This is a selfish blog post. But I really want to build my own pc. Well not with my own hands. I can't build shit. I'd like to obtain the guts of a pc and have it built for me. There is a store named Micro-Center and I wish that I could buy the parts I need for the pc. I've never done pc gaming but I want to so bad nowadays. I'd like to run Far Cry 3 type games. Games with high res and all the good stuff. Now anyone have tips on anything at all on pc's or pc gaming since I'm a complete noob at it all. I've been doing the sony stuff since ps1. That's all I've ever known.

a) this is not a blog

b) I don't see why it is selfish

b) there's a pretty ok guide out there. it's like falcon guide or something

Usually christmas is about giving. Mines about taking. I wanted to see what average people on budgets use. I've looked at tons of guides as it is. Just looking for more info on the subject.

@Lord_Xp: The exact same thing is happening with me except I want one in February. Been a Playstation forever but I want a PC to play games that run like shit on PS3 like Skyrim, Fallout, Far Cry 3, etc.

Well I can't say I want anything that massive for Christmas. And I'm Jewish so that might effect things. To answer your question you'd have to provide a budget. I can just list the best parts money can buy, but I doubt you want to spend $2500+ on a computer. I'll just give a couple general tips. For gaming the graphics card matters a lot more than the CPU. The difference between a current Core i5 and a current Core i7 is very little when it comes to gaming. Even a last gen Core i5 or i7 should do the trick. 8 GB of RAM is all you need. 6 GB will probably work for a couple more years. Even 4 GB will allow you to run most current games. Remember that RAM speed is just as important as the amount of RAM. You can have 12 GB of RAM but if it runs too slowly then you might as well not even have 1 GB. This is the problem the Wii U is suffering right now. Don't get fooled by large amounts of RAM for cheap. 12+ GB of RAM at slow speeds is worse than 6 GB of RAM at super fast speeds. Make sure your power supply can support all the parts you get. Don't skimp out on that. You can damage your system if your power supply is not sufficient. Keep your system cool. Make sure to monitor temps. If a part gets too hot then you might want to consider more or bigger fans. Liquid cooling is overkill unless you plan on overclocking your parts. Finally on the GPU front, get an Nvidia card over a Radeon. They tend to be a bit more expensive but their driver support is much better, and their PhysX technology makes games look amazing. Plus they have some pretty wicked new features on their latest cards including what seems to be a pretty great type of AA. If you have the choice between two slower cards or one faster card get the faster one. Having two cards in SLI doesn't mean you get double the performance. If the driver support is great and the game is coded with SLI in mind you might get a 60% boost at most. Many games run only slightly better in SLI or don't work in SLI at all. A 680 for example will perform far better in most games than two 660's, and often times better than two 660 ti's. It costs about the same price so spring for the better card. You won't regret it.

Is me?

It's much more fun & rewarding to give something instead, especially when it's crafted by yourself.

I've just Caine back from Xmas die, I'n flicking drunk!!!
To all the sexy men out there, I'll be in my bed all daaaay!xx

@Raven10: Thank you that was extremely informative.

@Hizang: This is also very informative, thanks for sharing!

@Hizang said:

I've just Caine back from Xmas die, I'n flicking drunk!!! To all the sexy men out there, I'll be in my bed all daaaay!xx

Screenshot-ted! Blackmail! Give me all your games!

@Yummylee said:

Is me?

Won't you make this poor kid's Christmas?

It's essentially giving yourself a gift so I wouldn't say it's selfish but while you're at it get yourself the gift of a giant bomb premium membership at giantbomb.com. What? Giantbomb.com? That's right, giantbomb.com....

I really had the song stuck in my head after that title.

Tested's guide to buying Computer parts updated this month

http://www.tested.com/tech/pcs/451477-how-properly-budget-your-next-pc-build/

Quick question regarding all this PC building:

Will a GeForce GTX 660 run current and imminent PC games with max settings? (And I mean the big games: Sleeping Dogs, Far Cry 3, Metro 2033, etc.) Or would a 670/680 be needed?

@MstrMnyBgs: 660 ti will push most games near or at 60 at 1080p on near max settings. You can't get high AA unless you have the really high end cards. There are some games that you may need to drop the resolution on to maintain those 60 frames like Far Cry 3 which I had to drop down to 1600 x 900

@MstrMnyBgs said:

Quick question regarding all this PC building:

Will a GeForce GTX 660 run current and imminent PC games with max settings? (And I mean the big games: Sleeping Dogs, Far Cry 3, Metro 2033, etc.) Or would a 670/680 be needed?

Near max. Not at max.

You must understand that absolute max settings are very, very taxing on pretty much anything and don't really provide that much better graphics than "near" max. And by max settings, I mean having AA turned all the way up, the highest resolution a good monitor can handle, SSAO, pretty much anything and everything turned all the way up and checked off. Yes, you can do that with a GTX 680, but it doesn't do much for you, and there are some games that may not stay at 60 frames even with a 680.

But to shorten this particular discussion, a GTX 660 TI will run pretty much anything fairly close to the highest settings, at 1080p, 60 frames. Don't forget the TI. It's important. The 670 and 680 are both even better.

To answer this sober but with a large hangover...I bought myself a Wii U for Christmas.

Why build a whole new computer when there are plenty of Apple IIG's out there without a home. Just go to your local pawn shop, maybe they'll have one in back.

@NTM: Sorry about that. I work at a retail store listening to christmas music all day long. I know the feeling :/

@FiestaUnicorn: I love brand new toys. It's a problem I have

@konig_kei: One day I will. Today is not that day

What is this "AA" being thrown around? Like before, I'm a noob to computer part stuff language and the whole shabang.