[Fatal]

There have to be some people wanting to build a new PC in preparation for the NA launch of the game right? I've had some free time today and decided to put together a few builds of varying price to help those who want to build but cannot decide which parts to pick.

Chosing Components: The right way.

Power Supplies:

Do:
-use This to find out your wattage requirements.
-buy from a company that uses very high quality components, SeaSonic, Corsair, Antec.
-If considering a power supply from a company not mentioned above, Research before buying, some companies sell very high quality power supplies, most of those are re-branded SeaSonic power supplies. XFX for example.
-buy a psu with atleast 80+ Bronze certification

Don't:
-buy cheap power supplies, ever, they have the potential to explode.


Cases:

Do:
-buy a case with high airflow
-buy a case with the best airflow you can afford
-buy a case with nice cable management options
-buy a case that is aesthetically pleasing to you.

Don't:
-sacrifice airflow for fancy LEDs, you can always replace the regular fans with LED fans later.


Motherboards:

Do:
-buy from reputable brands, ASUS, MSI, Gigabyte, ASRock
-buy a motherboard with all of the features you require
-buy a motherboard with the right CPU socket type
-if overclocking, buy a motherboard with proper VRM heatsinks

Don't:
-pay for features you will never use
-buy an SLI/xFire board if you aren't going to use dual GPUs
-buy a board witth overclocking enabled if your CPU cannot be overclocked and vice versa.
-cheap out on your motherboard, like the power supply, these have the potential to explode.


Memory:

Do:
-buy at least 8gb, 4gb is enough but ram is cheap.
-buy ram with 9 Cas latency or lower
-buy ram with speeds at least DDR3-1333
-buy ram with timings of 9-9-9-24 or lower
-install your ram to run in dual/quad channel mode as indicated in your motherboard's manual
-buy whatever ram meets the above criteria and is cheapest at the time

Don't:
-buy ram with overly tall heat spreaders
-buy ram that runs at more than 1.5v if paired with an intel CPU


Hard Drives:

Do:
-buy hard drives with low failure rates, Seagate Barracuda, Western Digital green/red/blue/black, Samsung Spinoint.
-buy a 7200rpm drive if you plan to use the drive for more than just media storage
-buy a drive with enough storage space for your needs
-Buy a single platter drive

Don't:
-buy 5400rpm drives to use as a main drive
-buy cheap high capacity (3tb+) drives, higher capacity drives have higher failure rates



Solid State Drives:

Do:
-consider an SSD if you already have a hard drive with enough storage capacity for your needs
-buy atleast a 128gb drive
-only buy SSDs from Samsung, Intel, Kingston, Crucial or SanDisk
-buy the SSD with better 4KB Random Reads/Writes, this is the performance numbers that make the real difference

Don't:
-bother with a 64gb or smaller SSD
-buy low quality drives
-buy the Samsung 840 non-pro
-sacrifice any other components for an SSD



Optical Drives:

Do:
-buy the cheapest one you can find

Don't:
-buy one just to install an operating system, use a USB Flash Drive instead.


Keyboard:

When choosing a keyboard for gaming, in my opinion there are 3 options you want to look at:
1. The cheapest possible keyboard you can find
2. A keyboard with the option to plug in with PS/2 (it's faster), anti-ghosting functionality and optionally programmable keys, all at a maximum price of $50
3. Mechanical keyboards, Black and Red switches are are best for gaming, Browns are fine and quiet, Blues are loud. Browns and Blues are more typing oriented. However doing some research on your own to figure out which switch you prefer is a must. This is a must read for anyone interested in Mechanical keyboards.


Mice:

Very tricky to make a do/don't list for. When looking at a mouse there's quite a bit of personal preference involved. Do your research and be sure to avoid something with angle snapping. Angle snapping is a function of some mice that "corrects" your mouse movement if it's within a certain threshold. Essentially, moving your cursor in ways you did not intend to. You can test this easily by attempting to draw a straight line in paint. if it's perfectly straight, your current mouse has angle snapping. Not a big deal for the average Joe but really detrimental to accuracy in games where your mouse moves a cross-hair. Blade and soul as an example.
Aside from that, pick a mouse that's comfortable. You're going to be using it for hours on end. I personally use the Logitech G400 and it's served me great.


Sound card:
If you hear static noise when you plug in speakers or headphones then you're going to need a sound card to get rid if it. The Xonar DG is nice and pretty cheap.

