Gaming Desktop over time

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Padin

New Member
Hello I'm new here and would like some advice on parts and situation for building a gaming desktop on a over time budget. Starting out I will be spending about $300-$400 up front on a few parts, then I will have about $50-$80 per month that I can either spend or add up for a month or two first. I really want to use a case like the apevia x sniper gn, or a diypc ranger g case. Not sure which would be better yet, though. Basically I was thinking around 120gb ssd, 4gb single chip ram to start with, 3-4gz proc not sure about dual or quad yet, I want to be able play full screen games, run teamspeak or ventrilo, and possibly run other applications as well simultaneously, maybe even dual monitors. I would like to be able to connect hdmi and probably standard like vga or something. I need it to have wireless capabalities as well. This will be my first computer made so all help is appreciated. If someone can give me some open criticism on this setup/parts to begin with and we can fine tune my needs as the discussion continues that would be great, thank you for anyone's time that is available.
 
You're going to be way better off just saving. If you can only save 50-80 a month for it that's fine but dragging out your purchases over more than the space of a month is not a good idea. Computer parts and prices change so fast that the stuff you started with will be cheaper to purchase by the time your finish and/or replaced with something better.

Also for gaming you want at least a quad-core at this point.

Work out a solid budget and save for that specific amount then go from there once you have the money.
 
Thank you for your timely response Darren, and I understand that the pricing and possibly the quality of the parts changes constantly especially with the competitive marketing in computers. Even still i was just wanting to get a standard gaming rig going for now that i can get running a two or three months starting with the case, motherboard and cpu, then adding the vid card, ram, and other things needed for it to function. I was hoping to learn a little more about computers from different perspective I have read a few guides from tomshardware and some other sites, but I wanted to get a little direct input and style for a build to put together. So would it be possible to buy one of the two cases I am interested in and a motherboard and cpu that would be worthwhile for awhile and then grab some ram, gpu and other things over the couple months time saving up as stated. Also I have heard that ssd is preferable for gaming over hdd any input on that would be appreciated as well. Thank you again for your time.
 
The guide in my signature below can help you with the actual assembly.

Do you have other parts you can swap in because you're not going to get anything that will function without buying Case PSU, RAM, CPU, Hard Drive, and OS(if needed). You'd also need a CPU that has onboard video to hold you over until you bought an actual video card.

I understand the desire to have a machine sooner rather than later. I really do. We all do. :D Unless there's something preventing you from saving money over time you really should wait. Also if you've only got 300-400 to start with you're going to gimp yourself to get something that's functional to begin with.

What do you envision spending on this in total?

SSD's are good for your OS and games you frequently play but given your budget I wouldn't even worry about one until you have everything else in order. I used a standard HDD for a long time and didn't have any issues. It'll load stuff faster on an SSD but actual framerate in games won't be affected. That said I love my SSD.

Oh and welcome to CoFo!
 
Alright, well I'm still curious about the two case options, and I could possibly get someone to loan me or front me up the extra couple hundred to get one put together now, but I would really need to know specific things, I looked at some builds on tomshardware and thought about following one of them, but I kind of wanted to get some input as im a complete newb when it comes to building up from scratch. That was part of why I was posting was to gain a better understanding of the types of parts I should look for to get what I wanted out of my machine without having to spend too much on high grade performance right away.
 
Alright lets say 500 dollars then, with the apevia or ranger diypc case in mind, wanting it to have wifi capability for gaming, i would prefer motherboard and cpu that i wont have to change out for awhile, as they seem a little more annoying to replace than say ram or a gpu might be.
 
Alright this is what I'd recommend. http://pcpartpicker.com/p/jgTBYJ


CPU is a quad core which is really required anymore. It also has onboard video to get you by until you can buy a proper GPU.

Motherboard is latest Intel socket so you can upgrade your CPU down the line to a better one. You can put a seriously powerful chip in here if you want, but the i5 is fine for now.

Power Supply is cheap but still good quality while providing enough power to be used with pretty much any single GPU setup. I have this one and have put it in numerous builds for friends. I don't recommend changing this.

Hard drive is good and cheap and still a terabyte of storage.

Case as requested.

Wifi adapter, this doesn't matter much but I just picked the one I have and like. You could maybe save a few bucks here and get something cheaper but I don't know wifi adapters well enough to suggest much of anything.

4GB of RAM to get you started and a good speed too.

Down the line you'll want to get another 4GB stick of RAM (I'd get the same kind). Also want to add a GPU obviously.
 
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Sounds good I will have to see if I can talk my sister into hooking me up with that, also I wa wondering if you think i could manage an internal wifi hookup as opposed to a usb one, so if my three year old nephew is running around doesnt decide to like unplug it and hide it or throw it away lol. Also would this build allow for a ssd if i decided to swap to one down the road as well, thank you for your time and considerations you have been excellent :)
 
Yeah you can add an SSD easily. You'd want to reinstall your operating system. You could clone it over to the SSD but I'd do a fresh install to reduce potential issues.

Also if/when you get an SSD, get a 250GB or bigger. 120GB fills up faster than you think. That's what I have and only have space for my OS, basic programs like Office and my browser as well as an installation of World of Warcraft (which is 30GB on it's own, but still :P ).

And yeah you can easily get an internal card. I prefer external for ease of connecting and disconnecting them and anymore they work just as well as internal.

http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-WD...d=1424999013&sr=8-1&keywords=wifi+adapter+pci
 
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Very nice, the sniper case wasn't the specific one I was aiming for but shouldn't be a problem think its just a color difference maybe, also I forgot to ask what kind of display hookup options will this give me, strictly vga, or possibly hdmi or anything else like that?
 
Sounds amazing then, I will definitely work on getting the parts together as best I can in one bunch, and my sister said she thinks her computer might have something to offer possibly although I have my doubts as its probably five or more years old even with decent parts that far back I wouldn't expect too much for it as an office computer. First we need to get a power cord to turn it on though lol.
 
Padin said:
Sounds amazing then, I will definitely work on getting the parts together as best I can in one bunch, and my sister said she thinks her computer might have something to offer possibly although I have my doubts as its probably five or more years old even with decent parts that far back I wouldn't expect too much for it as an office computer. First we need to get a power cord to turn it on though lol.
Click to expand...

Yeah it probably has nothing of value if it's that old. Maybe a hard drive but even then probably not worth it considering how cheap they are.
 
That was my sentiments exactly, well thank you very much for your time and assistance and when it comes time to put it together I will definitely be looking at some guides around here, as it will be my first crafted computer./ Oh and one final note, with the parts and build setup you gave me, will I be required to add thermal paste or do you know if it will come preapplied and decent enough?
 
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It will most likely be preapplied. The guide in my signature is written by me and is my current build. :D It's the only assembly guide we have that's up to date. Previous one is at 5 years old I think.
 
I also forgot to ask, should I expect to pay tax on individual parts when I order them from most websites cause if so that may play on my budget a little bit, as well as s/h although i noticed a few of the sites have free shipping so that shouldn't be as big an issue.
 
That'll vary depending on the site so I can't really give a definitive answer. You'd need to look in to that yourself.
 
Alright, well hoping that there isn't much tax if there is, otherwise I might have to look at a slightly lower build ranging 450 before tax or so. I'll keep you posted in a couple days if I manage to order all the parts or not, I will edit this post or add another post to this thread if allowed to prevent from creating a bunch of threads.
 
Yeah feel free to just post here again. Making numerous threads for the same or similar issues is frowned upon and so is bumping a post several times in one day, but if it's been a day it's normally fine to bump it.
 
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