Some Help with Building a New Computer

[Wisecraker]

Hello everyone. My computer is fantastic! Lol, but my friends is the worst. He wants help in building a new comp, which I don't mind doing. But I wanted to know if anyone knew a place to shop for parts, what parts are good and cost effective and any suggestions. I go to NCIX and Canada Computers, I was thinking of trying there

[JD@WhitbyMazda]

Go to pcpartpicker.com (make sure you select Canada in the top right). There's a built-in system builder for compatibility for all your parts. They will show the online prices on parts from several store, have consumer reviews, etc. I just built a new one at start of October. You'll order everything online and it'll be delivered to you.

Protip - Find the parts you need, find their cheapest prices and then PRICEMATCH on Memory Express. They will match and beat the price by 25% of the difference. Shipping Canada wide under 100lbs is only $5 also.

Edits - Terrible typing!

2nd Edit - In order to recommend parts, we'd need to know what the intended use/budget is for the build.

[peterm15]

I was going to ask the same question.

Personally looking to build a regular computer I can connect to my tv via hdmi just to surf and mild gaming. (Im not a computer gamer and the pc games I'm interested could probably be run on my 5 year old laptop. Just lags)

[Sivart444]

I personally shop through tigerdirect online for everything. Part of that reason is through work i get a fairly good discount. Site with a builder definitely make it easier if you don't know what you're looking for but as previously stated, give us your budget and i'm sure we can help!

[Aitch]

A bit random of advice from my limited home-building experience: Spend money on your motherboard and processor, rather than loading up on RAM. When I replaced my 2-core AMD chip and Gigabyte motherboard with a new ASUS motherboard and 6-core AMD chip, but went from 8GB to 6GB of RAM (found a bad stick and haven't had the chance to swap it back up to 8GB) I still noticed a huge improvement in my processing-intensive tasks such as photo editing and video processing. Although the chip processing speed stayed the same (3GHz) the better motherboard and chip combo really made a difference.

[Sivart444]

A bit random of advice from my limited home-building experience: Spend money on your motherboard and processor, rather than loading up on RAM. When I replaced my 2-core AMD chip and Gigabyte motherboard with a new ASUS motherboard and 6-core AMD chip, but went from 8GB to 6GB of RAM (found a bad stick and haven't had the chance to swap it back up to 8GB) I still noticed a huge improvement in my processing-intensive tasks such as photo editing and video processing. Although the chip processing speed stayed the same (3GHz) the better motherboard and chip combo really made a difference.

+1

Good processor and motherboard is indefinitely more important than an overkill amount of ram. 8gigs is more than enough. 4 gigs can handle most day-to-day operations without any problems.

The only thing i value equally highly is having a SSD run your operating system.

[Wisecraker]

Thanks for the advice guys. He is looking to spend around 800 (before tax). He only plays steam type games (which in not cases are not too graphically demanding with exceptions of course) and League of Legends. He also does all the typical web surfing and video watching

[JD@WhitbyMazda]

Does he have keyboard/mouse/monitor?

[Wisecraker]

Does he have keyboard/mouse/monitor?

Yes he does, they sucks, but he does

[asyed]

A bit random of advice from my limited home-building experience: Spend money on your motherboard and processor, rather than loading up on RAM. When I replaced my 2-core AMD chip and Gigabyte motherboard with a new ASUS motherboard and 6-core AMD chip, but went from 8GB to 6GB of RAM (found a bad stick and haven't had the chance to swap it back up to 8GB) I still noticed a huge improvement in my processing-intensive tasks such as photo editing and video processing. Although the chip processing speed stayed the same (3GHz) the better motherboard and chip combo really made a difference.

+1


also in regards to RAM, if you plan on getting more than 3 GB of ram. Make sure you have a 64 bit operating system ( unlike me putting 32 bit windows 7 on my gaming computer so only 3 GB of the 4 GB is actually useable :bang)

[tmpz]

Go to pcpartpicker.com (make sure you select Canada in the top right). There's a built-in system builder for compatibility for all your parts. They will show the online prices on parts from several store, have consumer reviews, etc. I just built a new one at start of October. You'll order everything online and it'll be delivered to you.

Protip - Find the parts you need, find their cheapest prices and then PRICEMATCH on Memory Express. They will match and beat the price by 25% of the difference. Shipping Canada wide under 100lbs is only $5 also.

Edits - Terrible typing!

2nd Edit - In order to recommend parts, we'd need to know what the intended use/budget is for the build.

The downside with Memory Express is that if you get any DOA parts, you have to pay to ship it back for a replacement. Order only if the difference is huge.

I just pricematch everything at NCIX and pick it up in store.

$800 is fine without a monitor and OS, but it's tough with a monitor and OS. I can make a build for you later.

[greffer31]

I went through NCIX and had a great experience, since i have 0 knowledge on how to home build $50 for assembly aint bad

[Wisecraker]

The downside with Memory Express is that if you get any DOA parts, you have to pay to ship it back for a replacement. Order only if the difference is huge.

