DIY PC

[Guest]

There are three highly important questions you need to ask yourself:

Budget
How much are you going to spend on the build? Generally the more you spend on a system the better it is; however, the performance over cost diminishes above a certain point as shown by this graph. Most view this point to be around about $2000 US however opinions vary
 

What are you aiming to do?
Is this for a gaming on a single display or 3D rendering? Perhaps the office PC needs an upgrade? One system doesn’t suit all.

Ability – there are three different types of system

• Preassembled – you can purchase a pre-assembled system from a company such as Dell, HP or Apple and many others. These are often suitable for most low power PC users such as families and office systems.
• Custom PC builds – These come in two options from specialist hardware retailers such as NCIX and Microcenter. They can be designed and assembled by the retailer and often come with warranty for the build as well as the individual parts warranty. You can also select your own parts and have the retailer assemble the system for you for a fee. This also often includes the peace of mind of a warranty.
• DIY – This is most common among enthusiasts whereby you select all the components yourself and then build the system yourself. The downside is that you are not covered by a warranty for your own work; just those accompanying the components. This can be a big risk with water cooling loops.

Selecting Hardware
Any mainstream computer system is made up of seven simple components. These are:

• CPU or Central Processing Unit with accompanying heat sink – the brain of the entire system. (Note that Intel 2011 socket CPU’s do not include a stock heatsink.)
• Motherboard – this is what everything is either mounted to or connected to in some way.
• RAM – Random Access Memory
• PSU or power supply
• GPU or graphics processing unit – these can either be an expansion card purchased separately or be built into the CPU.
• Storage device – where data such as an operating system is stored.
• And lastly, the case – where everything goes.

Of course, there are other components such as SSD’s (Solid State Drives) and aftermarket coolers however these are not ‘must have’ items.

CPU
There are currently two consumer grade brands available consisting of Intel and AMD. The power of the CPU that you purchase depends mainly upon the tasks you are going to undertake. For example you would struggle to run a very demanding 3D modelling program on a small dual core CPU.
Here are a few common myths about CPU’s:

• “Intel is better than AMD and AMD sucks” – this is completely misled. Both companies produce a variety of very good CPU’s. Neither is a clear winner over the other, especially in consumer grade equipment; unless you start going into the top end of Intel’s workstation CPU’s also known as ‘Intel Extreme’ (3960X, 3970X)
• Faster CPU’s give better gaming performance – this, to a certain extent, is wrong. Yes, a dual core 1.6 GHz CPU will struggle to play the latest games smoothly however buying a higher clocked CPU or one with more cores won’t always give you better gaming performance. This is most notable with the Intel 6600K vs. the 5930K. The 6600Kis a quad core CPU while the 5930K is a hex core CPU with 12 threads– yet both of them perform almost identically when gaming – this is due to the fact that currently, games are not designed for a high number of cores and threads.

Sockets

Not all CPU’s are created equally. Each series of CPU from both Intel and AMD use different sockets – these are similar, to say, the connector on your smartphone – vary from platform to platform. Referred to as “sockets”, this is the ‘junction’ between motherboard and CPU. Intel currently offers, for consumers, the 1151 and 2011-3 sockets which are differentiated by the varying number of pins the socket uses plus different chipsets available with them. You may still be able to come across socket 1150 4th generation Haswell CPU’s at some retailers. AMD is a little different with their naming strategy, currently offering AM3+ and FM2 however there are many more. More information on CPU sockets can be found here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CPU_socket

Selecting the CPU
For gaming currently we are seeing the growth in quad core supported games. The two most popular CPU’s at the moment for gaming PC’s are the Intel 6600K and AMD 8350. The Intel is a quad core whereas the AMD is an ‘8 core’ CPU; however, it isn’t a true 8 core as AMD’s architecture is slightly different to Intel’s, and it doesn’t run 8 separate cores as the name suggests.

Of course, if you select a lower grade CPU, this doesn’t mean you won’t be able to game; however, depending on the power of it, you may be limited by cores and clock speed.

