Alright, so I'm using my dads complaining about computers to convince my mom to let me build a new comp from scratch. I know nothing about building computers and only the vaguest about the parts required (and nothing about what's good and what's not) but I'm working with about $1600 budget. Looking for something that'll do me well now, but I'll be able to build and upgrade as time goes on.
My favorite place to start is the DIY section of Newegg.com http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.2092642 This is a good place to start from. i7, GTX 970, 8GB RAM. But it depends on what you need. If you have pieces like, monitor(s), keyboard, mouse. Then you can spend more on goodies.
Manco's recent post isn't a bad start. Missing stuff like Case, Monitor, mouse/keyboard, Windows, graphics card.
How much am I looking at to get into the liquid cooled stuff? Would that kind of gear be even worth it?
Full liquid cooling for everything can get expensive but dedicated CPU coolers can be found for $50-100 for single radiator units. Personally I think the pre-assembled units are great but I've only had one for a month or two so I can't attest to longevity. Water cooling is great if you're overclocking components and/or short of room inside your case for large CPU air heat sinks.
Are you going to overclock? If not, no. The only other reason to go with liquid cooling is if the air where the computer will be is going to be exceptionally hot. I run the stock i5 fan I have the 3.4 Ghz overclocked to 3.7 and have had no issues. Intel does not ship fans that will not cool their processors.
A good point, case airflow is critical. Get a good Antec case with multiple intakes and exhausts for good airflow. If you do that, there is no need for liquid cooling.
Unless you are running 2 or 3 super power hungry cards, you do not need a 1000W power supply, the newer cards are very power efficient. If you go nVidia, they are more power efficient than AMD. I had to get a 1000W for my 2 AMD 7950s because each card draws about 350W. The newer cards draw about half that.
My understanding is that another reason to go for a non-standard CPU cooling option (big monsterous air or water) is noise volume. Then my standard i5 fan encounters MWO you would swear that S.H.I.E.L.D. carriers were on the way.
True. If you are going for a silent build then liquid cooling is definitely the way to go. Personally I am just a little hesitant. I know the pre-built systems are sealed and nothing should go wrong.. but it is a hurdle I have just not been able to get over.
My recent reading is that if you go for the big bad boys in the air cooling department, they are pretty darn quiet. I am tossing up between a Be Quiet BK018 Dark Rock 3 CPU Cooler or the H50/110i liquid solution mentioned already (though that would require some case bashing). Of course, you need the case space. I've got a good ol' HAF-X so I could hide all of Russia's tanks in Ukraine in there.
You got £1600 to play with, That is a lot of money to spend on your first build, If you fuck something up you can risk screwing everything. My advice. With that that money you can buy a really good tower system, One with the latest intell socket,CPU ect. don't worry to much about the graphics card at the moment, Spend as much as you can on the Motherboard,CPU,RAM,SSD,CPU cooler.Power Supply. Card are easy to upgrade and always full in price. Never go for a cheap power supply. The reason i went for 1000w Supply, I have very specific requirements. A 650w/700w will do you fine. My advice is if you know someone in the know to help you build it then do a self build if not then buy a pre-build or made to order tower. if you want to gain experience on self builds then mess around on a cheaper system. Some tips. Win 10 will be free to win7/9 owners. For gaming and you have the budget stick with intell CPU. the new socket 2011 6 core are awsome, AMD don't come close. Plus this cpu will last you a very long time. Don't buy cheap power supplies, Stick with gold rated. I take it you have Mouse, K-Board. Monitor ect. Don't bother replacing them yet keep your budget for the hardware, The best you can get now means a longer time before upgrading. My current Build has lasted nearly 4 years as i got the best i could at the time. You don't need any more than 16gb of ram, current gaming is not using more than 8gb. Aim for 16 though as i would think SC will push the boat some more. When buying/Upgrading try not to buy cheap, get the best you can afford, Budget priority should be CPU,MB,Ram,SSD 500+, Power supply. Sound card(optional) Tower. I leave Graphic cards to last. As they can be upgrade at any time very easily. They are always dropping in price to. current gaming is pushing the CPU/Ram more than the card these days. I also use a 1TB external drive to keep other date on like, Media,photo's doc ect. So my SDD is focused on gaming. Sound cards are optional as Mother boards have in built sound cards but a decent dedicated sound card does add gaming performance. Don't bother with water cooling tower system. Most decent gaming towers will have great cooling. The Cpu water cooler is worth it though like the one Swi is using. Stock Cpu coolers are mostly shit, Always replace them
Also i just had a thought, Why don't use them self build websites so we can show him what we build with same budget. The he can order the best one.
I've always understood that it is better to have some unused capacity with a power source as opposed to running it just below maximum capacity. It just tends to be one of the things people pick out "hey, switch to smaller power supply". Then you decide to get a new card and it requires more power and you have to redo all the wiring.
to calculate your power requirements, this site is good. http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp As Manco stated.. DONT CHEAP OUT ON THE POWER SUPPLY a low rated PS can fry your entire build, and the difference in price between bronze/silver and that of Gold isnt that much. Side note... 1600.00 for a budget is good enough to build a really decent computer if you pick the parts correctly.
Do not use this calculator. It can massively underestimate what you need. Use the Asus calculator. http://support.asus.com/powersupply.aspx I got into a lot of trouble with that calculator. I was bout 300W off of what I actually needed to run my rig, and ended up having a bunch of problems. I finally realized my video cards were trying to draw more power then my PS could output.
honestly, unless you plan on replacing your power supply every time you upgrade, you're far better off getting as big a power supply as you can justify, as long as they don't overheat themselves PSU's tend to be very durable and rarely require more than a replacement fan every few years if you're unlucky and don't ever clean the damn thing out. I've run into issues in the past where my power supply was simply not powerful enough and that is far more detrimental to your computer than just about anything else you can do to it beyond letting it cook itself in heat. Speaking of heat, while liquid coolers are alright, generally air cooled is simpler to use and with sufficient fans and airflow in the case more all you really need. If quiet is what you're looking into you can always go full immersion cooling, which beats anything else XD
