(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Here are a few tips from someone who has built his fair share of computers and debugged, tech supported, and everything else. I figured when I started out something like this would have really helped to advise me and save me on hours and hours of research. For you guys who know what you are talking about and want to add to it just comment and I will add it.



This one is pretty basic and self explanatory. Just because one item costs more doesn't mean it is better. I am not saying in computer world there are no gimmicks. There are tons of gimmicks, like surround sound headsets, 64gb of ram, etc. etc. I am sure the list goes on and on but you guys get the point. As a first time builder especially do research on what is best. I will give you a hint, a high end 660ti is just about as good as a 670 (the 670 wins by about 3-8 frames).


Every single part on the computer can be swapped out, changed, updated, etc. So don't go out and spend $6000 on the rig alone. This is especially good news if you are low on cash. You can buy some decent parts like an ok gpu and sli later on for a machine that can dice lions. I do recommend though throwing the cash out for a nice cpu, motherboard, and case as they will be tedious and annoying to upgrade in the future, but not impossible.


Your PSU (power supply unit) is important. You want to get a good quality one so you save money in the future and so you get what is advertised on the box. Let me clarify, I highly recommend spending a bit extra to get that 650 as apposed to that 550 or if you think you will sli get the 750 or 850. But why? These psu's will be around $100 give or take $30. So by buying more now you will spend $10 more initially but not have to upgrade when you sli. But if you skimp out to save $10 or $20, come the day for sli, crossfire, or a new card you may have to spend another $120 for a whole new psu because yours doesn't convert enough power.

Also on psu's it is HIGHLY recommended to stick between 80 plus silver, gold, and platinum. Bronze will also get the job done but not as well. I say this because if you buy an 850 watt psu that is not 80 plus certified it may output only 650 or 750 watts due to complicated processes with amps, watts, and other stuff. (do research to look further if it interests you)

If you hate fingerprints the only things that can possibly erck you more are wires. If this is you and you don't want the guts of your rig to look like Medusa i suggest a modular psu. If you find yourself ocd-less then save the cash and keep that ball of wires in your drive bays!


I can surely tell you this caught me by surprise on my first and almost second build. Peripherals add up quick and almost too quick. This happens due to a chain reaction, I will explain why now.
If you have an asus titan than you can't just game on a 15" crt. You will need a nice, fast, accurate, rather large monitor. The only issue is they are $300+ for something decent so that can be a big chunk of money. But if you get a nice monitor, you can't just listen to the fans spin; you need nice speakers! Nice bookshelf speakers will be $200+ each and you need 2 so for the mathematically impaired that is $400. Plus with such nice speakers you surely need a subwoofer, mine was $300 but you can get a smaller one that won't rattle the whole house . Then you need a receiver to bring everything to one central hub. These can be a grand up. With all this audiophile quality stuff you need a nice sound card. Lastly you need to be comfortable when gaming for hours on end so I recommend a nice sturdy desk, comfortable chair, mechanical keyboard, and mice well mice are all by the users preference when it comes to shape, size, weight, and amount of buttons so no help there. But like it was mentioned above everything is up-gradable and the good news is that your peripherals or anything outside of the rig are rediculously easy to swap out and upgrade. So if I were you I would not brake the bank on day one. Build up slowly unless you are an audiophile like me and have the cash.


After all this talk of expensive parts and peripherals at the end of the day you need a balance. Like Buddhism only you can find that balance. I will say this though don't get a $700 monitor and a $125 graphics card because you will never optimize that monitor. Don't get a Pentium 3 and an asus titan because you will bottleneck. Everything needs to be budgeted and balanced out. Don't go crazy on any one area unless you want to go crazy on the rest.


With the amount of parts, always updating technologies, and so many distributors; sales are around every single corner. Just research (pcpartpicker is a good start if you have no clue where to go) and find deals. I do not recommend buying everything from one site.


Wouldn't it really suck to spend all this money and then find out the parts do work together the day they come? So much hype just to return stuff. Don't let it happen. Use Pcpartpicker to help you make sure things are compatible and always have someone who knows what they are doing double check because computers make errors. (I will be more than happy to do it. Just post the link to your parts in my visitor messages).


This one can scare off new guys as it almost did myself. Before you apply you will want to just watch videos of people doing it. I recommend purchasing a leaded thermal paste because just like leaded gas it holds up to higher temperatures and will overall last longer. Remember not too much but not too little a pea size will be plenty and you can always add more. You are aiming for a THIN layer that covers the entire surface and has no clumps or bubbles.


The more cooling the better. If you have poor cooling then generally your computer won't run as well and you may even kill a part. It would be better to spend the extra money now for liquid intercooling or nice big fans than to have to buy and install new parts? Also DO NOT OVERCLOCK WITHOUT AN AFTERMARKET HEATSINK! I have had many people kill cpu's and burn pins because they used the stock fan. I don't even recommend the stock fan when I don't OC. I completely forgot this one and it is important. I thank Clutch Hunter for reminding me.


