First own PC help

Sixense · 14 May 2015 at 18:27

Hi there, I think this is my third topic already on this, however both times before I had some unfortunate events where I had to spend nearly all the cash I had... So I decided F-that! I'll get me a used PC stuff!

Now, I do not ask for prices anywhere because I know that ain't allowed in here. I would love an opinion on what I am planning on or what I could do better, or what offers better fps and is more suitable and... You get the idea

Financial situation sucks at the moment, I will be able to afford one or two parts per month, although I hope can get 3 in two, so around a 3-4 month project.

The only part that's gonna be new is PSU, and maybe an SSD if buying used SSD is a bad idea, aiming for EVGA or Superflower up to 600-700W

I am looking for X58 or X79 coupled with a cheap OC-able i7 or a Xeon, either X56xx or E5-1603 or around there, plus a 212 evo for cooling and a gpu between 580 and 290x (seen some go dirt cheap, like £50/ea few weeks ago).

I will be risking it in the 'spares and repairs' sections around the web so I can always sell it back just in case. Any idea how can I make it a not-crappy gaming pc that can run games at 1080p for a few years (max settings NOT a priority, 40+ fps IS)? Possible OC on everything plus cpu and gpu on water, don't know how smart is getting wc stuff used.

stulid · 14 May 2015 at 18:28

Hi,

So you want 2nd hand parts? I would save up all the money at once and buy at once.

X79 stuff will cost you more than say a i5 2500K or 3570K and a Z77 board.

Sixense · 14 May 2015 at 18:46

I think I've been hexed, since both times when I was ready to buy full pc smth happened, don't want to risk that, that's why I want to buy in parts, I know, weird.

Anyway, I'm looking into Xseries because for 5 weeks already can't find properly priced i5+Z77, all Xseries I found were on same pricetag or even less o.O Right now tracking some X moms for £40~, cheapest in a month o.O

Kurgen · 14 May 2015 at 21:15

x58 motherboards hold their value £100 plus although supermicro atx server boards can be had for £40 (make sure its ATX) and you can pick up i7s and xeons for £20.. i built one my self as a spare autocad pc and it flies.. they have 6 dimm sockets so if you can scrape 6x 1gbs together it will work in triple channel (most work in dual channel mode as well)

Sixense · 16 May 2015 at 20:12

Thanks for your input guys. Umm, how stupid is it to buy a motherboard with a few bent pins? Will it work properly after fixing them or better to not waste a tenner and get a not-bent?

stulid · 16 May 2015 at 20:12

Dont do it.

Unless you think you can fix it with a magnifying glass and a pin? or the board is free.

Sixense · 17 May 2015 at 11:03

Right, I don't trust myself that much yet

What's the difference between X, E and W series Xeons?
All of these are LGA1366, I just can't find any 2500k~2700k~3570k for my wallet

X5650(60) which seems to be the popular choice here, a 2.66/2.8GHz 6core
E5649 2.53GHz 6core which benches higher than 4670 and same as 3570k
W5590 3.33GHz 4core
W3670 3.2GHz 6core which is the most expensive here and beats X5670 and 2600k

I use http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html but don't know how accurate this is, can I use it as a general measure or are there better sites?

Oh yea, can I mix'n'match RAM in x58, like use a stick of Corsair, 2 of OCZ and another let's say HyperX and leave 2 slots empty? Will it work alright or should I look for dedicated triple-channel memory?

And the SSD question, buy new or try used, since it will most likely be the first part, to make my laptop bearable (i3 350M lagfest -.-").

stulid · 17 May 2015 at 11:06

You can mix+match RAM, but try and get them similar, otherwise if they need different voltages to work you could end up in trouble.

SSDs are safe to buy 2nd hand, get a disk health report first and try and get a modern one with SATAIII.

This can compare CPUs - http://www.anandtech.com/bench/CPU/39