Design a Gaming Computer

Jianpeng Li Design a Gaming Computer The purpose of this computer will be for supporting overclocking the CPU and running PC games smoothly and will satisfy gaming players basic needs. It will be a nice gaming computer for those gaming hobbyist users who want to play PC games when they get off from works every day. The computer will run lots of game which have high requirements smoothly. The computer s costs will be under 1500 dollars. This gaming computer s hardware will contain 1 motherboard, 1 processor, 1 graphic card, 1 CPU cooling system, 2 hard drives, 1 optical disk drive, 2 memories, 1 sound card, 1 power supply unit, 1 computer case, 1 64-bit windows 10 operating system, 1 monitor,1 mouse, and 1 keyboard. The first step for designing a computer is to select a motherboard and decide motherboard s form factor. I will choose a motherboard using ATX form factor. The reason of why I chose a ATX motherboard is because a ATX motherboard and a ATX case makes better use of space and resources. ATX motherboard provides more ports and slots then those small size motherboards. Also, smaller boards cost more and provide fewer features. I will select ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming motherboard. Why I will select this board is because it supports Intel LGA 1151 socket which is latest Intel socket and LGA 1151 can support 6 th Generation Intel Core i7, i5, i3, Pentium and Celeron Processors. The board also supports Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0. The chipset is Intel Z170 Chipset which is one of Skylake chipset and it also supports CPU overclocking. The board can have maximum 4 DIMMs, DDR4 3400(O.C.) / 3333(O.C.) /3200(O.C.) / 3100(O.C.) / 3000(O.C.) / 2933(O.C.) / 2800(O.C.) / 2666(O.C.) / 2600(O.C.) /2400(O.C.) /2133 MHz (O.C means overclock), Non-ECC, un-buffered, total 64 GB. It supports dual channel memory. DDR4 is the latest generation of RAM. It is faster than 1

DDR DDR2 and DDR3. Moreover, this motherboard contains more slots and back I/O ports than those small size boards. It can meet gaming players needs if the board contains more slots because gaming players may need to add some gaming peripheral devices and expansion cards like a video card and a sound card. For expansion slots, the board has 3 PCIe 3.0 16 slots which means the motherboard can support 2 video cards (in the future, if the user want to add one more video card, the motherboard is very good choice) and 3 PCIe 3.0 1 slots. For back I/O ports, it has 1 PS/2 keyboard/mouse combo port, 1 DVI-D, 1 D-Sub, 1 DisplayPort, 1 HDMI, 1 Network port (RJ-45), 2 USB 3.1, 4 USB 3.0 ports, 2 USB 2.0, 1 Optical S/PDIF out and 5 Audio jacks. The motherboard also has plenty internal I/O connectors, such as 1 19-pin USB 3.0/2.0 connector which supports additional 2 USB 3.0/2.0 ports, 3 USB 2.0/1.1 connectors which support additional 6 USB 2.0/1.1 ports, 4 SATA III connectors and 3 Chassis fan connectors for both 3-pin and 4-pin coolers control. For the storage, it has 4 SATA III which Data transfer rate is 6.0 Gb/sec, 1 SATA Express port which can be compatible with 2 SATA 6.0 Gb/sec ports and 1 M.2 Socket 3 for M key. For the operating system, the motherboard supports Window 10/8.1/7. The motherboard has one nice network port which is rated for Gigabit Ethernet (1000 Mbps). Figure 1 shows the board s picture. 2

Figure 1. ASUS Z170 PRO GAMING motherboard For the processor, I will choose 6 th Generation Intel Core i5-6600k. Why I chose this processor is because it has always been good for gaming and it is a Performance Processor based on the 14nm, Skylake MicroArchitecture. Personally, I like Intel processor because today most processors do not have those delicate pins on the bottom of processors which are easily bent when a processor is trying to be installed in the socket. Obviously, i5-6600k processors will not have those pins and will be installed in LGA 1511 sockets which have blunt protruding pins that connect with pads on bottom of processors. However, AMD has chosen to use the PGA socket architecture for its desktop processors. So, lots of AMD processors still have those delicate pins for fitting PGA sockets. Generally, LGA sockets are better contacts than PGA sockets and the processor does not so easily damage because having delicate pins during an installation. In addition, i5-6600k offers 4 cores which is also called quad-core and 4 threads. The processor frequency is 3.50 GHz and it may go up to 3.90 GHz (Max Turbo Frequency). The cache is 6 3

