Building a gaming PC

[C-Man 27184]

My son just turned 12 last week. He's been collecting his birthday -- and Xmas -- gift cards and wants to buy the components to put together a gaming PC. Initially, he said he was going to buy the components and then take it to Best Buy for them to assemble. That sounded odd to me and sure enough, you have to buy the parts through them. I don't have the first damn clue in building a computer, and really neither does he. What are we looking at in cost to get the components he needs -- processor, graphics card, good monitor, etc? I wonder if at the end of the day he should just look at getting one that's already built from Dell or something. (He has the PS4 at my house and the Xbox 360 or One or whatever at his mother's. Though he's been thru multiple Xboxes at her house because they're constantly having tech issues. I think several have flat out stopped working. My PS4 doesn't get near the traffic but has been much more reliable. Hell, I told him to just get another Xbox over there.)

[Loco 3752]

build it yourself.... ezpz

https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/   - read up on builds

https://pcpartpicker.com/  - find parts cheap 

profit?

Edited January 19, 2020 by Loco

[Loco 3752]

I did this with both my kids 12 & 10 at the time.

 

Helps demystify a black box computer.  Well worth it.  Also PC games >>>>>>>>> console

[Braff Zacklin 13552]

Building a PC is fun and you end up with a much better system than you would buying a pre-built one.

• Decide what resolution and framerate you want to run and set a budget.
• Invest the time to research before you buy. Most of your time (and frustration) will be spent on this step.
• Shop around and compare prices. Some firms will price match, others have specials come and go.
• Don't skimp on a quality case, power supply, or mobo.
• Good memory is important, too, especially if you're going the Ryzen route.
• For storage, consider an NVMe boot/system drive, a solid state main drive, and an old-fashioned magnetic hard disk for backup and media.

Could go on and on but it'd be easier if you came back with specific questions.

[TwiceHorn 31438]

I don't do this, because I am a laptopper, but I know a number of people who do.

Because you are in Dallas, MicroCenter is your friend.

So is this place https://pcpartpicker.com/

[C-Man 27184]

Thanks for the advice. As you can tell, I'm a total neophyte when it comes to this and my "fix-it" skills ain't the best in the neighborhood.

Looks like kits to build a good system is in the $900-$1000 range. Does that sound about right?

[CurlyDumps 4466]

I just built a new rig in December, first in 10+ years. It was my first time building a PC by myself.

Its kinda like putting a puzzle together. Watch YouTube guides, RTFM, and you’ll be in good shape. I highly recommend it.

General advice I learned from the experience: 

-make sure your mobo socket fits your processor 

-make sure the case is big enough to fit your graphics card (I just got a full size tower case, it leaves plenty of room for adding/upgrading parts)

-if buying a new monitor, make sure it’s compatible with G Sync/V Sync/Free Sync, depending on your graphics  card. 
https://www.gamesradar.com/vsync-gsync-freesync-explained/

Note: nVidia cards are now compatible with some free sync monitors. I bought a Dell Freesync  Monitor that works with my nVidia card. This can save you some money because G Sync monitors are expensive.

-on the advice of a friend, I bought an 850w PSU to avoid any power issues.

Here’s my build on PC part picker. Some prices have changed bc I bought my parts on Cyber Monday. I spent a lot on the graphics card so I hopefully won’t have to upgrade for a while.

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/lineater/saved/#view=M8PMcf
 

 

Edited January 19, 2020 by CurlyDumps

[Loco 3752]

1 hour ago, C-Man said:

Thanks for the advice. As you can tell, I'm a total neophyte when it comes to this and my "fix-it" skills ain't the best in the neighborhood.

Looks like kits to build a good system is in the $900-$1000 range. Does that sound about right?

can you work a screw driver?  Because that's really the only "skill" you need

 

If you price shop on PC parts picker and set alerts $1000 will buy a VERY respectable gaming rig.  Of course like anything, you can spend as much as you want, but marginal return and what not.

Edited January 19, 2020 by Loco

[C-Man 27184]

5 hours ago, Loco said:

build it yourself.... ezpz

https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/   - read up on builds

https://pcpartpicker.com/  - find parts cheap 

profit?

I can't rep this post enough. Started the video with my son and watched the entire 32 minutes. Thanks!!!!!! That dude is awesome.

1 hour ago, CurlyDumps said:

I just built a new rig in December, first in 10+ years. It was my first time building a PC by myself.

Its kinda like putting a puzzle together. Watch YouTube guides, RTFM, and you’ll be in good shape. I highly recommend it.

