First build (gaming)

Pepe LeFrits

Hey folks,

Thinking of getting back into gaming (I don't count Civ 5 on my laptop :P), so advice on what I should be looking at would be appreciated.

1. What is your budget? €800

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Gaming – Half Life 3 ;-) FPS and strategy games mostly. If 800 euro will get me a machine that can handle the Vive or OR that’d be a plus, but I’m kind of on the fence about whether I want to be an early adopter, so if not that’s probably ok.

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? Yes

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? No

5. Do you need a monitor? No

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? My TV – Samsung UE46F5500 - 1920x1080. Have checked online and the lag time on it is 28ms, so I think it should be ok for gaming. Have hooked it up to my laptop and tested with HL2, which looks great. If it’s not OK I suppose I’ll get a monitor later.

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? Just a keyboard and mouse for now (wireless probably).

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? Possibly a bit further down the line.

8. How can you pay? Card

9. When are you purchasing? ASAP

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? Dublin

Digital Solitude

No VR on that budget I'm afraid

R9 380 €200
i5 6500 €200
Z170 board €90
8gb DDR4 €50
1tb HDD €50
250gb SSD €90
500w PSU €60
Case €70
Total €810

Mindfactory is cheapest place to buy from
Any questions ask away

TerrorFirmer

VR is possible, just spend less on other parts but overall it's way faster than the above. Just have to sacrifice some SSD space, plenty of decent cases around the €50 mark, and can get a decent PSU for €45-50.

R9 390 €310
i5 6500 €200
B170 board €70
8gb DDR4 €50
1tb HDD €50
120gb SSD €50
500w PSU €50
Case €50
Total €830

Digital Solitude

That's quite the build, OP go with the second one

Pepe LeFrits

Thanks guys. A few qs:

- For a midi tower, do I need an mATX board?
- I'm not seeing B170 mobos, only B150s and Z or H170s... and there are a lot of them. Any guidance here would be appreciated.
- RAM - again there is a lot of choice here. Should I be looking a single dimm or dual? You've got 16gbs for the same price in a lot of cases too. I don't really understand what I should be prioritising here.

Cheers

Pepe LeFrits

So...

- anidees AI-4B Mini Tower
- 500 Watt Corsair CX Series Non-Modular
- MSI B150M Mortar Intel B150 So.1151 Dual Channel DDR4 mATX
- Intel Core i5 6500 4x 3.20GHz So.1151 BOX
- 8192MB PowerColor Radeon R9 390 PCS+ Aktiv PCIe 3.0 x16
- 8GB Corsair Vengeance LPX schwarz DDR4-3000 DIMM CL15 Dual Kit
- 1000GB Seagate Desktop HDD ST1000DM003 64MB 3.5" (8.9cm) SATA 6Gb/s
- 120GB HyperX FURY 2.5" (6.4cm) SATA 6Gb/s

Comes to €828. Is that mini tower ok for the build?

Digital Solitude

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

Thanks guys. A few qs:

- For a midi tower, do I need an mATX board?
- I'm not seeing B170 mobos, only B150s and Z or H170s... and there are a lot of them. Any guidance here would be appreciated.
- RAM - again there is a lot of choice here. Should I be looking a single dimm or dual? You've got 16gbs for the same price in a lot of cases too. I don't really understand what I should be prioritising here.

Cheers

1. Nope, you can get midi ATX cases
2. That's a typo, there aren't B170s, a H170 or B150 is grand
3. Dual I'd say, DDR4 DIMM at 2133mhz, if you still can't grab any shout and someone will get a link

Digital Solitude

Doubt that the motherboard will take 3000mhz RAM, go slower.

Pepe LeFrits

You're right, it doesn't.

Pepe LeFrits

- anidees AI-4B Mini Tower
- 500 Watt Corsair CX Series Non-Modular
- MSI B150M Mortar Intel B150 So.1151 Dual Channel DDR4 mATX
- Intel Core i5 6500 4x 3.20GHz So.1151 BOX
- 8192MB PowerColor Radeon R9 390 PCS+ Aktiv PCIe 3.0 x16
- 8GB HyperX FURY schwarz DDR4-2133 DIMM
- 1000GB Seagate Desktop HDD ST1000DM003 64MB 3.5" (8.9cm) SATA 6Gb/s
- 120GB HyperX FURY 2.5" (6.4cm) SATA 6Gb/s

€810 now. Is that mini-tower/PSU combo ok?

Digital Solitude

I'm not aware of any reason it wouldn't be so I'm going to say yeah.

Might be cheaper to buy the case from amazon

Pepe LeFrits

Digital Solitude wrote: »

I'm not aware of any reason it wouldn't be so I'm going to say yeah.

Might be cheaper to buy the case from amazon

Amazon is way pricier for the most similar model. What is the mindfactory shipping charge for the case do you know?

Going to swap the PSU out for the 500 Watt Pure power L8 non modular.

