Gaming PC help

[MrBogosity]

Thanks, Dallen.

@Shane:  So maybe I'm just in that kind of mood, but I went to customize this bad boy, and picked all of the most expensive things (including 4 of the costliest HDD and 3 of the most expensive monitors, and 2 of the most expensive video cards, and the extended warranty).  The end price:  $11,282.70

Dayam.  So what would be a better way to customize this thing, like, in a way that won't get me a lot of wasted money on redundant or incompatible parts?  I figure maybe learn more about the technical specs or what have you, and yes, I can Google it, but what specific sources or sites would you recommend?

Personally, I'd just look at the system requirements (NOT the minimum) of the software you're wanting to run on it. And you might want to consider stepping it up a bit, to make room for the future.

[ArtemisVale]

Well happy Black Friday then. Isn't capitalism great x3

[Travis Retriever]

Personally, I'd just look at the system requirements (NOT the minimum) of the software you're wanting to run on it. And you might want to consider stepping it up a bit, to make room for the future.

I plan on running games on it. :3  And watching/streaming lots of video.  I ask about the specs and stuff, because I'd like to learn how to build my own PC.  A friend on Twitter (who knows how to build them and likes doing so) says not to buy the pre-made ones and that it's cheaper to build your own.

So I guess what I'm getting at is:
1) Do you think it would be more cost effective to build my own PC instead of using the cpusolutions site?
2) Because someday, I would like to learn how to build it myself, what would be a good way go about learning that sort of thing (e.g. specific site/sources/resources if you can recommend any for n00bs like me)?

Well happy Black Friday then. Isn't capitalism great x3

Well, what parts of capitalism we still have. But then, computers/software (copyright bs aside) are the most free market we have atm, so yeah. X3

Also, apologies if I'm hijacking your thread, I kinda had a lot of thoughts/questions on this topic myself and figured might as well put them here instead of making a separate thread.

[ArtemisVale]

@travis it's fine man. Helps me out too :3

And I'm wondering what kind of OS I should go with. Windows 7, Linux, or should I get into dual booting?

[dallen68]

Using the recommended specs for assassins creed unity, I "built" the following

Case w/ power supply $60 (avg)
A hard drive $75 (avg)
A directx 9 compatible sound card $120 (in this case a sound blaster)
Radeon R9-290x with 3g VRAM $370
AMD FX-8350 CPU/Motherboard bundle $239
8 gb ram @ 50/4gb chip $100.
broadband - unknown.

total: 1,093+

For the sake of argument, let's say I went to the store to buy a shelf model with the same budget: (In this case I forgot to include the price of RAM when I did the comparing.)

Samsung KO2US $900.(4g ram/1tb int. hard drive/win 8.1/s amd a6-5200 ) and a bunch of stuff that's not relevant to us today.
4GB Ram 50.

Total $950.

In conclusion, if my only intent was to play Assassin's Creed Unity (or similar) games (meaning pretty much any commercially available PC game in this genre), I'd be better off just buying the Samsung and an extra memory card. But only by a little bit, and that assumes that there's even a slot for the extra memory card, AND the unified CPU/GPU thingy is expandable to the required 3gb VRAM - which Ubisoft explicitly says it does not guarantee. It also assumes that more hardware intense games are not around the corner. So I guess conclusion to the conclusion: Short term think: the Samsung, Mid-Long term think: the Dallen 001.

[ArtemisVale]

Using the recommended specs for assassins creed unity, I "built" the following

Case w/ power supply $60 (avg)
A hard drive $75 (avg)
A directx 9 compatible sound card $120 (in this case a sound blaster)
Radeon R9-290x with 3g VRAM $370
AMD FX-8350 CPU/Motherboard bundle $239
8 gb ram @ 50/4gb chip $100.
broadband - unknown.

total: 1,093+

For the sake of argument, let's say I went to the store to buy a shelf model with the same budget: (In this case I forgot to include the price of RAM when I did the comparing.)

Samsung KO2US $900.(4g ram/1tb int. hard drive/win 8.1/s amd a6-5200 ) and a bunch of stuff that's not relevant to us today.
4GB Ram 50.

Total $950.

In conclusion, if my only intent was to play Assassin's Creed Unity (or similar) games (meaning pretty much any commercially available PC game in this genre), I'd be better off just buying the Samsung and an extra memory card. But only by a little bit, and that assumes that there's even a slot for the extra memory card, AND the unified CPU/GPU thingy is expandable to the required 3gb VRAM - which Ubisoft explicitly says it does not guarantee. It also assumes that more hardware intense games are not around the corner. So I guess conclusion to the conclusion: Short term think: the Samsung, Mid-Long term think: the Dallen 001.

