Gaming PC

[Toaster of Agility]

Hey guys and girls

I'm interested in learning how to build my own computers, specifically for gaming. My current manufactured laptop has a GPU that overheats faster than a fat man running on a treadmill while re-entering the atmosphere of the sun and a friend recommended I build my own PC instead of buying a manufactured one.
Problem is I have never built a computer before, I've taken them apart and I can name the parts and have a basic (very basic) idea of what they each do. However, when it comes to finding these parts individually and knowing what to put where and how to install an OS I am completely in the dark.
Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

[Wildwill002]

2 tips!

1: Google is your best friend at this sort of time

2: If you want an amazing PC and your willing to save up for a -ahem- while i suggest Alienware computers. I suggest that you use google first because alienware is a bit expensive

Hope that helps

[Cho]

Find a local company that builds custom pcs - someone that has been around a few years. If they're still in business, they're not crap. And if you're not an expert in hardware, you could wind up with trouble the first time something doesn't work. Whereas, with a local company, if there is a problem, put the rig in the passenger seat, 20-minute drive, plop it on the counter, and say "fix it" -- as opposed to having to ship it timbuktu and wait a weeks to get it back.

[Hahsime]

Anyone can build a computer.
Look at this article for a starting point: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/buyers ... ary-2011/1
Then post a parts list, I will look it over for you, and if you post it on other sites they will do the same.
Lastly, the hardest part is applying the thermal paste to mount the heatsink. Here is a video I did on that subject:

As for the OS install, honestly it is easy. Get a windows 7 OEM from a local shop, plop it in the drive, and follow the on screen instructions.

[Frosty]

2: If you want an amazing PC and your willing to save up for a -ahem- while i suggest Alienware computers. I suggest that you use google first because alienware is a bit expensive

You could get better specs from a custom computer for a fraction of the price of Alienware. I personally don't recommend it.

[SachielOne]

've taken them apart and I can name the parts and have a basic (very basic) idea of what they each do.

Have you dismantled your current computer at any point? More specifically, have you separated the heat sink from the processor? That could be the source of your overheat, as you may have disturbed the thermal paste between them.

EDIT: Derp. Just noticed he said he was on a laptop. Try getting a can of compressed gas and cleaning out the vents.

[Toaster of Agility]

Just noticed he said he was on a laptop. Try getting a can of compressed gas and cleaning out the vents.

Its not the fans or vents that have the problem, its the laptop's graphics card. I'm using a HP Pavilion dv5 and it is known to get quite hot really fast and overheat other components near it.

Hashime, here is a list of parts, I haven't included a case, disk drive or PSU as I don't have the foggiest about any of them.

Gigabyte GA P55 http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?mai ... s_id=13485

Intel i5 760 http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?mai ... s_id=14941

(RAM) Corsair CMX4GX3M2 1600C9 DDR3 4GB http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?mai ... s_id=15023

(Memory) Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000 1TB http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?mai ... s_id=14647

(GPU) ASUS GeForce GTX 460 768MB http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?mai ... s_id=15288

[SneakyPie]

This may cause some fanboy controversy, but depending on your budget, you may want to spring for an AMD processor. I know for roughly the same price you could easily find a nice hexacore CPU. If more cores don't interest you, you can still find cheaper quad cores and you wouldn't even notice a performance difference.

(EDIT: I don't think Newegg extends to Australia, but I was using that as an example so you may be able to find one at whatever stores you shop at.)

Granted if you make this change you'll have to get a AMD compatible MoBo, but that's easy enough.

Also, make sure you purchase a 64bit OS.

[Toaster of Agility]

depending on your budget, you may want to spring for an AMD processor.

I looked at that and thought "It has to be cheaper for a reason..". Am I being unreasonable or is it worth finding a new parts list?

[Hahsime]

Get an AMD if you are not going to overclock. Intel processors are better in terms of overclockability, but AMD processors still do the same thing.

Your parts list also looks good, of course I have only taken a cursory glance.
If you are set on an nvidia card consider the MSI twin frozer GTX460. They are not much more and will allow you to OC the graphics card more. It also might be better for you to consider an ATI card. They generally give a better "Bang for Buck" ratio.

You cannot go wrong with an optical drive, but with the case be sure to match the case size with the size of a MoBo. I suggest going to a local shop to get the case as the shipping is a ton on them. Remember to get a case that will accommodate your CPU cooler. Do not go stock on the CPU heatsink, pick up a larger one and match the style to the case you choose. There are ones that vent out the back and ones that vent out the side. Be sure to get a cooler that can vent through the nearest available port.

[davejavu]

I haz amazing gaming pc. AMD phenom II x4 965 3.4ghz, asus m4a785d-m pro motherboard, ati radeon hd 6850 gpu and some other stuff..

[SneakyPie]

depending on your budget, you may want to spring for an AMD processor.

I looked at that and thought "It has to be cheaper for a reason..". Am I being unreasonable or is it worth finding a new parts list?

That's entirely up to you. The only parts that must be the same "brand" (Meaning Intel or AMD) must be the CPU and MoBo.

Your other parts seemed fine, but you may also be able to find a cheaper and comparable video card going with ATI/AMD instead of nVidia. Go to this website fro trusted benchmarks: http://www.anandtech.com/

(The plus side of ATI/AMD is that even their older cards are DirectX 11 ready while only nVidia's newer generation (i.e. more expensive) are finally getting it.

I personally have a AMD HD6870 and it runs everything I throw at it on max settings on a 1920x1080 monitor.

[Toaster of Agility]

OK, so i'm gonna go with AMD parts for this, I still need help with a parts list.

