Build your own computer guide

GasBandit

Staff member
That's definitely a pretty good build. I wasn't trying to make you feel worse, just joking about the very common perception that PC building is hard, when the reality is that these day's it's no harder than putting up a tent - with a lot less physical exertion.

That said, if you're gonna put this off for several months because of money... you might want to re-check your list for price fluctuations immediately before you order. There might be a better deal. Especially for the video card.

This page is my mantra: https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu_value.html
 
The Ryzen? It's really a 2700.
The graphics card (5700xt) was current generation, so I wondered if the CPU was a typo. The 2700 may not be the latest, but it is still plenty capable for today’s stuff. And they’re cheaper now that the 3000’s are out.

And that case is HUUUUUGE. You could practically live in it if only the side panel wasn’t clear. Glass houses and all.

—Patrick
 
That's definitely a pretty good build. I wasn't trying to make you feel worse, just joking about the very common perception that PC building is hard, when the reality is that these day's it's no harder than putting up a tent - with a lot less physical exertion.

That said, if you're gonna put this off for several months because of money... you might want to re-check your list for price fluctuations immediately before you order. There might be a better deal. Especially for the video card.

This page is my mantra: https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu_value.html
Thank you! And I'll be sure to double check before I buy. :)

The graphics card (5700xt) was current generation, so I wondered if the CPU was a typo. The 2700 may not be the latest, but it is still plenty capable for today’s stuff. And they’re cheaper now that the 3000’s are out.

And that case is HUUUUUGE. You could practically live in it if only the side panel wasn’t clear. Glass houses and all.

—Patrick
Oh, yeah, no, I thought about doing the 3700, but I think the 2700 will be powerful enough for what I need and cheaper, so. ://// That's why.

IT IS. And I'm gonna be that person that vomits RGB all up in there - just red though.
 
Most everything these days on a PC is made-to-fit...most of the cables fit into the motherboard in specific locations and it's nearly impossible to put them in the wrong place.

the place you might have the most issues (depending on your case) is plugging in all of the case wires into the motherboard spots for them.
1581476633528.png


This is literally the shittiest part of building a computer, and I hate it every time I have to do it. Some cases organize the wires better than others.

Everything else looks like this:
1581476728566.png

Specific shaped cables going into specific shaped spots.
 
YOU KNOW. I thought about it, but?? I dunno. Would you guys wanna watch? I'll still probably ask my friends' friend to help me, so it would probably just be me and him, with me awkwardly running around in the background. Yay, nay?
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Awkwardly running around in the background... in costume?

Heck, maybe that should be your streamer niche. Doing everyday stuff in costume. Might attract weirdos, though. Well, even more weirdos than us.
 
Awkwardly running around in the background... in costume?

Heck, maybe that should be your streamer niche. Doing everyday stuff in costume. Might attract weirdos, though. Well, even more weirdos than us.
Haha, I mean I could.

:rofl:You’re not wrong!! I could do that.
I do have an idea already of what I want my stream life to be - I want to stream games that I think would’ve been popular if streaming had been around back then. The games that have been left to time because they’re not the classic classics but old enough that everyone’s forgotten them, like Sly Cooper or Jak and Daxter, Guitar Hero even. I think it will be fun. And also Rocket League because my obsession with that game is...real damn high.
 
Awkwardly running around in the background... in costume?
Heck, maybe that should be your streamer niche. Doing everyday stuff in costume.
I mean, there's precedent.
The 2700 is an excellent value, and as you say, pretty much powerful enough for just about anything, including VR (especially when paired with a 5700xt).
The 2700 is more or less equivalent in speed to the 3600. The 3600 is a smidge faster, but the 2700 has two more cores and is $50 less, so yeah, excellent value.
the place you might have the most issues (depending on your case) is plugging in all of the case wires into the motherboard spots for them.
View attachment 32845

This is literally the shittiest part of building a computer, and I hate it every time I have to do it. Some cases organize the wires better than others.
I like the motherboards that include a header where you assemble all your cables onto a block and then just plug the block into the board. SO much easier.
960 GB SSD?!? Almost a TB SSD. God damn.
Shh...nobody tell Dave about the ~4TB Kingston DC450R.

--Patrick
 
I'm with you in regards to hoarding. I've got 8TB of HDD installed in my pc currently. Only 480GB of SSD.
 
