Cheap rig now, or Big rig later?

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Dshango

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Nov 10, 2014
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So for quite a while now, I've been looking at building my first gaming pc. I'm about to go off to college and I figured its time to begin my pc gaming journey. I don't do anything at the moment, really, but I know I'd like to get into gaming, video editing, and maybe some rendering stuff.
I have two systems already picked out. I don't have enough money for either, at the moment, so it's really a matter of how long I will have to save before I can buy all of the parts.
The first is a fairly cheap AMD build that totals around $1,300. The second is Intel and looks like it'll be a womping $3,500. Now take note, a big chunk of that is caused by a fancy curved ultra-wide monitor which I could probably postpone if need be.
Have a look, if you will:
Cheap: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Dshango/saved/Vdtkcf
Not Cheap: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Dshango/saved/ZPTFf7
So my main question is, should I buy the cheap stuff right of the bat, and maybe upgrade later? Or should I just wait awhile and buy the Beast? If I end up going for the budget build, what would I be limited to? At the moment, all I play is minecraft (Does that make me a schmuck?) Any ideas how it or other games would fare on the cheaper one? I feel like the Intel build could take whatever I through, save maybe 4k.
 
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Both builds are incredibly wasteful for the performance achieved .
Day in day out we make core builds for under $600 that would overwhelm the "cheap " build , and adding keyboard , monitor , mouse should only add another $250 to that

If anything the expensive build is even less value for money .
$1200 could give you that performance
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photonboy

photonboy

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Jun 20, 2006
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Hi.

Don't get the CHEAP build as you'll regret it. The $3500 build as you said is the monitor so don't wait for that either. Get an inexpensive monitor then upgrade later.

I'll make a build for you without the peripherals and you can do with it what you will. I'll post it below.
 
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Technocaveman

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Mar 20, 2013
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do both.

i started out with a pavilian, upgraded graphics, a few months later i bought a new motherboard and copy of windows, transferred everything over, month after that, ssd and psu, next month a new cpu, part a month for a year type thing as i could aford it, once i had the baseline set up, i re-upgraded graphics, mobo, cpu at the end i ended up with 1 dream rig, one not bad backup rig, and the original hp i sold for what i paid for it.
i went am3+ because the initial comp was amd, but throughout i was never down more then an hour or so.
end result was an 8350 on a ud7, 16g ram 3ssd's 80,120,128g, 3 500g hd, 2x2tb hd, ax 860,twin 7950's running 6 asus ve278q in a thermaltake lvl 10 snow(from the bargain table at memory express for 100 cause the fans didn't light up)cooled by thermaltakes water extreme 2, and the secondary is an asus m5a97 with a 4170(awesome overclocker), gtx 460(little old now but still plays most things) antec 520psu, nice little zalaman watercooler, in a shinobi case. 8g ram 500g hd and a 60gssd for os.

its been a couple years, i bought the 8350 the day it hit the store here, but i did a little research before hand planed my upgrade path out for the year with a little flexibility for spot sales. the 7950's came with hitman, farcry,bioshock and sleepingdogs, i sold the extra copy of each (2 cards 2 sets of codes) and have been pleased as heck with myself.

i found a local store with a price match deal, and did my research.
every single part i bought i managed to get a price beater on.

good luck happy pickin.

the monitors took me the longest to pay for, layaway payments on some choice parts helped me secure what i wanted and plan out the timing of when they were paid and in my hands.
 
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photonboy

photonboy

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Jun 20, 2006
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http://pcpartpicker.com/p/zQhYbv

Pretty self-explanatory.

1) The Noctua NH-U12S is silent in non-gaming (with fan control setup) and very quiet even converting video. I put one in my dad's PC with i5-4690K.

Liquid cooling for Intel CPU's isn't really needed. They're also louder and far less reliable due to the pump.

2) I like the case. You may not and just get the other one. Done partly to reduce cost.

3) Motherboard is a very good board and reasonably priced. Did a LOT of comparisons.

4) 8GB of DDR3 is optimal. This is good memory. Can add more if needed.

5) SSD + HDD (256GB SSD + 3TB Seagate).

