buying a pc

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Pugsport

Second Lieutenant
|K3| Member
well when buying a pc/building a new pc what things do you look for?

i mean the whole overall package including case, cpu, gpu, optical drives etc

do you buy by brand, specs, looks' guidance from other or reviews? maybe more one than one option

whats more important best bang for your money or just out right performance with no thought of cost?



i have been thinking about this a fair bit over the last few days as i have been thinking about building a 2nd pc for when friends come over (can then game at the same rather than taking it in turns) but not wanting huge specs, more of an everyday pc which made me think how when building a new pc how i choose my parts.

when i buy a case its more brand and looks related but when i buy hardware its all about performance for money although i would never buy non branded or cheap branded stuff because the specs were good

my next build is going to be best bang for your money and as little money as possible (maybe my first amd build coming up) but normally i aim for performance as it means i should not have to upgrade for a while
 
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EpicX

Private First Class
AMD is golden when it comes to price/performance. They have good processors (despite what Intel fangirls might say) and good GPU's.
- Their R9 270X is equivalent to an HD 7870, which is a very very good gaming card when using a standard 1080P monitor.
- Their FX 8320 8-core processor is more than good enough for today's games. Not a whole lot slower than an Intel i5 or i7 when it comes to per-core performance, and in game frame rates are identical to the i5 and i7 using the exact same setup. Plus, you are paying almost $100 less
- GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 is a great motherboard that is packed with features. Solid overall board.
- G.SKILL Sniper 8GB 1866MHz Memory should be just fine, should not need anything more than 8GB unless editing video/picture.
- SeaSonic 650W GOLD Power Supply ...Best Power Supply manufacturer on the market, hands down. 650W should be more than enough.
- Cooler Master hyper 212 EVO CPU Air Cooler very solid brand name, very reputable product.
- Cooler Master HAF 912 it's a case, with amazing airflow. What else could you possibly want?
- Western Digital 1TB Black HDD 1TB of storage is more than enough to store OS and games. Get an SSD if you want to store OS separate.

Unless I completely forgot to add something, the price should be $900 (not including shipping, handling, taxes, special offers, rebates) and it should last you a couple of years. You can upgrade the system as needed later on down the road.
 
WaLLy

WaLLy

Lieutenant General
|K3| Executive
Laptop = Apple MacBook Pro. Very pricey but no other laptop (besides the Air) can beat the build, design, and quality. Apple's customer service is top-notch too.

As for a custom build, I've only built one. And at the time I concentrated on a certain budget. I tried to skimp on a few things (HDD's, OS, CD/DVD burner) as I already had them. I can't say I tried to get the best because it was just too much money. Either way, I felt I built a decent PC for the budget that I had.

As for hardware, I'm a big fan of hackintoshing, so I built my PC with compatible parts; Intel CPU, Gigabyte mobo, EVGA GPU. So I'm not necessarily a fan of certain parts. However, I do tend to prefer Intel and EVGA hardware. Everything else goes.

My next build will be a mini-ATX beast. Hopefully some time next year.
 
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EpicX

Private First Class
But really doe. Have you seen the internals of a Razer laptop? Godlike.
The new GIGABYTE laptop as well.
ASUS makes top quality laptops, Lenovo laptops are above exceptional, and MSI laptops are beefy and powerful as fukk. CyberPower is just CyberPower.

Apple laptops look great, sure - but that's exteremely subjective. Plus there's a lot more to a laptop than looks.
If you're looking for the most raw power for a fraction of the price of an Apple laptop, then the aforementioned companies are where to go to. (Aside from maybe Razer...)
 
animal66

animal66

Second Lieutenant
Member of the Year
|K3|Super-Moderator
When i'm building, i always insist on a Gigabyte Motherboard. They've been very good for me, and i won't have anything else, and it must have as many ram slots as you can shake a pointy stick at.
I go for AMD as my cpu because it gives me good bang for my buck.
cpu cooler. I now go for 3rd party coolers after having issues with stock coolers. Current on is a coolermaster cm212, and it does the job
Psu, i tend to go for corsair because they tend to be pretty solid and not too expensive.
Gpu, i tend to go for slightly older models, as an example i currently have a GTX580 in my machine, i think that current generation gpu's tend to be a waste of money.
Ram, as much as i can afford at the time
Case, not too bothered about, cheap and looks reasonable.
 
animal66

animal66

Second Lieutenant
Member of the Year
|K3|Super-Moderator
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EpicX

Private First Class
Your GPU is also 2 generations old. You're lacking some of the newer features of the current gen cards to save a few bucks. I agree that just because a card is more expensive, doesn't mean it will run better. But you don't need to spend $600+ on a GPU to use a current gen card, and play games on their highest settings. A GTX 760 performs overall worse than the GTX 780 Ti - but it's also $400 cheaper. A 760 is probably similarly priced (at the time of your purchase) and will out perform your GTX 580.

