Need Help, First Time Building Gaming PC

[Linkin506]

Hey guys, I am new to this site and I am looking for someone or multiple people to help me out on finding the right parts for my first gaming PC. I am planning to mainly use the PC for gaming, but I will use other programs and browse the internet. I know a decent amount of computers, but not enough. I am looking for someone to help me get a list of parts together on pcpartpicker.com for me and tell me a bit about the system and how it can handle games. I would like the price to stay as low as possible, since I am on a budget. I would like the CPU to be an Intel Core i5-4690k, 8GB (either 1x8GB or 2x4GB which one is better?) of memory (RAM), 1TB of space, for the graphics card, the GTX 970, I need help finding everything else like the motherboard, the power supply, a case, and whatever else I need to build a PC (not including the keyboard, mouse, monitor, optical drive, OS, or any other peripherals, the total for the PC will be separate). I do not know how much power I would need for the PSU, and if I should get an SSD or not. I might have a few more questions that I forgot to post, so this thread will be updated a lot most likely, I will be active on this post so I will read your replies pretty fast and try to respond to them, thanks guys! 

[Nexxus]

get 2 4gb sticks, 500w reputable PSU will be plenty, to make it easy just get anything from corsair. and as for mobo do you intend to overclock or no?

SSD is nice but total luxury item, skip it for the time being.

[WolfysTech]

For Motherboard, I'd go for something In the Z97 Series, Some go SLI, Some go Crossfire, so watch out for which one you're purchasing, they're good boards, Got everything you need.

 

For power supply, I'd go with something between 800W/1000W, Try and go modular aswell. There are alot of good companies doing power supplies, (Corsair, Coolermaster etc)

 

And storage wise, Which i think is the best way to go is, 120GB SSD For OS And any other vital programs etc, and maybe a 2/3TB Hard drive WD Green = 2TB, And if you're going 3TB = WD Red, But 2TB Should be big enough.

 

Hope this helps out, any queries or questions, Quote me!

 

Ty

[Linkin506]

get 2 4gb sticks, 500w reputable PSU will be plenty, to make it easy just get anything from corsair. and as for mobo do you intend to overclock or no?

SSD is nice but total luxury item, skip it for the time being.

ok thank you both for the fast replies! what brand should I get for the ram? when you said go with corsair, did you mean for the psu or everything? I don't plan on over clocking as soon as I build the pc, but I plan to in the future, so yes.

[league_of_stoners]

Before I say anything else, ALWAYS go for dual-channel, which is 2x4GB instead of 1x8GB.

 

For the power supply part --> http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

 

If your priority is budget, then SSD will be off your list. But if you can spend a little bit extra, please go for the SSD as it will significantly improve your boot times, game loading times, which means more done in less time.

 

For motherboard, any Z97 board from any reputable brands will do. The only difference motherboard will make is features, reliability, compatibility and overclockability. Motherboard doesn't affect performance. Be very careful about are you going to Crossfire or SLI in the future, overclocking features, RAID, M2 slot, size of motherboard and onboard features when choosing motherboards.

 

Casing, depends on your budget and mainly on personal preference (looks). Take note, like choosing a TWO front usb 3.0 case.

[Nexxus]

For Motherboard, I'd go for something In the Z97 Series, Some go SLI, Some go Crossfire, so watch out for which one you're purchasing, they're good boards, Got everything you need.

 

For power supply, I'd go with something between 800W/1000W, Try and go modular aswell. There are alot of good companies doing power supplies, (Corsair, Coolermaster etc)

 

And storage wise, Which i think is the best way to go is, 120GB SSD For OS And any other vital programs etc, and maybe a 2/3TB Hard drive WD Green = 2TB, And if you're going 3TB = WD Red, But 2TB Should be big enough.

 

Hope this helps out, any queries or questions, Quote me!

 

Ty

im gonna be that guy and point out flaws in what you said simply cause I dont want OP to go the wrong way.

a Z series board is overkill if he doesnt want to OC or SLI...which is likely being the cost constraint.

800w is WAY overkill on this system im running 800 on 2 680s...

if hes going to be using a secondary drive for games..which is likely a green is far from ideal and should get a WD black. ..to my understanding wd reds are intended for raid as well, but I dont claim to know alot about them.

