[Locked] 6 months to 1 year computer build plan?

So I'm pretty new to computers, especially when it comes to hardware stuff, but I kind of have a general idea of how the internal parts of a computer work. My current Alienware (family computer) is at least 10 years old, with the motherboard being replaced with an ASUS N478 Pro a few years ago. Got a new monitor today and it seems like my computer can't handle it. Videos get very laggy despite having a 104Mps internet speed and the computer in general is just dying; the windows startup sound has a 40 second delay. It just manages to play my downloaded anime and basic surfing.

I have read tutorials on ways I fix the above problems, but the methods that didn't suggest me buying new parts for it did not work. I have a $1500-$1600 budget currently (Don't need a new monitor or wireless card) and just wanted to know your guys opinion:

1. Is 6 months to a year too long of a time span to buy the computers parts slowly?

2. In the search for parts, which parts should be my top priority in getting and what parts should be saved for days or a week before building?

I plan for this to be a gaming rig/multi-media rig (If thats possible), though with my budget, I'm not expecting something that will allow me to jack up all the settings to high. I just need a good foundation for which I can upgrade over the next 5 - 6 years possibly. Thanks!

Define gaming rig. What type of titles are you expecting to play? You stated your current PC cannot even handle your new monitor (I presume WQHD 2560x1440) so I'm guessing you don't already play any modern graphic-demanding games.

Define multimedia rig. Will you be streaming content from this PC to a remote TV in your living room or something more elaborate?

To answer your questions though:
1. No, sometimes wait is good--I bought my SSD back when they went for $$$$ for only a few GB T_T
2. The core internals should be bought together: CPU, GPU, mobo while additional parts like additional GPUs, more RAM, larger PSU, HDDs and accessories like special keyboards, mice, etc. can be pieced together later.

Your budget should be plenty so long as you keep an eye out on prices. For example, in two weeks there will be two (2) major sales for electronics--Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Then there are the Christmas sales where you can hint your accessories to family/friends ^_~

With $1500 you can have a decent setup that can last you for several years. That will get you at least a 4.0Ghz processor, a decent compatable MOBO, 16GB RAM, 2GB GPU, an SSD, and a 750w PSU. You will be able to run any recently released game with ease and/or whatever your multimedia usage you have with no (laggy/framerate) problems.

Pretty much this.

Waiting is one of the best things you can do when planning a build. It's mainly because a lot of hardware tends to fluctuate in price. Chances are if you wait a bit you'll be able to grab the part you want for ~$50+ less than it was listed a month ago. Keep an eye out for sales, especially bundles, around this time of the year.

In terms of priority;
1. CPU (Processor)
2. Motherboard
3. RAM
4. GPU (Graphics Card) *This will determine how high your graphics will be in games. Best bang for buck on the market right now is the GTX970
5. PSU (Power Supply) *Buy good quality and don't underestimate how much power you might need!
6. Heat-sink or Water-cooling

Check if the above are all compatible with the motherboard you want before you buy them.

7. Internal Hard Drive(s)
8. Disc Drive(s)
9. Fan's *optional, but highly recommend you get at least two (Intake + Exhaust). A PC is just a hot box and PC's don't like high temperatures :(
10. Computer Case
11. Windows 7/8 *Optional

I like to buy things in that order, however if you want to purchase things early and leave them on the side while you shop around for a little longer start from #6-10 as they tend to be universal and you can get them out of the way early and easily.

Some tips;
It's easy to forget, but make sure everything will fit inside your old or new computer case in terms of size before finalizing and buying stuff for your build.

When you're finally ready to build, wear an anti-static band or ground yourself before handling any PC internal hardware to prevent yourself from damaging anything, especially the motherboard.

With a $1500-1600 budget you should have no problems at all running games + multi-media; as long as you don't plan on going into Ultra HD 4k resolution hehe. In fact, if you plan your build well enough, you'll be able to "future proof" your PC for whatever games that will be developed over the next 5-8 years. Didn't mean to get too in depth but wanted to help out as I'm also planning on building a new PC for next year. Good luck and let me know if you need help with anything :) !

Thank you guys for the replies. I definitely now have a better sense on where to start and now currently in the process of racking up the cash again after spending it on Christmas gifts for friends and family. SouListiq: will definitely hit you up with questions if I have any, thanks!

I personally don't agree with building a computer slowly over time, it's better to save the cash you need until you can afford all of the parts at once. The reason for this is that the value of computer hardware depreciates rapidly and you will likely spend less money for that part a year from now than if you bought it and waited for the next part, even if it happens to be on sale. Additionally, for the same amount of money you'd spend on that hardware now you'd likely be able to find newer hardware with a better price to value ratio come spring. Of course, this is primarily in relation to RAM, video cards and CPUs; so if you do still decide to go with this plan, it would be beneficial to buy the power supply, case and other peripherals (like keyboards, mice, headphones) first before purchasing the rest of your hardware.

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu_value.html
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php

The above two links will lead you to charts in which you can compare the value of CPUs and video cards respectively. For the second link, you'll need to sort the table by CPU Value. Remember, just because something is on sale and cheap doesn't always mean it's going to give you more bang for your buck than other hardware, always check those charts before you decide to buy a video card or CPU, as sales are also taken into account and you can get references for where the hardware is available at its cheapest price.

