Any custom/gaming rig builders here..?

[Garrett]

I'm planning my first complete build soon and could use some feedback on planned components & general building hints/tips.. I am registered on several forums, but find they can be quite impatient and often hostile to newcomers.

 

[Pickle]

it would help to known budget and types of games you plan to run.


If planning to run 3d games the video card you choose is the most important. Cant go wrong with a intel i7/i5, Amd is fine if your on a budget. Dont be too cheap pn the power supply, better to get a recognized name brand.

 

[wermy]

What Pickle said. How much are you looking to spend?

 

[skeezix]

I'd say skip i7, just get i5; the real i7 benefits are not _that_ big a deal relative to cost.. but that said, if you can get i7 for next to nothing over its i5 equivilent, nab it.


i5 + a good video card and you're in the cleart.


But if you want to run retro games, old arcvade games to display on a project or onto real arcade hardware, or other strange things, you need to be very specific about your requirements.


But if you just want to run Skyrim or the like, then you can get any 'pretty good' video card and be in the clear; the question then becomes.. do you want a crazy awesome current display (SLI 2 video cards, say), or future proofing (single really buff video card)... but video cards rfamp up in price quite heavily once you get past the current 'pretty good' cards.


So its, as in all things, a question of what you want and what your budget is


For case and power supply and such, you can go pretty inexpensive.. cost is for looks; if you don't mind ugly, some cheap coolermaster will have a big watt power supply thats not half bad, and a big airy ugly as sin case. If you want a good looking case it'll cost, or a small noisey or quiet case.. cost.


jeff

 

[Mr_Loon]

I'm always happy to stick my oar in when someone is building a PC.


It would be useful to know what the budget is to include, i.e. just the PC or OS / screen / mouse / joystick as well.


Here in the UK you certainly can't save a lot of money these days by building your own system but if you're like me and are likely to gain a lot of satisfaction knowing you built the thing yourself then go for it.


The hard choices articles on RPS are well worth a read for anyone thinking of building a gaming rig.


This article from PC Gamer might also be worth a read.

 

[Garrett]

Thanks,


I have a pretty good idea (I think) of what Is needed.. my current system is an overclocked i7 920, 6G Ram & HD 5870 which I inherited but due to abuse & general neglect (not by me) pretty much everything is failing on it.


I have a budget of around £1400 (could possibly push a bit further if necessary) I tend to run all the latest releases at 1920x1200 at high/max detail, my current rig is as you would imagine struggling a bit to cope, spontaneous rebooting is common whilst running anything relatively resource hungry, however I suspect this is due to the pretty poor PSU that is currently installed.


I already have some top end case fans & a Noctua NH-D14 for the new rig as I plan on some serious overclocking.. enough info..?

 

[Pickle]

I suspect this is due to the pretty poor PSU that is currently installed.

Sounds like the power supply, main reason I suggested dont neglect the PSU. You dont have to spend a ton, but choosing the right one is important.

 

[Garrett]

I suspect this is due to the pretty poor PSU that is currently installed.

Sounds like the power supply, main reason I suggested dont neglect the PSU. You dont have to spend a ton, but choosing the right one is important.

Yeah, I've done a fair bit of research here & I now realise the PSU is definitely something you don't want to scrimp on.

 

[Mr_Loon]

If that £1400 is just for the rig then I'd give some serious thought about getting an SSD, as well as a conventional drive for data.


This one seems like a good deal.


One thing that helped me a lot when building my last rig was to set up a simple spreadsheet with all the required components and columns for price, make / model, web link to product etc.


Don't scrimp on the case either, no need to go mad but I'd look to spend at least £50 on the case.

 

[Garrett]

If that £1400 is just for the rig then I'd give some serious thought about getting an SSD, as well as a conventional drive for data.

Already planned to, i currently have a 64GB SSD/2TB combo

 

[Darkknight512]

I have built a good pile of them so I'll chime in. 4 - 8 GB of ram is good, speed does not matter too much unless you are overclocking a lot. i5 over i7 for sure.


Get a quality (price does not equal quality) power supply, look at lots of reviews.


If you don't need lots of expansion slots mATX over ATX, get a small case and it will probably be nicer. That is unless you are going for liquid cooling. (Go custom if you do)


I typically like Gigabyte or Asus boards, have yet to have one fail me.


If you have the cash, grab a SSD and use hard drives for storage, the speed is just phenomenal but may not be worth your money if your budget is not that high, a fast hard drive is sufficient for almost everyone.


For sound on-board is typically good enough, but that is really up to you.


For graphics it really depends on your screen resolution and the settings you like to play at. I can't really help you there without knowing some more details.


Make a thread at www.overclock.net and there will be plenty of people that will chime in. I am over there with the same username.