General advice I learned from the experience: 

-make sure your mobo socket fits your processor 

-make sure the case is big enough to fit your graphics card (I just got a full size tower case, it leaves plenty of room for adding/upgrading parts)

-if buying a new monitor, make sure it’s compatible with G Sync/V Sync/Free Sync, depending on your graphics  card. 
https://www.gamesradar.com/vsync-gsync-freesync-explained/

Note: nVidia cards are now compatible with some free sync monitors. I bought a Dell Freesync  Monitor that works with my nVidia card. This can save you some money because G Sync monitors are expensive.

-on the advice of a friend, I bought an 850w PSU to avoid any power issues.

Here’s my build on PC part picker. Some prices have changed bc I bought my parts on Cyber Monday. I spent a lot on the graphics card so I hopefully won’t have to upgrade for a while.

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/lineater/saved/#view=M8PMcf
 

 

Yeah, I think the idea of the regular-size cabinet to allow for larger components if you need it. Have to say the see-through case is pretty cool.

1 hour ago, Loco said:

can you work a screw driver?  Because that's really the only "skill" you need

 

If you price shop on PC parts picker and set alerts $1000 will buy a VERY respectable gaming rig.  Of course like anything, you can spend as much as you want, but marginal return and what not.

Screw driver? Check. In fact, I just flipped the door on our new dryer this weekend so I guess I'm good to go! 

[PhillyD 1257]

C-man,

I did this a couple of years ago for my son using things I learned from this board on TOS, the partspicker site, and a couple of articles online from PC Mag.  I built for less than $900 something that would have cost on the order of $3000 if I had purchased it retail.  It was much easier than I thought it would be and the stressful thing was never really knowing if it would work until I turned it on and finished up.  I was like you and had never done anything close to something like this project.  If I can do it, almost anyone can.

My only advice (and someone already said it) is that if you have the space, just get the biggest tower you can so you have lots of room to work with.  I got one that has a lot of see through and it lights up blue so my kid thought that was really cool.  Even with all of that space, it was still sometimes challenging to get everything to fit right.  

[CurlyDumps 4466]

BTW I used the same exact YouTube series Loco posted as a guide. Pretty much followed it step by step as I built.  Incredibly helpful. 

[TwiceHorn 31438]

37 minutes ago, C-Man said:

I can't rep this post enough. Started the video with my son and watched the entire 32 minutes. Thanks!!!!!! That dude is awesome.

Yeah, I think the idea of the regular-size cabinet to allow for larger components if you need it. Have to say the see-through case is pretty cool.

Screw driver? Check. In fact, I just flipped the door on our new dryer this weekend so I guess I'm good to go! 

One of the biggest pains can be routing power supply cables to things and deciding where to put them.  It's much less of a pain  in a big case, preferably with access from both sides.  Thankfully, though, the position of things accessible from the outside (floppy and cd drives) is less important or not at all important.

[Leamas 29]

I built a PC in late 2018. It took about 8 hours over two days. I never built a PC before; the most I had ever done was install more RAM into my laptop. Difficulty level was about a 7. I just took my time and tried to enjoy the process. You can find the parts I used for my PC in my Surly post history.

Paul's Hardware's build-a-PC YouTube series is good. I would also watch the guides by Bitwit, Jayztwocents, Hardware Canucks, LinusTechTips, and Tech Deals. They usually make a new video every year. It's good to see what each of them do; watching one video after the other will reinforce certain principles to help you remember important action items when you and your son start your build. If you need recommendations on parts, Tech Deals explains things very well.

Some miscellaneous advice I can remember from my experience:

• If you want an easier way of connecting cables from your power supply, then buy a fully modular PSU. Connect the cables you need for your parts to the PSU first, then screw the PSU into the case, and then connect the cables to the components last.
• My case is a mid-tower case with no optical drive and was marketed as a build-friendly case with a lot of flexibility, expandability, and modularity. You may not need as much with your son's first build, but it made everything so much easier for me to be able to move components around if I didn't like where it fit. It's not "see-through" in that there is no glass cover on the side to show off my parts. Buy a case with at least one dust filter. Better, buy one that comes with 2-3 fans. On the flip side, the cases that are more flexible, have better cooling features out of the factory, have more fans, have more connectivity ports, have a tempered glass side cover, are more expensive.
• I stripped one of the screws for a large plate/cover inside the case so the plate is stuck and unremoveable. However, the case is spacious enough that I can still fit parts around it without any issue. At a minimum, buy a mid-tower case.
• The CPU cooler was difficulty to install. I was extra careful when I installed the RAM because I kept bending the top half of the motherboard when I pressed down on the modules. The SATA ports were kind of hard to reach when I tried to connect the HDD and SSD after the motherboard was already mounted on. I dropped one of the screws into a crevice in the case and cut my finger trying to reach for it. You might run into these things on your build.
• The expandability of the case has been so great. I've installed two more RAM modules without needing to remove the CPU cooler and another SSD. I plan to put another SSD and upgrade the fans.
• Put the PC on a desk high off the ground.
• If you are buying RAM that runs higher than 2666mhz, then check your BIOS to ensure you've enabled your RAM to operate at that speed (or check it in task manager). If your son will have a GPU (a video card), then plug the cable for your monitor into the GPU and not the CPU.

