Can anyone help me build a computer?

[Wist]

I'll try to keep this brief, because normally I write long sentences that could easily have been trimmed into more easily digestible chunks and I fear it might cause some people to skip over what I've posted as if it were an end user license agreement composed in Old Frisian.

My laptop broke. It is hard to research new computers when the only browser available to you is the one on your PSP with a failing LCD (typing on a Vita now, half because of that).

I intend to build a desktop that can run Dolphin, PCSX2, and maybe some games like Skyrim or StarCraft II (and Brood War, Brood War for life!) comfortably without breaking the bank. I don't play a lot of PC games though.

I'm anticipating, if possible, around $1200USD equivalent, including two monitors.... I have a copy of Windows 7 ready to be installed.

I was planning on getting an i5-3570k with an HD7870. I don't know much about motherboards but I was thinking an ASRock Z77 Pro 3. Harddrive isn't too important, I might get an SSD to boot from if I can afford it but I don't mind sticking in something conservative if need be. Not too bothered about the case, and the optical drive will be whatever. Planned on 2x4GB DDR3 1600 RAM.

I don't live in the US so what's available and at what prices is a little random.

Questions:

- I figure a 500w power supply is more than sufficient? Was looking at the Antec BP500U but it doesn't seem to be available where I am.

- Would there be any actual gains to buying an equivalent Haswel instead of an Ivy Bridge? They're priced the same where I am.

- Motherboard make sense with what I'm looking at?

- Internal cooling? I can only imagine I'd do well to get something given I'll be overclocking, but I don't know what may or may not be recommended.

- I don't know about wireless cards either because I never had to deal with them. Presumably I can plug an ethernet cord into a wireless card if I want, or would I need a separate card or what?

- Is the brand of RAM important, really?

Sorry for the simple questions. Normally I'd research this all myself but it's incredibly tedious in my current situation. I also just wanted to bounce what I was planning off of someone to make sure I wasn't doing something stupid. I've never built a computer before but I don't want to fork over a few extra hundred dollars for something that isn't quite what I want.

Is there anyone here with knowledge enough to nudge me in the right direction? Any help would be much appreciated!

[Celice]

My comments:

500w should be fine for that build at stock, and overclock as well. 7870 should pull most of your power at a moderate overclock.

Some people don't like the AS brand, but I've that exact motherboard and it suits me just fine.

The processor and gpu you've chosen will be more than enough for the two PC titles, and will have you set for emulating everything from the Wii down easily, including running at 3x the native resolution (which is how the games look so gosh darn pretty, instead of a pixelated mess).

I actually would advise against an SSD. It's cool if you can afford one, and the load times are pretty fast, but it's not so much as people make it out to be. The standard hard drive will be perfectly fine.

Unless you're going to be a hardcore enthusiast with your build, any RAM would be fine as long as you run them in dual channel or whatever your mobo supports.

If you're going to overclock, it's generally recommended to get an aftermarket cooler. The stock heatsinks work fine, but they can get a bit warm when overclocking. It really depends on what you're most comfortable with. If you're cautious of hitting 70C on a high cpu overclock, then maybe look into one.

Myself, I just use a wireless USB receiver for my internet. A rosewill one, but there are many.

Unless you're also buying a monitor, keyboard, mouse, and an OS, you shouldn't be hitting $1200USD at all. Two monitors could do push you pretty high though. Maybe consider if you really need two displays.

If you're not going to be gaming for a majority of your time on your PC, you may want to think about scaling back to an i3. They work pretty well for emulating still, and for practical gaming too. But if you're looking to play a good deal of games, might as well stick with the i5--same advice goes for the gpu.

Of which, what resolution are you going to be playing at? If a moderate resolution, you could go with a weaker card with less RAM; if you're going to be at a larger resolution, 1080 or above, consider a 2GB card.

It sucks that you're not buying out of the US--but even still, you might wanna consider looking at some subreddits for some deals. One such being http://www.reddit.com/r/buildapcsales

Edited October 14, 2013 by Celice

[Wist]

Thank you for your help!

Would be playing at 1080p, and definitely wanted the 3x resolution. I might drop down to it an i3; I'm just a bit nervous about taking a risk, finding it doesn't perform quite as satisfactorily as I'd hoped. If I stay with the i5 though, maybe it would make the most sense to skip the aftermarket cooler for now and then see what I'm happy with in terms of overclocking.

I'm happy with my old mouse and I have an OS, but I do need a keyboard. I also need speakers, but I'm not that picky about sound quality and wasn't anticipating getting a deeicated sound card.

The main reason I wanted two monitors is because the TV I have is an old 480i CRT, and my PS3 is currently displaying in black and white because I don't have a composite cable for it, (using a PS2 component cable). I prefer to be able to use the seconday monitor as a screen for the PS3, but I'll see how everything else comes out price-wise. I could always just learn to focus, haha.

