PC Primer

Guidelines:

  • This guide assumes you are building a gaming PC. If you are building an HTPC, workstation, NAS, supercomputer cluster, or anything else that isn't a gaming PC, this guide will not apply to you. Go ask /tech/ instead.
  • All prices are in United States Dollars.
  • The prequisite components of a "build" are a CPU, GPU, RAM, motherboard, HDD and/or SSD, case, and power supply. A build may also include an optical drive, aftermarket CPU cooler, wireless network adapter, or other components. Monitors, mice, keyboards, speakers, and headphones are NOT parts of a build.
  • This guide was last updated February 2, 2016. If you are reading this more than a few months from that date, much of the information on specific components will likely be obsolete, but everything else will probably still apply.

General tips and FAQ

(IF YOU READ NOTHING ELSE ON THIS PAGE READ THE FOLLOWING)

  • You don't need a sound card.
  • You don't need a network adapter.1
  • Ask yourself if you actually need an optical drive.
  • Pirate Windows. If you are enrolled at a university, they may provide Windows to you for free.
  • Always buy the cheapest RAM you can find. There is zero real-world performance difference between slow DDR3-1333 RAM and 51CK GAVMUR DDR4-300000 RAM.
  • If you live in driving range of a Micro Center (or Fry's to a lesser degree), then get your parts from there. They will be far cheaper than online (around $200 less for a beefy rig), and have tend to have excellent customer service to boot. Most locations will even allow you to test the build in-store!
  • If you live outside of the United States or Canada, you're fucked. If you live in western Europe, you're slightly less fucked.
  • Don't take Logical Increments at its word. It's a decent starting point if you are new, but suffers from many inaccuracies and outdated information, as well as simply bad advice.
  • Don't take PCPartPicker at its word, at least for some things. Prices listed often do not included various retailers, and are sometimes outdated. It is also lacking listings for many peripherals.
  • "What is the minimum I can spend and still have a decent PC gaming experience?" Around $400-$450, not including peripherals. It can dip even lower if you don't mind buying used.

CPU

General tips and FAQ:

  • Only buy products in the i5, i7, Xeon, FX, Athlon X4, A8, and A10 product ranges. With few exceptions, everything else is either too old or not powerful enough for a gaming rig.
  • Don't buy an i3 processor. These are low-end, and AMD provides a much better value at this pricepoint.
  • "But I heard the Pentium G3258 was a good low-end processor?" While the G3258 has an incredibly impressive IPC and clockspeed, it only has two cores and no hyperthreading, and therefore isn't very useful for modern gaming. Many titles will run fine, but many will also dip down to under 10fps for several seconds before recovering. It also has compatibility issues with Windows 10, so it's unlikely you'll be able to utilize DirectX 12.
  • "Should I buy an AMD APU?" Only if you're on a shoestring budget. While surprisingly good for their price, they still do not perform very well, particularly on modern releases. Only purchase one if you plan on only doing very light gaming. Do note, however, that performance on older releases (pre-2010) is relatively good, so if you don't want to play newer titles, they are a viable option. A bottom-of-the-barrel APU build costs approximately $240; a "high-end" (if you can call it that) one will run you approximately $300. If at all possible, save another $80 worth of pennies and get a dedicated GPU.
  • "I heard that AMD was facing a lawsuit over false advertising regarding its cores." They are, but it's mostly B.S. The lawsuit is based on the fact that Bulldozer chips don't have completely independent cores. While this doesn't effect performance in any meaningful way, you could make the argument that it isn't a truly x-core processor. It's speculated that the lawsuit will be thrown out.
  • Used CPUs in good condition are generally safe to buy, however, you should only expect a roughly 20% saving over buying an equivalent new CPU.
  • Don't expect to be able to upgrade an Intel processor to a new one with the same motherboard. Intel switches to a new socket more often than upgrades are worthwhile.
  • Don't buy an AM3+/FM2+ motherboard expecting to use it with Zen or new APUs. AMD has already confirmed that new CPUs and APUs will use AM4. Rumor has it that AM4 motherboards (along with non-Zen APUs) will be released in Spring 2016, so this is a possible upgrade path.
  • Skylake is currently not worth the money. Haswell-E hardware (that is to say the 4690K and 4790K), including mobo and RAM, cost about $150 less and have near-identical performance. Haswell-E hardware has skyrocketed (from $250 to $375 at Micro Center!), making the cost of it on par with Skylake.

