Not a request you haven't heard before.

Evening, ladies and gentlemen (Or good morning. Or day. Whatever time zone you live in.). First off, let me go ahead and paint a target on my forehead and say that I'm not tech-savvy. At all. Software work? Fine. Cool. I'm good, and if I'm not, I can learn. Hardware? I'm a chimp with a hammer sitting amidst smoldering circuit boards and fractured plastics. Please do keep that in mind. The idea, not the image I just described. Or, that too if it's amusing to you.

I'm looking to build a computer, my new friends, but I haven't a clue as to what I should specifically buy for my purposes. I want to use this insofar theoretical machine to record Let's Play videos for YouTube, and I'll need it to be powerful enough to handle all the simultaneous recording of audio and relatively high-resolution video, as well as run the games themselves on either max visual settings or as close as I can afford to get it.

Ideally, what I'd like is an itemized list of what the current best parts are that I should buy, and maybe some sage advice on how to put it all together without becoming the aforementioned chimpanzee (Or, failing that, direction to a service that can do it for me.). I can put anywhere from $750-$1,200 on this build, maybe a little more if absolutely necessary. I haven't included monitor, mouse, speakers, or keyboard into that budget, as I have extras of those things lying around here somewhere.

I look to you, good men and women of Overclockers, to help me with this objective. So, should any of you feel merciful enough today to take pity on this tech-inept Earth monkey, I would positively explode with gratitude. Just everywhere. There will be a sudden, severe need for towels, mops, and drainage hoses.

Thanks in hopeful advance.

You might as well get into overclocking as well as just building. Once you have your new PC assembled, there's nothing like adding some more free performance to it.

You're going to want something along the lines of

4690K or 4790K cpu
ASUS Z97A, Gigabyte Z97XUD3H, ASRock Z97 extreme 4 or extreme 6 motherboard
2x4GB or 2x8GB or DDR3 1600-2133Mhz. I doubt you'll need 16GB but only you will know
Samsung 840 EVO 120-240GB SSD
WD Caviar Blue 1TB HDD
R9 280X GPU (for 1080P) R9 290 or GTX 780 for 1440P.
Case of your choice with good air flow
Cooler master Hyper 212 EVO Cpu cooler

if you're totally against overclocking (don't see why anybody would be... its so easy these days) then you can go to a non-K cpu and a lower end board for about $85 (vs these boards at 150-180)

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/mistersprinkles/saved/FmpmP6

^Here is an itemized list with individual parts costs within your budget. If you don't already have Win 8.1, it'll cost you $99 for the OEM version from Newegg.com, NCIX, etc.

You should also pick up a couple of extra fans. I'm not sure what mounts that case has (its a popular case though) a little research will reveal what mounts are 120mm and which are 140mm and you can fill them apropriately. For a gaming pc you should have 2 in at the front, 1 at the top and 1 at the rear. More is better but unnecessary.

Also, the GPU I chose is a midrange aftermarket card, you can get higher end cards with better coolers and VRM (google is your friend) that will allow for higher overclocks on the included cooler. Again, if overclocking isn't something you want to do (but with a GPU you just move a couple of sliders up and down in windows FFS) don't worry about this.

gaming and video, drop the 212 evo and get the h100i to be quieter.

Thank you so much. I'll look over these choices and do as much research as I can. I'll come back when I have more questions/want to sing more praises to the computer gods who reside here.

Build your first PC and you will never buy another! The list OCnoob put together pretty much sums up what I would do for your needs.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/KDVgFT

I was given this list from another source (Covering of the bases, as it were). How does it compare alongside the one theocnoob gave to me? I'm sure there are pros and cons at work here that I can't understand.

Not a terrible list but I wouldn't get the Xeon processor nor the H97 board. As OCN mentioned these days it's so easy to overclock you would be much better served getting a Z97 board such as the ones mentioned above and either a I7 4970k or a I5 4960k.

What screen resolution do you plan on playing at? Also do you live near a microcenter?

I think I'll be recruiting you good folks to teach me this 'overclocking' you speak of as well, when the time comes. Free power is a delicious, delicious gravy.

I figure I'd like 1080p, because that seems like the base standard these days. To me, 720p seems so 2010.

And... I don't know what a microcenter is. I live in The Middle of Nowhere, Texas, so I doubt it anyway.

Overclocking is what most of up do here. Helping people learn how to do it is fun and yes having free power is just gravy on top. Most 4690k chips will do 4.5 on a good aftermarket air cooler. The 4970k chips tend to run a bit hotter so on air 4.3-4.4 is about tops, on Air unless you get a really good chip.

1080p is pretty much the standard these days and a 280x will run most games at high/ultra high settings.

Too bad on the micro center they have some pretty good walk in deals on motherboard/cpu combos but it is what it is.

Post any questions you have and you will get more responses in the morning I'm sure. I will also be back on then.

Heartomaton said:

I think I'll be recruiting you good folks to teach me this 'overclocking' you speak of as well, when the time comes. Free power is a delicious, delicious gravy.

I figure I'd like 1080p, because that seems like the base standard these days. To me, 720p seems so 2010.

