Console killed, building first custom rig

Hardware Hub Build a PC
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As the title reads i have finally severed most of my ties to the console as my platform of choice. Now I am working a budget and knowledge base to get a solid PC build. From just about everything I see this is the place to get a solid piece of advice for a build. So I have a few baseline questions to start.

1st: Do i need to have most of a system overclocked or is that only for hardcore enthusiasts?

2nd: Is water cooling only necessary for high-end systems, or is it a basic standard?

So now I dare ask what is a solid build for a budget of around $770 - $800 that gives 1080p performance with most games and has potential to be ungraded. Given that a amd CPU and GPU are the prefered components. not looking for a flame war over Intel or nvidia I just get the impression you get more price to performance with amd.

 

Thanks for the help,

Greamer.

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1. Overclocking is optional - not required

2. Nope - watercooling is only for strong overclocking, and the case can be made that really good air coolers (like the Noctua NH-D15) are better or as good as most closed loop coolers

As far as your build goes - what country are you in?  Do you need EVERYTHING (keyboard, mouse, OS, monitor etc) or just the 'box'?

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If you want upgradability then you'll probably want to go with an intel i5, mainly because the current AMD CPUs are starting to fall behind now and won't be any use to you if you want to upgrade in a year or so's time.

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I'm far from an expert. I bought  a premade years ago, and upgraded it. Then about two years ago built my own. Both my PCs were AMD based, both in CPU and GPU. When i built my own i really wanted to go intel, but the guy helping me was an AMD fan, so I ended up going AMD. While I do think AMD is generally a really good bang for your buck, If your budget is $750 before a monitor, keyboard, mouse. I would definitely recommend going for an intel i5. Even if it's just a few bucks a year (Tek Syndicate Video), I don't like that my 8350 is an inefficient power hungry monster, that tends to get its butt handed to it by a four core i5 from intel. My next build will definitely be an intel/Nvidia based build, unless AMD does something drastically different than what they've been doing. 

Take this with a grain of salt, but I would also recommend a GPU with 3 or 4 GB of VRAM. Most games to my understanding only use 2 GB. I just feel the industry is trending towards more VRAM usage. Again just my opinion.

 

I agree with everything mentioned prior. Also Cooler Master 212 EVO or whatever is a really good budget air cooler for your CPU.

 

If you want to go AMD ive seen the 8350 recenty for around $130. That coupled with a 270x or 280x would be a decent build. Again, I would recommend going with intel and the haswell chip series for upgradeability.

Don't get the cheapest PSU you can find, get something certified.

Also make sure to have some build strategy. You will end up spending more than $750 over the course of time. Hopefully you already have a monitor. When i built mine I put all the money I could into the hardware, and used crappy peripherals, and then slowly upgraded. Now i have 2 keyboards and like 5 mice, and a 360 pad. I also bought a mobo with 4 channels for ram, and upgraded from 8 to 16 (probably not necessary, but it's nice)

If the budget is super tight, I would still recommend getting an SSD and then a month later or whenever you can afford the $50-80 buy a 1-2TB HDD.

If you can be patient, and pick up the components over the next month or two, watching for sales, I bet you will do really well for yourself. Just make sure you have your build in mind.

Must my thoughts, take them for whatever they are worth.

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We will have a build video early next week in that price range. I'll cover some of these questions.

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Thanks for the help guys, and yes i starting off from scratch. I'm picking up parts slowly over a few months because its the holidays; but i do have some peripherals to go with the build.

Side note: Your videos got my to kill "with" the console.

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You're in a price range where an AMD cpu does make some sense, but it is so hard for me to recommend a cpu as old as what amd is offering. A few years ago AMD made a lot more sense even though the performance wasn't quite up to what intel offered, but that was because AMD always used the same socket so you knew you could upgrade your cpu fairly easily in the future when the next high end AMD cpu came out. The problem now is AMD is no longer releasing new cpu's for anything other than the APU market and hasn't for a few years (the 9370 fx or whatever rebadged 8350 they release every now and then aren't new cpu's) so if you go with AMD you will be stuck with what is already out dated technology. There are way more cpu bound games out there than most people on this forum are willing to admit.

 

If you can't get at least an fx 8350 for your budget, I suggest you go with intel. If you can make your budget work with an 8350 I'd call it a tossup.