I'm a PC noob about to attempt building my first PC... HALP!

[NovaAurora]

So as several of you may already know, I haven't had an actual PC for about 7 years now and have only used Apple computers in that time. But for several reasons, I now wish to build myself a legitimate high-end gaming PC and I desperately need help and advice. I know very little computer terminology to begin with, much less what each individual component does, so I have no way to really compare specs of different parts because I don't know what's good and what's not.


Since I'm not expecting a full on explanation for everything (though any knowledge you can impart would of course be great,) what I'm looking for here is primarily advice on where to start. How do I learn all the things I need to learn, and moreover what is most important for me to know/consider when building it? I can afford to spend a decent amount of money on this, but at what point might I just me throwing hundreds of extra dollars at it for only a slight performance increase? Any opinions on where to buy the different components? What about compatibility, surely not all parts work with each other so how do I know what WILL work ahead of time so I can plan out my purchase? So many things I know nothing about...


Anyway, I'd very much appreciate any responses you can give me, and if you have any questions in return for me about what I'm doing please don't hesitate to ask 

[White Wolf Guardian]

http://compreviews.about.com/od/general/a/DesktopPCParts.htm

If you don't want to spend over $1000, go with AMD and ATI video cards. Use www.newegg.com, www.ebay.com (be careful), www.tigerdirect.com, and www.amazon.com (use caution) to get the cheapest prices. I would also suggest against buying anything in real life, because it always more expensive and avoiding Windows 8 entirely.

[Timmy Fox]

[...] and avoiding Windows 8 entirely.

I agree with pretty much everything but this.
After being really loud and criticizing about 8, I actually decided to give it a fair trial and now I use Windows 8 on my Desktop and I upgraded my HTPC to it as well. I've also modded the Win7 installation on my laptop I've gotten from school as well in order to make it look and function more like 8 does.

This is really down to subjective though. What is proven however is that Windows 8 is much faster and lighter, has several UI and usability tweaks and improvements and I believe retails for a lower price as well in comparison to Windows 7.
If you see people complaining about compatibility issues in Windows 8, these are most likely outdated claims. It is true that for every new version of Windows, it is to be expected that some programs have certain compatibility errors. , Vista and Windows 7 has all seen this in their early days and Windows 8 is no exception. It has been out on the market for long enough now however that these issues should be resolved already and patches have been released.

I've only had 2 problems on any of my computers that's directly related to Windows 8, both to do with compatibility. Both those programs was updated to address these errors over 8 months ago.


The only gripe I otherwise see people having with Windows 8 is that Microsoft took the launcher menu that everyone know and love and made it full screen. Is it a big deal? To many people that judge from looking at screenshots rather than trying it out themselves - yes. To me? No, the opposite. It's a lot more useful and I can organize my most used programs much better and open them up very quickly indeed.

If you happen to not enjoy it however, fear not, you only have to install a single program in order to make it work like it used to in previous versions. And with all the other improvements (did I mention it boots in less than 30 seconds on a physical hard drive? Windows 7 took a minute or so on my 7200RPM drive (which is supposed to be one of the fastest consumer-level ones).

[NovaAurora]

Thanks for the advice and the links White Wolf, that was very helpful and I think I'll be able to get a good footing from there. And thanks for explaining all that Timmy, as I haven't used any windows versions since whatever was out circa 2006 it doesn't matter to me if they changed something aesthetically from 7 to 8. I've heard SOOO much hatred towards Windows 8 but if the compatibility issues were the cause of most of that and they're mostly fixed now, I don't see a reason to not get the latest operating system.

[Timmy Fox]

Thanks for the advice and the links White Wolf, that was very helpful and I think I'll be able to get a good footing from there. And thanks for explaining all that Timmy, as I haven't used any windows versions since whatever was out circa 2006 it doesn't matter to me if they changed something aesthetically from 7 to 8. I've heard SOOO much hatred towards Windows 8 but if the compatibility issues were the cause of most of that and they're mostly fixed now, I don't see a reason to not get the latest operating system.

That's why I thought I'd point it out. As a fairly strong Windows 8 user myself I'm willing to bet that at least 90% of the hatred towards it comes directly from people who are hating on it for the sake of hating on it rather than those who have actually tested it in order to make their own opinion about it. As said, I used to be one of those until I actually tested it.