Why do some people recommend AMD over Intel? Because Intel:

Conversely, AMD is practically sinless. So why do people still suggest Intel over AMD? Because for the past several years, AMD's single-threaded performance (or IPC) has been piss-poor. Single-core performance of Intel's lowest-end processor, the $60 Pentium G3258, is nearly double of that of AMD's highest-end processor, the $150 FX-8350. As a matter of fact, AMD hasn't released a new processor in over three years. AMD even used an Intel processor in video demonstration of their new GPUs.
This is not to say that AMD CPUs are a bad value, quite the opposite. Whereas AMD's highest-end CPU is $150, Intel's i7-6700K is $420. As a general rule of thumb, AMD CPUs offer a better value than Intel if your budget is under $650.
There is a legend though, that AMD has something brewing. An ancient prophecy foretells that in Winter 2016, the AMD phoenix will be reawakened in the form of something we know only as 'Zen'. The prophecy states that Zen will be led by the same man who ushered in 64-bit processors, and that Zen will return AMD to its rightful throne.

CPU Cooling

If you're enough of an amateur to be reading this guide, chances are you don't need watercooling. Though it was a rather useful practice a decade ago, efficiency has increased to the point of where your processor will run significantly cooler, but you need to use a pretty extreme overclock before you see any actual benefit from that. There are exceptions of course, but oftentimes aftermarket air-cooling will be much cheaper, quieter, and easier to install than watercooling. If you do opt to do watercooling, don't skimp and get something cheap like a Corsair H60, as high-end air-cooling (Noctua NH-U12, anyone?) will yield better performance for the same price.
Again though, unless you're looking into doing some ridiculous overclocking on your high-end processor, air-cooling will do you fine.

Motherboard

General tips and FAQ:

  • It's pretty much a crapshoot when it comes to quality, though ASUS seems to maintain a slight edge in this regard. The following process is recommended:
  1. Go to Newegg/PCPP's motherboard section.
  2. Filter out undesirable motherboards.
  3. Sort by price.
  4. Work up in price until you find one with an acceptable failure rate. Be sure to check multiple sources (Newegg's customer review section is particularly useful).

GPU

General tips and FAQ:

  • These days, GPU prices tend scale very well. Starting at $200 and moving upwards, a 15% increase in price will likely net a 15% increase in performance, a 90% increase in price will likely net a 90% increase in performance, and so on. This trend stops being true once you get into the truly enthusiast cards, like the R9 Fury X and GTX 980 Ti. Everything from the R9 380 through the R9 390X and the GTX 950 through the GTX 980 all provide the best bang for the buck.
  • AMD tends to perform slightly better at 1440p and 4K, Nvidia tends to perform slightly better at 1080p.
  • One-generation-old GPUs can be bought used at amazing savings, up to 75% lower than the aforementioned bang-for-the-buck efficiency range. For example, an HD 7970 GHz can be found on eBay for approximately $100, whereas an equivalent new card, the R9 380X, is selling for $230.
  • If you're buying new, only buy from AMD's R9 series or Nvidia's 900 series. Everything else is either not powerful enough or too old to be worth the money.
  • If you're buying used, stick with AMD's R9 series and HD 7000 series or Nvidia's 900 series and 700 series.
  • If choosing between buying a single good card, and two lesser cards in SLI/CrossFire, choose the single good card.
  • "I heard drivers caused some AMD cards to burn out recently?" If using some settings in the first release of the Crimson drivers, it causes fans to throttle on certain GPUs to 20%. It ended up actually damaging an extremely small amount of cards. This issue was fixed three days later, and AMD issued replacements for those affected. Nvidia has had this problem multiple times in the past as well.

Why do some people recommend AMD over Nvidia? Because Nvidia:

