Building a PC—Avoid wasting Money

[Brian Boru]

Jayz has an 18m wallet-friendly video where he discusses:
0:58 - Power Supplies
3:19 - RAM
6:28 - "Gaming" PC's
9:20 - Custom "High End" GPU's
13:07 - Storage
He mentions at the end that the whole RGB thing goes without saying as an universal money waste.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odR3UI8FKSY


If budget isn't an issue, K yourself O. But when budget matters:
Agree? Disagree? Add anything?

For me, a key factor he mentions a couple of times is the concept of 'noticing the difference'. I don't care if your thingummy has twice the speed-power-capacity of my doohickey if I can't see a noticeable diff in practice.

I know nothing re current parts, but I imagine it's easy to waste on case and mobo too.

Jayz says DDR4 RAM will be fine for years yet. Why is this?
Because games and software can't yet use the extra which DDR5 provides? Or…?

 

[CParsons]

That was a good video, I watched it last night. I'm into a lot of virtual pinball systems and I see people suggesting to others all the time wayyyyyy over specced video cards for their needs.

 

[Why_Me]

That video should be mandatory for every first time builder.

 

[Brian Boru]

That video should be mandatory for every first time builder.

Made it a 'Sticky' thread, so always available top of this forum to link to.

Must add to my sig, feel free to do same

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

One small criticism: I wish he would have stated that not overspending on PSU doesnt equate to 'buy the cheapest PSU you can find with the right wattage on the label'. Getting a good quality PSU that will last a long time preserves all your other components as well.

RE: RAM. Far as I understand it as the speed of DDR goes up the latency gets worse, so even if the MT/s numbers look way bigger, in practice at least for gaming they arent that much faster, especially at the start of the generation with slower DDR 5 vs the fastest more refined. DDR4. Also add the fact that gaming in general is often GPU rather than CPU limited and RAM speed affects the CPU performance mainly.

DDR5 vs DDR4: Is It Time To Upgrade Your RAM?

Welcome to the new era of DDR5 RAM

www.tomshardware.com

The performance difference in gaming between the two extremes (DDR4-2133 C15 and DDR5-6400 C36) was only around 8%. However, once we stepped up to something better, like DDR4-3200 C15, DDR5-6400 C36 was only 2% faster.

 

[Brian Boru]

not overspending on PSU doesnt equate to 'buy the cheapest PSU

Good point, he did miss that.

Thanks for the RAM clarification—those Tom's numbers are an enlightening surprise for my ignorance

 

[Rolfil]

Vex has a similar video

View: https://youtu.be/7zw5wMgBGNo?si=6Plww5SXlkSY3BGw


I particularly like the part about AIO coolers being a waste of money in most cases.

 

[Why_Me]

All white builds when on a limited budget, those NZXT Kraken AIO's ... AIO's in general when on a limited budget, pretty much any case Corsair makes, Intel i9's for a gaming build and those fish tank cases such as the 011's and Hytes .. I detest those cases. Expensive and horrible airflow. I'm sure there's more I can complain about but that's off the top of my head after I just witnessed a $2000 USD build that included a RTX 3060 for a peep that wants to game at 1440P. You know a build thread is going to be bad when it starts with 'my friend on Discord recommended this ...'

 

[Colif]

Spending too little on PSU is far worse than spending too much. A cheap PSU can kill other parts before it dies itself. I have lost hdd in the past to bad PSU.
I may have too much power now but it let me upgrade parts without needing to worry about power.

6:28 - "Gaming" PC's
9:20 - Custom "High End" GPU's
13:07 - Storage
He mentions at the end that the whole RGB thing goes without saying as an universal money waste.

But RGB & Gaming PC's are the same thing... PC only needs RGB to be a gaming PC... that is what seems to be case anyway.

PCIe5 nvme are a waste of money for windows drives. You won't notice a massive speed difference between PCIe3 & 5. Just an increase in heat. If they keep going the heatsinks needed to cool the nvme will look like mini CPU heatsinks. Why not just make one water cooling pump that does the CPU & nvme?

