Building First Gaming PC

[king3pj]

I have been a big fan of Steam's business model for a long time. I have wanted to switch most of my gaming to PC for a while to take advantage of Steam's deals but I'm not comfortable playing with a mouse and keyboard and I refuse to game at a desk after sitting at one for work all day. What I wanted was a console replacement hooked to my 46" 1080p TV and Onkyo 609 5.1 surround sound setup. I wanted this PC to be better than my 360 and PS3 and I wanted it to at least keep up with the graphics of the next gen consoles. I don't need super high resolutions or multiple monitors. I want the next gen AAA games to play at the console standard 30 FPS at 1080p or 720p resolutions. A couple months ago I saw the announcement video for Steam's big picture mode. This is what made me realize that PC gaming is finally doable for me.



Originally I didn't want to build my own PC. I've never done it before so I'm not super comfortable with picking out the parts or the actual building process. My first reaction was to jump on the Alienware x51. It can handle what I want now and it looks like a console so it would be perfect for my setup. The problem I had with that is the fact that you basically can't upgrade it. I don't want to have to upgrade every 2 years but I would like it to be an option without starting over.

My next step was a website called Maingear. They offer more customizable options than Alienware and the cases are easily upgradable. The problem here was that I was over $1400 before I got to a system I was happy with and it wasn't going to ship until April 4th. That is more than I wanted to spend and I didn't want to wait that long. I decided to suck it up and print the spec sheet from Maingear and build my own as closely matched as I could getting parts from amazon.

I chose this $50 case. There is nothing special about it. This is a living room PC. No flashing lights or windows required.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005869J4O/ref=ox_ya_os_product

I picked the AMD FX-6300 6 core 3.5GHz processor for $133.79. I went with AMD over Intel here to try to maximize the bang for my buck.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009O7YORK/ref=ox_ya_os_product

I used the AMD Radeon HD 7850 2GB graphics card for $184.99. Again, I was trying to maximize the bang for my buck so I went AMD over Nvidia. AMD is giving out free downloads of Bioshock Infinite and Tomb Raider when they release if you buy this particular graphics card through amazon. These are both games I planned to purchase so that is a nice bonus for me.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007PJTNYS/ref=ox_ya_os_product

AMD AM3+ compatible SATA motherboard $89.99.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0056G10WK/ref=ox_ya_os_product

8GB 1600MHz Corsair Vengeance RAM $47.69.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004CRSM4I/ref=ox_ya_os_product

1TB Segate HD 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s $76.82. Maybe I will add a SSD eventually for the OS and some of the games but for now I am minimizing cost.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005T3GRNW/ref=ox_ya_os_product

Corsair 600w power supply $66.24.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0092ML0OC/ref=ox_ya_os_product

Windows 8 $95.88
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0094NY3R0/ref=ox_ya_os_product

360 Wireless Controller PC adapter $12.59 This device will sync to my 4 existing 360 controllers for multiplayer gaming.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000HZFCT2/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i05?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I chose not to buy an optical disk drive. 95% of this PCs use will be for gaming and I plan on getting those games from Steam, Origin, and other online shops. I do have an old USB DVD burner if I need it to instal the OS or the occasional disk based game.

The total for my system is $757.98. This is almost exactly the same internals as the customized Maingear system that was going to cost me $1400+. I even used the same brands whenever possible. I am still a little scared of building my own PC but for that kind of savings I think it is worth it. Steam has a feature that will allow it to launch in big picture mode upon computer boot up so I will rarely have to use a keyboard and mouse. If everything goes according to plan this PC should be perfect for me and I can always upgrade the graphics card in a couple years if I want more power.

I know that this is a ridiculously long post but I figured it could be useful for other people considering a gaming PC. I will update this weekend when the parts come in and I have time to start building.