MB SmartCache. It is compatible with the motherboard I choose. The K letter suffix of i5-6600k means the processor is unlocked and overclockable. An overclocked i5-6600k can perform almost same like a non-overclocked i7 6700. Moreover, i5-6600k the price is much cheaper than i7 6700 or i7 6700k. it only costs $235.99 basic on Aamazon.com (i7-6700 costs $304.99 and i7-6700k costs $329.99). The processor graphic is Intel HD Graphics 530. Intel claims it is dramatically faster than the HD 4000 graphics which came with Haswell. It supports DDR4 memories and DDR3L memories. The memory DDR4 supports for mainstream gaming system. It also supports Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0. Figure 2 shows the processor s picture. Figure 2. 6 th Generation Intel Core i5-6600k Another very important component for building a gaming computer is its graphic card. The graphic card should be compatible with the system. Bad graphic card can make the gaming players very frustrated when they are playing games because some games which need to be supported by good graphic card cannot run smoothly. The graphic card I will choose is ASUS Strix GeForce GTX 960. The reason I choose this graphic card is because it is a great value graphic cards for 1080p games. It makes games run faster because 1291 MHz factory- 4

overclocked GPU; in OC mode, 1317MHz GPU boost clock and it has 7200 MHz factoryoverclocked memory speed. The cooler system on the graphic is awesome because the Direct CU II with 0dB Fan Technology makes it run very quieter and cooler than other cards. The video memory is 2 GB and its max resolution is 4096 2160. In addition, because the motherboard supports overclock, so this graphic card is very compatible with the board. Figure 3 shows the graphic card s picture. Figure 3. ASUS Strix GeForce GTX 960 The cooler I will choose is Cooler Master Hyper 412S. Why I pick this one is because it supports Intel LGA 1151, Intel Core i5 and users may want to make CPU overclock. Overclocking will generate lots of heat and make the machine temperature higher, so good cooler is very important for this computer. The cooler uses creative patented Continuous Direct Contact (CDC) technology which is side by side heat pipe configurations with no gaps creating a nicely smooth surface for heat conduction. In addition, the fan speed is 1300 RPM (revolution per minute) and the low fan speed is 900 RPM with silent mode adapter. Also, it optimizes with 5

wider fin gaps to reduce the air flow resistance which can maximize the cooler s performance at low fan speed condition. Figure 3 shows the cooler s picture. Figure 3. Cooler Master Hyper 412S The gaming computer will have 2 hard drives -1 SSD (Solid-State Drive) hard drive and 1 magnetic hard drive. 1 SSD drive with large capacities will be very expansive. 1 TB Blue WD Internal SSD Storage costs $275.03 basic on Amazon.com. However, 1 TB Black WD Internal Hard Drive with 7200 RPM (magnetic hard drive) only costs $69. So, that s why I would choose 1 SSD drive with small capacities and 1 magnetic hard drive with larger capacities. The SSD drive will hold the operating system and some applications like Microsoft office because the SSD drive is faster, more reliable, last longer than magnetic drive. The SSD drive I will choose for the computer is Western Digital (WD) Green 120 GB 2.5 Solid-State Drive. The reason I choose this hard drive is because it uses no moving parts and helps keeping the data safe from loss in the case of accidental bumps and drops. Also, it supports SATA III (6 GB/s). With 6

