So I am looking at building a new PC for some gaming action. I'm not looking to build a monster and I am OK with medium settings at 1080p. Since I will be paying $200 for a monitor/windows - is $500 for the rest doable?
For the whole thing? Case + PSU + etc?
I have an old case I can use, along with a CD-ROM, along with a monitor/KBAM. So $500 would be everything else.
So I am looking at building a new PC for some gaming action. I'm not looking to build a monster and I am OK with medium settings at 1080p. Since I will be paying $200 for a monitor/windows - is $500 for the rest doable?
For the whole thing? Case + PSU + etc?
I have an old case I can use, along with a CD-ROM, along with a monitor/KBAM. So $500 would be everything else.
It's certainly doable. Does the case include a power supply? If not it may get a little hairy and you'll have to bargain shop around. What games are you looking to play on Medium? Any/all of them?
Old case does have a PSU, but not sure how good it is (at least 6 years old). Would rather grab a new one. Looking mainly to run Fallout 4, Wolfenstein New World, Doom, etc.
1. I put in a 1TB HDD because for your budget, you'd be looking at a 120GB SSD and that's barely going to be enough room for the three games you mentioned and Windows. A lot of people on this thread are probably going to fight me on that. If you can save an extra few bucks down the road for an upgrade, go with the SSD for now, and add the HDD for more storage when you have the money.
2. I dropped to the beefiest RX 460 I could find to stay under budget. If you can afford to go an extra few dollars over the $500, it would definitely be worth the upgrade to the RX 470 (or even the 480) in terms of keeping you running on Medium settings at 60FPS for the next few years. These cards had some pretty big sales a few weeks back, but it seems like those sales are over. Looks like there's still some mail-in-rebates though.
3. You didn't mention what size your case was. I went with a mATX card but if the case is ITX or has a proprietary size (like a prebuilt Dell, for example) then it may not fit.
So I am looking at building a new PC for some gaming action. I'm not looking to build a monster and I am OK with medium settings at 1080p. Since I will be paying $200 for a monitor/windows - is $500 for the rest doable?
For the whole thing? Case + PSU + etc?
I have an old case I can use, along with a CD-ROM, along with a monitor/KBAM. So $500 would be everything else.
i5s are $200, and 1060 6gb are $250. If you recycle your power supply (honestly I see no reason not to, I'm using an Antec 430 from nearly a decade ago), all you need is GPU+CPU+Mobo+RAM, assuming you're using an old hard drive.
Your other possible needs are a CPU heatsink, HDD/SSD, and a PSU. I would personally reuse the PSU if at all possible, then reuse your HDD if possible. SSDs are great and all, but it's going to eat up your budget while also not solving your storage issues. Later on you can get another 8gb stick and you'll be pretty golden.
So for Christmas I ended up getting the GTX 1060 6GB card. Upgraded from a GTX 770 4GB card. The thing is a monster! I put Gears of War 4 on Ultra settings using the 770 and I got around 45FPS average. With the 1060 I get 60 average. Today I am getting an additional 16GB of RAM (Corsair Vengeance Pro) and will install my SSD. I am so excited!
Ha, I did this exact same upgrade. It's not earth-shaking, but it is noticeable, especially since I play at 1440p.
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So I am looking at building a new PC for some gaming action. I'm not looking to build a monster and I am OK with medium settings at 1080p. Since I will be paying $200 for a monitor/windows - is $500 for the rest doable?
For the whole thing? Case + PSU + etc?
I have an old case I can use, along with a CD-ROM, along with a monitor/KBAM. So $500 would be everything else.
It's certainly doable. Does the case include a power supply? If not it may get a little hairy and you'll have to bargain shop around. What games are you looking to play on Medium? Any/all of them?
Here's a good start. I think there's an updated version of this too
So for Christmas I ended up getting the GTX 1060 6GB card. Upgraded from a GTX 770 4GB card. The thing is a monster! I put Gears of War 4 on Ultra settings using the 770 and I got around 45FPS average. With the 1060 I get 60 average. Today I am getting an additional 16GB of RAM (Corsair Vengeance Pro) and will install my SSD. I am so excited!
Ha, I did this exact same upgrade. It's not earth-shaking, but it is noticeable, especially since I play at 1440p.
I really, really wanted to jump to the 1070... But since it was a Christmas gift I couldn't justify a family member paying that much more for it.
I think this is why my computer wont post/boot/whatever
Thats a bent pin just to the right of the middle at the bottom of the socket, yes? I don't think its anything I did or at least I dont remember dropping anything into the socket like that, should I try to fix it or just return it?