Edited January 20, 2020 by Leamas

[immamac 42835]

Where about's are you guys? I can help you build a PC if you are in the Austin area

[Braff Zacklin 13552]

52 minutes ago, immamac said:

Where about's are you guys? I can help you build a PC if you are in the Austin area

This is a man's thread, sir. Forum for Macs and other Apple products is that way   ---------->

[markstanco 12571]

I did this last Christmas with my now 11 year old. Good times learning together. YT is your friend.

[elfenix 34223]

On 1/19/2020 at 11:35 AM, C-Man said:

My son just turned 12 last week. He's been collecting his birthday -- and Xmas -- gift cards and wants to buy the components to put together a gaming PC. Initially, he said he was going to buy the components and then take it to Best Buy for them to assemble. That sounded odd to me and sure enough, you have to buy the parts through them. I don't have the first damn clue in building a computer, and really neither does he. What are we looking at in cost to get the components he needs -- processor, graphics card, good monitor, etc? I wonder if at the end of the day he should just look at getting one that's already built from Dell or something. (He has the PS4 at my house and the Xbox 360 or One or whatever at his mother's. Though he's been thru multiple Xboxes at her house because they're constantly having tech issues. I think several have flat out stopped working. My PS4 doesn't get near the traffic but has been much more reliable. Hell, I told him to just get another Xbox over there.)

are you in dallas or houston?  if so, you have microcenter.  get a ryzen 3600 (the performance difference between the 3600 and 3600X is minor and entirely due to the better cooler that comes with the X model, if the price is basically the same get the X, otherwise the vanilla) and whatever board you want, and some ram - 16GB is standard nowadays.  also get an inland premium SSD.  that'll run you ~$450. 

you'll also need a case (personal preference), and a power supply.  i pretty much only use seasonic 80+ gold at this point, though that's probably overkill for most people.   brand is important for power supplies, and sales happen often.  don't get those at microcenter, they're way overpriced on them.  looking on slickdeals you'll find units on sale pretty much all the time (usually from newegg).  generally gold from seasonic, evga, and corsair will be quality units, and that's what i'd look for.  might as well get 600 watts as they really don't get less expensive for going lower on capacity. 

then you'll need to figure out your video card and screen.   gaming cards really start with the nvidia 1650 super (same performance at 1660) and amd 5500XT 8GB.  i would not get a card with less than 6GB of ram on it right now, 4 GB cards are already starting to run out of room.  even 6GB cards are iffy, though, as the next consoles will have more.  this is not something i'd get at microcenter absent an open box deal (they take 20% off of the price it had sold for when something is returned and resold).  the thing to know is that geforce cards will work with gsync or freesync monitors, while amd cards only work with freesync monitors, insofar as adaptive sync is concerned (amd cards will drive gsync monitors but only at a fixed refresh).  get something 144+ hz max sync speed.  keep it at 1080p resolution. 

don't forget windows!

Edited January 29, 2020 by elfenix

[mulletpelini 5210]

This is something the 13 yo and I will be doing soon.  I built a Theater PC back when he was very young, and I'm still using it to run 3 monitors to this very day.   It's a fucking tank.  The main thing is that I'm having him do all the research and find out the specs so that he will gain understanding of the build and appreciate it and care for it that much more.  Last thing I want to do is build him a rare collectible without any of his sweat and then expect him to appreciate the time it took to get it that way.  

[pearlandhorn 3269]

Just found this thread.  Buddy of mine moved to PC for Destiny 2 and convinced me to build PCs for my wife and I.  I built our PCs essentially following Paul's Hardware guide posted above.  It was a ton of fun.  What I've learned:

1.  Spend 40% of your budget on the graphics card.  NVIDIA and AMD are the two biggest GPU players.  There's no point in buying an NVIDIA 2080 TI if you're going to be running a shitty processor.  If your budget is $1,500, spend $600 on a GPU.  If your budget is $3,000, then sure, go for the 2080 TI.  For gaming on more than 100 FPS, a $400 GPU is more than plenty.

2.  Your case is probably the one thing that has the least amount of impact on your PC build.  If you want RGB, get it.  The only thing you really need to worry about is airflow.  I went with CoolerMaster H500s.  Good airflow and RGB.  Use PC Part picker's compatibility feature.

3.  Your RAM can make or break your system.  Go for faster ram (DDR4 3200 or 3600).  16 gigs of ram (8gbs x 2 sticks) is plenty for gaming.  Ryzen/AMD CPUs love faster memory.  Make sure your memory is compatible with your system.  You can check this on your motherboard website.

