Buying a new PC. What specs should I look for?

Trooper · 12-18-2012, 07:47 PM

Edit: So I've just typed out a massive back story for no reason. Skip to paragraph that begins "So yeah," if you don't give a shit about my life.

Once again, Trooper is making a major purchase and is completely clueless about what to buy.

For the past two or three years, my computer experience has been limited to a mediocre laptop. Non-console gaming has been a pretty depressing experience as a result. Generally, I've had to put everything on minimal video settings and even then I have no hope in hell of having a smooth performance for half of the games that I own. Even Minecraft doesn't always agree with having render distance on normal. More to the point, I don't even own a lot of "staple" games purely because I don't want to be spending money on something I'm not going to be able to use.

So yeah, I want to get a tower that can run games smoothly on decent graphics settings, like "medium" to "high". On top of that, however, I'd like to get back into filming gameplay for YouTube, which is something I used to do a year or so ago. Getting stuff to run smoothly when you're also screen-capturing is mainly to do with the processor, right? Man, I don't know shit.

I don't think I'd be up for building my own system, unless it's a lot easier than it sounds. But yeah all I'm really asking is what I need to be looking for in terms of spec to run your average game in the first place and also to be able to record them with Fraps. I have pretty much no idea what I'm doing.

Thank you, 3dmm :-*
(Tune in next week when Trooper attempts to get new speakers.)

Tony Clay · 12-18-2012, 07:55 PM

budget?

Slime · 12-18-2012, 07:57 PM

youd only need to spend like $700 to $800 to be able to play almost all games on high while recording them, if you build it yourself. i can do this with a $700 system i built 2 years ago, and judging by how slowly games are progressing graphically (i guess partly due to us still being in this same console generation) i wont need a new pc to run games on high for another few years

its super easy to build it yourself. you just snap parts together and screw in like 8 screws total. with todays cases you dont even have to screw in drives and stuff, they just lock into place. theres no reason to not build it yourself

Trooper · 12-18-2012, 07:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tony Clay

budget?

Oh shit, yeah. If it was worth every penny, I'd probably go up to £1000, which is $1600.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lohr

youd only need to spend like $700 to $800 to be able to play almost all games on high while recording them, if you build it yourself. i can do this with a $700 system i built 2 years ago

its super easy to build it yourself. you just snap parts together and screw in like 8 screws total. with todays cases you dont even have to screw in drives and stuff, they just lock into place. theres no reason to not build it yourself

Haha, really? Yeah, a lot of my friends and pretty much all the gamers I watch online seem to build their own systems these days. I guess I should get with the program.

Tony Clay · 12-18-2012, 07:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trooper

I'd probably go up to £1000, which is $1600.

no need for that, go with Lohr.

If I were to buy a prebuild I'd purchase one with a lower end GPU and replace it. look for a desktop with an i7 processor. ram? no need to go for more than 6gb, but if a machine has more, fuck it.

building PCs is like playing with Legos, Trooper.

Slime · 12-18-2012, 08:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trooper

Haha, really? Yeah, a lot of my friends and pretty much all the gamers I watch online seem to build their own systems these days. I guess I should get with the program.

yeah, its nice cause you get to know every part of your system so when something goes wrong its just easier to know exactly whats up, and you get a nice warranty on each individual part (as long as you register them) as opposed to the shitty warranties pre-built companies give you where you get like 1 year and need to pay beyond that
its also just satisfying and kinda fun

newegg is awesome here, im not sure what the UK equivalent is, also im like a year behind on what the latest budget hardware is

this guide is popular, you could prob just follow it and then post your parts list here for us to check:
http://www.logicalincrements.com/
check out the stuff at the bottom too, it explains a bunch of stuff

build a pc subreddit:
http://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc

im an nvidia fanboy, i will always suggest nvidia video cards, my love for them has been backed up pretty consistently when games come out and i see AMD users wondering why they aren't getting the quick support that the nvidia users are getting, or why they are having some wacky issue that nvidia users aren't. but this also does usually die out within a week to a month of release, its just fresh releases where i usually see it

tronderboo · 12-18-2012, 09:30 PM

Woah, decent links. Thanks Lohr.

