My first build

[Phil0s0ph3r]

Hi everyone. I'm looking to build my first ever gaming PC. As a teacher I have to work hard and save harder. Any recommendations to motivate myself to save? That will be a great help. TIA

 

[Qui_Illustrati]

Wrong point in time in this here dystopia we find ourselves in to build a decent gaming rig. If it's just gaming you're after, perhaps consider the new gen console route. Way better bang for buck and if you really want to save on games you can share a willing persons account. No rules against that and it's not piracy.

 

[pɐlΛ‾pɐq‾ƃᴉq]

+1 Very bad time to want to build a gaming pc.

 

[TheJudge]

First thing is to set a budget. That allows you to see options and also benchmark against a console in terms of your needs.

 

[Phil0s0ph3r]

+1 Very bad time to want to build a gaming pc.

Is there ever a "perfect" time?

 

[Phil0s0ph3r]

First thing is to set a budget. That allows you to see options and also benchmark against a console in terms of your needs.

Thanks. Definitely helps

 

[Phil0s0ph3r]

Wrong point in time in this here dystopia we find ourselves in to build a decent gaming rig. If it's just gaming you're after, perhaps consider the new gen console route. Way better bang for buck and if you really want to save on games you can share a willing persons account. No rules against that and it's not piracy.

Been there, done that.

 

[ThatGuyJD]

Is there ever a "perfect" time?

No but right now it's like the worst time.

 

[Jack_Bauer_ZA]

What is your budget?

 

[Phil0s0ph3r]

What is your budget?

Max 25K

 

[goldfritter]

Max 25K

And what do you have already? Besides for the PC itself you need the following - if you do, give us the models so we can help see if they will do the job:

• Monitor
• Keyboard
• Mouse and mousepad
• Headphones/speakers
• Desk and chair

For the first three, there are some characteristics that make them better for gaming, so there is some merit in getting the "gaming" versions of each (e.g. a monitor with a fast response time, keyboard with n-key rollover, and mouse with a fast polling rate). But you don't need the most expensive versions.

 

[goldfritter]

How you want to think about speccing a rig is as follows (more or less):

1. You need a desk and chair. I'd recommend a good ergonomic office chair like the ones at www.ergotherapy.co.za but I can understand if you choose to not prioritise this in your budget. Don't get a "gaming" chair, they are not good for your back.
2. You need a keyboard, mouse, and mouse pad. Look for the budget "gaming" options in the established brands - Logitech, Cooler Master, Corsair, SteelSeries, Razer, HyperX, Gigabyte, MSI, Roccat, Cougar, Zowie. Some of the new Chinese brands seem OK but have not established themselves as much yet: Redragon, Gamdias, Marvo. You can get the Logitech G102 mouse, anything cheaper is likely to be poor quality. Keyboard is less important, just get a cheaper "gaming" one from one of the first set of brands (or the second set if budget is tight here). Get at least a 40cm wide mouse pad. I recommend the Cooler Master MP511 as it is cheap, well-rated, and works well.
3. What resolution and refresh rate do you want to achieve? The vast majority of gamers run 1080p 60Hz, which is pretty much fine for anything up to a 24 inch monitor (27 inch at a stretch). If you want to be very competitive at fast-paced shooter games like CS:GO, there is a benefit to faster refresh rates (e.g. 144Hz). If you want to use a larger screen, there is a benefit to higher resolution (e.g. 1440p = 2K, or 4K). But a faster refresh rate needs a stronger processor and a higher resolution needs a stronger graphics card. Either way, aim for a display with a 1ms response time. A 24inch or 27inch 1080p 144Hz display (and the GPU to run it) should fit in your budget.
4. Which graphics card do you need to run that resolution and refresh rate in the games you want to play? This you can get from graphics card reviews. Remember it is OK if the GPU runs "AAA" games (the very pretty single player games like Cyberpunk) at 60FPS average, and the fast-paced shooter games above at 144FPS average. The Nvidia RTX 3060 is probably the cheapest one that fits the bill; I'd go for that over the RX6600XT just because the Nvidia has better "nice-to-haves" (mainly DLSS). EDIT: these two GPUs fit the bill at 1080p - for 1440p or 4k you need a better GPU, like a 3060Ti or a 3070.
5. What power supply is needed to run everything? The answer is almost always in the specs list of the graphics card you have chosen. Use that size, or add 100-200W to that if you want a bit of headroom. Aim for Tier A or B PSUs (and never lower than Tier C) on this list: PSU Tier List rev. 14.8
6. What processor do you need to adequately power that graphics card? Here you can look at benchmarks of "[X] CPU with [Y] GPU" to see how they perform. Although in general the current generation of Ryzen 5 or Intel Core i5 will do the job.
   1. You need a CPU cooler - check if it comes with one or if you need to buy one and see reviews for which cooler handles your CPU well. Air coolers are usually great - 120mm tower coolers are the sweet spot. You can also get an AIO liquid cooler, they work even better but are more expensive and take up fan slots on your case.
7. How much RAM do you need for gaming? The answer is 16GB and has been for a while. Always get dual- or quad-channel RAM (i.e. 2x8GB or 4x4GB - also note some cheaper motherboards only support 2 slots).
8. What size and speed drive do you want? Non-negotiable is an SSD (SATA or NVMe, the difference is small) of at least 256GB to install Windows on. However if you want more games to benefit from the faster load times of an SSD, you need a bigger SSD. So you can find out how big your desired games are and get an SSD that will fit them all PLUS the 256GB for Windows. For stuff other than games, or games where load time is not important, you can get a normal 3.5inch SATA hard drive
9. Which motherboard can run the CPU you want, and has the features you want (RGB headers, fan headers, etc.)? It's easy to spend too much on a motherboard - normally upper-entry-level motherboards of the current Intel or AMD B-series will do everything you need.
10. What case will fit all of this? I would get a upper-entry-level airflow-focused case, as that will perform the best, and most of them look quite good too (airflow and looks are the only functions of a case). Look at these ones for a start, any of them would be great:
    . Check if it comes with at least 2 fans - one for intake (usually at the front or bottom) and one for exhaust (usually at the back or top). If you want more fans, get one more exhaust, then one more intake, and repeat, until your case's fan slots are full. Remember if you got an AIO liquid cooler for your CPU then that will take up fan slots.
11. Headphones or speakers - look again at the list of brands in point 2 and get an upper-entry level gaming headset.
12. Do you want fancy RGB lights on everything? If yes, you need to increase the price of everything in the preceding steps - but it can look very nice.

