PC Gaming and Build Thread

[Dont Taze Me Bro]

I know every once in a while we get people posting about PC builds in various threads and in the Xbox/PS4 thread.  Recently, @PokerPacker has been helping myself and others with builds and giving advice (along with others) on building PC gaming rigs.  We have also had many discussions brought up on PC games themselves.  I thought we should dedicate a thread to PC gaming and PC builds where we can discuss PC games, various mods, etc. along with helping each other with builds and give advice.  

 

I will start off, Poker hooked me up with a nice $1500 budget build on PC Part Picker (website:  pcpartpicker.com)  this is an excellent website on tossing together builds and seeing if the parts you choose are compatible.  I tweaked his build and ended up going with a 1080 ti video card instead of the 1080.  I also switched cases, and updated the hard drive from 2 TB to 3 TB.  Scrapped the blu-ray optical drive for a cheaper standard DVD-DRW drive.  Here is the build I went with:

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/JNRCxY

 

Props to PokerPacker, everyone I've shown the build to among my friends thought it was a beast for the price.  I ordered all the parts and started the build.  Being very giddy like a kid in a candy store while ordering all the parts, one thing I forgot to look at was how many SATA 3 cables were included with the various parts.  None of the drives I purchased (SDD, hard drive, optical drive) came with a SATA 3 cable.  I think two came with the motherboard and I have three drives, so I had to go back and order one, but they are cheap, like 10 bucks for a 3 pack.  

 

Also have a decent amount of twist ties around to bundle all the cables inside as you start building.  The case I went with is pretty cool, but I may have pushed it with the cpu cooler I got, its going to be a really tight fit.  I'm hoping I don't have to send it back and replace it cause it's a beast.  Only main issue I have with the case is that it comes with 5 case fans and the way my motherboard lined up, one of the fans wouldn't reach a fan connection on the MB.  It missed by about 1mm, which was frustrating.  But, I was able to remove the fan and turn it which placed the wires closer to the connection and was able to get it connected after all.

 

Everything was pretty easy to install, took me a tad longer on some of the things as I have large hands and it was difficult at times getting things plugged into the MB before I lost grip.  Same thing with some of the screws, they are so tiny and I'd drop them before I could get them into the slots to screw in.  I think my biggest issue is going to be with cable management and the cpu cooler.  

 

The power supply came with huge cables and it might get a little crowded.  But, I can remove some of the drive cages to allow for extra room.  If you purchase a 1080 ti card, some are giving you a free copy of Destiny 2 for the PC (check to see which brand).  Hopefully I'll have everything built tonight and can install the OS tomorrow when it arrives.

[PokerPacker]

just a quick question before I head back to work.  When you said you turned the fan that didn't reach, do you mean you rotated it about its axis, or you turned it around so the blades are facing the other direction?

 

If the latter, I'd be careful doing that since that would be changing an intake to an exhaust or vice-versa which may disrupt the intended airflow of the case.

[Dont Taze Me Bro]

22 minutes ago, PokerPacker said:

just a quick question before I head back to work.  When you said you turned the fan that didn't reach, do you mean you rotated it about its axis, or you turned it around so the blades are facing the other direction?

 

If the latter, I'd be careful doing that since that would be changing an intake to an exhaust or vice-versa which may disrupt the intended airflow of the case.

 

On it's axis, it's still facing the same direction.  

[Warhead36]

I'm planning on building a PC soon, maybe start buying the parts around Black Friday time when they'll be cheaper. Gonna keep this thread boomarked.

[Dont Taze Me Bro]

10 hours ago, Warhead36 said:

I'm planning on building a PC soon, maybe start buying the parts around Black Friday time when they'll be cheaper. Gonna keep this thread boomarked.

 

Awesome.  It's my first time building one from the ground up.  Here is a link to a site that goes step by step (in general) on building a PC:  http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/pcs/1403094/build-your-own-pc-a-complete-step-by-step-guide

 

I found it pretty useful, mainly in what should I install now (in specific order).  The only thing it doesn't include is installation of a CPU cooler, it includes it in the CPU installation (iirc) as most come with a standard fan.  But if you get an actual beast cooler, its not covered.  Personally, I'm installing that last as it is pretty big component.  

[Dont Taze Me Bro]

So, tonight I got all my drives installed (SSD, HD and Optical) and graphics card.  With my case, I ended up having to take out the drive cage for the 3 slots for the 2.5" drives.  So for my SDD (which is 2.5") I mounted it to the 2.5" bay that is removable and lockable and placed it on top of the bay above my hard drive.  it moves around slightly, but I don't care.  I needed the space for cable management. 