Currently, you most certainly do not need top end CPU’s such as those using socket 2011-3. It cannot be stressed enough that a hex core processor such as the 5930K or 5960X won’t give you any noticeable increase in real time gaming performance.

Motherboards
Motherboards these days are getting more and more simplistic as more and more technology is moved onto other parts of the system.

The key points to focus on with the purchase of the motherboard are as follows

• Socket – is the CPU supported by this motherboard?
• Size – does this motherboard fit into my case?
• Motherboards come in a range of sizes from mini-ITX all the way up to E-ATX and beyond. The key difference other than size is the features offered by each board.
• Power distribution – if you plan to overclock a CPU, ensure that a board has adequate thermal management as well as adequate power to the CPU. 6 phases is often recommended as the minimum.
• Chipset – each chipset has a different set of offerings. For example, the Z77 chipset for Intel 1155 CPU’s offers better overclocking abilities than the H77 chipset.

Generally, most enthusiasts look at four major brands: Asus, MSI, Gigabyte and AsRock for motherboards. Each has their ups and downs as well as different colour schemes and special features such as the Asus AI Suite and Fan Xpert 2.

RAM
There are a multitude of different types of RAM with varying latencies and clock speeds. Generally there is only about a 4% performance difference between 1600 MHz and 2400 MHz RAM while the cost difference can be substantial. For gaming, it is recommended you go with 8GB of 1600 MHz C9 RAM. Gaming rarely uses more than 5-6GB of RAM so 8 is more than enough. You will struggle to push past 12GB of RAM and anything above 16GB for gaming is pure overkill – money can be spent better elsewhere or even saved. Please note with the new release of Skylake CPU's under socket 1151, DDR3 support has been removed from most boards and DDR4 is now the standard.With DDR4 the same rule applies - the clock speed difference doesn't give a huge performance benefit thus far.


PSU
One of the most important components in a computer, the PSU is often overlooked for a cheaper option. There are a range of choices when it comes to a power supply- from how the cable system is to the efficiency rating and more. Here is the basic need to know when it comes to a PSU.

• Modular vs. semi modular vs. non-modular. These are the 3 types of cable assemblies for a PSU.
  • Modular PSU’s mean that only the cables that you require have to be connected. These are generally more expensive however make custom sleeving easier.
  • Semi modular PSU’s offer the standard cables pre-attached to the unit such as the 24pin and 8pin; but still allow you to connect other cables such as your SATA and Molex.
  • ​Non-modular mean that all the cables come pre-attached and anything that you do not connect to a component is still there meaning cable management becomes more difficult.
• Efficiency – this rating is the guaranteed efficiency at 3 different load points. It is rated on a scale known as “80Plus”, stretching from Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum, whereby Platinum offers the greatest efficiency at a specified load. However there is speculation and a common view that the more expensive Gold and Platinum PSU’s are not worth their price tag for the rating because the extra money spent is not recuperated from the energy bill savings.
• Bigger isn’t always better. A single GPU gaming system with the exception of both the NVidia Titan and GTX690 will draw no more than about 420w at max load. Therefore going and getting a 1000w PSU would be absolute overkill, as would anything really over about 600w. Two way SLI and crossfire will draw about 500w, 3 way – 600ish and so on.

Another thing to keep in mind is that though there are dozens on PSU brands on the market, there are few manufacturers. For example, Seasonic make a huge proportion of Corsair’s PSU’s.

GPU
There are two major types of GPU – on board and expansion card based built by a 3^rd party using AMD or NVidia chipsets. Expansion card solutions tend to be more powerful than those built into the CPU. For low end systems such as office computers, NVidia GT or AMD APU’s (CPU’s with attached graphics) are recommended. However, for gaming, something more beefy such as NVidia GeForce 600 and AMD Radeon 7000 series cards are recommended.

Finding the right card
You could look at all the little details and specs published by the brand and wave your clock speed around; however, do you know what that actually means? The easiest way of selecting a GPU is to allocate a proportion of your budget and then have a look at what GPU’s are in that price bracket. There are dozens of benchmarks all over the web including a heap done by Linus on the LinusTechTips channel that show frame rates between a range of consumer cards.

