Building a Computer

[Turkey_Slayer]

My 5 year old desktop has kicked the bucket so I'm going to embark on building my own here in the coming weeks. I'll post what I'm going to be putting into it once I've done some price searching and have it somewhat finalized. Do you guys have any tips on going through this process? I have the basic knowledge of how to do it and have fiddled with my older PC quite a bit. I've never mounted a MOBO or power supply nor have I installed a CPU, though.

What are some good GPU's between 250 and 350 dollars? I'm considering Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 3GB for 339.99.

Also, include any guides that you find relevant.

[Cassiel]

Regardless of where you actually buy, Newegg's customer choice awards are always the place to start.

There's no trick to assembly these days. Personally I wouldn't go for the higher-end video card. Around $200 is usually the sweet spot for price vs. performance, but check the benchmarks at Tom's Hardware and AnandTech to find the best option for you.

[Zeuter]

If you're set on that price though, I've found this to be a really good choice. My mother has one. For $20 more there's the 3Gb version.

[Fledermaus]

I just had to buy a new computer too. Man NZ prices suck =/ would have saved about $700NZ if I could have ordered from us sites.

[Cassiel]

Yeah I was looking at cost-of-living indices for your neck of the woods the other day. Higher than New York City? Fuuuuuuu.

[Turkey_Slayer]

If you're set on that price though, I've found this to be a really good choice. My mother has one. For $20 more there's the 3Gb version.

That's a nice card, but I decided to pick up the one I previously listed as I found it for 320 on Amazon (300 with rebate) and there was only one left in stock. This may or may not be a mistake because a new mid-grade NVIDIA may be coming out soon which could result in a price drop, but I'm missing having a desktop.

Also, Physx support would have been nice, but I've always tended to buy AMD graphics cards and the autism within me decided to go with one again.

I decided to buy an Asrock Extreme 6 MOBO earlier because they were offering 60 bucks worth of RAM to go with it on Newegg even though I was leaning more towards an ASUS MOBO at a similar price.

I'm also probably going to get an i5 and 120GB Sandisk SSD. I'll have an older hard drive and my external hard drive to complement the SSD.

Any recommendations on a good, cheap CPU cooler that can beat the South Florida heat?

My biggest worry about building this PC has to do with the MOBO. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

[Cassiel]

The Hyper 212 has been the favorite cooler for years. (Make sure your case can fit an after-market cooler, though)

Have you had an SSD before? Just be aware that it will fail -- you won't get 5 years out of a consumer-grade SSD -- and back your data up accordingly.

Personally I have SugarSync, Box, and Dropbox running in parallel to make sure I never lose anything important.

[Turkey_Slayer]

Have you had an SSD before? Just be aware that it will fail -- you won't get 5 years out of a consumer-grade SSD -- and back your data up accordingly.

I've never had an SSD but I know they don't last very long. It will only be for Windows and maybe a couple programs/games that I want to keep on there. Everything important will be in other places and I already have some stuff such as my music and certain documents backed up in various other places.

I don't plan on buying the cooler until I have everything so I can make the proper measurements, but the case I'm thinking of buying should be able to fit one.

Thanks for the tips, Cass, and I'll definitely be considering that Cooler as it's the right price and it looks like it has excellent reviews.

[RageAgainstVoid]

[Kaz]

I haven't kept up with hardware in like 10 years and I too decided to build a new computer. Definitely going to get some badass coolers for the CPU and GPU because my boxes always fucking overheat.

[Merlin]

edit: Well, looks like I arrived late to the party. Anyway...

For the video card, consider shelling out another $50 and getting a GTX 770. I highly recommend the Noctua NH-D14 CPU cooler. It's quieter than the stock Intel fan, and performs as well as most liquid coolers, without their risks.

Here's the system I would buy if I were looking to upgrade right now.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/18Muf

If you want a really good (but $100 more expensive) motherboard, there's the Asus Sabertooth Z77.

[Kaz]

Worth it to pay more for an i7?

[Turkey_Slayer]

I heard it depends on what you're going to be doing with it.

Anyway, I built my PC and had it up and running. Installed the OS and everything, but I found out that after installing the drivers for the GPU, fiddling around in the BIOS, and doing whatever I could to possibly fix the problem that the PCIe slots were not functioning. So I had to RMA it. So now I'm stuck waiting.

[Merlin]

The only real difference between the two is multithreading, which the large majority of games do not use. Perhaps if you're a video editor, or graphics designer?

[Kaz]

I'm looking for a case with good airflow and multiple fans but I keep coming up with stupid overpriced gamer shit with LEDs.

[Turkey_Slayer]

Yeah, a good case can be hard to find, and it's hard to find good recommendations as everyone has different tastes. Is this something you're looking for?

[Cassiel]

It's just a matter of timing. The Antec 900 routinely drops down below $60. I got my Storm Sniper* at $80.

* Super roomy: 22.30" x 10.00" x 21.70" vs. the 900's 18.40" x 8.10" x 19.40".

[Turkey_Slayer]

That Storm Sniper comes with some baller fans, but I can't stand the way Cooler Master cases look for some reason.

I ended with getting a Corsair 400R because I found it for 80 bucks at a local store. I was also considering a Fractal Design R4 because it's supposed to keep everything super quiet. I prefer minimalistic designs, and I hate windows with a passion.

[Merlin]

Heh, I got a silver Cooler Master ATCS 840 for about $200 a few years ago. Fantastic case, if a bit expensive.

Check out Lian Li, they make high quality aluminum cases.

[Turkey_Slayer]

So anyways I was fucked over with the 7950, which is something I was thinking was a possibility at the time. They're selling 7970's at a comparative price now.

[Merlin]

Why not get the GTX 770?