 

[yourbeliefs]

Pretty good system. I would have opted for Intel over AMD though, since they seem to be finally overtaking them with their i5 and i7 newer gen processors, and even allow for easy overclocking, but to each their own. Also would have opted for Nvidia, but again that's just me.

Having a PC hooked up to a big screen tv rules. I've had that setup for about 4 years now and I can't imagine going back. Games are much more immersive on a 50" big screen than on a typical 24" monitor, and it essentially turns your PC into a HTPC as well. The limit of 1920X1080 is a little annoying, but to me the bigger screen compensates for the downgrade in texture detail. I'm sure you'll be happy with it.

 

[king3pj]

Pretty good system. I would have opted for Intel over AMD though, since they seem to be finally overtaking them with their i5 and i7 newer gen processors, and even allow for easy overclocking, but to each their own. Also would have opted for Nvidia, but again that's just me.

Having a PC hooked up to a big screen tv rules. I've had that setup for about 4 years now and I can't imagine going back. Games are much more immersive on a 50" big screen than on a typical 24" monitor, and it essentially turns your PC into a HTPC as well. The limit of 1920X1080 is a little annoying, but to me the bigger screen compensates for the downgrade in texture detail. I'm sure you'll be happy with it.

Yeah. I did all my research for this at the tomshardware.com forum. A couple people pointed out that I would get better performance with a i5 and the Nvidia GTX 660. To swap out my AMD processor and graphics card for those models would have ran me about $150 more bringing my total to around $900. The consensus there was that the parts I chose would accomplish what I wanted because I would never be going above 1920x1080 resolution. They thought I would be able to run next gen AAA titles at a level at or above the next gen consoles. That was my main goal with this build since this will be a console replacement. I can always upgrade the graphics card in the future if I want more performance.

I'm sure I will end up owning the PS4 and maybe the next Xbox for exclusives at some point. Depending on Sony's presentation tonight I might even be preordering the PS4. This PC will give me more options though. I plan to save money and increase performance on multiplatform titles using services like Steam.

I think your right about playing on a big screen TV. After console gaming on one for years I don't think I could ever move down to a Monitor setup at a desk. The resolution cap doesn't bother me at least right now. Apparently most games on current gen consoles don't even reach 720p resolutions so maxing out at 1080p will be a huge upgrade.

 

[Rey]

you'll be fine with the AMD cpu king. nice setup.....

 

[king3pj]

you'll be fine with the AMD cpu king. nice setup.....

Thanks. I got some of my parts last night and started my build. I meant to take pictures along the way to post here but I forgot.

Last night I got the case, motherboard, CPU, GPU, RAM, and hard drive. It took me over three hours to put these parts together. I was really surprised it took so long but as a first time builder I was going through my motherboard manual pretty carefully along the way as well as a website with build tips. I had to read the instructions carefully to know which PCI and RAM slots to use.

The worst part was actually getting the motherboard screwed in. I found that I had to force it a little to get it to line up. Even when I did have it in line a couple of the screws were very hard to get at because of how close some of the parts are. I actually had to leave 1 screw out of the 9 out because it was almost directly under the RAM clip and the case fan was also in the way. I hope missing one screw won't cause problems. I also hope I didn't damage the motherboard in this process.

I also had a hard time with some of the cables from the case. The writing was so small I could barely read it. I'm hoping the side with the small triangle meant positive because that's how I hooked it up. One of the case fans didn't reach the fan port on the motherboard because of the built in cable management either. I might be able to pull it out and make it reach but I can't do it without removing the motherboard and I'd rather not do that. The other case fan had a bigger power input part way down the cable. I think it was meant to attach additional case fans so I hooked up the one that wouldn't reach to that. I hope that's ok.

Another thing. My graphics card came with an external power connector by its fans. This connector had one plug into the GPU that split into 2 connectors that looked just like the case fan's. The instruction manual for the GPU said connect the external cable if necessary with no further instructions. How do I know if it's necessary? Because I had to use one of these plugs to connect the 2nd case fan I only have one available. I don't know what to do here because according to the manual it may not even be necessary. Maybe the power supply will come with more of these connectors? I haven't got that part yet so I don't know.