The motherboard, GPU and processor I've picked are as follows;
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?mai ... s_id=14263 -Mobo
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?mai ... s_id=12757 -GPU
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?mai ... s_id=15739 -Processor
I've no idea what to do about the hard drive so I would like some help there, I'll use the dimensions of this motherboard to pick up a case locally.

Also with the RAM slots it says that they are DDR3 1800(OC), does that mean the minimum frequency is 1800 mHz or is that the maximum?

According to Hashime I don't need to worry to much about the optical drive, so I wont post that.

Any helpful posts at all are greatly appreciated , the posts so far have been very helpful.

[SneakyPie]

Those parts seem alright.

When it has the RAM with an (OC) I believe that means that the MoBo can support overclocked RAM up to that speed. I may be wrong though.

As for a harddrive, I recommend you get at least one terrabyte as they're really cheap right now. Make sure that it is a SATA drive. Also, make sure your DVD drive is also SATA.

[MKindy]

When it has the RAM with an (OC) I believe that means that the MoBo can support overclocked RAM up to that speed. I may be wrong though.

That is essentially correct -- assuming the RAM itself will handle any overclocking.

I checked ASRock's website and it doesn't even mention what the non-OC maximum is, however in one blurb it looks like it has a built-on 128mb DDR3-1333Mhz chip for... something called "SidePort" technology, so if you're not looking to overclock I'd stick with 1333 chips.

[Hahsime]

DDR3 1333 MHz ram is quite cheap right now, I picked up 8gb for $80 canadian from a local shop. If you are not going to overclock do not waste your money on extremely fast ram. 1333 or 1600 will do you fine. Also look at the timings, tighter timings 5-5-5-21 or what ever will indicate better ram. The timings must be compared to ram in the same frequency bracket however. Again, if you are not going to OC getting extreme ram is a waste of money.

[MKindy]

Also, in my experience AMD processors tend to get hotter than their Intel counterparts, so I would get a good fan for that processor. I use this one:

http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Product.a ... 51&ID=1904

Works just as well as a $200 liquid-cooling solution did on my Intel Core i7-870. However, for that fan you'd need to be sure to have a case wide enough to accomodate it -- mine is 9 inches wide, a CoolerMaster HAF 932. I really wish I could justify springing for the new ThermalTake case, though:

http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Product.a ... =2039#Tab0

[davejavu]

All your parts seem fine.
Building my pc was a massive gamble.. But it paid off now I have an AMAZING gaming pc.
I would recommend an arctic cooling CPU fan, and the gpu you have chosen is pretty good, my friend has it and they'd recommend it.
By the way, it means the maximum it can support is 1800mhz
Go for slightly slower ram, I have ddr2 1066 4gb and my windows 7 will start up in 20 seconds.
Get 1333 or 1600, but make sure you have a decent case and at lease 3 fans!!!!

[Toaster of Agility]

Mentlegen and ladies.
I apologies for not posting; school work and being net capped have joined forces in a clearly malicious plot to deny adequate access to spare time.
None the less, I present to you two parts lists (without cases), One is AMD the other is Intel. If someone is bored enough to have a read through them and check to see if the parts will work when put together. Then recommend one build over the other, that would be greatly appreciated.

So without further ado here is the Intel build

CPU: Intel i5 760
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?mai ... s_id=14941

Motherboard: Gigabyte-P55-USB3
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?mai ... s_id=13485

RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws F3-10666CL7D-4GBRH
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?mai ... s_id=12493

CPU cooler: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler Rev2
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?mai ... s_id=15440

GPU:Gainward GeForce GTS 450 1GB
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?mai ... s_id=15530

Hard Drive: Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000 1TB 7200RPM
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?mai ... s_id=14647

Optical Drive:Lite-On iHBS212 12x Blu-Ray Disc Writer with LightScribe
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?mai ... s_id=16031

PSU:Corsair HX-750 Power Supply
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?mai ... s_id=12110
Couple of questions with this build. Will the optical drive have a problem with Sata2? Does it matter what power supply I end up getting? Has anyone continued to read this far into the post?


AMD build

CPU:AMD Phenom II X6 1075T
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?mai ... s_id=15739

Motherboard: ASRock 890GX Extreme3 Motherboard
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?mai ... s_id=14263

RAM: G.Skill ECO F3-10666CL7D-4GBECO (2x2GB) DDR3
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?mai ... s_id=13032

CPU Cooler:CoolerMaster Hyper TX3
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?mai ... s_id=11895

GPU: Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD5770 Ultra Durable 1GB
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?mai ... s_id=12757

Hard Drive:Seagate Barracuda 1TB ST31000524AS
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?mai ... s_id=16679

Optical Drive: Samsung SH-S223C SATA DVDRW Drive
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?mai ... s_id=13068

PSU: CoolerMaster Silent Pro M700 700W
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?mai ... ts_id=7908
Same questions as last time, Sata issues and power supply queries.

Any idea of parts that are cheaper and do pretty much the same thing? Which build should I go for?

Also, in my experience AMD processors tend to get hotter than their Intel counterparts, so I would get a good fan for that processor. I use this one:

http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Product.a ... 51&ID=1904

lol, that looks like the OGRED in my minds eye.

Also, the reason I have an Intel parts list when I said I was going with a AMD build was that a friends told me about hyperthreading and that it technically doubles the core count of a processor. Can someone shed some light on this? I've read the wiki and it sounds like my friend described it.

[Blackadder51]

I use the sales rep we used to tell customers on the i-series.

i-3 is just two physical process's nothing fancy.

i-5 is two physical processes but with "hyper threading" it turns it into a quad core.

i-7 is for physical processes but with "hyper threading" it turns it into a oct core.

in real terms, not sales crap.

i-5 is bad arse for just about everything

i-7 will run the shit out of anything =D