4.  Use PC Part Picker to make sure your processor choice (AMD or Intel) will fit your motherboard.  I did Ryzen 7 3700x and the ASUS X570 Tuf Gaming. 

5.  Load Windows on to your fastest memory component.  Don't load windows on to your spinning hard drive.  Load it on to your SSD or m.2 nvme.  DO NOT buy windows from best buy or pay full retail.  Go to kinguin.  It may seem shady, but it's not.  I used one key for both my wife's PC and mine.

6.  Gold certified power supplies are the highest end you should go.  The difference between platinum rated and gold rated is very very minimal.  I went with Corsair 750W gold rated full modular.  Fully modular is so much easier to work with as well.

If I had to do it all over again, I would go with an NVIDIA graphics card over AMD.  Driver issues are very prominent with all of AMDs graphics cards.

Just use PC Part Picker to make sure everything is compatible with no issues.  If you chose a processor that is a newer generation (ryzen 7 or intel i9900) and an older generation motherboard, you'll need to update the BIOS of the motherboard prior to putting the CPU in to the socket on the motherboard.  This can get a little complicated.  It'll still WORK and list as compatible, just know you may need to watch some tutorials on how to do this.

[DonnyKerabatsos 86]

make sure to install a 64 bit version of Windows.

[pacman 7355]

Anybody used cloud gaming instead of building your own?

[Braff Zacklin 13552]

On 3/4/2020 at 10:28 AM, pearlandhorn said:

2.  Your case is probably the one thing that has the least amount of impact on your PC build.  If you want RGB, get it.  The only thing you really need to worry about is airflow.  I went with CoolerMaster H500s.  Good airflow and RGB.  Use PC Part picker's compatibility feature.

6.  Gold certified power supplies are the highest end you should go.  The difference between platinum rated and gold rated is very very minimal.  I went with Corsair 750W gold rated full modular.  Fully modular is so much easier to work with as well.

Case and PS are probably the two greatest afterthoughts when it comes to building a PC because they typically have little to no impact on short-term performance.

However, the extra coin spent here can pay off down the road in terms of reliability (i.e., keeping your components cool and adequately powered) and flexibility (installing more powerful processors or additional cards and peripherals).

I think your case is the best-looking one on the market with those twin giant 200m fans. My MasterCase MC500 is similar but with some retro functionality (a pair of optical drive bays) and built-in handles. Because of the bays, however, I can only run a pair of 140mm fans up front instead of the more ideal three.

For anyone relying on air cooling, I'd strongly recommend a mesh front panel. Every test I've seen indicates these significantly outperform those with solid front panels. @pearlandhorn has the option of using either with his case.

 

 

[pearlandhorn 3269]

16 hours ago, Braff Zacklin said:

Case and PS are probably the two greatest afterthoughts when it comes to building a PC because they typically have little to no impact on short-term performance.

However, the extra coin spent here can pay off down the road in terms of reliability (i.e., keeping your components cool and adequately powered) and flexibility (installing more powerful processors or additional cards and peripherals).

I think your case is the best-looking one on the market with those twin giant 200m fans. My MasterCase MC500 is similar but with some retro functionality (a pair of optical drive bays) and built-in handles. Because of the bays, however, I can only run a pair of 140mm fans up front instead of the more ideal three.

For anyone relying on air cooling, I'd strongly recommend a mesh front panel. Every test I've seen indicates these significantly outperform those with solid front panels. @pearlandhorn has the option of using either with his case.

 

 

Mesh panel fronts are really convenient.  I like that case of yours as well and almost went with that one.  I pimped my rig and went with the RGB stock fans on the H500 because...well...pretty.  Cooler Master cases really are legit.  They're very nice to build in if you get a full ATX, all the parts can be taken out if you don't need them (I don't have the optical drive built-ins installed because I don't use an optical drive), most come with a shroud over the power supply which can hide cords if you don't have a fully-modular PSU.  There are cooling vents on the bottom under the power supply fan which allows for more airflow.  Cooler Master knows how to make cases for sure.  NZXT also does but not on the scale that Cooler Master does in my opinion.  Main thing you're looking for is air flow and I've never seen any complaints about air flow from a cooler master user.

I also overspent a little in terms of a few items (power supply, processor and motherboard) with the anticipation of adding better items in the future like a 2080 or 2080TI when the prices come down a bit.  I didn't want to have to upgrade my CPU or MOBO in order to just overclock so I spent a little more now in the hopes of being able to upgrade other components in the future.  750 watts for my power supply is probably a bit overkill.  I could have gotten away with 650 or 750 bronze rated.  32 gigs of ram is probably a bit overkill but I didn't want to have to add ram in two years when I upgrade my GPU or CPU.

