PC Build

Shrooms R US·Jul 4, 2015·1 votes·791 views

Hey, all since I suck and know nothing about computers, how much money would I need too play league at max settings, and be able too stream smoothly?

17 Comments

DrCyanideJul 4, 20151 votes

$700-$900 can get you a desktop that can do the job with power to spare. You might need to get some parts (monitor, keyboard, speakers, etc) used, and spend a while looking for deals, but I've done it a few times and made some very nice computers. (Disclaimer, I got my licenses for Windows free via services available to students, and that's not being factored in).

A word from the wise though, don't build your own computer unless you know someone who will be willing to help you out in the unlikely event something goes wrong. 2/3 computers I've made had no issues and went together without a hitch, but the third... well, that one's still "special".

Shrooms R USJul 4, 20151 votes

What should I do then? My budget is $1,500

DrCyanideJul 4, 20151 votes

Honestly, I'd try and build your own rig. That way you can make sure it's up-to-par for streaming instead of getting some generic computer.

I'd recommend getting two hard drives, one SSD, one HDD. Put your OS and your games on the SSD, and your files on the HDD. Many streaming programs I've worked with have a way to save your videos to your local computer (useful if you want to edit them and put them on Youtube later), and the best way to avoid lag while playing is to have the software save it to a different hard drive than where the game is being played from.

Shrooms R USJul 4, 20151 votes

What parts will I need? And how much should i be willing too spend

DrCyanideJul 4, 20151 votes

OK, here's a basic rundown for the noob who wants to build his own computer. Price estimates are based off of my memory, not me looking things up now.

Processor

$200 to $500
The brains of your computer.
League won't tax your processor too much, so if there are other games you play you'll want to look at their recommended specs.
The top two manufacturers are Intel and AMD.
There are three main specs for a processor
Clock speed - Think of this as how much work it can do in a set amount of time. Note that you can't compare this between Intel and AMD, only between Intel and Intel or AMD and AMD.
Cores - This is like having multiple processors. Some games can utilize two or four cores. One core will work fine for League on it's own (haven't tried League and steaming on one core)
Hyperthreaded - I can never remember the details on this, but the computer sees each hyperthreaded core as two cores. So if you have 2 cores hyperthreaded then the computer thinks it has 4 cores it can use.
The processor you get will determine the motherboard you get. It's not often possible to replace the processor without replacing the motherboard too. For this reason, I recommend not going cheep here.

Motherboard

$100 to $170
Motherboards connect everything together. As such, the important thing to consider here is that you have the right connections for eveything you want.
Each motherboard only works with a few processors. Make sure the motherboard you get works with your processor.
For getting the most out of a solid state drive (SSD), make sure your motherboard has some SATA 3 connections.
Video cards are designed to fit in in a certain type of PCI slot. Make sure your motherboard has said type of slot.
Motherboards come in different sizes. The most common is ATX Full, but if you're looking to make a smaller computer, consider ATX Mini (I think that's what it's called, you can check for yourself).

RAM (memory)

$50 to $200
RAM is basically "how many things can I leave open at once".
Windows 7 idling uses close to 2GB, but I think Windows 8 and 10 tried to lower that number a little. 4GB is the minimum I'd recommend, with 6 or 8GB being better.
All of the RAM your looking at should be DDR3. DDR2 is old and isn't really supported anymore, I'd honestly be surprised if you find both RAM and a Motherboard that are new and DDR2, but as a warning stick with DDR3.
RAM has different speeds. To be honest, you probably won't notice a difference with these speeds, it's just something to double check that your motherboard supports.

Video Card

$50 to $200
Makes everything pretty.
Again, the higher end cards will be overkill for League. Since many games have a recommended video card, I'd look at other games you want to play for determining the video card.
A good rule of thumb: the bigger the fan on the video card, the better it is. I'd avoid buying one that doesn't have a fan.
Video cards have onboard RAM. 1GB or 2GB is common.
Video cards have "cuda cores". The higher the number, the better the card.
Remember to make sure you get a card with a PCI slot that matches what's on your motherboard.
Video cards have different display outputs, VGA (blue plug), DVI (white plug), and HDMI (a slot that looks almost like a USB port). Make sure you get one that can output to your type of monitor. Note that DVI has multiple standards (usually a dash followed by a letter), and that some of the standards don't work with certain monitors.

Power Supply

$75 to $125
Powers the whole computer.
Not having enough power will cause more issues than having to much power. I've got a friend who's computer kept overheating and shutting down because his power supply couldn't provide enough power to his computer and the fans to keep it cool.
Power supplies have their output measured in watts.
I don't think you can run into problems with having a power supply that provides too many watts, but I'm not 100% positive on that.
Motherboards specify how many power pins they have (usually 20 or 24). Most power supplies have their output pins like 20+4. A 20+4 pin power supply can power either a 20 pin motherboard or a 24 pin motherboard.

