Hey guys, I’m considering building a gaming computer, but really don’t know the first thing about building a computer. I know having a good graphics card is key and I think I’m leaning towards AMD over intel, but really don’t know enough yet to make a definitive decision. Does anyone have tips, tricks, guides or other that can help me? Thanks guys!
A website that is a must read in my opinion for someone building their own computer for the first time (or for the first time in quite a while) is
www.pcpartpicker.com.
This website allows you to select components and will flag any incompatibilities for you. They even have quite a few suggested builds as well as many hundreds of users who have uploaded their complete builds (including pictures) with a list of the components. The website also links prices from various online retailers (Amazon, Newegg, Best Buy, B&H, etc) so you can find deals. You can save a template and share it via a link with others so they can take a look and make suggestions.
I'm in the process of building a new one myself. Here's the link to what I'm using, just keep in mind that I'm paying an absolute premium because I am building in such a tiny little case. The Dan Case is a mere 7.2 L.
System Builder.
At this time, my opinion is that the CPU needs to be AMD. The price to performance is just too good to pass up. Yeah, yeah, Intel still wins on a single core speed but more and more games are using multiple cores which is where the AMD lineup excels. Also, if you do any other work or care to stream the utilization of the multiple cores that AMD has is impressive.
As for the GPU...define your budget for the PC and buy the highest one you can afford. There isn't a lot of difference between the various manufacturers on each model (RTX 2070, RTX 2070S, RTX 2080, RTX 2080S, etc) so I tend to stick with manufacturers I know or whom I read really good reviews on. I typically stick with MSI or EVGA but that's just me. I'm currently using an RTX 2080 Super from EVGA.