Project Reality Forums

Hello dear PR community.

I have finally saved money for a new gaming PC and my budget is $2000.

As the thread title suggests - I am having a serious dilemma about where to go and what to do in order to buy my new gaming PC.

Pre built gaming PC

I have seen many different companies which sell pre-built gaming PCs and have noticed that the prices vary and can be thousands of dollars.

For example:

Digital Storm: Gaming Computers & Custom PCs Built To Dominate

Custom Gaming Computers and Laptops: iBUYPOWER? Gaming PC

Custom Gaming PC, Custom Gaming Computers, Canada Online Computer

The above mentioned companies have many different options available for all budgets.

However, they seem to be expensive.

Building my own PC

I really like this option much better but there are some serious obstacles:

- I do not know how to build PCs
- Due to work (truck driver), I only have time on weekends if I am lucky
- Where to find someone who can build it for me? I have no friends so I would need to go to a local PC repair shop and have them assemble it for me

And the most important point
- Once all the parts have been ordered, would I actually save any money compared to buying pre built gaming PCs ?

So, there we have it.

Sorry if my thread is a bit long.

Your help will be appreciated very much.

To answer the relevant parts of your post:

• Assembling your purchased parts yourself is easy. It took me a grand total of 2.5 hours my first time as a 14 year old... I can whack a PC together in around 30-40 minutes nowadays (depending on how easy the case is to work with)
• You get much more customization and therefore less buyers remorse, assuming you choose well
• You will indeed save money by going piecemeal, and you'll be able to set yourself a more fluid upgrade path for the future.
• $2000 is excessive unless you're buying all new peripherals as well, in my opinion. Better to spend $1200-1500 now then put the other $500 towards future upgrades. It pays good dividends, trust me

Hello Psyrus

Thank you very much for your valuable input.

I have forgotten to mention that in that price, I have included a new monitor as well. So that is $2000 including a decent gaming monitor.

I guess, I may have to start looking where to get it assembled. Wishing I could do it myself but I am a total noob in this field.

Any suggestions where can I order parts (ebay, NCIX, etc...)?

Zulnex wrote:I guess, I may have to start looking where to get it assembled. Wishing I could do it myself but I am a total noob in this field.

Did your parents ever give you lego? Putting together a PC is probably easier than most lego builds.

As a good base, just use the "Outstanding" build here for a good base, then add/change/subtract parts that you deem need it.

Some online stores for you in Canada:
TigerDirect.ca - Computers, Computer Parts, Computer Components, Netbooks & Electronics
NCIX.com - Canada's Premier Computer Store - Online PC Discount Store, Buy Computer Accessories
Newegg Canada - Computer Products, Laptops, Electronics, HDTVs, Digital Cameras, Cellphones and More!

Edit:
I use one of these as a screen and it's great for the price
http://products.ncix.com/detail/benq-gl ... 3-1064.htm

No, I never had lego. Played with my toy trucks instead.

Many thanks for the links Psyrus. Those are very helpful.

Edit:
Wow, that is a beautiful monitor. A lot cheaper than what I thought it would be. Figured a decent monitor is around $400. Glad I am wrong.

Once again, thank you so much Psyrus. You have made it very easy for a PC noob like me.

NCIX is good

They also have a channel on Youtube with Linus from Linustechtips.

If I'm right they do give you an option of choosing your own components and assembling it for almost no extra fees. A lot of big companies do that.

For you build, use the Canadian pricing website: Pick Parts, Build Your PC, Compare and Share - PCPartPicker Canada
To make it even simpler, you can find completed builds, and just copy them, and search for optimal pricing from some Canadian online stores. (Note that not all onlie CA stores are represented on partspicker.com )

At the CA$2000 price point, I'd highly suggest getting a 120Hz or 144Hz monitor. It's really the only way to get the full experience from what's in the box.

The website has the following merchants' prices listed real time:

Merchant Tax Rate Merchant Tax Rate Merchant Tax Rate
Amazon Canada %
Logitech Canada %
Newegg Canada %
Canada Computers %
Memory Express %
TigerDirect Canada %
DirectCanada %
NCIX %
Vuugo %

For a monitor, I'd like to recommend the 144Hz ASUS VG248QE for ~$280. I bought one a month ago and it is really, really good.

Just make sure you calibrate the colors.

Also, if you have a MemoryExpress nearby, their pricematch policy is excellent. They'll match the price of any competitor, then subtract 25% of the difference.

I appreciate your help very much everyone.

Thanks to your valuable suggestions, I am making a list of components for my new PC. I will post it here for your final reviews once I am done.
It may take some time due to work schedule unfortunately.

For that ASUS monitor that Black suggested, make sure you check out the NVIDIA G-SYNC.

Hello everyone. Here is my preliminary build. Feel free to suggest and I will make the necessary changes.

Graphics
GeForce GTX 770 2GB - $369.99
http://products.ncix.com/detail/gigabyt ... 8-1285.htm

CPU
Intel Core i7 4770K - $369.99
http://products.ncix.com/detail/intel-c ... 5-1382.htm

CPU Heatsink + Fan
Noctua NH-D14 - $89.99
http://products.ncix.com/detail/noctua- ... m3-fm1-86-
47090.htm

Motherboard
ASUS Maximus VI Hero ATX LGA1150 - $224.99
http://products.ncix.com/detail/asus-ma ... -84529.htm

RAM
Corsair Vengeance Red CMZ8GX3M2X1600C7R 8GB - $136.98
http://products.ncix.com/detail/corsair ... -66915.htm

Hard Drive
Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM - $99.99

Sound Card

ASUS Xonar D1 7.1 Channel - $94.99
http://products.ncix.com/detail/asus-xo ... -39269.htm

Power Supply
Corsair TX750 750W - $139.98
http://products.ncix.com/detail/corsair ... -58382.htm

Case
Cooler Master HAF X - $189.98
http://products.ncix.com/detail/cooler- ... -53776.htm

Monitor
ASUS VG248QE 24Inch - $309.99
http://products.ncix.com/detail/asus-vg ... 4-1285.htm

Mouse
Logitech G600 - $64.99
http://products.ncix.com/detail/logitec ... 7-1359.htm

Keyboard
Logitech G105 - $49.99
http://products.ncix.com/detail/logitec ... 9-1285.htm

Grand Total: $2141.85

I am still thinking about that G Sync monitor by Nvidia.