I wouldn't say compatibility issues would be the biggest cause, but rather more of an excuse (as you know, when people are set on not liking something, they will come up with excuses and reasons to keep disliking it).
The biggest reason would rather be one of the design changes. See, the thing people say is that they made it to be used exclusively on touchscreen-devices and that regular handling with mouse and keyboard is completely crippled to which I say - no, they did to some compromise but it's certainly not less usable than any previous version.

I suppose it also has to do with the fact that every time a major change is done to almost anything, people are expected to complain. I mean, just look at Youtube or Facebook; Whenever they change the design of the web page, everyone goes apeshit and complains about it as if it was their life goal to act for bringing back the previous design somehow. A week or two later? Most people have forgotten about it. I find this phenomena quite silly, especially considering that it happens every time the design changes (meaning that first people hate the new design with burning passion, then they all want it back when it's changed again after a year or so).

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

People are actually idiots and 90% of the hatred is actually for the over-simplified UI in Windows 8. I've been working on computers for well over 11 years, and I can tell you, it's the best thing Microsoft has released to date. The only actually compatibility issues that are still in play at the moment is with 3D modeling programs and VERY old printers. That's about it. Works awesome and fully optimizes any high-end components. I spent just under $1000 on my newest system, and it works awesome with it.

Just take these simple steps and work from there:
1) Find out what you want for a processor and get proper thermal paste (Recommend High-density synthetic silver: minimum 5 rating or higher. AVOID thermal grease, it's useless shit and doesn't work very well).
2) Find a compatible motherboard that works withe said processor and has compatibility to other specs you want (i.e. RAM and GPU)
3) Get RAM
4) Choose a proper GPU according to what you need it to do, and compatibility with your processor.
5) Choose a proper gaming tower shell (needs plenty of ventilation. recommend Antec 900 series to save money and pay less for fans)
6) Get the extra fans
7) Get yourself at least a 1TB HDD. (For best results, use it as a secondary drive and run primary off a basic Solid State Drive)
8) Get yourself 2 DVD drive(s) and/or Blu-Ray drive(s).
9) Purchase a power supply that's at LEAST 650W (Best to start at an 850W)
10) Get a grounding wrist band or a nice hunk of metal to maintain contact with  to avoid discharge (I usually pinch the tower with my foot)
11) Avoid wearing too much (None, if possible) cotton or polyester clothing.
12) Avoid carpeted flooring and large furnishings with similar material.
13) Follow manual to construct (not too hard since everything has been color-coded for the last 5 1/2 years).
14) When turning on computer, quickly go to boot menu and run off of Windows (recommend Win8) installation boot-disc.
15) Get ready to wait for at least 2 hours of hardware installation/updates (Based on Medium cable internet speed @100mbps connection, 25mpbs D/L and 2.0mbps U/L)

ENJOY!!!

[Oedipus Rex]

I plan to follow this when I somehow gain enough little green pieces of paper. The guide tells you what parts to get and even how to install them.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh455l3348s

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

The biggest thing about Windows 8 is the basic facts that:
1) It consumes less HDD space
2) Can optimize all components, even 3D-ready graphics cards, up to 110% performance
3) 60% less background processes (which means faster operation, less CPU/RAM consumption, more multi-tasking)

I plan to follow this when I somehow gain enough little green pieces of paper. The guide tells you what parts to get and even how to install them.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh455l3348s

(I would avoid Steam OS if I were you. Valve's attempt at just the Steam platform took over 3 years to work properly. A Steam computer is just asking for a foot up the ass)

[Oedipus Rex]

Actually, the video is about building a pc based around the steam box's size. He actually recommends getting Windows 7.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Actually, the video is about building a pc based around the steam box's size. He actually recommends getting Windows 7.

i only keep windows 7 for my art PCs. my gaming comps have all switched to Windows 8 already. Works so much faster and better than 7. No more useless crap running in the background to slow down my games or induce any lag. Totally has nothing to do with running 32GB DDR3 and 2GB DDR5 VRAM on dual 480GTXs.

[White Wolf Guardian]

A matter of preference and cautiousness really, just make sure all of the components you purchase have Windows 8 drivers.

[Timmy Fox]

Shinzuu made several excellent point there, but I do think I should point out a few things that can be worth noting:

1. Aftermarket thermal paste is indeed the best way to go, do make sure to clean off the pre-applied such beforehand, preferably using 99% isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol or as close to such as you can get (similar solvents should work as well, just make sure it doesn't contain weird additions).

