An introductory guide to the world of PC gaming, including DIY and maintenance (with usergroup!)

[DrunkOnEstus]

snip of part 2!

i just came across this thread for the first time and i must say it is very nice! Very helpful tid bits for someone to get their feet wet with, so to speak.

I built my system years ago and roughly came across youtube/google guides similar to this, but it might as well have a place on the escapist to give people some "beginners guide" help to!

Much thanks, I've been pretty humbled by the amount of praise this has gotten as I wasn't sure how well it would go. There's a big demand for this knowledge more than ever, so I figured I'd offer it somewhere where people go every day. Thank you again.

 

[Dr.Awkward]

Hey, can I add an addendum about mobo and case sizes and APUs? I have a feeling that introducing some people to HTPCs would help them transition towards a PC more than just building a desktop.

I'd prefer it if things were unified a bit (not having different random guides to search through with different information in each one). I don't have much experience with small formfactors and HTPCs, so if you want to do a write-up I'll happily read it over and see about giving it its own section, fully credited to you. Actually, if this could be a community effort by PC gamers here simply willing to offer help, I would love that. You have a point, the ease of having your case on the entertainment center with a wireless controller could be a big motivator for some who see the PC as a "sitting at the desk, same thing I do at work" kind of thing. Let me know if that'd be okay with you : )

Definitely! To be honest I have no experience with building HTPCs myself, but I do know that have to be careful about what you buy for a HTPC due to the limited dimensions and some cases coming with built-in PSUs, usually with poor wattage outputs.

 

[DrunkOnEstus]

Definitely! To be honest I have no experience with building HTPCs myself, but I do know that have to be careful about what you buy for a HTPC due to the limited dimensions and some cases coming with built-in PSUs, usually with poor wattage outputs.

Great, just send me the write-up when you're ready with it and hopefully we'll have a great guide together. Just remember to use simple language and avoid unnecessary jargon, unless you define it at some point. "De-mystifying" is a big part of what I hope for the guide to do.

Speaking of HTPCs, an issue I ran into was video card fitting. The GTX 465 I bought off of Ebay came with a small formfactor square box, which was strange seeing as I'd have to dremel a large chunk out of the drive bay dock just to get the card to fit, and even then it would get in the way of many drive ports. It seems like imbedded video is the way to go with that, unless there's small formfactor dedicated video cards. I assume the seller thought he would be putting that card in there, gave up, and listed them on Ebay : )

 

[thesilentman]

I'm sure the Escapist also has it's PC building community but we don't have a dedicated sub-forum where we can talk about computers all day and help newbies who come along, everything gets thrown into off-topic or gaming. Random people browsing these threads who have nothing to do with the topic tend to post random shit in here just for the sake of posting, not to help anyone. That's why this isn't a particularly good place, as you said you have to wade through too much bullshit :S

I was totally aware of that problem, and it was part of the drive to start this guide. I know that there's a few of us scattered among the "populace", but why does that mean that we can't ever have a dedicated forum, or a usergroup, or a thread about building a PC (nod)? Baby steps. The Escapist can be everything gaming, everything escapism. This could be a thread on getting into tabletop gaming, so that maybe more people could be into it and it becomes a major part of the site.

I know in my heart that there's a lot of people here who would build a PC or at least become interested in following it, but generally only come here and get intimidated by Tom's Hardware or Anandtech and the like. "Going to the source" involves have to wade through jargon you don't understand, and feeling like the odd man out in someone else's conversation. This guide was to help Escapists, people who come here and would really like it if they could get that advice in easy to understand terms without having to go anywhere else but a shopping site.

I'm not saying it's going to happen or that it's even likely, but maybe this guide inspires enough people to embrace PC gaming that it becomes more of a focus on this site than it is now. I'd rather give that a shot and see what happens than to just admit defeat and say that the PC is just plain underrepresented here. Hell, if I help even one person not see voodoo magic when they open a computer case, I'm happy and those hours of writing weren't wasted to me. One person (who's disappeared on us again) is the reason we have an "Advice" forum, and it fostered more of a sense of community than there was before. If that happens for the PC, then awesome. If it doesn't, at least I got to practice my writing skills, feel good about praise and see what else I can do for the community.

Yo, Drunk.

