Planning on building a new PC
Hey everyone!
As some of you might have heard I've been wanting to build a new PC for some time now. I've managed to postpone it for 6 months now because who would want to sell Steem at $1 knowing its potential. ;)
I started streaming on Twitch a few months back and I enjoyed it a lot. Since my PC is very weak and somewhat broken it didn't let me game that much while streaming, as it requires pretty decent hardware, but I did more curation streaming instead and it was really fun seeing Steemians get together on twitch and chat while doing live streaming. I intend to do more of that in the future!
I lost a bit of motivation streaming on Twitch as well, much like other platforms dominated by adrevenue and greedy shareholders, it seemed to be going down the same path there as well. With the @dlive announcement around the same time it made me not want to waste any more of my time on Twitch. If you haven't heard of @dlive, I urge you to check it out, it's really exciting. Basically they want to create a decentralized streaming platform built on Steem, which means that you will be able to log in to the platform your Steem account through Steemconnect and donate to your favorite streamers with Steem & Steem Dollars which have no fees but also upvote the streams with your Steem Power! Another really exciting thing was that you will even be able to vote on the chat bar, for streamers this will be very revolutionizing as no other platform let's streamers reward their active chatters the same way.
In preparation of @dlive I now want to build a nice PC that will last me a few years - as in the hardware should be good enough to run any games while streaming that will be released in the next few years. This might be a lot to ask since technology is evolving constantly and at an accelerating speed it feels like, but I'm sure we can find some good solutions to it. Thing is I'm not very tech-savvy, that's why I wanted to write down what parts I've been planning to order and let you guys tell me if you think its a good idea or if you have something better in mind.
Good suggestions and discussions will be rewarded with higher votes. :)
Screens
I want to get 2 screens, they don't have to be too large, between 27"-32" but they have to be 144hz and have a fast reaction time. This is important for gaming such as FPS like CS:GO. 2 will be necessary for streaming and trading.
Tower
A good medium-full tower, I haven't looked into these at all yet, so if you can suggest some that are looking pretty neat and are good at keeping the temperature low, let me know.
Motherboard
I've heard ASUS is producing quality motherboards lately, so I would want something that is solid and will have room to let me upgrade to two GPU's if necessary in the future.
Graphics Card
I've gotten pretty bored of AMD's after years of mining and them dying on me probably due to it, the software has not been the best either so I would like to switch to NVidia. I've heard the 1080 TI's are beasts that should be able to run anything even while streaming. Anything above 12GB VRAM would be preferred.
CPU
With CPU's I'm really unsure, some keep telling me to get a threadripper while others say the i7's are a lot better for gaming and especially streaming. I won't be doing much rendering except for when posting some videos on @dtube, but that won't matter how fast it does it as long as you can use the PC while its rendering - my current CPU barely let's me use chrome while rendering.
If you can suggest some good water coolers for the CPU as well that would be appreciated.
What memory I get shouldn't that important, I'll just get whatever is necessary and normal at the time and upgrade if needed. I've heard they have at least doubled in price lately.
If you want to include power supplies and which SSD's you'd prefer, that would also be appreciated.
If someone feels like writing a full list with prices and comments as to why you'd choose what you chose, I will reward you extra for your time.
Thanks in advance and thanks for reading. Let's get some quality streaming going soon. :)
Hi. I was summoned here by @free999enigma to aid you in picking out parts for a new PC. I'm not sure what kind of budget you have available, but this is going to cost you over 1K$ clearly. I can't give you exact prices, on account of I don't know what region you're from and you can always find promotions going on for some parts.
Let's get started with the most important bit, the CPU. If you're planning on getting the PC before April, I would suggest going for the Intel i7 8700K. With 6 cores and 12 threads that can auto-clock to a very high frequency you will have a machine that can crush games and streaming with no worries. You'll be able to do encoding and use just about any other application at the same time. Even some games that aren't very demanding. If you are going to buy the PC in the spring, I would suggest taking a look at the Ryzen Refresh series from AMD. Never touch Threadripper unless you're planning on making a workstation, those are not general use CPUs.
This CPU does not come with a cooler, so you need to get one separately. There's a lot of options here, you could go fore a closed loop water cooler, like the Corsair H110, but that tends to cost around 150$, which is a lot. You can also go for something like the Noctua NH-D15 or the Thermalright Le Grand Macho
For the motherboard, Asus is a fine choice. I would go for the ROG Maximus X Hero if you want the absolute top of the line part. With this motherboard you have an overclock profile that will take the CPU to 5GHz automatically. At that point, there really isn't anything you won't be able to do with it for the next several years. The motherboard has plenty of space to expand and all the connectivity you'd need for the future.
In terms of RAM, good GOD do not buy RAM now. Everything costs 2x what it used to and it will continue to increase in price. It is a horrible time to buy RAM now, but if you must, go with 16GB of anything you can afford.
SSD: I suggest you get a Samsung 960 Evo of 250GB for boot and some games/software. There are versions with more storage space, but they are a bit expensive. The advantage of the 960 series is that they reach speeds that will make any loading almost instant.