I had the same thing happen when I built my computer in September. I talked with EVGA's customer service and they said I could try fixing it or just RMA it. I chose to RMA it and have an entirely new motherboard.
I wrote about it back when it happened, and it's a really disheartening thing to have happen. In my 20 years of building computers I've never had anything like it happen before. It wasn't until the third full rebuild of a brand new computer that I figured out I had a bent pin. I'll never know if I accidentally bent the pin when putting the CPU in the socket (even though I was extremely careful) or the motherboard came that way. However, don't dwell on stuff like that. Shit happens and return it as a broken item.
Actually the amazon box arrived fine and undamaged
The little plastic window on the back of the intel/product box was ripped open and the only thing remaining inside was the manual.
Amazon started an investigation, then three days later said the courier 'may have lost it the item' and then refunded me. Which I take to mean, yeah it seems like something hinky happened but we won't actually say it was stolen. Already got a new one. But its just been one thing after another lol
fixing bent pins is an age old tradition, but fixing CPU pins is a pain in the ass and unless you feel super comfortable doing it I'd recommend against it
not a doctor, not a lawyer, examples I use may not be fully researched so don't take out of context plz, don't @ me
Build thread! Help me out! I'm about to install a second SSD, are there any danger points I need to consider or do I just plug one end into the motherboard and one end into the wall?
Joking! Joking! I know how to plug it in, any chances I'll fuck anything else up or should it be plug and play?
If you just want another ssd for more space it's plug and play. Plug one end into the motherboard and the other into the power supply. It's an ssd so you can stick it wherever you want; they're not exactly fragile.
If you want to use it as your primary drive I recommend unplugging all of your other drives first, installing windows with just the ssd attached, and then plugging your old drives in once it's booting into the finished windows install. I would also format your old system disk so the old windows install isn't still floating around all bootable like.
Not a primary drive at all, just space for games. My 250gb still ticks along fine, I'd just like it to be a windows drive and nothing else (and be able to install more than one game at a time. Thanks for setting my mind at ease!
I think it's safe to say you didn't do anything wrong (unless you're sticking a fork into your molex connectors or something). If an ssd pulling current was enough to tip things over the edge there was already something wrong with the psu.
Did you flip the switch on the back of the PSU? Is it plugged in? Stupid question, I know, but it's worth checking all those things. Are all the modular cables secured? Is the 24 pin secured to the MB? Did you accidentally unseat the connector for the power switch?
It didn't come with cables, so I took two from the cable box. It's possible they're to blame?
If I plug the old SSD into the same slot it works fine, so it's not a mysterious bad slot on the PSU. If I unplug the old SSD and plug the new one in, it still shorts, which indicates to me that it's not a power problem? I don't know, SATA cables seem pretty robust. Maybe it's a duff SSD.
It didn't come with cables, so I took two from the cable box. It's possible they're to blame?
If I plug the old SSD into the same slot it works fine, so it's not a mysterious bad slot on the PSU. If I unplug the old SSD and plug the new one in, it still shorts, which indicates to me that it's not a power problem? I don't know, SATA cables seem pretty robust. Maybe it's a duff SSD.
When you plug the new ssd in without the old one, are you using the old ssd's cables? If you are not, try using the old cables that we know work. If it works with the old cables and motherboard sata connection then it's probably either the cables or the sata socket and we can go from there. If it doesn't work at all then it's probably the SSD.
You can swap the cable to the 'bad' one but use the same slot to see what happens. Narrow it down to the slot or the cable. Do you have another sata cable lying around?
So, with my wife's encouragement, I'm going to try building a new desktop PC to update my existing one. Right now, I've started with the case - a Corsair Carbide Spec-02, which I got for about half off through Amazon. I'm planning on maxing out the fans in the case:
* The rear unlit 120mm fan will be moved to the bottom intake slot.
* The front 120mm red LED fan will go to the rear exhaust.
* I have 2 120mm blue LED fans on order - these will go in the top exhaust.
* Finally, I will be ordering 2 blue 140mm fans for the front intake.
Is this a good configuration for the airflow? Anything I should look out for?
Well I did a stupid thing and long story short it's the sata power cable. I unplugged it without powering off and the computer immediately sprung to life. Time to haul off in the snow and buy a sata cable I guess.
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I have an old case I can use, along with a CD-ROM, along with a monitor/KBAM. So $500 would be everything else.
It's certainly doable. Does the case include a power supply? If not it may get a little hairy and you'll have to bargain shop around. What games are you looking to play on Medium? Any/all of them?