VERY nice build. Better than mine, actually. :(

I would recommend a better cooler than stock. The MSI Core Frozr L is top notch.
thank you for the suggestion! I like my choice of the Corsair H115i though (especially when paired with the 2700). :) And I’ll have 3+ RGB fans in there as well - Antec Prizm 140 and 120’s.
 
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Hmmm, well, for now I'm just pricing things. I need to check my old PC rig and see what's salvageable. The case for sure, I'm pretty sure the PSU is okay, by now it's fairly old but it was lightly used before my HDD died, I should be okay for a CPU cooler. If the old liguid cooler is gunked, I should still have a pretty beefy regular one.
It's replacement was an ACER that wasn't really upgradeable. I did get a 1050 ti but it's already a bit dated. I'm either going to turn it into a media machine or snag the 1tb HDD out of it.
I can't see needing beyond 1080i def for a graphics cards. Something that would be able to run RDR2 and Cyberpunk would.
I'm just not sure if getting parts and having to buy win 10 or just getting a decent upgradeable system would be better.

Suggestions?

p.s. looking in the 600-700 range

For a whole system looking at something like this
 
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Man, I can kick myself. I bought the parts for a decent gaming rig back in February. It is all still in the boxes on my kitchen table. Just after doing 8 hours at work, I really don't feel like effing with more computer related stuff.
 
Suggestions?
If you're not sure which CPU to get (and you've decided not going to keep whatever one you already have), then that means you probably want a Ryzen R5 3600.
No, really. It's such a value that tech sites constantly recommending it became a meme.
Its successor isn't supposed to be ready until sometime in Q3, so if you need a new system now, that's probably the way to go.

You can get a decent 2TB SATA SSD for about $225 these days. I chose a 2TB Seagate BarraCuda 120 (model ZA2000CM1A003, US$250) based on its purported MTBF in order to replace the 1TB HDD in Cranky's older Athlon64 X2 machine, and of course it makes a huge difference.
Man, I can kick myself. I bought the parts for a decent gaming rig back in February. It is all still in the boxes on my kitchen table. Just after doing 8 hours at work, I really don't feel like effing with more computer related stuff.
Pfft. Casual.

--Patrick
 
If you're not sure which CPU to get (and you've decided not going to keep whatever one you already have), then that means you probably want a Ryzen R5 3600.
No, really. It's such a value that tech sites constantly recommending it became a meme.
Its successor isn't supposed to be ready until sometime in Q3, so if you need a new system now, that's probably the way to go.

You can get a decent 2TB SATA SSD for about $225 these days. I chose a 2TB Seagate BarraCuda 120 (model ZA2000CM1A003, US$250) based on its purported MTBF in order to replace the 1TB HDD in Cranky's older Athlon64 X2 machine, and of course it makes a huge difference.

Pfft. Casual.

--Patrick
If I go the parts route, well I'll be looking at a MB, cpu, OS install, ssd or ssd/hdd combo, memory, graphics card. I'll have to double check what's in my acer memory wise but i'm pretty sure its ddr3 and not 4, and maybe a power supply. between the 2 pcs I know I have a working dvd drive. That SSD is very nice but that would probably be siphoning money from the mb/cpu and/or GPU.
 
Are you looking for prebuilt + add-ons, or for a piece-at-a-time full upgrade path?

Can you post (or PM) your entire current build? Case, MLB, CPU, PSU, GPU, RAM, Drive(s), add-in cards, etc. The more info you can collect on the specific parts you already have, the better advice I or anyone else here can give.

These days, the price differences between the OEM and Retail versions of Win10 x64 Home and Pro don't seem as wide as they used to be. The only reasons I can see for you to choose Pro over Home would be if your machine will have 2 or more CPUs (not likely), Hyper-V virtualization (if you want to run Virtual Machines, also probably not likely), or if you want the BitLocker whole-disk encryption (this is something your job might require if you also use the machine for work). NewEgg shows Win10x64 Home OEM going for $110 while the Retail version goes for $140. Personally I'd pick the Retail version if the difference is going to be only $30. That would still leave a little over $500 in the budget for the rest of your machine.

--Patrick
 
Right now I havea pre-built Acer Aspire intel i5 4440 8 g ddr3 that I've stuck a gtx 1050ti in.
The old PC is a full size tower PSU is AGI 550W, Once the HDD died, it was already a dated system so I took the emergency route with the ACER.