Digital Solitude

Mindfactory is €30 for the electrics and another €30 for the case

Pepe LeFrits

Digital Solitude wrote: »

Mindfactory is €30 for the electrics and another €30 for the case

Ah ok, ta. Might try to find another case from somewhere closer to home so.

TerrorFirmer

This is a pretty good case for cheap from Amazon, appears to be a cheaper version of the Antec GX200 from what I can see (I've used had both). It's also similar to the Corsair Carbide. Look pretty decent, has a side window, comes with three fans, has dust filters, and not too loud. For less than €40 including delivery. I was happy with it.

PSU wise something like this to go with. But you can get that from MindFactory with the rest of the order. Their case fees are ridiculous.

Pepe LeFrits

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

This is a pretty good case for cheap from Amazon, appears to be a cheaper version of the Antec GX200 from what I can see (I've used had both). It's also similar to the Corsair Carbide. Look pretty decent, has a side window, comes with three fans, has dust filters, and not too loud. For less than €40 including delivery. I was happy with it.

PSU wise something like this to go with. But you can get that from MindFactory with the rest of the order. Their case fees are ridiculous.

Cheers. The pc will be going in the living room though so ideally I'm looking for something a little smaller and more plain.

Pepe LeFrits

https://www.amazon.co.uk/CiT-Barricade-Gaming-Interior-Front/dp/B00JKW3GDM

Looking at this case. Reviews are good, but I'm not sure if the GPU will fit in it.

TerrorFirmer

It won't fit - that case is not great, have used one and almost no graphics cards would fit into it - certainly not performance cards. It's also pretty shoddy ventilation wise. Better suited towards an office/media PC, not suitable for gaming at all really.

Maybe look at some of the mAtx cube cases? Thermaltake core, Prodigy M, Antec 600, etc...

Or more choice again if you go ITX motherboard, can get some incredible well designed small cases, but this will cost more overall.

Look up 'mini itx case' on Amazon - I think this would suit you quite well.

Pepe LeFrits

Good to know.

Had a look at the cubes there, think I'll stick with a tower. You mentioned the Corsair Carbide - reckon either of these would do the job?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01550Y9GA

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00UNJRG78

TerrorFirmer

Have used the H15 and it's a really nice case, very compact. Either of those are a good choice really though, both nice cases and well designed.

Pepe LeFrits

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Have used the H15 and it's a really nice case, very compact. Either of those are a good choice really though, both nice cases and well designed.

Cool. Ordered the H15 and the rest of it.

Pepe LeFrits

FFS.

So I started the build this evening, spent absolutely ages trying to get the motherboard in place and the GFX card into it; the H15's instructions were useless and had no mention that I needed to screw the bronze screws into the side of the case, then the screw the mother board into those screws. Anyway, figured it out eventually, but now having spent about an hour trying to figure out where all the various power cables go, I noticed that one of the pins on the USB3 on the mobo was bent. Tried to gently bend it back into place with a mini screwdriver and it snapped off.

I want to throw the ****ing thing out the window.

Eoinmc97

XD I can sympathize. You should be able to RMA it. Obviously, it adds time to the build, so I can understand your anger.

Pepe LeFrits

Looks to have turned out reasonably OK, all things considered. Had the machine on there and got into the BIOS utility (no OS to install on it yet). Everything looks ok. CPU, RAM, hard drives, both fans operating fine.

Negatives: the USB3 port on the front of the case is dead. The VBUS pin broke which I believe powers it. I tried putting the broken pin into the connector, but it hasn't worked.

Also before I realised the mobo needed to be mounted against additional screws, I inserted the GFX card and then couldn't get it out. The clip on the PCI port came off when I pulled it out. Didn't look like it was broken but I couldn't put the clip back in easily and didn't feel like breaking something else trying to force it. Doesn't seem to be an issue though.

What a mission.

Pepe LeFrits

Should I be concerned that after closing up the PC, I discover one of these? :pac:

Digital Solitude

Nope, it's incase your GPU and PSU aren't compatible.

I haven't had that little clip on my motherboard for years now, will .probably purposely break it off in future just because it makes it so much easier to remove GPUs with my awkward hands

Xenoronin

Aye, as long as you have the screw attaching it to the case in, it shouldn't wiggle free unless you are doing some serious moving around with it. unlucky about the usb pin, might be possible to fix with a bit of tinkering, but not the worst if it doesn't. Most people don't use the front usb ports. Can also get a hub and bring it around from the back. Otherwise, RMA and say nawwtthhiinn

Pepe LeFrits

Ok, OS is installed and I'm up and running.

Maybe not the right place to ask this but I've bought GTA5 and I'm installing it on the 1gb drive as it would take up most of the SSD. Will this impact performance much, or should I just put all my games on the 1gb?

Digital Solitude

Slower loads and more texture pop in of you're bombing around the mapq that's about it

Eoinmc97

You coukd investigate if RAM disking is possible for GTA V and your speccs, as this could deliver some strong load times in certain situations. I remember some people on Battlenet managed to get the RAMdisk with just files for loading and a few textures for Battlefield 4 on 8Gb and 16Gb.