Before You buy or ask for help, Click this

Look, I am a neutral party here however I understand Use case, price to performance, and have no brand loyalty as well as a long time lurker. I see @NJM1112 post is kinda old with not alot of new info. So I took it upon myself to make a new guide, not to replace @NJM1112 but to supplement it for the New forums. Plus New paint never hurts just effort.

While NJM's thread focus on the meat of the of the situational and starts, however doesn't have many basics or videos explain things. I am making this to Update and offer some different type of advice. I have watch these forums and see some bickering on people builds, every some builds that failed what they set out to do. It troubles me as it just spread misinformation, I dont hate you, I just hate misinformation, don't take it personally if I correct one of your suggestions.

SO YOU WANT TO GET YOUR MAGIC BOX ON?


There are really Three simple things to keep in mind when Building a PC as a beginner. New or Used? What Resolution? and what Tasks do you want to do? Well Njm's post has great suggestions and execution however if your really a "level 1", do you know all that by chance offhand? If not it really not going to help much if you can't understand.

The reason I say these three things oppose to NJMs list. Its short, simple and covers all bases. All programs are tied your screen resolution, then based of that you can understand your use case(tasks you do) to which rationalize the type of hardware(new or used). Its all rather simple.

Below I will post links but read this first. If you want to build a PC, you need to learn the basics, look at youtube.
CPU, HDD/SSD, Case, RAM, GPU, Motherboard, Heatsink, power supply, monitor, and operating system. once your learn these, your golden, you learned to ride a bike, now ride space cowboy.


These are building blocks of what is know as a "personal computer" and if you can't grasp these, then you need to use a service like http://www.ibuypower.com/ or http://www.ecollegepc.com/ . Not to be rude, you either can or can't nothing wrong/right either way, just blunt honest.

Here is video by lovable kyle and paul explain how to build a pc for newbies.




While the videos are three hous long, it is fully detail and he is a proliferate pc builder who knows what he is doing.
Can't be bother to watch an three hour long video before you waste your money or complain?
11 minute version.

These are several great resources to find things and learn. I will list some, but become your own Übermensch(aka learn your own sites too and don't be lazy)

http://www.logicalincrements.com/ | <- This site is not the end all be all, however it is a great reference material, with an entry level knowledge and easy to use site. It has other buying guides as well.

current list Nov 9 2016 will/please update



https://pcpartpicker.com/ | <- is another great resource, Make sure to Disable "mail-in-rebates" to show true values of products. I like using this service to find where to find the cheapest parts around.

https://forum.level1techs.com/c/community/buy-sale-trade | <- when there is stuff to buy

https://www.reddit.com/r/hardwareswap/ | <- Make who ever is trading you has a heatware and/or posted in the thread you listed, dont respond to personal PM unless they post in YOUR thread, people will make new accounts to try and scam you.

http://www.heatware.com/ | <- Highly recommend you make an account and only trade people with verified Heatware, greatly reduces bad transactions. it is very helpful.


And for tips.

  • Find college friends, they get windows keys Legitimately for $15 a pop, Never pay more then $50 for a Operating system

  • All current Multi driver headset (In my opinion) are not worth it yet, Single Driver tech for headphones and speakers has come ten fold in the past few years, as well You are better off buying a separate audio dac(never buy stuff like mayflower or small third party stuff without considerable research).

  • All in one build never work.

  • There is no future proof. Anyone who says so fails to grasp the basic concept and philosophy of technology, do not trust them.

  • Never relay or trust "mail-in-rebates"

  • specs are specs. Realize the difference between theory(on paper) and real Utilization(Non-synthetic real world test).

  • Never pay higher then 50% of retail price on used hardware, Ingore stuff like "never been overclocked" "pet free home", they are all lies. Even if they Rx 490 can out today, I bought it, installed in my pc for 15 minutes, benched it and tried to sell. no more then 50% of retail value. Some warranties from companies do not transfer, and some companies have to be know to changed the RMA, such as EVGA which no longer does lifetime warranties.

  • Theyre are several reasons but the main point is YOU ARE BUYING FROM A PERSON, NOT AN ENTITY, THERE IS NO REFUND. There is no trust, legal protection, its old times "I have an AMD goat for you Voodoo effects parrot." type of stuff. However you can minimize risk by using sites like www.heatware.com and trade/buy from trusted sellers.

  • As for payment, I Recommend Bitcoin, Dwolla, and trusted third parties. Paypal can be used but I honestly can't recommend them, avoiding them for the fees and I never had a sale on Paypal where a buyer didn't try to scam me.

  • Always Ask for timestamp, Skype video is better, or youtube. Point is Get a non-photoshop image of 360 degree of said product. Video > photos in trading. Video is harder to fake.


I will probably update this, and may listen to some feedback. However, I want to stand clear I have no sides. I am a machine that want YOU to learn how to make YOUR pc for the Best use case and budget. So its a two way street.
like @NJM1112 said

Also use Search engines.

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Google is your friend to all aspiring PC builders. Also, use that built in search function within the forum. Its always good to search around here to see if your question has already been asked.

Just as a general rule of thumb, really pay attention to the people on the forums that have been around for a while. People such as mods are always going to be your friends. Definitely not a strict rule ofc, seeing as this fucking awesome guide was made by someone within their first 3 hours of being on the forum.

Kick ass job dude, ALWAYS awesome to have an updated thread like this one to refer people too. Thankyou from the forum peeps :D

1 Like