General Fears Regarding Building First Gaming PC vs. Pre Built Options For Under $800

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Pure Michigan

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I have read a lot about how easy it can be to build a custom PC, and how a 10 year old can do it etc. etc. But I have also read a lot of posts from people that spend all the money/time researching and building it, only to have tons of issues. The reason I have stuck with Console gaming for so long was its plug and play ability and I have never needed to worry about it being set up incorrectly. I am considering purchasing the parts needed to build a custom gaming PC but wanted to see whether anyone knows of good prebuilt gaming PCs for under $800?

My fear is that I will get everything, try to set it up, have it fail and be in a constant loop of maintenance issues when I all want to do is play the games. Please let me know if there is a pre built gaming PC that is truly "worth it" or if building your own is really the way to go. Thanks!
 
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DonkeyOatie
The key to a successful build is being deliberate and careful. Researching and reading so you know what to do and in what order to do it. The greatest concern is usually uncertainty; am I doing the right thing?

Since this is a board of experts, practically the only people who post are those who have issues. The hundreds that do not, we rarely hear about.

Also, this first built needs to be conservative; no triple Crossfire with water-cooled blocks for the GPUs. The case should be chosen firstly for its access and good cooling and second for its looks and price. Find the reviews of every part and read them.

In a previous life, nearly twenty years ago, I built many PCs. I have recently mostly completed a new PC. I had some...
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Robertwhyte

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don't waste your money on pre builts, they are a complete ripoff! you can get double the performance for the same price when building your own. watch a few of carey holzmans videos on youtube, i learned how to build PCs from him, high quality in depth tutorials and build logs. It's true, a 10 year old could build a PC, but when it comes to troubleshooting thats a whole different story, building the thing is the easy part.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmWNCO9wSjzOz1UV8jCvIHA
 
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Thanks for the advice guys! But the troubleshooting part scares me just as much/if not more than the actual building it part. I feel like PCs always require more maintenance due to issues with the hardware than a console like the PS4 does. I have gotten recommendations from other people but what would you recommend from pcpartpicker as the best set up $700-800 max could buy if I were to build it myself? I want to be able to run BF4, dragon age inquisition, and the upcoming games like witcher 3 at high settings. Thanks again for the encouragement!
 
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DonkeyOatie

DonkeyOatie

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The key to a successful build is being deliberate and careful. Researching and reading so you know what to do and in what order to do it. The greatest concern is usually uncertainty; am I doing the right thing?

Since this is a board of experts, practically the only people who post are those who have issues. The hundreds that do not, we rarely hear about.

Also, this first built needs to be conservative; no triple Crossfire with water-cooled blocks for the GPUs. The case should be chosen firstly for its access and good cooling and second for its looks and price. Find the reviews of every part and read them.

In a previous life, nearly twenty years ago, I built many PCs. I have recently mostly completed a new PC. I had some issues. They were:

1. My 11- 14 year old Middle School students put a lot of it together, so I was never sure things were right. You will not have this issue.

2. The cable management needed to be better and I took parts back out and re-installed them to help with cable management. I'm building a mini-ITX system and cable management issues come with the build. If you do mATX or bigger these issues will be diminished. Even so, there is nothing wrong with redoing a bit of work to make your system better.

3. I was hasty and bypassed the bread-boarding stage. In should have connected the parts outside the case on a proper surface to convince myself that everything worked before it went in the case. (It would have). Thus, when I had issues with the computer in the case, I could eliminate lots of possibilities. I'm beginning to think that the Reset and On/Off buttons were connected to the other header. That issue is now fixed.

4. I had problems finding the USB port that worked properly for my external DVD drive. If you have an internal DVD drive, this problem will not exist.

5. I had problems loading my old Windows 7 OS. I think the disk had become corrupt in the years since I used it last. My new Windows 8.1 worked flawlessly first-time (once the DVD was connected correctly). If you are building with a new install of a new OS, you will not have this problem.

A problem you need to avoid is starting by running the newest latest game on your computer. New games often have issues of their own, that cannot be distinguished from computer problems. You should start by getting your 'Old Reliable' games on the machine. Things you know well and still enjoy. You will know that they have no issues. Once you have your computer put together and running for a month or two, you can start the newest games.