If you do not hear any static noise you don't need to bother with a sound card.


Monitor:
If you're looking for a new monitor, there's 2 options worth spending more than $150:
1. A nice IPS display
2. A nice 120Hz monitor
Everything else is bad.



CPU/Video Card:
Ideally, you want your video card, not your CPU to be the bottleneck in your system
Easy way to avoid this is to spend atleast as much on your video card as you did on your cpu






Example Builds:

The Hobo Station: Under $400 Low settings @50fps avg.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/CeE0


The Modest Station: Under $550 Medium settings @ 60FPS avg.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/z4ek


The Modestly Faster Station: Under $750 High settings @ 60FPS avg.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/z3ya


The Game Station: Under $1000 Max settings @ 60FPS avg.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/z4fG


The Game Station+: Under $1500 Max settings @ 80FPS avg.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/z4h9


The Enthusuast: No budget. Max settings @ 120fps avg.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/z4iK


Recommended Peripherals:
Spend the rest of your money here

Mice:
Logitech G400
Zowie AM
Logitech G500
CoolerMaster Storm Spawn
Razer DeathAdder
Razer Naga
Logitech G600


Keyboards:
Corsair k90
Steelseries 7G
Zowie Celeritas
CM Storm QuickFire Rapid
Noppoo Choc Mini
Razer BlackWidow Ultimate
Microsoft Sidewinder x4
i-rocks KR-6260


Monitors:
Dell Ultrasharps
BenQ XL2420T
ASUS VS278Q-P
ASUS VS229H-P
AOC i2353Ph
ASUS VH236H





I'm too lazy to put together a PC on my own:
Stop being lazy.

Avoid Alienware anything like a plague.
Configure a desktop with similar specs to the examples above on iBuyPower or CyberPowerPC

This post has been edited by Fatal: Feb 08, 2013 - 12:57 PM

[Haneul]

wow this is great, and also really kind of you =) I appreciate this kind of initiatives n.n plus I love the "titles" you used for each system xDD so funny!

By the way, I think you forgot to include a video card for the first station~ (just sayin' in case you didn't notice >.<)

[Soultaker]

Haneul, on Nov 22, 2012 - 6:15 PM, said:

wow this is great, and also really kind of you =) I appreciate this kind of initiatives n.n plus I love the "titles" you used for each system xDD so funny!

By the way, I think you forgot to include a video card for the first station~ (just sayin' in case you didn't notice >.<)

He didnt forget to add one due to he APU having a GPU on the same chip as the processor.

[Fatal]

Soultaker, on Nov 22, 2012 - 8:52 PM, said:

He didnt forget to add one due to he APU having a GPU on the same chip as the processor.

Pretty much this. The new AMD APU graphics are quite impressive for how cheap they are. It's also possible to add in a cheap GPU to run in crossfire with the APU Graphics. I'll be adding more information to each build sometime soon, and maybe do 1 or 2 more builds with AMD CPUs. Their recent Vishera line is quite intriguing.

This post has been edited by Fatal: Nov 22, 2012 - 9:07 PM

[Haneul]

O_o wtf I had no idea about such thing being possible... sounds cool

[purasu]

Hurray for sales! \o/ http://pcpartpicker.com/p/pbkq

Thanks for the guide, it was a good reference. It's a modified hobo build, around $380 on Newegg with rebates.

[Soultaker]

Im too lazy to do mail in rebates >.>

-edit-

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/pbHs

This is my build for $1000 :)

This post has been edited by Soultaker: Nov 24, 2012 - 3:32 AM

[Fatal]

purasu, on Nov 24, 2012 - 2:38 AM, said:

Hurray for sales! \o/ http://pcpartpicker.com/p/pbkq

Thanks for the guide, it was a good reference. It's a modified hobo build, around $380 on Newegg with rebates.

Looks great. If you can afford it, get some faster memory.

Soultaker, on Nov 24, 2012 - 3:14 AM, said:

Im too lazy to do mail in rebates >.>

-edit-

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/pbHs

This is my build for $1000 :)

There are a few places where you can save money/get better performance.

Switch the cooler to the Hyper 212 EVO, you'll miss out on the LEDs but it's a better overall cooler.

