Joining The Masses: Building My First Gaming PC, Part 2

[Blueberries]

I imagine the author learned a lot from this experience and has a much better idea of what they would do next time, kudos to getting your hands wet. Obvious thought went into your purchases but to me it kinda looks like buying a turbo for a used beater car the way your budget is aligned (higher fidelity parts could have been purchased and a GPU could have been put on hold).

If you do run into that problem with a GPU you should remove the cover; not only is it a lot easier, but you could have bent the pins, crimped the wires, etc.

 

[shrapnel_indie]

Some Z97 boards provides better PCIe lanes lay out, which is need if you're going to run SLI or want to run CFX in a non crippled setup like x16/x4. It also has SATA Express as well as M.2

Just as some z97 boards provide better PCIe layout, some z97 boards don't offer PCI Express or M.2 connectivity: Gigabyte G1.Gaming Z97 case in point.

 

[Nolan Campbell]

This is funny - I remember back in the day having to build my own PC's to get decent specs. I guess I am old now because I feel like there are plenty of off the shelf options without having to build anything. Yup I am old! lol

 

[sire_angelus]

i've built almost the same pc, but i used an msi gd-45, 280x, no optical drive, and an i7 4770k. Great case for the price.

 

[sire_angelus]

i've built almost the same pc, but i used an msi gd-45, 280x, no optical drive, and an i7 4770k. Great case for the price.

I found out that the i3 was greatly unsufficent to drive the 280x in many occasions. I suggest switching to an i5 4670k, i bought the i7 just cause i found a second- hand one for the price of the i5

 

[mortsmi7]

While an H97 is supposed to be a Z97 minus the overclocking, that isn't always the case. Motherboard manufacturers want you to buy the more expensive board, so they skimp on other features like USB ports/headers. So overclocking is not the only reason to buy a Z97. Depending on your setup, the higher-end board might be what you need, regardless of your CPU type.

 

[Grenate]

Ouch. You really should have stuck with the Seagate. Western Digital is flat out terrible. Seagate is hardly any better but I can say without a douvt that WD is the worst of the more trusted HD manufacturers. Have literally never owned a hard drive from them, in the past 15 years, that didn't die prematurely.

 

[mapesdhs]

Pick up a used K series i5/i7 a couple years later when the i3 struggles. Instead of trying to track down a new motherboard as well.

Used chips are pretty robust and the difference between a generation or 3 is negligible these days.

Yup, I've done this loads of times, obtained half a dozen 2700Ks (all run at 5GHz no problem), 2500K, 3930Ks, 3970X, etc. The continued potency of a 2500K is probably why it still sells for so much 2nd-hand on eBay, excellent upgrade for someone who originally could only afford a basic i3 or lesser i5. Ditto 2600K/2700K.

Used parts are an excellent way to upgrade existing systems or build powerful new ones, eg. I recently completed a 2nd gaming PC, huge savings vs. buying normal-new (or an X99 rig which wouldn't offer any significant extra speed).

Ian.

 

[MaxGardener]

This is basically the same build I put together for my brother a few months back after black friday. Performs great.