Edited March 6, 2020 by pearlandhorn

[JBJ 3654]

Just stumbled in here as well.  Been building for myself and close family/friends since the 00s.   These are mistakes I've seen people make:

The whole thing: If you need to buy software, it can be cheaper to buy it custom built.  Generally, you can get Windows Home and MS Office for free or heavily discounted from most sellers.  My last PC I got from a custom PC builder even though I'm a strong advocate of self-building.  Look around a bit to see what's actually cheaper.  Don't buy from someone who makes it difficult to find out what exactly you are getting (manufacture/model of components).

You might want to self-build anyway because it will give you a bit of confidence when to comes time for upgrades, which is where the real savings is now.

CPU: single-core and quad-core performance matters more than multicore for most consumer applications and this stays true for most games as well.  Even veteran computer nerds don't understand this.  There are real life diminishing returns even though the benchmark numbers keep growing.  The 8+ thread processors are much much much better for workstation use (like video encoding) and most reviewers will focus heavily on those larger benchmark numbers because that is what they do all day.

My Intel recommendation is sticking to the i5-9600k or jumping directly to the i9-9900k if you know you want the extra horses.  The i7 is a bargain workstation chip.  It will not outperform the i5 for 99% of consumer tasks, and older i7s were actually worse at a lot of things than their i5 counterparts (because hyperthreading can be wonky).

I've research but haven't experienced the new AMDs.  They are more geared for workstation, so I'm a bit skeptical from the outset.  My recommendation is still to check the 1C and 4C benchs to get a better idea of what the normal-use returns will actually be for the next tier up.

That being said there will probably be better optimization for multicoring in the near future, so maybe ignore what I just said, who knows.

GPU: People generally like either AMD or NVIDIA and not the other.  I can do either personally. They don't really directly compete except on the low end right now, though.  Their pricing structures either skip a point, or one is clearly better than other.  My cheap recommends are the RX590 or GTX1650S.  Next step up is GTX1660S.  Next step up is RX5700 and RX5700XT (Nvidia loses these price points).  Nvidia owns the upper market.  My pick here is the RTX2070S and returns start to greatly diminish beyond that.  I don't have a high end GPU nor any use for one.  If you aren't getting a high-monitor you probably won't either.

The difference between manufacturer or tiers within a manufacturer does matter but just a bit,. The cheapest CardX is the cheapest for a reason.  Cooling is usually a distinction at this level and it matters.

RAM: Dual-channel (2x8 not 1x16) is paramount.  Added speed (3000-3600) will matter more than added size.  This needs to be said again, dual channel is paramount, it doubles your bandwidth.  Brand matters a lot as well.

Storage: Not all SSDs are the same.  M.2 nvme SSDs are much much faster than SATA.  Your MOBO will have the M.2 screw mounted to it or in the box, don't throw it away with any other unused screws - your M.2 SSD will not have one in the box.

MOBO: you can really mess this up if it doesn't have the slots required or is incompatible with something. Besides that this is an area for savings and you don't want to spend a ton just for stuff you'll never use.  Just make sure it has all the correct plugs and sockets in the correct quantities and allowable speeds.  Many websites do this for you.

Onboard sound is the only other really tangible benefit if you use it.  ASUS "Prime" boards are good for either CPU brand and should be your starting point to compare boards.  ASUS "PRO" or "TUF" are similar quality with varying features.

Balance: This is the most common mistake I see.  Balance among components matters.  The stuff all works together and skimping on CPU to get a god-tier GPU (for example) will actually make the overall GPU performance worse.  Someone gave rough percentages above and they are probably correct.

Laptops: Avoid like the plague.

Edited March 10, 2020 by JBJ

[elfenix 34223]

On 3/4/2020 at 11:28 AM, pearlandhorn said:

If you chose a processor that is a newer generation (ryzen 7 or intel i9900) and an older generation motherboard, you'll need to update the BIOS of the motherboard prior to putting the CPU in to the socket on the motherboard. 

unless you're buying from some place that doesn't sell in any volume and has dusty old boards sitting around from a year ago (like, manufactured a year ago, not late last year), this shouldn't be an issue.  also, there's an orange logo on any boards that are ryzen 3000 desktop ready. 