 

[league_of_stoners]

ok thank you both for the fast replies! what brand should I get for the ram? when you said go with corsair, did you mean for the psu or everything? I don't plan on over clocking as soon as I build the pc, but I plan to in the future, so yes.

Everything from Corsair is good. But for their peripherals (gaming mouse, keyboards) I'm not sure

[Linkin506]

For Motherboard, I'd go for something In the Z97 Series, Some go SLI, Some go Crossfire, so watch out for which one you're purchasing, they're good boards, Got everything you need.

 

For power supply, I'd go with something between 800W/1000W, Try and go modular aswell. There are alot of good companies doing power supplies, (Corsair, Coolermaster etc)

 

And storage wise, Which i think is the best way to go is, 120GB SSD For OS And any other vital programs etc, and maybe a 2/3TB Hard drive WD Green = 2TB, And if you're going 3TB = WD Red, But 2TB Should be big enough.

 

Hope this helps out, any queries or questions, Quote me!

 

Ty

what is sli and crossfire? don't you think that 800/1000w is a bit over kill too? I am planning to get a full modular psu too I will think of getting an SSD, I was planning on a Samsung 850 EVO 250GB its about $95, but to save some money, I might go with a 120GB for now. I heard WD Blue drives were the fastest, but I might be wrong, thank you for the reply!

[Nexxus]

ok thank you both for the fast replies! what brand should I get for the ram? when you said go with corsair, did you mean for the psu or everything? I don't plan on over clocking as soon as I build the pc, but I plan to in the future, so yes.

I personally use corsair ram and a psu. 

When it comes to a psu anything from a higher end company should do you ok to be completely honest with you. As for ram what I usually do is check your mobo compatibility list of ram. Most will say that its pointless and ram will run on anyboard..and while they are popably right I dont see anything wrong with airing on the side of caution either... So yta imo brand of ram is pointless til we figure out the mobo.

As for the mobo if you do want to overclock yes get a z97 board (not an h97 or x97) again as for brand and model alot of boards these days will be perfectly find I prefer sticking with asus or gigabyte personally though. 

[Nexxus]

what is sli and crossfire? don't you think that 800/1000w is a bit over kill too? I am planning to get a full modular psu too I will think of getting an SSD, I was planning on a Samsung 850 EVO 250GB its about $95, but to save some money, I might go with a 120GB for now. I heard WD Blue drives were the fastest, but I might be wrong, thank you for the reply!

sli/crossfire is running 2-4 video cards at once, I have SLI 680s sli is neat but you dont get a 100% increase in FPS in games, it makes your comp hot, and in some cases can make fps worse if a game doesnt like it (watch dogs didnt for example) So the effectiveness of it is mixed

[FruitBasketSilex]

Before I say anything else, ALWAYS go for dual-channel, which is 2x4GB instead of 1x8GB.

For the power supply part --> http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

If your priority is budget, then SSD will be off your list. But if you can spend a little bit extra, please go for the SSD as it will significantly improve your boot times, game loading times, which means more done in less time.

For motherboard, any Z97 board from any reputable brands will do. The only difference motherboard will make is features, reliability, compatibility and overclockability. Motherboard doesn't affect performance. Be very careful about are you going to Crossfire or SLI in the future, overclocking features, RAID, M2 slot, size of motherboard and onboard features when choosing motherboards.

Casing, depends on your budget and mainly on personal preference (looks). Take note, like choosing a TWO front usb 3.0 case.

Mind explaining why dual channel is so important? (Because its not)

[Nexxus]

what is sli and crossfire? don't you think that 800/1000w is a bit over kill too? I am planning to get a full modular psu too I will think of getting an SSD, I was planning on a Samsung 850 EVO 250GB its about $95, but to save some money, I might go with a 120GB for now. I heard WD Blue drives were the fastest, but I might be wrong, thank you for the reply!

wd blacks are the fastest drives wd makes. blues are the same speed as greens but greens have some power saving features.

[league_of_stoners]

Mind explaining why dual channel is so important? (Because its not)

It's not VERY important and not really noticeable in performance unless you are running something that will take your system to its limits.

 

What I was meaning was since dual-channel and single channel costs roughly the same, and sometimes even cheaper, why not go for dual-channel.