 

I put the CPU cooler on top of the CPU and the case shut fine.  So it should be ok.  Only thing left to do is connect all the power cables to the power supply and one SATA data cable to the motherboard.  Then install the CPU cooler.  Plug it up and install Windows 10.

 

Hopefully I will be successful and it will power up and work correctly  I'm a little nervous now, but I'm 99% sure I connected everything right.  One thing I learned is google is your friend as some of the instructions (or lack there of) are so vague, but luckily it's most likely posted on the internet or has a video for it.  One thing I'd suggest is making sure to pick a case that the drive bay front panels come out easily.  I have three and I had to force out the first one.  Then after getting everything installed realized that I should have used the top bay instead of the bottom due to not being able to connect the SATA power and data cord to it because of other cords getting in the way.

 

So when I went back to try and put the panel back on, it wouldn't stay in place.  Then it was a **** to get the top one off, I finally got it when I realized that the front part of the case frame pulled out and I was able to pop it out (after one hour of trying to use brute force and tried everything).  Then when I was trying to get the bottom panel back in, I broke off one of the plastic pegs that hold it in place.  So.......I'll just grab some glue and glue it on as it is merely cosmetic.  

 

 

[ExoDus84]

What kind of monitor do you have? A 1080 Ti would be wasted if you don't have at least a 1440p, 144hz GSync monitor. Really,  that card is meant for 4k gaming or very close to it. 

 

I'm planning a build, and though I'm going with RyZen, I'm going to grab the 1600 over the 1700. Even with just a slight overclock, the 1600 can match or exceed the 1700 while saving $100 or so. 

[The 12th Commandment]

I would have one piece of advice for you guys.  Build the machine with the absolute highest specs you can afford.  I'm gaming on a i72600 with dual gtx 680s.   Built it almost 7 years ago and it rocks to this day on a 2560x1600 monitor.  Only thing I had to replace was a PSU.  Have to dial it down slightly with the newer games like GTA5 or Witcher 3 but it's still beautiful.  I've purchased few things in my life that I was still so happy with 7 years later.  Cost me a pretty penny at the time but it was well spent.

[dfitzo53]

49 minutes ago, KAOSkins said:

I would have one piece of advice for you guys.  Build the machine with the absolute highest specs you can afford.  I'm gaming on a i72600 with dual gtx 680s.   Built it almost 7 years ago and it rocks to this day on a 2560x1600 monitor.  Only thing I had to replace was a PSU.  Have to dial it down slightly with the newer games like GTA5 or Witcher 3 but it's still beautiful.  I've purchased few things in my life that I was still so happy with 7 years later.  Cost me a pretty penny at the time but it was well spent.

I'm glad it worked out for you.  Often you don't really have a choice when you want to game on a very large monitor.

 

Generally though, I disagree.  There is a point, usually around the $1200-1500 mark (although generalities are often misleading, since there are so many different pieces that can go into a PC build, a vague dollar amount doesn't tell you much about what the build looks like) where you start hitting serious diminishing returns on your money.  $400 often buys you a much stronger video card than $250, but you often don't get very much real-world improvement over the $400 card by jumping to a $700 or $1000 price point.  Same with CPUs, although it always depends on what exactly you intend to use the machine for.

 

In my case, the difference between a $350 graphics card and a $700 graphics card is almost nil on a 1080P monitor.  Even if it made a difference, I have to be honest with myself and say I don't notice the difference between, say, medium and ultra graphics settings in the middle of gameplay.   I just don't.  That $350 savings gets much more value for me if I spend it on other hobbies, or to throw the kids a nice birthday party, or get a couple dinners out for the family, etc.

 

That part of the calculation everybody has to make for him or herself though.  If it's important to you and you feel it's worth your money, I'm not judging.  Some people really enjoy having the best computer they can get and it's worth the money to them.  A lot of people wouldn't understand me spending X dollars on Magic the Gathering cards or roleplaying game books and miniatures.  I feel the same way about how expensive golf is, or even buying a car that is too nice to use as a daily driver.

 

Edit: More to the original point of the thread, my original computer is about to turn five this winter.  It still plays everything I want to play and I'm backing a really cool miniatures kickstarter, so I'm going to hold off for about another year (two if I can stand it) on upgrading.

[The 12th Commandment]

38 minutes ago, dfitzo53 said:

I'm glad it worked out for you.  Often you don't really have a choice when you want to game on a very large monitor.

