bat’s PC Building Guide for 2019

[bat]

Many of SG’s regulars are interested in technology and building computers, so I thought I’d compile a list of recommended builds for 2019. Please keep in mind that these are templates and not blueprints, so if you prefer different brands for computer hardware and cases, then feel free to use those instead of the ones I have listed.

 

I’d like to list a few notices before we get started. These prices DO NOT include the prices of OPERATING SYSTEMS, PERIPHERALS, MAIL IN REBATES or other accessories. If you are doing a Ryzen build, PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR MEMORY IS RYZEN CERTIFIED otherwise it will not run at its advertised speeds and default to 2166 MHz. YOUR POWER SUPPLY SHOULD HAVE A RATING OF BRONZE OR HIGHER. It is NOT worth spending several hundred dollars on a system only to have it fail because your power supply fried your motherboard. If you do not plan on overclocking your CPU, feel free to drop down to the non-X or K model. Keep in mind that Intel’s stock coolers are garbage, so I’d recommend you at least buy a Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo.

Recommended brands:

Power Supplies: Corsair (some of their low tier PSUs have QC issues so beware), EVGA (avoid the SuperNova series, the brand they use for isn’t that great) SeaSonic and SuperFlower. Another note: PSUs should be double your rated power draw just in case.

 

CPU Coolers/ Case Fans: Cooler Master, Noctua and Corsair

 

Mother Boards: ASUS (hit or miss, their higher tier lines are good but be careful of their low tier lines), Gigabyte, MSI, AsRock (Taichi line specifically).

 

SSDs: Samsung (850 EVOs for SATA and 950 EVO/PRO for M.2 nVME)

 

HDDs: Western Digital (Black or Blue if you want to save money), Seagate (hit or miss, I’ve never had a bad experience with their drives but it’s all anecdotal) Hitachi (Ultrastar and Desktar)

 

Memory (RAM): Corsair (LPX is the best deal) and Kingston HyperX

 

GPUs (Video Cards): ASUS, MSI (avoid their Armor line, it’s garbage), EVGA and Sapphire

 

Cases: Corsair (750D, Obsidian series, and Crystal series), Fractal Design (Define R5 and Meshify C) and INWIN if you can find their older cases online.

 

Low-tier:

Intel/Nvida: ($552.25)

AMD/Radeon: ($530.55)

 

Mid-tier:

Intel/Nvidia: ($1336.46)

AMD/Radeon: ($1060.94)

 

High-tier:

Intel/Nvidia: ($2116.61)

AMD/Radeon: ($1439.36)

 

Recommended websites and YouTube Channels to keep up with tech related news:

AnandTech

Tom’s Hardware

Gamer’s Nexus

Hardware Canucks

 

Happy Building!

[Toasty]

@bat 's advice is very well put and I'd agree with him on the majority of his points. I'm too lazy to argue for some other parts/companies lol. If you're interested in building a pc, bat's post will prove useful.

 

Logical Increments

[ColdWar]

Almost done building a PC myself so I can finally have a machine that can actually handle CSGO haha.

 

Couger MX330 tower

MSI Gaming X470 mobo

AMD Ryzen 5 2600X

EVGA Geforce GTX 1060 6 GB SC

Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB 3200 MHz

Samsung Evo 850 250GB SSD

WD Black 1 TB

 

Added in 3 arctic fans and kept the stock one in the back. I still have to buy the ram and GPU, and based on your opening post, just did a quick check to make sure that RAM is Ryzen compatible.

 

Only issue with CSGO might be my internet! The satellite internet offered where I live is no good for anything, so I have a hotspot from my wireless carrier. It's been good enough for BlackOps 4 on xbox so it should be ok for this too.

 

Glad to read your above post and be reassured that I bought the right gear haha. Before a few months ago, I hadn't researched computer hardware since 2007...

[bat]

Bumping this thread, will post updated guides later this week.