Aaaand here's a video. That kind of explains what we're both sort of talking about.
 
stevo

stevo

eh
Former Krew Member
EpicX said:
Your GPU is also 2 generations old. You're lacking some of the newer features of the current gen cards to save a few bucks. I agree that just because a card is more expensive, doesn't mean it will run better. But you don't need to spend $600+ on a GPU to use a current gen card, and play games on their highest settings. A GTX 760 performs overall worse than the GTX 780 Ti - but it's also $400 cheaper. A 760 is probably similarly priced (at the time of your purchase) and will out perform your GTX 580.

Aaaand here's a video. That kind of explains what we're both sort of talking about.
Click to expand...
Workstation and Gaming video cards should't even be compared.
WaLLy said:
Laptop = Apple MacBook Pro. Very pricey but no other laptop (besides the Air) can beat the build, design, and quality. Apple's customer service is top-notch too.

As for a custom build, I've only built one. And at the time I concentrated on a certain budget. I tried to skimp on a few things (HDD's, OS, CD/DVD burner) as I already had them. I can't say I tried to get the best because it was just too much money. Either way, I felt I built a decent PC for the budget that I had.

As for hardware, I'm a big fan of hackintoshing, so I built my PC with compatible parts; Intel CPU, Gigabyte mobo, EVGA GPU. So I'm not necessarily a fan of certain parts. However, I do tend to prefer Intel and EVGA hardware. Everything else goes.

My next build will be a mini-ATX beast. Hopefully some time next year.
Click to expand...
micro ATX or did you mean mini ITX? Micro ATX are like full size ATX boards but smaller with less PCI-E slots and some with less features(Some are still loaded with features). Mini ITX boards are even smaller, with normally only 1 slots at the end. The mini-ITX boards are also very energy efficient and sometimes have less features and are a little more pricey. My last build was a mini-ITX for storage, so I didn't need much power at all(I think my motherboard takes 25watts). The main thing for me was the case size and power efficiency. So I guess it would depend on your goals and how small of a case you want or need. Also note my mini-ITX case could fit a dual slot wide GPU so it does have some potential, but building a compact PC sometimes costs more due to part costs.

Buying PC parts, it all depended on what your goals are and how much money you have in your budget and a bit of preference.
 
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EpicX

Private First Class
stevo said:
Workstation and Gaming video cards shouldn't even be compared.
Click to expand...
Except if you watch the video... He does compare them, and they're essentially exactly the same - besides the fact that one is more accurate and has special memory. 2:30 in the video to 3:41 covers it.
It genuinely angers me that people ACTUALLY think that "Gaming cards" and "Workstation cards" are THAT much different.
 
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Pugsport

Second Lieutenant
|K3| Member
i was not after a build guide lol im more than happy to spend a little time on the net shopping :) and i may even make a parts list tonight for my new second pc which i think its about time i got my hand on an amd cpu and maybe a power station to run it as well;)

WaLLy said:
Yes, I meant mini ITX. It's the only way to get near the Mac mini build (well, not nearly but whatever).
Click to expand...

you know you can go smaller than mini itx right?

EDIT: -

one thing i had not noticed was that must amd motherboard only do a max memory speed of 1866Mhz
 
Kreubs

Kreubs

|K3|Minecraft Admin
|K3| Executive
EpicX said:
It genuinely angers me that people ACTUALLY think that "Gaming cards" and "Workstation cards" are THAT much different.
Click to expand...
This could be true depending on the card/driver, but, in terms of architecture, they aren't that much different. The workstation cards are loaded with fancy features that have number crunching in mind rather than pixel pumping, but they actually can hold their own in games.

stevo said:
Workstation and Gaming video cards should't even be compared.
Click to expand...
They actually have been many times over, and they aren't too shabby at games either.
 
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