The power supply, DVD drive, wireless keyboard and mouse, and the cooler master Hyper 212 EVO CPU cooler will be waiting for me when I get home from work tonight. I bought the CPU cooler because I want to overclock the AMD FX 6300 eventually. From what I have read that processor is basically built to be overclocked. I'm really hoping I can get the rest of the pieces in tonight and successful boot up. I'd like to even try Far Cry 3 tonight but after last night I highly doubt I will have everything running correctly in time to game before bed.

 

[king3pj]

Well I got everything in and it actually booted up. I almost can't believe it but everything seems to be working. I'm in the middle if installing windows 8 right now.

 

[jevans64]

If you want a small case that can pack a lot of power, take a look at the Silverstone Sugo series. Thermaltake makes a small box as well.

The small triangle on the case headers, etc. indicate pin #1. Most motherboards orient pin #1 on the lower left of the motherboard header when the back-plate is either facing the back or left. Double-check before connecting though. The motherboard headers will either have the same triangle, a white dot, or a small "1" to indicate pin #1 as well.

That motherboard should have four fan headers on the motherboard. Connecting case fans to the motherboard really isn't necessary. You can run them off one of the power supply rails and use a SATA power to 3 or 4 pin fan cable. Those connectors on the motherboard are just so you can monitor and control the fans with BIOS settings. Something like that can be done with something like SpeedFan. Hooking that fan to the fan header on the video card MIGHT allow you to control the fan with Catalyst Control Center though. You could try MSI Afterburner to see if it works with Radeon cards. A couple of good video card benchmarkers / stress-testers out there are Unigine Heaven and FurMark. Be careful with FurMark though as you can fry a card easily with it if the video card fans aren't set to ramp to 100% when the VC hits 80°C.

I probably would have dropped in a 750 watt 85-plus power supply. I think 600 watts will be OK though but doesn't give you any room for a 2nd video card or a more powerful video card, like the nVidia 7xx series.

 

[king3pj]

Thanks for the tips. Everything seems to be running smooth. I even got the FX 6300 overclocked from 3.5GHz up to 4.4GHz. It is running at 1.435V and after about 8 hours of Prime95 stress testing the temperature was hanging steady at 45 C with the Hyper 212 EVO cooler. I was shooting for 4.5GHz but I kept getting failed workers in Prime95 and I didn't want to bump the voltage to much more than that even though the temps were good.

I also played a couple hours of Far Cry 3 on Ultra settings. Everything ran smooth and cool. As someone who's never seen a gaming computer in person I was blown away by how great it looked. I haven't tried any GPU stress tests or anything to track frame rates yet. I just wanted to get into a game but I will soon.

I may try to overclock the Radeon HD 7850 eventually. If everything runs as smooth as Far Cry I don't see the point yet though.

 

[wallypa]

Congrats on your first build. For tracking frame rates, I use this: http://www.fraps.com/. It's a good, simple to use program.

 

[king3pj]

Thanks. I tried fraps out today. I was getting anywhere from 35 to 40 fps on Far Cry 3 and 55 to 60 fps on Battlefield 3 running both games on Ultra settings with everything turned up at 1080p. Not crazy high frame rates but better than the 30 that most console games shoot for. Both games are absolutely beautiful by the way. I also played a lot of BF3 on PS3 and while it was pretty there it can't touch the PC version. I'm very happy with my setup so far.

 

[wallypa]

Far Cry 3 is graphically spectacular and the game play is not too shabby either. Maybe if you bring your AA setting down to maybe 4, you can squeeze a little bit more frames off your gpu with not much difference in eye-candy. But 35-40 fps consistently in ultra setting I think is pretty darn good. BTW, make sure that you monitor your gpu temp also during game play. Have fun!