As for the paste itself, my only rule of thumb is to avoid Arctic Silver 5 (usually referred to as "AS5"). It's a good but old paste, however it does contain silver and is electrically conductive (if you're careful it's fine, but if you spill over somewhere or put on too much, you can risk damaging your components). Personally I'm a big fan of the Arctic Cooling MX4 paste. It's one of the top ones and also boasts an 8-year durability rating (time before it dries out and needs to be reapplied, compared to the aforementioned AS5 that only lasts about a year at most) plus it doesn't require any "burn in" time to reach its highest performance.

Simply put; Avoid Arctic Silver 5 and get one with good reviews, I'll personally vouch for Arctic Cooling's MX2 or MX4.

2. Unless you're planning on using more than a single graphics card (I doubt it), you don't really need to pay as much attention to compatibility with graphics cards. There's 2 brands that make them (AMD and Nvidia) and all modern motherboards should support either of them (even if they only specify compatibility for one of them).

3. The case doesn't need to be gaming oriented. Usually I say go for the one that looks good to you, but also don't go with those that are really cheap. I know from personal experience that finding good cases can be a pain in the behind because there are so many different options. Corsair and Fractal Design are two manufacturers I'd vouch for. I'm personally using the Arc Midi R2 by Fractal Design which has a very good price and is an awesome case overall. They also gave me a FREE replacement front panel not too long ago when I simply asked their customer support how much it'd cost (after having scratched it and gotten some stains on it, all caused by myself).

4. Depending on which case you buy, fans aren't always necessary. Fractal Design I know bundles 2 of their own fans with the Define-series and 3 with the Arc series. These are whisper quiet and do the job very well. Filling up the whole thing with fans will also just make it loud with little benefit. 1-2 in the front and 1-2 in the top/rear will do the job.

5. Solid state drive (SSD) is recommended and much faster, but not the most important thing in the world. So you may wish to opt for just getting the hard drive in order to save some money.

6. 2 DVD or Bluray drives? Why? Many tech people are moving away from it and saying getting just 1 is optional. Personally I'd say get a single DVD drive and get the cheapest you can find (unless you like the look of a particular model of course).
DVD drives it doesn't really differ much between cheap and less cheap models, so usually any will do. I don't see why you'd have 2 though.

Only consider a bluray drive if you actually watch bluray movies on your computer or wish to do so at some point, if not it's just extra money for something you won't use.

7. Depending on the components, you won't need a huge power supply. I think 850w is a bit of an overstatement. 650W should serve you well unless you are planning to fill the computer with really high end stuff.

8. Grounding wrist bands are excellent, I have one myself that I haven't used in years!
They are cheap and do what they are supposed to. Although I don't feel they do too much. Just touch  anything metal (such as your case) you should be perfectly fine.
Do work on a good solid surface such as a table however and indeed avoid surfaces and clothing that can cause static electricity.

9. There's several excellent tutorials on youtube for assembling your computer. It may be well worth investing some time in watching some of them in order to familiarize yourself with the process.

A matter of preference and cautiousness really, just make sure all of the components you purchase have Windows 8 drivers.

This should likely be a non-issue. I've had several devices that previously you needed to install drivers for in order for them to work that in Windows 8 works by just plugging it in.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

just quick on the power supply, difference in price between a 650 and 850 is $5.

[Timmy Fox]

just quick on the power supply, difference in price between a 650 and 850 is $5.

Where? What brand and model?
If you find good prices of course why not go with the better one. But my point is you usually don't need a super high amounts of watts.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

always good to be prepared. And I buy Antecs for power supplies. best to have a good medium-high power supply just in case you decide to upgrade more later. granted, my newest tower runs a kilowatt. best way to find parts for cheap is to shop Fry's Electronics. They always have crazy sales, but usually on the store level. best to have family and/or friends that live near one and have them buy and ship, which usually ends up still cheaper than newegg or anywhere else. my last project was an Antec 902 tower, Kilowatt, Blu-ray drive, blu-ray burner, 2 TB 7200/SSD hybrid, 64 GB SSD, Alienware liquid cooling, Intel i7 970x Extreme 6-core, 32GB DDR3 and 2 Nvidea GTX480's. Total cost came to around $970 after tax and shipping.

 Antec towers are usually between $90-120 and don't need as many additional fans since the 900 series towers come with the "Big Daddy" fans that have larger diameters than the tower is wide, but you might find them on good sales from $50-70. Got my 902 for only $65.