The Battlestation & PC building thread

[Hawthorne]

Couldn’t find a similar thread in the search.

So my current set up is showing its age and I’ve decided I wanted to build a new machine. I’m a little rusty since the last time I worked on a comp like this was in high school but I’ve spent the past few days researching and refreshing and I was wondering if anyone here also builds PCs? Whether it’s for work or a hobby? And if you have any wisdom or enthusiasm to share…can you? And even if you don’t build but think you’ve got a pretty nice set up then show it off or something?

Anyways, I’m currently working on a PCpartpicker list that I’ll post if anyone actually responds to this topic. Who knows, maybe I’ll post pics and a write up once I build it. Hopefully. If I remember to.

 

[Chrysanthe]

mine has really cool lights and it plays games!!!!!!!!!!!!


I have little to share about my building experience, since I sorta binge read everything about it and as soon as I produced my ~700$ beauty, I pretty much forgot everything about it. All I know is that I spent days trying to figure how much shit I could put into it with what little money I have... I'll post specs:

CPU: Intel I5-4440 Processor BX80646I54440
GPU: Sapphire Radeon R9 280
Motherboard: ASRock ATX DDR3 1333 LGA 1150 Motherboards H97M PRO4 (would have gone cheaper, but apparently too cheap a motherboard could end up in the loss of all your functioning pc parts :/)
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR3 1600 MHz PC3 12800 240-Pin DDR3 Dual Channel Memory Kit (CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80PLUS Certified ATX12V/EPS12V Power Supply 100-W1-0500-KR
Storage: WD Blue 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 7200rpm Internal Hard Drive
Case: Sentey Gs-6008 Stealth Gaming Computer Case
Food: Raspberry Blue & White Gummi Gummy Rings Candy 1 Pound Bag (this was an unrelated purchase, but this I had less than 10$ to spare after buying all these pc parts, and I just like gummy things note to Sinclair: this is not necessary for the functioning of the computer, but it does make your stomach happy... for awhile. no it made me feel awful finished it all in less than two days )

also bought an anti-static wrist strap... but never ended up using it. just tried to, every few seconds, make contact between my hands and the case to release all static buildup.

 

[Yama]

Well all I can really say is that recently I bought this graphics card and it's amazing. My grandfather builds computers and this is the least expensive one of the ones that he highly recommended I use.

 

[Hawthorne]

mine has really cool lights and it plays games!!!!!!!!!!!!


I have little to share about my building experience, since I sorta binge read everything about it and as soon as I produced my ~700$ beauty, I pretty much forgot everything about it.

Oh hey, my current one also has purdy lights and ran a stunning Morrowind and Oblivion in its day. How long ago did you build it?

Well all I can really say is that recently I bought this graphics card and it's amazing. My grandfather builds computers and this is the least expensive one of the ones that he highly recommended I use.

That's actually one of the cards I'm considering along with the GTX 750 Ti (because cheaper but still decent) and the R9 280X (because that sexy FPS but I'm worried it'll be too big for my case). But that one seems a good middle ground and the reviews are pretty good too. And the power of direct testimony is compelling~

 

[Yama]

Oh hey, my current one also has purdy lights and ran a stunning Morrowind and Oblivion in its day. How long ago did you build it?



That's actually one of the cards I'm considering along with the GTX 750 Ti (because cheaper but still decent) and the R9 280X (because that sexy FPS but I'm worried it'll be too big for my case). But that one seems a good middle ground and the reviews are pretty good too. And the power of direct testimony is compelling~

+1000 cuz Morrowind and Oblivion are beautiful.

Yes, I've had it for about two months now and it's running beautifully. No problems whatsoever.

 

[Chrysanthe]

Oh hey, my current one also has purdy lights and ran a stunning Morrowind and Oblivion in its day. How long ago did you build it?



That's actually one of the cards I'm considering along with the GTX 750 Ti (because cheaper but still decent) and the R9 280X (because that sexy FPS but I'm worried it'll be too big for my case). But that one seems a good middle ground and the reviews are pretty good too. And the power of direct testimony is compelling~

I built it about 7 months ago, and I'm sure it's specs will last me a few generations of at least 30fps.~ My PC has yet to find a game that it cannot run... excluding the ones with shitty servers and the really really old games which crash 3 minutes in. My build even handles Wii games decently! (though I've only tried Monster Hunter Tri and Mario Kart... both 55-60fps)

 

[Dr Mobius]

Well all I can really say is that recently I bought this graphics card and it's amazing. My grandfather builds computers and this is the least expensive one of the ones that he highly recommended I use.

