52 replies to this topic

[Samus]

Incase you didn't know, I just became an affiliate on Twitch, (feel free to follow me)

 

So i'm taking this streaming stuff a little bit more seriously, i've been using my macbook pro to stream, but most of the streaming tools have bad support for mac. So i'm gonna take the plunge and invest in a pc. I've assembled PC's before, so won't be too much of an issue. I just need help on getting some hardware.

 

So I primarily stream through my PS4 and a capture card to my laptop. So I don't need ultimate specs, just something dedicated for streaming and occasional PC gaming.

 

My budget is around £500 - £700 - this is just a guess so it can increase if necessary, what can that get me?

[Rand0m her0]

Go figure out what it'll cost to build around a i5-8400 and a 1050 ti along with a pretty decent chunk of RAM. Those two parts (or their amd equivalents) are the solid mid range parts for gaming, and will probably come in around £300-£350, leaving you with a decent bit of head room before you even touch the bottom of your budget range. If you've got some parts to salvage from an old computer (As long as it's not utter trash, a case is a case). It won't be like 120 fps at 4k capable or anything, but it'll be entirely solid for gaming and should be fine to stream with at the same time (although you may not get uber high graphics and perfect 1080p video capture out of it simultaneously) 

 

Iterate on the build from there depending on what you want to shave (or improve). If you want a dedicated streaming box period you can scale it back a fair bit. Encoding video is CPU work not GPU work so you could go for a much weaker videocard, or even run off the integrated graphics. You could even scale back the CPU a bit, although at that point your dropping back into the i3s, which while not bad can definitely limit what else you can do with the thing in the future besides streaming (also you're probably only saving £50  on that).  Doing that has the advantage that, you'll probabLY end up way under budget. There's actually something too be said for using a dedicated streaming box and capture card even if you stream PC gaming primarily just cause of how inexpensive it is relative to a high end gaming machine.

 

If you want to go in on gaming and streaming on the same machine, especially if you want 1080p streaming and high graphics settings, bumping up the specs is worthwhile. the Intel i7-8700K or AMDs Ryzen 7 2700X, a nvida 1070 or equivalent, etc. That'll detainyl start to push up out of your budget however. 

[Rhizoctonia]

Hopefully Deathmerchant can chime In, he I believe has built a few computers and can probably help you more then me.

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/stottkeeper/saved/#view=xKWhyc

 

That's just a kinda quick one I did. 

 

It's over your budget, but you could shave some money off if need be.  

 

-  Could go regular HDD instead of SDD.  Going to regular HDD slow up your boot time as well as slow up loading games and such compared to a SSD

-  Could go with a smaller power supply, I have on list at 550W, but system as it's built only needs 230W.  Having more will help later on if you upgrade things or add SSD/etc.  Could go with less then gold certified to save money, but I wouldn't recommend

-  Could probably find cheaper brand ram

- Can go cheaper MB, but I'd stick to names you know.

-  Could go down to 1050TI, but here's a comparison between a 1060 1050ti https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-1060-6GB-vs-Nvidia-GTX-1050-Ti/3639vs3649

I'm not a AMD guy, I'm an intel guy so not as knowledgeable on their CPU's, but this one seemed to get high praise and seemed to be one of the better options in lower price range.

 

 

Obviously everyone's budget is different.  I hesitate you going cheap now if you're looking to be able to use this computer for PC gaming for years to come.  I don't know how it is for you being in another country, but buying things from like Newegg at least in America they have like no interest deals if paid in 6 months-year depending on amount you're spending.  As RH said, if you want to use your computer has a stream box more then anything, and not worried about PC gaming, you could really drop down in terms of GPU as streaming uses CPU as encoder.  

 

If you use the site linked, it's a good site that tells you if there's any issues with the build or if parts wont work together.  I'd encourage you to use it before buying things to make sure everything will work together.

 

You'll need windows too unless you got a copy.  I recommend using site like Kinguin.