  • Utilizes a technology stack called "GameWorks". In exchange for helping the publisher advertise the game, the developer will implement "features" such as HairWorks and PhysX. Though the effects are kind of neat, they are ultimately rather gimmicky, and have more of a performance impact than what they're worth. While the current state of GameWorks isn't very well-known, as of a few years ago they were keeping the libraries under lock and key, meaning that developers could not view the code (so as to optimize it for AMD cards), and AMD could not implement it without adding code to their GPUs that they were unaware the actual contents of were. The chairman of AMD even alleged that developers were strictly forbidden from optimizing games for AMD cards in any form whatsoever if they used GameWorks. Recently, these features have been having significant performance impacts on Nvidia cards as well (such as Fallout 4's God Rays). A while back when some AMD users attempted to purchase low-end Nvidia cards to utilize these features, Nvidia noticed it and promptly blocked the practice.
  • Frequently lies about the specifications of graphics cards, the most atrocious being the GTX 970. It was purported (and still advertised) as having 4GB of VRAM, but upon inspection, it was revealed that it actually only has 3.5GB of usable VRAM, with the last 0.5GB being near-useless. It was also advertised as having 64 ROP units, but in fact only has 56. It was ALSO advertised as having 2048KB of L2 cache, but actually only has 1792KB. Nvidia denounced all of these as lies for months before eventually apologizing and offering refunds. They are currently facing a class-action lawsuit over the debacle.
  • Has pushed developers to add unnecessary tessellation to their games, the most famous example being Crysis 2. Nvidia cards were able to handle high amounts of tessellation better than AMD cards at the time, and the devs added in crazy-high amounts of tessellation (much of it being under the map in the form of water) that resulted in zero graphical improvement, but a high performance impact on AMD cards.
  • Newer drivers seem to hinder older cards more than they should. Whether this is simply a result of poor programming, or deliberate sabotage to help encourage the sale of new GPUs, it isn't a good sign.
  • Requires a valid email address to download drivers.
  • Is still pushing G-SYNC over FreeSync (see the monitor section for more detailed information).
  • You may also hear mockery over Nvidia cards for their high thermal output, using wood screws, and 1.7% yields, but these haven't been issues in years.

Conversely, AMD is practically (though unlike with CPUs, not completely) sinless. So why do people still suggest Nvidia over AMD? …I honestly don't know. They have better performance in some games I guess, but so does AMD. AMD cards usually have a higher TDP than their Nvidia counterparts, but not by a whole lot.
The one "bad" thing AMD has done in several years is withold a review unit for an R9 Nano from TechPowerUp and HardOCP because AMD didn't believe they would give the Nano a fair review. This is based on the fact that the HardOCP representative hung up during the announcement call in protest (for some reason he thought the price was too high, despite being very normal; he later admitted that was an "asshole" move) and TechPowerUp saying that they were giving units to "countless teenagers and streamwhores".

This is a rather good video rundown of the situation.

RAM

General tips and FAQ:

  • You don't want to get less than 8GB of RAM.
  • You don't want to get more than 16GB of RAM.
  • Speed and CAS don't matter unless you are using integrated graphics.
  • Practically all consumers brands source their RAM from the same factories, so brand isn't a factor.
  • In order of importance: Type, Capacity, Price, Aesthetics, Speed, CAS, Voltage, Brand.
  • If RAM is listed as having a higher voltage or speed than your motherboard supports, it will likely automatically undervolt/clock.
  • Don't bother overclocking RAM you retard.

PSU

General tips and FAQ:

  • A shitty PSU can and will damage your other components, so don't skimp here.
  • 80+ is a measure of power efficiency, not necessarily quality. That being said, highly efficient power supplies also tend to be good power supplies.
  • Very few OEMs actually manufacture their own power supplies, so brand does not necessarily guarantee quality, as many OEMs source their's from multiple sources.
  • Generally good brands2: EVGA, Corsair, SeaSonic, be quiet!
  • Popular brands to avoid at all costs: CoolMax, Logisys, Raidmax
  • Always check reviews for the specific PSU you are looking to buy. JonnyGURU.com, Hardware Secrets, and HardOCP are some trusted sources for professional reviews.
  • SeaSonic is a very popular brand on 8chan, and they do indeed almost exclusively produce high-quality power supplies, but you can likely find an equally adequate unit for less. For example, the EVGA SuperNOVA G2 series is manufactured by SeaSonic, but often much less expensive, and just as reliable as SeaSonic-branded supplies.
  • A 100-watt surplus on top of your estimated TDP is advisable. Not only will it guarantee you will have enough power no matter what, it also allows you to install or upgrade to components that require more wattage than your current setup. There's also the fact that PSU efficiency typically peaks around 75%, so headroom will keep your system run more efficiently while under load.
  • Depending on your case, a non-modular power supply can lead to a mess. If possible, get a modular or semi-modular power supply instead. A semi-modular supply will only have essential cables, so don't worry about unused ones hanging about
  • PSU fans always take air in, rather than push it out.

Case

General tips and FAQ:

  • Small form-factor cases can be a pain to work on, especially if you don't have prior experience building a computer.
  • Windows do not dampen sound as well as a solid side panel.
  • Generally good brands: NZXT (fantastic customer service), Fractal Design, Corsair.
  • A mini-ITX/micro-ATX motherboard will look stupid inside of an ATX full tower.

This is the most subjective area of a build, so you're pretty much on your own here. Just find a case that you like the look of and read the reviews to see if its actually shit.