This one will be a short read. Basically when building, upgrading, or maintaining the computer you need to be discharged of electricity or else you can damage the sensitive components and in rare cases hurt yourself. Normally touching the case (if metal) before and while you work is enough for a discharge, but if you live in a dry climate or just generally get shocked easily in your home make the investment in an anti-static wristband.



If you read through all of that I really hope it helped.
If you didn't make it than news to you; you haven't done enough research (unless you have already built and are not a noob)

Please give me feedback and CALL ME OUT ON MY TYPOS! I'm sure there were more than a couple.

-snipesome

Good post!

If you're looking at building a PC, get 8GB memory on a budget build, or 16GB if you'll be doing heavy video editing and/or multitasking. Whichever you choose, double it up (2x4GB = 8GB, 2x8GB = 16GB). Ideally get a CL (Cas Latency) of 10 or under, and don't bother with frequencies above ~1600MHz unless they're on sale for the same price or you're using an APU.

Don't skimp on the motherboard. It can limit your ability to overclock or even wear out faster.

Don't fall for marketing terms - this is especially applicable to video cards. AMD and NVIDIA both try to reel newbies in with marketing, please don't let them. Do your research, look up benchmarks, find which card would actually be best for you.

Look into mechanical keyboards.

Don't overclock a CPU without an aftermarket cooler, even if it's just a cheap £25/$35 one. The temps will be the limiting factor.

If you're planning to overclock a video card, make sure to get a card with good cooling (see: benchmarks). There's nothing more frustrating than being limited by sub-par cooling that would be beyond difficult to replace.

If you can afford one, get a solid state drive! Do your research and get one with a good lifespan, and then never record to it with something like Fraps or Dxtory. Done.

If you do want to record with either of the above, a Western Digital Caviar Black hard drive is sufficient for 30FPS recordings at 1920x1080.

Maintenance. You'll need to clean your PC every now and again to keep it all running well, so you'd best look into that prior to building the PC.

Static. Although it's unlikely, static can kill PC parts. There are a myriad of ways of defeating this problem from the 'quick and dirty' touching the plugged in (but turned off...) power supply to an anti-static wrist band. Be sure to employ some sort of counter-measure for safety's sake.

And because I'm getting tired of typing, last but not least, don't overdo the thermal paste. An over-application of the stuff will actually have the adverse effect and raise temperatures.

Great tips lads.

Loads of people over look stuff like this. Going to be helpful for me when I get around to building my own PC.

I really like the thermal paste advising, sufficient cooling, and static. I will add those to the thread when I get home tonight. Thanks for the input although I do think I touched kn the quality mobo by saying it is possibly but more than a pain to upgrade a mobo.

+rep for you

There is often a very common misconception with power supplies and what the efficiency ratings are supposed to mean on power supplies.

The difference between ratings is not actually on the output side of things, rather on the amount of power the PSU is drawing from the wall. We know that the efficiency is calculated as output power / input power. The remaining power is converted into heat. Meaning that a PSU that is only 60% efficient that has 600W of capacity would be drawing 1000W at the wall and waste 400W as heat.

ALL and I mean all PSU's are designed to output their rated wattage, if not more. The problem arises when you purchase a cheap non 80+ PSU, that draws hundreds of extra watts from the wall and causes a lot of heat which could cause the PSU to die or short. 80+ is not an indication of quality of the PSU, a regular 80+ Bronze PSU from Corsair while not being as energy efficient will still outperform a claimed 80+ Silver PSU from another company that did not use the same Japanese capacitors and used Chinese ones instead.

To clarify a 750W PSU that is not rated for 80+ and one that is will output the same power, however the one not rated for 80+ will output more heat, waste more power, and die significantly faster in most cases due to the excess heat and more than likely poor build quality.

I always recommend 80+ Bronze at least, and also make sure they are from a reputable brand such as Seasonic, Corsair or XFX. I do not however, usually recommend Silver or Platinum PSU's as they are often not worth their money, only in rare circumstances. Gold and Bronze are usually the best for the money, that is not to say that Silver won't beat Bronze and Platinum won't beat Gold, rather it is to say that Gold and Bronze are often a better value.

Lots of good tips and some not so good tips, a $125 gfx card can run a $700 monitor fine but it can't play games at that resolution well
Don't overpay on your case and things like 64gb kits of ram are good if you run servers
Try to be proprationate with spendings at $500 try to spend 20%-25% on a graphics card and 20% on a CPU
Don't get a ssd unless its a really beast one like a force gt, hyper 3k, 840 pro

Thank you for this Millz