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Gaming Rig Build. Suggestions? (1 Viewer)

Chris Strnad

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DIY PC build is a solid weekend to assemble and get Windows booted. And then another month of scattered evening work to get all the software and drivers tuned and working.
I'm running an interesting experiment related to this.

My mom's PC was a first-gen i3 that was starting to have uptime issues. After making sure the backup was current and creating a vm replica on my server, I swapped in a new i5, mb & ram, and turned it on. Win10 did quietly complain about licensing when I went to look at the system properties, but the computer functioned. I removed the audio software from the old Asus board and installed the MSI drivers, then plugged in the new Win10 key (original install was a free Win7 upgrade.)
This was done 4-5 months ago...
 

Edwin-S

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Why wouldn't it have worked? You basically changed out all.of the major components: processor, mobo and RAM. It was.essentially a new machine not counting drives.
 

Chris Strnad

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There used to be enough variation between hardware generations coupled with questionable drivers that made a wipe and rebuild standard practice. Windows7 & 8 also had a habit of cruft-creation mainly from patching that a wipe & rebuild was a solid method of performance reclamation after 2 years of use.
Because Win10 is almost software as a service with the way they're handling patches, I'm interested to see how far the system will go before it takes a dump.
 

Edwin-S

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Well, I started looking at building again. This is what I have come up with so far.

Asus Maximus X Hero mobo
I7-8700K 3.7 processor
EVGA Supernova 850 P2 850W PSU
Corsair Obsidian 750D Airflow case.
Samsung 960 EVO NVMe M.2 1TB SSD
NZXT Kraken X62 liquid cooler

Cost for this stuff 2129 Canadian before taxes. The case may seem like overkill, but I decided if I'm going to try this then I want a case with the room for me to work in and good airflow. Ths 750D seems to fit the bill.

I haven't settled on RAM or the GPU yet. Any suggestions for RAM? As far as a GPU goes, I could put up with the Integrated graphics on the I7-8700k for the time being, so I don't end up being too financially crunched up front. I was going to go with a Corsair K70 gaming keyboard, but I'm beginning to think I'll scrounge up a basic keyboard for the time being.
 

DaveF

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Per comments here and looking quickly at TomsHardware, you’re still overkill and overspending, while building an unbalanced PC. A top-tier i7 and IGP? If this machine is primarily for engineering work, and gaming as an afterthought, ok. But as a *gaming* PC that makes no sense.

Here’s a build from Tom’s Hardware that ought to be comfortably under $2000 CAD, plays games very well, and can be upgraded component-wise as desired for an extended lifetime.

6CDC4F10-D8C5-4AEE-82F7-9143341E43C4.jpeg
 

DaveF

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You can save another ~$250CAD by going with the 500GB SSD variant instead of the 1TB. That’s still storage for Win10, six blockbuster games, and a a few small indie games too. Assuming this is a gaming PC, and not serving multiple duties as the family music and photos and movies library system. (But if it’s the one box to rule them all, it might be better to buy a 250GB SSD and a 4TB hardrive. Still cheaper than a 1TB SSD and far more storage for everything. Depending on your media collection.)

Windows 10 takes 20GB
“Windows 10 System Requirements & Specifications | Microsoft”
http://www.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/windows-10-specifications

Games take 70GB
“Destiny the Game | Size Requirements”
https://www.destinythegame.com/size-requirements
 

DaveF

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One last comment:

Define what you want. Define your budget. Then build a PC that does that in your budget. :)
 

Edwin-S

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I want the machine to be capable of doing 3D and 2D animation since I have an interest in trying my hand at that. It is not just for gaming. The Tom's build looks okay. However, frankly, I'm not interested in spending money on a product line that is at the end of its life cycle, when it comes to upgradeability. Intel 7th generation processors use 270 boards. They are not compatible with the new 370 boards that Intel, in its wisdom, is requiring for 8th gen processors. Using a 7th gen processor wouldn't be an issue if Intel hadn't created incompatibility between the 7th and 8th gen motherboards.

Using IGP was only meant to be a temporary measure. It was just an idea to make costs more manageable. A 2000 US dollar build is a 3000+ build in Canada due to our sales tax structure and a weak dollar. A 1080Ti graphics card, up here, is 1200 dollars. That is before a person even starts looking at any of the other items required such as cases, processors, memory, PSUs, etc.

I'm coming to the conclusion that an up to date machine with a high- resolution screen is going to cost 4000 dollars no matter what.
 

Edwin-S

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I'll continue researching into building these things before making a final decision. I'm not in a hurry. it will be 2018 before I am ready to do anything. I'm presently paying down a home-related cost. I'll be done with that by the end of this month.
 

Sam Posten

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Planning out PC purchases more than 2 months away is.... not very good use of time, especially with CES hitting in 3 weeks. I'm sure you'll have plenty of folks wanting to help you spend your money when you are ready but the PC market of March 2018 is going to look very different from today.
 

Edwin-S

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It doesn't harm to get familiar with how things are put together or what a person should be looking at to avoid picking incompatible parts, dimensions, etc.

Also, getting more familiar with the jargon, different bus types and so on can't hurt. Reading and.watching more about this has helped me see some of the weaknesses of 2017 PC cases, over priced CPUs and so on. It has helped prevent me from jumping on to building one of these things too quickly.

Still, it doesn't do any harm to dig into a hobby before committing any money. The time I invest.might otherwise be spent just watching TV, so I don't see it as a waste.

I do want to see if some of the issues that I have read about will see improvement in 2018.
 

DaveF

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Ars has updated their system guide. They're very erratic about this guide; I think it was last updated in 2015. So not a great, evergreen source like Toms seems to be. But their guides are well explained, and helpful in getting up to speed on current DIY PC options. And the comments are helpful, as they bring out everything wrong with the article's recommendations.

Their high-end gaming / work system is $3000 US, or $2500 if you don't need a monitor and speakers. So, ballpark $4000 CAD.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/12/ars-system-guide-december-2017/
 

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