EVGA 950, it's a very good card/brand. The X50's have been the base gaming card for a while, the Ti editions have an extra fan I think? Essentially they can run a lot hotter/faster then the standard model.


Awesome thread I'll come back at a later point an post my rig. But for the moment Sinclair the question is what is your budget, what will you be primarily using it for, and what specific features do you want/need. For example do you need it to be compatible with 4K screens? Is it going to be used for making music? Is there an issue of size/portability?

Off the top of my head (food for thought):

The requirements for gaming computers is pretty low these days. Most games will be developed for PS4s and Xbox Ones; which means that for its life cycle (Which could be up to a decade) anything similar or better then that will be able to play most games. It's why a gaming rig is one of the cheapest you can build now.

Don't skimp on a post market cpu fan, I know it's tempting, but it will make a significant increase to longevity particularly if you have a small case.

Think carefully about cases; does it have enough fans, is it big enough, cable management (This one always bites people in the backside.).

Check out Tom's Hardware all the advice and reviews you could possibly ask for, and they do a quarterly build to a budget marathon. Seriously anything you could possibly want to know.

Take your time, find good deals...... actually Tom's has a section for promotions/discounts for Newegg.

 

[SearchingforPeace]

I need to build a new rig.....subscribed to get ideas.....

I loved Tom's Hardware back when I used to build my own..... My desktop today is sooooo old.....

 

[Chrysanthe]

If you haven't already encountered this handy dandy computer part generator tool... feel free to see what it recommends for you based off your budget. Though you probably won't need this if you've already researched everything yourself.

 

[Hawthorne]

If you haven't already encountered this handy dandy computer part generator tool... feel free to see what it recommends for you based off your budget. Though you probably won't need this if you've already researched everything yourself.

yes! i used this to start my build. also, i love you.
[MENTION=10550]Dr Mobius[/MENTION] this is me committing to responding within 48 hours of this post lest i embarrass myself.
[MENTION=25377]SearchingforPeace[/MENTION] that was another site people told me to look at. feel free to share any tips or experiences you have!

 

[Hawthorne]

So.

I decided I'm going to wait until the summer to buy and build. Why? Because I will have more money and be able to get exactly what I want instead of compromising on everything. Which makes picking out parts right now kinda silly, you know?

But I still like this thread and would like to use it when the right time comes. And I would also love to know what wisdom and specimens of technological beauty other typoC members have to share.

Speaking of sharing, I am quite fond of this little site:
Logical Increments

Along with the ChooseMyBuild and Tom's Hardware one's mentioned above. I am mentioning it here so I will not forget it between now and eventual.

 

[Hawthorne]

Depending on when I can get my financial situation solidified, some time-sensitive modifications may be made. Upper limit is 800. Still need to account for either a wireless network adapter or Powerline ethernet hook up.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($174.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($62.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport XT 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($27.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($81.49 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($45.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 380X 4GB WINDFORCE 2X Video Card ($219.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GS 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($70.98 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($89.88 @ OutletPC)
Total: $774.08
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-04 07:43 EST-0500

I may be able to recycle an old 500GB HDD which, along with an SSD, should be sufficient for my storage needs. I'm also still looking in using an old Windows license so I don't have to waste money on rebuying that. If only there were a Linux distro with fleshed out Steam compatibility allowing me to play my games as desired~

May downgrade the GPU to 380 as well. Time will tell.

 

[Merced]

I plan on painting the case gold in select areas, replacing most of the cables with golden ones, and painting the fans gold. (Probably not going to touch the CPU fan but all the other fans I will. I didn't include the fans in my build because they are not RGB and very basic. Three 140mm and three 120mm.) So anyways! This is my build! I am expecting to be finished by the end of the year.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X 3.8 GHz 8-Core Processor ($529.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 50.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($89.90 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus TUF GAMING X570-PLUS (WI-FI) ATX AM4 Motherboard
Memory: G.Skill Trident Z Royal 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($124.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Trident Z Royal 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($124.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: ADATA Falcon 2 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($209.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Asus GeForce RTX 3070 8 GB DUAL OC Video Card ($970.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Cougar DarkBlader X5 ATX Mid Tower Case ($88.97 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Gigabyte P GM 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($108.28 @ Amazon)
Total: $2248.10
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-02-07 20:48 EST-0500