I couldn’t find the “Build Your Own PC” thread, so I figured I’d create my own.
Haven’t had a gaming PC in a long time. I mostly play PS4. I’m looking into getting a desktop PC that can handle gaming (both on a monitor and a TV), Photoshop and Illustrator and then as a media PC that I can play movies. I’m looking into burning all of my DVDs to a hard drive so that I can play them in my media room or downstairs on my main TV.
Any thoughts or recommendations?
Should I go prebuilt or build my own? Keep in mind that I’ve never built my own. [Reply]
Oh, just one more thing: The last three ASUS motherboards I've ordered were DOA. I placed them in different years, so it wasn't a matter of a bad batch.
I've used Gigabyte boards since with no issues. [Reply]
I want to get finally take the plunge into PC gaming; primarily for X plane , DCS, and American Truck simulator. Casual gaming; something to do to unwind after work / weekends. I enjoy the procedures of flying, and like driving. Would likely never get into any sort of FPS or anything.
I probably would be involved with Plane for a while before DCS as I only have some GA aviation peripherals. And would still want to get a decent wheel/pedal shifter and military type HOTAS. Both of which are down the line
How screwed am I $-wise if I want to play X-Plane / DCS smoothly on sort of a 'medium' setting in 1080 single monitor? I'm assuming If a set up plays either of those smoothly, it'll handle American Truck Sim. Is this something (computer only) that could be had in the $1500-1800 range?
X-PLane 12 (as I'm assuming 12 will be surpassing 11 soon)
Recommended Hardware Requirements:
CPU: Intel Core i5 8600k or Ryzen 5 3500 or better, or Apple Silicon
Memory: 16-24 GB RAM or more
Video Card: a DirectX 12-capable video card from NVIDIA or AMD with at least 4 GB VRAM (GeForce GTX 1070 or better, or similar from AMD)
DCS
these were listed as recommended for high settings;....I'd be fine with Medium I suspect.
OS 64-bit Windows 10;
DirectX11;
CPU: Core i5+ at 3+ GHz or AMD FX / Ryzen; RAM:
16 GB (32 GB for heavy missions);
Free hard disk space: 120 GB on Solid State Drive (SSD) + extra space for paid content ;
Discrete video card NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 / AMD Radeon RX VEGA 56 with 8GB VRAM or better;
Joystick;
requires internet activation.
American Truck Simulator
Recommended:
OS: Windows 7/8.1/10 64-bit
Processor: Quad core CPU 3.0 GHz
Memory: 6 GB RAM
Graphics: GeForce GTX 760-class (2 GB)
Storage: 7 GB available space [Reply]
A prebuilt system that would confidently run those games at decent quality would likely run you around $700. If you really shopped around or went the refurb route, you might be able to lower that a bit. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Fish:
A prebuilt system that would confidently run those games at decent quality would likely run you around $700. If you really shopped around or went the refurb route, you might be able to lower that a bit.
dang, that's good news. I upped my budget just due to. /assuming a pretty big jump for supply chain etc. My original budget was $1k-1200.
I'd probably definitely go the pre-built route, simply because I've never opened up a computer case before, let alone built one.
Originally Posted by Dayze:
dang, that's good news. I upped my budget just due to. /assuming a pretty big jump for supply chain etc. My original budget was $1k-1200.
I'd probably definitely go the pre-built route, simply because I've never opened up a computer case before, let alone built one.
any recommended sites for pre-builds?
It's really late, and I'm really drunk, but here's a couple quick prebuilds around the price range that look pretty decent. Look for similar specs. I'll try and find some time tomorrow to look at some other good deals.
Is the extra couple of bones worth the increased VRAM? Or is it just lighting money on fire ?
Just to have a little more breathing room for whenever I go down the DCS route? That route will be a ways off anyway. I’ll mainly live in ATS and XP in that order
$1,149.99
HAJAAN BREEZE PRO Gaming Desktop Tower PC - AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Hexa Core Processor 3.60GHz, 16GB DDR4 RAM, 512GB SSD, GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB - Wi-Fi Ready - ARGB Fans - Windows 11 Pro - NEW
Originally Posted by Fish:
Yeah, you bet. For a gaming PC, the GPU is the most important piece. You mentioned running games at medium, and I missed your price range at the end.
Double the SSD size, and a better GPU. You could likely run those games at high setting with either machine.
welp...after waffling for months, and even more waffling after Fish suggestions....
I jumped in today and ordered the one linked in this post. I'm always the type that has pretty big anxiety with purhases north of $500 etc...so I think I'll drink a couple beers to calm my nerves.
in all seriousness though, thanks for the recommendations. I've been wanting a gaming computer for yearssssss. every year I say "maybe this time next year" etc and I never end up doing it. I'm stoked to see how this thing runs. Literally my last experience 'gaming' on a computer was with our shitting laptop back in probably 2012-ish on a laptop with maybe 2GB of RAM, and I was doing flight sim on the laptop monitor. :-)
Now, off to the inter webs to get a desk and a monitor.
Even if my GPU Gets say 60fps (just a random example). …..if I got a monitor 144hz for future proofing with free or gsync. …..
Will that be ok. Meaning. I issues if the GPU is only pushing 60fps even though the monitor is rated for higher refresh? Assuming gsync or free sync makes that concern moot?
Or just better off going with a 60 or 75hz in 1080. Would imagine at the point in time in the future where the GPU/CPU is upgraded I’d upgrade to run 1440p and my concern about 60hz or 144 in 1080 is moot. ?
Get the highest refresh rate monitor you can afford for your budget. You do not have to worry about "Matching" refresh rate of monitor and GPU. The system will output the maximum that the hardware is capable of. The monitor refresh rate will be the limiting factor. The GPU will be capable of quite a bit higher refresh rate. [Reply]
welp, there was a thread a while back where Dane was going over some troubleshooting on his build, and I made some reference like "that's the kind of stuff that would happen to me".
well, new computer arrived, monitor, desk, chair etc, over the course of 2 weeks. last weekend finally unboxed and began assembly and set up of everything. finally got to the computer, unboxed and started to power on and set up.
...nothing on display. hmmm. verified I was on plugged into the DP of the GPU. nada. grabbed an HDMI and tried off the mobo....nada. Thinking maybe my monitor wasn't working. set up my ps4 on HDMI...voila. Beautiful screen.
led lights and fans on the computer were on when I powered on...but that's where it ended. plugged direct into outlet....nada. keyboard wasn't lighting up so I plugged into every available USB....nada. Plugged it into my laptop, voila...worked. No beep or anything when powering on.
Finally after a few hours, took some pictures and emailed the tech support. talked to them today and they listen to all the steps I took, and they said well....looks like something is either not plugged in correctly inside, or possible power supply issue or something else.
They're shipping me another one, and emailed me a shipping label to send this one back.
I knew something like this would happen. Oh well. It's ok, they were helpful and responsive so it's probably just a shit happens scenario. So hopefully the new one will fire up with no problems. [Reply]