 

Generally though, I disagree.  There is a point, usually around the $1200-1500 mark (although generalities are often misleading, since there are so many different pieces that can go into a PC build, a vague dollar amount doesn't tell you much about what the build looks like) where you start hitting serious diminishing returns on your money.  $400 often buys you a much stronger video card than $250, but you often don't get very much real-world improvement over the $400 card by jumping to a $700 or $1000 price point.  Same with CPUs, although it always depends on what exactly you intend to use the machine for.

 

All I have to do is think what that 1200-1500 would have gotten me back in the day. I'd be using a i52500 and a single 670.  That setup would be long in the tooth today.   But because I forked over the extra for hyperthreading and two (4gb) top of the line video cards it's still within reach of a modern 1200-1500 dollar box.  It cost about $2500 in 2011.  Modern benchmarks still show the i72600 cpu performing as well, or very close to, a modern i5.

 

http://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/2867-intel-i7-2600k-2017-benchmark-vs-7700k-1700-more?showall=1

 

I'll add: Ryzens are a significant new development and I'd be hard pressed not to consider one if I were building a box today.  Yeah AMD!

[dfitzo53]

32 minutes ago, KAOSkins said:

All I have to do is think what that 1200-1500 would have gotten me back in the day. I'd be using a i52500 and a single 670.  That setup would be long in the tooth today.   But because I forked over the extra for hyperthreading and two (4gb) top of the line video cards it's still within reach of a modern 1200-1500 dollar box.  It cost about $2500 in 2011.  Modern benchmarks still show the i72600 cpu performing as well, or very close to, a modern i5.

 

http://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/2867-intel-i7-2600k-2017-benchmark-vs-7700k-1700-more?showall=1

 

I'll add: Ryzens are a significant new development and I'd be hard pressed not to consider one if I were building a box today.  Yeah AMD!

Maybe.  I don't recall exactly what the difference in pricing was between the 670 and the 680, but it was substantial.  I don't believe that a machine with a 670 would cost you $1500, and if you were really careful about how you specced it out, I would bet you could do it for less than $1200.  SLI 680s are still noticeably behind what's out there today and even the 4GB versions have half the VRAM.  (You don't get to add the RAM together when you're doing SLI, but you probably know that already.)

 

You definitely start out with higher performance, and you hold that crown for a while, but you do lose it to newer, cheaper equipment after a couple years.  I've found I prefer to be one step back from the top and refresh every 3-4 years rather than laying out a ton of cash and holding out for 6-7 years.  (Although as noted above, it's been different this time around just because I haven't felt a need to upgrade.)

 

Also, for what it's worth I don't spend $1500 when I build a computer, it's more like $1000-1100.  There's a lot you can do to keep a build tight no matter what part of the price range your graphics card and CPU fall into.

[The 12th Commandment]

3 minutes ago, dfitzo53 said:

Maybe.  I don't recall exactly what the difference in pricing was between the 670 and the 680, but it was substantial.  I don't believe that a machine with a 670 would cost you $1500, and if you were really careful about how you specced it out, I would bet you could do it for less than $1200.  SLI 680s are still noticeably behind what's out there today and even the 4GB versions have half the VRAM.  (You don't get to add the RAM together when you're doing SLI, but you probably know that already.)

 

You definitely start out with higher performance, and you hold that crown for a while, but you do lose it to newer, cheaper equipment after a couple years.  I've found I prefer to be one step back from the top and refresh every 3-4 years rather than laying out a ton of cash and holding out for 6-7 years.  (Although as noted above, it's been different this time around just because I haven't felt a need to upgrade.)

 

Also, for what it's worth I don't spend $1500 when I build a computer, it's more like $1000-1100.  There's a lot you can do to keep a build tight no matter what part of the price range your graphics card and CPU fall into.

You have a good point there.  Sandy Bridge was just an exceptional chip in the day and intel, due to lack of competition from AMD, rested on their laurels for the last 7 years so the performance increases weren't exceptional.  I don't expect that my philosophy will produce such good results in the future.  I still think going with the best you can afford and riding out the return on the end of your ownership is preferable to rebuilding every 3 or 4 years.  I'm thinking I have another 3 maybe 4 years left on that system before I have to upgrade.   And yes, I'll admit, that system was one of the few times in my life that I splurged for the very best.  Haven't regretted in this case.

 

The 670 was $350 and the 680s were like $480 a piece.   I think the 1070 is probably on par in some respects, and better in many due to the ram (as you mentioned) than my sli setup.  Certainly my next upgrade is going to be a single card.  Today I'd splurge for a 1080ti with the thought of being able to game in 4k at some point in the future.  Gaming at 1080p today can be done very cheaply. Matter of fact I'd probably just go with a console if gaming on my tv was what I was doing.   