Hey Bud, I haven't read your whole post but I'll post some links that I use to buy parts.Hope it helps. :)

http://slickdeals.net/ -Pretty Good for Deals such as SSD, sometimes prebuilts

http://bensbargains.net - Someone recommended this site too, seems like it gathers computer
deals and assembles it together.

http://www.newegg.com/- Pretty standard PC building website good deals, Most of the time.

http://www.tigerdirect.com - Similar to Newegg

http://www.amazon.com/ -Sometimes I would crosscheck the prices between amazon, newegg, tigerdirect, and some other ones.

http://www.audiobot9000.com - If your an audiphile this website lists amps and headphones that would make music entirely different (So I've heard), I found this link in a collection of websites.

http://www.microcenter.com/ - Real store with real locations, Combination of Best buy and Radio Shack but way better. Cheap bundles from time to time and pretty much every part you could ever want.

http://gpuboss.com/ - A site I like to visit to compare GPU's

http://cpuboss.com/compare-cpus - Similar to GPUboss.

http://www.reddit.com/r/buildapcsales/ - Can't forget about reddit either, this place helps alot. Fellow builders submit links of deals and usually good ones get voted to the top. Not only that, in the comment section people review and discuss parts that also would help you understand more about each parts. You can also sometimes see a bot in the comment section that keeps track of the Lowest and Highest price in the span of several months.
Ex. http://www.reddit.com/r/buildapcsales/comments/2o3o4g/cpu_intel_core_i34150_processor_3m_cache_350_ghz/cmjfqc3

http://www.overclock.net - Just found this while typing this post, Seems like a forum + review place. Bit cluttered for my taste but it seems pretty helpful too!

I do not agree with your statement above. I do think that the processor is the most important part, but then, this is undoubtedly the solid-state drive.

SSDs are More Durable
SSDs are Faster
SSDs Consume Less Power
SSDs are Lighter
SSDs are Cost-Efficient
SSDs are Cooler
SSDs are Quieter

Please read this article for more details :
http://ocz.com/consumer/ssd-guide/ssd-vs-hdd

If he wants a faster and more powerful computer such as a faster boot time (less than 10 seconds), the SSD is the key to success.

It depends on the use case. SSDs are great for any task that gains serious benefits from high R/W speeds. As you sort-of pointed out, running your operating system and programs from an SSD is a great idea, but when it comes to storing user data (videos, music, documents) the capacity to price ratio is far too high for them to be considered a cost effective solution, at least with current technology.



While I commend you for your willingness to help others and link them to material they can read I'm going to point out that OCZ manufactures solid state drives and they are now a sizable source of income for the company. Any article you read on their website about SSD tech and its benefits over HDD tech is going to be riddled with bias and might contain unfair comparisons.

id say build it all at once.
if you're going to buy stuff over a period , you're gonna regret it.
I tried that 6 month thing, got my mobo and everything ,
and then ,
BAM
the x99 chipset came out,
soon after the nvidia 980s and 970s
then the Amd 280x price cuts.
I sat there watching it all happen, stuck with a z97 (still pretty decent, but I wanted top of the line)
DDR4 was my undoing

In my opinion, 6 months is way too long to wait just for prices to lower. If anything, the best time to actually order parts is Black Friday (or whatever is the equivalent in your country) and get them all at once.

This is my priority list:
CPU
Mobo
GPU
PSU
RAM
HDD/SSD (SSD lower in rank if your budget can't fit it)
CPU Cooler
OS
Case
Fans

SSDs are not cost-efficient considering the low $/GB ratio it has compared to an HDD. However, if you are buying one, it's best you know how large of space you need and what you'll be putting in it.

$1500 is a very nice place to start for a gaming setup.

Also, what kind of monitor did you get? I remember watching 720p videos on the old school computers and they were fine but the moment I bump it up to 1080p they start lagging like crazy.

I don't think you quite understand *how* SSDs are supposed to be used. Almost *nobody* suggests using SSDs for pure data storage. The purpose of an SSD is to improve system performance, by storing *programs* and your *OS* where their shorter access time (hence higher IOPS) really benefits everyday use.

You don't need the same fast access for most of your data. Hence the usual setup is SSD (for system and programs) + HDD (for data = films, pictures, etc. stuff that takes up a lot of space).

----------------------------------

Another thing:

Don't *overestimate* the power needs of your system. Buying a "bigger" PSU than you need will actually *hurt* you, as PSUs work most effectively when their load is high (i.e. 60-90% of their nominal wattage).

Also, bigger, good quality PSUs are a lot more expensive. People often just pick the biggest, cheapest PSU they can. This the worst thing they could do. Why? Because those power supplies are *shit* tier. They *can't* actually deliver the wattage their sticker says... often they're also unsafe, lacking critical power safety features, meaning a brown-out can fry your entire system.

In general, you should buy a PSU in line with the power requirements of your system and you should buy a good, reliable one to protect the rest of your investment. (If you bought a good model, it will likely serve you for 3-4 upgrades, meaning you'll use it for a good 5-10 years).

Some PSU review sites that do proper testing:
http://www.jonnyguru.com/
http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/PSUReviewDatabase.html
www.tomshardware.com (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/how-we-test-psu,4042.html)

Nice necrobump. Also the user you're trying to talk to haven't posted since
>Mar 07, 2015 at 9:06 am

Locking this since old topic and spambots. Just create another topic if you want to discuss further.