gaming pc build advice

[Briza]

As incentive for my 16yo son to complete his year 10 certificate i have promised him a gaming pc. I have built one 10 years ago but am not up to speed with the current technology. I will most likely be sourcing parts from msy in Sydney, looking for a tower only build for $1000. ir anyone experienced could itemize a parts list i would be most appreciative.

 

[Arnold]

I reckon u had the answer. Go see MSY and tell them what ya want they will help ya out. 1000 might not quite get ya where ya son wants though.

 

[Captain Apollo]

$1,000 for a decent gaming PC build? Hmmm, that is on the light side cash wise and depends on what you need. Is it just the tower, or do you need a monitor and speaker's too? What about the operating system?

The expensive hardware part of a decent gaming build is the graphics card I usually find. If you want the PC to last for a few years, you need a card that is a reasonably recent release. There is no point getting one which has been out for years which the chip manufacturer stops supporting after 1 year.

I think what Arnold suggests, going to see MSY might be a good first step for you.

 

[bileduct]

You'd be better off buying a Playstation or Xbox if that's all you're gonna spend.

 

[Arnold]

That's a good point.

 

[perverse]

I don't really agree with that tbh... unless something weird has happened in the market, $1000 should be enough to pull together a very capable tower sans-monitor and peripherals. Your best bet is http://forums.whirlpool.net.au in the desktop build section. I'll be surprised if you can't find a recent thread answering your exact question. They also have a wiki with differently priced builds that they keep up to date.

If you need to skimp on some parts, start with the case, the ram and the motherboard (although make sure the mobo has all the features you'll be needing, primarily a pci-e 3.0 slot and the current cpu socket)

Best of luck. Leagueunlimited not the best source of the information you seek.

 

[Arnold]

I wouldn't be skimping too much on ram if you want to game.

 

[perverse]

You're better off going with 8gb of RAM and getting a better video card, than getting 16gb of RAM and getting a lesser card. It's damn cheap to add in a bit more RAM later down the track, and 8gb is going to get you by in the vast majority of games.

Additionally, what I meant was that if you can save $20 by getting "slower" ram - i.e the ram has higher "timing" values or a slower mhz value, then you're probably going to notice that less in a gaming build too unless you're overclocking (and I mean REALLY overclocking). The ram will only run at the FSB speed of the processor in any case, so spending extra on RAM that can go faster won't get you any gain unless you're 'clocking like a beast.

 

[perverse]

Another thing I'd note - and I don't think anyone would argue - is that an SSD is a *crucial* part of the build. The one component above all others that improves user experience across the board imo is an SSD. This includes game performance, as games spend a lot of time loading data, textures, etc from the hard drive while you're playing. You'll get a lot less jitter/pop-in/etc running an SSD... and that's not even to speak of the 6-7 second boot times and the generally better experience you have in day to day use around the operating system, either.

Again, this is an easy thing to expand on later, but I would take a 250gb SSD in a gaming build over a 3TB HDD any day of the week. It's cheap as chips for your son to mow a few lawns and save up for an extra stick of ram or a new $70-100 HDD... you want to set him up with the most valuable, difficult to extend components when you're on a budget. I would prioritise the GFX card, the CPU and an SSD above all else. Everything else is either cheaper to extend or just window dressing.

 

[bileduct]

Here ya go, use this.

https://choosemypc.net/au/?budget=1000&oc=false

 

[bileduct]

I don't really agree with that tbh... unless something weird has happened in the market, $1000 should be enough to pull together a very capable tower sans-monitor and peripherals.

... and throw in an OS as well and you're looking at about $1400+.

 

[Pete Cash]

A cheap and decent system would look like this

Cpu intel I3 6100 155 dollars.
Motherboard (any decent 1151 pin motherboard would do) so one at randon gigabyte h170 ~150 bucks
8 gb of any old ddr4 ram ~ 50 bucks

This is where the costs really come into play. The graphic card. Looking through parts lists id lean towards the radeon rx 480 but thats going to cost 400 bucks. This is certainly the area that is going to add the most cost to the project

Whats a 1tb hard drive cost these days ? 90 bucks. Even if you want to go ssd which i agree is a good move a 240 gb is under 100 bucks now.

So for around 450 to 500 dollars you have the cpu, motherboard, ram and hdd. Its just a question of how much graphical power you want. The other option is to buy a graphics card that was really good a year or so ago off ebay. I bought a top of the line graphics card 4 years ago that i still use and it runs latest release games fine

Just keep in mind the case, power supply etc will add costs on. 1000 dollars for a system that plays games is doable. Its just not going to be that future proof

 

[Pete Cash]

the first ssd i bought was 120 gb and it was f**king shithouse and i think i paid 500 dollars for it or something insane like that. It broke in 6 months

I bought one a couple of weeks ago for about 200 dollars. Samsung 850 evo 500gb and its bloody terrific

Perverse advice is good. Its a juggling act when you have a budget.

 

[perverse]

... and throw in an OS as well and you're looking at about $1400+.

rofl, in 2005 maybe. You can pick up Windows 10 Home for like $60. Even full retail price is about a 1/4 of what you're suggesting.

I assume you're a console peasant, or spent too much on your pc?

 

[perverse]

Seriously, grab the $1000 pc from here http://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/rmp_sg_whirlpoolpcs_gaming_configs_1 - take the money from the peripherals and dump it into a better graphics card. If you can stretch for a GTX 1060, and I think you almost can without the peripherals, then do it.

 

[Apey]

I spent a little under $2k on mine in 2013 due to general laziness and not wanting to put it together myself. It was pretty high-end at the time (still holds up now besides the graphics card) but yeah you can save good $$$ by using forums like whirlpool. SSD is a definite must.

 

[bileduct]

rofl, in 2005 maybe. You can pick up Windows 10 Home for like $60. Even full retail price is about a 1/4 of what you're suggesting.

I assume you're a console peasant, or spent too much on your pc?

Maybe you should look at the bit I put in bold from your response.

Edit: In any case, I missed the OPs comment about wanting components for the case only.

 

[Parra]

How important is the power supply and what is the $ difference for a std power supply to a 'gaming' supply?

 

[Mogsheen Jadwat]

Honestly unless you're running dual gfx, multiple hdd's, a 550-600w should be sufficient. Just stick to a relatively known brand and you'll be fine.

 

[Exsilium]

The PSU is important and ranges immensely but having said that you can pick up good quality 750w items for around the $100 mark.

I happen to be running two 380x, Asus pro-gaming, i7 6700 and numerous SSD's with my $120 corsair 750w. No issues here.