That assumes Unity is a game thats worth playing *bricked*

[VectorM]

I don't know much about hardware at all, but i think most people will tell you, that if you don't really plan on doing any fancy stuff like double GPU's (is that even considered fancy? God, I am a disgrace to the PC Master Race), or any sort of overclocking, then there really isn't any reason to spend anything more than the 1000-1500$ range (and I think i am being fairly generous with the 1500$ number). You won't need a fancy motherboard and you won't need powerful power supply, just something that can handle the standard load and of a trusted brand.

[MrBogosity]

2) Because someday, I would like to learn how to build it myself, what would be a good way go about learning that sort of thing (e.g. specific site/sources/resources if you can recommend any for n00bs like me)?

I have to mull this over. I got started way back in the day when they were all IBM clones and you could take them apart, mix them up, put them back together, and all the parts would work. I just kept up with the changes over time. Now, you have to worry about AMD vs. Intel, the different PCI standards, forward/backward compatibility, different form factors, all sorts of things.

This early edition of the KnowHow netcast should help: http://twit.tv/show/know-how/15

[yt]hxLFu2TCD_U[/yt]

Some of the other early shows should help as well.

Might want to start small, with cheap/used components.

[Travis Retriever]

I have to mull this over. I got started way back in the day when they were all IBM clones and you could take them apart, mix them up, put them back together, and all the parts would work. I just kept up with the changes over time. Now, you have to worry about AMD vs. Intel, the different PCI standards, forward/backward compatibility, different form factors, all sorts of things.

This early edition of the KnowHow netcast should help: http://twit.tv/show/know-how/15

[yt]hxLFu2TCD_U[/yt]

Some of the other early shows should help as well.

Might want to start small, with cheap/used components.

My family was so tight on cash what you did simply wasn't an option for me.  My mom did work with a computer and it was the only one we had, so me eff'ing around with it was NOT an option. Hell, we didn't even get internet a good 5 years after it went mainstream, and didn't get broadband until after 2003 ish and it was actually even *worse* than what we have now.  It's a reason I want to move to Chat. TN and get that hyper fast internet and maybe blow a huge amount (I'm talking >$6,000 for a single machine huge amounts here) on a super awesome computer and learn how to be better with them.  Call me entitled, but as good as I am with logic, etc, having ASD, etc, I kinda feel like it's something I should be extremely good at, but never really got around to. Like I was deprived of it as a child, if not a birthright to begin with.  Yeah, I know that sounds *extremely* entitled, but yeah, it's still how I feel.  *shrugs* Like I never had the opportunity to begin with, when I could have made outstanding use of it.  weee.  Penny pincher parents whose idea of 'helping' you was nitpicking everything you do ftl.

Ditto for becoming better with working with computers in general, really.  Hence, why I'm constantly asking you questions regarding Linux, etc.  It sounds like it's no longer something just meant for folks we've been with computers since they were infants, and non-computer super-geniuses/savants can make good use of it now.  Because I'm telling you, that's how a lot of people view Linux (or at least I do/used to).   Just so you know where I'm coming from with this.

And thanks for the link and resources. Will definitely watch.

[evensgrey]

@Shane:  So maybe I'm just in that kind of mood, but I went to customize this bad boy, and picked all of the most expensive things (including 4 of the costliest HDD and 3 of the most expensive monitors, and 2 of the most expensive video cards, and the extended warranty).  The end price:  $11,282.70

Sounds like what I got when, just for fun, I priced an off-the-shelf movie-quality video editing rig.  (One of the scary things about that is you CAN just buy those off-the-shelf.)

[MrBogosity]

My family was so tight on cash what you did simply wasn't an option for me.

Hey, I didn't actually own an IBM-compatible until the 1990s! This was what I was working with at school or at various jobs.

Ditto for becoming better with working with computers in general, really.  Hence, why I'm constantly asking you questions regarding Linux, etc.  It sounds like it's no longer something just meant for folks we've been with computers since they were infants, and non-computer super-geniuses/savants can make good use of it now.  Because I'm telling you, that's how a lot of people view Linux (or at least I do/used to).   Just so you know where I'm coming from with this.