 

[elfenix 34223]

On 3/10/2020 at 5:52 PM, JBJ said:

I've research but haven't experienced the new AMDs.  They are more geared for workstation, so I'm a bit skeptical from the outset.  My recommendation is still to check the 1C and 4C benchs to get a better idea of what the normal-use returns will actually be for the next tier up.

my recommendation for most people for AMD is get a 3600 (or 3600X if it's within $10 of the 3600 price). 

as for core counts, keep in mind that both the XBSX (seriously shit branding by microsoft) and the PS5 have 8 core amd zen2 processors.  right now the equivalent to that is the 3700X and 3800X from amd.  thought the current PS4 and XBOX (see why XBSX is shit branding?) both have 8 core amd processors, they're garbage cat cores from amd's aborted tablet/mobile processor lineup.  zen2 is a full laptop/desktop/datacenter core. 

that said, i'm sticking my 3600X in my gaming box for the moment.  i'll reevaluate when 4000 series comes out.  or i find a cheap itx board.

On 3/10/2020 at 5:52 PM, JBJ said:

M.2 nvme SSDs are much much faster than SATA.

and good luck telling the difference as an end user.

 

edit: and if you do lose your m.2 screw you can just head to home depot and buy M2 screws for $0.50 a bag.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-M2-0-4-x-6-mm-Phillips-Zinc-Pan-Head-Metric-Machine-Screw-3-Pack-840518/204283712

Edited March 12, 2020 by elfenix
too much paragraphing

[Tailgate 3021]

Ok, so I got some help from the team at Falcon Northwest. I’ve been away from PC gaming for a couple years. Quarantine made me set it up again. What games do I need? Big MMO and first-person shooter fan.

 

Newbies FTW

 

[immamac 42835]

God damn that's a sick rig. 

The old classic World of Warcraft is totally different than you remember it, very graphically intense and pretty insane limitless system of progression. If you want to play the OG version that's out too. 

There's some other MMOs out there, but nothing I've heard is just fucking awesome and addicting.

You've obviously gotta play CS:GO and Valorant back to back. Shitty part about Valorant you need to sit in streams with your riot account linked and it'll hopefully drop. You don't have to be actively watching or listening (mute) just leave it running in the background. 

 

[immamac 42835]

If you have been away for a while you may want to try a MOBA like Dota2 or LoL or HOTS

[Tailgate 3021]

20 hours ago, immamac said:

If you have been away for a while you may want to try a MOBA like Dota2 or LoL or HOTS

I will check those out. Thanks. I saw Doom was pretty well rated and may dip into that.

[immamac 42835]

Doom is insane, but it's one of those one and done plays unless you are a speedrunner. I haven't seen much of the multiplayer action. 

[Hawndoh 2386]

My system is 4-5 years old now, but it can play Warzone on dialed back settings, and it was fun enough to make me upgrade to try and squeeze a few more years out of this machine.

Doubling my RAM from 8 to 16.

Going from GTX 960 to GTX 1660.

I'm not trying to jump to 4k or anything, but this should get me 1080p modern games above 60fps for a little while longer.

[pearlandhorn 3269]

I’m very curious about the price of 2080 TIs after NVIDIA comes out and releases their 3000 series later this year. I may have to upgrade to a 2080 ti if they’re reasonable. At $1,200 currently, it’s not.

[Hawndoh 2386]

Well it took all afternoon but I finally got my GPU upgrade to work. First I couldn't boot at all, then I finally got into windows safe mode. That made it possible to get the right driver installed.

But then it would no longer recognize my 2nd hard drive in bios which is where the games are all installed 

Eventually i got that back and everything is working now.

It's never straight forward.

But I went from GTX 960 to GTX 1660 and now I can play Warzone at 1080p at 90fps with decent texture settings, etc.

And a few older games like Doom 2016 can now run on Ultra and whatnot.

[Leamas 29]

On 4/29/2020 at 7:20 PM, pearlandhorn said:

I’m very curious about the price of 2080 TIs after NVIDIA comes out and releases their 3000 series later this year. I may have to upgrade to a 2080 ti if they’re reasonable. At $1,200 currently, it’s not.

A couple of the top tier aftermarket RTX 2080 TI cards sold for around $1,100 on r/hardwareswap recently. I would imagine they would go down some more right around the 3000s founder's edition cards get announced as people want to dump the 2000s. I'm not sure if people typically upgrade the highest tier GPUs each generation. I paid $1350 for my MSI 2080 TI Gaming X Trio and would happy to get back $1050 around a month or two before the aftermarket 3080 TI gets sold. If I want to sell it, I will post it here first and see if there's interest. I would rather sell locally (I'm in Tomball).

[pearlandhorn 3269]

3 hours ago, Leamas said:

A couple of the top tier aftermarket RTX 2080 TI cards sold for around $1,100 on r/hardwareswap recently. I would imagine they would go down some more right around the 3000s founder's edition cards get announced as people want to dump the 2000s. I'm not sure if people typically upgrade the highest tier GPUs each generation. I paid $1350 for my MSI 2080 TI Gaming X Trio and would happy to get back $1050 around a month or two before the aftermarket 3080 TI gets sold. If I want to sell it, I will post it here first and see if there's interest. I would rather sell locally (I'm in Tomball).