Trooper · 12-18-2012, 10:12 PM

Yeah, they're perfect. That's super helpful.

Slime · 12-18-2012, 10:46 PM

yeah that logical increments guide is pretty great. i used to not like it because it doesn't consider "outdated" parts, like on an old one they were suggesting a 560ti which was over double the price of a factory overclocked + cooling-modded 460 which i thought was dumb (since they were equal in power). but the reason is that you couldn't get the 460 for that price in all stores, while this guide sticks to recommending things that are available everywhere at the listed price. plus if you're getting into comparing past models then you probably already know how to put together your own parts list.

so in the end, yeah that guide rocks and you could stick exactly with it and build a great PC.

Slime · 12-18-2012, 10:55 PM

since you already said your budget, i think you should at least go for the "superb" line

i mean at least gtx 660 + i5

me saying how i'd build for $700-800 includes finding crazy combo deals so that i can still get parts like that. plus this guide included an SSD which is up to you if you want to get (but is pretty cool)

Shawn McGravy · 03:25 AM

Is this guide still relevant?

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...uide/Guide.png

Shawn McGravy · 12-19-2012, 02:32 AM

Oh also I had apparently saved these links from a while ago

Slime · 12-19-2012, 02:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shawn McGravy

Is this guide still relevant?

well he finally has a website for it now which is what i posted, its nice cause it links to the products and all, and you dont have to keep an up to date image file

Roadkill Dave · 12-19-2012, 10:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lohr

its super easy to build it yourself. you just snap parts together and screw in like 8 screws total. with todays cases you dont even have to screw in drives and stuff, they just lock into place. theres no reason to not build it yourself

this is true, it's no harder than putting together flat pack furniture, just follow the instructions.
though if you get an intel CPU (which you should), be warned when attaching it to the mobo, no-one warned me about the sickening crack that it makes. scared the shit out of me.

also, my current PC cost me less than £500 and there hasn't been a game yet that I haven't been able to run on high/ultra. i5 2500k & 7850 for reference. (though i would bacckup lohr's point about video cards; amd cards are notoriously bad for drivers) I wish I'd paid a little more for my case though, it's a bit cramped and it makes cable management and airflow a lot more complicated, since the graphics card alone takes up like a quarter of it.

Happyjuice · 12-19-2012, 06:48 PM

Evil Ash · 12-19-2012, 08:20 PM

Yeah just remember to plug it in AT THE END of building it. And always touch metal before touching the computer parts (cause of static, yo).

Otherwise it's like grade school puzzle solving.

Trooper · 12-19-2012, 08:24 PM

Awesome. Thanks a lot, guys.

Beast · 12-21-2012, 10:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lohr

(i guess partly due to us still being in this same console generation)

It's just being lazy. Console games like Uncharted made a much larger graphical stride for consoles than Crysis 2 did for PC's.

Where are the games that are released that are too graphically advanced for 95 percent of all PC gamers? I think you need them to drive sales of video cards and push interest in releasing new consoles.

Liam Brocklehurst · 12-22-2012, 12:31 PM

Seeing as you're UK Trooper, I'd recommend http://www.scan.co.uk for parts. I've used them for years and their prices are awesome.

