- Mar 3, 2016
- 19
- 0
- 4,510
I am considering replacing my PS4, which I use for gaming, but also just as much for streaming tv (Netflix, AmazonPrime, and HBO primarily), with a custom built PC. My struggle in this is two fold: first I have never built a computer and am lacking in some of the requisite knowledge, and secondly I don't know if switching to PC is really worth my while considering what I use the machine for. All of this is stemming from the fact that I'm moving into new place in a 6-10 months and will be updating my living room setup and figured I'd look into switching. I also just started a job as a pre-sales engineer at a cloud computing company so building a computer seems like a way to do something fun in my work field.
Things to consider:
-I'm not a big multiplayer gamer. I played an embarrassing amount of COD in college but afterwards became disenchanted somewhere around MW3 and basically stopped playing online multiplayer of any game thereafter. I really don't need to be beating someone else in the world to enjoy my game. I work in sales so I interact with people all day and am perfectly happy interacting with NPCs when I'm playing a video game.
-The games I've played most so that you know what type of game to expect: FarCry (all of them), some Assassins Creed (maybe every other year; they release too many for me to want to keep up), Skyrim (never tried it on PC but would definitely revisit it if I switch to pc), TONS of FIFA - i update every year, the occasional shooter (destiny/COD type stuff), Dishonored, LOTR Shadows of Mordor, and of course The Witcher series. I apparently like big single player games, and soccer (game recommendations if I make the switch are welcome).
- I play 1-3 hours of games a day. There are plenty of days that I don't play at all, and the occasional weekend day when I sit down and suddenly its 5 hours later.
-This system will be hooked up to a big screen. I hear this is a consideration with PC builds.
-Gotta run Windows unless someone has a good reason not to and a way to teach my wife how to use something else.
-I need to be able to use a controller. From what I've heard this isn't a problem, apparently the XBOX controller is the standard for use with PC and I'm fine with that. I'm totally down to use mouse and keyboard in some circumstances but this is a living room setup so controller would be more convenient. Side note, has anyone used the Steam controller? Its sounds like it could be cool.
-Need to be able to shut volume off and use a headset (no loyalty here so Bose, Turtle Beach, whatever). Sometimes one of us has to work at home and we're in downtown SF (the most expensive city to live in in the world) so it ain't a big place.
-It would be ideal if I could wirelessly hook this up to multiple tvs (living room and bedroom) don't know how to do it but if someone has a recommendation that'd be cool. Also I don't know if this will work for gaming or just video so happy to get advice.
-I'm very interested in the Virtual Reality tech thats coming out, and fully expect that within a year I'll want to tinker with that stuff so recommendations regarding it would be appreciated.
My projected build so far:
Here's the big part where I can use help (if you think I should move forward with this). Money is not a real concern but with that said I'm replacing a ~$500 thing here so I'm not going to be ok with dropping $1500 on the base hardware. The build I propose below will come in just under 1k if I build it myself and there's going to be other stuff I need (mouse/keyboard, headset, OS, etc.) so I guess I'm looking at around $1200. Obviously, I'd appreciate suggestions on ways to keep the price down and/or performance up.
Processor: Intel Core i5-4590 ( ~$200)
Mother: Intel Gigabyte GA-H97M-D3H (~$85)
Video: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 ($340)
Memory: G.SKILLS Ares 8G (considering a 1x8 so I can easily upgrade to 16G later) (~$45)
Hard Drive:Samsung 850 EVO 500GB SSD (I play a ton of big open world games so I might like the faster load times) (~$165)
Case: NZXT Phantom 240 (~$75)
Power: Antecedent HCG 520M (~$65)
I want a system that has room to be upgraded easily later (hence SSD for now but will get a WD Blue HDD later to add on, and the 1x8gb memory so I can add a second)
Sorry for the novel but thanks in advance to anyone that bothers to read all this and give me some good feedback!
Things to consider:
-I'm not a big multiplayer gamer. I played an embarrassing amount of COD in college but afterwards became disenchanted somewhere around MW3 and basically stopped playing online multiplayer of any game thereafter. I really don't need to be beating someone else in the world to enjoy my game. I work in sales so I interact with people all day and am perfectly happy interacting with NPCs when I'm playing a video game.
-The games I've played most so that you know what type of game to expect: FarCry (all of them), some Assassins Creed (maybe every other year; they release too many for me to want to keep up), Skyrim (never tried it on PC but would definitely revisit it if I switch to pc), TONS of FIFA - i update every year, the occasional shooter (destiny/COD type stuff), Dishonored, LOTR Shadows of Mordor, and of course The Witcher series. I apparently like big single player games, and soccer (game recommendations if I make the switch are welcome).
- I play 1-3 hours of games a day. There are plenty of days that I don't play at all, and the occasional weekend day when I sit down and suddenly its 5 hours later.
-This system will be hooked up to a big screen. I hear this is a consideration with PC builds.
-Gotta run Windows unless someone has a good reason not to and a way to teach my wife how to use something else.
-I need to be able to use a controller. From what I've heard this isn't a problem, apparently the XBOX controller is the standard for use with PC and I'm fine with that. I'm totally down to use mouse and keyboard in some circumstances but this is a living room setup so controller would be more convenient. Side note, has anyone used the Steam controller? Its sounds like it could be cool.
-Need to be able to shut volume off and use a headset (no loyalty here so Bose, Turtle Beach, whatever). Sometimes one of us has to work at home and we're in downtown SF (the most expensive city to live in in the world) so it ain't a big place.
-It would be ideal if I could wirelessly hook this up to multiple tvs (living room and bedroom) don't know how to do it but if someone has a recommendation that'd be cool. Also I don't know if this will work for gaming or just video so happy to get advice.
-I'm very interested in the Virtual Reality tech thats coming out, and fully expect that within a year I'll want to tinker with that stuff so recommendations regarding it would be appreciated.
My projected build so far:
Here's the big part where I can use help (if you think I should move forward with this). Money is not a real concern but with that said I'm replacing a ~$500 thing here so I'm not going to be ok with dropping $1500 on the base hardware. The build I propose below will come in just under 1k if I build it myself and there's going to be other stuff I need (mouse/keyboard, headset, OS, etc.) so I guess I'm looking at around $1200. Obviously, I'd appreciate suggestions on ways to keep the price down and/or performance up.
Processor: Intel Core i5-4590 ( ~$200)
Mother: Intel Gigabyte GA-H97M-D3H (~$85)
Video: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 ($340)
Memory: G.SKILLS Ares 8G (considering a 1x8 so I can easily upgrade to 16G later) (~$45)
Hard Drive:Samsung 850 EVO 500GB SSD (I play a ton of big open world games so I might like the faster load times) (~$165)
Case: NZXT Phantom 240 (~$75)
Power: Antecedent HCG 520M (~$65)
I want a system that has room to be upgraded easily later (hence SSD for now but will get a WD Blue HDD later to add on, and the 1x8gb memory so I can add a second)
Sorry for the novel but thanks in advance to anyone that bothers to read all this and give me some good feedback!
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