For the GPU. There isn't anything with more than 12GB VRAM on the market and there won't be for at least a year. If you can afford a 1080 Ti, sure, go for it, it is the current best video card on the market aimed at the general public. Nvidia is starting to frown upon SLI, so you will start seeing less and less advantage with having two video cards installed, unless the game developers start implementing Explicit Multi-Adapter mode in games, which will connect multiple graphics cards by default. If you can't afford the 1080ti, go for the 1070 Ti, it is cheaper than the standard 1080 and almost as powerful.
For the case you can get just about anything you like, they all tend to be great these days. A personal favorite of mine is the Corsair 400r, which usually costs around 120$.
As for the screens, you don't need them both to run at 144Hz, since you'll be using one to monitor your stream and the other one for playing. It would be cheaper to get a good 144Hz screen and a cheaper 60Hz one. I'm saying this because a 27 inch 144Hz screen is very expensive, it is the second most expensive part after the GPU. But if you're going to go through with it, get an Acer Gaming Predator XB1 XB271HU 27. It is 2560x1440 resolution, so it can fully utilize the GPU. It costs around 800$. If that is too much, get the Acer Predator Z271bmiphzx , it is a lot cheaper. Both of these have G-sync, which is very useful with the Nvidia card at high refresh rates. If you do not need G-Sync, then get something like the Acer Gaming GN276HL. It is a lot cheaper and only 1080p, sadly. Also, because it is a TN panel, it will be very fast, but the colors are not great. You could also try the AOC Gaming AGON AG271QX or the BenQ Gaming EX3200R.
As for the PSU, get anything made by Seasonic with around 700W or 750W. That should last you a long time, even with two graphics cards, if you want to upgrade in the future.
Again, I'm not sure what budget you have at your disposal or when you want to get the computer, but if you're looking for top of the line performance, this is your current best choice. Let me know if you have a smaller budget in mind and I'll see if I can find something that will match it.
Thank you so much for this detailed response! It answered a lot of questions I had about certain parts and will surely make my decision a lot easier!
My pleasure. If you've got any other questions, let me know.
Thank you so much for this detailed response!
Would water cooling for cpu reduce noise much? I'd like to have my next built quiet as possible.
It depends on the fans. The H110 comes with a pair of fans that can get really loud at high RPM, but you do have the option to set them to a quiet profile. Since they're placed closer to the exterior of the case, they tend to be heard easily. But that's usually only when you really stress out the CPU and are keen to keep it under 60 Celsius. If you're OK with getting to 65-70, a water cooler or a really beefy air cooler, like the bigger Noctuas, can be very silent.
Thank you, Noctuas sounds like a way to go for me.
What makes me happy to see is how we can easily reward each other over here for contributions, one can get used to it over time but then you remember that this is truly revolutionary.
very informative @unacomn
The 1080 Ti is flat out better than the Vega 64. The Vega 56 had an edge over the 1070, but they came out with the 1070 Ti to counteract it. The Vega cards are very rare and more expensive than they should be because of the Crypto craze, sadly.
If you do use your PC for mining, check what kind of GPU architecture your mining algorithm uses better. Currently, most use the Radeon architectures, which is why they are hard to find and cost too much.
thanks. This is helpful
Plus my 1070 is faster than a 1070 ti by like 20% with its overclock
When i started reading this comment i said to to myself "is he in a any looking at the components he is mentioning or is he installing them."
Your response is detailed and at the same time good to read.
Here is my small suggest for you Dear @acidyo
That's a pretty solid suggestion, you can always up the RAM accordingly and you don't need a huge ssd, basically you only want your OS and favorite programs on it. Give this guy a prize for most valuable comment😄
You might need to power down for this one :)
they don't have to be too large, between 27"-32" - well if that's not large then what size should they be in order to be large?
Lol. I thought the same.
This. :P
Is this yours? Omg, high life! :))
Haha, no was just an example of a really large one. :P
Very large monitor, I like it.
I hadn't heard of dlive, but I agree that twitch is definitely treading down the wrong path (Oh, you should check out Penguinz0/Cr1tikal's Twitch Rewind video for a laugh) and having a new platform based off Steemit could lead to some great things. I'm definitely glad to hear you still plan to stream in the future, as I really had fun hanging out in the chat and talking with you and other users, man.
Can I suggest you check out the Ryzen 7 1700 processor? I've heard it works a lot better for game streaming than the i7 7700k, and the price is pretty comparable as well (It's actually about 30-35 dollars cheaper than the 7700k costing only $299). I know you've had issues with AMD before, but I've heard nothing but good stuff about that one. Also, definitely get the 1080 TI if you can afford it, because they are absolute monsters, lol.
its way faster than anything intel has sub 1500$ i have one and the 1700 is a beast.
All the very best on your PC building mission.
Heck yea bro! I want to build my self a computer too but I am broke as hell right, lol! I wish I could give suggestions but you probably know more than I do.
My best advice to you would be to spend a little bit more money and do it right. Don't be cheap when building a PC, spend a few hundred more if you have to but make it a best :)
Also, Decentralized streaming platform would be bad ass :)
ID-Cooling Auraglow 240 (earned a 2017 Approved award) / Fractal Design Celsius S24 (earned a 2017 Approved award). These have to be the best liquid CPU coolers that I know of! Hope this comment helps! If you find this comment helpful please upvote this so others can benefit from this information as well.