the fast performance, users can browse the web, play games or start their system in a second. Figure 4 shows the SSD drive s picture. Figure 4. Western Digital Green 120 GB 2.5 Solid-State Drive The second drive is the magnetic hard drive. It will hold videos, pictures, photos, some documents, applications and backups of data. Plus, a magnetic hard drive is cheaper and larger capacities than a SSD drive. The drive I will pick is WD Black Series 1TB 3.5 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive. The reason I chose this one is because it is good for performance and perfect for gaming. The drive offers large capacities to store users expanding gaming library. Also, it delivers remarkable performance for storing large multimedia files of photos, videos and applications. Moreover, WD offers longer warranty for this hard drive. WD Black drives can be backed by an industry leading 5-year limited warranty. The spindle rotates at 7200 RPM. The faster the spindle, the better performing the drive. 7200 RPM is better than 5400 RPM and only $10 or $20 dollars different between these two. The drive also supports SATA III (6 GB/s). Figure 5 shows the WD magnetic drive s picture. 7

Figure 5. WD Black Series 1TB 3.5 7200RPM For the optical drive, I will choose ASUS DRW-24B3ST. The optical drive is not very important for this computer because these days, lots of games don t even require DVD ROM/CD ROM. Most time you need the optical drive only for installing a game or maybe for listening to a music or burning a DVD/CD. If users want to have a good optical drive, later they can buy a good external optical drive using USB cable to connect the computer. This optical drive I picked has very good price. It only costs $22.89 basic on outletpc.com. Moreover, this optical drive basically can read and write any kind of DVD/CD except Blu-ray Disk. It is very powerful. Plus, it will be very compatible with the motherboard because the optical drive s brand design, ASUS, is same as motherboard s. the OS support of the optical drive is from Windows XP to Windows 10. Figure 6 shows the optical drive s picture. 8

Figure 6. ASUS DRW-24B3ST One of important components of this gaming computer I am going to select is the memory. The computer will have 2 memories. Each memory is 8 GB. So, total is 16 GB. Many game today require 2GB, 4 GB, 6 GB and 8 GB of RAM. So, 16 GB of RAM is enough for running most games. If a user still doesn t satisfy with 16GB, later the user can add more RAM by himself or herself because the motherboard has total 4 memories slots. The reason why I am going to use 2 memories for this computer is the motherboard supports dual channel. For activating dual channel, 1 memory puts in the black memory slot and another memory puts in the grey memory slot. I will select 2 Crucial Ballistix Sport 8 GB DDR4-2400 UDIMM BLS8G4D240FSA memories. Why I select this these Crucial s memories is because they deliver fastest and very reliable for gaming performance. Plus, the document of the motherboard shows this Crucial memory is fully compatible with the motherboard. Also, the CPU, Core i5 6600k, has an enhanced memory controller that supports DDR4 memories. Additionally, this memory is very easy installation because standard specifications require no special BIOS configuration unlike those traditional Ballistix productions. Figure 7 shows the memory s picture. 9

Figure 7. Crucial Ballistix Sport 8 GB DDR4-2400 UDIMM BLS8G4D240FSA Most good motherboards already provide decent sound. Some regular gamers think there is no need for adding a sound card. But some gamers are audiophiles, to have a good sound card is very necessary for them. Here I am going to select a very nice sound card which ASUS Strix Soar 24-bit 192 KHz sound card to satisfy those audiophiles. Why I select this sound card is because it is high quality gaming sound card that puts out amazing sound with good price. Moreover, Asus s Sonic Studio is a very nice software for sound cards. It comes with virtual surround effects to enhance gaming experience. The sound card can fit into and be compatible with the motherboard because the motherboard provides enough PCIe 3.0 1 slots for peripheral devices and they are same brand design, ASUS. The sound card s requirements are one available 6-pin peripheral power cable connector from the power supply unit, Windows 10/8.1/8/7 (32/64 bit), Intel Pentium 4 1.4 GHz or faster CPU, larger than 256 MB DRAM memory and larger than 60 MB available hardware drive space for driver installation. Basic on the requirements, those components of this gaming computer I selected above are fully compatible with this sound card. I will talk about the power supply unit later. It will be compatible with the sound card too. The operating systems the sound card supports are from Windows 7 32/64-bit to Windows 10 32/64- bit. Figure 8 shows the sound card s picture. 10

