Where are my Satellite Guy's gamers at?

[Scherrman]

Yeah, 8GB of RAM should be good. A quick look through my Steam library shows that most games seem to recommend 4GB of RAM. Watch Dogs is the first game I have seen list 6GB of RAM on the system requirements. I'm sure there are exceptions but I haven't seen that in listings before. Having 8GB is good for a little bit of future proofing. People with ridiculous rigs with 32GB of RAM are just throwing money away because no games need that much.

I don't have DayZ but the system you listed should be able to play it at 1080p with high settings. It's an open environment but it doesn't look like the most graphically intensive game. I think it will do a nice job with modern games and you will rarely have to turn many of the settings down if you are playing on a TV.

I know DayZ doesn't look like the most graphic intensive game but from everything I've read it sounds like it demands quite a bit from a PC. Maybe it has more to do with multiple people on a server or something. I know that people's frame rates really drop when they are in some of the cities where there may be more people playing and zombies roaming about.

I know what you're saying about the wasting of money. I've seen videos of people putting together these $3,000 rigs and adding high end hardware just because they can. It's like computer geeks are no different than car buffs, always showing off their ride.

 

[yourbeliefs]

You don't need more than 8 GB of RAM currently. Hell don't forget most programs nowadays are just starting to take full advantage of the 4+GB 64-bit architecture. 8 will be more than sufficient. Also as far as games go, it's the video card doing most of the work.

 

[Scherrman]

You don't need more than 8 GB of RAM currently. Hell don't forget most programs nowadays are just starting to take full advantage of the 4+GB 64-bit architecture. 8 will be more than sufficient. Also as far as games go, it's the video card doing most of the work.

One of the videos I watched the guy said your graphics card should be about a third of the total cost of the PC. That actually sounds about right when I look at the break down on hardware.

 

[Scherrman]

Alright, I'm still screwing around with this. I have to devise a new strategy in order for my wife to be ok with this. I'm trying to see how cheap of a PC I can build and still be able to play some good games on it. As said before I don't need to play the best games ever with the highest settings. What I'm hoping I can do is just start cheap and gradually add on to it. So far I have one built on pcpartpicker.com for around $500.

I want to know your thoughts on the RAM. I know 4GB will be enough to get me started and generally it's best to split it between 2 sticks but would I be good with just one 4GB stick? I'd like to just get the one so I can add a second 4GB in the future. With just one stick of 4GB affect the performance that much for what I'm doing?

 

[king3pj]

Alright, I'm still screwing around with this. I have to devise a new strategy in order for my wife to be ok with this. I'm trying to see how cheap of a PC I can build and still be able to play some good games on it. As said before I don't need to play the best games ever with the highest settings. What I'm hoping I can do is just start cheap and gradually add on to it. So far I have one built on pcpartpicker.com for around $500.

I want to know your thoughts on the RAM. I know 4GB will be enough to get me started and generally it's best to split it between 2 sticks but would I be good with just one 4GB stick? I'd like to just get the one so I can add a second 4GB in the future. With just one stick of 4GB affect the performance that much for what I'm doing?

If you want the cheapest way to get started with a gaming build skip the separate CPU and GPU and go with the AMD A10-7850k APU listed here.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00H7Z7YMI/?tag=satell01-20

It's $185 and comes with a free steam code for Saint's Row IV. Reviewers are claiming they are able to play Battlefield 4, Metro Last Light, and Call of Duty Ghosts at ultra settings at 720p with no separate GPU. This sounds like a great way to get in to PC gaming on a budget. If you ever decide to add in a AMD GPU in the future this APU supports Crossfire for dual graphics. This means that you can still use this as your CPU in the future and it will give a boost to whichever AMD GPU you decide to buy.

If you decide to go with this APU you should definitely stick with 2 4GB sticks of DDR3 RAM. The reason being that APUs don't have VRAM like a GPU does. They have to use some of your RAM for graphics memory. Dropping down to 4GB of RAM and then sharing that RAM with the APU might be a problem.

You seem to already know that 2 sticks of 4GB RAM is better than 1 stick of 8GB RAM. This is especially true if you want to use an APU. DDR3 RAM is slower than the VRAM built into standard graphics cards. You will want to be in dual channel mode to maximize your RAM speed so it doesn't become a bottleneck.

