Building my first gaming PC

spinnnerrr

spinnnerrr

Member
Hey guys. I'm new to the computer scene. I've been doing some reading lately on what all the individual parts due to make a computer work and it's all very interesting stuff! I'm actually considering going to school now for computer engineering :)

So, I bought a Cooler Master Storm Stryker full tower for my case.

My first question is, how do I figure out what motherboards will and will not work with my chosen tower? I would like to get myself a motherboard from Asus.

This video is what I'm aiming for as my final product. I do plan on using liquid cooling as well. I looked up his motherboard specs but unfortunately it's Windows 8 ready and I do not like Windows 8!

Thanks! :)

BTW! I don't know if you would realize this or not... but by spending just about $200 on the case alone, my budget isn't really on a leash ;D ... but I'm not spending $1000 on GPUs...... not even for 4k gaming. That's just nuts. 1080 res is cool with me.

edit: okay, so I did some more reading. The form factor is what determines whether or not the motherboard will fit my case. ATX seems to be the standard form factor. I also see "extended" ATX. I'm just gonna go ahead and assume those are motherboards with dual CPU sockets.

edit 2: Okay so, I'm just going to use this thread as a notebook, if you will, to record my build. When I have a question that I can't find via Google, I'll be coming here! :)
 
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ninjabubbles3

Active Member
I cant understand your question, pretty much any motherboard will work. Asus makes good mobos, but gigabyte and MSI ones are good too.

What is your budget? About one third of it should be your GPU. A good midhigh end one is like 300ish dollars to 400 dollars.


For CPU, a i5 4690K or i7 4790K are very good.
 
spinnnerrr

spinnnerrr

Member
I wasn't aware of form factors when I originally posted this thread. I kinda answered my question myself :)

For my GPU, I was looking at the GTX 980. Would it be recommended that I get a i7 Core opposed to a i5 Core?
 
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ninjabubbles3

Active Member
A GTX 980 is pretty much top of the line. If you can afford it, get it. The i7 is about 100 bucks more, but the performance upgrade is worth it. It will greatly help in multitasking.


Again, I cant for sure recommend anything until you give me a budget. The last thing you want to do is cheap out on a motherboard or power supply.


If overclocking, as I suppose with liquid cooling, a Z97 chipset board is a must
 
spinnnerrr

spinnnerrr

Member
My whole budget would be around $2000 to spend on parts. This is not including monitor or speakers and I already have a wireless keyboard and mouse.

Say if I do get the GTX 980, it won't matter if I just get a Core i5, correct? I don't plan on multitasking a lot at all
 
spinnnerrr

spinnnerrr

Member
You are the man!

And out of curiosity, you picked that motherboard because of its chipset? I'd just like to get a grip on things and know why certain parts were picked.
 
tylerjrb

tylerjrb

Member
id agree with the build ninja has given you but id maybe drop the mobo as $200 is quite steep if you dont plan on taking advantage of its capacity, i.e RAM and gpu capacity and RAM speeds up to 3200mhz. Stick with the z97 chipset though.

plus i have a wireless mouse and it works fine (no input lag) as long as you dont get one that stops to powersave if you leave it for 10 seconds. havent tried a wireless keyboard though.

id decide on a theme aswell if your wanting it to look good, i.e white and blue, pink and red, black and green whatever. so you can work on that rather than having a load of colours unless thats what you want.

That way you can pick components that match your theme.
 
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spinnnerrr

spinnnerrr

Member
I'll look into more motherboards with the z97. I would like a blue and white color scheme, but when I'm on Asus' website, I don't see any motherboards that have the z97 chipset with a blue or white color scheme. The only ones I see with blue and white are the P8's or P9's and they don't have z97 chipsets. Soooo that would mean maybe I should look into other motherboard companies? Or are the P8's and P9's okay for gaming performance?

My original goal was to be able to run games on their highest graphics quality. I currently have a Asus G51VX laptop that I got as a graduation gift back in 2009. It still runs okay but the keyboard was starting to crap out so I bought a wireless one as well as a wireless mouse. The keyboard and mouse don't really give me any input lag IMO.

Edit: A green color scheme would be cool too. I *maybe* plan on getting a second GPU in the far future and *maybe* a sound card when I do the build. Would that mobo be efficient enough?
 
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ninjabubbles3

Active Member
Any mobo with Z97 is good, make sure it's atx, not microatx though, unlike the one you linked.

