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Building a PC, advice, recommendations, etc.


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To start off, i dont have any money, as most know i lost my job, etc. So keep that in mind as its a factor in what i am attempting to do. SO i am attempting to build a PC, without LITERALLY spending a single penny of cash.

 

Minor details: I have 9 and 11 yr old boys(i started this site when i had no kids, let that sink in, holy shit). and They are getting into making youtube videos and stuff like that. Additionally I am studying for my A+ certification exam so I can hopefully switch fields of employment. This process relit that fire i had of working on computers and building computers, I have built a few in the past, but it was 10+ years ago, CPUs were simple there werent i3, i5, i7 and then like 4 versions of each one. So im sort of lost but re-learning.

How am i going to pay for this? Well i have scoured all of our credits cards and store cards and rewards points and gift cards and so on. I took all of the visa and mastercard gift cards with a few bucks left and paid on some bills, anything that could be turned to cash or used as cash i cashed in on bills and food, etc. So i am left with store rewards points. I have about $1200 in rewards of some sort at multiple different stores. I have ebay bucks, overstock.com rewards, etc.

So i am hoping to piece this rig together with various items from various types of shops. I have 350-500$ worth of overstock.com rewards points. 

 

So i am hoping to build something with an i7 quad core semi-recent processor, have a SSD/m.2 drive for OS and apps and a pair of 3-4TB drives i can raid1 to store files and media on. It will be used for some youtube uploading and editing and some photoshop from my wife. so it doesnt have to be magical, but i want to get every cent i can out of the rewards points and stuff to get the best machine that i can.

The process will be helpful in the study im doing and getting me back familiar with windows and PC builds is a huge plus.

I chatted with elflocko a bit, and instead of harassing him 7 times a day i figured i would harass the group 7 times a day and get everyones input.

The first question i have is processors. AMD vs Intel. I told elflocko i was leaning towards intel just from previous experience, but he mentioned AMD tends to get more bang for the buck, more cores for the money, etc.

So i researched and found 8core AMD CPUs for 30% cheaper than quad core i7's.

So i thought "hell yes" found a good place to save on CPU. then i checked a comparison on a few sites, and almost everywhere i saw stated the i7 quad core out performed the AMD 8 core black edition by like 25%.

what?!? why?!?! how?!?! so im lost and confused and and reading all i can. it truly feels like you get what you pay for here, but i am left feeling like i am missing something.. seems intel is giving fewer faster cores and amd is giving more slower cores.. how accurate is that?

 

next i will question motherboards.

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Thoughts on this processor for the money?

http://www.overstock.com/Electronics/Intel-Core-i7-i7-4790-Quad-core-4-Core-3.60-GHz-Processor-Socket/9066480/product.html?TID=Profile:IndvList:Private:ProdPg

 

and if thats a good processor how the heck do i choose a motherboard? this list fits that processor it seems.. lots in the 90-135 range. not much difference that i can tell

 

http://www.overstock.com/Electronics/Motherboards/Socket-H3-LGA_-1150,/k,/125/subcat.html?sort=Price High - Low&searchtype=Header

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The socket type is H3-LGA. If the motherboard matches that socket, the CPU will work. From there, it's simply a matter of choosing a mobo with the slots and memory limits that meet your needs (such as will your chosen video card fit). 

And yes, the i7 is a really good chip... 

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FWIW I really like Asus Mobos. I think it's generally worth while to get a good one. I often get OC boards not because I OC necessarily, but because they tend to be "hardier" if that makes any sense. I also tend to try and get a quality power supply. Some people may scoff at this, but my systems are always more stable than most people I know. I used to put a premium on system memory but nowadays memory is so cheap it's pretty much all pretty reliable and fast. Just don't get bottom basement value brand and you will be fine. Also, arrange your ram as suggested in your mobo manual. It can affect system speed and stability.

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51 minutes ago, Lucid said:

FWIW I really like Asus Mobos. I think it's generally worth while to get a good one. I often get OC boards not because I OC necessarily, but because they tend to be "hardier" if that makes any sense. I also tend to try and get a quality power supply. Some people may scoff at this, but my systems are always more stable than most people I know. I used to put a premium on system memory but nowadays memory is so cheap it's pretty much all pretty reliable and fast. Just don't get bottom basement value brand and you will be fine. Also, arrange your ram as suggested in your mobo manual. It can affect system speed and stability.

+1 for Asus Motherboards.  I've have very good luck with them.

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So does nothing else
Matter on the mobo other than having the slots I need? I am deciding between a few asus and MSI brand mobos. Anything against MSI I don't know about?

I think I can get the cpu, mobo, and a hard drive or two from overstock points I have.

I'll post exact options in about to buy to get opinions of possible.

Appreciate the input!


Sent from my iPhone using Go-Bengals.com

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6 minutes ago, GoBengals said:

So does nothing else
Matter on the mobo other than having the slots I need? I am deciding between a few asus and MSI brand mobos. Anything against MSI I don't know about?

I think I can get the cpu, mobo, and a hard drive or two from overstock points I have.

I'll post exact options in about to buy to get opinions of possible.

Appreciate the input!