Recommended low-end cases: NZXT Source 210, Corsair 200R, Cooler Master N200, Fractal Design Core 1000/1100, Deepcool TESSERACT.
Recommended mid-tier cases: Corsair 200R, Corsair 300R, NZXT S340, NZXT H440, Fractal Design Define R4/R5, Phanteks Enthoo Pro.
Recommended high-end cases: Fractal Design Define R4/R5, NZXT H440, NZXT Switch 810, Phanteks Enthoo Pro, Corsair 400R, Corsair 500R, Corsair 900R

Monitor

General tips and FAQ:

  • It's hard to buy an out-right bad monitor. Amazon sells $80 monitors that are perfectly fine, if lackluster. The only thing you need to make certain of is that it has a resolution of at least 1920x1080.
  • Low (i.e. 1ms) response times are a gimmick. The time in between frames of even a 144hz display (7ms) is greater than the 4ms difference in response time between a standard 5ms and "gaming" 1ms display.
  • 144hzmonitors.com maintains a very good updated and comprehensive list of monitors (including non-144hz ones!).

There are a few questions to ask yourself when purchasing a monitor:

  • Resolution (1080p, 1440p, 4K?)
  • Aspect ratio (16:9, 16:10, 21:9?)
  • Size (21", 24", 26"?)
  • Display type (TN, IPS, OLED?)
  • Refresh rate (60hz, 90hz, 144hz?)
  • Adaptive sync (FreeSync, G-SYNC, None?)
  • Adapter type (DisplayPort 1.3, HDMI 2.0, DVI-I?)
  • And, of course, price.

You may also want to consider the monitor's dead-pixel guarantee, overclocking capability, mounting compatibility, and general quality of construction.

What is adaptive sync/FreeSync/G-SYNC?

Adaptive sync refers to a monitor's ability to change its refresh rate on the fly. Monitors (LCD ones at least) have traditionally run at a fixed 60hz, with some high-end ones reaching 144hz. The issue comes with screen tearing. If a GPU sends a rendered image to the monitor faster than the monitor can draw it, the monitor will draw multiple images on the same frame, leading to a tearing-like effect. V-sync solves this problem, but is usually limited to 60fps, and has other limitations as well. This led companies to produce two competing standards: AMD's FreeSync and Nvidia's G-SYNC.
FreeSync currently has wider industry adoption, costs significantly less (due to not having to pay licensing fees and implementing a special chip), is an open standard, has no performance penalty, and supports a wider range of refresh rates (9 - 240hz) than G-SYNC. HOWEVER, FreeSync is currently only supported on AMD GPUs. Conversely, G-SYNC has more limited adoption, requires manufacturers to pay a licensing fee of approximately $150 to Nvidia, purchase a special chip from Nvidia for $50 (which isn't even necessary), has little documentation so that people from outside of Nvidia can work on it, a small (but measurable) performance impact, and a more limited refresh rate range (30 - 165hz). HOWEVER, Nvidia cards exclusively support G-SYNC.
"Adaptive Sync" (capitalized) is also the name of the recent VESA standard, which is essentially just codified FreeSync. One important note is that Intel has announced adoption of this standard, so it's relatively likely that Nvidia will also eventually and bregrudingly adopt it as well.

Putting all the pieces together

General tips and FAQ:

  • Use a magnetic screwdriver.
  • The first thing you should do is put the IO shield on. Too many an anon have assembled their computer, only to find that they forgot to install it, and have had to un- and remount their motherboard as a result.
  • There's "knowledge" that has been going around for several years about how it's "dangerous" to work with your motherboard on the anti-static bag. This is complete nonsense that appears to stem from a single forum post made in 2008.
  • Be sure to plug your monitor into graphics card and not your motherboard, retard.
  • No seriously use a magnetic screwdriver.

Other people have made plenty of superb build guides, so I'm not going to reiterate on what they've already done. Carey Holzman is well-respected and does in-depth and comprehensive videos. Newegg, Linus Tech Tips, and NZXT also have good guides.

Canned Builds

Entry level: $400

This build will allow you to play most new games at high settings at 1080p 60fps, and should remain relevant for at least the next couple of years.

Component Part Cost (at Newegg or Amazon, including shipping and discounts)
CPU AMD Athlon X4 860K $74.99
Motherboard Asus A68HM-K $51.98
GPU PowerColor Radeon R9 380 4GB PCS+ $164.99
RAM Team Elite 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 $29.99
Storage Hitachi Deskstar 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM $49.00
Case Cooler Master N400 ATX Mid Tower $41.99
PSU EVGA 500B 80+ Bronze $29.99
Total $440.93
Efficient: $800

This build will perform just as well in the short-term as the below build, but costs significantly less. It also features roughly $250 worth of parts that can be reused in future builds.