And... I don't know what a microcenter is. I live in The Middle of Nowhere, Texas, so I doubt it anyway.

Click to expand...

Where is the Middle of Nowhere? Depending on where Nowhere is, I can direct you to one of two MicroCenters and a couple of Fry's in Texas; and there's always etail.

Heartomaton said:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/KDVgFT

I was given this list from another source (Covering of the bases, as it were). How does it compare alongside the one theocnoob gave to me? I'm sure there are pros and cons at work here that I can't understand.

Click to expand...

Given that they suggested a workstation CPU for a gaming rig I would write off whoever suggested that build to you and never listen to them again. Many things were similar to my build. Better Hard drive than mine, worse SSD.

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/mistersprinkles/saved/8q848d

Here's the same build with a better case, a better CPU cooler (for higher overclocks), and a better aftermarket GPU cooler. And a better power supply. Do you need a better power supply? No. A Corsair CX 500 or 600 will be fine. A gold rated PSU vs a bronze rated PSU gives you higher efficiency. So instead of losing 15% of the power it draws as heat it loses 10%, etc. I'd say this is a better buy. It's $1243 which is still within your budget (not counting Windows) and that cooler will let you get a significant overclock on your CPU.

Don't forget to populate your case with extra fans! Research what fans it takes.

If you want a really really bad @SS case there's the corsair 760T. It has the most epic side panel window of any case.


Also, you should be aware that by switching some parts around you have the option to build tiny



All the parts except the cooler and motherboard could be the same.

If you tell us what form factor and look you want for the build we can tailor it to you better.

The Xeon is not a horrible choice. It does have AVX2 and FMA3 instructions but they are not widely used yet. It's basically a i7-4770 without the integrated GPU at an i5 price. So price savings is the main thing, but no real OC'ing besides the turbo speed. Which at 3.8 is not terrible. Its not the absolute latest core with the highest OC potential sure but its not going to be a slouch. You do have to make sure the board will support Xeon chips.

If you go with the Xeon you can stay with a cheap 212 Evo or even stay with stock so again possibly as much a $100 savings there not getting the h100i.

I don't know much about Let's Play videos, I looked at the Youtube channel. Seems like its mostly in game captures and streaming? Are you using fraps or something? You may want to consider NV over AMD for this type of thing as Shadowplay may be useful.

Any cam capturing? Something like a logitech C920? Any other video encoding? You may even want to consider a decent dedicated sound card, a condenser mic, or highend headset|mic.

I tried the Corsair Vengeance 2100 but long periods of time headsets just get to hot and become annoying for me so I switched to a CAD U37 USB Studio Condenser Recording Microphone. Got a boom stand and pop filter. Ppl are amazed how good it sounds in game and in TS.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AIQGUO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

No idea why you would need a bluray player. Burning is dumb these days. Unless your monitor is also a big screen tv watching blurays is bad plus software on pc's for blurays is a pita and expensive. So that is some savings.

The M500 120GB for $72 is a pretty nice price. Its the last gen's most popular drive. Not as nice as having something current but it will still get the job done nicely.

Slight concerns on your storage. For what your doing, I'd have a 250 GB range SSD and a 2TB or larger storage drive. Could it be overkill, very possibly. Once you upload to youtube if you don't need to keep a copy then storage space is not a big deal. If you don't have alot of large videos your working on at one time you don't need a huge SSD. But having the room there to install games and save the captures to will make things better.

With cpu, hs, etc savings I'd try and get a GTX 770 4GB or a GTX 780.

So much delicious information! Once my work shift ends I'll come back and hit the research I need to do like the fist of an angry deity. You guys are great, and so far your help has already lessened my anxiety about this project.

Definitely going to look into cases. I know it's mostly an aesthetic choice once you get past the fan slots and proper sizing (Right? I hope I'm right.), but that means I can pick out one for my own personal tastes.

Heartomaton said:

So much delicious information! Once my work shift ends I'll come back and hit the research I need to do like the fist of an angry deity. You guys are great, and so far your help has already lessened my anxiety about this project.

Definitely going to look into cases. I know it's mostly an aesthetic choice once you get past the fan slots and proper sizing (Right? I hope I'm right.), but that means I can pick out one for my own personal tastes.

Click to expand...

Choose what size case you want and go from there. ITX, mATX, or ATX. ITX is tiny, mATX is medium and ATX is large. There are other sizes too, like EATX, but those are much more feature rich boards, usually, necessitating the larger size, and you won't need one of those.

So, if you chose an ITX case, like a Corsair 250D, we would suggest an ITX motherboard and GPU that would fit the case.

If you chose an ATX case, like a corsair 300R, we'd suggest an ATX board.

The main advantages of going bigger are room to work with the case (easier to build in) and also expandability. In an ITX case you can fit 1 GPU. an mATX case/mobo can typically fit 2, and an ATX mobo/case can fit 3 or 4. Doesn't just have to be GPUs, there are PCIE SSDs, sound cards, wifi cards, etc etc. Also, larger boards tend to pack in more features. The ASRock Z97 Extreme 6, an ATX board, has 2 M.2 slots on it. You couldn't fit that onto an ITX board. You'll also usually get more SATA ports on a larger board. Also, ITX boards only have 2 RAM slots, while larger boards have 4. (on s2011 they have up to 8 but you aren't looking at that socket)

Here are an ITX, mATX and ATX boards all together showing size difference.