From what I’ve read, most retailers online cut their price by 50% right before the new line is released. $1,050 might be a stretch.

[Captainant 27625]

On 4/27/2020 at 10:48 PM, Tailgate said:

Ok, so I got some help from the team at Falcon Northwest. I’ve been away from PC gaming for a couple years. Quarantine made me set it up again. What games do I need? Big MMO and first-person shooter fan.

 

Newbies FTW

 

Check out a game on steam called "Post Scriptum" - it's a WWII company-level combat sim. Fucking incredible gameplay and graphics, and is fun as hell. Tough to find active servers with room to jump in sometimes though

[Tailgate 3021]

23 hours ago, Captainant said:

Check out a game on steam called "Post Scriptum" - it's a WWII company-level combat sim. Fucking incredible gameplay and graphics, and is fun as hell. Tough to find active servers with room to jump in sometimes though

Thanks...I will check it. Doom has been awesome so far. I also got my Xbox controller today. The keypad and mouse have been a little rusty for these old gamers hands. I do like war sims. Battlefield 1 was great a few years ago but now I can’t find anyone online much.

[MillerEP 30447]

Battlefield 5 is the current Battlefield game. You can try these new blending of MMOs and shooters out there that might scratch your itch. They are:

Fallout 76

The Division 2

Destiny 2

Anthem

Also, if you haven't picked up GTAV free on the Epic Games launcher, you should, it's online mode is fun, and of course Red Dead Online is a blast, it's what I've been messing around on lately.

[LonghornJudas 1097]

So, I got bored last week and built another machine. I went the RGB route this time for fun. Probably won't do it again as it took longer to set all that up and wire it correctly than it did putting everything else together.

I also did the PETG hard tubing this time around and it was surprisingly not too difficult. I have a couple of slight flat spots on the bend, but I think I did OK and it works. Machine is OC'd and stable at 5.1GHz across all cores and idles at 23-25C.

I really dig this case a lot. Perfect amount of space for multiple radiators, if you want it, and a massive amount of space in the back for cable management.

• Case: Lian Li PC-011 Dynamic XL (White)
• PSU: CORSAIR RMX White Series, RM850x with braided cable kit
• MB: Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Master
• CPU: Intel i9-9900K
• GPU: ASUS ROG STRIX GeForce RTX 2080Ti
• SSD: Samsung 970 Pro SSD 1TB
• RAM: Corsair Vengeance RBG Pro 32GB
• Waterblock: CORSAIR Hydro X Series XC7
• Reservoir/Pump: EKWB O11D Distro-Plate G1
• Radiator: XSPC RX360 Radiator V3
• Fans: Corsair LL120 RGBs
• Tubing: EKWB PETG Hard Tubing

[Leamas 29]

/\ What's display(s) do you have? That is indeed a great massive case. Easily room for a second reservoir if you want to get the GPU on a water block.

[immamac 42835]

11 hours ago, LonghornJudas said:

So, I got bored last week and built another machine. I went the RGB route this time for fun. Probably won't do it again as it took longer to set all that up and wire it correctly than it did putting everything else together.

I also did the PETG hard tubing this time around and it was surprisingly not too difficult. I have a couple of slight flat spots on the bend, but I think I did OK and it works. Machine is OC'd and stable at 5.1GHz across all cores and idles at 23-25C.

I really dig this case a lot. Perfect amount of space for multiple radiators, if you want it, and a massive amount of space in the back for cable management.

• Case: Lian Li PC-011 Dynamic XL (White)
• PSU: CORSAIR RMX White Series, RM850x with braided cable kit
• MB: Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Master
• CPU: Intel i9-9900K
• GPU: ASUS ROG STRIX GeForce RTX 2080Ti
• SSD: Samsung 970 Pro SSD 1TB
• RAM: Corsair Vengeance RBG Pro 32GB
• Waterblock: CORSAIR Hydro X Series XC7
• Reservoir/Pump: EKWB O11D Distro-Plate G1
• Radiator: XSPC RX360 Radiator V3
• Fans: Corsair LL120 RGBs
• Tubing: EKWB PETG Hard Tubing

No nvme storage? What a disgrace. Worthless build do not want. 

Holy shit that is awesome (RGB or not). Do you like that case? Also does that motherboard come with Bluetooth capabilities or do you have to add an external dongle? 

[LonghornJudas 1097]

2 hours ago, Leamas said:

/\ What's display(s) do you have? That is indeed a great massive case. Easily room for a second reservoir if you want to get the GPU on a water block.

I have two Asus ROG PG27AQ 4K monitors. It's weird because it's not a massive case at all. I was previously using the Corsair 900D. This Lian Li is slightly wider, but 7 or so inches shorter in height and length.