Linux is something you definitely shouldn't be afraid to play around with and even break, since you can just boot it from a USB key without compromising your actual computer that you need to work with.

[Travis Retriever]

Hey, I didn't actually own an IBM-compatible until the 1990s! This was what I was working with at school or at various jobs.

Oh wow.

Linux is something you definitely shouldn't be afraid to play around with and even break, since you can just boot it from a USB key without compromising your actual computer that you need to work with.

That's good to know. Something tells me Windows isn't like that, isn't it?

[MrBogosity]

Oh wow.
That's good to know. Something tells me Windows isn't like that, isn't it?

Actually, Hiren's Boot CD will allow you to boot into Mini Windows XP. I think there are some hacked versions that'll get you into Windows 7.

Just be careful: there are a LOT of tools on that disk that can hose your system if you don't know what you're doing!

[Travis Retriever]

Actually, Hiren's Boot CD will allow you to boot into Mini Windows XP. I think there are some hacked versions that'll get you into Windows 7.

Just be careful: there are a LOT of tools on that disk that can hose your system if you don't know what you're doing!

Well, I wouldn't know what I'm doing so...

[Travis Retriever]

So for fun, I checked the cpusolutions website and saw another computer even more expensive and customized to be more pimped out than Flava Flav's mouth:

PC Case:  Corsair Carbide Series Air 540 High Airflow ATX Cube Case Silver
Power Supply:  Cooler Master Silent Pro M2 1500W Power Supply RSF00-SPM2D3-US
Motherboard:  Asus ROG RAMPAGE V EXTREME Desktop Motherboard - Intel X99 Chipset - Socket LGA 2011-v3 - Extended ATX 
CPU:  Intel Core i7 5960X Extreme Edition Processor Socket 3.0GHz 8 Core LGA 2011-v3
CPU Cooler:  NZXT Kraken-X60 All in One 280mm Liquid Cooler
Memory:  Crucial Ballistix Sport 32GB Kit (8GBx4), DDR4 2400 PC4 19200
Video Card:  2x Asus GTXTITANBLACK-6GD5 GeForce GTX TITAN BLACK Graphic Card - 889 MHz Core - 6 GB GDDR5 SDRAM - PCI Express 3.0
Hard Drives:  4x Samsung 850 Pro MZ-7KE1T0BW 1 TB 2.5" Internal Solid State Drive
Optical Drive:  LG WH16NS40 Internal Blu-ray Writer - Black - Bulk - Internal
Flash Drive:  SIIG USB 3.0 & 2.0 Hub with Card Reader and 5V/4A Adapter 
Windows OS:  Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit OEM 1PK License and Media - OEM - 1 PC - English Supports Up To 192GB RAM
Keyboard:  Logitech Wireless Keyboard K350
Mice:  Logitech Corded Mouse M500 Laser - USB - Black, Gray - Retail
Speakers:  Tt eSPORTS SHOCK Headset SHK002ECWH
Monitors:  3x Viewsonic VX2880ml 28" Ultra HD display with Dual DisplayPort Inputs (there's a more expensive monitor, but this one had a higher resolution)
System Assembly:  Full System Assemble with 48 Hour Testing and Burn In Requires 3-6 Business days
Warranty:  36 Month Parts & Labor Depot Limited Warranty
Soundcard:  Creative Sound Blaster Recon3D Sound Board
Network & WiFi:  Intel Multi-Port Server Adapter PCI Express x16 - 2 x RJ-45 - 10/100/1000Base-T - Internal
Office Software:  Microsoft Office 2013 Professional 32/64-bit
Surge Protector:  CyberPower Intelligent LCD CP1500AVRLCD 1500VA UPS
Accessories:
14FT CAT 6 Patch Cable Black
Antistatic Wrist Band
Linksys E2500 Wireless Router - IEEE 802.11n
Manhattan Air Duster 8oz
Memorex PC Quick Wipes
NZXT CB-LED10-BU 1-Metre Light Sensitivity Sleeved LED Kit Blue
NZXT FZ 120mm LED High Airflow 120mm LED Fan Blue
StarTech.com 24x26in Beige Desktop Anti-Static Mat
TP-LINK TL-SG1008D 10/100/1000Mbps 8-Port Gigabit Desktop Switch, 10Gbps Switching Capacity
TRENDnet TEG-S16DG Gigabit GREENnet Switch

Total Price:  $11,494.63
AKA, 10 times more expensive than the system I'm typing this from.