Sent from my iPhone using Go-Bengals.com

Pretty much. You will want to check the chip set to make sure it has the features you want and will support your clock. I find ASUS boards to be superior in construction to MSI boards. I personally don't buy them but plenty of people do.

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15 minutes ago, GoBengals said:

So does nothing else
Matter on the mobo other than having the slots I need? I am deciding between a few asus and MSI brand mobos. Anything against MSI I don't know about?

I think I can get the cpu, mobo, and a hard drive or two from overstock points I have.

I'll post exact options in about to buy to get opinions of possible.

Appreciate the input!


Sent from my iPhone using Go-Bengals.com

Oh, also.. You should use a PSU calculator to be sure you get the proper wattage supply for your rig. It will add a buffer to the supply to ensure stable operation a year or so down the line when the PSU begins to put out lower wattage than stated (which they ALL do).  Here is one that will work - PSU calculator

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9 hours ago, GoBengals said:

Looks good. That Z97 chipset is a good "value" chipset. Good features, fast and reliable at a good price. Probably right what you are looking for. PSU looks to have plenty of juice and I like the brand. Currently using a Corsair PSU myself. Have you picked out your RAM yet? Z97 supports 2 memory channels so if the cost is similar I would buy the memory in pairs (I would do 2x 8GB sticks). It's a marginal performance gain but if the price is similar it's probably worth it.

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8 hours ago, Lucid said:

Looks good. That Z97 chipset is a good "value" chipset. Good features, fast and reliable at a good price. Probably right what you are looking for. PSU looks to have plenty of juice and I like the brand. Currently using a Corsair PSU myself. Have you picked out your RAM yet? Z97 supports 2 memory channels so if the cost is similar I would buy the memory in pairs (I would do 2x 8GB sticks). It's a marginal performance gain but if the price is similar it's probably worth it.

thanks for the feedback, glad to hear i semi-knew what i was doing picking out the items..

as far as ram i plan on 4x 8GB ddr3 12800. should be around $120. 

looking at hard drives, ram, and a case. 

any input on that graphics card i picked?

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20 hours ago, GoBengals said:

thanks for the feedback, glad to hear i semi-knew what i was doing picking out the items..

as far as ram i plan on 4x 8GB ddr3 12800. should be around $120. 

looking at hard drives, ram, and a case. 

any input on that graphics card i picked?

Keep in mind that by going with 4x DIMM you are somewhat limiting your upgrade path as that will fill the available DIMM slots. I generally recommend filling half the banks and still reaching your target RAM amount. This allows for you to add some later without having to toss DIMMS. However at 32GB there is a good chance you will not need to. 

As far as the GPU I figured you were aware that this is probably the weakest part of your system. It's 3 generations back from current NVIDIA offering, so though I am pretty sure it will run pretty much everything, it's not going to necessarily do it well. A quick peek at New Egg shows that you can pick up a 2GB GeForce GTX 950 for $139. Not only is this a SUBSTANTIALLY faster GPU, it also supports DX12, whereas the 750 is an DX11 GPU. If you are not familiar with Direct X, it's on chip instruction for various graphics capabilities, so it's hard set into the GPU and cannot be upgraded. IN fact DX absolsence is the main reason I end up upgrading GPU's and why I never have seen SLI as a viable technology (except for multiple display setups), at least for me. HOWEVER, If you are going to go cheap on something in a build (and my understanding is buying from New Egg may not be an option) this is the way to go anyway (I could not find a 950 on OS.com), as the chance any PC build is going to outlive it's GPU is pretty high. Count on at some point upgrading this portion of the system. Although, depending on the use, considering the age of your children, maybe not. What do they like to play?

 

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ok, thanks for the info, thats sort of what i expected and was afraid of with the video card. So i cancelled that part of the order. I assume i can get by with the integrated graphics until i can put a proper graphics card in there?

also good idea on the ram, im not seeing much as far as 16gb DIMMS in ddr3, only ddr 4 which i dont believe i can use with that motherboard. so i may be stuck maxing out at 32gb total anyway? which like you said may not ever matter as thats a ton of ram.

thanks again!

 

Ryan

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2 hours ago, GoBengals said:

ok, thanks for the info, thats sort of what i expected and was afraid of with the video card. So i cancelled that part of the order. I assume i can get by with the integrated graphics until i can put a proper graphics card in there?

also good idea on the ram, im not seeing much as far as 16gb DIMMS in ddr3, only ddr 4 which i dont believe i can use with that motherboard. so i may be stuck maxing out at 32gb total anyway? which like you said may not ever matter as thats a ton of ram.

thanks again!

 

Ryan

As far as the integrated graphics, it will work, but don't expect it to do any heavy lifting. Keep in mind that not only is it a basic graphics option (mostly intended for web, watching movies, etc), but whatever you render will be done by the CPU, which in today's terms means double duty for your processor. I wouldn't count on it being able to handle any of the 1st person 3d style games for example. It really depends on what it's going to be used for. If you don't expect much high end gaming it may be fine. However if you want to be able to play anything remotely graphically intense and won't have the money to upgrade for a while you may want to just go ahead and get the 750 and plan on upgrading it in around a year.