Switch to the cheapest ram you can find with 5 star ratings on newegg, faster ram is only really beneficial to APUs. something with a CAS latency of 9, 1.5v and running at 1600MHz will net you a 1 or 2 fps loss for half the price. I recommend These

Now about the graphics card, with the current generation of cards my recommendation is to either get a 680 or the best AMD card you can afford. AMD has Nvidia beat at every price point currently, except for the 680, and only if you're either working with video or plan to never play above 1080p on a single monitor. If you must have the Nvidia card then the 670 is fine. If you want more performance for your money, get a 7970

The power supply is overkill, get a 550W SeaSonic
If you plan to run dual GPUs later, don't. It's much more cost effective to sell your old card and buy something newer.

The case is butt ugly. But that's just my opinion.

Also, if you can afford to get an SSD it'll help alot with BnS particularly, smaller loading times when phasing into dungeons and shorter loading screens.

This post has been edited by Fatal: Nov 30, 2012 - 3:47 PM

[EE1213]

Fatal, on Nov 24, 2012 - 11:15 AM, said:

Now about the graphics card, with the current generation of cards my recommendation is to either get a 680 or the best AMD card you can afford. AMD has Nvidia beat at every price point currently, except for the 680, and only if you're either working with video or plan to never play above 1080p on a single monitor. If you must have the Nvidia card then the 670 is fine....

GTX 670 all the way!!!!!!!!!!!

Price points aside, NVidia offers far better, more stable, low temperature performance, and the GTX 670 is now only about 80 bucks more than a 7950. :3
I recently upgraded from an AMD 6870, and I hated AMD's buggy release support and drivers.

HardOCP: AMD 7950 vs Nvidia 670+680

[Soultaker]

Ive already got everything except the video card which runs just as good if night slightly better han a stock 680. As for the heatsink i liked zaleman one over the evo just ny opinion. As for the case i dont see what's wrong with it but i like it reguardless :)

[Fatal]

EE1213, on Nov 25, 2012 - 3:47 AM, said:

GTX 670 all the way!!!!!!!!!!!

Sounds like shill marketing to me.

Soultaker, on Nov 25, 2012 - 4:03 AM, said:

Ive already got everything except the video card which runs just as good if night slightly better han a stock 680. As for the heatsink i liked zaleman one over the evo just ny opinion. As for the case i dont see what's wrong with it but i like it reguardless :)

If you could've gotten a 7970 at a similar price and overclocked it you'd get more for the money. However BnS will run better on Nvidia cards so the 670 is a great choice.

the heatsink is great, just slightly inferior to the 212 EVO performance wise.

The case looks like it has great airflow so it should serve you well, me disliking the aesthetics of the case is just an opinion. Don't bother too much with that :P

[Aari]

Its german but the parts are still the same.
What would you think of this:
https://www.mindfact...5043bec3550119a

I allready got a SSD and HDD's here so they are not implemented.
Might be overkill? But my current I7 2600 is usually at 100% usage when streaming....

This post has been edited by Aari: Nov 30, 2012 - 9:31 AM

[Fatal]

Aari, on Nov 30, 2012 - 9:24 AM, said:

Its german but the parts are still the same.
What would you think of this:
https://www.mindfact...5043bec3550119a

I allready got a SSD and HDD's here so they are not implemented.
Might be overkill? But my current I7 2600 is usually at 100% usage when streaming....

The 3970x is about 20% faster than the 3930x for double the price. I'm pretty sure the 3930x will be more than enough but if you're willing to pay for it go ahead and get the 3970x.

I've never heard of that PSU manufacturer so I have no idea what the quality of the internals is like, also 700W is overkill for a single gpu and iffy if you plan to later SLI another 680. I'd reccomend going with either this or this. Barely a difference in price so the 750W one would probably be a better choice in the long run.

The h100i is very nice but, I'm not a big fan of closed loop water cooling. A faulty product could be the demise of your entire system. Keep it if you like it, switch to a Noctua NH-D14 SE2011 for an air alternative. That cooler should get maybe 5C higher temps.

I would go with an EVGA 680 but that one should be fine.

Motherboard is good.

Ram is good.

I like that case.

Consider adding another SSD in RAID.

Consider using a capture card

On a completely unrelated note, your TERA rants on stream are hilarious.

[Aari]

Hmm I see. Thanks for your input.
Well basicly, ill pay around 600€ myself if price stays as it is. So I dont really mind the price.
I was always thinking about a capture card but I never really found any decent information, maybe I just wasnt looking hard enough, thanks for the link!

