Building a PC (, Yet Another)

[Jamesieab]

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/2rjLI

Do you really need an I7 for gaming? A top end I5 should be enough unless you have other use cases.

8 Gig is enough for most games.

The samsung 840 EVO is only 20 quid more on Amazon at the moment and is the current darling of the SA Goons, crucial not so much.

I usually post these links whenever someone wants to build a pc as I think they have good advice, if you haven't read these before read the OPs. See what they have to say about corsair CX power supplies.

SA PC Building and upgrading thread
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3525843&pagenumber=1

SA SSD thread
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3454120&pagenumber=1

SA Monitor thread
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3454120&pagenumber=1

[Puffin Chunks]

Do you really need an I7 for gaming? A top end I5 should be enough unless you have other use cases.

Yeah, I need a hefty CPU for work related tasks. Ideally I'd aim for a server grade Xeon, so I've actually already cut back on the processor.

The samsung 840 EVO is only 20 quid more on Amazon at the moment and is the current darling of the SA Goons, crucial not so much.

Ideally I'd get a 256GB SSD, but decided I could shave back a bit here. I'd imagine I'll buy a 2nd SSD at some point in the future when I'll probably buy a better specced one. Ultimately I've read that the Sandisk is reliable but unremarkable, so I'll use it for my OS and most played games until I buy a second. Ultimately I'm trying very hard not to push up the price any more than I have to and feel that the extra isn't worth it at the moment (£20 here, £20 there soon adds up ;) )

Cheers for the links, I'll have a read. Edit: Can't. Need a paid account to read :(

[Zetetic]

I'll note that something fucked up on my SSD - a Sandisk Ultra - but that the RMA process was almost entirely painless with the exception of having to post it to Brno (Czech Republic). The replacement appears to be fine so far.

(The fuck up involved no notable personal data loss at all , as it happens, but some part of the SSD didn't like being poked at any more, causing Windows not to boot or to allow reformats and so on. Could, to be honest, be partly to do with Windows not handling something correctly.)

Otherwise, I've had no problems with my machine.

[wasp_f15ting]

Good rule of thumb for anyone building a PC are as follows:

CPU - needn't be the top end unless you have a lot of video editing going on in your life. An i5 4670K is perfect.

Memory - You really don't need more than 1600 Mhz, check linus tech and other benchmarks there really isn't any impact.

Motherboard - Unless you plan on doing any major over clocking the difference between brands is not major. Get something lots of good connectivity i,e SATA 2 ports, USB 3.0 and a good UEFI. Have a look aroun on youtube to see how what the bios (UEFI) looks like and see if it seems simple to you. So far I have found asus to be really easy.

GPU - There are several things to consider here. However the main thing is, AMD are still the best value. Nvidia is ever so lightly over priced for spec for spec. Nvidia do have a fair bunch of gimicky special effects which somewhat enhance gameplay. I moved away from AMD to Nvidia to a 780ti, but that is only because I have a 2560 x 1440p monitor. If I was doing 1920 x 1080 I'd have stayed with my AMD rig.

Oh.. and SSD is a must. They are affordable now and have a massive impact on your overall PC experience :)

[The Region Legion]

SA PC Building and upgrading thread
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3525843&pagenumber=1

SA SSD thread
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3454120&pagenumber=1

SA Monitor thread
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3454120&pagenumber=1

Not everyone bothers to pay the $10 to play by the rules of a bunch of autistic wankers you know, so this is unreadable to pretty much 99% of people here.