I propose making a usergroup for building PCs and general computer decisions. For knowledge and more in depth computer talk, we have the Linux group here, but it really is just a few of us, so we can help teach about computers in there (actually a project, but we procrastinated on this one a ton), while we have a group dedicated for building. Just something to consider.

 

[nevarran]

Just wanted to add "cable management" to the mix, a very underestimated aspect of the PC build. It not only makes cleaning and managing you hardware easier, but it greatly improves the airflow inside the case. The better cases have a space for the cables behind the motherboard. And having a modular PSU is comfortable and useful thing.

 

[DrunkOnEstus]

Yo, Drunk.

I propose making a usergroup for building PCs and general computer decisions. For knowledge and more in depth computer talk, we have the Linux group here, but it really is just a few of us, so we can help teach about computers in there (actually a project, but we procrastinated on this one a ton), while we have a group dedicated for building. Just something to consider.

You're absolutely right. I'll get on that. But the words "master race" aren't going anywhere near it. That shit does us no favors whatsoever. Might as well call it "Dektopyian Brotherhood".

 

[thesilentman]

Yo, Drunk.

I propose making a usergroup for building PCs and general computer decisions. For knowledge and more in depth computer talk, we have the Linux group here, but it really is just a few of us, so we can help teach about computers in there (actually a project, but we procrastinated on this one a ton), while we have a group dedicated for building. Just something to consider.

You're absolutely right. I'll get on that. But the words "master race" aren't going anywhere near it. That shit does us no favors whatsoever. Might as well call it "Dektopyian Brotherhood".

I'll make the group if you've got other things to do.

And come into the Linux group! We need more comrades!

 

[Anathrax]

My computer is about 5 years old. It has 3 GBs(DDR2, mind you) of RAM and 2.60Ghz on it's processor. Before 2011 it used an integrated card(Don't rely on these, they suck major buttocks) and I couldn't even get Tribes to go over 25 FPS. In comes the 6670 HD and I can play anything I put it to the test well, probably averaging at medium-low graphic settings.

Point of this post? You can get away with even the cheapest of components. Welcome to the PC land, we have pancakes as bread and our Huang He(The yellow river) is made out of top quality milk and vanilla ice cream.

 

[DrunkOnEstus]

Yo, Drunk.

I propose making a usergroup for building PCs and general computer decisions. For knowledge and more in depth computer talk, we have the Linux group here, but it really is just a few of us, so we can help teach about computers in there (actually a project, but we procrastinated on this one a ton), while we have a group dedicated for building. Just something to consider.

You're absolutely right. I'll get on that. But the words "master race" aren't going anywhere near it. That shit does us no favors whatsoever. Might as well call it "Dektopyian Brotherhood".

I'll make the group if you've got other things to do.

And come into the Linux group! We need more comrades!

You've got my blessing, I'm eating dinner right now : )

I don't know why I'm not in the Linux group, my PC is a triple-boot of Windows 7, Slackware, and a Hackintosh of Snow Leopard. And one of my medical clients runs a Fedora server that I maintain. Do you guys talk about distros and bleeding edge kernel development and stuff? I have a freakin' Linux fish on the back of my car, I might as well be in the group : )

 

[DrunkOnEstus]

My computer is about 5 years old. It has 3 GBs(DDR2, mind you) of RAM and 2.60Ghz on it's processor. Before 2011 it used an integrated card(Don't rely on these, they suck major buttocks) and I couldn't even get Tribes to go over 25 FPS. In comes the 6670 HD and I can play anything I put it to the test well, probably averaging at medium-low graphic settings.

Point of this post? You can get away with even the cheapest of components. Welcome to the PC land, we have pancakes as bread and our Huang He(The yellow river) is made out of top quality milk and vanilla ice cream.

Yeah if you're gaming, the video card is like 80-90% of the situation. It's pretty much why I saved the money and got an i3 instead of an i5-i7. It might take 11 seconds longer to encode that game footage into an AVI but that's not worth over a hundred bucks to me. It's all about choice and control, man.

 

[thesilentman]

Yo, Drunk.

I propose making a usergroup for building PCs and general computer decisions. For knowledge and more in depth computer talk, we have the Linux group here, but it really is just a few of us, so we can help teach about computers in there (actually a project, but we procrastinated on this one a ton), while we have a group dedicated for building. Just something to consider.

