Buying (or possibly building) a new PC

[Okkusenman_110Million]

So I'm fed up with my current PC. Takes forever to start up, lags randomly at times, and the graphics card is just awful. So I've decided to buy (or build) a new PC. I have absolutely 0 knowledge of hardware, so I was wondering if anyone here could enlighten me? What do I need to look for to get a good gaming PC? Buying an Alienware is the last thing I wanna do, since I'll probably be paying more for the brand name rather than an actual good PC (compared to one that maybe someone could build for the same amount of money) but if I have to, I will. Thanks in advance!

[mtb tripper]

a dell of some sort

[Misto]

If you're going to build a PC, take a look at the motherboard first and make sure everything you buy fits on it.

Here's a nice read for you.

Lesson 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 click em.

http://lifehacker.com/5828747/how-to-build-a-computer-from-scratch-the-complete-guide

[Misto]

And if you do go that route.

Go to newegg.com and buy your stuff.

[SamwiseRed]

someone build be a good machine for under 1k. everytime i build it myself it sucks. despite doubling or tripling the ram, video card memory, cpu speed ect, it seems like my games never get better.

[formallydickman]

I am not very computer literate when it comes to hardware, but this guy has never let me down with 3 different computer builds as far as hardware compatibility. I've built his highest tier ($1600) at one point, his second highest ($1000) just a year or so ago and a mix of his 2 lower tiers (~$650) recently for my little brother and literally have had zero problems. Better option than alienware, especially if you buy during newegg sales or have amazon prime for free shipping or whatever.

http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/3336-Tier-16-Hunter-Flex-Difficulty-Feedback-Blue-Tweets-Setup-of-the-Month-News-Recap?page=5#comments

Just scroll down to "Computers - Setup of the Month" to see his most recent builds. He does them every few months and mmo-champion posts them up.

[jarshale]

Here you go OP. Best parts to get for whatever price range you have.

http://www.logicalincrements.com/

[Knuckle]

just build your PC you pussy fuck dont buy an alienware like a tool

[citizen1080]

Here you go OP. Best parts to get for whatever price range you have.

http://www.logicalincrements.com/

Been building my own and others PCs for years and never knew about this site....I love you

[Thulack]

Been building my own and others PCs for years and never knew about this site....I love you

what bob said. lol just spent like 20 mins checking the page out. saves alot of work.

[r00t]

The 8 core AMD FX-8350 for $200 is like literally the best CPU, biggest bank for your buck. You can get similar spec'd Intel Xeon's/i7 for like ~$80-$1800 more, but they're 4 core with hyperthreading (2 logical cores per 1 physical , fake 8 cores imo, allegedly bad for gaming too).

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113284

[melkortshea]

The 8 core AMD FX-8350 for $200 is like literally the best CPU, biggest bank for your buck. You can get similar spec'd Intel Xeon's/i7 for like ~$80-$1800 more, but they're 4 core with hyperthreading (2 logical cores per 1 physical , fake 8 cores imo, allegedly bad for gaming too).

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113284

I have this same CPU and it is a beast.

Also friends don't let friends buy Dell or HP for that matter. If your going gaming rig build it yourself but if your buying retail run as far away from Dell or HP as fast as you can. I am a PC tech of 12 years and I have seen more nightmares people have had to go through from those two brands more than anything else.

Intel does have Faster CPU's over all but you still get the best bang for your buck from AMD.

I almost didn't get the AMD FX-8350 due to bench marks ect. but I can honestly say that I have had one close to a year now and I have every game cranked up on "Suffer" with 16GB of RAM, Nvidia 560TI and I use a Intel 120GB SSD for my Win 8 OS and 2TB 6Gb/s Sata for my games and storage.

Is it a top of the line PC ? No but it performs great for a reasonable cost and to me that's all that matters.

[SamwiseRed]

interesting mmo-champion build of the month link
http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/3336-Tier-16-Hunter-Flex-Difficulty-Feedback-Blue-Tweets-Setup-of-the-Month-News-Recap?page=5#comments

here are the two builds featured right now. i have about 1300 set aside for new machine, i cant believe these are under 1k. can anyone confirm/deny if these are quality components. im hoping this computer at least lasts me 3-4 years. im hoping its eqn playable. any thoughts?

Build 1:
Case NZXT Source 210 - $40
Power Supply Corsair CX500 - $50
CPU AMD FX-6300 - $125
Heatsink Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus - $28
Motherboard ASUS M5A97 R2.0 - $100
Memory Kingston HyperX Blu 4GB 1333 - $35
Graphics Card XFX 7770 - $97
Hard Drive Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB
DVD Asus 24X SATA DVD+/-RW - $22
Total $552

Build 2:
Case NZXT Source 210 - $40
Power Supply Core Edition PRO 550W - $50
CPU AMD FX-8320 - $145
Heatsink Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - $33
Motherboard ASUS M5A99FX PRO - $120
Memory 8GB G.Skill DDR3 1600 - $70
Graphics Card ASUS 7870 2 GB or ASUS GTX 660 Ti - $200 / $199
Hard Drive Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB - $85
DVD Asus 24X SATA DVD+/-RW - $22
Total $765

[SamwiseRed]

here is the other set of builds

http://i.imgur.com/THbc9Ie.jpg

like i said about 1300 is my limit atm. take into account i need to buy a legit copy of win 7 or some other os. thanks.

[SamwiseRed]

http://www.logicalincrements.com/

wow that site is cool as hell, thanks.

[Halius]

http://www.logicalincrements.com/

wow that site is cool as hell, thanks.

I would definitely recommend using that site. As for buying the parts if you are gonna be building it, go with newegg.com that is what I use to build all my PCs. And as one other poster stated, make sure to check that motherboard components are compatible with what parts you want to get (RAM, video card, CPU, etc.) Also make sure you buy a power supply big enough to power everything, newegg has a power supply calculator tool to help recommend a size to get depending on components.

[citizen1080]

First build does not have enough ram. Minimum 8 gigs imo. I run 32 gigs which is way overkill for most things...but I used to run 16 wow accounts at once on this box...so I used quite a bit of that ram =)

[citizen1080]

Also...why legit windows? I "know" a guy who hasn't paid windows in 10 years. =)

[Gwence]

you can build a solid rig with a $1300 budget no problem

[Thulack]

Also...why legit windows? I "know" a guy who hasn't paid windows in 10 years. =)

lol i tried to hook sam up but i couldnt find the torrent i used for my copy. Anyone know a cloud service i can get like 5gb free and actually upload a file that is over 3gb?

[Nuggie]

I also endorse newegg. dropped $1600 on mine 3 months ago. Plan to build a new one for EQNExt when it comes out, depending on system reqs.

[phacemeltar]

lol i tried to hook sam up but i couldnt find the torrent i used for my copy. Anyone know a cloud service i can get like 5gb free and actually upload a file that is over 3gb?

i'd love to send u one in the mail