 

https://www.kinguin.net/category/19429/windows-10-professional-oem-key/

 

It's a lot cheaper then buying from Windows, and you can pay like $5 more for buyer protection if key you get doesn't work.  I bought a key from here that I used and worked fine, installing it via a USB.  

[DeathMerchant]

RH and Rhizo make some excellent points.

Definitely check out PC Part picker as this will show you a build you can compile yourself and give you the cheapest cost. My best advice is to get a good CPU. Buy the newest (or if necessary, buy the generation below. Aim for an I5, an I7 will be even better for streaming, but at this point in time it's a little overkill and they can be pricey. I recommend avoiding AMD CPUs, not becaus they are bad, but Intel almost always has the edge. As for the GPU, if you want Nvidia, go with a 1070 or 1080. No need to buy the newest one as that generation still holds high performance.

[Cydonian Knight]

Sorry for leeching your post Samus, but do y'all think that a gaming laptop with the following specs is worth what it costs (1040 US dollars)?
Brand: MSI
Screen: 15.6"
GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050Ti 4GB
CPU: Intel i7-8750H (6 cores)
RAM: 8 GB
Storage: 1TB HDD + 128 GB SSD
S.O: Windows 10 64 bit

[joe44]

I wld recommend AMD Ryzen APU (with buit in IGPU) as they offer much better performance than Intels with IGPU and are cheaper.

And if youre not happy with its performance y still can buy an gracard. Theyre atm very pricey.

In web y will surely find actual mid range pc-configs.

Spoiler

let us know, when youre going to stream adult content

[DeathMerchant]

Sorry for leeching your post Samus, but do y'all think that a gaming laptop with the following specs is worth what it costs (1040 US dollars)?
Brand: MSI
Screen: 15.6"
GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050Ti 4GB
CPU: Intel i7-8750H (6 cores)
RAM: 8 GB
Storage: 1TB HDD + 128 GB SSD
S.O: Windows 10 64 bit

That's actually not a bad price for the specs. I've always hated the term 'gaming' laptop because the specs are traditionally way below par, it will only last for about 2 years before it can't play new games, and you pay a hefty premium for them. Nevertheless their are exceptions and I think you found one. It's only weakpoint is the 8 GB of RAM. Depending on what games you plan to play, I would recommend buying 16 GB of RAM and installing it yourself sometime after you buy the laptop.

[Rhizoctonia]

I started out by buying a "gaming laptop," and then realized what I paid wasn't really worth it compared to what I could build it, but I was always a laptop guy so i went with it.  Year later, my $1300 gaming laptop is basically a paperweight, and built myself a beef desktop

[Blade 619]

If you want budget, go AMD... they also save on heating bills.

Probably a Ryzen 5 with a fairly decent GPU.

For context I was running most things at 1080p on an old bulldozer, 8gb of ram, and a 7970 perfectly well for casual gaming... more than good enough for stream editing if the PS4 is going the heavy lifting.

Now on a 8700k with 16gb em (planning to go to 32 around 2020), full SSD, and RTX build.

[DeathMerchant]

If you want budget, go AMD... they also save on heating bills.

I can attest to that. My old AMD FX 8120 made it unbearablely hot in the summer, always had the AC going whenever I would turn on my PC.

[Robert2424]

Your best bet is to Identify what sort of games you want to stream first. From there, you can adjust what specs you want from it. Or, you go the other route, choose 2-3 parts you want the most, then you need to find capadable parts. Not everything is capadable with everything. 

[joe44]

@Samus: streaming CN live will bring you thousands of thausands of viewers. Non stop pure action. ...said brewers!

[Samus]

Okay guys, what do you think of this one:

 

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/ppb7J8

 

For the GPU, I was thinking of getting either of these 2 as they're on sale:

 

https://www.ebuyer.com/830281-sapphire-amd-radeon-rx-580-4gb-nitro-graphics-card-11265-31-20g?utm_source=hotukdeals&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=hotukdeals

https://www.ebuyer.com/787051-sapphire-amd-radeon-rx-580-4gb-pulse-graphics-card-11265-09-20g

 

What do you guys think?