As for the memory, you would not be able to use DDR4 on the Z97. I would guess 32GB of ram is probably more than enough for the lifespan of this PC. I would say go ahead and get the 4DIMM.

And you are absolutely welcome. Thanks for all you do keeping this site up for us to enjoy.

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as far as graphics go, the kids currently play roblox and minecraft and trivial things like that, they arent into any medium or high end gaming at all. The most intense video related thing theyll do is edit some gopro videos and uplaod, which is likely more of a ram/cpu issue anyway. at least in terms of what they will be doing with it.

company is fighting my unemployment is seems, so i am on SUPER thin finances, so i wont be spending a penny at this juncture. So waiting on the gpu is no biggie, i turned off the graphics card in my macbook and did a bunch of stuff like watching hd videos and random things and it was fine, so they should be fine until they hit the need for better video games.

but they are still at the age where thier PC use is in public place like my office or the family room, so i doubt they get too intense into video games for a few more years.. they seem content with console video games for now..

i grabbed a case with a microcenter gift card i had, i had to pay $10.98 out of pocket but get a $10 rebate, so i figured i could splurge the $.98 cents..   so with the overstock rewards points order and the case i have:

 

case

power supply

CPU

motherboard

 

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15 hours ago, GoBengals said:

i let the kids pick out a case they thought was "cool" as long as i knew the brand and it wasnt terrible. this one seems decent, nothing special. 

 

http://www.microcenter.com/product/383014/Commander_MS-I_Snow_ATX_Mid-Tower_Computer_Case

 

LOL, same brand case I have as well. I used to use Thermaltake CPU coolers too, but I am currently using a Corsair water cooler. I think you have a pretty nice system there considering what you spent. Your kids are going to love it.

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Grabbed a 240gb SSD, 16gb of ram, and a dvd-rw drive yesterday, got Windows 10 pro 64bit. Last items. The anti static strap and Arctic silver will be here Friday. And came in way under "budget" at $815 total spent leaving some rewards points and stuff extra.

Friday night: we build!


Sent from my iPhone using Go-Bengals.com

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On 8/3/2016 at 10:44 AM, GoBengals said:

Grabbed a 240gb SSD, 16gb of ram, and a dvd-rw drive yesterday, got Windows 10 pro 64bit. Last items. The anti static strap and Arctic silver will be here Friday. And came in way under "budget" at $815 total spent leaving some rewards points and stuff extra.

Friday night: we build!


Sent from my iPhone using Go-Bengals.com

Have fun man. It's probably incredibly weird, but building systems is one of my true joys in life. Ok, it's definitely weird but true regardless.

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6 hours ago, Lucid said:

Have fun man. It's probably incredibly weird, but building systems is one of my true joys in life. Ok, it's definitely weird but true regardless.

not weird at all, no weirder than me spending hours and thousands on a bengals message board for 12 years...  :mellow:

waiting on last parts from UPS today.. then ready to go.. 

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got to working last night, got the mobo installed(didnt break it or anything), got the cpu installed (this really couldnt have been easier. thanks to reassurance by elflocko throughout the evening that i didnt fuck anything up), ram obviously was easy. Then i freaked out that i didnt buy a 3.5 to 2.5 bracket for the SSD. But i SWORE i read that there was a 2.5 in the case i bought. so i have to find documentation that said it had a 2.5 bay (hidden) so i found a youtube review of the case and watched it.. and the 2.5 gets mounted to the floor of the case under other drives.

 

so currently the power to the ssd is kind of in a tight spot, so i think im going to grab an extension power sata cord, to release some tension on the power plug of the ssd, also i am two sata cables short. 

mounted the two standard 1tb drives to raid, installed the dvd-r drive, burned my windows 10 pro iso to a dvd to install.. i also only have a wireless keyboard and mouse set, i have a mac usb keyboard i assume would probably work to get rolling, but i need a usb mouse i think. 

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49 minutes ago, GoBengals said:

got to working last night, got the mobo installed(didnt break it or anything), got the cpu installed (this really couldnt have been easier. thanks to reassurance by elflocko throughout the evening that i didnt fuck anything up), ram obviously was easy. Then i freaked out that i didnt buy a 3.5 to 2.5 bracket for the SSD. But i SWORE i read that there was a 2.5 in the case i bought. so i have to find documentation that said it had a 2.5 bay (hidden) so i found a youtube review of the case and watched it.. and the 2.5 gets mounted to the floor of the case under other drives.

 

so currently the power to the ssd is kind of in a tight spot, so i think im going to grab an extension power sata cord, to release some tension on the power plug of the ssd, also i am two sata cables short. 

mounted the two standard 1tb drives to raid, installed the dvd-r drive, burned my windows 10 pro iso to a dvd to install.. i also only have a wireless keyboard and mouse set, i have a mac usb keyboard i assume would probably work to get rolling, but i need a usb mouse i think. 

What's wrong with the wireless combo?

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3 hours ago, Lucid said:

What's wrong with the wireless combo?

upon first boot and isntalling an OS will the computer recognize the wireless devices like to get into bios, setup raid, etc, or would i need to have windows installed and install the logitech driver and stuff before those are usable?

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