Yeah, I'd get home not pro.

the r5 3600 and a decent mb looks around at least 300ish. GPU 180-200, I'm 90 % sure the power supply from the pc before that is good and is fairly beefy, and I can, between the 2 pcs, get a dvd if I want one. that would still be leaving storage. Memory $80ish if I get 16g up front.


The acer would still be a perfectly cromulent media pc to hook up to the tv, and heck still play older games.
 
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There's more than one Aspire out there that used the 4440, so I just went by your stated specs.
Your old PSU is actually going to limit you somewhat. 550W is a bit low for modern GPUs, or at least for the "premium" ones. Should be fine for any of the GeForce "6" models or below, though (1060, 1660, 2060, etc), assuming it has enough of the proper connectors (SATA, PCIe aux power 6/8) to feed everything you put in the box. But it would certainly be enough to get you started. Let's see what some numbers would look like:

0.00 - PSU - Salvaged AGI 550W
0.00 - CAS - Salvaged Full Tower Case
0.00 - HDD - 1TB (salvaged from Acer)
0.00 - GPU - GeForce GTX 1050ti (salvaged from Acer)
0.00 - ODD - Salvaged DVD drive
115.00 - OS - Win10 x64 Home Retail
175.00 - MLB - X570 Socket AM4 MLB of some sort (there are many at this price point)
175.00 - CPU - AMD Ryzen R5 3600 (HSF comes in the box if your water cooler is indeed broken)
80.00 - RAM - 2x8GB DDR4-3200 CL16 (CL14 is better/faster, but more expensive)
=======
545.00 - TOT - $55 worth of wiggle room, maybe enough for a 1TB
SSHD instead of scavenging from the Acer?

So let me talk about the above. I know you want a better graphics card, but that shouldn't be your first priority, especially with your stated budget.
Buying a new CPU means buying a whole new motherboard and RAM, yes. But a 3600 is 6 years newer than the 4440, and scores 40% better at single-threaded tasks (e.g., gaming). Oh, and the 3600 has 6 cores instead of only 4, uses 20W less power than the 4440, and since it can do SMT (which Intel calls "Hyperthreading") on top of those other things, it is almost 4x faster overall than the 4440. Your graphics may not get prettier, but you'd be surprised at what percentage of stuttering in modern games is due to the CPU bottlenecking, and not the GPU.

Upgrade the HDD to a SSD later. Upgrade the GPU to something else later (especially since it might mean having to upgrade your PSU at the same time--if not for Wattage, then for plugs). Right now the oldest thing in your system is its core, so upgrade that first.

DISCLAIMER: The above is a personal recommendation only, and should not be taken as professional advice.

--Patrick
 
Well I'll wait on the GPU but I just tossed this off to amazon



ASRock B450M PRO4 AM4 AMD Promontory B450 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard $88.99
AMD Ryzen 5 3600 6-Core, 12-Thread Unlocked Desktop Processor with Wraith Stealth Cooler $175
Windows 10 oem usb $120
Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 DRAM 3200MHz C16 Desktop Memory Kit - Black (CMK16GX4M2B3200C16),Vengeance LPX Black $77
ADATA SU635 960GB 3D-NAND SATA 2.5 inch Internal SSD (ASU635SS-960GQ-R) $90
Thermal paste and 3pack of small case fans for $20

With tax a little over $600. It split it up into 2 orders for some reason.
I'll take my old case to work tomorrow and blow/clean it out, and check water cooler and see if the dvd drives show up in bios.
 
Uh, I wouldn't really recommend putting a Ryzen 3xxx into any of the X3x0-based boards. The VRMs aren't as good as the ones in the 4xx and newer series.
The 4xx-based boards are better, but still not as good as the X570-based ones. About the only real advantage a B450 has over an X570 is price. That's it. Price. That's the only advantage. I mean, if that's what you were after, then I get it. Personally I would've gone for the X570 just for the greater expandability, but it shouldn't hurt your performance at all unless you wanted to go with 2x GPUs, which I wouldn't recommend on µATX anyway.

The rest looks solid, though I admit I don't know much about the SU635 SSD...oh, it's QLC. Best advice I have for you there is to make sure you always keep at least 1/4 of the drive empty, otherwise you're going to see some serious slowdowns. Until people stop making TLC drives, I will always pick them over QLC, even if the QLC ones are cheaper.

