Catalyst Gaming
General => Support & Help => Topic started by: Hazard Time on June 16, 2015, 02:38:03 PM
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So, I've decided to build a new PC over the summer to replace my laptop. I know jack about what makes hardware "good", so I would like to ask your help in finding the components I will need to build a gaming computer. I've currently set a tentative budget at $750, but this may change if necessary.
Any techies able to help?
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So, I've decided to build a new PC over the summer to replace my laptop. I know jack about what makes hardware "good", so I would like to ask your help in finding the components I will need to build a gaming computer. I've currently set a tentative budget at $750, but this may change if necessary.
Any techies able to help?
Quick Questions:
Keeping old OS or not (Can clone to a new drive if you want).
Monitor, keyboard, mouse do you have any?
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Quick Questions:
Keeping old OS or not (Can clone to a new drive if you want).
Monitor, keyboard, mouse do you have any?
1. Probably not, I'll probably purchase a new copy of Windows. Which one would you suggest? The one on my laptop is Windows 7.
2. I have a wireless mouse, but that's the extent of my external hardware I currently have on hand.
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Quick Questions:
Keeping old OS or not (Can clone to a new drive if you want).
Monitor, keyboard, mouse do you have any?
1. Probably not, I'll probably purchase a new copy of Windows. Which one would you suggest? The one on my laptop is Windows 7.
2. I have a wireless mouse, but that's the extent of my external hardware I currently have on hand.
I would highly suggest saving up abit more cash. I have a build id suggest but its at the 1k mark due to having to add a monitor (And OS). The build is mostly future proof for a good while.
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I would highly suggest saving up abit more cash. I have a build id suggest but its at the 1k mark due to having to add a monitor (And OS). The build is mostly future proof for a good while.
Can do. This job I've got at the local country club pays pretty damn well, both due to Oregon's high as fuck minimum wage plus 15% gratuities.
In the mean time, what was the build you were going to suggest?
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I would highly suggest saving up abit more cash. I have a build id suggest but its at the 1k mark due to having to add a monitor (And OS). The build is mostly future proof for a good while.
Can do. This job I've got at the local country club pays pretty damn well, both due to Oregon's high as fuck minimum wage plus 15% gratuities.
In the mean time, what was the build you were going to suggest?
Right now i would lean at this:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/jvt9ZL
However if you are willing to save up until lets say end of July (When Windows 10 is out) we can use it and probably upgrade to a 970, 16GB of ram. You would have a pretty solid machine then. I went with a White/Black Design i thought it would look cooler. Also for the case one bay of drives would need removed for the video card (More than likely).
Oh yes and if you hate White/Black i can look at Red/Black or some random colors.
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Right now i would lean at this:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/jvt9ZL
However if you are willing to save up until lets say end of July (When Windows 10 is out) we can use it and probably upgrade to a 970, 16GB of ram. You would have a pretty solid machine then. I went with a White/Black Design i thought it would look cooler. Also for the case one bay of drives would need removed for the video card (More than likely).
Oh yes and if you hate White/Black i can look at Red/Black or some random colors.
I can certainly wait. Another question I had was how much can I expect to pay for labor? I'd rather not begin to think I could competently assemble the box, so I'd probably pay some guys at Fry's or Best Buy to do it.
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Right now i would lean at this:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/jvt9ZL
However if you are willing to save up until lets say end of July (When Windows 10 is out) we can use it and probably upgrade to a 970, 16GB of ram. You would have a pretty solid machine then. I went with a White/Black Design i thought it would look cooler. Also for the case one bay of drives would need removed for the video card (More than likely).
Oh yes and if you hate White/Black i can look at Red/Black or some random colors.
I can certainly wait. Another question I had was how much can I expect to pay for labor? I'd rather not begin to think I could competently assemble the box, so I'd probably pay some guys at Fry's or Best Buy to do it.
I would just buy a pre-done computer then. iBuyPower, CyberPC or whatever others suggest. However assembling a PC is VERY simple.
