Current Events > Can CE help me build a computer?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Say I have a budget of $2600 and want something good for gaming but not particularly the absolute best.

Not me sorry, I only have a laptop.

Pcpartpicker.com
I built one last year using that site and it works amazing.
Also check your local PC store for bundle deals - like processor/motherboard and go from there

I use logicalincrements and pcpartpicker as the starting points for PC builds. Also, do you already have a keyboard, monitor, mouse, and case to start with or is this totally from scratch?

$2600 used to be like maybe 5%-10% worse than the best for gaming in late 2010s.

Idk about nowdays

Tag since I'm probably looking at building my new one within the next few weeks

Start by reading r/buildapc to familiarize yourself with the current parts marketplace. Pick a GPU and CPU that can play the games you want at an acceptable performance, then pick your other parts based around that.

Dont skimp on your sound card

Would I even need an hdd? I'd also salvage quite a bit from my current desktop for instance I wouldn't need ram or storage.

But honestly I know nothing about building a pc, this one was prebuilt

Nah, you dont need a HDD if you can afford a decent SDD. I could never recommend SDDs enough. What all were you thinking of salvaging from your current build?

VampireCoyote posted...

Dont skimp on your sound card

What forreal ?
I thought it was ok to use external dac and amp

BroodRyu posted...

Nah, you dont need a HDD if you can afford a decent SDD. I could never recommend SDDs enough. What all were you thinking of salvaging from your current build?

Might want to edit that to SSD.

Crimsoness posted...

Would I even need an hdd? I'd also salvage quite a bit from my current desktop for instance I wouldn't need ram or storage.

But honestly I know nothing about building a pc, this one was prebuilt

You probably can't salvage as much from your current pc as you think depending on how old it is. Ram is cheap so might as well get 32gb of ddr5.

Also $2600 is more than enough to build a high end pc. I just finished building mine last week. It's not high end but above average. Spent $1900 on it. Do you plan to play in 4k or 1440p? If you plan to play on a 1440p monitor then you'll be spending less than I did.

Also second whoever said r/buildapc subreddit. I just hung around there reading a lot from people to get an idea of what to build. Took someone's pcpartpicker list and made some modifications.

Regarding hdds. You don't want to use those unless you have several TBs(talking over 10tb) of non game files you want to store. You'll want nvme ssds for your boot drive and games drive. They are 45x faster than an hdd.

Integrated audio is fine for 99% of people these days. An externa DAC and amp is already better than that too.

However, you may not be able to salvage as much from your current build as you may think depending on its age. Hard drives will be fine (although I wouldn't want to use one outside of mass storage, so slow!) as will disc drives and your external DAC, although finding a case with space for a disc drive is a bit of a task and they aren't used much these days. RAM will likely not be compatible unless your old PC is relatively new. Your GPU will be compatible, but I'm assuming it'll need an upgrade. Your PSU will likely work, but they aren't super expensive and I'd never skimp on the power supply.

Honestly looking at its specs I could probably just upgrade my current computer

You can get a "buy it now" computer on Ebay for $99. :)

Is pcie 5 mobo needed for new aaa games to not stutter

So I'm messing around with the part picker and would I need buy a new copy of windows if I move my two SSDS to the new computer?

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

It's better to install windows from scratch than use an existing install of Windows. There's a good chance it'll work but there are situations where there will be driver conflict between drivers install for the old computer and new.

Crimsoness posted...

So I'm messing around with the part picker and would I need buy a new copy of windows if I move my two SSDS to the new computer?

If your windows license is tied to a microsoft account that's logged into the computer, you would install a fresh copy of Windows on your new computer, log into your Microsoft account, and it should activate.

Thanks for all the advice CE but I decided to wait due to a upcoming vet appt for my cat

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Npwrn6

I don't understand the warning it's giving me >.>

Crimsoness posted...

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Npwrn6

I don't understand the warning it's giving me >.>

It just means you'll need to grab the newer version of the motherboards bios from the company's site and update before your mobo will see that cpu. Not a big deal. You should be updating to the latest bios when building your computer anyway.

Also that 1000w power supply is overkill. Your build will barely pull 600w. I'd drop down to 850w and save some money.

BroodRyu posted...

Nah, you dont need a HDD if you can afford a decent SDD. I could never recommend SDDs enough. What all were you thinking of salvaging from your current build?

I have a 1TB SSD and 4TB HDD and they're both almost full. I just put games that don't have as much loading on the HDD

BlazinBlue88 posted...

It just means you'll need to grab the newer version of the motherboards bios from the company's site and update before your mobo will see that cpu. Not a big deal. You should be updating to the latest bios when building your computer anyway.

Also that 1000w power supply is overkill. Your build will barely pull 600w. I'd drop down to 850w and save some money.

Can I do that before putting in the cpu? Sorry if I sound ignorant ._.

Also I decided to replace my old SSD with a brand new one, will I need to buy windows again?

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/nzttRK

Under 2k and can run mostly anything at 1440p with near 100fps on most titles.

I see you said you already have RAM, etc.

I would recommend maybe getting a whole new build, transferring what drives you have and leaving the old build in tact, you could use it for a storage solution or possibly even stream PC

Crimsoness posted...

Also I decided to replace my old SSD with a brand new one, will I need to buy windows again?

As long as your signed into your microsoft account you have windows with, you should be fine.

You just need to login and windows will activate.

Samurai_Man posted...

I would recommend maybe getting a whole new build

Yeah I opted to just build a brand new PC I might keep one of the SSDs but it's a backup drive anyway

Can anyone explain how to update the BIOS of the motherboard?

Crimsoness posted...

Can anyone explain how to update the BIOS of the motherboard?

On your current computer, you'll go to the motherboard manufacturers site and download the latest bios. Then you'll just put it on a flash drive(probably need to format it as fat32), and when you boot into your bios, there will be an option to update.

Crimsoness posted...

Thanks for all the advice CE but I decided to wait due to a upcoming vet appt for my cat

Feel free to send me a PM whenever you decide to build a new PC and I can set you up with some good recommendations.

Caelthus posted...

Feel free to send me a PM whenever you decide to build a new PC and I can set you up with some good recommendations.

He knows his stuff so this is a legit statement.

Crimsoness posted...

Say I have a budget of $2600 and want something good for gaming but not particularly the absolute best.

2000 is enough, . Hell even 1,000 is good. But you need to make sure your monitor takes full advantage of your computer. Always build a pc around your monitor visual and hz.

so you get 1440p

if you go high end,

Are you starting from scratch or do you have an existing PC which could have parts reused?

BroodRyu posted...

Nah, you dont need a HDD if you can afford a decent SDD. I could never recommend SDDs enough. What all were you thinking of salvaging from your current build?

The fuck is a SDD?