SSD

$100 to $200
SSD's are extremely nice, and make your computer start up fast enough that you actually shut it down when you're not using it. Most problems a computer has with something taking a long time to start up are fixed with a SSD.
Since SSD's are newish, they tend to be a bit expensive for how much space you get. How big of an SSD you get is up to you. Alternatively, you could go without an SSD, using a HDD for everything.
Size is measured in GB. The bigger the more stuff you can store on the drive
Not all manufacturers are equal, but most are pretty close. Read a bit about the drive before you buy it.
It's pretty common to see SSD's go on sale. Right now the Newegg app shows a 500GB (very large for SSD) drive on sale for $180 (pretty cheep).

HDD

$50 to $150
Slow and cheep storage. If you've got a lot of music, photos, and videos, this is where you'll want to store them.
Measured in GB or TB. 1 TB is about 1000 GB.

Case

$50 to $80
Keeps all your stuff together.
Often come with fans to help keep things cool.
Cases have different sizes, based in large part around the motherboard size. "ATX Full" is the standard size, but there are mini versions as well. Just make sure you aren't trying to stick an ATX Full motherboard into an ATX mini case.

Operating System

$0 to $200
The price of the OS varies on what you get and if you can get a discount. I got my Windows 7 licenses for free through Dreamspark, Microsoft's edcuational distribution system. I'm pretty sure other places can apply a student discount as well. The basic version of Windows 10 will cost $120, with the pro version costing $200. You could put Linux on there for free too, but I'd recommend against it if you're not already into computers.
Try putting Windows XP on this thing and I will find you and take your new computer away from you. Windows XP is no longer secure and is unable to use half of what I'm recommending. Don't. Just don't.
Get the 64-bit version of the Operating System. It'll be able to get more out of the processor, and it'll let your computer use more than 4 GB of RAM.
You can install the Operating System from a CD or from a USB drive. This makes having a CD Drive in your computer optional. You can download a copy of your OS off the internet (which is how I got my Windows 7 from Dreamspark). Look up instructions on how to get a USB Drive ready to install Windows if you choose to go that route.
Starting the installation will be the last step, after the entire computer is put together. I'm fairly certain that if you've got everything hooked up right, the computer will be able to start up from the CD/USB Drive and prompt you to install Windows. If you get text on your screen about couldn't find bootable media, but no installation prompt, then you'll want to look in your Motherboard's instruction booklet for how to boot from USB/CD drive.

I think that's about everything. The part that's always made me the most nervous has been selecting the parts, which is why I put so much emphasis on what to look for in different parts. Assembling everything is actually pretty easy. If in doubt, look up more information online, many people have written guides about this stuff.

GL, HF :)

Shrooms R USJul 5, 20151 votes

I came up with this what do you thinkhttp://pcpartpicker.com/p/3NvqMp

DrCyanideJul 5, 20151 votes

As best as I can tell it looks great! The only thing I'd consider changing is the SSD, upgrading it for a bigger one. I had to look up if a PCI x1 card (like your WiFi card) could fit into a bigger slot, but it looks like that should be fine.

Once you get everything ordered and assembled, I think Windows will prompt you through setting up the SSD as the primary drive. My computer with an SSD and HDD had Windows originally installed on the HDD for a year or two before I got the SSD, so I manually had to go through a lot of steps to get it set up right. One of those steps was putting "My Documents", " My Music", "My Videos", etc (even the Desktop) on the HDD. A short walkthrough on that can be found here if you need it - http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-performance/move-the-my-documents-folder-to-another-drive/a41eaabb-2c5b-4502-85ba-fd49a007fd82

Shrooms R USJul 5, 20151 votes

Last request I wanna remove the WiFi adapter is there anyway u can alter my build and link it too me? With the SSD upgrade as well?

DrCyanideJul 5, 20151 votes

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/mPmFLk

128GB SSD -> 500GB for $60 more. Cut out the $20 from the WiFi card and your build is only $40 more expensive.

Shrooms R USJul 5, 20151 votes

For the RAM is 8gb enough or should I get 16? And won't I need a wired adapter?https://pcpartpicker.com/user/NoWards/saved/4cyBD3 I upgraded too a corsair vengeance pro. But idk if its worth it or not. And also should I do i7?https://pcpartpicker.com/user/NoWards/saved/#view=gGdWGX Also someone bashed on my build does he or she have a point? Go too page 1

http://www.basilmarket.com/forum/2886058/2#comments_list

DrCyanideJul 5, 20151 votes

For the RAM is 8gb enough or should I get 16?

It depends on what you're using the computer for. For playing League and Streaming, 8 gigs is plenty. I would stick with the older RAM setup (2x 4GB sticks of RAM) because it's 1) cheaper 2) does what you need it too and 3) your Motherboard supports up to 4 sticks of RAM, so if you decide later that you do need 16 GB of RAM you can buy another (preferably identical) 2x 4GB sticks of RAM and stick them in the other slots.