I'll keep in mind your suggestion concerning the SSD. It would be neat, but it's probably not worth it for me.

Again, thanks for your help. It's a relief to know I'm not completely on the wrong track.

Edited October 14, 2013 by Wist

[Celice]

If you're nervous, I'd stick with the processor you chose. At stock it will hold pretty much all console emulators perfectly fine; I have the same one, as an example. More than that, I was able to hit 4.2GHz without increasing its power consumption, which is a pretty smooth overclock, considering its stock is 3.4GHz.

A 2GB gpu will give you a ton of headroom, especially if you're going to be installing some very large texture mods. But I play at 1080 on a GTX 570 1.25GB at 802MHz overclocked, and I am fine with my performance. Maybe treat this like your processor: if you are worried you might regret something, I'd say get a solid card at 2GB to be safe, if your wallet agrees with you.

That's about it for my suggestions. Maybe check out /r/buildapc for some differing opinions, if no one speaks up here. Just try to manage weeding out advice that is going at extreme enthusiast territory.

The only thing I'd really stress is to get a reputable PSU. If you scamp on this, you might regret it if it goes bust on you, potentially pulling down other parts of your rig with it.

[Wist]

I wasn't sure if there was anyone here currently active who could help, but I don't go to any other forums so even if no one offers anything I'm really glad you were still around. I'll pore through the Reddit link you posted -- and try to find a reliable power supply that I can get here without too much hassle. Hopefully I can finalize what I'll get this week!

[Celice]

I wasn't sure if there was anyone here currently active who could help, but I don't go to any other forums so even if no one offers anything I'm really glad you were still around. I'll pore through the Reddit link you posted -- and try to find a reliable power supply that I can get here without too much hassle. Hopefully I can finalize what I'll get this week!

No probs, man. I'll take a look over your final choices if you want. I mean, I'm not hardcore builder, but I'm put together several machines over the past few years, and have read around and discussed the hobby. I have an informed knowledge of this stuff, but perhaps not an expert one :p

[TheEnd]

This could be an useful reference too.

But anyway.

Apparently there isn't much difference between Haswell and Ivy Bridge, so go for whatever mobo/processor combination that best suits your pocket and needs.

If you want to run Dolphin, you might want to check their forums. As a rule, Dolphin requires a potent (and possibly overclocked, for the likes of Xenoblade and Pandora's Tower) CPU, and an i3 probably won't be enough.

GPU-wise... well, my old GTX 560 could run everything on 3x, so it isn't really an issue.

For RAM, remember to always get sticks of the same model.

[Wist]

Thanks for the tips, OldMan. I feel rude sating that but I suppose since it's your screenname....

Anyways, I ended up at $1232 equivalent because some things were marked up a little more than I had expected, and as I mentioned before there are some brands I couldn't get without importing. I also did end up having to decide against two displays so that I could get one I knew I'd be pleased with; I might get another a different time.

I just now went to complete the purchase, and learned that Amazon's payment method selection page doesn't work properly in the Vita browser. I laughed. I might be able to borrow someone else's computer and finish the deed tomorrow night though.Why do nearly all my sentences start with I....

I settled on the following:

- i5-3570k (Haswel draws a little more power so I decided I was happiest with the Ivy Bridge)

- HD7870

- ASRock Z77 Extreme4 Pro 3 (silly name...)

- Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 2x4GB

- Seagate Barracuda1TB, 64MB cache, 7200rpm ST1000DM003/n (wouldn't have minded 5400rpm but this was the cheapest decent 1TB drive)

- Corsair TX750 (following Celice's advice, tried to get something that should be reliable)

- Asus DRW-24D35T (don't anticipate needing a blu-ray drive)

- Coolermaster Hyper Evo 212

- Antec 302AB case

- Asus VS239H (as per some Reddit recommendations)

- Cheapest HDMI cord I could find

- Forgot the keyboard because I'm clever, oops

- Didn't write down the wifi card but it's in the order (got one so I don't have something sitting in a USB slot)

Doesn't look too rubbish... hopefully?

Edited October 18, 2013 by Wist

[Celice]

Late response, but I just remembered offering help...

I think most of that looks fine. I would only slightly caution against using HDMI, as in my experience and in others', the signal can get lossy/artifacting. It probably isn't as noticeable from further away. I know on some lower quality LCDs, computers ran via HDMI can display a shimmer effect, which is highly distracting. As long as you're using a dedicated monitor, you probably won't have an issue, but I dunno. Probably won't be anything to worry about, but something to know in case you start to experience some issues.

If that PSU is 750w, that's probably more than enough, especially if you decide to overclock.