Help me build a gaming rig!

Arcanum · 05-31-2014, 10:09 PM

Alternate title #1: Tell me all my choices are terrible.

Alternate title #2: OH GOD WHAT DO ALL THE NUMBERS MEAN.

Alternate title #3: I've never had so many tabs open at once before in my life.

So I'm building a new rig, and it's my first time doing so. The current desktop I'm using isn't really mine (it's my family's) so it stays here when I go back to Toronto for school. It's also getting pretty outdated, so I wouldn't want to bring it anyway. I've got a nice summer job now so I will have enough money to pay for next year's tuition as well as buy a new computer.

Unfortunately the new job is 10 hour shifts 5 days a week so I don't have much time to research computer parts. I've been using this site as a guide and then doing my own research based on my price range (which is somewhere around $1300-1400, not including monitor and keyboard, and with plenty of wiggle room). So here's what I have so far:

CPU: i5 4670K

Cooling: Haven't looked at fans yet. I'm not really planning on overclocking (maybe just a little) but I don't know of stock fans will suffice. If I do need to buy something I'd prefer it to be on the quiet side. I saw Noctua was recommended in the thread Menarker made, but haven't had a chance to look into them.

Mobo: Gigabyte z87X UD3H

GPU: GTX 780 (this one or this one. PC part picker says the EVGA one has a higher core clock speed by like 10 MHz but that seems like it would be insignificant but I have no idea what I'm doing)

RAM: 8GB (2x4GB). Looking at G.Skill's stuff but I can't tell what the difference is between the Ripjaw X and the Sniper, other than aesthetics.

Storage: At least a TB, though might go with 2TB since I tend to not uninstall games. Haven't really looked at hard drives yet. I'm also not too picky on load times, so I doubt I'll grab an SSD, or if I do it will only be like 120ish GB so I can install whatever game I feel needs to load slightly faster.

Power Supply: No idea, since I haven't finalized all my other parts yet, but shouldn't be too hard to figure out once that's done.

Case: Again, planning on looking at cases once I have all the components sorted out. Not that case choice is that big of a deal.

So yeah, any advice would be appreciated.

05-31-2014, 10:09 PM	#1
Arcanum Strike the Earth! Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Canada Posts: 3,185	Help me build a gaming rig! Alternate title #1: Tell me all my choices are terrible. Alternate title #2: OH GOD WHAT DO ALL THE NUMBERS MEAN. Alternate title #3: I've never had so many tabs open at once before in my life. So I'm building a new rig, and it's my first time doing so. The current desktop I'm using isn't really mine (it's my family's) so it stays here when I go back to Toronto for school. It's also getting pretty outdated, so I wouldn't want to bring it anyway. I've got a nice summer job now so I will have enough money to pay for next year's tuition as well as buy a new computer. Unfortunately the new job is 10 hour shifts 5 days a week so I don't have much time to research computer parts. I've been using this site as a guide and then doing my own research based on my price range (which is somewhere around $1300-1400, not including monitor and keyboard, and with plenty of wiggle room). So here's what I have so far: CPU: i5 4670K Cooling: Haven't looked at fans yet. I'm not really planning on overclocking (maybe just a little) but I don't know of stock fans will suffice. If I do need to buy something I'd prefer it to be on the quiet side. I saw Noctua was recommended in the thread Menarker made, but haven't had a chance to look into them. Mobo: Gigabyte z87X UD3H GPU: GTX 780 (this one or this one. PC part picker says the EVGA one has a higher core clock speed by like 10 MHz but that seems like it would be insignificant but I have no idea what I'm doing) RAM: 8GB (2x4GB). Looking at G.Skill's stuff but I can't tell what the difference is between the Ripjaw X and the Sniper, other than aesthetics. Storage: At least a TB, though might go with 2TB since I tend to not uninstall games. Haven't really looked at hard drives yet. I'm also not too picky on load times, so I doubt I'll grab an SSD, or if I do it will only be like 120ish GB so I can install whatever game I feel needs to load slightly faster. Power Supply: No idea, since I haven't finalized all my other parts yet, but shouldn't be too hard to figure out once that's done. Case: Again, planning on looking at cases once I have all the components sorted out. Not that case choice is that big of a deal. So yeah, any advice would be appreciated. __________________ POS Almighty has spoken. Last edited by Arcanum; 05-31-2014 at 10:11 PM.