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[Ongoing] PC Building Questions & Answers

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On Massdrop, you can find enthusiasts of all levels within any given community. There are beginners who are just starting out and experts who really know their stuff. Wherever you find yourself on the spectrum, you should always be able to find answers to your questions within the community.
PC BUILDING One of the most technical and equally rewarding things you can do for yourself is build your own PC. It’s no easy task at first, but with practice, guidance, and perhaps some helping hands, you too can take part. Whether you’re looking to build your very first PC, or looking to make some upgrades, or just need a tidbit of advice you’ve come to the right place.
ASK QUESTIONS Do you need some help getting started? Want to know the best computer case for a certain price? Did you already start building your PC and now you’re stuck and not sure what to do?
The best way to find the answers to your questions is to ask the community. There are members who are experts in pretty much every area of PC building you can imagine, and they can help you go from beginner to pro.
Ask your question/s by posting in the discussion below.
GIVE ANSWERS Many of you in the community know a lot about building PCs and have great information to share. We encourage you to help out anyone who has questions!

Want to start your own discussion? Click here: www.massdrop.com/pc-gaming/talk/new

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woniu
5
Jun 7, 2019
Getting sound system for pc now. Is low on budget now(100<). need a gaming headset and probably a speaker for daily use. Any suggestions? Should a used headset or speaker be considered?
jawnTEM
0
Jun 30, 2019
woniuDue to the wide variety of different sizes in heads and that you are on a budget, I'd stick with a PC speaker system. You can get a fairly decent stereo system, (sub with 2 satellites) for around $29 (or less used) but decent headsets start around $70 and up. The real issue is trying to find one that you can wear longer than a couple of hours. I've purchase over 7 headsets before I found one that fit me ok!
(Edited)
gil999
15
Feb 22, 2019
Is there an easy way to add an old storage hard drive to a new pc and have the new pc know where all the programs on that hard drive are located? Or do they have to be reinstalled?
gil999
15
Mar 17, 2019
Thank you for the answers.
jawnTEM
0
Jun 30, 2019
gil999It depends on a lot of sub issues and whether your OS is on a separate drive. It can be done, and I've done both; but, the best method is to copy your personal files, photos, word, spreadsheets, etc, onto another storage and then reformat and reinstall your programs, games etc onto a clean drive. Personally, as you said that it's an "old drive" I'd advise just getting a new drive and keep your old drive to copy your personal files, photos, etc to the new drive.
(Edited)
1pAiR0
2
Feb 20, 2019
Hey guys, resident Audiophile here stepping into the world of PC building. I don’t know much about it and I’m looking at building a desktop that would handle gaming ( Destiny 2, Anthem, Gary’s Mod, etc.), 3-D modeling software (Engineering student) and FL studio. My budget would be around $500-$600 for the components plus tower, excluding keyboard, mouse, and monitor. Any ideas what I should get? I’ve heard any processor with 3.5 GHz or higher is good. Thanks
woniu
5
Jun 7, 2019
1pAiR0If you don't mind, get used component! It would save you at least 30% money to upgrade other things. But stay away from used hard drives.
jawnTEM
0
Jun 30, 2019
1pAiR0I'd suggest going with an AMD 2400G that has fairly decent on board graphics. This will allow you to wait until you can get a decent graphics card later when you can afford more. When you consider the price of a decent card at $250, a processor at $200, Ram $100, you are already over your $500 budget and you haven't even purchased the other components like MB, PS, HD, OS, etc, yet. My one advice would be to not skimp on the MB, (which will be tied to your OS). This is the one component that most people cheap out on. I consider this the foundation of your PC and if it's not up to snuff, your whole PC will suffer. Make sure that the MB you get has all of the options that you want and need. All your other components are a fairly easy upgrade but if you need to replace your MB, it could mean a new OS, new Ram, new PS, and a new CPU. As for graphics cards, I game on a two monitor system, one at 1440 and my 480 didn't have any issue pulling that. There's a hype that you need a high-end Nvidia card just to game or do content and while it helps, it's just not necessary.
(Edited)
Bitbat
71
Dec 9, 2018