Building a computer is like a good science experiment, you must change only one variable at a time.

Everything else is fine. You budget will get you a decent computer and you can make choices that will make you life easier.

Do you have a keyboard . mouse, or monitor that you plan to use? If you already have these parts, for $800, you can build a solid Intel i5 based gaming machine with a top end NVidia GPU that will crush most games. This combination is chosen to minimize heat, power, and support issues.
 
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Donkey, I really appreciate you taking the time to write all this down and I understand many of the points you are making. You definitely seem very experienced and I have a couple follow up questions to your post:

1) You mentioned the external/internal DVD drive. From the last PC I owned (which was pre built back in the early 2000s) it had the internal DVD drive and I am hoping to have something like this again in the case. Do you have any recommendations? This would be how I install a Windows OS correct?

2) I want the PC to be able to connect to my wifi network, any experience or advice for specific USB wireless adapters?

3) I always enjoyed the console gaming because I can play on my flatscreen. I understand we can hook up a PC to the TV with an HDMI, but if my PC is in a different room than the TV is there a way to wirelessly connect the two? Or is that impossible?

4) I do not own a keyboard/mouse/monitor and was considering making my budget closer to $900 for all of these products. Any chance you could give me your best recommendation through pcpartspicker of all the parts to get/would be compatible with the Intel i5 and high end NVIDEA GPU you referred to?

Again, I just started researching this all a few days ago and have never put anything together so I truly appreciate all the advice!

 
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DonkeyOatie

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I'm working on it. While you are waiting. have a wander through my thread http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2328703/build-log-mini-itx-middle-school.html (The Swamp) where we go through the build and you can see the issues. There is also lots of useful information on computer construction courses, MineCraft Machines, competitive motor sports and College binge-drinking. :)

You can probably use your old DVD drive if it has the right input and power connectors. You would need to find it's model number (written on it somewhere) and research this or ask us to do it for you. (It is MUCH better for you to get in the habit of doing this yourself. It is time consuming but you learn so much more)

For WiFi there are three possibilities.
1. Buy a motherboard with w small WiFi/Bluetooth card included (that's what I did)
2. Buy a small card yourself and add it to the build.
3. Get WiFi from a USB dongle.
4. We have some wireless monitors at school, but I do not know anything about that. Research it yourself, then you become the expert (I'm certainly going to check it out)

Here's a stock build. It will need to be tuned to get your extra parts.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4160 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor ($122.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M-ITX/AC Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($82.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Team Zeus Red 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($70.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card ($349.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Thermaltake Core V1 Mini ITX Tower Case ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec Neo Eco 520W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($52.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $772.79
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-06 10:02 EST-0500
 
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DonkeyOatie

DonkeyOatie

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Here's an over-budget build (10%), which would be my ideal target.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($168.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($50.49 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB ACX 2.0 Video Card ($334.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Cougar Spike MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($29.99 @ Mwave)
Power Supply: Antec Neo Eco 520W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($52.98 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Acer G227HQLbi 60Hz 21.5" Monitor ($119.99 @ Micro Center)
Wireless Network Adapter: Rosewill N600PCE 802.11a/b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($19.98 @ OutletPC)
Keyboard: Logitech MK120 Wired Slim Keyboard w/Optical Mouse ($11.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1009.35
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-06 10:14 EST-0500

Do you live within easy driving of a Microcenter??

I have reasons for every choice (many of them because it's cheap and good enough) and I would buy and use every component in this build, although I might choose to spend a little more to improve things slightly. The components are also chosen to make your build easier (not going mini-ITX) and there is some expansion potential.



How much cheaper do you want to go??
 
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Pure Michigan

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very cool project you did with your middle school class Donkey. One of the biggest issues I have trying to research everything online is when the information is from 6 months - years old I can never determine the accuracy of it today. I do not have an old DVD/CD driver as the PC I used to own got left in the dust many years ago and I am starting with nothing. Thanks again for the help!
 
