PC Building Guide

Terminology: GPU = Graphics, Card CPU = Processor, HDD = Hard Drive, SSD = Fast Hard Drive, PSU = Power Supply. The rest are self explanatory. Important stuff is highlighted in Red. Very Important in green

PARTS LISTS ARE IN COMMENTS. SAME FOR UPGRADES IF HEAVY EDITING/ RECORDING.

USE http://pcpartpicker.com/list/ FOR MAKING BUILDS. I CAN NOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH THIS WILL MAKE YOUR LIFE SO MUCH EASIER PLEASE JUST DO IT.

Alright, so I noticed a lot of misinformation going around on the forum about PC building. I'm gonna break this down into 3 parts. The first focuses on How to build a PC (Think of it like those lego robots), the second on deciding on your parts list, and how to make it, and the third on the software I recommend, and maintenance. I'm experienced in building PC's (I built mine, disassembled it due to a faulty part, then rebuild it + Built some for friends), I have over 3000 posts on a forum dealing mainly with PC builds.

1. How to build (It's not that scary)
Alright, let's hop on into it. Building a computer isn't that hard. You don't need to solder anything, you literally need a phillips head screwdriver, a bowl, and some light. I recommend watching this tutorial to learn how to do it (Mods if this is against the rules please tell me). *IGNORE PARTS IN BUILD, IT'S OLD*

2. What to build (This is kinda scary)

2.I - Budgeting
The first thing you need to do, is decide on a budget. Don't go over the top, if you're just playing Minecraft, 400$ (300 is possible) should be more than enough. For modern games at medium settings, 600$, for modern games at high settings (1080p), 1000$, and for high resolution, high high refresh rate 1500$, and for having the most enjoyable experience, 2000$. If you're planning on recording, and editing games add an extra 150$ or so to your budget.

2.II - Deciding on parts
This is the hard part. Deciding on PC parts means everything to your build.

2.II.A - GPU
GPU's have 2 main manufacturers. Nvidia, and AMD. AMD's cards don't fit into the price ranges much so we're gonna ignore them. If you want something in between the tiers, I recommend searching AMD 4xx GPUs vs Nvidia 1xxx GPU's. For all of the price ranges of the builds I recommend going with Nvidia for your GPU, since it's simply the best perf/$ while still getting good frames + You get shadow play, and GFE. For the lowest end minecraft rig, no GPU is needed, as the iGPU (Graphics on CPU) will be more than suffice. The only GPU's you should be paying attention to, are the GTX 1050/1050 Ti Great low end cards, 1050 Ti is much faster for not that much more. You should get these if you're going for the 600$. For the 1000$ build, get a 1070, and for the 1500 get a 1080. The 2000$ one is a bit more complicated, in that you can get 2. I'd recommend waiting till next March or so when Nvidia will likely release a 1080 Ti, which will be much faster. Never get a Titan Card for full price, they're very expensive if you're only gaming.


2.II.B - Ram
If you're just gaming, you only really need 8 Gigs of it. Speed doesn't really matter, but I recommend getting 1 stick of 8GB Dimms) of it. For Minecraft, you could make it with 4, but I wouldn't go that low. Modern ram is DDR4. If you're getting a modern processor (The CPU's first number is a 6) get DDR4.

2.II.C - PSU
Power supplies are undoubtedly the one thing in your build you should not cheap out on, a bad PSU = a fried system. I'm not saying you should blow your budget on them, but just try and allocate a good amount. PSU's are the one thing you should shop for by brand. I recommend Corsair, SeaSonic, EVGA (Above the lowest end one), Dark rock, and BeQuiet!. If you have any questions about if they're good or not, try googling reviews. If you still have questions, feel free to reply below!

2.II.D - Case
Case rarely matters. Just make sure your Motherboard will fit, and you think it looks nice. Don't blow your budget on it. Corsair is the best < That's 1/2 sarcasm don't only shop Corsair.

2.II.E - Motherboard
Motherboard shopping is one of the most confusing things. Just make sure you get the right chipset (Check here, or just use PCpartpicker's compatibility mode (On by default). For the most part you can ignore Socket# and just shop by chipset. Unless you're buying used, or highest end you should be shopping for chipsets that look like this V1X0. V being a letter, (Z, H, M) and the X being a number (Usually 7, or a 1). The differences. Look at the 100 series. Only things in here that should effect you are M.2 (Only if high end), Raid support, and overclocking.

2.II.F - Storage (HDD/ SSD)
Storage is important. I recommend going with atleast 1TB 7200 RPM drive, for mass storage, and if you're on the 600$ or above getting an SSD. Research SSD speeds for performance. Samsung, Sandisk, HyperX, and Intel are all good brands. SSD's will be small. Put your OS, and key programs on the SSD. Don't make everything save here.