You need to move really big files around to notice any speed difference really.

 

[ZedClampet]

Jayz has an 18m wallet-friendly video where he discusses:
0:58 - Power Supplies
3:19 - RAM
6:28 - "Gaming" PC's
9:20 - Custom "High End" GPU's
13:07 - Storage
He mentions at the end that the whole RGB thing goes without saying as an universal money waste.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odR3UI8FKSY


If budget isn't an issue, K yourself O. But when budget matters:
Agree? Disagree? Add anything?

For me, a key factor he mentions a couple of times is the concept of 'noticing the difference'. I don't care if your thingummy has twice the speed-power-capacity of my doohickey if I can't see a noticeable diff in practice.

I know nothing re current parts, but I imagine it's easy to waste on case and mobo too.

Jayz says DDR4 RAM will be fine for years yet. Why is this?
Because games and software can't yet use the extra which DDR5 provides? Or…?

I wouldn't get RGB even if I could afford it unless I was making a custom case that needed it (for appearances--like I put fake buttons and switches all over it)

As for RAM, I've never done a test with it, but the standard take is that RAM speeds make very little difference in game performance.

 

[Why_Me]

ITX / SFF builds if not already mentioned. Such as the fish tank cases, these builds are stupid, especially when you're on a budget. The main excuse for these builds is 'my desk won't fit a mid tower ATX case ... blah blah'. News flash: grab a piece of shelving from the hardware store and set it on the floor next to your desk so that you can use a real case and not some claustrophobic hot box that limits you on NORMAL components. These are the people who complain about gpu's being too large. Tough .. you asked for the misery now deal with it.

 

[Why_Me]

RGB is the devil.

From the OP:

Hello,

I'm planning to buy a new PC soon, mainly for gaming purposes. I'm looking for some tips on how to optimize the setup and where I could potentially save some money.

Build Advice - New gaming PC build tips

Hello, I'm planning to buy a new PC soon, mainly for gaming purposes. I'm looking for some tips on how to optimize the setup and where I could potentially save some money. Here's the setup I'm considering to buy now: Sapphire PULSE RX 7800 XT Gaming 16 Gb 566,99€...

forums.tomshardware.com

 

[Colif]

ITX / SFF builds if not already mentioned. Such as the fish tank cases, these builds are stupid, especially when you're on a budget. The main excuse for these builds is 'my desk won't fit a mid tower ATX case ... blah blah'. News flash: grab a piece of shelving from the hardware store and set it on the floor next to your desk so that you can use a real case and not some claustrophobic hot box that limits you on NORMAL components. These are the people who complain about gpu's being too large. Tough .. you asked for the misery now deal with it.

But entire Youtube channels are dedicated to fitting an entire PC into a pencil case... I assume that is dream size. I don't know where they think the heat is meant to go. Its trendy to suffocate parts now... same with fishtanks.
Mesh is the best answer but can't see RGB through that so easily... priorities are all wrong... its how it looks that matters, so what if your PC overheats and you need headphones on all day to drown out the 12 fans.

I don't see any reference to RGB in the TH link.

 

[Nux Vomica]

I'd love to build my own gaming pc, but I literally would need a step by step guide to pick the parts and build it, so it actually works instead of bursting into flames first time it is powered-up.

Hoping my new job as a mobile mechanic's helper will give me skills that can translate into puter building. Yeah, right-o.

Lotte (Lot-Tah}

 

[Brian Boru]

Welcome to the forum

step by step guide to pick the parts and build it

Ask and you shall receive:

https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-build-a-pc-the-ultimate-beginners-guide

3 years old but the principles all still apply:

How to build a gaming PC for beginners: All the parts you need

The first step to building a gaming PC is selecting the right components

www.tomsguide.com

 

[Colif]

Oh wow tg has too many ads. Serves me right for visiting on my phone.

I find one way to work out what parts you should use is find a few websites that make pc for you and look at the parts they have used and then do google search for each part and read reviews.

