Help a PC noob please.

[likalaruku]

You can save yourself time & hassle by just buying any new computer, a few sticks of RAM, a 22-24 inch monitor, & a decent graphics card. I'm exquisitely lazy, so I made my uncle assemble the parts. If you've got the dosh, get a backlit keyboard for in-the-dark gaming, a wireless mouse or gaming mouse, a sound card, water cooling, a high-end graphics card & mobo, & attach it to an HDTV monitor.

Careful with those graphics cards; I've heard tales of overclocked cards frying mobos.

Maximum PC regularly releases lengthy articles on assembling your own rig.

 

[Neonsilver]

As for any recommendations on the parts themselves... If swapping the CPU and motherboard to something a bit lower would net you enough money to bump up the 770 to a 780, that'd probably be a better investment, and if you want near instant boot times a 64Gb SSD to install Windows to could be something to look at from reduced costs in other areas too. Otherwise it should work, and will do what you need it to do for many years to come.

I wouldn't recommend to use a SSD, at least not for someone without experience, it can cause some problems. When I build my current PC it took me quite some time to get it work without problems.

 

[Kataskopo]

Wow, guys, amazing responses! I'm a little bit late to the party, but ArsTechnica has a build guide, it's very thorough and explains all of the desitions, and even gives you alternatives for some components.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/04/ars-technica-system-guide-gaming-boxes-april-2013/

It gets updated roughly every year, and they also have different boxes depending on price.

Anyway, good luck with that! I have a laptop I bought from amazon after 3 weeks of searching, it was 600 dollars and it's been pretty good, I can play most game on medium but it's also awesome for school and stuff.

 

[Techno Squidgy]

I suggest getting zip ties so that your wires are all neat and held in place, you wanna make sure none hit the CPU fan, oh boy that's gunna be loud and cause a heap of problems.

Extremely good advice here. I nearly melted a processor this way. The CPU fan's cable ended up brushing against the actual fan. It made a hell of a racket for about 2 weeks and I couldn't figure out the source, then it stopped. Then all the fans on my PC span up to max for a few seconds before the computer shut down. I took the side off the case and the heat that came out of the machine was so intense I actually broke out in a sweat.

It was quite an old machine though, so if it had been bricked it wouldn't have been too upsetting.

 

[thom_cat_]

As for any recommendations on the parts themselves... If swapping the CPU and motherboard to something a bit lower would net you enough money to bump up the 770 to a 780, that'd probably be a better investment, and if you want near instant boot times a 64Gb SSD to install Windows to could be something to look at from reduced costs in other areas too. Otherwise it should work, and will do what you need it to do for many years to come.

I wouldn't recommend to use a SSD, at least not for someone without experience, it can cause some problems. When I build my current PC it took me quite some time to get it work without problems.

Really? I have two, I mean, I started with just a 1TB HDD, added another, and then got around to getting my first 128G SSD, but I haven't ever had problems with the two I have, and I even had to reformat to move my OS to it. My experience with hardware is minimal outside of building the PC itself.
But seriously, the change it made to boot up and program speeds was insane. Used to take like 30 seconds to open a big program (after effects, maya, etc) now it takes about 5. Best investment.

 

[Ryan Hughes]

First. If this is your first PC build, I would say no to overclocking. Overclocking can boost performance, but it can also shorten the lifespan of individual parts of the PC. So, wait until you have gathered some experience in PC gaming to overclock.

Also, there are really three popular types of PC motherboard. ATX, micro ATX, and mini ITX. They are largest to smallest in that order. I recommend starting with ATX, as it is the largest, easiest to build, easiest to cool, and most common. I actually have a mini ITX gaming PC that I built myself, and it is wonderful, but it is much more difficult to do overall.

I know you have already gotten a flood of information, but these vids are actually really cool:


This is a three-part series on how to do it. It is a couple of years old, but still more than relevant.