As us doesn't always make the best stuff, gigabyte and Msi, and many other companies are good
 
spinnnerrr

spinnnerrr

Member
Okay so after doing some reading I think I'm gonna go with Gigabyte's G1.Sniper 5. To my understanding of things, it should support my needs and future needs.

As I stated before, I might get a 2nd graphics card in the future after this build is done.Also, to my understanding if I were to get a dedicated sound card, it would also be placed in the PCI-e slots, correct?

edit: yeah, I didn't realize that one I link was a micro ATX. This is the one I'm looking into now. It has a Z87 chipset but that's still good for performance, right? The only real difference I see between the Z97 and Z87 is that the 97 supports 5th gen Intel and the 87 does not...
 
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ninjabubbles3

Active Member
Basically, the Z87 chip set doesn't work with three of the new Intel processor, the Pentium G3258, the i5 4690K, and the i7 4790K. These are the three processors that I would recommend over anything else.

To support these processors, the Z87 chip set boards need a BIOS update, somewhat complicated, or you need to buy a Z97 chip set board.

I highly recommend you buy a Z97 board

No green boards, but here is a cool blue/black one
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-motherboard-z97g55sli
 
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spinnnerrr

spinnnerrr

Member
Aw, that's unfortunate! I wish they had green ones for the Z97 :p oh well :)

I guess I'll be going with a Z97!

I appreciate all the help you've been giving me, Ninja :)

Can you answer my question about the sound card? :) I'm pretty positive that they go in the PCI-e ports but I'm not 100% sure.
 
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ninjabubbles3

Active Member
You dont need a sound card, mobos come with perfectly fine onboard sound.

Yes, all graphics cards will go in a PCIe slot, as well as any wifi cards or sound cards
 
tylerjrb

tylerjrb

Member
I'd also check out asrock z97 boards. There's a few that are blue themed. I'd also if you can get corsair vengeance pro RAM in blue. Only a few $ more than other brands and models. Higher quality and will look really good in a blue build.

Also are you planning to watercool the Gpu?
 
spinnnerrr

spinnnerrr

Member
Awesome, thanks Tyler.

I was planning to watercool the GPU as well. I guess I would definitely benefit from it since I'm getting the GTX 980 and I'm assuming since it's a higher end GPU, it probably works harder and produces more heat..?

Oh and also!, my computer is going to be in my basement. My modem is upstairs in the kitchen. Is it more efficient to get a wifi card or I could run a 25 foot ethernet wire to the computer. I was told the longer the wire, the longer it takes for the connection to go back and forth.
 
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tylerjrb

tylerjrb

Member
The 980 is a very good card, I have 2 :) so i know from experience. I would say you can water cool them but unless you plan on really running it hard then i really wouldnt unless you just want a cool rig.

you will be able to use EVGA's, MSI's software to run maximum overvoltage and speeds that the softwares will allow even with the reference cooler at 70c. The only real need for water cooling on a gpu is if you are going to re-flash its bios. Meaning this allows for as much overvoltage and overclock as the temperatures will allow. As the software's only allow a maximum overvoltage to keep it within warranty. Re-flashing the bios voids this.

its the same with the cpu really, unless you plan running over 5ghz then i personally wouldnt water cool with a custom loop, you can get a corsair h100i, h105, h110 aswell as other water coolers, NZXT kraken x61 (best currently) which are all in one watercoolers. Ie they are a pump, radiator, res all in one and they still run very well and cool very well. I can run my 3770k at 4.8ghz at around 70-80c and 5.1ghz at around 90c on prime 95 with my h100i. considering turbo boost is 3.9ghz. Will save you a lot of money.

The ethernet cable length wont really matter untill it gets to somewhat a few hundred feet so you wont notice any difference at 25ft than 1ft. It is much faster than wifi also so ethernet cable is your best bet.
 
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spinnnerrr

spinnnerrr

Member
So articulate :) if I were to get two GTX 980's, I would then consider a 4k one from AMD I read about for $1000 ⊙.⊙ ... but I don't have a grand to drop on a GPU :(

I'll definitely look into that kraken x61. Sounds like it will save me some space and money.

And thanks for clearing up the Ethernet question :)
 
tylerjrb

tylerjrb

Member
If you have the money and want to then water loop as it is cooler and looks very nice when done well. I plan to when I update my build in the next year or so. id also maybe consider 12gb or 16gb RAM if your planning high resolution gaming. Mine uses somewhat 5gb on bf4 so 8gb might be cutting a little short.
 
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