You're absolutely right. I'll get on that. But the words "master race" aren't going anywhere near it. That shit does us no favors whatsoever. Might as well call it "Dektopyian Brotherhood".

I'll make the group if you've got other things to do.

And come into the Linux group! We need more comrades!

You've got my blessing, I'm eating dinner right now : )

I don't know why I'm not in the Linux group, my PC is a triple-boot of Windows 7, Slackware, and a Hackintosh of Snow Leopard. And one of my medical clients runs a Fedora server that I maintain. Do you guys talk about distros and bleeding edge kernel development and stuff? I have a freakin' Linux fish on the back of my car, I might as well be in the group : )

It's a tech group for when the tech gets a bit too out there to post in Off Topic. We also tend to have fun in there from time to time, so that's that. We also really turn active when we like sometimes, but the group's never been killed off. x-D

We (that really means me) also have a Linux beginners guide and a "how computers work guide" in the work, but school ensued for a good number of us.. I'm getting time to work on it after exams this week, and I think we can start massively collaborating this summer for the other guide. :-D

 

[Dominic Crossman]

CPU: AMD A8-3870K Black Edition 3,0GHz
Mobo: ASUS FM1 F1A75-V PRO
GPU: AMD Radeon HD6530D 1GB
RAM: 8GB DDR3 Kingston
PSU: Cooler Master 550 watt
HDD: 500 GB SataIII, 120 GB Maxtor
Optical: Samsung Optical Disc Drive

And this is what scared people away from gaming pcs
So many acronyms and brand names people don't know what effects resoultion, frames per second etc.
They (and me) just look at it and think nope, too much I can fuck up there and go running to consoles.
And the upgrading needed every few months/years scares my wallet.

 

[A Silent Enigma]

Thanks Mr/s OP this thread has been really handy. I've been wanting to build my own pc for sometime, but scared off by all the fancy names and numbers! What do you think of this and is it viable for mid-high end gaming? Would anyone make any changes and if so what and why? (I like to try and learn!!)

Case: Coolmaster Storm Enforcer
CPU: AMD FX-6350 Vishera 3.9GHz
Mobo: ASUS Sabertooth 990FX
GPU: GeForce GTX 660 2GB
RAM: 2x8GB DDR3 1600
PSU: Rosewill CAPSTONE-750
CPU Cooler: Artic Freezer A30 (due to everything I've read about the stock cooler being rubbishing and loud)

Which I could get in for under £600(inc p&p)

I already own a Seagate 1TB Hard drive and optical dvd/cd reader/writer.

 

[Archangel768]

Sadly this advice would've been useful to me 2 and a half weeks ago, when I decided to build my own PC with...varying degrees of success.

It DOES work but it's...I think I did it wrong.

May I ask what is 'wrong'?

 

[thesilentman]

snip for attention

Speaking of which, I did find a computer help group of sorts that's still active. I guess we can tell them about this effort and get them to help? Or are we still going to make a PC building group?

 

[Archangel768]

Sadly this advice would've been useful to me 2 and a half weeks ago, when I decided to build my own PC with...varying degrees of success.

It DOES work but it's...I think I did it wrong.

May I ask what is 'wrong'?

Most of it's working but A) The wireless adaptor cannot connect to my wifi for some reason, B) the front USB ports do not work and C) the start up screen still says 'no hard disk is selected' and I think I didn't UPGRADE to Windows 8, I just BOUGHT Windows 8 Pro and used it.

Hmm interesting, Well I can't really help you with the wifi. The usb ports on the front, have you made sure they're plugged into the motherboard the correct way? I can't remember exactly but if they're anything like the power buttons etc then they can 'plug in' a couple of ways but only one actually works. Made sure all drivers for the computer are installed? like motherboard etc.

Windows thing is strange, I had windows 8 and what I did was installed it on a formatted hard drive and then had to upgrade 'windows 8' to 'windows 8' before it would activate. I never had the hard drive issue. Perhaps you need to change the HDD with the OS on it to be the default 'boot drive' in the motherboard bios. I know it shouldn't cause that error but perhaps it's worth a shot.

Most importantly, are you enjoying it?

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

I hope Sony won't make me use this. But I will if I have to.

 

[scorptatious]

Hmm.

As someone who has some doubts about the next generation. (Although I still have hope the PS4 will do good, plus the Wii U still has some interesting games) I'll have to keep this thread in mind. Bookmarked.