It's a starting point if you unsure. Then you can ask on forums like here or Tom's Hardware what they think of your choice. If you ask on Tom's they will fight each other to help

 

[Nux Vomica]

Tyvm the pc mag tute was very good!

Lotte (Lot-TAH)

 

[Why_Me]

Completely off topic but what is it with Europeans and simple geography.

Example of a European build thread:

OP: I want a PC and I have a budget of €1,000.

Me: Where are you located?

OP: Europe.

Me: What country in Europe?

OP: EU.

Me: The EU isn't a country ... which one of these countries do you reside in (and then I put a map of Europe in the post).


Seven post to find out what bloody country the OP lives in.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Completely off topic but what is it with Europeans and simple geography.

Example of a European build thread:

OP: I want a PC and I have a budget of €1,000.

Me: Where are you located?

OP: Europe.

Me: What country in Europe?

OP: EU.

Me: The EU isn't a country ... which one of these countries do you reside in (and then I put a map of Europe in the post).


Seven post to find out what bloody country the OP lives in.

Inside the EU its pretty easy to order stuff from other countries without friction, they probably arent expecting someone to get as granular with local stores as you can for the best prices.

 

[Why_Me]

Inside the EU its pretty easy to order stuff from other countries without friction, they probably arent expecting someone to get as granular with local stores as you can for the best prices.

Not only does every EU country have different VAT, some EU countries such as Hungary for example get hosed on prices. When the Hungarians order from Amazon. de for example they eat an extra VAT + shipping cost. Then you have some EU countries that have the Ryzen 5 7500F available for example and some EU countries don't offer that cpu.

 

[Lutfij]

Completely off topic but what is it with Europeans and simple geography.

Example of a European build thread:

OP: I want a PC and I have a budget of €1,000.

Me: Where are you located?

OP: Europe.

Me: What country in Europe?

OP: EU.

Me: The EU isn't a country ... which one of these countries do you reside in (and then I put a map of Europe in the post).


Seven post to find out what bloody country the OP lives in.

I've had to fish out their location. It's annoying to always come across someone who says I'm in Europe. Once you post a suggestion with a part's listing in Germany, the user comes back with a logistics is going to kill my purchase. Well, sir, why not tell me which country you're located in so I can source a part that's either in your country or one that's in your neighboring country?

I'm beginning to think Brexit was a tactic to avoid them mad people. No, I'm kidding!

 

[Colif]

Hey, I have seen the "interview students in street" videos from USA, some of your people don't even know other countries exist... Or that people in England do actually speak English amazingly well... Or why there isn't an American choice in the languages screen... so Europe doesn't have the monopoly on stupid

Forums used to have a field where you could put Country but most people don't use it. People don't look.

And yes, you are meant to be psychic... its why we hired you

 

[Brian Boru]

Not only does every EU country have different VAT

As do some areas within countries, eg Greece & Portugal.

It's probably worse than USA where every state also has different sales tax, and local authorities within state can/do add their slice—at least shipping here tends to be one price for anywhere in the 48 contiguous states.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Not only does every EU country have different VAT, some EU countries such as Hungary for example get hosed on prices. When the Hungarians order from Amazon. de for example they eat an extra VAT + shipping cost. Then you have some EU countries that have the Ryzen 5 7500F available for example and some EU countries don't offer that cpu.

Interesting, Ive ordered stuff from Caseking and Alternate a fair bit, and of course Amazon doesnt have an FI so I get stuff mostly from DE. Think they add on the sales tax appropriate for the country automatically at checkout. Never really thought about it because its easy to see when youre buying for yourself if its worth it or not.

 

[Colif]

Australia doesn't have different charges for different states - just as well really.

I have only bought two things from OS sites, Amazon just added it on for my country but the other one didn't add any charges on top. I should have paid tax but I didn't. I was wondering if anyone would contact me about that but it wasn't a massive amount. They probably would if I made a habit of buying from same place. I generally restrict my purchases to things I can get in my country.