[PokerPacker]

6 hours ago, ExoDus84 said:

What kind of monitor do you have? A 1080 Ti would be wasted if you don't have at least a 1440p, 144hz GSync monitor. Really,  that card is meant for 4k gaming or very close to it. 

 

I'm planning a build, and though I'm going with RyZen, I'm going to grab the 1600 over the 1700. Even with just a slight overclock, the 1600 can match or exceed the 1700 while saving $100 or so. 

The big thing for the 1080 Ti is VR.  Still want the best card available for the best VR experience.

As for the 1700 vs 1600, I picked the 1700 as it has two more cores than the 1600, and it overclocks to nearly the same performance as the 1800x.  The extra cores may not make a big difference in gaming just yet, but I think we're going to see games making greater use of parallelization down the line making the 1700 more future-proof.

[Dont Taze Me Bro]

8 hours ago, ExoDus84 said:

What kind of monitor do you have? A 1080 Ti would be wasted if you don't have at least a 1440p, 144hz GSync monitor. Really,  that card is meant for 4k gaming or very close to it. 

 

I'm planning a build, and though I'm going with RyZen, I'm going to grab the 1600 over the 1700. Even with just a slight overclock, the 1600 can match or exceed the 1700 while saving $100 or so. 

 

Right now all I have is a BenQ 27" 1080p gaming monitor, but I plan to upgrade in a few months (or beginning of next year) to a 4K gaming monitor.  I don't look at it as a waste, I'm still running a 7 year old Alienware with a Geforce GTX 560 ti  and that was actually upgraded to that by me back in the beginning of 2012.  Couldn't afford any other of the high priced cards at the time.

 

Point being, I wanted to get back into PC gaming as I've been out of it for a couple of years, more so due to the lack of solid mmorpgs with excellent PvP (imo).  I've tried playing some of the older ones I played and it loses my attention fast.  I've tried some of the new ones, but they all follow the pay to play free model now and have been ruined and are dead for the most part.  But with Destiny 2, Star Citizen and some others coming out later in the year, I wanted to get back into it.  

 

So, I went with one of the best cards this time around.  Makes it a lot easier now that the majority of parts are a lot cheaper than they used to be so it allows one to focus more money on the CPU and video cards.  Plus, I may dabble into VR gaming in the near future as well.  

 

 

1 hour ago, PokerPacker said:

The big thing for the 1080 Ti is VR.  Still want the best card available for the best VR experience.

As for the 1700 vs 1600, I picked the 1700 as it has two more cores than the 1600, and it overclocks to nearly the same performance as the 1800x.  The extra cores may not make a big difference in gaming just yet, but I think we're going to see games making greater use of parallelization down the line making the 1700 more future-proof.

 

So with that Ryzen 1700 processor, how do I overclock it?  And do I need to use two cpu power plugs from the motherboard to the PSU?  I can say, I have never overclocked before.  

 

Edit:  I overclock through the bios settings I just read.  And I wouldn't plug a power cord into CPU2 unless I was adding another processor right?

[dfitzo53]

Be careful with overclocking, if you actually decide to do that. If you want to do it properly, you need to put the system (memory and CPU) through a serious stress test each step of the way. 

 

I wouldn't even bother unless you A) love tinkering for its own sake or B ) genuinely feel like you need extra power. 

[dfitzo53]

Oh, and I do believe you need both CPU power plugs. Verify that with your motherboard manual or reading online, but I'm pretty sure. You don't have a dual CPU motherboard, right?

[Dont Taze Me Bro]

10 minutes ago, dfitzo53 said:

Oh, and I do believe you need both CPU power plugs. Verify that with your motherboard manual or reading online, but I'm pretty sure. You don't have a dual CPU motherboard, right?

 

I have an MSI B350 PC mate, https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/B350-PC-MATE.html#productFeature-section

 

Unless I overlooked it, I think it only has one plug for CPU, labeled CPU1 (I think).  https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/B350-PC-MATE.html#productSpecification-section  On my power supply it came with slots for CPU1, CPU2, VGA1, VGA2; I know I used two cables on the graphics card (one 6 pin and one 8pin) and plugged into the VGA1 and 2 slots on the PSU.  

 

For some reason, I thought there might be a CPU2 connection on my motherboard, probably because of the PSU having it.

 

16 minutes ago, dfitzo53 said:

Be careful with overclocking, if you actually decide to do that. If you want to do it properly, you need to put the system (memory and CPU) through a serious stress test each step of the way. 

 

I wouldn't even bother unless you A) love tinkering for its own sake or B ) genuinely feel like you need extra power. 

 

I'm probably not going to do it, too scared of screwing something up lol

[dfitzo53]

Ok, sorry, if your motherboard only has one CPU power slot then you shouldn't need the second one. PSUs have all kinds of cables so that they're useful in a wide range of machines. 

 

I thought you were saying your motherboard had two CPU power slots. 

 

(But again, always check manuals and online resources.)

[Warhead36]

How many of you guys have VR on your PC? I'm looking into it, just because it'd be cool when I have friends over to let them mess around with it.

[Dont Taze Me Bro]

11 minutes ago, dfitzo53 said:

Ok, sorry, if your motherboard only has one CPU power slot then you shouldn't need the second one. PSUs have all kinds of cables so that they're useful in a wide range of machines. 

 

I thought you were saying your motherboard had two CPU power slots. 

 

(But again, always check manuals and online resources.)

 

I'm pretty sure the PSU threw me off as there was two CPU slots and 4 VGA slots.  The VGA slots make sense if running two video cards.  Just took a quick look at the board and the manual and there is only one CPU slot on the board.    

[mattsb84]

11 hours ago, Dont Taze Me Bro said:

So, tonight I got all my drives installed (SSD, HD and Optical) and graphics card.  With my case, I ended up having to take out the drive cage for the 3 slots for the 2.5" drives.  So for my SDD (which is 2.5") I mounted it to the 2.5" bay that is removable and lockable and placed it on top of the bay above my hard drive.  it moves around slightly, but I don't care.  

 

 

 

Prior to installing your OS, I'd suggest unplugging any attached HDD (aside from the drive you plan to install the OS on). Assuming you install Win10, it does some funky stuff with OS installation when you have other drives attached at install.

[Dont Taze Me Bro]

48 minutes ago, mattsb84 said:

 

Prior to installing your OS, I'd suggest unplugging any attached HDD (aside from the drive you plan to install the OS on). Assuming you install Win10, it does some funky stuff with OS installation when you have other drives attached at install.

 

Thanks for the heads up on that!  I am installing Windows 10 and didn't think about that.  I have read a lot of bad reviews on it overall, giving people problems.  

[ExoDus84]

5 hours ago, PokerPacker said:

The big thing for the 1080 Ti is VR.  Still want the best card available for the best VR experience.

As for the 1700 vs 1600, I picked the 1700 as it has two more cores than the 1600, and it overclocks to nearly the same performance as the 1800x.  The extra cores may not make a big difference in gaming just yet, but I think we're going to see games making greater use of parallelization down the line making the 1700 more future-proof.

 

I still don't see the value proposition in a 1700 vs. 1600. It'll be a long, long time before you will see a noticeable difference between a 1600 and a 1700. Games can't even full take advantage of 4 core-4 thread chips. A 6 core-12 thread chip is already future proofed. Even a few years down the line when games can utilize all cores/threads, the difference between the two chips will be mostly negligible. I'd rather have used that $100 to upgrade to a 500GB SSD or something.

[PokerPacker]

4 hours ago, ExoDus84 said:

 

I still don't see the value proposition in a 1700 vs. 1600. It'll be a long, long time before you will see a noticeable difference between a 1600 and a 1700. Games can't even full take advantage of 4 core-4 thread chips. A 6 core-12 thread chip is already future proofed. Even a few years down the line when games can utilize all cores/threads, the difference between the two chips will be mostly negligible. I'd rather have used that $100 to upgrade to a 500GB SSD or something.

Well maybe you should've piped up when I was throwing together the preliminary parts list, which since nobody else responded, become the ordered parts list.  Jerk.

 

Seriously, though, I hadn't really looked much into the 1600.  I just remembered seeing the reviews of the 1700 and how it was basically equal to the top-of-the-line 1800x when overclocking, so I went straight to that CPU when throwing together the preliminary builds.  I'd probably still get a 1700 for myself, personally.  Extra cores are good for compiling.

 

6 hours ago, Dont Taze Me Bro said:

I'm probably not going to do it, too scared of screwing something up lol

Don't wuss out on me now!  Put that beast of a CPU-cooler to use!  Follow a guide to help step you through the process.  If you wanna be conservative with the overclocking until you're more comfortable, AMD recommends keeping to 1.35 volts for long-term overclocking, and I think people are boosting from 3GHz to about 3.7 GHz within that voltage constraint with the stock cooler.

http://www.overclockers.com/amd-ryzen-overclocking-guide/

[dfitzo53]

To be clear, I am not saying you shouldn't overclock. I've done it before. Just take it very slowly if you do. Raise the clock/voltage in small increments and stress test the hell out of it each time. (Overnight at a bare minimum, preferably more like 24 hours plus.)