Balance Build

I'm planing on getting an HDD as soon as I can, but the 120gb is enough to get me going with BeamNG.drive and Overwatch.
So would it be better to get an HDD first or an SSD first?

 

Depends on your goals. It's been a long time since I've been on a tight PC budget. The SSD will make a big difference in some areas and a small difference in others - but none of them are gaming performance related. It's nice to have, but the only thing it does for an e-sports gamer is get you into waiting rooms faster. It won't increase your FPS and in most cases I wouldn't assume that it will affect stutter, frame times, etc. So it's really a luxury.

If you find yourself with a 4k GoPro for instance you're looking at 0.5GB/min of recording. So a 1TB drive will be filled with only 34hr of raw footage. 1080p60 is about half that, so 68hr. Shadowplay gameplay recordings are in the same ballpark. In other words, for content creation storage space turns into a necessity rather than a luxury. This may not apply to you now, or ever. Just something to mull over.

Generally speaking for a gamer having storage beyond XXX amount is just as much a luxury as having fast storage. You can only play one game at a time, after all. I like luxury, so I'd look at a 512GB-class SSD as my first storage purchase. If I needed more space I'd pickup a 3TB or greater storage drive later.

On a tight budget I wouldn't hesitate to beg/scrounge. 250GB hard drives have been common long enough to get cycled out of enterprise desktop environments at least twice, probably longer. They are valued at approximately $10 used. 500GB drives are worth less than double that. Any PC which was recently working has a big enough drive to tide you over until you have money to buy something. A local organization just cycled out a bunch of 160GB HDDs in desktops which were long, long overdue for replacement.

 

So, here's a breakdown:
I should start with a hard drive, then upgrade to an SSD.
The 1060 3gb is perfect for my needs.
The rest of the parts are fine how they are.
Right?

 

Sounds reasonable to me, for you. Settling for 3GB may be taking a chance, but you can't avoid taking some chances. Don't forget that if you start with a hard disk you'll have a minor PITA if/when you get an SSD... you'll almost certainly want to re-install Windows & etc. Not the end of the world, but worth mentioning.
--- Post updated ---
I just happened to notice these. Proceed with caution, YMMV... http://pcpartpicker.com/product/2RPfrH/hitachi-internal-hard-drive-0f10311

 

I read some of the reviews, and it seems like a good drive. 4 bucks more for a whole terabyte is pretty good.

 

The parts are ordered
Should be here by black Friday.
I ordered them now because most parts were already on sale and I wanted to make sure they had the parts.
Total: 305.05
Total after rebates: 270.05

 

Sounds good. Personally I don't always fully test the OS drive for a new build... but due to the whining on Amazon I'd be tempted to do some testing with that particular drive.

If you have a little patience, one way to put a new drive through the wringer is the "preclear" option in Unraid. It requires installing Unraid on a USB flash drive and etc though. Topic: preclear_disk.sh - a new utility to burn-in and pre-clear disks for quick add

Someone else may have a better suggestion, but as it stands preclear is one thing I know of that touches every part of the drive and is recognized as a good way to induce early failure. Early failure is much more desirable before you start using the drive rather than after you start using it.

 

Actually, I didn't order that drive. I went with a more reliable one, the Toshiba p300 1tb.
http://pcpartpicker.com/list/tsPMwV
( The prices aren't what I payed for, will make a completed build when I actually greet the parts )

 

I have a Pentium G4400 if im correct and it runs beamng OK on low settings. I have a gtx 750ti to. games like WOT WarThunder Ats etc. can run high settings. the cpu is bottlenecking the 750 ti so be careful

 

I got an i3-6100, and will be getting a1060 3gb soon.