--Patrick
 
I'll eventually get a big honking HDD for older games and such. I don't think I'll let that become an issue.

*edit* 2 GPU's!!! Look at daddy warbucks over here :p.
Oh and the PSU has the dual sli power cords and such. So as long as it works I"m good there. and if it's not working, With all the different delivery times I"ll have plenty of time to get a new PSU.

But thanks for the insights.
 
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Well, the PSU does appear dead. ordered a Corsair 650W $70. While I have your attn, and you have your thumbs on these issues, what would you recommend in the next month or three for a graphics card in the 250 range give or take?

*edit* I meant to add, the corsair liquid cooler doesn't appear to have leaked and I can hear sloshing sounds, but I didn't *obviously* get to power it up. Should be okay?
 

GasBandit

Staff member
what would you recommend in the next month or three for a graphics card in the 250 range give or take?

Right now, the GTX 1660 super is your best bang for the buck in the $250 range.
A viable AMD alternative is the RX Vega 56.

If you absolutely gotta have the raytracing, you can spend $300 and get a GTX 2060.
 
what would you recommend in the next month or three for a graphics card in the 250 range give or take?
Right now, the GTX 1660 super is your best bang for the buck in the $250 range.
A viable AMD alternative is the RX Vega 56.
Gas and I may disagree on other things, but on this we are united. The GTX 1660-based family of cards are THE best bang-for-buck-and-Watt out there right now (barring the exceptions I mention in the post I linked).

The only thing I will disagree with is that I would pick the 1660 Ti over the 1660 Super (can get a refurbished Ti for only $20-30 more than a Super these days) because the Ti has more cores and TUs enabled than the Super. In other words, while the two cards may have relatively equivalent performance, this is because under the hood the Super has a turbocharged V6, but the Ti has a V8. To put it another way, since they both use the exact same chip at their heart, a 1660 Super is just a "normal" 1660 which has been overclocked and tweaked to get it near the performance level of a stock 1660 Ti, but then there's nothing saying you can't get a stock Ti and then overclock that to get performance that consistently beats that of the 1660 Super. However, if you absolutely can't afford the price premium, then yes, the 1660 Super would be my #2 choice.

Also going to add that the previous generation 1070, 1070Ti, 1080, and 1080ti actually perform better than any of the 1660 cards (though they do use more power), so if you find a sub-$200 deal on one of those, consider grabbing it.

DO NOT get a Vega 56 or Vega 64 for gaming. Yes, they will perform better than either of the 1660 cards, but they do so at something like twice the power/heat budget of the 1660s.

--Patrick
 
Also, how did you test your power supply to see if it was working? I ask because a computer PSU is designed to not turn on unless it can tell it is actually plugged into something. You can't just plug a PSU into a wall outlet and then plug in a fan or something to see if it's working, you have to do something like this in order to get it to actually fire up.

--Patrick
 
Gas and I may disagree on other things, but on this we are united. The GTX 1660-based family of cards are THE best bang-for-buck-and-Watt out there right now (barring the exceptions I mention in the post I linked).

The only thing I will disagree with is that I would pick the 1660 Ti over the 1660 Super (can get a refurbished Ti for only $20-30 more than a Super these days) because the Ti has more cores and TUs enabled than the Super. In other words, while the two cards may have relatively equivalent performance, this is because under the hood the Super has a turbocharged V6, but the Ti has a V8. To put it another way, since they both use the exact same chip at their heart, a 1660 Super is just a "normal" 1660 which has been overclocked and tweaked to get it near the performance level of a stock 1660 Ti, but then there's nothing saying you can't get a stock Ti and then overclock that to get performance that consistently beats that of the 1660 Super. However, if you absolutely can't afford the price premium, then yes, the 1660 Super would be my #2 choice.

Also going to add that the previous generation 1070, 1070Ti, 1080, and 1080ti actually perform better than any of the 1660 cards (though they do use more power), so if you find a sub-$200 deal on one of those, consider grabbing it.

DO NOT get a Vega 56 or Vega 64 for gaming. Yes, they will perform better than either of the 1660 cards, but they do so at something like twice the power/heat budget of the 1660s.

--Patrick
I bought the 1660 Ti. I am happy that you receive it so well.
 
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