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just build it yourself. its way easier then you're probably imagining trust me, took me about an hour to do my first time and I was like 13
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just build it yourself. its way easier then you're probably imagining trust me, took me about an hour to do my first time and I was like 13
I probably am just over thinking it. Either way, I currently have about 200 or 300 in my fund, and I should have all the money I need by the end of July. It would also probably help if I just went out to Fry's and bought all of those retail. Would definitely save on the S&H.
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just build it yourself. its way easier then you're probably imagining trust me, took me about an hour to do my first time and I was like 13
I probably am just over thinking it. Either way, I currently have about 200 or 300 in my fund, and I should have all the money I need by the end of July. It would also probably help if I just went out to Fry's and bought all of those retail. Would definitely save on the S&H.
Actually retail the parts are abit more expensive. The cheapest way would be to order it all off Amazon because you can select poor mans shipping for free (3 day shipping will not be that bad also). I just never enjoy retail stores, seen some jack up prices by well over 50$.
And as waffle said its almost like legos. As long as you follow the instructions and pay attention to what you are doing it works.
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make sure to check compatibility between parts too, like the motherboard supports the CPU you are buying (socket matches, BIOS is ready to use it), GPU(s) are able to also slot into the PCIe slots available (and check the PCIe slots too, some have PCIe x4 as the second PCIe slot which would be bad if you are doing SLI), PSU can handle the maximum output of all the hardware together, motherboard can actually fit in the case you've bought, etc
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frys will price match anything fulfilled by amazon, so try that if you absolutely want to get everything locally.
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Go for Intel chips. AMD are still a ways behind. And don't cheap yourself out. If you have the money to spend on a good rig, spend it. Last thing you wanna do is regret not spending more and knowing you could have done better.
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Go for Intel chips. AMD are still a ways behind. And don't cheap yourself out. If you have the money to spend on a good rig, spend it. Last thing you wanna do is regret not spending more and knowing you could have done better.
I've tended to stay away from AMD in general, for better or worse. Intel has certainly served me well and Nvidia is...I guess it's good?
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Go for Intel chips. AMD are still a ways behind. And don't cheap yourself out. If you have the money to spend on a good rig, spend it. Last thing you wanna do is regret not spending more and knowing you could have done better.
I've tended to stay away from AMD in general, for better or worse. Intel has certainly served me well and Nvidia is...I guess it's good?
To Try and avoid a massive flamewar the overall quality of a Nvidia card is much better. You will be paying extra "Compared to the others" if you even want to call it that. But the proof is in the pudding....
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html
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I forgot where you live, but if you have a Microcenter near you definitely go there. They have prices that are equal if not lower than Amazon, and have everything you can imagine.
Also, what Adam suggested is good and future proof(Especially if you go with the 970. I'm going to be selling mine that's a few months old if you want to talk). 8gb RAM is definitely enough, but with how cheap it is and if you have the money you may as well go for the 16gb.
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I forgot where you live, but if you have a Microcenter near you definitely go there. They have prices that are equal if not lower than Amazon, and have everything you can imagine.
Also, what Adam suggested is good and future proof(Especially if you go with the 970. I'm going to be selling mine that's a few months old if you want to talk). 8gb RAM is definitely enough, but with how cheap it is and if you have the money you may as well go for the 16gb.
Never heard of that, so probably not. I live in western Oregon, FYI.
Also, I'm not going to go cheap, but with as high as I'm having to push my budget (if it even still exists even more), I'm not sure if it's worth the added expense.
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I forgot where you live, but if you have a Microcenter near you definitely go there. They have prices that are equal if not lower than Amazon, and have everything you can imagine.
Also, what Adam suggested is good and future proof(Especially if you go with the 970. I'm going to be selling mine that's a few months old if you want to talk). 8gb RAM is definitely enough, but with how cheap it is and if you have the money you may as well go for the 16gb.
Never heard of that, so probably not. I live in western Oregon, FYI.
Also, I'm not going to go cheap, but with as high as I'm having to push my budget (if it even still exists even more), I'm not sure if it's worth the added expense.