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Pure Michigan

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Awesome looking build (from the little knowledge I have)! I am hoping for a build that can easily run intensive game requirement on high/ultra and this appears to do that. Truthfully I am fine with a $1k budget if that included the OS, Monitor/keyboard/mouse etc. like yours has. I would prefer it to be closer to the $900 range but do not mind spending a little more if it's going to make it a great gaming machine that will crush gaming requirements and should last at least 3+ years before needing major upgrades. I'm not in driving distance of a microcenter unfortunately :(
 
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Pure Michigan

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Also from what I've seen elsewhere the 520W power supply seems low? I have seen lots of other people recommend 600-750W power supplies? This is another build I recently found: what do you think? http://pcpartpicker.com/p/mDYXFT. could I upgrade this with the Intel i5 and make it higher performing?

This is another build for a little less http://pcpartpicker.com/p/c3xfkL. Let me know your thoughts! BTW, this forum is awesome and such a big help to noob PC people like me!
 
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DonkeyOatie

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My build has a 450W PSU. It is intended to take a GTX970.

Your complete system, less the GPU will not use more than 100W of power at full song. The GPU is very low power and can draw a theoretical maximum of 75W from ti's PCI-e slot (practically limited to around 60W) and another 75W or so from it's 6 pin power connector, a bit more from a 6+2. so it will draw less than 150W (145 according to spec). That's a total of 250W.

There are three reasons for the large numbers you see.

1. Manufacturers of GPUs know many customers have cheap and cruddy power supplies which cannot deliver the power that they claim. By asking for a 500W supply for their card, they ensure at least the 200W or so they need and without causing the PSU to explode any faster than usual :)

2. Many people on board are happy to spend OPM by suggesting big and interesting PSUs to support future (but never-going-to-happen) upgrades.

3. Many people on board don't know how to calculate the requirements and figure bigger is better.

The AMD build you posted has a 125W CPU vs the 85W of the i5 and a 250W Gigabyte 290 WINDFORCE vs 145 for the GTX 970.

It is best to keep the system load to 70% or less of what the PSU will do for long life and good health. That's about 365W for a 520W PSU. For the other system, the total power, at full song may be in the 400W range, so 70% of 600W is 420W.

The second build needs another $150 or so for the monitor, keyboard and WiFi.

We could happily increase the PSU a little and drop to a cheaper and somewhat less powerful GPU to save money.

This is the current complete system, including DVD.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($168.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($50.49 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB ACX 2.0 Video Card ($334.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Cougar Spike MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($29.99 @ Mwave)
Power Supply: Antec Neo Eco 520W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($52.98 @ OutletPC)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($14.98 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Acer G227HQLbi 60Hz 21.5" Monitor ($119.99 @ Micro Center)
Wireless Network Adapter: Rosewill N600PCE 802.11a/b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($19.98 @ OutletPC)
Keyboard: Logitech MK120 Wired Slim Keyboard w/Optical Mouse ($11.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1024.33
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-06 10:55 EST-0500

This is a 'three year plus' system.

As a teacher, I'm a 'professional', but we all live to help others on this board.



 
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Pure Michigan

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That complete build you put together looks really fantastic. You mentioned a high end NVIDEA GPU to use for crushing PC games but you included the GTX970. Any reason you didn't want to use a high end NVIDEA? I will defer to your experience but I am just looking for what can deliver the best gaming results overall. And your explanation of the power supply was very helpful, although if I wanted to bump it up to a higher amount because I'm paranoid would you have a recommendation? thanks again and I wish I had a teacher like you when I was in Middle School!
 
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DonkeyOatie

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The GTX970 IS an NVidia high end GPU, it's just that I've selected a good non-reference version with a bit of overclocking.

The AMD build needs a cooler because they need to be overclocked to get to their full potential. To make life easier for you, I am going for a lower wattage, low heat to save having the extra fans. You can add a CPU cooler later if it should prove necessary. My built is in a small er case than yours and does not need an aftermarket CPU cooler. The Intel CPU includes a cooler with it. That is what you see in the pictures of my build. You should choose a case with some fans, and extras are cheap.

There have been some really good PSU deals recently. Not at the moment, however.

If you want to go bigger, I would go through this list. http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-1804779/power-supply-unit-tier-list.html The Antec 620 Neo Eco and the XFX 650 Pro series at about $70 would be my choices.
 