Generally, a GTX950 or R9 370 is the recommended base card for decent 1080P performance on a single 1080P display. The number of displays and the resolution will also affect frame rates.

If you happen to do a lot of video or visual work on your system such as Adobe After Effects or Premiere, it is recommended that you go for an NVidia card. These programs support the NVidia CUDA core feature which is not offered by AMD. It gives increased performance to those programs that support this technology.

SLI and Crossfire
SLI and Crossfire are NVidia and AMD’s features regarding the use of two or more GPU’s for increased performance. It is required that to run dual GPUs, the card chipsets must be identical; however, you can –whilst not recommended -use two different brands such as an MSI card with an Asus card.

SLI and Crossfire aren’t the ‘be all end all’ solution to your graphics performance issues. They do have some issues with drivers regarding being supported by some games, which could result in worse performance than using the same card, but in a single set up.

Storage
You’ve got two options for storage; SSD’s and mechanical hard drives. SSD’s are a lot faster but cost a lot more per GB whereas HDD’s are a lot cheaper, often only $80 for a decent 1TB 7.2K drive. What most people opt to do is purchase a 250GB SSD for a boot disk to speed up their boot times and core programs and get a 1-2TB mechanical drive for mass storage of music, images and general files.

It’s hard to go wrong with Seagate and Western Digital mechanical drives and Samsung, OCZ, Kingston, Plextor, Crucial and Intel SSD’s. There are of course numerous other brands but we don’t need a 3 page list.

Cases
Cases are one of the most difficult things to decide on when it comes to a system. There are a few key things to look for though. The first being the cable management options, particularly behind the motherboard tray. ¾ to 1 inch provides adequate space to route cables and keeps them neatly out of the way. The second thing to look for is compatibility, both with your motherboard (ATX vs. mini ATX etc) and also with any aftermarket cooling system. Here is a thread that looks at the compatibility of the Corsair AIO cooling solutions in cases: H100 Compatibility

Optional components and accessories
Now that you’ve got the core components out of the way, here are certain optional components that can be added for a performance increase or aesthetic reasons.

After market coolers
These are a replacement for the stock cooler that comes with your CPU. They offer a variety of changes from form factor to cooling performance. They come in three main forms; air coolers, all-in-one (AIO) water coolers and then custom loop water coolers.

AIO’s and air coolers are the most simple where you simply mount the CPU block and the other mounting accessories and you’re done. Custom loop water-cooling is more complicated; however, with experience and planning, it can be achieved.

Lighting
This comes in the form of either LED’s connected to a power source or Cathode tubes connected to an inverter. The LED’s are a lot sharper with their light and do not fade over time. Cathodes, on the other hand, have a softer appearance but can fade unevenly over time.

Custom cables
Let’s face it – most PSU cables, or rather most internal cables in general aren’t the most flattering - so why not fix them? Custom sleeving is a fiddly job but if done properly can yield good results. Sleeving involves the removal of the pin and wire from the power supply connector, and applying new sleeve, normally of a different colour, over it. There are many guides on the forums so I won’t go too in-depth here. If; however, you’re not up to it, brands such as Bitfenix and NZXT sell sleeved extensions that make it look like you’ve done your sleeving. Silverstone and Corsair also offer cable kits for their PSU’s in a variety of colours and lengths to suit any build, big or small. Please note though that these cable kits are incompatible with other PSU’s.

Overclocking

Overclocking is raising the settings of a component above the manufacturers default settings. It's often done with graphics cards, RAM and CPU's. It's done in an aim to increase performance without buying a higher performing product. With increased performance however comes increased power draw and thus increased heat output. A beefy cooling system is required for most forms of overclocking especially with CPU's. RAM isn't too bad and the coolers on most graphics cards will give you a bit of overhead before you reach the hardware limits set by NVidia and AMD.