Robert17 said:

Where is the Middle of Nowhere? Depending on where Nowhere is, I can direct you to one of two MicroCenters and a couple of Fry's in Texas; and there's always etail.

Click to expand...

Brownwood. It's about 150-200 miles southwest of the Dallas/Fort Worth area. I've actually been to the Fry's in Irving, TX before, but that was a long time ago when I was 18 (So... six years. Yeah. Sure. Long time.) and more interested in DVD collections and (non-recorded) video games. No experience buying computer parts there.

theocnoob said:

If you tell us what form factor and look you want for the build we can tailor it to you better.

Click to expand...

I was thinking this one, will it work? It says it comes with four fans, so that sounds like a good deal (albeit to my inexperienced ear).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147053

I'd really like something in black with red accented bits, but that's just my taste, and I can forgo it if I have to.

Heartomaton said:

Brownwood. It's about 150-200 miles southwest of the Dallas/Fort Worth area. I've actually been to the Fry's in Irving, TX before, but that was a long time ago when I was 18 (So... six years. Yeah. Sure. Long time.) and more interested in DVD collections and (non-recorded) video games. No experience buying computer parts there.

Click to expand...

I've been through Brownwood numerous times, only spent the day there once. It is quite a roll from DFW. If you factor in the gasoline + time it's not really worth the trip unless you've got other reasons to be in the DFW area. So ordering on line would be a better option for you it seems.

Heartomaton said:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147053

I'd really like something in black with red accented bits, but that's just my taste, and I can forgo it if I have to.

Click to expand...

I would steer clear of Rosewill cases. In my opinion, the best layouts and the easiest cases to do cable management (for attractiveness and optimized air flow) are Corsair. The 760T, 500R, 750D, 300R, all come in black and are all fantastic cases for an ATX build.


Corsair's cabling grommets (the oval shaped rubber bits ) are the best in the business.

I would buy a case from Corsair, Lian Li, Silverstone, Antec, EVGA, and a handful of others with Corsair being my favorite. Don't buy products from a snake oil manufacturer. Rosewill makes everything from power supplies to cases to egg timers to bread baking machines, and most of it is gutter quality.

Also, included fans on most cases, with a few exceptions (Silverstone, Corsair) are garbage and will be very loud and probably not last past a couple of years. I guarantee you the fans in the Rosewill case are $3-5 fans. Corsair gives you $10-15 fans. You're much better off buying quality fans from Corsair, Silverstone, Noctua, Phobia, Be Quiet, and installing them yourself. Noctua fans may be tan and brown but they will last longer than you will. Also, if you want to accent your case, the Corsair AF series fans (as well as SP but those arent for case ventilation so much as heatsinks and radiators) come with interchangable colored rings. If you have a red and black motherboard, get red and black fans!

I would steer clear of Rosewill cases.

Click to expand...

They're not all bad OCN I really like my Blackhawk Midtower.

Theocnoob said:

I would steer clear of Rosewill cases. In my opinion, the best layouts and the easiest cases to do cable management (for attractiveness and optimized air flow) are Corsair. The 760T, 500R, 750D, 300R, all come in black and are all fantastic cases for an ATX build.

I would buy a case from Corsair, Lian Li, Silverstone, Antec, EVGA, and a handful of others with Corsair being my favorite. Don't buy products from a snake oil manufacturer. Rosewill makes everything from power supplies to cases to egg timers to bread baking machines, and most of it is gutter quality.

Also, included fans on most cases, with a few exceptions (Silverstone, Corsair) are garbage and will be very loud and probably not last past a couple of years. I guarantee you the fans in the Rosewill case are $3-5 fans. Corsair gives you $10-15 fans. You're much better off buying quality fans from Corsair, Silverstone, Noctua, Phobia, Be Quiet, and installing them yourself. Noctua fans may be tan and brown but they will last longer than you will.

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Duly noted, sir. No trusta da Rosewill. Damn those swindlers can make a pile of **** look pretty, though. Ah well. Advice appreciated and taken. Corsair it is!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139036

This one should suit me, yes? Buy some brothers for the included fans (Hello, LED fans. I did not know you were a thing!) and the case is good to go (and also metal as ****)! So imposing, too! Exactly what I was getting at, with the color scheme and all that. Next issue! A series of worries have plagued me with some questions with the actual building process.

Will I need any specialized, specific tools?

What about static? I keep seeing horror stories of people accidentally zapping and destroying either a single part or many, and that would just devastate both my wallet and I. I'd seriously start bawling. Is this a legitimate concern?

Is it safe to buy all these pieces over several weeks or months and assemble it a bit at a time, or should I just leave them in their boxes until I have them all and build it all at once?

Is the build process pretty straightforward?

Windows 7's still alright, right? 8's newer and all, but I don't particularly care about which OS version I have as long as it successfully runs my ****, and 7 seems to work fine for other people. Also cheaper. Is there any reason I'd really want to get the new one?