About the Power supply. If im not terribly wrong, i probably am, but isnt the one I have actually more power? It has 89% efficency wich is 623W and the 750 you linked has 82%, wich would be 615W. Or is there something else I need to consider there?

For my current PC I am using the H100 as well and im really pleased with it. I can understand the risk of a faulty product tho... I'll think about it.

[Soultaker]

I believe msi cards have a capture function in them.

also see if you can find an 80 plus platinum by seasonic they're a good company.

[Fatal]

Aari, on Nov 30, 2012 - 12:55 PM, said:

Hmm I see. Thanks for your input.
Well basicly, ill pay around 600€ myself if price stays as it is. So I dont really mind the price.
I was always thinking about a capture card but I never really found any decent information, maybe I just wasnt looking hard enough, thanks for the link!

About the Power supply. If im not terribly wrong, i probably am, but isnt the one I have actually more power? It has 89% efficency wich is 623W and the 750 you linked has 82%, wich would be 615W. Or is there something else I need to consider there?

For my current PC I am using the H100 as well and im really pleased with it. I can understand the risk of a faulty product tho... I'll think about it.

You are wrong about the power supplies. The actual wattage is going to be volts*amps on the +12V rail. so the one you chose is actually 696W and the one I chose is 744W.

The efficiency is how efficient the unit uses power so the one you chose with it's 89% efficiency means that if your system uses say 450W total it will have to pull about 500W from the wall.

This post has been edited by Fatal: Nov 30, 2012 - 1:45 PM

[Aari]

How about switching to a 3930x and instead taking a 690? A friend of mine said, and i guess hes kinda right, the CPU is definitly not hte bottleneck and cant be used completly anyway by any games. But i Guess a 690 would be a way better FPS increase. SLI is kinda not an option seing as nearly no games support it (only the High end ones like BF, Far Cry) but MMOs wont ever and then a dual GPU like the 690 would be better wouldnt it?

[Fatal]

Your friend is right, mostly. Some games like Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3 are highly dependant on the cpu. BnS is not one of those, should easily run at max settings with an i3 + GHz 7870 combo. However in your case, streaming is what's taking up a huge chunk of your cpu's resources, so you'd benefit more from a better CPU than a better graphics card. A capture card takes all the stress of streaming away from the CPU but the video from capture cards tends to have serious drops in bitrate when there's a lot of movement.

All things considered though, I would agree with your friend in getting a 690/3930x over a 680/3970x, both CPUs should have no trouble handling the streaming load.
There might be micro stuttering issues with the 690 though as it's still essentially 2 670s in SLI and running at 8x/8x and not 16x. And for maximum performance I would recommend you go with a 7990, it's going to use more power but it's going to get a bit higher framerates than a 690, but it's really down to your personal preference whether to go 690 or 7990. Also whichever you chose remember to get one with a nice cooler, both cards can get really hot.

[Lyndis]

Fatal you seem to be pretty up to speed on your tech facts and knowledge so let me ask you for a bit of help. I am not very computer savvy although I am trying to get better. I want to be able to play Blade and Soul at max settings when it comes out and be very smooth and look very nice. My budget is probably going to be around $800 tops. That might change depending on where the husband and I stand when we decide to finally hit up our new purchase. Think you could slap together a build for me so I can write the parts down and do some more research on?

Also, it seems you are very savvy and keen on Radeon cards and I completely respect that. However my husband and I are die-hard Nvidia fans so if you don't mind would you mind adding an Nvidia equivalent to the build (even if it is more expensive or cheaper). Who knows we may even cave and try something new. Thanks sweetie

Heres what i'm on right now if you're wondering (Its old don't laugh)

Pentium Dual Core E5300 @2.6GHZ
4096MB of RAM
Nvidia GeForce 8800GT (I know, I know, its old and bad)
Antec 550W power supply
Sorry I don't know my motherboard but I am sure we are going to need to replace it anyway due to whatever new CPU and Graphics card we need.

[Fatal]

Is your current system a prebuilt?
Is your current Hard Drive an IDE drive? (massive ribbon connection to motherboard)

I'm most likely going to recommend the "modestly faster" build with some tweaks and with a 660ti for the Nvidia option with similar performance

Most likely an EVGA 660ti

This post has been edited by Fatal: Nov 30, 2012 - 10:00 PM