Quick Computer Selection Help

[Wood]

So I've decided im going to get a PC instead of getting a nex gen console

I have my eye on this one here: http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX54325

Its in the price range I'd like and seems to be everything i need. To those who know computers does it seem like a solid computer? It shoulf run pretty much anything fine right? GF will be using it for Sims 4 and basic video editing, and ill be mainly gaming

Also, any recomendations for a monitor and chair?

[Rathji]

I would be wary of a gaming computer in a small form factor case.
- Air flow is crappy
- Power supply is custom, so not upgradable
- Video card is likely not upgradable to anything with more power, as the case would certainly not allow it. Nor would the power supply


For that PC in particular:
- an i3 would work for what you need, but won't be fantastic. I would never use less than an i5 in a new PC build.
- Off the top of my head, the video card seems lacking. I am not a GPU expert though, so wont comment any more specifically. A quick google leads me to believe that it is a no standard, customized card that OEM manufacturers use, bit no other real data on it.

Put together another PC with similar parts on Memex website and you will likely be way further ahead in cost and/or performance.

[cDnStealth]

That doesn't look very great to me. If you're using this thing for gaming I'd recommend an i5. Going with an i3 is not very ideal and will hold you back in the future. You'll get more for your money if you pick out parts yourself and get them to build it for you. For a comparison, I recently built a PC with very similar specs for just over $500.

[Wood]

I did quickly try to build one and it would have been better, for around the same price, i just dont really know if im getting the best options though. I've never built one before and dont want to screw myself over

[cDnStealth]

Well, you can list the parts you picked out here and we can take a look at them otherwise the people at MemEx should be happy to help out. As for a monitor, this Samsung is $90 off so it might be a good choice. http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX51585

I personally have a couple Asus monitors and I love them.

[Rathji]

That's a very good monitor for the price.

As for chairs, I would go for an executive chair, with the high back. Plan on spending $200-$300 low end. I just went to Costco and found a couple in the $250 range that work for me personally. My last job I had one with a mess back and I loved it.

[Wood]

Is it reasonable to think i can build a decent gaming computer with an OS included for $900? Im not looking for a hardcore gaming machine, just something that can play newish games without issues. Dont need to be playing say GTA 5 next month on very top settings. As ling as i can upgrade it in the future that works for me

$150 for an OS. I bought windows 8 for my laptop but don't think i can switch that over to this

~$50 for tower

$215 for i5 intel core 4460 processor

$89 for 8gb of memory. Would 4gb be fine?

Video card - Probably looking around $150 here

Optical drive? I'd probably just go with a cheap $20 option here. I have a blueray drive in my laptop, not sure if it would fit in a desktop?

Not sure what id need for a hard drive, not really too concerned about having a lot of space since i have a t1 external HD i can use if needed

Need a motherboard, maybe could go with a cheaper opion here?

Then what else? Sound card, network card, power supply and assembly? I could just buy the parts and build it myself, id be pretty comfortable doing that

[Mazrim]

Here's one I priced out for a friend the other day. They have a budget of around $750, and wanted to play games but nothing crazy. I doubt this will be the final product they end up with but it was a good reference.

CASE - Corsair Carbide Series 200R Compact ATX Case, Black - $70
MOTHERBOARD - (LGA1150) ASUS Z87-C w/ Dual DDR3 1600, 7.1 Audio, Gigabit Lan, CrossFireX - $110 (Reg $140)
PROCESSOR - Intel Core i5-4460 Processor, 3.20GHz w/ 6MB Cache - $215
POWER SUPPLY - Corsair Builder Series CX600 600W Power Supply - $75 (Reg $80)
MEMORY - Kingston HyperX PnP 8GB DDR-1866MHz SODIMM Dual Channel Kit (2 x 4GB) - $80 (Reg $110)
VIDEO CARD - eVGA GeForce GT 730 2GB PCI-E w/ VGA, DVI, HDMI - $85 (Reg $95)
HARD DRIVE - Seagate 2TB Desktop HDD SATA III w/ 64MB Cache - $95 (Reg $110)
DISC DRIVE - ASUS 24x DVD-RW Drive, SATA, OEM, Black - $20

[cDnStealth]

Just a really quick idea.

Motherboard & Processor $425
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/BDL_MM00000110
Or perhaps this one for $380
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/BDL_MM00000149

Case $60
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX37673

Windows 7 (or 8) $120

600W Power Supply $70 ($60 after $10 rebate)
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX47882

8GB Ram $100

1 TB HD $90
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX49541

Then you just need a video card. The motherboard has an integrated GPU so if you really wanted to you could use that until you could afford to put in a dedicated graphics card.

[Wood]

My laptop has a sata HD that I had to put in when the original died. I can just use that HD in this desktop and that way I don't need to bother with getting a HD or buying a new OS, correct?

[DoubleF]

Isn't Badger's Nose still selling his desktop? It's been on hold a while or something though.

Why not offer him slightly more than his $700 asking price if it's still available to get rid of the on hold thing? (You might still need to buy an OS though as I'm not sure about compatibility of Windows 10) EDIT: Seems like you have a copy of 8.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by Wood

My laptop has a sata HD that I had to put in when the original died. I can just use that HD in this desktop and that way I don't need to bother with getting a HD or buying a new OS, correct?

You can reuse the hard drive for sure, but you would need to make sure it is at least a 7200 rpm drive.

If you have the product key, you can reuse the OS as well (as long as it is only in use on one PC). You should do a new install though.

If your budget allows, get a SSD. Even if it is only 120GB, it is so worth it to run in conjunction with a larger 2 TB HDD

[Wood]

Thanks doublef, I messaged badger. That'd actually be perfect

Only issue with windows 8 might be I had t installed on my HD, it died, then I had a ton of issues getting it activated on my new HD. Not sure if it would be considered to be installed on 2 PCs because of that or not. I'll see if I hear from badger and go from there. If I do build my own ill get a SSD but I'll hold off on an OS and use what I already own hopefully

[Hugh Jahrmes]

Thing is if you have an SSD that will be where you want your OS / commonly used programs installed. Use your other storage for media, documents etc.

[DoubleF]

I see Badger's sale closed. Were you successful?

[Wood]

Sorry haven't checked back here, no the computer was no longer available

The Memory Express Black Friday sale starts tonight so I'm hoping to building something tonight. I'll post my build most likely

I think I'll just be going with an i5 5690 processor, i7 seems unnecessary. I have windows 7 so I won't need that either. Hoping for a decent graphics card on sale

[Rathji]

An i7 is likely unneeded, I agree.

[speede5]

This is a timely thread, I was thinking of building a computer for a driving simulator, the only thing I want to do is play iRacing. I already have a Mac for my home computer, so this will be pretty much dedicated. I want to run it off my TV. What do I need for a video card to play on a tv?

[cDnStealth]

Originally Posted by speede5

This is a timely thread, I was thinking of building a computer for a driving simulator, the only thing I want to do is play iRacing. I already have a Mac for my home computer, so this will be pretty much dedicated. I want to run it off my TV. What do I need for a video card to play on a tv?

I just took a quick look at the system requirements for that game and literally any card will work. They don't even make the minimum spec cards anymore.

[Wood]

Well I bought it today, ended up going with an i7 since it was on sale. For $40 I'm just going to let memory express build it for me. So next week I'll be a PC gamer, probably going to stack up some games on the steam sale, along with Sims 4 and Titanfall off Origin. I have about 50 games on steam from past sales and Humble Bundle I never touched already so I'll be busy

It's funny I'm most excited to play some of my older games I already played on low settings on my laptop, first 2 I'll probably get into again are Portal 2 and Diablo 3