Component Part Cost (at Newegg or Amazon, including shipping and discounts)
CPU Intel Core i5-4690K $226.98
CPU Cooler Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO $24.99
Motherboard MSI Z97 PC MATE $87.98
GPU PowerColor Radeon R9 390 8GB PCS+ $283.98
RAM Mushkin Stealth 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 $59.99
Storage Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB $85.00
Storage Hitachi Deskstar 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM $62.00
Case Corsair 200R $49.99
PSU Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze $44.99
Note: Prices of components in this range are currently elevated. Total $920.90
Cream of the crop: $1200

This build will allow you to play with the highest settings possible for years to come without just completely burning money. This build also assumes that you will eventually CrossFire the R9 390X.

Component Part Cost (at Newegg or Amazon, including shipping and discounts)
CPU Intel Core i7-4790K $339.99
CPU Cooler Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO $24.99
Motherboard ASRock Fatal1ty Z97 Killer $111.98
GPU XFX Radeon R9 390X 8GB Double Dissipation $349.99
RAM Mushkin Stealth 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 $59.99
Storage Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB $85.00
Storage Hitachi Deskstar 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM $62.00
Case Fractal Design Define R4 $69.99
PSU Thermaltake Smart M 850W 80+ Bronze $79.99
Total $1183.92
Meme build: $5000+

I want to kill myself. Yes, there are actually people who spend this much on computers.

Component Part Cost (at Newegg or Amazon, including shipping and discounts)
CPU Intel Core i7-5960X $1052.98
CPU Cooler NZXT Kraken X61 $139.99
Motherboard ASRock Fatal1ty X99X Killer $256.98
GPU EVGA GeForce GTX Titan Z 12GB Superclocked $1777.71
GPU EVGA GeForce GTX Titan Z 12GB Superclocked $1777.71
RAM Corsair Dominator Platinum 32GB (4 x 8GB) $299.99
Storage Samsung 950 PRO 512GB M.2-2280 $329.99
Storage Hitachi Deskstar NAS 4TB 3.5" 7200RPM $159.99
Storage Hitachi Deskstar NAS 4TB 3.5" 7200RPM $159.99
Storage Hitachi Deskstar NAS 4TB 3.5" 7200RPM $159.99
Storage Hitachi Deskstar NAS 4TB 3.5" 7200RPM $159.99
Case Corsair 900D $299.99
PSU SeaSonic 1200W 80+ Platinum $210.98
Thermal Paste Prolimatech PK-3 Nano Aluminum High-Grade 30g Thermal Paste $34.46
Optical Drive LG WH16NS40 $49.99
Sound Card Creative Labs ZXR $199.99
Operating System Microsoft Windows 10 Pro Full (32/64-bit) $199.99
Total $7270.71
Jew build: 30% Off

Psst, goyim, want to save some money? Remember, Micro Center prices are in-store only. Also, just use this as an example, you likely won't be able to follow this build to the letter.

Component Part Cost Note
CPU AMD FX-6300 $89.99 Micro Center sells CPUs at prices far below online retailers, but more importantly…
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 R5 $24.99 …they also sell motherboard below other retailers as well, AND have a $40 discount if you buy an AMD CPU at the same time.
CPU Cooler Cooler Master Hyper T4 $19.99 Micro Center
GPU AMD Radeon HD 7970 $100.00 You can often find people selling off last-generation high-end cards (at highly reduced rates) on eBay (and sometimes Craigslist) in an attempt to stay on the cutting edge.
RAM Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 $62.99 Micro Center offers reasonably good deals on RAM.
Storage Samsung 850 EVO-Series 120GB $69.99 Micro Center; you can find better deals on SSDs online, but this is fairly decent and will save you another purchase from elsewhere.
Storage Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM $39.99 Micro Center
Case Whatever you can find??? $30.00 Check Craigslist and thrift stores to find incredible deals on fantastic cases. I personally found an NZXT Switch 810 SE (MSRP $179.99) for $30.
PSU EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze $49.99 Micro Center; like the SSD, you can find better deals online, but it generally isn't worth the hassle of saving maybe $10.
Total $487.93 An equivalent brand-new build from Amazon/Newegg would run you over $700.
Footnotes
page revision: 33, last edited: 28 Feb 2016 06:56
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