Edit: Here is a review of this APU from PC Gamer. This thing will play modern games at decent settings with no GPU. As long as you don't have to play everything at 1080p with 60+ FPS and all settings maxed this sounds like a good option. From what you have said so far, it might be perfect for you. Both new consoles are using APUs similar to this and they are only going to get better. I think these AMD APUs are the future and hopefully we can say goodbye to expensive GPUs for good in a few years.

http://www.pcgamer.com/review/amd-a10-7850k-kaveri-processor-review/

 

[king3pj]

One more thing I wanted to add... If you are going to buy an APU make sure you get the fastest RAM you can fit in your budget. I would get something like this 8GB DDR3 2133MHz RAM if the motherboard you buy supports speeds that high. The biggest difference between an APU and a separate CPU/GPU setup is that VRAM on a GPU is faster than RAM. The higher you get the RAM speed up the more you bridge that gap. According to what I have read using 2133MHz RAM vs something like 1600MHz ram can make as much as 25% difference in frames per second for gaming with an APU.

Not all motherboards support 2133MHz RAM and some might require you to select the RAM speed in your BIOS so that is something to consider. My BIOS defaulted to 1333MHz RAM even though I bought 1600MHz sticks but it was an easy change. The RAM speed isn't as important if you use a separate GPU.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0050119O0/?tag=satell01-20

 

[Scherrman]

Very good info there king and I appreciate every bit of it. I've really been enjoying talking with you guys on here about PCs and just games in general.

Graphics right now really are not my top priority as much as gameplay and frame rate are. I just was to be able to play the games I want smoothly. I'll worry about improving the graphics when the time comes. I think I just want to take baby steps into this for now and get familiar with it. Once I'm comfortable with building and can afford a high end rig I'll do that in the future. I want to make sure I'm allowing myself to upgrade my initial setup though. I don't think I want to have to start all over again in 3-4 years, if that's at all possible.

 

[king3pj]

It really sounds like that APU is the way to go for you then. It does the job of the CPU and GPU for about the same price as the GTX 750 GPU you posted a while back. It will play modern games smoothly if you lower a couple settings and throwing a $200 GPU in there in a few years will be a big upgrade without having to start over.

The part that makes you basically start a new build is upgrading your CPU. If a new CPU isn't the same socket as the one you are replacing you need to buy a new motherboard too. If you do that and you used a system builder version of Windows you have to buy that again too because it is tied to the motherboard. Luckily the CPU isn't as important to gaming as the GPU is. I'm pretty confident that I will be able to throw a new GPU in my current build in 3 years or so and continue to play modern games at high settings without changing anything else.

Edit: they changed out the promotion on the A-10 since I first posted it. It now includes a code for Battlefield 4 instead of Saint's Row IV.

 

[Scherrman]

It really sounds like that APU is the way to go for you then. It does the job of the CPU and GPU for about the same price as the GTX 750 GPU you posted a while back. It will play modern games smoothly if you lower a couple settings and throwing a $200 GPU in there in a few years will be a big upgrade without having to start over.

The part that makes you basically start a new build is upgrading your CPU. If a new CPU isn't the same socket as the one you are replacing you need to buy a new motherboard too. If you do that and you used a system builder version of Windows you have to buy that again too because it is tied to the motherboard. Luckily the CPU isn't as important to gaming as the GPU is. I'm pretty confident that I will be able to throw a new GPU in my current build in 3 years or so and continue to play modern games at high settings without changing anything else.

Edit: they changed out the promotion on the A-10 since I first posted it. It now includes a code for Battlefield 4 instead of Saint's Row IV.

Do you know if the PC version of Battlefield 4 has the large amount people who can play multiplayer like of the PS4?

 

[king3pj]

Do you know if the PC version of Battlefield 4 has the large amount people who can play multiplayer like of the PS4?

I'm playing it on PS4 just because I have more friends who play on that system. Battlefield has always been very popular on PC though. It had the 64 player conquest modes on Battlefield 3 while the consoles were limited 32 players. The Xbox One and PS4 have caught up in terms of player count but I'm sure it's still best on PC.

