063-KR)
  • Logitech G500s Laser Gaming Mouse with Adjustable Weight Tuning


I have built several computers with these exact parts and they are absolute beasts. A lot of research went into building these. This is the computer you want.
 
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