 

Might downgrade the SSD as I don't really need space and normal HDD are much cheaper it seems

 

Also I have never built a PC from scratch before, but i'm aware of all the components and how to upgrade an existing one etc.

 

What i'm really curious about, does all the parts come with their associated screws and whatnot, with an assumption that you're always building from scratch?

 

Like with an empty case, i'm sure i'm going to have to screw the motherboard down, would the motherboard if I bought it separately come with compatible screws for all/any cases?

 

Also what other accessories would I need? I have a screw driver & normal hand drill, what else would I typically need to make sure I don't fuck this up the first time?

[Rand0m her0]

a 1tb solid state drive is hilariously overkill. You can get away with a much small one (think 250 gb) and a secondary hdd and shuffle things over to the HDD as needed Or If you want to save money, just getting a decent HDD would also be fine. an SDD is a very nice QoL upgrade, but it's mostly good for load times and boot times, which is not actually that big a deal performance wise. Can always pick an SSD up later if you want. 

 

That mobo is hilariously overkill, so if you want you could shave £20-£40 on that. Something like the MSI tomohawk maybe.  Also while yhat ROG one is probably not terrible, the weird ass I/O shroud is making me wonder what it'll do to air flow, especially since it looks like it's right over the voltage regulator module. I doubt it'll be an issue unless you overclock, but i'd look up some comparisons with MSI and Gigabyte's offerings in the same price range see how they compare. 

 

Either of those graphics cards are just fine. 

 

Your parts should come with any needed screws, and it should all fit just fine. ATX standard is nice like that.

 

Cooling is something to pay attention to, I don't know if that CPU comes with one (probably, but maybe not?) and i don't know about the fans in the case, but stock cooling has a tendency to be a bit garbage. You can wait till after you've assembled the thing and seen how hot it gets before deciding the buy that. 

[Rhizoctonia]

So as Random said, all the parts will come with the necessary screws and bolts needed.  When you buy the case, it will come with a lot of spare screws, usually some zip ties for wire management, etc.  You'll really like only need a phillips head/straight screw driver for most of it. 

 

-16 gigs of memory is good.  I went with 8 with your build I sent but that was to save on money.  I pretty much have the same exact memory and had no problems.

 

-May want to look for a gold certified power supply instead of a bronze.  Usually not a whole lot more.  This will come with all the power cords you need to hook up your different computer pieces to your power supply.  

 

-The case is basically the one that I have, same brand and such, mine is just red and black.  Its a nice looking one, but with it having a glass front, you'll likely want to spend time on wire management so that it looks good.  The case doesn't come with a lot of fans, you could always look to buy more and install them.  I installed a few on the inside(top) of mine.

 

- The 1TB SSD is overkill IF you aren't planning to play a lot of games on it.  I started out with a 500 GB SSD, but I play mostly PC gaming now, and ended up buying another 500 SSD because I needed the space, so now I got a total of 1tb on 2 SSD.  If you plan to switch over to PC gaming, 1tb SSD probably isn't a bad idea to invest in, but if you're not I wouldn't.  I'd maybe recommend getting a smaller size SSD (128 MB or something) and install your operating system on it, then getting a cheaper regular HDD (500GB or something) for storage/programs/games you play.  That way you're system will boot up quickly.  Like RH said, you can always add additional SDD later on.

 

-  Your MB, RH may know more.  I went through and tried to find you a mid range one (price wise) with good reviews.  I have a different Asus one in mine that I've liked

 

-  The 580 GPU isn't a bad choice, a nice mid tier GPU.  It's about the same benchmark as the GTX 1060 6 GB.  If you plan to mostly play on PS4 this will be enough, if you start getting into PC gaming you may want to upgrade later on to something better, but GPU's aren't cheap (1080ti I have was by far the most expensive part of my build)

 

-  I believe your CPU does come with their "Stealth Cooler."  Not sure how well that will do, I bought a radiator CPU cooler (https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/V2JwrH/corsair-cpu-cooler-h100i) but you may not need something like that.  Can always get something more if your computer seems to be running hot.  