 

[Scherrman]

I'm playing it on PS4 just because I have more friends who play on that system. Battlefield has always been very popular on PC though. It had the 64 player conquest modes on Battlefield 3 while the consoles were limited 32 players. The Xbox One and PS4 have caught up in terms of player count but I'm sure it's still best on PC.

Judging by how people base their reviews on how a graphics card works with BF4 it sure seems like a ton of people are playing on PC.

 

[king3pj]

It's a nice perk packed in with that APU. My GPU last year came with Bioshock Infinite, Tomb Raider, and Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon. They were basically preorders because the games weren't even out yet when they gave me the codes. Sometimes you can score some pretty sweet promos with these cards.

 

[Scherrman]

I'm impressed with the prices Newegg has. I put some parts together for a cheap PC and priced the parts out on both Amazon and Newegg and Newegg was slightly cheaper.

 

[dangue]

I'm impressed with the prices Newegg has. I put some parts together for a cheap PC and priced the parts out on both Amazon and Newegg and Newegg was slightly cheaper.

When I put my system together around thanksgiving it was the opposite. So I took amazon with Prime shipping.

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

 

[king3pj]

I used amazon because I have Prime and a credit card that gets extra rewards when I use it there. You can mix and match to get the best price on each component though. If you get the A10-7850 I mentioned earlier it looks like it's the exact same price on both websites. It doesn't look like newegg has the promo Amazon is offering for a free copy of BF4 so I would go with amazon for that part.

 

[Scherrman]

I used amazon because I have Prime and a credit card that gets extra rewards when I use it there. You can mix and match to get the best price on each component though. If you get the A10-7850 I mentioned earlier it looks like it's the exact same price on both websites. It doesn't look like newegg has the promo Amazon is offering for a free copy of BF4 so I would go with amazon for that part.

Amazon was like $5 more but it would be worth the extra just for the free 2 day shipping.

 

[Scherrman]

Any thoughts on buying a cheap used PC from someone or on ebay and then gradually upgrading it, or would I be taking too big a risk and just wasting money?

 

[king3pj]

Any thoughts on buying a cheap used PC from someone or on ebay and then gradually upgrading it, or would I be taking too big a risk and just wasting money?

I personally would rather build my own so I can pick the exact parts I want to put into it. If you are going to buy a used PC make sure it has a CPU that you would feel comfortable using for the next few years. Like I said yesterday, if you want to upgrade the CPU later there is a good chance you will also have to change out the motherboard because it's a different socket than the old CPU. If you change the motherboard you might have to buy another copy of Windows. I know the system builder version I bought is tied to the motherboard.

Luckily good gaming CPUs stay good enough for a pretty long time. They aren't relied on as much as the GPU for most games so you can probably upgrade the GPU in a couple years and see a huge performance boost without touching the CPU. RAM and GPU are much easier upgrades. As long as the power supply has enough juice and the motherboard supports the RAM speed you want to put in you should be good to go for future upgrades. Even if you decide to buy faster RAM than the motherboard can support sometime in the future it will probably still work at whatever speed the MB does support.

Most stuff you buy used will probably be ok. There are risks involved though. You don't know how the previous owner treated the equipment. They could have been super careful with it or they could have been doing something like running an aggressive overclock on the CPU with stock cooling. I won't buy a used PC or PC parts because I want to know what I"m getting but I know there is a big second hand market on this type of stuff.

If you can get a used PC with parts that are a year or two old at a significant discount it may be worth the risk. You might be able to get a very capable system for cheaper than building your own that you can upgrade as you see fit. Like I said, I would pay attention to the CPU quality and socket type though.

 

[yourbeliefs]

Any thoughts on buying a cheap used PC from someone or on ebay and then gradually upgrading it, or would I be taking too big a risk and just wasting money?

Just get a new one. You don't know what condition a used one will be in, and it's better to have brand new with fully functional warranties.

 

[Scherrman]

Just get a new one. You don't know what condition a used one will be in, and it's better to have brand new with fully functional warranties.

I agree but I'm going to have to spend at least $500 in order to get a decent budget PC. I was looking at maybe just buying a used one for like $100-$200. My wife won't get on my case as much that way and then I could just gradually upgrade over time.

I would like to find a friend that has one they are willing to just give me to play with.