Hi,
I am in need of some help/advice on a decent PC where I could play games (like RPGs, MOBAs etc) on. However I am complete noob when it comes to computers and things like that. Would it be best to build a PC instead of buying one that's already made? Any help/advice would be much appreciated! :D
Thanks for the links! Much appreciated :D
1000% yes build your own PC.
If you set a price point people here will be able to help you with a PC build.
It depends on how comfortable you are handling electronics. There is always a risk of breaking something like bending the pin of the CPU during installation etc. If you are not confident, then maybe buying a ready made pc is better. You wont have massive savings by building your own pc. People do it for customisation reasons and getting a sense of satisfaction from building something ground up.
Do you use the pc for any other applications like photoshop or video editing, etc?
Rubbish. If you follow a guide a 10 year old can build a pc.
A 10 year old can quite as easily break one too.
Unless OP is confident with electronics or knows someone who is, I would also suggest getting someone else to do it for their first build.
Diji talking out of your arse as usual eh. I built my first pc at the age of 10 with guidance from my uncle. There is no way I could have done it by just "following a guide", let alone purchase the correct combination of components.
Haha, yeah that is a fear of mine accidentally bending or breaking something. Nah, I would't be using the PC for such applications, more so for watching shows/movies and doing uni assignments.
I used this site to help work out what I wanted to build for my PC - https://au.pcpartpicker.com/
Building your own PC is a good skill to learn because it is a lot cheaper to build than to buy a premade, especially when looking at higher end PCs suited to gaming. If you are unsure then you could look around for a premade that looks nice then mock up the build in partpicker to see what sort of cost difference you are looking at I suppose.
Thanks so much for that! :D
If you aren't confident with building a PC and don't have any friends/family who are, I personally wouldn't suggest you try building it yourself.
It's just too much risk for the money you'll save. Can always do your own upgrades over the years and slowly teach yourself how to build one.
If you tell us your budget and which state you're in we can provide you with some suggestions.
I actually built my first computer yesterday!
It's really easy if you follow YouTube guides. There are TONNES of videos :)
Let me know if you need some advice !
Congratulations on that! I've watched a couple and it seems pretty straight forward. And will do, thanks :D
First of all, what's your budget? What sort of games do you want to play?
I built my first PC last year with an i5 and a GTX1050. I would highly recommend anyone doing it as it is a learning experience and also more cost friendly. If not, you can order parts and most computer stores charge a fee (~$50 or so estimating) to put it together.
Good Luck!
My budget is under 1k? Hmm, I really want to play RPGs (like Skyrim) and MOBA games. I am interested in building it on my own but worried that I might do something incorrectly (knowing me, something will go wrong haha -_-).
I apologise in advance because this is a really nooby question but can you custom make your own 2 in 1 laptop? And how much would it cost? I'm finding that nothing is really fitting my needs, there are always sacrifices.
How about modifying a preexisting computer, what can we do there? Looking to get, modify or make one for total price $700-$800. Am I dreaming lol?
Feel free to completely ignore what I said :)
You can't modify most laptops very much. Usually just the RAM and hard drive.
How old is your existing computer? Do you know the specs?
Also which state are you in and what are you going to be using the computer for?
Usually just the RAM and hard drive.
Well that's a shame.
I was thinking of maybe buying a new computer that met some of my requirements and then modifying it to fit the rest?
My requirements are:
i5 7100 or better, otherwise i3 8th gen/i5 6th gen - AMD equivalent (A9?) hmm?
FHD screen
Preferably 13.3" screen size,
SSD (at least 120/128gb, most likely more) or a reasonable HDD (500+GB)
8GB ram (4gb isn't out of the question though)
Don't really need a dedicated graphics card, but if it's included then good?
Long battery life is really important.
Mainly going to be using it for uni, which includes running stats programs and other various tasks, Will probably flash an Android emulator on there as well and play some apps/games.
Oh, also forgot to add I'm in NSW :)
Sorry I thought you were talking about desktop. I'd just wait for a laptop deal on OzB that meets your requirements.
There's a 13.3" Xiaomi Notebook Air with i5-7200U + 8GB + 256GB but its a bit above your budget @ $990: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/332674
@Ryballs: Ah ok, thanks anyway. $990 is too much yeah. If only I got that damn Bing Lee eBay deal.. PayPal wasn't working so couldn't check out :(
Best advice is research each component and find out which one is best for your needs and what settings and frames per seconds you want to hit e.g. 720p low settings/1080p medium settings/1440p high settings/etc
Then find the parts you need to achieve that.
Generally there is your:
And your type of monitor be it a tv or specific computer monitor or otherwise.
If you check Ozbargain frequently you might be lucky to catch some good prebuilts especially if you don't mind refurbished which is just returned products repaired and tested then reinstalled.
Look at the vote counts to gauge good or highly favourited deals.
And if you don't mind building it yourself there are literally thousands of DIY videos online.
For e sports level games you shouldn't need more than a GTX 1060 and i5-7500 at most for max settings at 1080p 60 fps easily.
Pair it with a cheap Crucial or Samsung SSD and you are golden.
If you want something cheaper this is a really good build recommended by one of the staff at PC Part Picker.
https://au.pcpartpicker.com/guide/B4v6Mp/entry-level-intel-g…
Will definitely play most things you throw at it at 1080p low to medium settings 60 fps.
I know what stuff I have to look into now so thanks so much for all that information! :D
No problem feel free to always ask our pc gaming hobbyists always love sharing around that love.. I mean information haha lol :)
As someone who used to build PC's many moons ago and these days just CBF… i'd suggest wherever you buy the case/motherboard get them to hook it up. Save you the hassle of fitting and wiring it up and the (unlikely) risk of accidentally shorting something out. The rest of it, CPU, RAM, GFX, HDD etc is pretty much fool proof (things go where they look to fit), just be gentle and follow instructions. Or just find a computer shop with something that suits your needs and ask them to tweak it (i.e. better memory, better gfx card).
This pretty much. Paying $50-75 for peace of mind is well worth it over destroying an expensive product. I personally like building the computer but if someone else can do it I don't mind especially since I have carpet lol.
Also ready to go from the get go and no funny business or guesswork.
I would maybe only pay someone more now to try and delid it if they had a good guarantee.. or very special motherboard repairs like soldering a capacitor or something as I don't have the tools.. but as for delidding I would only do it if the person has like a "will reimburse my cpu if they fail it or something" guarantee as delidding seems to return high gains but can also end in a dead cpu afaik.
Funnily enough i just built myself a new rig from scratch last week.. first time in a long time! Damn ozb prices i just had to save those extra dollars…
Nice work bro.. Always definitely a good thing when you save your dollars. Haha lol.
This topic has been discussed previously, so there's going to be a good amount of information available in the coffers of past threads.
I'd recommend having a look at some YouTube videos on building your own gaming PC. It's not that difficult, it's a bit like extra-expensive Legos.
Here's a video released this year by Linus Tech Tips.
You can work out your budget and price by having a look at Logical Increments. All prices are in USD.
As a result, check out MSY's pricing list for Australian prices.