Go for the 16gb. Just do it!
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Don't listen to these Nvidia fanboys
With the R9 300 series cards coming out, they'll use the GTX cards as a mop. Take it from somebody who owns/uses a Nvidia card. AMD does lack on the CPU side when it comes to high end stuff, but as far as GPU's go, there's no reason to not go with AMD. Don't let their superior marketing strategies and fanboyism fool you, look at the benchmarks yourself to see through the lies.
EXAMPLE:
The Titan X costs 1050$ and the Fury X is going to cost 650$ (It comes out this/next week) and the Fury X has 1.6 Tflops OVER the Titan X.
The 750Ti costs ~150$ and the 270x costs ~150$, and yet the 270x wipes the floor with the 750Ti when it comes down to the benchmarks.
The 280x and 960 both cost a little over 200$, and yet the 280x is simply a better card when it comes down to it.
Side note: If you don't want to support anti-competitive business practices that Nvidia partakes in, then I'd also recommend AMD.
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Don't listen to these Nvidia fanboys
With the R9 300 series cards coming out, they'll use the GTX cards as a mop. Take it from somebody who owns/uses a Nvidia card. AMD does lack on the CPU side when it comes to high end stuff, but as far as GPU's go, there's no reason to not go with AMD. Don't let their superior marketing strategies and fanboyism fool you, look at the benchmarks yourself to see through the lies.
EXAMPLE:
The Titan X costs 1050$ and the Fury X is going to cost 650$ (It comes out this/next week) and the Fury X has 1.6 Tflops OVER the Titan X.
The 750Ti costs ~150$ and the 270x costs ~150$, and yet the 270x wipes the floor with the 750Ti when it comes down to the benchmarks.
The 280x and 960 both cost a little over 200$, and yet the 280x is simply a better card when it comes down to it.
Side note: If you don't want to support anti-competitive business practices that Nvidia partakes in, then I'd also recommend AMD.
I own an R9 270x. It gets incredibly hot and can barely run GTA5 on Normal settings with lower than 1920x1080. When I got it I was so ready to play Far Cry 3. "Sorry mate, mediocre/low settings for you" - said the game. I also have an AMD A-10 6800K CPU. I've used AMD in every PC I have owned and I am very ready to switch to Intel because I have been disappointed with every single AMD product I have owned. I literally don't remember ever buying an AMD build that I was pleased with. Maybe that's just my stupidly high standards? I dunno. But what I do know, with the hefty burden of hindsight, is; if you have the expendable money, buy the best. And Intel, from everything I have read and seen, is still way in front.
At the end of the day it's your money and these are just opinions. We all have bias towards one thing or another so try and make an informed opinion. Look on tech forums, compare stats. Do your research because it will determine whether you are happy with your purchase for the next 2 to 3 years. Or it will determine whether you feel like you've wasted your money on low budget cheapo shite and just wanna sell it and start again ^_^
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amds cards are perfectly acceptable, their processors are meh at best. go intel for your processor and use benchmarks to decide on a card.
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Nvidia is actually progressing with their GPUs, AMD's 2xx series is literally a rebrand of the previous series and now the new 3xx is ANOTHER rebrand of the same thing. If you want actual quality, good performance and good temperatures you will want to go with Nvidia, even AMD isn't worth the price anymore when they keep rebranding.
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Nvidia is actually progressing with their GPUs, AMD's 2xx series is literally a rebrand of the previous series and now the new 3xx is ANOTHER rebrand of the same thing. If you want actual quality, good performance and good temperatures you will want to go with Nvidia, even AMD isn't worth the price anymore when they keep rebranding.
Benchmarks speak for themselves.
amds cards are perfectly acceptable, their processors are meh at best. go intel for your processor and use benchmarks to decide on a card.
Yea nobodys doubting that, if you want a high end CPU then go Intel. AMD is only good for if you're budget only allows a low end CPU. I mean really, go Intel over AMD when it comes to CPU's at all costs.