 

 

You'll also need a USB drive.  I had to go buy one as the only ones I had were like 10 years old and not enough space.  You'll need another computer to download and make a installation file you can put on this USB to plug into your new PC once it's put together.

Instructions:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/software-download/windows10?ranMID=24542&ranEAID=TnL5HPStwNw&ranSiteID=TnL5HPStwNw-54xcAyYUqb9AuBoggHlf8A&epi=TnL5HPStwNw-54xcAyYUqb9AuBoggHlf8A&irgwc=1&OCID=AID681541_aff_7593_1243925&tduid=(ir__pet1ibhxnwkfrkwzxkyc9pw9y32xhorr0h2a3bxi00)(7593)(1243925)(TnL5HPStwNw-54xcAyYUqb9AuBoggHlf8A)()&irclickid=_pet1ibhxnwkfrkwzxkyc9pw9y32xhorr0h2a3bxi00

Once you installed and all, you'll need a windows 10 key, which you can buy either from windows (more expensive) or place like I posted earlier like Kinguin (cheaper).

 

There's plenty of videos/guides online you can look at when putting together.  I have only built one but used these guides/videos to make sure I was doing correctly.  I can look to help if you have problems, and know RH and DeathMerchant would be glad to assist as well if you get stuck.

[DeathMerchant]

I should mention that on the topic of CPU coolers, don't use the stock coolor if it comes with one. Most of them are bad or can't hold up when you start running CPU intensive programs. Yes you can get by, but it's something I would never recommend.

This is probably the best inexpensive CPU cooler on market. I bought it for my PC a couple years ago, and have run mutiple CPU heavy programs at the same time and never once ran into problems. I wish I recorded the temps so I could give you some actual Temp numbers, but you can read the reviews of what people say about this cooler.

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/hmtCmG/cooler-master-cpu-cooler-rr212e20pkr2

[Rand0m her0]

-  Your MB, RH may know more.  I went through and tried to find you a mid range one (price wise) with good reviews.  I have a different Asus one in mine that I've liked

 

I wouldn't say that I know more about that specific board. But there's a reason the voltage regulator module on a good board has heatsink on it. This also means it wants good airflow, and i don't see how the heck that I/O shroud isn't going to screw with airflow.  And I know ASUS has had some stuff with their VRMs running hot in the  past. 

 

 

I don't have the time to go hunt down if it's going to be an issue on that board. Doing some googling on my suspicions i've found some people mentioning that it has meh thermals, but not what the impact of that is. It might not be an issue, it might only be an issue for overclocking, maybe it's just fine with the 2600 but not the 2700x or etc, it might only be an issue witha  water cooling setup where there's less airflow. Given the fact that every manufacturer has a board at that price point, a bit of comparison shopping wouldn't be the worst idea.

 

That said, nothing about the board screams awful. Iif the thing goes on any real sale in the next couple days i'd heartily recommend jumping on it. It's just that the I/O shroud makes me want to slap whoever decided screwing with airflow over the VRM was totally worth the extra LEDs they could cram on. 

[Blade 619]

You can get 2 x 480gb SSD cards cheaper than 1x1tb... probably about a tenner cheaper to only lose 40gb.

Don't forget to check out ebay / gumtree / craigslist / facebook marketplace (etc) as you can often find some great deals especially on components.

My understanding from what you were saying is you don't want the computer for gaming, more for processing the live stream from your PS4? What sort of specs do you actually need for that?

[Blade 619]

Cases you can definitely get for <£20... doesn't need to be pretty... better off having decent internals.

[joe44]

Dont pick the Hal9000 cpu series. Theyre buggy.