Finally my new monster PC is up and running!
I've been a PC gamer since 1995 and I'm a true PC gamer at heart and I've built several comps over the years, but the last PC I bought was in 2008. Between the years 2009 to 2013 I've been stuck with console gaming (mainly PS3) due to different unfortunate circumstances but last year I decided to get back into PC gaming for real and since December 2013 I've tried to plan in detail what new PC hardware to buy.
The process of choosing the right parts was difficult but finally I'm done and this is my new PC:
(Intel or Nividia was never a choice since I'm a huge AMD fan)
AMD FX-6300 Black Edition CPU - 105 Euros (Note: I bought the FX-8350 but broke off one pin, then I realized the FX-6300 is just as fast for gaming)
Gigabyte Radeon R9 290 4GB GDDR5 PCI-Express 3.0, "Windforce 3X" GPU - 420 Euros
Gigabyte GA-990XA-UD3 Socket-AM3+ muthaboard - 95 Euros
Samsung SSD 840 EVO 250GB BK OEM Basic kit - 140 Euros
Seagate Barracuda 2 TB 7200rpm HDD - 85 Euros
Samsung DVD RW - 18 Euros
Crucial DDR3 BallistiX Sport 16GB KIT Sport,1600MHz RAM - 145 Euros
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo CPU cooler - 34 Euros
Corsair CX 750M 750W PSU - 80 Euros
NZXT Phantom 410 Midi Tower Red Case - 105 Euros
Microsoft Windows 8.1 OEM version OS - 90 Euros
Samsung LS27 C750PS 27 inch moniter - 245 Euros
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All in all 1572 Euros (around $2,100)
(PC without moniter: 1327 Euros) (rufly $1,750)
In the past it usually took me one whole day to build a PC and get it to work with OS and games, but this time it took around three (!) days.
To my surprise the hardware installation turned out to be the most difficult and I damaged the CPU due to pushing it too hard into the motherboard when installing the aftermarket CPU cooler (I broke off one pin on the FX-8350 that I originally bought, had to throw it away and ended up buying a cheaper FX-6300 instead, so you could add another 150Euros/$200 to the total cost due to the broken FX-8350 CPU). Overall though, I must admit that the hardware installation of a PC today is much easier than it was in the 90's and early 2000's despite the destroyed CPU. I was just rusty.
Meanwhile, and to an even bigger surprise, the software installation was a piece of cake! In the past I had to put many frustrating hours into messing with BIOS settings, installing Windows, updating drivers, updating with Service Pack, updating programs I don't even remember... some protocol you always had to manually download and install in the past, formatting drives, allocating IRQ addresses and trying to mess around with network and internet settings, but this time I literally didn't have to do anything! I just putted the Windows 8.1 install DVD in and it installed automatically without any hassle whatsoever and everything just worked! I could run my first game within an hour. That was just wow and totally unheard of in my world! It's amazing how consumer friendly Microsoft has become since Windows XP. That was such a relief after all the hardware hassle and a very pleasant experience.
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I am very happy with this powerful AMD machine. I can run all games on max settings. I am very proud. Very happy. Nuffin beats PC gaming.