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Pure Michigan

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Awesome thank you again Donkey and I completely missed that it IS an NVIDEA card. Have you heard of the Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (http://pcpartpicker.com/part/western-digital-internal-hard-drive-wd10ezex)? It appears comparable with the one you referenced but I have seen lots of people recommending that one for the hard drive. I'm just not sure if it's compatible with your build (though I believe it is).

I definitely appreciate you finding items that will make life easier for me as a first time builder. You mentioned I should go with a case that has some fans, I looked at the one you posted in the build and it doesn't look like that comes with fans? Or perhaps I'm missing something. Also, does running on lower wattage/lower heat have any affect on the performance ceiling or capabilities of the PC?

I really am liking your total set up and am just trying to get everything buttoned down before making a purchase. Thanks!
 
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DonkeyOatie

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The Seagate Caviar Blue and Western Digital Barracuda are essentially interchangeable. When the time comes, buy the cheapest. I think the WD is a couple of bucks more expensive at the moment. Go with whichever one you like.

Here's a review of the Cougar Spike http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Cougar/Spike/ It comes with a single 120mm fan and you could add a couple more, at very modest cost.
 
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The cougar spike case definitely looks like the case I am going to get. I have been watching videos/reading tutorials on building the PC and I checked out your thread but will this build require the thermal paste to go on the CPU? Is this a step that always needs to be taken when building?

Also, with this complete build that you listed http://pcpartpicker.com/p/YWmpNG, you believe this is about the best performance components this budget can buy for a gaming PC that can crush current and soon to come games and also last for at least a few years before needing major upgrades? Again, I don't need the $2k plus overpowered console as I always hear you should be able to build an amazing gaming PC for $700-1000. Thanks again Donkey :)
 
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also donkey any reason you went with the i5 3.1 GHz instead of the i5 3.4 GHz (http://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80646i54670). I know the 3.1 will save some money, I'm just curious if those .3 GHz makes any significant difference in gaming? Thank you!
 
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DonkeyOatie

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The CPU will come with a cooling fan in the box. That's why the box is so big. The cooling fan already has thermal paste applied to the bottom. You install the CPU in its socket and then fit the fan. You push pins into holes and then rotate locks to hold them in place, This is something that may be better done before the motherboard is fitted in the case.

I just discovered that the Antec GX500 case is on sale from Newegg at $30. It comes with three fitted fans and is probably better for you than the Spike. Have a look and see. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129191 We are getting down to the fine print and your personal taste.

This is the best system I can think of for your budget. I'm not perfect, so there may be something.

There is another choice depending on your future budget.

My system has the OS and many applications installed on a 256Gb SSD and boots from power-on to cursor input in about 9 seconds. That's FAST!. This won't help you with FPS in games, but will help if you are loading lots of levels, and it makes your computer feel fast. A drive of this size costs around $100 and you could consider leaving out the 1Tb HDD at the start, and then adding it later as you can afford it. This pushes your budget up, so I did not suggest it earlier.

A system of this power should have an SSD for OS to get the best out of it.

When you get to constructing, PM me and I can answer some questions.

You could also start a Build log and we can all help you as you go.
 
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Pure Michigan

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That Antec case is a tremendous deal and would make much more sense as it does have the three fans. Regarding your point on SSD. And you are saying that with this current build I wouldn't need to worry about adding any thermal paste myself? Because many of the videos on youtube, including the long one from newegg highly recommends it (perhaps it's because they are using aftermarket fans that don't have the paste on the bottom already?)

I do like the feel of the faster computer/loading levels faster etc. and would not mind adding an extra $100 now rather than doing it later. If it wouldn't be too much trouble, would you be able to include the SSD you are referring to into the pcpartsclicker build and post it all so that I can take a look at everything?

I will also post this build to the community to see if anyone else has deferring opinions but everything I've researched regarding your PC parts look great for my budget. I will MOST DEFINITELY pm you when I get all the parts delivered and start putting it all together. And I could start a build log detailing my progress for other people to help as well, I don't mind going slow as I would rather be safe. Thank you!
 
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Pure Michigan

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Also Donkey I just realized but do I need to purchase speakers as well? I didn't think about this earlier but there would need to be a speaker system for the audio correct? I never see that in any custom PC build logs but the sound has to come out of somewhere right?
 
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