So I want to start building my own PC soon and I want to know how does one start? I know it differs from if you want a gaming rig or a editing rig etc, but once you pick what you want your PC to do, what is the next logical step? how does one go from theoretical to the actual buying process? do you start by looking up gaming rigs and then modifying what you want next? i'm not looking at budget price but more of how to get started and then making it around a budget once i figure out what I can afford.
I've outlined what my typical process is when building a computer below.
1. I know you said you aren't currently looking at budget/price, but it really is the first consideration I've always made. You will have to consider your budget for every single component you select.
2a. If you are building a gaming rig I suggest that the first thing you should look at is what kind of graphics card you can afford. You want to put more emphasis on your GPU than the rest of your components. My graphics cards accounted for approximately 1/3 of my systems cost when I first built it.
2b. If you are building an editing rig you should probably focus on spending more of your money on a high end CPU and some decent RAM.
3. Don't forget about the rest of your components. For example, if you are building a gaming rig you don't want to pair a GTX 780ti with a low end APU from AMD. Make sure that the rest of your rig isn't holding your glorious GPU back. For gaming an i5 CPU or AMD fx8350 should be enough for even the top of the line GPU's. 8GB of RAM has been plenty for me since 2011, but if you have the budget 16GB should be all you ever need if you aren't doing serious video editing or running vmware.
4(optional). I seriously suggest that if you can afford it in your budget, look for a solid SSD. The samsung evo's are dirt cheap (for SSDs) right now. If you can't afford an SSD you will at least need a traditional hard drive.
5.(optional-sort of). Figure out what kind of cooling you need. If you are running a nice CPU and plan on overclocking an aftermarket cooling solution is par for the course. Even if you don't plan on overclocking I think an aftermarket cooler is a good idea since the stock coolers aren't very good.
6. Find a case that fits in your budget that is to your liking and will also adequately house your hardware and provide them with adequate cooling.
7. You need to power your system so you need to find a solid power supply, but you don't want to spend too much on overkill.
8.(required) Legally obtain whatever operating system(s) you intend to install on the machine.
When you are considering your components you should also be verifying that everything is compatible. For example if you are buying in i7 4770k you better have a socket 1150 motherboard. You also don't want to order a graphics card that is too long for your case or a power supply that is underpowered. If it is important to you (and it is to me) you should make sure that your components match whatever color scheme you are going for.
Well I make a list of what I (or a client) wants in that pc. Then you can go here for some inspiration or to just get a general idea of the price factor. After that i start going through suppliers/shops and look for discounts on selected parts. *at this moment the build is not final yet!* You will probably find better value components and change your build. At this point i make a spreadsheet with all the different possible variations and prices and decide which one I will go for. (More often than not budget is the main factor for me) When you have your pick- DOUBLE-CHECK FOR DISCOUNTS! This is when I commit to buy the parts.
Sometimes i get parts beforehand (a case for instance) but that's a bad practice. You can miss a good sale that way.
Hope this helped a bit.
Edit:
CPU: I usually go for FX-6300. It keeps the budget nice and low, or you can always go for FX-8350 (i'm not a huge fan of intel)
GPU: This is THE heart of a gaming rig. IMHO its better to get a better gpu and a slower cpu than an overkill cpu and some mid range gpu.
PSU: DON'T SKIMP ON YOUR PSU! I've seen enough PCs fried because they upgraded their system, but not psu. (not saying you need an overkill psu for 300$) Single rail 700w psu would be a safe bet imho.
RAM: 8gb is ok, 16 is enough, 32 is a waste of money (unless you do video editing or like putting games on a virtual ramdisk)
MOBO: Get something with good VRMs and with heatsinks if you are going to overclock (ofcourse you will). I like ASUS and Gigabyte motherboards. Those brands somehow look the most reliable to me ATM.
Storage: The more the better! Get at least 1tb hdd and you can catch some nice discounts on samsung ssds.
Case: This is for you to decide... do you look for aesthetics, silence, portability, or even all in one? Fractal has great cases and I always recommend them because they actually are good.
Edit 2:
You guys beat me to it... Crazymobster and The New Guy got it sorted out
Mobster has got a good process going here. You should listen to this, it's good stuff. One thing to take into consideration is the CPU when looking at what the use of this rig is going to be the majority of the time. If it is more productivity and work, look more at Intel. If it is going to be more for gaming, try AMD. As Mobster said, you should really come up with a budget when trying to figure this out. That can really influence what you can and can't put into your build. If you have a tight-ish budget, look more at AMD build. If you have some greater flexibility with it, look an Intel based build. I know I've rattled on about the CPU but this is the brain of your build.
This is what I have to share at the moment. I would continue on in this post but I am lazy. :P
another question I would have is once I have built my PC how/where would I know if a part to my PC is either behind the curve and there is a new part that is better to the one I have installed?