I just pricematch everything at NCIX and pick it up in store.

$800 is fine without a monitor and OS, but it's tough with a monitor and OS. I can make a build for you later.

That would be great. Thanks. If anyone would like to help out I'm getting together with my friend Friday evening. We were gunna have some beers and put a plan together. Maybe check out NCIX. I anyone is interested PM me and I will send u my contact info, and if not the information is greatly appreciated.

For my computer I basically threw money at the guy at NCIX and said I want a good computer, I have this much, they helps out a lot.

[XTOTHEL]

http://www.tomshardware.com/ has some great guides/info on what you should look for on a budget, of course prices are in USD, but still reflects CAD prices somewhat.

Edit1: Also $800 is a little tight, a popular choice for CPU right now is the 4670k that with a decent motherboard will eat up $400-500 of that.

Then ~$200ish for graphics card.

~$100 for ~120GB SSD.

That leaves just $0-100 for PSU and case. Of course, this build would last him longer than a cheaper build, since everything would be latest generation parts, would also let him play newer games that comes out on acceptable graphics settings.

Another option would be seeing getting used parts. You can get a used computer with:

Intel Core2Quad Q6600
ASUS P5Q Turbo
4GB of RAM

for about $200, then just add on a $200 graphics card and SSD for $100, and maaaaaaybe a $100 PSU and you're ready to game/surf the interwebz. $400 savings.

[tmpz]

You don't need the K series if you aren't overclocking.

I took a look at some of the sales, there isn't anything good at all this week. I don't know what happened, usually NCIX and CC have some good deals, but nothing this week.

Ideally you're looking at:
CPU $150-200 (AMD: FX-8320 vs Intel: i5 4430 or 4570 whichever is cheaper)
Motherboard $100-130 after MIR (AMD: Gigabyte 990FXA-UD3 vs Intel: Gigabyte Z87X-UD3H or Gigabyte Z87-UD3H)
Memory $50 (Gskil 2x4GB DDR3-1600 http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231314)
HDD $90 (Toshiba 2TB 7200RPM http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822149407&nm_mc=OTC-sho6b0tCA&cm_mmc=OTC-sho6b0tCA-_-Hard+Drives-_-Toshiba-_-22149407
DVDRW $15 (ASUS or Samsung or LG)
GPU $150-200 (Nvidia GTX 660 or AMD 7850 or AMD 7870)
CASE $60 (Antec Three Hundred Two - fits almost all video card lengths. You can swap for a cheaper case, but make sure the video card fits, check the length)
PSU $50 after MIR (XFX 550W - quiet and high quality PSU will be enough for running most single video cards)

~$800 before tax

+~100 for Win 7 64bit if needed

All prices are taken from NCIX unless noted. This was the best I could find. I'm pretty sure you'll find better deals next week!

Also you can use shopbot.ca to check prices. PC Part Picker website was down.

[Wisecraker]

You don't need the K series if you aren't overclocking.

I took a look at some of the sales, there isn't anything good at all this week. I don't know what happened, usually NCIX and CC have some good deals, but nothing this week.

Ideally you're looking at:
CPU $150-200 (AMD: FX-8320 vs Intel: i5 4430 or 4570 whichever is cheaper)
Motherboard $100-130 after MIR (AMD: Gigabyte 990FXA-UD3 vs Intel: Gigabyte Z87X-UD3H or Gigabyte Z87-UD3H)
Memory $50 (Gskil 2x4GB DDR3-1600 http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231314)
HDD $90 (Toshiba 2TB 7200RPM http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822149407&nm_mc=OTC-sho6b0tCA&cm_mmc=OTC-sho6b0tCA-_-Hard+Drives-_-Toshiba-_-22149407
DVDRW $15 (ASUS or Samsung or LG)
GPU $150-200 (Nvidia GTX 660 or AMD 7850 or AMD 7870)
CASE $60 (Antec Three Hundred Two - fits almost all video card lengths. You can swap for a cheaper case, but make sure the video card fits, check the length)
PSU $50 after MIR (XFX 550W - quiet and high quality PSU will be enough for running most single video cards)

~$800 before tax

+~100 for Win 7 64bit if needed

All prices are taken from NCIX unless noted. This was the best I could find. I'm pretty sure you'll find better deals next week!

Also you can use shopbot.ca to check prices. PC Part Picker website was down.

Ya that's a great economy build. And it performs well on top of that. I told him he'd have to cough up a bit more to get the OS

[THEStorm]

Newegg.ca is another good spot to shop against, they also have a warehouse in Mississauga that does willcall. I use/ used this past weekend canada computers, ncix, newegg.ca, and tigerdirect.

