Saving To Build A Desktop (and other questions)

[DTBWolfie]

So, one of many reasons why I've stopped playing games as often as I used to is that my laptop (prebuilt, of course) is, like all electronics, becoming outdated. It lasted a good 3 years somehow managing to truck along, but not my Intel HD Family Graphics (I know, I know, laugh it up) isn't exactly fit for games such as Fallout 4 and any other newer games.

As I turn 15 in just a few days, a couple more job opportunities open, you know, the different diners, fast food joints, and supermarkets. The usual for a teen. Anyways, I plan on getting a job and saving up for a gaming PC, which I have questions about. At the rate of minimum wage here, I figured out it'd only take me 3-4 months to get around 1,400-1,600 dollars, which is definitely good for a gaming PC that'd last years to come. I had a few questions though.

1. Is it better to buy part-by-part as I obtain the money for each individual piece, or save up and buying as a whole (the latter seems easier as I can use something like PCPartPicker which helps to make sure I won't run into any major compatibility issues.)?

2. Say I want to build a beefy gaming computer that can be pushed to the limits with the most HD graphics and stuff like that. Would saving for a few months (assuming I have around $2,000) be enough for a PC of that sorts?

3. Also, anyone who has built their own PC, did everything work out the first time you put it together? Did you receive any DOA parts or compatibility issues?


I am young and naive, so I may sound stupid to someone much more tech savvy in the computer hardware department, however I want to make sure that I don't make any regretful decisions when putting together my first PC.

 

[bennet]

build it yourself and you'll put together a decent computer for about $700-800, your estimates for $1400-$2000 are way in excess


there's lots of resources out there to help, https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapcto name one

 

[Helios]

If you want a decent system to run games on you're looking at something around $1500 at most, maybe if you really want to push it you can go higher but I wouldn't. Personally I'd look towards buying them part by part, and then assembling it once all parts are together, but it really doesn't make a difference since you won't be able to use them until all of the parts are together. Parts should come intact and if they don't warranty usually covers them so you can get them replaced anyway.

Compatibility won't really be an issue if you run it through PCPartPicker first, since it checks over the components being used to make sure they can all work together.

 

[bennet]

around $1500, maybe $2000 i

what kinda fuckin computers are you retards buying

 

[Helios]

i edited it out okay fuck off

 

[Scone !]

I've spent £500 roughly on my PC in total (can run Fallout 4 on high settings), so you needn't aim quite so high on your estimates, and this is counting every component I've replaced in the last two years.

Basically just make sure you get a good case that doesn't overheat with a good bit of room. Get a PSU that has enough power that it won't short out. Get a decent monitor, more important than a lot of stuff as it's what you're looking at every day. Make sure GPU and RAM and CPU are all compatible with your motherboard. That last one is important, otherwise you're just throwing away money when they don't fit together.

 

[deejay]

come on lad ill build you one

 

[MadWetUndies]

There are many guides on the internet to build 'decent' (low-ish to medium end) setups. Average price of those are between three and four hundred dollars, and they should run most modern games at good to high quality with 30-60FPS give or take. If you really want to save up and go a few hundred dollars more, you can make a very nice set up anywhere from five to seven hundred dollars that'll run a lot of games at ultra quality with at least 40 FPS.

NOW THEN:

If this is your first job, as in you've never worked for anyone that's going to require you to have some form of documentation to work there, let me tell you from my experience. Take it with a grain of salt, everyone's different: When you hit the age of fifteen and you go down to get your physical, and, subsequently, your working papers with your Doctor's signature, you are /still/ going to be turned down by a lot of employers for your age. I was denied from Little Caesars, as well as five other fast food joints, two pizzarias, and all retail positions I applied for solely because I wasn't sixteen or eighteen. Getting a job is going to be hard with your age. I finally got a job at my local, family owned delicatessen, and even then I wasn't allowed to do a lot of things someone older than me would have been able to do (No cleaning machines, especially not the machine they use to slice cold cuts). As such, and because of state requirements, the highest amount of hours I ever got in a week was twelve, and that was the maximum I was allowed to working during the school year. Most of the time I got six or nine hours. I wouldn't expect to 'make bank' at your first job.

Still, it's money, and you know what you want to save for. Just do some poking around, do a little research with whoever you're looking at as a possible employer. Be prepared to face a lot of different things at once. If you work somewhere local, I'd suggest you spend a little time there as a customer to see what the workers will be like. I was the youngest person working at that deli, and a few of the older guys liked to either use that to their advantage or just poke at you for it. Again, these are all personal experiences, but, it's just something you can run into. Hope all of this goes well and such.

All that said, I got $200 off almost four years ago on my PC. Just a stock Dell Inspiron 660 with a GTX 760 2GB Ti. It's not custom built, it won't make your jaw drop, but, I can run just about any game I buy with high settings and 40-60 FPS and I've thoroughly enjoyed it. You can usually make a better PC for less, but, shit was $200 off. Not gonna say 'nah, no thanks'.

 

[bennet]

come on lad ill build you one

single western digital 2tb drive oh haha lmao lad don't even know

 

[DTBWolfie]

Thanks everyone so far. As for what MadWetUndies has said, yeah, I have McDonald's and Market Basket as the only options near me (not many diners or other places that hire teens under 16, which I found out through countless phone calls to countless diners/restaurants in my town/nearby towns). So it's a matter of trying all the ones within reasonable distance, hoping I do get the job at any of their locations.

Also, I had a question I forgot about and just remembered it now. I ran my first ideal build through PCPartPicker, and everything seems compatible with the case. However, it does not cover certain things such as the heat sink size to my knowledge. However, it found no compatibility issues that will be a problem. Should I trust PcPartPicker or shall I research each part and the case as a whole?

 

[deejay]

its wd black

and i have another 2tb hooked up just not plugged in

dont get fucking cheeky with me

 

[Helios]

I'd do some more research on it tbh. It's better for you to know about if the parts can fit physically and still leave room for cables and other stuff that run through it - the site doesn't account for that afaik.

 

[MadWetUndies]

Also, when this PC goes kaputz, I fully intend to rip every fucking thing I can out of it that I can use so that I may feed its insides to the new PC and make it stronger. If you have the initiative, you could Frankenstein yourself a PC. I had a friend who put together a "decent" PC for less than $200 by picking parts out of good-will stores that sold PCs and buying from friends. It was a hilarious thing, shit worked well enough. I'll see if I can get him to send me pics of his SUPERPOOTER

 

[posepsi]

the thing that really inflates the price of a PC is the peripherals. my current computer itself only cost around 800. monitors added another ~800, desk ~200, chair ~200, etc. so assuming you already have some, or all of those things, it shouldn't cost you much. if you are starting from absolute scratch i'd say 2 grand is enough to get a high-end system including the needed peripherals. but unless you live in a cave you're not starting from scratch. see if anyone you know has old monitors you can use, or even an old computer you can salvage some parts from. you can save a ton that way.

as for when to buy, its best to just save up and buy at all once. technology is always getting better and price per performance is always going down.

dont try to save money by being cheap, either. the decent or good stuff isn't that much more expensive than the suspiciously cheap stuff, and suspiciously cheap stuff is suspiciously cheap for a reason.