Figure 8. ASUS Strix Soar 24-bit 192 KHz sound card Power Supply Unit (PSU) is very crucial part especially for building a gaming computer. Because a gaming computer consumes more power than a general office computer, So, sometimes a gaming computer requires higher wattage PSU. If the PSU did not supply enough power for the computer, the computer could not run at all. Except considering the wattage, we also need to consider about connecters which come with the PSU. How many connecters does the power supply provide and what kind of connecters does it provide? Moreover, we need to consider about the form factor for selecting a power supply. Obviously, the form factor will be ATX because I am building a ATX form factor computer. ATX form factor power supply will be compatible with the motherboard and the case. I decide to select Corsair RM 1000i-1000 Watt 80+ Gold Certified Full-Modular ATX Power Supply. Why I select this power supply is because first, it provides enough wattage for this computer. The total wattage of all components of this computer is around 664.64 W (CPU consumes 91W, CPU cooler 2.64W, Motherboard 350W, 2 DDR 4 memories 6W, SSD 10W, HDD 15W, graphic card 150W, optical drive 30W, sound card 10W). Plus, any power supply should be rate about 30% higher than expected needs. So, the final 11

wattage the gaming computer needs will add up the wattage requirements of all components, and add 30% which is 664.64W + 664.64W * 30% = 864.03W. In the future, users may add more components to the computer. So, to get 1000W power supply is very necessary. Additionally, this power supply provides plenty connecters and cables. It provides 1 ATX Cable 24 pin (20+4), 2 ESP/ATX 12V 8 pin (4+4) cables, 4 PCIe 6/8 pin connecters (this connecter will support the graphic card and the sound card.), 3 SATA cables, 3 peripheral cables (4-pin), 2 floppy adapters (4-pin), 1 corsair link cable (4-pin), 1 usb cable (9-pin). This power supply is full modular which means it comes with no cable pre-attached. Users can only attach the ones they need. It gives users more options because it allows users to only install the cables they need and keep good airflow. 80 + Gold certified ensures high efficiency operation for less excess heat and lower operating costs. Figure 9 shows the power supply unit s picture. Figure 9. Corsair RM 1000i-1000 Watt 80+ Gold Certified Full-Modular ATX Power Supply For selecting a computer case, the form factor needs to be considered because other components should fit into the case and the case should provide good airflow. Therefore, the case I will pick is ATX form factor case for matching the motherboard and the power supply. Today there are lots of type of cases such as full tower, mid tower, mini tower, slim line case and 12

small form factor (SFF) case, etc. Mid tower cases are very popular computer cases today. It about 18 to 24 inches high and it usually has 2 to 4 internal drive bays and similar number of external bays for DVD/CD readers. Thus, I will pick a mid-tower case. Corsair 400R ATX Mid Tower Case is one I choose for this computer. The reason I choose this one is because it lets user install 2.5 SSD drive in any of the hard drive bays without having to deal with adapters. So, the WD Green 120GB SSD will fit into this case without using any adapter. Another reason is that the case provides very good airflow. It contains 3 120mm fans. Two white LED fans in the front of the case blow cold air into the case and one rear fan blows hot air out of the case. Moreover, it has 8 expansion slots which give user awesome multiple-gpu options. It also provides six 3.5 hard drive bays which also are compatible with 2.5 SSD drives. The gaming computer only has two hard drives. So, the hard drive bays of the case are plenty enough for the computer. Two USB 3.0 ports are provided on the front panel to let users conveniently access high speed USB ports. Another very important feature is that there is a room for long power supplies which means users will have lots of headroom for a high-performance gaming system. The case also has 4 tool-free optical drive bays. It is very easy for putting an optical drive into the case. The cable routing system of the case provides a way to keep users system neat. In addition, the power supply and the motherboard of this computer will fit into the case very well. Figure 10 shows the case s picture. 13