I guess the best answer here is that you will just need to feel it out. If there are areas that you feel performance is lacking you will have to identify the bottleneck. This is usually fairly obvious. For example, if gaming performance is low the GPU is the usual suspect, unless you have a really underpowered CPU. You will know if you need more ram by checking your usage under system monitor. If you find that you are maxing out your ram in programs you frequently use you will need to upgrade. If you get a solid CPU and motherboard they should last you the life of your computer. I really wouldn't worry about what is behind the curve, only how well your computer suits your needs. All hardware is behind the curve after about 6 months to a year, that doesn't mean you have to upgrade your computer that often. I built my computer in the summer of 2011 and the only upgrades I have done to it are a better graphics card (GTX 770) after 2 years, and an SSD in December of 2011. The truth is I really didn't even need to upgrade my GPU, seeing has I had twice as much GPU power as a PS4 when I built my computer in 2011. I was really just fed up with dealing with crossfire.
so I figured out my budget will be 2000$ or so, so I looked around and I made this, what are your thoughts? http://pcpartpicker.com/user/WebCobra/saved/46ov
You should be very happy with that build. That is the kind of well rounded build I like to see. Some here may tell you that a 4770K is too much CPU but since it is well within your budget I think it's best to get the best CPU you can. One thing I may suggest, however, is that if you think you might ever go SLI in the future, it may be best to go ahead and get a 850W PSU. Seasonic is a great brand though. But the part selection looks great.
That is a pretty good build, and you've gotten good advice on this thread. I'm going to make a couple comments on your build, but these are my opinions. If you bought that today, chances are that you'd be very happy with it.
CPU: This is a great CPU. To work within your budget, I would say drop the CPU to the i5-4670K. You won't notice a difference in gaming, but it'll free up money for my other suggestions.
CPU Cooler: Since you're looking at an unlocked CPU, and you've selected a SOLID motherboard that will handle any overclock you throw at it, you'll want a CPU cooler that will do justice for your CPU and overclock. I'd recommend a Noctua NH-D14 or a good 240mm all-in-one liquid cooler like the H100i.
SSD: Intel SSDs are good, but Samsung seems to be leading the pack with the 840 Evo.
Memory: Maybe a different color? That's just me being picky. That is a good set of RAM.
GPU: Use the money from the CPU to go for a 780Ti
Hard drive: Seagate doesn't have the best reputation. WD Blacks are well regarded
Power supply: A little overkill, but not too bad. I like XFX and Corsair RM series personally. I think SeaSonic has a good reputation but I can't remember off the top of my head (they might make some of Corsair's lines... can't remember)
Case: HUGE! The case is a personal choice, but it'd be hard to fill that one up. I threw in the Fractal R4 just because it is a popular choice.
Here is my revision. Any one feel free to critique!
I think he should definitely stick with the Intel SSD since they are very similar in price. MLC>TLC. The Samsungs have been popular because they have been so cheap. The only other thing I would say about your build is that your power supply leaves no room for SLI in the future. For some that is a complete non issue, but I know I like having that option.
Well, since your GPU will be your biggest power draw you can go to sites like guru3d and look at their video card reviews. For the GTX 780 they recommend a minimum of a 550W power supply for your average system. If you want to have the option of adding a second GTX 780 in the future, they recommend a minimum of a 800W power supply. If you know you will never add a second card, I'd go ahead and drop your power supply to a 650W. If you think there is a reasonable chance that you will go for SLI in the future, I'd bump your power supply up to 850W.
A large power supply will never hurt, they just cost more. But, if you think that you will ever need the extra power in the future it is a lot cheaper to buy a bigger power supply now than it is to buy the minimum you need now and then the big one later. If you are sure you will never need the extra power then the larger power supply has no advantage over the smaller one. Your budget is about the same that mine was when I built my computer 3 years ago. For me, when spending that much money I wanted to make sure that my computer was as expandable as possible to make it last as long as possible. If you want to upgrade your GPU power in a year or two, it may be a lot cheaper and more beneficial to get a second GTX 780 than it will be to buy whatever the top of the line card is then. If you get a 550W power supply this won't be an option. That's the way I see it at least.
1. It allows for future expansion with replacing the PSU. You have a lot of wattage with that PSU, you could upgrade/add another GPU, upgrade the CPU, add more hard drives, etc.
2. It it allows for more "overhead" with lower wattages and protects your build. With that much in your PSU, it is going to take a lot for it to fail. Given that this is a high quality PSU, it's not going to short out your rig if it does fail.
Now can I (I understand the pricing which helps) in the future upgrade to the i7 from the i5? or is the difference between the two not that noticeable where I can just leave be? I do love your version and the case was a bit big now that I look at it.
Okay so here is the version that Grayson made , http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3cEPO I will (in the future if I feel like it) grab a second GTX 780ti and upgrading to a i7 from a i5 I do like the build because it is like mine but the case is smaller and I understand that i5 is for all intensive proposes is just as good as i7 for gaming
In reality, you could get the i7-4770K right now and still be in budget. I was rushing trying to get the build done before a class. But yes, you could upgrade later. By the time it came though, you would be looking at building on the next generation of products.
You could upgrade if you wanted but It wouldn't be worth the $300 you would have to spend unless you do a lot of video editing in which case you should definitely start out with the i7. But like he said, in gaming you would be very hard pressed to find any performance advantage in the i7 over the i5.
For a second GTX 780ti you will definitely need a much larger power supply. It wouldn't make sense to buy a 650W power supply now just to buy an 850W power supply in the future. IMO it would be much smarter to go ahead and get the larger power supply now and save yourself $110.