 

[aiccc]

Some components are low atm

Budget build (really 2gen old but gets the job done.)

CPU price 10400F 2699
Ram 16 GB R 1229
M/board R 1576
PSU R900
Case r ?

monitor 24 inch 144hz R3999

periperals R ??
Software R 200 +(from carb sellers)

GPU is expensive new - R4599 - 18999+

https://www.wootware.co.za/computer-hardware/video-cards-video-devices

Entry level gpu (new) only suited for 1080 gaming (poor fps)

XFX Radeon RX 6500 XT Speedster QICK RX-65XT4DBDQ 4GB GDDR6 64-bit PCI-E 4.0 Desktop Graphics Card - Wootware

Buy XFX Radeon RX 6500 XT Speedster QICK RX-65XT4DBDQ 4GB GDDR6 64-bit PCI-E 4.0 Desktop Graphics Card at Wootware with fast shipping & superb service.

www.wootware.co.za

recommended R 7499 8GB

XFX Radeon RX 6600 Speedster SWFT 210 Core RX-66XL8LFDQ 8GB GDDR6 128-bit PCI-E 4.0 Desktop Graphics Card - Wootware

Buy XFX Radeon RX 6600 Speedster SWFT 210 Core RX-66XL8LFDQ 8GB GDDR6 128-bit PCI-E 4.0 Desktop Graphics Card at Wootware with fast shipping & superb service.

www.wootware.co.za

I would get a 6600XT at 9499 (based on budget

My recommendation

take you budget R 25 000
subtract
GPU cost R 7600
monitor cost R 4000

Use remainder to build pc.

 

[ThatGuyJD]

My recommendation

take you budget R 25 000
subtract
GPU cost R 7600
monitor cost R 4000

Use remainder to build pc.

This is an absolutely great idea if you're going to be playing the latest and greatest single player games the 6600XT will do better if you're chasing higher frame rates. No point going for 1440p off the bat at 25k if you need everything. Just the GPU and the Monitor for 1440p high refresh is getting close to that. 1080p is going to be fine for the start.

 

[aiccc]

good price

https://carbonite.co.za/index.php?threads/intel-core-i5-10400f-lga1200-socket-brand-new.405654/#post-2679838

not vouching

 

[Joshmeister]

Is there ever a "perfect" time?

never a bad time to build one bud. i would reccomend it over any next gen console

 

[RumMum]

Build it now. Prices will suit a teachers salary much better than a few months back.