And won't I need a wired adapter?

No, your motherboard already comes with a connector for a wired ethernet cable.

As for the Wired vs WiFi, I personally don't find it to be too big of a deal. My wife and I both use WiFi adapters on our desktops because our house is wired funny, and we very rarely have any issues playing games. When we do have issues, we usually think it's Comcasts's fault, rather than our wifi.

Technically speaking, WiFi does add maybe 2-3 ping to your connection. I don't know your house layout to tell you if WiFi or Ethernet is a better setup for you, but I figure if you're informed you can make that choice.

And also should I do i7?

This is a matter of preference. I'm running i5's in both my computer and my wife's computer. I've had no issues with either of them, but the i7 could be a good call for the long run. I was trying to keep both of my computers in the ~$700 price range, so in trying to get the most bang for my buck I went with the i5's. Your budget is a bit higher than mine was, and if you think you might be diving into some more intensive games you might want to go with the i7.

#Bashing breakdown

the ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard is a tiny mainboard and states that it supports Supports AMD Quad CrossFireX and CrossFireX which is complete bs because there is only two very small PCI-E 2.0 (not 3.0) slots on the board, also it has support for CrossFire and probably doesn't have decent support for SLI

SLI is the ability to use two video cards at once. I've never used it, and I don't even know if I know anyone who has used it, but if you were to use it it would be for games with much higher graphics potential than League. As such "probably doesn't have decent support for SLI" isn't really much of an issue.

"there is only two very small PCI-E 2.0 (not 3.0) slots on the board" isn't what Newegg says. Newegg lists this motherboard as having one PCI-E 3.0 and one PCI-E 2.0. Your video card is made to work in the PCI-E 3.0 slot. You're good.

"the ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard is a tiny mainboard" ... well, yes. That's what the "Micro ATX" means.

1600MHZ Kingston RAM not that good either the GSKILL 1600MHZ 7-8-7-7-24 ~ 1866MHZ with low timings would be a better alternative, but the mainboard your getting doesn't support anything higher than 1600MHZ without an overclock and or bios update

Your motherboard can't support 1866MHZ RAM, and will be slowing that RAM down anyway, so I don't really see a point in changing for this. I'm going to make an educated guess that you don't want to overclock your computer (it's not something I've attempted, and I'm on the very tech savvy side of things). Like I said before, I don't think you'd actually notice the difference in the RAM speed, so I wouldn't change motherboards to try and find one that can support faster RAM.

Honestly, this sounds more like someone suggesting a name brand that they like more than legitimate feedback.

EVGA 970GTX not good as well because those cards have like one fan on it, which is a nightmare when it comes to cooling and overclocking, get a MSI or ZOTAC which is confirmed to have 4GB VRAM and triple fans and not 3.5GB VRAM

They seem to be thinking of the wrong video card. Yours has two fans, and 4GB of VRAM. Again, you're not overclocking it, so you don't need to worry about having a third fan.

the NZXT H440 doesnt have a properly working front panel USB 3.0 which is gonna piss you off in the long run, and cable management is no good because the cables are very short behind the mainboard

THIS is something to actually think about. Short cables make it harder to get everything plugged in nicely, and it's very nice to have front access USB 3.0. Combined with the fact that the case was made to house full size ATX motherboards, I think it's worth re-looking at the case.

I think DankMemes's feedback on the case is extremely helpful. He says that your currently selected case is fine, but then goes and recommends a much more reasonably priced case that's also closer to the size of your Motherboard. Looks like you can select the same colors too. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146189

EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 750W 80+ Bronze PSU would be fine until you decided to SLI.. then you would hear nothing but electricity rippling.. totally not safe get a Corsair certified gold/platinum brand

Again, I don't think you're planning on doing SLI with this rig. This once again sounds like recommending a name brand that they like better.

Long story short, I think Hungry and DankMemes gave the best feedback. Endurance sounds like they have a very different (unreasonable?) standard for what a gaming rig should be.

Shrooms R USJul 5, 20151 votes

Okay here.... Final builds. http://pcpartpicker.com/user/NoWards/saved/#view=gGdWGXgGdWGX Pros and cons of each please.

Shrooms R USJul 5, 20151 votes

No. This Is the end bro.http://pcpartpicker.com/user/NoWards/saved/PKknTW

DrCyanideJul 5, 20151 votes

Looks fine as far as I can tell.

But seriously, what are you planning on using that computer for? Because I'm pretty sure that beast could stream 4 games of League at it's highest quality if Riot would let it start all of them up :)

Shrooms R USJul 5, 20151 votes

Everything my boy. I'm an avid cook so I will be streaming some recipes, every game known too man at the best settings and best quality for all my viewers! Add me on league my boi (: