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danothan24
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27 Oct 2014, 9:53 pm

Hey all. I want to start building my own PC. The primary use of it will be for gaming, but I'm hoping to go to film school in a year or so and would like it to be capable of video editing as well. It's important that it's capable of playing blurays, and ideally I'd like it to be compatible with Oculus Rift. Also, I'd like a blue case, but that's the least important part. I'd like to spend around $500-$600, but am willing to spend more for good quality. I'd also be open to just buying a PC in a similar price range if it meets the requirements, so long as I can upgrade the graphics card every few years. It's worth noting that I know basically nothing about PCs or how to build them. I figure once I know the parts it shouldn't be terribly complicated, but it's definitely an intimidating undertaking. Anyone have some suggestions on where to start?


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automation_station
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27 Oct 2014, 10:43 pm

You could definitely build a PC in that price range. Search "Newegg TV: How To Build a Computer" on YouTube. (sorry it wouldn't let me post the links) Also check "DIY PC Combos" at NewEgg's website. It's a great way to stretch your budget.



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27 Oct 2014, 11:15 pm

1. What CPU will you be using? This will also determine what motherboard you will purchase. If you're going with an Intel Core5 or Core7, I'd reccommend Intel, followed by Asus and Abit, as long as it uses the Intel chipset. For AMD, it's Asus or Abit, as long as it uses the VIA or nVidia Chipset.

2. Video. While it may be tempting, DO NOT ENABLE ONBOARD VIDEO ON YOUR MOTHERBOARD!! !! !! !! !! !! You WILL take a performance hit! Purchase a PCIExpress card that has either ATI or nVidia chipsets with at least 1gb memory or more.

3. RAM. As much as you can afford. stick with name brands such as Corsair or Kingston.

4. Hard Drive Storage. As much as you can afford. I've seen 1tb as cheap as $75.

5. Optical media. No contest. Go with Plextor. They're not cheap, but firmware is easily upgradeable.

6. Case and power supply, as well as cooling. Rosewill or Cooler Master.

Operating System. Stay as far away as possible from Windows 8. Go with Windows 7-64 bit or install your favorite distribution of Linux.



danothan24
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27 Oct 2014, 11:56 pm

Meistersinger wrote:
1. What CPU will you be using? This will also determine what motherboard you will purchase. If you're going with an Intel Core5 or Core7, I'd reccommend Intel, followed by Asus and Abit, as long as it uses the Intel chipset. For AMD, it's Asus or Abit, as long as it uses the VIA or nVidia Chipset.


First bullet in, I'm completely lost. I cannot stress enough, I seriously know next to nothing about computers. My initial thought was just to buy one, but several of the more tech-savvy people I know HIGHLY recommended I look into building one for economic reasons. I'm assuming Core7 is more powerful than Core5?

There's still the very real question of whether I should just buy one. I'm figuring I'll spend more on this then I would on a PS4, but will have better graphics/performance and save a lot on games over time.


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28 Oct 2014, 6:21 am

danothan24 wrote:
First bullet in, I'm completely lost. I cannot stress enough, I seriously know next to nothing about computers. My initial thought was just to buy one, but several of the more tech-savvy people I know HIGHLY recommended I look into building one for economic reasons. I'm assuming Core7 is more powerful than Core5?

There's still the very real question of whether I should just buy one. I'm figuring I'll spend more on this then I would on a PS4, but will have better graphics/performance and save a lot on games over time.


I built my own PC for the first time earlier this year. It's not about saving money, it's about personal investment and a sense of control over your machine. Now that I've done it, I think I would still build my own machine even if it cost twice as much as it did to buy one from a store.

All you need is a screwdriver and a few YouTube videos. The already mentioned NewEgg videos are very good. Here's a link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPIXAtNGGCw

I also recommend this guy's videos. They're very detailed and they contain a wealth of information:
http://www.youtube.com/user/CareyHolzman

And don't be afraid to browse around and look for your own information. Watch videos, read information on web sites, buy magazines... do what it takes to get informed and everything else will come naturally.



Dantac
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28 Oct 2014, 9:28 am

danothan24 wrote:
Hey all. I want to start building my own PC. The primary use of it will be for gaming, but I'm hoping to go to film school in a year or so and would like it to be capable of video editing as well. It's important that it's capable of playing blurays, and ideally I'd like it to be compatible with Oculus Rift. Also, I'd like a blue case, but that's the least important part. I'd like to spend around $500-$600, but am willing to spend more for good quality. I'd also be open to just buying a PC in a similar price range if it meets the requirements, so long as I can upgrade the graphics card every few years. It's worth noting that I know basically nothing about PCs or how to build them. I figure once I know the parts it shouldn't be terribly complicated, but it's definitely an intimidating undertaking. Anyone have some suggestions on where to start?


First of all, your budget is simply too low for a machine that would fit your needs.

