what else needed

[markspizman]

Budget (including currency): na

Country: usa

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: halo, cod, netflix/amazon, etc

Other details: 

If this is the wrong spot my apologies. I have my parts coming over the next month or so through Amazon. Once I combine the parts and install windows and then norton security is there anything else I need to install. I hear about bios, but is that preinstalled on computer? Also, if I want to play old xbox discs do I need anything beside a controler and a disc drive?

[Hinjima]

3 minutes ago, markspizman said:

Budget (including currency): na

Country: usa

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: halo, cod, netflix/amazon, etc

Other details: 

If this is the wrong spot my apologies. I have my parts coming over the next month or so through Amazon. Once I combine the parts and install windows and then norton security is there anything else I need to install. I hear about bios, but is that preinstalled on computer? Also, if I want to play old xbox discs do I need anything beside a controler and a disc drive?

Dont use Norton Security, its quite shit.

Windows comes with a antivirus program built in that is plenty good enough unless you go around clicking sketchy links.

I supply my windows security with a free version of Malwarebytes.

 

BIOS is 'pre-installed' on the motherboard.  This is not something you have to do yourself.

 

XBOX discs does not work on PC with a disc drive unfortunately.

[markspizman]

Thanks, I assume I just play through a online game plan or buy the computer version of game.

 

[Hinjima]

17 minutes ago, markspizman said:

Thanks, I assume I just play through a online game plan or buy the computer version of game.

 

Correct

XBOX gamepass is a actually one of the best if not the best subscription service out there.  This works on PC too.

TONS of games and new games added weekly, its great for the price

 

If you need more help or have questions, just tag me here or send me DM.
I'll help you out.

 

You can check the XBOX gamepass games here.

https://www.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-game-pass/games

463 games so far for PC.

[BahnStormer]

1 hour ago, markspizman said:

I hear about bios

If you're building the system yourself, then it might be worth sharing the parts list, so we can advise if there's anything you need to look out for.

 

e.g. It might be a good idea to go to the motherboard manufacturer's website and download the latest version of the BIOS (onto a USB stick) and then enter the BIOS (normally by pressing DEL or F12 as it boots) and then telling it to update the BIOS.... the reason I suggest sharing your parts list is that this is especially relevant if you have something like a Ryzen 7 5700X3D, but an older B450 or X470 motherboard.

 

You also need to make sure you enable EXPO/XMP to make sure your RAM is running at the optimal speed (this is also in the BIOS, before it loads into Windows).

 

As per Hinjima's advice: don't install Norton... and watch out as some apps have Norton / McAfee bundled in with them and you need to specifically look for those and deselect them from the list of things to be installed.

 

Also worth installing all the relevant motherboard chipset drivers (from the motherboard website) and the latest AMD/nVidia graphics drivers, depending on which graphics card you have.

 

After that it is personal choice: Steam / XBox are a good place to start with installing games - most people do just fine on one/both of those.

 

Personally I have a standard list of apps that I like:

 

General stuff that I would advise people to use:

Google Chrome web browser

Greenshot for screengrabs

FSViewer78 is a simple, fast photo viewer for looking through screenshots

VLC Media player is a great media player

 

Utils:

CPU-Z (tells you that your RAM is running at the right speed and info about your PC)

Hardware Monitor Pro (HWmon tells you the temps of all the components, fan speeds, etc)

7zip for compressing/ decompressing files better than Windows' software

 

After that it gets much more specific / niche to my use-case:

Logitech G Hub (specific to my keyboard and mouse)

Macrium Reflect for full system backups

Dropbox

Firefox webbrowser with Videodownloader + NoScript

NordVPN - VPN, enabled only on Chrome/Firefox, not on the main PC as it's bad for games.

Messaging apps: Discord, WhasApp, Telegram, Signal

MS Office ProPlus 2021 (because it's a one-off purchase, rather than a subscription)

[markspizman]

My parts for build, I'm holding off on a new monitor, keyboard and mouse till I get into it a bit more.

 

CPU: *AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 4.2 GHz 8-Core Processor  ($476.74 @ Newegg) 
CPU Cooler: *ID-COOLING FROZN A620 PRO SE 58 CFM CPU Cooler  ($29.99 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: *MSI B650 GAMING PLUS WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard  ($169.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: *TEAMGROUP T-Create Expert 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory  ($88.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: *MSI SPATIUM M482 Eco-Pack 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($99.99 @ MSI) 
Video Card: *Gigabyte WINDFORCE OC GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER 16 GB Video Card  ($799.97 @ Newegg) 
Case: *Montech AIR 903 BASE ATX Mid Tower Case  ($65.00 @ B&H) 
Power Supply: *MSI MAG A850GL PCIE5 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($83.79 @ Newegg)