Also, I always start with a case and power supply when I build. I choose those components first, then build everything around them. It makes things much easier. Even though those things are not as glamorous as the processor or GPU, they make the foundation of the PC.

Good luck and do not hesitate to ask us for more help later.

 

[Neonsilver]

As for any recommendations on the parts themselves... If swapping the CPU and motherboard to something a bit lower would net you enough money to bump up the 770 to a 780, that'd probably be a better investment, and if you want near instant boot times a 64Gb SSD to install Windows to could be something to look at from reduced costs in other areas too. Otherwise it should work, and will do what you need it to do for many years to come.

I wouldn't recommend to use a SSD, at least not for someone without experience, it can cause some problems. When I build my current PC it took me quite some time to get it work without problems.

Really? I have two, I mean, I started with just a 1TB HDD, added another, and then got around to getting my first 128G SSD, but I haven't ever had problems with the two I have, and I even had to reformat to move my OS to it. My experience with hardware is minimal outside of building the PC itself.
But seriously, the change it made to boot up and program speeds was insane. Used to take like 30 seconds to open a big program (after effects, maya, etc) now it takes about 5. Best investment.

I think it depends on the manufacturer. The one I have caused the PC to crash multiple times a day. To repair that I had to update the BIOS and the firmware of the SSD. It took some time to figure out that it was caused by the SSD and how I could fix it.
But I admit that boost from the SSD is great and the problems I had aren't necessarily there with every SSD.

edit: probably should name the SSD I have
it's a 60gb OCZ agility 3

 

[Elvis Starburst]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/10diB

^ This is the build I'm personally going for once I can afford it, and I'm pretty amped about it. Although, I'm one of those people who don't cry out for all Intel & Nvidia branded builds and did some research and found an all AMD based build to be quite decent. Something tells me I'll have people tearing my door apart to yell at me and tell me different, but I have my reasons for it.

For example, I'm constantly using 2 monitors and really can't live without it. I've heard the dual monitor performance of this card versus, say, a 660 TI within my budget is very beneficial. This is just me giving my two cents though, it sounds like you've been given better help XD This build is also a little bit more tailored to my own usage and requirements, so it might not be best for you, but it also might be worth considering some of it or giving it a little flip through. Just a thought~

 

[fangclaw]

Hello again. I finally have all the parts and put them together and now i have a fresh batch of questions.

CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116899
motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128607
graphics card: gtx 770 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127741
ram: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148661
power supply: antec 650w

For the hard drive i planned to use my old one that has windows 7 on it so i didn't have to go buy an OS. but when I turn on the computer it gets to a certain point, it says "starting windows" and you can start to see the little lights beginning to make the windows flag, it then pauses and goes to the screen where it asks if i want to run in safe mode or normal. No matter which option i choose it just restarts and I'm back at the same screen.

Do i really have to go buy a new OS, or are some of the parts not compatible, or does it sound like I made a mistake putting the parts together? Can someone help me please?

 

[Albino Boo]

Hello again. I finally have all the parts and put them together and now i have a fresh batch of questions.

CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116899
motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128607
graphics card: gtx 770 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127741
ram: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148661
power supply: antec 650w

For the hard drive i planned to use my old one that has windows 7 on it so i didn't have to go buy an OS. but when I turn on the computer it gets to a certain point, it says "starting windows" and you can start to see the little lights beginning to make the windows flag, it then pauses and goes to the screen where it asks if i want to run in safe mode or normal. No matter which option i choose it just restarts and I'm back at the same screen.

Do i really have to go buy a new OS, or are some of the parts not compatible, or does it sound like I made a mistake putting the parts together? Can someone help me please?

You have to reinstall windows on a completely new system. Windows is looking for a hardware that simple does not exist. You can reuse windows 7 on your new system but you will need a full install disk. Your old machine should have on it somewhere a windows certificate of authenticity with a product key on it. When you install windows on your new machine you will need to enter the key and you wont have to buy a new copy of windows.