There's no reason to choose single channel over dual except for budget wise, and now budget is no longer the problem because pair kits are cheap nowadays.

 

For the science behind dual-channel, I'm not exactly sure and if you have anything to share about the science of dual-channel memory, please tell me more about it. 

[league_of_stoners]

wd blacks are the fastest drives wd makes. blues are the same speed as greens but greens have some power saving features.

what is the main difference between blue and green? If blue and greens have the same speed and performed the same, why not everybody go greens, it's better for the environment and electricity bill anyway

[FruitBasketSilex]

It's not VERY important and not really noticeable in performance unless you are running something that will take your system to its limits.

What I was meaning was since dual-channel and single channel costs roughly the same, and sometimes even cheaper, why not go for dual-channel.

There's no reason to choose single channel over dual except for budget wise, and now budget is no longer the problem because pair kits are cheap nowadays.

For the science behind dual-channel, I'm not exactly sure and if you have anything to share about the science of dual-channel memory, please tell me more about it.

I always pick 1 stick over two, because that way there's always more upgrade room, in case I suddenly decide to start rendering a lot or do anything else majorly ram intensive.

Dual channel is only theoretically faster because you have two sticks and can communicate the data twice as fast since you have two streams for it to run through.

[Linkin506]

how does this look sofar? didn't know which case to get: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Linkin506/saved/nBmKHx

[FruitBasketSilex]

how does this look sofar? didn't know which case to get: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Linkin506/saved/nBmKHx

Looks pretty good.

[league_of_stoners]

I always pick 1 stick over two, because that way there's always more upgrade room, in case I suddenly decide to start rendering a lot or do anything else majorly ram intensive.

Dual channel is only theoretically faster because you have two sticks and can communicate the data twice as fast since you have two streams for it to run through.

 

Seems like you are a person who runs applications that require a lot of RAM, since you have 'room for upgrade' in your mind.

For the typical gamer like me, I go for dual channel because I know I won't be upgrading any soon as games aren't that RAM-intensive as multimedia applications.

 

So, practically dual-channel offers no improvement at all?

[Nexxus]

what is the main difference between blue and green? If blue and greens have the same speed and performed the same, why not everybody go greens, it's better for the environment and electricity bill anyway

i havent done my own research on the issue. i do know the power saving feautres on greens at least used to make them prone to failure. me and my buddy actually disabled said feature on mine. but this was back in 2010. might not be an issue now. and while their rpms are the same, i think the greens are still technically slower loading data overall.

 

I actually just looked it up, wd greens are slowest by about 2000rpmish blks and blues are the same rpm apparently, in resent years  blues gave overtaken blacks in performance slightly, but blacks have higher endurance/ reliability over the blues.

[league_of_stoners]

i havent done my own research on the issue. i do know the power saving feautres on greens at least used to make them prone to failure. me and my buddy actually disabled said feature on mine. but this was back in 2010. might not be an issue now. and while their rpms are the same, i think the greens are still technically slower loading data overall.

 

I actually just looked it up, wd greens are slowest by about 2000rpmish blks and blues are the same rpm apparently, in resent years  blues gave overtaken blacks in performance slightly, but blacks have higher endurance/ reliability over the blues.

I thought the blues are 7200rpm and blacks are 10000rpms. The blacks are marketed with 'Enterprise' and 'Business' in mind so I guess the reliability is real.

[Nexxus]

how does this look sofar? didn't know which case to get: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Linkin506/saved/nBmKHx

Looks fine to me, I wouldnt get some of those brands personally because I dont have experience with them, but im sure its all fine.

[FruitBasketSilex]

Seems like you are a person who runs applications that require a lot of RAM, since you have 'room for upgrade' in your mind.

For the typical gamer like me, I go for dual channel because I know I won't be upgrading any soon as games aren't that RAM-intensive as multimedia applications.

So, practically dual-channel offers no improvement at all?

None at all. At least none that is noticeable. Probably able to tell with synthetic benches but not much else.

[Nexxus]

I thought the blues are 7200rpm and blacks are 10000rpms. The blacks are marketed with 'Enterprise' and 'Business' in mind so I guess the reliability is real.

blues and blacks are both 7200 at least according to the article I read written dec 2014. 

[elliott35]

Nvidia, asus, Intel, And corsair. Get as much from them as possible and you will be happy