Figure 10. Corsair 400R ATX Mid Tower Case Today there are a lot of operating systems in the world for all kind of computers such Windows, Linux and Unix, etc. To select an operating system is basic on what kinds of job the computer needs to do. Windows operating system is best for gaming computers due to its wide support. The operating system for this gaming computer I will pick 64-bit Windows 10 Home. The reason I pick 64-bit is because 64-bit Windows installation can more memory capacities than 32-bit. 32-bit only can handle 4 GB memory. The gaming computer is 16 GB of RAM. Thus, it must be use 64-bit Windows to support to run games. The reason of why I select Windows 10 is because Microsoft promised Windows 10 will be extremely games-friendly before the company released it. Today more and more people choose to use Windows 10 for playing games. Additionally, Windows 10 supports DirectX 12. The performance of DirectX 12 is better than DirectX 11. Game platforms like Unreal have already began developing for DirectX 12. For picking Home version is because it is cheaper than other versions and it basically can support most of games other versions can support. 14

To select a monitor, we need to consider about what the computer will perform. This computer is going to run games. So, I will select a monitor which supports good quality for gaming performance. Gamers will not only need a gaming computer with a powerful graphics solution, but also, they will need a very decent monitor which can display the action without crashing images. So, selecting a monitor also depends on the computer s hardware. There are lots of monitors with lots of different prices today. Some monitors cost over 1,000 dollars, but some monitors are under 100 dollars. basic on this computer s hardware, I will select ViewSonic VX2457-MHD 24 60Hz Monitor. Why I select this monitor is because the type of monitor is a Twisted Nematic type monitor which are perfect for gamers because it has fast response times to keep fast moving image. This monitor s response time is 2ms. 1920 1080 resolution is very popular today. This monitor has ADM FreeSync technology that synchronizes the frame rate output between the graphic card and the monitor. The dynamic fresh will get rid of image tearing. The monitor also contains low input lag mode which provides smooth screen performance. It will free from blurring or ghosting. Figure 11 shows the monitor s picture. Figure 11. ViewSonic VX2457-MHD 24 60Hz Monitor 15

A keyboard and a mouse both are very important for a gamer to play a game. They need a good keyboard and mouse to control a game while they are playing. Personally, I like a regular wire or wireless keyboard and a regular full size wireless mouse when I play a game. For this computer, I will select Logitech MK 520 Wireless Keyboard/Mouse Combo. Why I select them is because the keyboard is comfortable wireless full size keyboard and the mouse is also a wireless full size mouse. The full size keyboard with palm rest is very comfortable for typing. The mouse is very easy to grab because it has soft rubber on the sides. The keyboard and the mouse both works with Windows 10/8/7/Vista/XP. Plus, the price is very good, only 30.99 dollars on Amazon. Figure 12 shows the keyboard and the mouse s picture. Figure 12. Logitech MK 520 Wireless Keyboard/Mouse Combo 16

Appendix A Appendix A. Shopping List with Price and Components. Component CPU: Intel Core i5-6600k 3.5GHz Price $219.99 on Amazon.com CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 412S Motherboard: Asus Z170 PRO GAMING Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8 GB DDR4-2400 UDIMM Storage: Western Digital Green 120 GB 2.5 Solid-State Drive WD Black Series 1TB 3.5 7200RPM Video Card: ASUS Strix GeForce GTX 960 Case: Corsair 400R ATX Mid Tower Case Power Supply Unit: Corsair RM 1000i Optical Drive: ASUS DRW-24B3ST Operating System: 64-bit Windows 10 Home Sound card: ASUS Strix Soar 24-bit 192 KHz Monitor: ViewSonic VX2457-MHD 24 60Hz Keyboard & mouse: Logitech MK 520 Wireless Keyboard/Mouse Combo $50.17 on wellindal.com $110.98 on newegg.com $44.99 for each on Amazon.com $54.99 on bhphotovideo.com $68.99 on outletpc.com $269.99 on Amazon.com $99.99 on Amazon.com $139.99 on Amazon.com $22.89 on outletpc.com $82.50 on Amazon.com $99.99 on bhphotovideo.com $129.99 on Amazon.com $30.99 on Amazon.com Total Cost: $1471.43 17