1. I put in a 1TB HDD because for your budget, you'd be looking at a 120GB SSD and that's barely going to be enough room for the three games you mentioned and Windows. A lot of people on this thread are probably going to fight me on that. If you can save an extra few bucks down the road for an upgrade, go with the SSD for now, and add the HDD for more storage when you have the money.
2. I dropped to the beefiest RX 460 I could find to stay under budget. If you can afford to go an extra few dollars over the $500, it would definitely be worth the upgrade to the RX 470 (or even the 480) in terms of keeping you running on Medium settings at 60FPS for the next few years. These cards had some pretty big sales a few weeks back, but it seems like those sales are over. Looks like there's still some mail-in-rebates though.
3. You didn't mention what size your case was. I went with a mATX card but if the case is ITX or has a proprietary size (like a prebuilt Dell, for example) then it may not fit.
This is what I came up with. Used: http://hexus.net/gaming/features/pc/92996-here-play-doom-sensible-pc-budget/ as a guide for some of the parts.
i5s are $200, and 1060 6gb are $250. If you recycle your power supply (honestly I see no reason not to, I'm using an Antec 430 from nearly a decade ago), all you need is GPU+CPU+Mobo+RAM, assuming you're using an old hard drive.
i5-6400 $185
EVGA 1060 $255
MSI H110M $45
1x8gb ddr4 $35
Total $520
Your other possible needs are a CPU heatsink, HDD/SSD, and a PSU. I would personally reuse the PSU if at all possible, then reuse your HDD if possible. SSDs are great and all, but it's going to eat up your budget while also not solving your storage issues. Later on you can get another 8gb stick and you'll be pretty golden.
Ha, I did this exact same upgrade. It's not earth-shaking, but it is noticeable, especially since I play at 1440p.
Here's a good start. I think there's an updated version of this too
here it is
I really, really wanted to jump to the 1070... But since it was a Christmas gift I couldn't justify a family member paying that much more for it.
I think this is why my computer wont post/boot/whatever
Thats a bent pin just to the right of the middle at the bottom of the socket, yes? I don't think its anything I did or at least I dont remember dropping anything into the socket like that, should I try to fix it or just return it?
I wrote about it back when it happened, and it's a really disheartening thing to have happen. In my 20 years of building computers I've never had anything like it happen before. It wasn't until the third full rebuild of a brand new computer that I figured out I had a bent pin. I'll never know if I accidentally bent the pin when putting the CPU in the socket (even though I was extremely careful) or the motherboard came that way. However, don't dwell on stuff like that. Shit happens and return it as a broken item.
http://www.guru3d.com/news-story/amd-ryzen-processors-reach-5-ghz-on-air.html
Man I really hope AMD shakes things up.
First my processor was stolen
Then the case arrived without screws for the mobo
Now this, good lord. I guess Ill try and return it.
*edit
Well, ok Amazon. They are already sending me a new one. That was easy :O
The little plastic window on the back of the intel/product box was ripped open and the only thing remaining inside was the manual.
Amazon started an investigation, then three days later said the courier 'may have lost it the item' and then refunded me. Which I take to mean, yeah it seems like something hinky happened but we won't actually say it was stolen. Already got a new one. But its just been one thing after another lol
Joking! Joking! I know how to plug it in, any chances I'll fuck anything else up or should it be plug and play?
you're not doing a fresh install right?
If you want to use it as your primary drive I recommend unplugging all of your other drives first, installing windows with just the ssd attached, and then plugging your old drives in once it's booting into the finished windows install. I would also format your old system disk so the old windows install isn't still floating around all bootable like.
Corsair rm750
that is some shit luck
If I plug the old SSD into the same slot it works fine, so it's not a mysterious bad slot on the PSU. If I unplug the old SSD and plug the new one in, it still shorts, which indicates to me that it's not a power problem? I don't know, SATA cables seem pretty robust. Maybe it's a duff SSD.
When you plug the new ssd in without the old one, are you using the old ssd's cables? If you are not, try using the old cables that we know work. If it works with the old cables and motherboard sata connection then it's probably either the cables or the sata socket and we can go from there. If it doesn't work at all then it's probably the SSD.
You may've already done this, but do you have any way to test it with another PC--hopefully in a noninvasive manner, like a USB cable/enclosure?
* The rear unlit 120mm fan will be moved to the bottom intake slot.
* The front 120mm red LED fan will go to the rear exhaust.
* I have 2 120mm blue LED fans on order - these will go in the top exhaust.
* Finally, I will be ordering 2 blue 140mm fans for the front intake.
Is this a good configuration for the airflow? Anything I should look out for?