12-18-2012, 07:47 PM	#1
Trooper Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 7,441	Buying a new PC. What specs should I look for? Edit: So I've just typed out a massive back story for no reason. Skip to paragraph that begins "So yeah," if you don't give a shit about my life. Once again, Trooper is making a major purchase and is completely clueless about what to buy. For the past two or three years, my computer experience has been limited to a mediocre laptop. Non-console gaming has been a pretty depressing experience as a result. Generally, I've had to put everything on minimal video settings and even then I have no hope in hell of having a smooth performance for half of the games that I own. Even Minecraft doesn't always agree with having render distance on normal. More to the point, I don't even own a lot of "staple" games purely because I don't want to be spending money on something I'm not going to be able to use. So yeah, I want to get a tower that can run games smoothly on decent graphics settings, like "medium" to "high". On top of that, however, I'd like to get back into filming gameplay for YouTube, which is something I used to do a year or so ago. Getting stuff to run smoothly when you're also screen-capturing is mainly to do with the processor, right? Man, I don't know shit. I don't think I'd be up for building my own system, unless it's a lot easier than it sounds. But yeah all I'm really asking is what I need to be looking for in terms of spec to run your average game in the first place and also to be able to record them with Fraps. I have pretty much no idea what I'm doing. Thank you, 3dmm :-* (Tune in next week when Trooper attempts to get new speakers.)
Trooper Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 7,441

12-18-2012, 07:55 PM	#2
Tony Clay Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 2,583	budget?
Tony Clay Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 2,583

12-18-2012, 07:57 PM	#3
Slime Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 24,891	youd only need to spend like $700 to $800 to be able to play almost all games on high while recording them, if you build it yourself. i can do this with a $700 system i built 2 years ago, and judging by how slowly games are progressing graphically (i guess partly due to us still being in this same console generation) i wont need a new pc to run games on high for another few years its super easy to build it yourself. you just snap parts together and screw in like 8 screws total. with todays cases you dont even have to screw in drives and stuff, they just lock into place. theres no reason to not build it yourself
Slime Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 24,891

12-18-2012, 10:12 PM	#8
Trooper Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 7,441	Yeah, they're perfect. That's super helpful.
Trooper Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 7,441

12-18-2012, 10:46 PM	#9
Slime Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 24,891	yeah that logical increments guide is pretty great. i used to not like it because it doesn't consider "outdated" parts, like on an old one they were suggesting a 560ti which was over double the price of a factory overclocked + cooling-modded 460 which i thought was dumb (since they were equal in power). but the reason is that you couldn't get the 460 for that price in all stores, while this guide sticks to recommending things that are available everywhere at the listed price. plus if you're getting into comparing past models then you probably already know how to put together your own parts list. so in the end, yeah that guide rocks and you could stick exactly with it and build a great PC.
Slime Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 24,891

12-18-2012, 09:30 PM	#7
tronderboo Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 2,743	Woah, decent links. Thanks Lohr.

12-18-2012, 10:55 PM	#10
Slime Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 24,891	since you already said your budget, i think you should at least go for the "superb" line i mean at least gtx 660 + i5 me saying how i'd build for $700-800 includes finding crazy combo deals so that i can still get parts like that. plus this guide included an SSD which is up to you if you want to get (but is pretty cool)
Slime Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 24,891

12-19-2012, 02:29 AM	#11
Shawn McGravy Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 3,787	Is this guide still relevant? http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...uide/Guide.png
	Last edited by Shawn McGravy : 12-19-2012 at 03:25 AM.

12-19-2012, 02:32 AM	#12
Shawn McGravy Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 3,787	Oh also I had apparently saved these links from a while ago

12-19-2012, 06:48 PM	#15
Happyjuice Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 11,573	-

12-19-2012, 08:20 PM	#16
Evil Ash Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 15,534	Yeah just remember to plug it in AT THE END of building it. And always touch metal before touching the computer parts (cause of static, yo). Otherwise it's like grade school puzzle solving.
Evil Ash Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 15,534

12-19-2012, 08:24 PM	#17
Trooper Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 7,441	Awesome. Thanks a lot, guys.
Trooper Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 7,441

12-22-2012, 12:31 PM	#19
Liam Brocklehurst Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 4,143	Seeing as you're UK Trooper, I'd recommend http://www.scan.co.uk for parts. I've used them for years and their prices are awesome.