New to PC Building

[Viridian]

Hey everyone. As the title states I'm pretty new to PC building. I've never built one before and honestly don't know much about the components or process behind it. I've asked a few people about processors, ram, graphics cards, etc. but I've received mixed answers. So I'm posting this here to get some ideas from all of you who seem to be very knowledgable in this subject.

What I'm looking for in this PC is streaming, gaming, and graphic design capabilities. As well as a suitable capture card for systems like ps2 and older. I'm a full-time college student so I don't have the largest budget but I realize I'm gonna have to spend some money to get all of that. If it was possible to get a good build and capture card for around or under $1,000 that'd be great for me.

Thanks for reading this and any advice you have for me.

[FreshToast]

It really depends on what you already have. If you already have a monitor, keyboard, mouse and OS, you can save about $300. I will list what you can expect to pay per part and a few notes.

Processor: $200-250 (I would recommend an intel core i5 3xxx or 4xxx series. Haswell (4xxx) is about 10% faster, but run slightly hotter, have less Overclock room, and are about $10-$20 more. Basically, what that means, is if you plan to do an overclock, ivy bridge (3xxxK) I think is better, where if you don't want to overclock, Haswell (4xxx) is better. Just a note, if you plan to overclock, buy a Coolermaster hyper 212 at the minimum. Streaming taxes the CPU almost exclusively so a faster CPU is ideal, but an i7 is almost a waste of because they performance difference is very very minimal in gaming)

Motherboard: $80-$120 ( Look for something from a reputable brand, such as Asus, Asrock, Gigabyte, etc, with good reviews. For intel, make sure you get the correct socket motherboard and a "Z" motherboard if you overclock.)

Graphics Card: $100-$250 (This really depends on how much you want to spend. A good mid range GPU will cost you about $180, Radeon R9 270, can max everything besides Witcher 2, but you could go with an Nvidia 760 GTX, which is slightly better at $240. You could also go cheaper, but keep in mind, a $100 card won't be able to max stuff out)

PSU: $80-$120 (Realistically, 650W is fine for any system not using SLI, but I like to recommend 750W. Look at reviews on the efficiency and the determine the amount of power to the rails of the PSU, not the wattages per se.

Memory: $45-$70 (This component does not hinder or help performance too much. Just get something that is from Ripjaws, Corsair or Patriot, 8 gigs of DDR3 1333+, and make you decision on which one looks the coolest if you are having trouble.)

Case: $50-$80 (The only thing you need to worry about with this is size. Anything over 19.50" tall should be just fine, if not slightly overkill. Make sure you get a steel or aluminum case for better insulation. I recommend Coolermaster HAF 912.

Hard Drive: $70-$100 (Since you are on a budget, Solid State is out of the picture. Realistically, you are looking at Western Digital. Make sure to get a 7200 RPM HD with 64mb of cache. Go with a WD Blue or Black addition, with the only difference being that the Black has a 5 year warranty, and the blue has a 3 year warranty. It may cost $15-20 more, but keep in mind hard drives go bad more than almost any other part)

CD Drive: $20-$70 (You can go really cheap on this, as you 1. Probably will not be using it that much and 2. Are not going to be using it that much. Alternately, you can spend upwards of $80ish on a "good" (quieter) Blu ray drive.)

Capture Card: $10-130 (If you want to be really cheap, you can get an Ezcap 168, I use a Hauppauge HDPVR 2, which is amazing quality, but I had to buy the s-video cable from Hauppauge for around $20 and you need to split everything, as there will be a delay.

Overall, the amount you will spend on the computer parts alone would be anywhere from $600-$1100. Keep in mind, $1100 would be if you wanted a low-high end computer. You are probably in the high mid range market. You could save money on several areas and see very little performance loss.

[Soulcrusher842]

Not to rain on FreshToast parade but the best way to build your own PC is to do the research and do it yourself. Building a PC today is "super" easy and you can rarely mess anything up. The only component you will have to be careful with is the CPU... Everything else is just plug in.... Really easy... If you try and do it wrong you will find out cause it won't fit in the first place.... As for what to get..... Do some research and build to what your needs are.

Here is a nice website to start off with for determining what parts to look for for the type of performance....

http://www.logicalincrements.com/

[FreshToast]

Eh. I gave recommendations but I was just giving him a general idea of what he was looking to spend if he wanted a good future proof PC. Im pretty knowledgeable about computer parts and more or less was telling him what parts are most important and what he was generally looking to spend.

[Soulcrusher842]

Yeah recommending 750w power supply is over kill for what he wants. Plus talking about over clocking to someone who is really new to building PC is really out of the picture. The i7 is "ideal" for streaming seeing how streaming does use hyper threading.

In what he wants... which is generally to stream... game... and graphic design really requires a strong build.
He needs to decide what he really wants to do with it.
Streaming requires two key factors. CPU + Upload. If he is in a college dorm he might not be able to stream depending on the upload and stability they have.
As for the gaming you don't really need a high end cpu but would want a really decent gpu.
As for the graphics design. I don't know shiot about that because of the software you would need to run. So he would have to look into the "general" requirements needed to run that type of software. It sounds like it can be resource heavy.

Basically this all comes down to him doing the research in what he can, and wants to do. Telling from his general description of what he wants will require a high end build (meaning over $1000 but less than $1300)

[FreshToast]

I disagree with the need for an i7. It is a big waste of money unless you are a video editor. Futureproof? maybe, but is it worth the extra $100?
I recommend 750w watts because frankly, it is not that much of a price difference from a 650w and anything less than that usually isn't that good quality. A normal high end computer uses roughly 400-500 watts at max. That means that you are using 61% power with a 650 or 53% on a lower on a 750w. Not a huge difference, but that means you are putting less stress on it.

[Soulcrusher842]

lol no the i7 is not a waste of money. You only need a 750w power supply if your doing SLI... other than that 600w + will be fine. I don't know what makes you think a lower wattage power supply isn't good quality cause that is a completely false statement lol. But like I said it's up to his needs and wants.