The RED WD drive is more expensive and appears to be LESS reliable from what I've read. The SSD looks reasonably priced and frankly real-world performances feel mostly the same. I like the Samsung EVO drives though mainly due to the software which works great (for benchmark, firmware update, profile, Rapid Cache).

6) i5-4690K is going to be almost identical to the i7 for gaming. For converting video the i7 can theoretically add up to 30% savings in time but overall in real-world tests it's closer to about 15%.

7) I bought the same LG BD burner for my dad after comparing.

*Make sure to apply the FIRMWARE update for your DVD or BD burner!



Summary:
Quite frankly, you spent a lot of money in your expensive build which I felt was wasted. The motherboard, hard drive, and CPU cooler (in my opinion). The 16GB DDR3 is fine to future proof but then you can add 8GB (identical kit) later if needed. Unless you EDIT video it's really not needed.

As for PERIPHERALS if on a budget you maybe can UPGRADE some of those as needed. Get a reasonably good monitor but you can find some good 24", 1920x1080 2ms monitors for fairly cheap, and maybe not spent too much on the mouse and keyboard initially. Find a cheap keyboard for $30 or whatever. Probably some reasonably good gaming mice for no more than $40 if you shop around.

Hope this is useful.
 
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photonboy

photonboy

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Jun 20, 2006
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Update:
Here's a copy of some points I made for myself. May want to PRINT them or copy them for reference. Not in order.

1) chipset driver, and other drivers from motherboard website (video direct from NVidia)
2) update motherboard BIOS
3) use "XMP" profile in BIOS to start for CPU/DDR memory. Can overclock but I'd just leave it there.

4) Test with MEMTEST www.memtest.org BEFORE INSTALLING WINDOWS.
5) setup fan control software
6) may want START8 from Stardock ($5) for Windows 8
7) get Acronis True Image Free from the WD HDD site. Use it to create an initial backup Image (after all Microsoft Update etc completed).

*Keep the first backup Image indefinitely but make a second later and replace that periodically. May want to just get the full version to automate.

8) STEAM should be installed to the hard drive (i.e. "E:\Steam"). Most games don't benefit much from an SSD aside from loading times. Games like Skyrim which have frequent loads do benefit so I suggest using up to 100GB of the SSD (partition it) then create a 2nd Steam folder.

You can MOVE Steam games quite easily such as from the HDD to the SSD or back again (to maximize use of SSD). Here's how:
a) create game BACKUP in Steam
b) RESTORE the backup but move it to the 2nd Steam folder
c) DELETE the backup if you want (I'd keep it for games you MOD though in case you need to restore a fresh copy).
 
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Dshango

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Nov 10, 2014
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Wow. Thanks for all the replies.
First, to Technocaveman:
That sounds pretty expensive. And, honestly, exhausting. You ended up with three computers, and I definitely don't want that. How much did you end up spending all together?
Next, Photonboy:
You're right, cheap display, then the curved one is definitely the best plan of action. And as for Ram, as its so easy to upgrade, and most people claim 8gb is sufficient, you're right there too. Also with the HHD, that's an amazing find there. I didn't check anything about reliability, just the fact that it's $80 cheaper is amazing.
However, as far as Motherboard and CPU goes, I'm still not quite convinced. Your Asus motherboard is notably less expensive, but the Gigabyte has several features that I'm really impressed with.
As for the CPU, I read several posts that confirmed your claim, but many others said the i7 handled multitasking and rendering much, much better than the i5.
The case I prefer just because of the style, and the fact that it is white and has a handle.
Speaking of the white case, What I'm going for is an all white setup. If anyone knows of a good white keyboard, preferably with some backlighting and programmable keys, that would be great.
 
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RazerZ

RazerZ

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Aug 18, 2013
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Quite honestly you could great a gaming rig for around 1k. Buy something that will last a while. For gaming this would be a build around an i5 with a GTX 970.

If you're interested I could post a build. I see areas where a lot of money is wasted in your builds.
 
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Outlander_04

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Nov 18, 2008
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Both builds are incredibly wasteful for the performance achieved .
Day in day out we make core builds for under $600 that would overwhelm the "cheap " build , and adding keyboard , monitor , mouse should only add another $250 to that

If anything the expensive build is even less value for money .
$1200 could give you that performance
 
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