Oculus Rift alone is going to be in the $300 once the consumer version comes out.
Video card for graphic work (film school stuff) that will support oculus rift will alone cost you nearly 400 dollars.
For video editing you require large amounts of RAM, a fast hard disk with lots of storage (lots) and a pretty powerful processor. This also means a good motherboard. Each of these components will cost around 200~300 dollars.
Then the monitor. For video/film work you're going to need a large sized, good quality monitor or else you're just working in the blind. You can easily expect a high quality monitor to run around 800 dollars.
Windows 8 runs about 80 dollars.
A computer case runs about 80 to 120 dollars (you do want to invest in a good case)

You'd need around $2.5k for the machine you need.

You're looking for something like an i7 CPU with a 800W power supply, a good motherboard, 16gb of RAM, with blue-ray player/burner, an R9 280 video card or better, an SSD hard disk for the operating system and a 2 terabyte hard disk for your film work...then for the monitor you'd be wanting something akin to a 28 inch flat screen with very high resolution (4k resolution would be the best for long term).

Of all the components please invest in a GOOD monitor. It is the one and only component of the computer that will be with you for nearly a decade or more. I've had mine for 10 years and it's 'lived through' 3 complete computer upgrades. The computer case is another thing you want to invest in. Get one with ample interior space and good ventilation (critical for video card and CPU lifespan).

For your budget you would barely afford a low end system that will certainly SUCK for any form of video editing or graphics work. You'd be throwing your money away.



DeuceKaboose
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28 Oct 2014, 6:34 pm

Your price range flexability may changed depending on where you live, my rig would have costed 650$ in the US but it ended up costing 850$ because I live in Canada



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29 Oct 2014, 4:09 am

With the hard drive, be sure to read up on how to create multiple partitions.

At least with Windows, you lose a lot of HDD space to the "page file" and if you need to defrag/optimize the drive, it'll take all that much longer if the OS partition is the whole drive.

You shouldn't need more than 150-200 GB of HDD space for the OS and ALL programs you are likely to install. You can use other partitions to hold your music, photos, etc. that hog a lot of space but really don't have to do with the operation of a program or the OS.

It also makes it easier to back up your OS partition as the space needed for an image file is smaller and can be separate from images of other partitions. If you have a sector failure, you could fix the problem and reinstall the image...at least enough to make sure everything else is backed up before getting a new HDD.



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31 Oct 2014, 5:58 am

Dantac wrote:
For your budget you would barely afford a low end system that will certainly SUCK for any form of video editing or graphics work. You'd be throwing your money away.


For a beginner, I would recommend starting small with cheap/used parts. There are plenty of things that can trip a rookie builder up and if you make mistakes it's better to make them with cheap parts rather than expensive ones. Think of the first PC as a learning curve and build bigger and better PCs when you've had more experience.

And I wouldn't be too quick to jump on the Oculous Rift bandwagon. Hardware developers have been dangling the Virtual Reality carrot since the 80s and I wouldn't break the bank over something that may or may not take off. Plus, the idea of manipulating the brain to believe it's in another reality sounds a bit risky to me (think Jim Carrey in Batman Forever).



Dantac
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01 Nov 2014, 12:26 pm

He's a beginner but he has a specific work/study related need for the hardware specs. He can't really just start low and get higher end stuff as he gets comfy learning how to build them. The low budget also implies there isn't much money to spend 'learning'.

Good thing about today's computers is that its like an idiot-proof lego kit. You cant plug stuff where it does not belong..it won't fit. You just need to know what to buy per your needs and per compatibility between components. The building part is easy, knowing what components to buy is what requires learning.



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01 Nov 2014, 4:30 pm

This is like the same budget I have right now for my build. This is my current plan. I am still thinking and might make a revision. Feel free to critique, WPers!

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/WzttrH



Last edited by RushKing on 03 Nov 2014, 1:56 am, edited 1 time in total.

accountinglad
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02 Nov 2014, 1:35 pm

invest in an ssd for your os and essential programs much better than buying excess ram everything loads faster



SickPuppy
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06 Nov 2014, 2:29 am

If you don't mind using Reddit here is a really good group that is about helping people build PCs:

http://reddit.com/r/buildapc

You can basically tell them your budget and what you want to use the PC for and they will post a list of components for you and if you have questions you can feel free to ask them as I am sure they get a bunch of first time PC builders. You're most likely going to have to double your budget though if you're looking to do gaming and video editing.

It would be a good idea to study up on why someone would select certain components over another but that is more than I feel like typing. Main things I would start out looking in to are the different case sizes (ATX, MicroATX, MiniITX) and from there you'll know what size motherboard to buy, then you'll need to figure out what type of chipset you want your motherboard to have (B85, H87, Z87, H97, Z97, etc.) and narrow that down by what features you want the motherboard to have (expensive can sometimes mean you're paying for features you'll never use), and from there you match up the type of RAM that goes with that motherboard and add a SSD and/or HDD and whatever else you want.

If you're going to put in the time to research I'd recommend this site to help make sure your components are going to be compatible with each other, it won't always be completely accurate but it will at least give you a start and you can run it by someone on that Reddit group:

http://pcpartpicker.com/