[tmpz]

AMD route is cheaper and better value:
FX-8320 is on sale
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=4904560&sku=A79-8320&SRCCODE=LSCAN&cm_mmc_o=-ddCjC1bELltzywCjC-d2CjCdwwp&utm_source=Linkshare&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=CAqD7bLWUPI&AffiliateID=CAqD7bLWUPI-i3coJ91ZvdBqzGXc7.6vpA

[r4BBiT]

AMD route is cheaper and better value:
FX-8320 is on sale
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=4904560&sku=A79-8320&SRCCODE=LSCAN&cm_mmc_o=-ddCjC1bELltzywCjC-d2CjCdwwp&utm_source=Linkshare&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=CAqD7bLWUPI&AffiliateID=CAqD7bLWUPI-i3coJ91ZvdBqzGXc7.6vpA

+1, I switched from Intel to AMD a while ago as that's definitely more bang for a buck.

I buy my parts from Canada Computers and when I was building my computers it took me few months to gather parts as I waited for sales (I know I'm cheap).

Anyway, to the OP if you are not building gaming machine then $800 before taxes is plenty. If you do then that is tight for sure. As for some tips.

1. You don't need to buy $100 PSU (Power supply unit) unless it's gaming box, buy something around 400-500W and you will be fine.
2. Buy mid-size case at least, most of graphic cards will fit in mid-size. You don't need expensive case unless you are into this things.
3. Buy at least middle-level motherboard, but I would suggest high-end models as it will allow you to keep upgrading for longer without changing motherboard. Expensive mobo will be better performance wise and parts quality, which means the board will not fry itself day after warranty expires.
4. Don't buy the newest CPUs as the price difference is not comparable to the performance.
5. If it is gaming box then buy good graphic card and you can little weaker CPU, if not get a motherboard with graphic card and more RAM.
6. SSD will not improve gaming performance unless the game data is installed on SSD or you are running out of RAM and swapping memory.
8. I would get minimum of 8GB RAM, just because it is cheap and you don't want to be swapping memory.
9. Transfer the old DVD-drive to new machine to save some $. Things really haven't changed here unless you want blue-ray.

[THEStorm]

+1, I switched from Intel to AMD a while ago as that's definitely more bang for a buck.

I buy my parts from Canada Computers and when I was building my computers it took me few months to gather parts as I waited for sales (I know I'm cheap).

Anyway, to the OP if you are not building gaming machine then $800 before taxes is plenty. If you do then that is tight for sure. As for some tips.

1. You don't need to buy $100 PSU (Power supply unit) unless it's gaming box, buy something around 400-500W and you will be fine.
2. Buy mid-size case at least, most of graphic cards will fit in mid-size. You don't need expensive case unless you are into this things.
3. Buy at least middle-level motherboard, but I would suggest high-end models as it will allow you to keep upgrading for longer without changing motherboard. Expensive mobo will be better performance wise and parts quality, which means the board will not fry itself day after warranty expires.
4. Don't buy the newest CPUs as the price difference is not comparable to the performance.
5. If it is gaming box then buy good graphic card and you can little weaker CPU, if not get a motherboard with graphic card and more RAM.
6. SSD will not improve gaming performance unless the game data is installed on SSD or you are running out of RAM and swapping memory.
8. I would get minimum of 8GB RAM, just because it is cheap and you don't want to be swapping memory.
9. Transfer the old DVD-drive to new machine to save some $. Things really haven't changed here unless you want blue-ray.

A couple of those points aren't entirely accurate;

1. A good quality power supply is VERY important! The most common cause of failed components is a bad power supply. However you don't need to spend $100+ on it as long as its good quality and you are willing to go without some features (ex fully modular, gold/ platinum ratings, etc). First use something like this http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp to estimate your required power supply size, and then look at a list like http://www.overclock.net/t/183810/faq-recommended-power-supplies/0_20 to find a good power supply that fits your required wattage.
3. That is not always true. Yes a good motherboard is very nice and the extra features can be nice to have but sockets change so there is no guarantee how long that chipset will be used. Find something that fits in your budget ($150-$180 is normally a good board price range, and if you can find one of those boards from that price bracket on sale all the better! (personal preference, I prefer Gigabyte or ASUS boards)).
9. That doesn't always work, if his computer is old (which it sounds to be) it most likely is using an IDE drive and not a sata drive and most boards dont have IDE on them anymore. I would recommend just not putting in a disk drive, they really aren't needed anymore, or just pickup an external one if you need one at a later date.

Other tips;

-8Gb of RAM is enough for gaming at the moment (even BF4 was only using 5gb of RAM).
-Get a descent case, something easy to build in, I would recommend the Corsair Carbide case line, either the 200r or 300r.
-Depending on when you actually buy everything Tomshardware has a good best value graphics card list you can check out, will help you get the best value for what you are willing to spend and since this is a gaming rig i suggest trying to get as much as your budget allows!
-One way you can save a bit of money is to buy an SSD later, they are great and make a big difference (not so much for gaming, just everything else), but its not a must have.

If you have any other questions feel free to ask!