Also note that to overclock an Intel CPU, you need to ensure it has an unlocked multiplier which is determined by the "K" denomination in its name. For example a 4690K can be over-clocked whereas a 4690 cannot.

Aside from buying pre overclocked GPU's, all forms of overclocking void the stock warranty. Intel however realise that enthusiasts want to push their CPU's faster so they provide the Intel Tuning program. It's an advanced warranty program set to cover overclocking your Intel CPU. http://click.intel.com/tuningplan/
Overclocking can take two forms - automated and manual. Automated is often hit and miss and you find that the system will set the voltages too high which can lead to excess heat and physical damage and degradation over time leading to a shorter lifespan. Manual depends on the platform and below I have linked various overclocking guides for Intel 3rd and 4th generation CPU's and RAM and GPU overclocking basics.

Conclusion
If you would like advice on building your new system then please generate a thread in “Build Plans” section of the forum or if it’s a component specific issue; the relevant sub forum. If you do post a build plan, please follow this guideline to assist members in giving you better feedback.

New Builds & Planning

Read Before Posting: NB&P
  Edited August 29, 2015 by Windspeed36
Updated slightly

[bradscoolio]

Good post!

More people need to know the effectiveness of what they're throwing money at

& myths need to be debunked ;)

[Venum]

Very informative for those newbs out in the bush :)

[heineygoat]

Wow great post. Will adding a 2nd card increase performance on 5760x1080 (3 monitor) display, or do I need more VRAM for that?

[Guest]

Wow great post. Will adding a 2nd card increase performance on 5760x1080 (3 monitor) display, or do I need more VRAM for that?

What a the cards?

Generally I go for 4GB of RAM for 3 screens though it can be done on 2.

[sukhwant717]

nice post i like it but you haven't answered my message

[razersum]

awesome work windspeed, i believe this should be a sticky, and please guys, always mention the budget

keep it up

[heineygoat]

Wow great post. Will adding a 2nd card increase performance on 5760x1080 (3 monitor) display, or do I need more VRAM for that?

It's a 7970 3GB, my concern is I only have 3gb even with another card. so is it worth it?

[Guest]

Wow great post. Will adding a 2nd card increase performance on 5760x1080 (3 monitor) display, or do I need more VRAM for that?

That should be fine then..

[Nit3Rid3R]

It would also be good to note, that for someone building a PC for the first time, AMD's latest chipset (as of today) is the 990FX

[mgsstar]

Um your links are broken fyi. Other than that, this is a great guide windspeed36! Very helpful for people who are starting their first new build. :)

[Guest]

Um your links are broken fyi. Other than that, this is a great guide windspeed36! Very helpful for people who are starting their first new build. :)

Links are fine; you just have to do some creative copy and pasting

[TechTheWorld]

Love the post wind! Keep up the awesome work!

[Guest]

Thanks :)

[gatecrasherlok]

Very nice post mate. Very intuitive, covers all bases without making it sound daunting with too many technical terms.

[matheusmendes45]

haha

[Minjon]

Awesome post wind keep it up :)

[dgtL]

Great write up windspeed36[/url=http://linustechtips.com/main/member/354-windspeed36] glad this got sticky'd.

[TechFan@ic]

Wow great post. Will adding a 2nd card increase performance on 5760x1080 (3 monitor) display, or do I need more VRAM for that?

3GB is more than enough for a 3 monitor eyefinity set-up.

[TechFan@ic]

Under finding the right card "Generally, a 660TI or 7850" I think you mean 660 or 7850 as the 660 Ti is in a completely different price bracket.

[Bstanway16]

Very informative and I agree; although Intel is a little more expensive than AMD, in some respects, it's really worth paying the extra buck!

[Forza-x73]

Yeah, nice post, new guys will favor it...

[Guest]

Made some adjustments and fixed the links. Also the downloads are revised :)

[mozoa]

Where was this topic when i built my first pc? I was just throwing some parts together.

after replacing my PSU twice and getting a new case it is one of the most stable systems I've yet encountered

[tiberia]

or it could be 660ti vs 7950 as they are same price bracket and are great for 1080p at high settings