Computer Build

About 5 years ago I wanted to build my own PC, I'd told my boyfriend at the time (now ex) and then he went ahead and built one for me for my birthday. While I appreciated the awesome pressie, I still had an itch to build my own. So at the end of 2014 my lovely Fiance helped me build a PC for under $1000 as a Chrissy pressie.

I tried to read up so I knew which parts to pick but with such varying opinions across the board I ended up needing help from Tom.

We talked about what games I'd want to play and since running a social gaming clan I got a taste for always playing the latest released games so I wanted something that I could at least try out new games with and get good ping. Also, after a few years break, I wanted to get back into World of Warcraft and check out the new expansion, Warlords of Draenor. So we checked out the system requirements for WoW and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and chose pieces which were equal or better. Here's my rig:

Processor: Intel Core i5-4590

The processor was the part I did the most reading about and it ended up just making my head spin. I got the gist that i7 was overkill and not necessarily needed and I also found that the majority of people prefer Intel over AMD.

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85M-D3H

Tom found a motherboard which supported the processor and everything else as well as had great features such as 7.1 surround sound etc. When we went to buy the parts we double checked that our choices worked well together.

Memory: Kingston KVR16N11/8 8gb

 

We decided to go for one stick of 8gb RAM as 8gb is recommended for most games today and I can easily up it to 16gb later on when needed.

Case: Thermaltake Commander MS II

We actually chose a cheaper case but they were out of stock, so instead we got this one. I'm very happy with it, it's quite a good looking case, came with an LED fan and the small window just gives a sneak peak inside. Everything fit nicely inside with plenty of space.

GPU: GeForce GTX 760 4gb

We went for the GPU which was recommended for COD: Advanced Warfare, this gave the PC a good graphics card while staying within budget.

Ooh! Shiny...

Storage: Seagate 2TB HD

We asked for a 2TB hard drive and we were recommended this one. With how big games are getting these days I wanted a decent amount of space and later on I will be looking at getting a SSD!

CD Rom

As I read up about computer builds, many guides said you don't need to bother with a CD Rom anymore as most games are downloadable. I grabbed one anyway as you can snatch one up for under $15 plus call me old fashioned but I like having physical copies of games.

Power Supply: Corsair VS650 650 WATT PSU

650 WATT power supply to run everything smoothly.

I also grabbed an extra fan as the case only came with one and that is pretty much it. I bought all my pieces from MSY Technology in Cannington, WA and the whole build came to under $1000. I enjoyed building my own PC and recommend it to anyone to save money and as a fun project!

Stay fun!

Bellistik