 

1 hour ago, immamac said:

No nvme storage? What a disgrace. Worthless build do not want. 

Holy shit that is awesome (RGB or not). Do you like that case? Also does that motherboard come with Bluetooth capabilities or do you have to add an external dongle? 

No, that Samsung is M.2. It sits right below the the CPU. I have been on M.2 strictly now for 3-4 years?

Yeah, I love the case. There has always been some crazy thing I hated about every case that I purchased over the years, but not this one. It has Bluetooth 5 and comes with the cable and extender. Really good board. BIOS is a little clunky, doesn't always respond to mouse clicks, so I certainly prefer Asus in this regard.

[immamac 42835]

actually that may be an NVMe drive in M.2 form factor.

that mobo has M.2 NVMe slots and the 970 is an NVMe capable drive

[Captainant 27625]

yeah you may have NVMe drives, but are they PCIe gen4?? 

@LonghornJudas did you do the hard water lines yourself? I've always wanted to build my own watercooling loop but I've always been wary of having to either fuck around with getting the bends all lined up or with flexible lines leaking

[LonghornJudas 1097]

49 minutes ago, Captainant said:

yeah you may have NVMe drives, but are they PCIe gen4?? 

@LonghornJudas did you do the hard water lines yourself? I've always wanted to build my own watercooling loop but I've always been wary of having to either fuck around with getting the bends all lined up or with flexible lines leaking

Yeah, I had a heat gun already and just ordered extra tubing in case. There’s a silicon hose that you can put inside the tube as well while you’re heating it up to keep it from losing shape. I also have some 45 and 90 degree bending tools, so you just warm up the tubing evenly and then put it around whichever bend you’re making, dip it in water and it’s done.

The most time consuming part was just measuring and trimming the tube to get the right fit. As you can see here, I had to get some extenders off the water lock because the RAM was in the way. I would highly suggest getting the drill bit version for the trimming part. Waaaaaaay better and faster at trimming and getting clean edges. 
 

5 hours ago, immamac said:

actually that may be an NVMe drive in M.2 form factor.

that mobo has M.2 NVMe slots and the 970 is an NVMe capable drive

Yeah, it definitely is. I’m sure there are faster ones out there, but right now, a cold start takes just under 7 seconds to be fully booted into windows. Restart from within Windows and back is roughly the same as well.

[Captainant 27625]

11 minutes ago, LonghornJudas said:

The most time consuming part was just measuring and trimming the tube to get the right fit. As you can see here, I had to get some extenders off the water lock because the RAM was in the way. I would highly suggest getting the drill bit version for the trimming part. Waaaaaaay better and faster at trimming and getting clean edges. 

there's your problem, shoulda watercooled the RAM too 😛

[Fudge Nuggets 19187]

OK, in the opinion of one of you tech junkies that eats, breathes, sleeps this shit which of the mainstream "gaming" processors is the best out there today?  Is it Ryzen 9 or the Intel i9 10900K?  The cost difference between the two is fuck all in my opinion... I want my system to be screaming and lord willing still be able to run cool shit a couple of years from now.  I'm one of those that gets a new computer once every 5 - 7 years so this thing needs to last.

I'm not a serious gamer, but I want to put together a bad ass system for the newest MSFT Flight Simulator game coming out next month and will also get into the DCS stuff.  Most of my time on the rig will be spent fucking around surly, but I'm going to do it in style.  I just need to know where to start.

[atomheartbevo 89625]

1 hour ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

I'm not a serious gamer, but I want to put together a bad ass system for the newest MSFT Flight Simulator game coming out next month

MS recommends a Ryzen 7 or i7 as their high-end spec, so if you get either a 9 or i9, you'll be just fine.

You need to make sure you have 32GB of RAM and a high-end video card more than worrying about Ryzen 9 or i9.  Especially the video card if you intend on doing the full 4K experience MS is promising.

 I still can't believe that was in-game footage.  That game looks fucking amazing.

Edited July 23, 2020 by atomheartbevo

[atomheartbevo 89625]

On 4/27/2020 at 10:48 PM, Tailgate said:

Ok, so I got some help from the team at Falcon Northwest. I’ve been away from PC gaming for a couple years. Quarantine made me set it up again. What games do I need? Big MMO and first-person shooter fan.

By the way, if you like realistic stuff, check out Battle Grounds III, it's a Revolutionary War game, and it is fun as hell loading a musket and only firing every 15 or 20 seconds, or running somebody through with a bayonet while they are loading their musket.  I was involved with the original (original was a Half-Life 1 mod, then II was HL2, not sure what 3 is).

https://battlegrounds3.com

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1057700/Battle_Grounds_III/ - Free to Play on Steam.

It's just...different.