The 'Lets build a PC!' thread

[Izret101]

I was given a "super tower" when i was in high school. I always called it a server tower. I was told it had been one (or part?) of the schools servers at some point in time. By the time i got it it was already ancient.

I don't remember if it ended up getting thrown away or is still buried in a closet.
Would a 20(+?) year old tower still be useful?

[Cryptid Collector]

I was given a "super tower" when i was in high school. I always called it a server tower. I was told it had been one (or part?) of the schools servers at some point in time. By the time i got it it was already ancient.

I don't remember if it ended up getting thrown away or is still buried in a closet.
Would a 20(+?) year old tower still be useful?

Might be good for building a retro rig with Windows XP for 90s/00s games if it has decent specs for the time.

[SirPsycho]

I spent about $1k on my rig when I built it. That included the monitor and $200 for Windows 7. So I only spent a little less than $700 on my tower. I recommend the $1k for the first build more than anything, the reason being that you're still learning how to connect everything, and its easier to put stuff in wrong or fry something and have to send it back. I had to send my first CPU back because the pins got bent in shipping. That was the last major part I needed and had to wait an extra week. It was disappointing to say the least.

My next build is going to be around $1k as well, but its going to be 100% on parts, with another monitor, but that still gives me an extra $200 to spend on better parts. I've also lined out everything I'm gutting from my current rig, like RAM, HDDs, DVD drive, and the extra fan I installed. If you're trying to get the same bang I'm planning on getting for your first tower then you might want to push the budget up to $1500 if you want a dual monitor setup from the start. I can toss together a bunch of budget parts in my old tower and give it to my parents after I get the new tower ready and built.

[Cryptid Collector]

I spent about $1k on my rig when I built it. That included the monitor and $200 for Windows 7. So I only spent a little less than $700 on my tower. I recommend the $1k for the first build more than anything, the reason being that you're still learning how to connect everything, and its easier to put stuff in wrong or fry something and have to send it back. I had to send my first CPU back because the pins got bent in shipping. That was the last major part I needed and had to wait an extra week. It was disappointing to say the least.

My next build is going to be around $1k as well, but its going to be 100% on parts, with another monitor, but that still gives me an extra $200 to spend on better parts. I've also lined out everything I'm gutting from my current rig, like RAM, HDDs, DVD drive, and the extra fan I installed. If you're trying to get the same bang I'm planning on getting for your first tower then you might want to push the budget up to $1500 if you want a dual monitor setup from the start. I can toss together a bunch of budget parts in my old tower and give it to my parents after I get the new tower ready and built.

Mine was like $680 for the tower and $120 for the monitor(and another $130 for windows because I found out to late swapping drives from a OEM doesn't work with windows

[mumboking]

I'm waiting on some parts before I can build my new PC.

I'll be going from this:
Processor: Intel Pentium G620 2.6GHz
Motherboard: ASUS P8H61-M LE/USB3
Memory: 1x2GB 1333MHz(I think) Kingston HyperX Blu (Running at 1066MHz. CPU limitation...)
Storage: Seagate 500GB HDD, Western Digital 500GB HDD
Graphics Card: Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 3470 256MB
Case: Generic unbranded black case
Power Supply: Antec HCG-520
Optical Drive: Optiarc AD-7280S
Operating System: Win7 Ultimate

To this:
Processor: Intel Core i5-4690k 3.9GHz
Motherboard: ASUS Z97-C
Memory: 2x4GB 2133MHz G.Skill kit (which I will run at 1600MHz. It was cheaper than 1600MHz versions )
Storage: Seagate 750GB HDD, Seagate 500GB HDD, Western Digital 500GB HDD
Graphics Card: Undecided.
Case: Corsair SPEC-03 Red LED
Power Supply: Antec HCG-520
Optical Drive: Undecided.
Operating System: Win7 Ultimate

[Fokakis79]

So for operating system should I go Windows 7 or 8

[Cryptid Collector]

So for operating system should I go Windows 7 or 8

8.1, it's honestly the same as Windows 7 under the hood and they might drop Win7 soon since 10 is coming out.

[techwizard]

So for operating system should I go Windows 7 or 8

internet hearsay has told me that windows 8 will give you nothing but problems while gaming. i have no personal experience with it though, so that could all be BS. windows 7 has zero problems for me with gaming so far.

[bombatomba]

I was given a "super tower" when i was in high school. I always called it a server tower. I was told it had been one (or part?) of the schools servers at some point in time. By the time i got it it was already ancient.

I don't remember if it ended up getting thrown away or is still buried in a closet.
Would a 20(+?) year old tower still be useful?

Might be good for building a retro rig with Windows XP for 90s/00s games if it has decent specs for the time.