2.II.G - CPU
This is probably where everyone's gonna call me a Fanboy. If you're CPU shopping in 2016, do not get an AMD CPU. They're inferior to most Intel Processors at the same price point. If you're at 300$ the Minecraft build, get an i3 6100, for all the rest up to the 600$ build, get an i5 6500, and for the 1000$ one get a 6600K (So you can Overclock). If you're editing upgrade these to i7's, so you can utilize hyper threading to make Multithreaded tasks run better. If you're at the 1500$ mark, consider an X99 Motherboard + 6850K to get an extra core so you can multitask better. You can also get a mid end Xeon with 6/8 core so you can have the most cores. You won't be able to overclock it tho. Also make sure it's clockspeed speed is atleast 3.2 GHz, and it's from Skylake, Haswell, or Broadwell architectures.

The things you need to look for are (In order of most importance to least importance) Architecture (More in 2.II.I), Core count (2 Cores without Hyperthreading on a high end rig is stupid), Hyperthreading (Most important on 2 core CPUs, and editing machines. Most i3's have Hyperthreading, and all i7's do.

2.II.H - CPU Cooler

For the 1000$ build and below get a Hyper 212 Evo. It's amazing. For the 1500$, and 2000$'s consider getting a Closed Loop Water Cooling loop (From Corsair, Coolermaster, EKWB) or a Noctua Air Cooler.

2.II.I - Why not AMD?

Allot of you are probably thinking why not AMD? It has the FX 8350, it has 8 cores, and it's 4 GHz. Well for starters it's not *really* 8 cores, and it's from an old architecture. Said architecture has a low iPC (Which is basically how many instructions can be done for every GHz). It also has a low cache (Not getting into this here, you can google it if you want to learn more). Maybe once AMD releases their next line of CPU's (Which I predict to fail, but I'm just some guy on the internet) they will be more relevant. Until then, avoid their FX line of CPU's. Their APU's are somewhat decent, but only for very Low end builds.

2.II.J - Networking cards

If your motherboard doesn't have a Wireless card then get a stand alone one. Make sure it's PCI or PCI-E, and has good reviews.

3. How to maintain/ software.

3.I - Windows

Alright, now time for the easy stuff. You shouldn't pay 100$ for Windows. You can get it cheaper legally from a variety of places. I'm not going to mention any of them here, but google it. When installing Windows make sure you select your SSD as your main drive. It will speed up your computer's boot times drastically. Only save files you use constantly (Like google chrome, your recording software, and steam). But make sure those games don't download everything onto the SSD.

3.II - Basic software

For installing your software I recommend going to https://ninite.com/ and using their installer. This minimizes any chance of bloatware, and streamlines the installation processes.

3.III - Upgrading

If you ever get an upgrade itch, and you don't have an SSD add one. If you run out of Storage add another Hard Drive. If your performance starts lacking google if your GPU supports "SLI" (Or crossfire if you have AMD). SLI is having 2 GPU's work in unison to power higher end graphics.

3.IV - Overclocking

*DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK I DO NOT CLAIM RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY HARDWARE FAILURES CAUSED BY YOUR INCOMPETENCE*

Overclocking's not likely to destroy your computer, unless you do it like a complete idiot. Just watch your temps, download an overclocking utility (Such as MSI After Burner), and boom. You're good. Watch these videos for more information.

Also checkout http://www.evga.com/Products/ProductList.aspx?type=8 for great deals on "slightly used" parts.
--- Post updated ---
Forums bugged, can't post the links until someone else comments. So someone please comment

 

This would be in the OP but I ran out of space, not meant to be a bump or post farm. Mods if you can merge with OP that would be nice.

Ultra low end Minceraft < ~300$

Normal Minecraft <~400$

Mid-Low End < ~600$

Mid-High End <~1000$ (Actually closer to 900$)

High-End <~1500$ (If not planning on lots of editing downgrade MoBo to Z170 and CPU to i5 6600K/ i7 6700K)

Higher-End <1700$ (Better cooler, faster SSD same downgrade to save as above applies)

From any of these builds you an add more storage as you need more. For editing/recording/streaming, add 8 GB Of ram (So you're up to 16). If planning on heavy editing, recording, or streaming consider upgrading to X99.

 

480/ 1060 cards are a bad price range that I feel should be ignored in most cases, as a 1070 isn't much more, and Sticking to this statement. 1050/ Ti are still better PPD, especially once you factor in Nvidia exclusives like Shadow play, and GFE...

CPU wise I mentioned it... Saying that AMD's current top of the line card (480) is comparable to my GPU (980) which is beginning to lag a bit on some games maxed out I disagree with that later statement...