I was wondering how you guys were able to make decisions on what parts to get for your computer when building it. I am looking to build a gaminc pc with a budget around $800-900 and I can't seem to make decisions about graphics cards, CPU's, and everything else because of all the different options, I just don't know what characteristics i should be looking for in these parts. So some advice on how you guys made your decisions would be great.
too many options
- Thread starter Guyith
- Start date
Solution
To give you an answer (lol), a lot of my deciding is research, checking out parts, seeing what people have to say about it. I usually stick with certain manufacturers, like nVidia... I'm a fanboy of nVidia lol. Just research to see what the newest Intel CPU's are, nVidia series, AMD CPU's and GPU's. AND making sure parts are compatible. If you go to PCPartPicker, it takes a lot of the grunt work out of making sure parts will work together. It also allows you to see what people are using to build their computers, and part specific in user builds. Feedback on parts and builds from users go a long ways there. So hopefully my little spew of words helped here lol.
DonkeyOatie
Champion
- Sep 16, 2014
- 12,141
- 1
- 50,960
Here's what my students are building. Look at the parts they selected.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2625445/build-log-consolidated-middle-school-builds.html
Depends on what games you want to play and the resolution and speed of your monitor.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2625445/build-log-consolidated-middle-school-builds.html
Depends on what games you want to play and the resolution and speed of your monitor.
- Oct 17, 2011
- 3,166
- 8
- 27,115
Well, first of all, if you have an existing PC or build, you can determine if there's any hardware that can be reused. For example, keyboards, mice & even CD/DVD drives are fairly cheap, but if you can reuse them it's that much more money you can put into the new parts. Just make sure the parts are compatible (i.e. if your keyboard or mouse uses the round PS/2 connector, make sure the new motherboard has a PS/2 port on it).
Next, consider whether you're looking towards "future" gaming, "current" gaming, or "old" gaming. For example, if all you're doing is building a rig to play Halo CE, Starcraft II, SWAT 4, and maybe even BF3, then the hardware requirements are going to be much less than if you want something to handle newer games like GTA V, Witcher 3, etc.
Going along with both of these points, consider the resolution you will be gaming at. For example, planning for 4K resolution on a 144Hz monitor means planning not only for a very high-end card, but almost certainly needing at least 2-way SLI/CrossFireX... but since a high-end card could take up to half your budget, you would run the risk of pairing a high-end GPU (or even 2 somewhat high-end GPUs) with a budget CPU, & that will lead to some disappointing results. By the same token, the quality of GPU you need even for 1440p resolution is more than at 720p. As a real example, I have the R9 270 (2GB VRAM) in my machine. That may not sound like a lot, & it's more of the middle-of-the-pack, edging down into budget-range; but my monitor tops out at 1600x900 resolution (60Hz), so it has no trouble running BF3/4 at decent FPS (& by decent I mean that it looks smoother than Halo CE). Essentially, if you buy "just enough" GPU for what you need now, you can make sure your CPU & other hardware is better up-front, as it's easier to upgrade your GPU down the road than to replace your CPU & motherboard.
Next, consider whether you're looking towards "future" gaming, "current" gaming, or "old" gaming. For example, if all you're doing is building a rig to play Halo CE, Starcraft II, SWAT 4, and maybe even BF3, then the hardware requirements are going to be much less than if you want something to handle newer games like GTA V, Witcher 3, etc.
Going along with both of these points, consider the resolution you will be gaming at. For example, planning for 4K resolution on a 144Hz monitor means planning not only for a very high-end card, but almost certainly needing at least 2-way SLI/CrossFireX... but since a high-end card could take up to half your budget, you would run the risk of pairing a high-end GPU (or even 2 somewhat high-end GPUs) with a budget CPU, & that will lead to some disappointing results. By the same token, the quality of GPU you need even for 1440p resolution is more than at 720p. As a real example, I have the R9 270 (2GB VRAM) in my machine. That may not sound like a lot, & it's more of the middle-of-the-pack, edging down into budget-range; but my monitor tops out at 1600x900 resolution (60Hz), so it has no trouble running BF3/4 at decent FPS (& by decent I mean that it looks smoother than Halo CE). Essentially, if you buy "just enough" GPU for what you need now, you can make sure your CPU & other hardware is better up-front, as it's easier to upgrade your GPU down the road than to replace your CPU & motherboard.
jitpublisher
Splendid
- May 16, 2006
- 8,747
- 2
- 31,960
Doing research and trying to figure out what to use is 3/4ths of the fun of building, in my opinion.
After weeks of research, making my purchases, getting it all together, run some benchmarks, check out to see how a few demanding games run, I kinda get a let down feeling, you know, like, okay thats done, the funs over, now what!
After weeks of research, making my purchases, getting it all together, run some benchmarks, check out to see how a few demanding games run, I kinda get a let down feeling, you know, like, okay thats done, the funs over, now what!
TRENDING THREADS
-
-
Question Free design app to create a 3D effect on images- Started by P1lgimag3
- Replies: 5
-
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram