Need help building a new computer

[zito]

Hello. So Tax return has come and I need some help building a computer for gaming.

First, I can not build it myself. I know it's easy to do but I lack the knowledge and the work environment to build it so I would like a recommendation on a website/store that customs builds a computer for you (you pick the parts etc).

Next I would like recommendations on building the computer. I lack lingo knowledge so keep it simple for me (sorry.) My budget is around $1200 give or take (I can go a little bit over). With a 1360 x 768 screen resolution.

Thanks.

[Lathais]

Hello. So Tax return has come and I need some help building a computer for gaming.

First, I can not build it myself. I know it's easy to do but I lack the knowledge and the work environment to build it so I would like a recommendation on a website/store that customs builds a computer for you (you pick the parts etc).

Next I would like recommendations on building the computer. I lack lingo knowledge so keep it simple for me (sorry.) My budget is around $1200 give or take (I can go a little bit over). With a 1360 x 768 screen resolution.

Thanks.

Well, if you really want to blow $100 of your budget paying a local shop to put it all together for you could, I guess. However, the lack of knowledge is easy to solve. There are literally 100s of guides and videos out there showing you how to do it. It's really easy. As for an environment to do it in, do you not have a kitchen table on a non-carpeted surface, or a garage with a workbench or table of some sort? Hell, my last builds I did sitting on the floor with my, at the time, 4 year old daughter helping me. I set the case on the ground, opened the motherboard and asked her where she thought it went. She was able to figure it out. She was able to figure out where the PSU went, where the GPU plugged in, and just about everything except where to plug in the cables from the case for the power switch, rest button and that stuff. That's pretty easy to figure out for an adult though. It's laid out for you in the motherboard manual if yiu can't figure it out on your own. If you really want to blow ~$100 paying someone to do something a 4 year old could though, be my guest.

[zito]

Ok thanks for not helping. Anyone else?

[Lathais]

Ok thanks for not helping. Anyone else?

Ok, sorry for apparently offending you. To be fair, your post title is misleading. You say you need help building, but you don't want help building, you just want help choosing something to buy that is already built. You will be doing no building, despite the title of your thread.

Here is a decent pre-built in your price range.
http://www.ibuypower.com/Store/Revolt-2-Special

If you really do not want to build yourself and do not want to know how badly you are getting screwed when buying a pre-built like this, ---STOP READING--- and buy it. It's decent enough and will play games ok.

cons to getting this:
unusual case that to change costs a lot more than it should
GPU is only a GTX950, with a custom build for $1200 you should be getting a lot more powerful than that
You have no clue what brand that PSU is going to be and it could fail shortly after warranty is out as they tend to cut corners here and go cheap. Pretty much all pre-builts do this though so not much you can do about it.
120GB Kingston SSD. With a $1200 budget, you should easily be able to fit a 250GB from a more reputable manufacturer.
No clue on the HDD manufacturer. Similar to PSU, these types of site just go with what is cheapest. Cheaper ones don't last.

With just a little bit of work you can get this for about $30 more but still within budget:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($253.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock 3 67.8 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler ($63.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3P ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Micro Center)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($50.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($84.98 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 390X 8GB Video Card ($359.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GS 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($99.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1172.77
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-28 23:03 EST-0500

Better cooler.
Better brand and larger SSD.
Known to be excellent quality HDD.
MUCH better GPU. You could push 1440p with that thing instead of struggling with 1080p. We're talking playing games on Ultra here. Don't have to worry about turning settings down to make a game playable.
Known good quality PSU.

If that is still too much for you to handle I would recommend lowering the GPU slightly to stay within budget, still purchase the parts individually yourself and taking them to a local computer shop and paying them to assemble it for you. Should cost about $100.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($253.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock 3 67.8 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler ($63.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3P ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Micro Center)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($50.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($84.98 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 380X 4GB Video Card ($238.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GS 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($99.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1051.76
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-28 23:12 EST-0500

[Gouca]

First, I can not build it myself. I know it's easy to do but I lack the knowledge and the work environment to build it so I would like a recommendation on a website/store that customs builds a computer for you (you pick the parts etc).

So you know it's easy, you lack the skill and don't want to make progress? The only quality matching a person of this kind is stupidity, pure stupidity.

[Deleted]

If that is still too much for you to handle I would recommend lowering the GPU slightly to stay within budget, still purchase the parts individually yourself and taking them to a local computer shop and paying them to assemble it for you. Should cost about $100.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($253.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock 3 67.8 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler ($63.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3P ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Micro Center)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($50.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($84.98 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 380X 4GB Video Card ($238.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GS 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($99.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1051.76
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-28 23:12 EST-0500

I would go with this, and look for a nice 1080p IPS screen.
Also, there might be a local store that could put the things together for you for a fee. So you order all the parts and they will build it for you.

[Gouca]

Why are you exactly suggesting a K-series CPU to a person that lacks the will and skill to build his/hers own system? Get a Xeon:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-613-_-Product

[Deleted]

All the mainstream chipsets (B150/H110/H170/Z170) do not support the Xeon.

COme to think of it, I do agree with the OCing

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B150M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($81.97 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($67.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($82.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 380X 4GB Video Card ($238.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GS 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($99.98 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Dell U2414H 60Hz 23.8" Monitor ($231.99 @ Adorama)
Total: $1172.74
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-29 05:28 EST-0500

THis is with a new screen, because I can't imagine gaming on that resolution for a desktop.

[Gouca]

All the mainstream chipsets (B150/H110/H170/Z170) do not support the Xeon.

And? There are motherboards that do: E3-series (C232). If the budget is tight, get a Haswell Xeon (1150) and a cheap motherboard. Skylake is nowhere near a "must have".

[zito]

So you know it's easy, you lack the skill and don't want to make progress? The only quality matching a person of this kind is stupidity, pure stupidity.

It's not just the lack of skill, I could easily gain that. It's the fear of fucking it up. I have zero metal environments. My home is 100% carpet with dog hair and really the only work surface I have is a wooden table top near the kitchen. If I could pay someone a little more for me to pick the parts and them construct it and ship it to me that would be great.

I didn't come here to get ridiculed by people saying it's for children - I came specifically asking for parts and a company that could build it for me with those parts because I'm not confident I wouldn't fuck it up.

Ok, sorry for apparently offending you. To be fair, your post title is misleading. You say you need help building, but you don't want help building, you just want help choosing something to buy that is already built. You will be doing no building, despite the title of your thread.

Here is a decent pre-built in your price range.
http://www.ibuypower.com/Store/Revolt-2-Special

If you really do not want to build yourself and do not want to know how badly you are getting screwed when buying a pre-built like this, ---STOP READING--- and buy it. It's decent enough and will play games ok.

cons to getting this:
unusual case that to change costs a lot more than it should
GPU is only a GTX950, with a custom build for $1200 you should be getting a lot more powerful than that
You have no clue what brand that PSU is going to be and it could fail shortly after warranty is out as they tend to cut corners here and go cheap. Pretty much all pre-builts do this though so not much you can do about it.
120GB Kingston SSD. With a $1200 budget, you should easily be able to fit a 250GB from a more reputable manufacturer.
No clue on the HDD manufacturer. Similar to PSU, these types of site just go with what is cheapest. Cheaper ones don't last.

With just a little bit of work you can get this for about $30 more but still within budget:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($253.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock 3 67.8 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler ($63.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3P ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Micro Center)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($50.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($84.98 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 390X 8GB Video Card ($359.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GS 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($99.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1172.77
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-28 23:03 EST-0500

Better cooler.
Better brand and larger SSD.
Known to be excellent quality HDD.
MUCH better GPU. You could push 1440p with that thing instead of struggling with 1080p. We're talking playing games on Ultra here. Don't have to worry about turning settings down to make a game playable.
Known good quality PSU.

If that is still too much for you to handle I would recommend lowering the GPU slightly to stay within budget, still purchase the parts individually yourself and taking them to a local computer shop and paying them to assemble it for you. Should cost about $100.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($253.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock 3 67.8 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler ($63.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3P ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Micro Center)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($50.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($84.98 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 380X 4GB Video Card ($238.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GS 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($99.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1051.76
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-28 23:12 EST-0500

The budget isn't tight so the first option would be the best correct? I'm not getting into a debate about Xeon brand and I'm not buying a new screen (I just got this one and it's mounted to my wall)

[Gouca]

It's not just the lack of skill, I could easily gain that. It's the fear of fucking it up. I have zero metal environments. My home is 100% carpet with dog hair and really the only work surface I have is a wooden table top near the kitchen. If I could pay someone a little more for me to pick the parts and them construct it and ship it to me that would be great.

Then clean your apartment. Your computer works like a vacuum cleaner if there's hair and shit everywhere. Building a PC doesn't need much space.. there are guides that a 7-year-old retard can follow. And no, you do not need a solid surface either. In fact, conductive surfaces are bad building platforms.

I'm not getting into a debate about Xeon brand and I'm not buying a new screen (I just got this one and it's mounted to my wall)

There's no Xeon debate. Xeon is an i7 without iGPU. It's an i7 at the price of an i5. If you do not OC and your budget allows it, you get Xeon.

and I'm not buying a new screen (I just got this one and it's mounted to my wall)

Why would you not? It's 2016 and using something less than 1080p with a loose budget is completely retarded. You'll miss half the fun. If you seriously aim to use your PC at 768p, just get any $300 desktop from the nearest Walmart and you'll run everything at the highest details. 768p is 50% of 1080p and 27% of 1440p.

[zito]

No other opinions from anyone on the first build Lathais made? (not the pre built one the first custom)

[Artorius]

You just bought a 1366x768 display? Why did you even do this? The resolution itself isn't a problem but this is smelling like cheap 32" TV for me, can't you return it and get something better?

I'm not saying this to bash you or anything, it's just that the display is the component that transmit to you everything that your computer is doing. If the display is bad, the whole experience is bad.

It doesn't matter if your computer can max out all the games if the display showing them to you is horrible, they'll look horrible.

Excluding OC that you'll never do and taking the low resolution into account:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI Z170A PC MATE ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Micro Center)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($50.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($82.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 380 2GB Double Dissipation Video Card ($169.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GS 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($99.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $863.80
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-30 10:48 EST-0500

- - - Updated - - -

And the cheap Xeon alternative that will perform exactly the same at games, give you HT that you probably don't need and a dead platform without any upgrade path:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($244.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($45.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($64.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($82.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 380 2GB Double Dissipation Video Card ($169.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GS 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($99.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $878.70
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-30 10:58 EST-0500

[Denpepe]

No other opinions from anyone on the first build Lathais made? (not the pre built one the first custom)

it's a solid system and should last you quite some time.

[zito]

You just bought a 1366x768 display? Why did you even do this? The resolution itself isn't a problem but this is smelling like cheap 32" TV for me, can't you return it and get something better?

It was a gift actually. Your build is significantly cheaper than Lathias, is it just because of my screen resolution or is it something else?

[Artorius]

It was a gift actually. Your build is significantly cheaper than Lathias, is it just because of my screen resolution or is it something else?

Yes and no. Lathais is using a 6600K which is overclockable by changing the multiplier. Since you said that you don't feel safe building the computer yourself, I'm assuming that you don't want to put your CPU to run at higher clocks than the stock values either. And since the purpose is gaming, the gains are mostly meaningless for 95% of the games anyway.

So first thing I changed was the I5 6600K for a I5 6500. Which doesn't have unlocked multiplier and therefore can't OC as easily, it's considerably cheaper and will give you the same results.

Second thing is taking into account your low resolution. The R9 390X at Lathais build is well suited at systems aimed at 2560x1440. The R9 380 is well suited for 1920x1080, and your resolution is even lower than that. No reason whatsoever to go with a 390X unless you plan on changing the display.

For the ram, you can put another 8gb stick and go with 16gb. It's cheap.

[Lathais]

Yes and no. Lathais is using a 6600K which is overclockable by changing the multiplier. Since you said that you don't feel safe building the computer yourself, I'm assuming that you don't want to put your CPU to run at higher clocks than the stock values either. And since the purpose is gaming, the gains are mostly meaningless for 95% of the games anyway.

So first thing I changed was the I5 6600K for a I5 6500. Which doesn't have unlocked multiplier and therefore can't OC as easily, it's considerably cheaper and will give you the same results.

Second thing is taking into account your low resolution. The R9 390X at Lathais build is well suited at systems aimed at 2560x1440. The R9 380 is well suited for 1920x1080, and your resolution is even lower than that. No reason whatsoever to go with a 390X unless you plan on changing the display.

For the ram, you can put another 8gb stick and go with 16gb. It's cheap.

For the OC, I was thinking the shop he takes it to build it could/would OC it for him for an additional fee if he wanted to. If he did not want to at first, at least he has the option to later on down the road if he starts to feel performance dropping to breath a little more life into it.

As for the GPU, yeah, I guess I totally missed his resolution.

OP, that monitor you got as a gift would likely serve decently as a second monitor. Get yourself at least a 1080p monitor, or a 1440p since that first build can handle that easily, and just use that other monitor as a side monitor for music or whatever while your gaming. That's likely what I would do. If you really just don't want to do that though, then yeah, get a 380. You don't need anymore than that for that low of a resolution. As pointed out previously though, it will not look that great.

[Gouca]

For the OC, I was thinking the shop he takes it to build it could/would OC it for him for an additional fee if he wanted to.

That's a bad idea. Shops with "OC services" have builds with specific components they've ran multiple torture tests with. There's no time to ensure the stability of the OP's system. One spike of instability, multipliers go default and the money is lost. The only positive side of purchasing an unlocked CPU for an amateur is the higher resale value.