As I have said earlier, this is just a preliminary list and will be amended as you offer your suggestions.

I appreciate your help very much everyone.

Now you're just showing off.

Enjoy!

Thank you. Actually, I am thinking if I have spent too much on some parts. Feel free to suggest.

Buying a mechanical keyboard and an SSD might be worth it if you're planning on spending that sort of money. Also, I'm doubtful buying exclusively from NCIX is going to give you the best prices. Are you going to be shipping?

How badly do you actually need a sound card? Most new ASUS motherboards are comparable sound-wise to separate cards. You could replace that card with an SSD which will be much more useful in my opinion.

Make sure to have a good price/performance ratio.

There's a lot of "****" to be honest, that a "generic gamer" doesn't need, or will not see any visible/audible performance in 95% of the cases.
I think they call it marketing.

But then again, it's my opinion. I'd rather save a thousand dollars than buying myself a system which is not proportional to the money I pay for it.

It'll sound rude, but don't see it as something personal/intended to harm you, but the fact that you're asking for advice maybe shows that you're a bit ignorant about this (just like me and everyone else is/was)
Think twice before buying and ask yourself if you really need it.

Man, I sound like a grandpa, "back in my days we were happy with a horse made of sticks and a leather boot"

Anyway..

I feel like you're overpaying for items you don't need and won't use. The following areas really stand out to me:

• CPU - Save the $100 and get the 4670K - You're already buying an awesome heatsink so overclocking will mitigate the difference easily
• RAM - There's no need to spend such an excessive amount on the RAM... unless you have some kind of justification
• MOTHERBOARD - specs are also way above what you need, IMO. Do you have any plans to TRIPLE-SLI?
• SOUNDCARD - is also a waste of money unless you're a major audiophile, IMO.
• MOUSE - seems like massive overkill... unless you're gonna be playing a lot of MMOs? The price isn't bad, it just seems like an unwieldy mouse.

With the money you save, you can either beef up your GPU since you are going to want to get 140+FPS to take full advantage of your monitor's high refresh rate... or, I would really recommend an SSD
http://products.ncix.com/detail/samsung ... 0-1382.htm

As mentioned above, if you're getting it from NCIX due to them building it for you... fair enough... but you could save probably in the order of $50 just by shopping around for different parts from various stores.

Furthermore, the more you save now, the more you can stow-away for incremental upgrades down the line so you don't have to wait until your rig is slow and crappy before doing another big overhaul.

ShockUnitBlack wrote:Buying a mechanical keyboard and an SSD might be worth it if you're planning on spending that sort of money. Also, I'm doubtful buying exclusively from NCIX is going to give you the best prices. Are you going to be shipping?

Well, I figured I can save on shipping instead of ordering from different places. I will try Newegg and see if the prices will be different.

Steeps wrote:How badly do you actually need a sound card? Most new ASUS motherboards are comparable sound-wise to separate cards. You could replace that card with an SSD which will be much more useful in my opinion.

This just shows lack of knowledge in PCs. I always thought that a separate sound card needs to be purchased when building a gaming PC.
I am glad I do not need one then. That money can be used for my G Sync monitor.

Careless wrote:Make sure to have a good price/performance ratio.

There's a lot of "****" to be honest, that a "generic gamer" doesn't need, or will not see any visible/audible performance in 95% of the cases.

I think they call it marketing.


But then again, it's my opinion. I'd rather save a thousand dollars than buying myself a system which is not proportional to the money I pay for it.

Great point. I was just thinking about it. I am thinking that my price/performance ratio is not that great.

'[R-CON wrote:Psyrus;1989241']I feel like you're overpaying for items you don't need and won't use. The following areas really stand out to me:

• CPU - Save the $100 and get the 4670K - You're already buying an awesome heatsink so overclocking will mitigate the difference easily
• RAM - There's no need to spend such an excessive amount on the RAM... unless you have some kind of justification
• MOTHERBOARD - specs are also way above what you need, IMO. Do you have any plans to TRIPLE-SLI?
• SOUNDCARD - is also a waste of money unless you're a major audiophile, IMO.
• MOUSE - seems like massive overkill... unless you're gonna be playing a lot of MMOs? The price isn't bad, it just seems like an unwieldy mouse.

With the money you save, you can either beef up your GPU since you are going to want to get 140+FPS to take full advantage of your monitor's high refresh rate... or, I would really recommend an SSD
http://products.ncix.com/detail/samsung ... 0-1382.htm

As mentioned above, if you're getting it from NCIX due to them building it for you... fair enough... but you could save probably in the order of $50 just by shopping around for different parts from various stores.

Furthermore, the more you save now, the more you can stow-away for incremental upgrades down the line so you don't have to wait until your rig is slow and crappy before doing another big overhaul.

Great points! I knew that my preliminary list is quite pricey. I will definitely not order from the same store and will compare to others.

I am so glad I have not wasted my money in things which I do not need.