While you can get away with DOSbox for older stuff, nothing beats having a period-era PC for Win95 and old XP.  Some things just don't run right.

I really love all this PC talk.  Everybody giving specs for their rigs.  Man, it's just great to see.

I'm waiting on some parts before I can build my new PC.

I'll be going from this:
Processor: Intel Pentium G620 2.6GHz
Motherboard: ASUS P8H61-M LE/USB3
Memory: 1x2GB 1333MHz(I think) Kingston HyperX Blu (Running at 1066MHz. CPU limitation...)
Storage: Seagate 500GB HDD, Western Digital 500GB HDD
Graphics Card: Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 3470 256MB
Case: Generic unbranded black case
Power Supply: Antec HCG-520
Optical Drive: Optiarc AD-7280S
Operating System: Win7 Ultimate

To this:
Processor: Intel Core i5-4690k 3.9GHz
Motherboard: ASUS Z97-C
Memory: 2x4GB 2133MHz G.Skill kit (which I will run at 1600MHz. It was cheaper than 1600MHz versions )
Storage: Seagate 750GB HDD, Seagate 500GB HDD, Western Digital 500GB HDD
Graphics Card: Undecided.
Case: Corsair SPEC-03 Red LED
Power Supply: Antec HCG-520
Optical Drive: Undecided.
Operating System: Win7 Ultimate

That is awesome.  The old G620 was a workhorse for its day, but stepping up to that 4th Gen i5 is going to be really great.  Keep us up to date with the VC.

My PC was patched together with parts I bought and pulled out of the scrap from work.  It is mostly an ASUS gaming rig with some extra stuff.

Proc: Intel Core i7-3770
Mobo: ASUS? (not really sure)
Memory: 16GB Corsair 1600 (overkill, but I don't want to buy RAM again)
HDD: 1x 80GB SSD (for Windows) and 1x 500GB HDD for games (I really have to upgrade that last one)
PSU: 575w pulled from a larger HP.  Has coil whine but otherwise fully checks out with the multimeter
OS: Win7 Home Premium.  It was the COA on the case so I didn't have to pay extra.  No XP Mode for me (on this computer, that is).

So for operating system should I go Windows 7 or 8

internet hearsay has told me that windows 8 will give you nothing but problems while gaming. i have no personal experience with it though, so that could all be BS. windows 7 has zero problems for me with gaming so far.

Lol.  I was wondering how long this would take.  I have Win7 on my gaming machines as well as Linux Mint 17 (KDE).  I think a lot of the problems with Win8 were between GFWL and Steam, but I think that got ironed out for Win8.1

[Cryptid Collector]

So for operating system should I go Windows 7 or 8

internet hearsay has told me that windows 8 will give you nothing but problems while gaming. i have no personal experience with it though, so that could all be BS. windows 7 has zero problems for me with gaming so far.

I think it is, I've played everything from SiN to The Evil Within on it and not had a problem.


Here's my build(I have posted on PCpartpicker for easy linking)

https://pcpartpicker.com/b/KtKZxr

TL;DR of it

FX-8320(Eight-Core, 3.5GHz/4.0Ghz Turbo)
750ti(2GB)
8GB RAM(1600Mhz, 2x4GB)
Blu-Ray Drive
2x1TB HDDs

[mumboking]

That is awesome.  The old G620 was a workhorse for its day, but stepping up to that 4th Gen i5 is going to be really great.  Keep us up to date with the VC.

The VC?

The new CPU and MoBo are in my town now, according to the tracking. They'll probably arrive tomorrow.

[Izret101]

Skip 8/8.1. Either stick with Win7 or wait for Win10

[Fokakis79]

it will probably be a year before I can get enough money to buy a pc, so I probably will wait for 10

[bombatomba]

That is awesome.  The old G620 was a workhorse for its day, but stepping up to that 4th Gen i5 is going to be really great.  Keep us up to date with the VC.

The VC?

The new CPU and MoBo are in my town now, according to the tracking. They'll probably arrive tomorrow.

Lol.  Your video card, man.  It says undecided in your post above.

Skip 8/8.1. Either stick with Win7 or wait for Win10

I didn't want to say it (afraid to start a flame-off).  Plus I use Linux for most of my gaming, so who am I to talk.

[mumboking]

The VC?

Lol.  Your video card, man.  It says undecided in your post above.

Ah. I'm going to wait and see how the GTX960 is before I decide.
I was looking at an HD 7770 originally, then I saw the R9 270X and then I saw the GTX 970/980.
It's like: "This might be the one... No, wait... This card! Oh, hold on.. this new one's more expensive but it uses less power and performs better... "