I am looking for some powerful parts to build a pc. My sister is a video ecitor and she needs some power to edit and play games. Any suggestions? budget would be around 300-500 bucks.
Avid_RetroGMr
5
Jan 21, 2019
he has got to build it himself to get the best possible outcome for the slim budget
jawnTEM
0
Jun 30, 2019
BitbatFor that price range I'd find a fairly decent refurbished unit off Amazon or NewEgg (easily $250 price range) and then upgrade it with a used Gcard (and/or other components) off eBay. Keep in mind that most PC's in recent years may be quite capable of doing the tasks you want just that they will most likely do it slower than a high-end system.
Cyros
2
Oct 24, 2018
Can anyone help me with getting a pc, I want one that run Fortnite and that I will be able to do simple things with, download discord and do homework My budget is around 1000 USD
woniu
5
Apr 22, 2019
Cyros1000$ is a good budget for a mid tier gaming desktop. With this budget, you shold be able to build a 1070ti gaming desktop (budgetly), there are alot of videos out there for 1000$ budget 1070ti. Go take a look. And if you are like me, who is willing to use "used graphic cards" you can even get a 1080ti for 400$ on ebay.
jawnTEM
0
Jun 30, 2019
CyrosMy suggestion would be to do a search on YT for gaming PC's in a lower price range and then simply modify it to fit your budget. Atm, AMD seems to be holding the sweet spot position for PC builds and unless you buy into the hype that you need a high-end GC like Nvidia, AMD is a fairly capable card for just about any task, (except maybe 4K).
PC_gaming_Freind
0
Oct 22, 2018
I have a PC already and I want to upgrade to an SSD but I don't want to pay for another windows copy or any other software I have. so how can I transfer the data from my hard drive to my new SSD? I am not to comfortable using cloning software because it might delete my data or mess up the drives if any of yo have any suggestions that would be helpful.
PC_gaming_Freind
0
Oct 24, 2018
Thanks that helps me out a lot. I had no Idea that the massdrop community was so nice.
jawnTEM
0
Jun 30, 2019
PC_gaming_FreindMost SSD/M.2 drives have software on their sites like Samsung, Western Digital, Seagate, etc, that support cloning and as Brand.on said, it's a fairly easy do. There are also some decent "free" software available, just be careful that you pick a reliable co as many may have hidden codes that you may not want to install.
ReconLobster
1
Oct 19, 2018
I’m new to pc gaming . I previously had an xbox 1. can anyone recommend a good pc build?im looking for a price range of no more than 800$
THEDOOMEDHELL
1
Oct 28, 2018
ReconLobsterHello friend! Im more of a budget PC gamer and my last build consisted of used parts... But a long time ago I used to be like you with my Xbox 360! The best solution to your problem is to look around for benchmarks of the newest and greatest hardware and to see what is worth your dollar. Nobody in any forum will know exactly what YOU as an individual need. Only YOU can get the information and build it in your way. I used to play on a Core 2 Quad Q8400 and GTX 570 and I can tell you that the best way to get into gaming PCs is to work on something like that, it teaches you how important bottleneck optimizing is, it teaches you how to improve your gaming experience and ultimately you will understand better how to go about buying hardware! Try it with your dad's old computer, start tinkering with it to try to squeeze that beautiful FPS you're looking for, it's honestly the BEST most REWARDING way to game on PC.
Unkwnroger
2
Oct 29, 2018
ReconLobster Hey there. All these comments are a mess. Here is what you are looking for. Build your own PC with these parts. Get tutorials from Youtube. Join the PC Master race < $800. PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/LHGtHh CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4GHz 6-Core Processor ($159.89 @ OutletPC)  Motherboard: MSI - B450M PRO-VDH Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($69.99 @ B&H)  Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($79.99 @ Newegg)  Storage: Team - L5 LITE 3D 480GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($62.89 @ OutletPC)  Video Card: MSI - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB GAMING X Video Card ($309.99 @ Amazon)  Case: Cooler Master - MasterBox Lite 3.1 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($42.99 @ Amazon)  Power Supply: EVGA - BQ 500W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($44.11 @ Monoprice)  Case Fan: Cooler Master - SickleFlow (Red) 69.7 CFM 120mm Fan ($6.19 @ Monoprice)  Case Fan: Cooler Master - SickleFlow (Red) 69.7 CFM 120mm Fan ($6.19 @ Monoprice)  Total: $782.23
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