101 replies to this topic

[yojo2]

scan.co.uk seems to be a sensible place to buy your PC. You're buying just a central unit, right?

£242,60 Intel CPU Core i7 2600K Unlocked Sandy Bridge Quad Core Processor
http://www.scan.co.u...ache-95w-retail

£359,50 Asus 1536MB GeForce GTX 580 DirectCU II NVIDIA Graphics Card +Free Batman: Arkham City
http://www.scan.co.u...s-hdmi-dp-plusf

£124,00 Asus P8P67 Pro Rev3
http://www.scan.co.u...ie-20-(x16)-atx

£42,83 Samsung 1Tb Spinpoint F3 Hard Drive
http://www.scan.co.u...-cache-89ms-ncq

£43,39 Corsair Memory Vengeance Jet Black LP 8GB DDR3 1600 MHz CAS 9 XMP Dual Channel
http://www.scan.co.u...-9-9-24-xmp-15v

£113,58 Corsair CP-9020006-UK AX 650W Professional Gold
http://www.scan.co.u...s-12vquient-fan

£17,03 Sony AD-7261S-0B SATA Writer
http://www.scan.co.u...lightscribe-oem

£51,58 Fractal Design Core 3000 ATX Case
http://www.scan.co.u...ce-case-w-o-psu

£54,56 Be Quiet Dark Rock PRO BK016 CPU Cooler
http://www.scan.co.u...lus-am3-754-940

£74,87 Crucial RealSSD M4 64GB - Solid State Drive - CT064M4SSD2
http://www.scan.co.u...-s-write-95mb-s

= £1 123,94

Fast four core CPu with Hyper Threading, great GPU with proper cooling system, decent motherboard, fast 1TB HDD, 8GBs of RAM, top notch power supply, DVD burner, case with good airflow, high performance air cooler and a SSD.

BUT - don't stick to that rig so much, because things might change during these few months. Ask for building the rig about a week before buying your PC.

[Anton4291]

Thanks Yojo2!

I am assuming the SSD would just be for the OS, correct? Also, are their any monitors you would recommend? I was thinking a 22inch, 1080p monitor, but I am not sure on which brand or even if that is a suitable choice for web browsing, gaming, word processing and the occasional bit of video editing.

[yojo2]

Yup, SSD is for OS and a few most often used games/apps.

BenQ G2220HD is worth checking out. Or (a little bit more expensive) LG IPS236V-PN with IPS matrix.

[Slamman]

Dell LCDs are found in many professional environments AND they also get kudos from many reviews I've seen over the years

[Jack.]

Just took apart my old PC today and reassembled it. Very happy with myself, Were throwing it away now tho. I scraped my screwdriver all over the crappy CPU pins, Damn it felt good

[leik oh em jeez!]

QUOTE (Jack. @ Monday, May 21 2012, 18:03)

Just took apart my old PC today and reassembled it. Very happy with myself, Were throwing it away now tho. I scraped my screwdriver all over the crappy CPU pins, Damn it felt good

Should have made it a little linux box if all the hardware was still functioning.

[X-Seti]

Just out of interest how long should a decent GPU last?.

My system specs are. Asus 750Watt PSU, Intel Quad CPU 2.93GHz (O/C 3.0Ghz), 6Gb DDR2 Ram (Had 16), 2TB HD Storage, Nvidia GForce 8800 GT, Asus 5N32 SLI Plus Mobo. Running Ubuntu11.04 (2.6.38-12.1-mod-pae)

2009 I had 2 Nvidia GForce 8800 Ultras and this lasted me about 3 years, I removed one because of GPU issues within 2 years, running on one until I replaced this with a 8800 GT that someone sent me in 2011

This 8800 GT card is now showing problems with graphic corruption when rendering maps in 3dsmax or watching video.

I can no longer play GTAIV at a decent FPS and 3dsmax FPS frame updates are flicking, Very poor FPS.

I am wondering where to go with a decent but none expensive GPU?

[yojo2]

GeForce 8 series are well known for their low reliability, I'm not very suprised they've stopped working for ya. You can try baking them in an oven (as stupid as this sound, it works sometimes; watch some tutorial first), or get a new card altogether.

If you'd want to buy a new one, I'd consider getting HD7770. Great price/performance ratio.
http://www.scan.co.u...ayport-dual-lin
Alternatively, if you can spend some more cash, HD7850:
http://www.scan.co.u...dl-dvi-hdmi-mdp

[X-Seti]

QUOTE (yojo2 @ Thursday, Jul 19 2012, 08:10)

GeForce 8 series are well known for their low reliability, I'm not very suprised they've stopped working for ya. You can try baking them in an oven (as stupid as this sound, it works sometimes; watch some tutorial first), or get a new card altogether. If you'd want to buy a new one, I'd consider getting HD7770. Great price/performance ratio. http://www.scan.co.u...ayport-dual-lin Alternatively, if you can spend some more cash, HD7850: http://www.scan.co.u...dl-dvi-hdmi-mdp

Thank you m8

I know about baking that is how I fixed my fat Ps3 and my friends.

I haven't kept up to date with PC hardware, just looking around mostly at Play.com and PC Specialists.

I'm not in the position to fork out for new hardware right now.

I was hoping the hardware I got 3 years ago would last for the lifetime of the SOL Project and beyond. Running the project with a lot of free time, I hoped that the project would have been at cost to me since I am doing all this - not for a profit and helping others.

Now I notice both those boards are ATI?

What about Nvidia?

[yojo2]

As of now nVidia has no equivalent for HD7770. Well, neither for HD7850 really, since there's only GTX560Ti that's a tad cheaper and slower than HD7850, but also consumes more power than Radeon.

[ccrogers15]

This is an awesome topic. Ryan did a great job. I will use it eventually.

[tubbs51]

Wow. I've been looking in the wrong place for info on building a PC. Damn. Good job Ryan. I'm sure i'll be using this info in the near future.

[Dragonjack]

Very nice work Ryan indeed. I'm planning on getting a new desktop soon and I was wondering don't you think this desktop is okay? For gaming I mean.


The new desktop i'm getting is this..
http://www.centrecom...or-p-56498.html

And this one.
http://www.centrecom...61.html?sort=2a



To be honest, I'm no expert on specs or PC and its the first time btw and if anyone will reply on this? I appreciate it.

[Prometheus]

Don't ever buy a pre-built PC - that one isn't worth the price at all. You could get a much better motherboard, PSU and case with that price.

[Dragonjack]

QUOTE (PrometheusX @ Sunday, Oct 7 2012, 05:06)

Don't ever buy a pre-built PC - that one isn't worth the price at all. You could get a much better motherboard, PSU and case with that price.

Yeah I might as well actually and thanks for that.

[unc13bud]

i disagree, some pre-builts are fine, as long as you don't pay too much for them. this was my first gta iv machine (with windows 7 rc installed, as i figured it couldn't mess up my original hard drive with securom): http://www.newegg.co...N82E16883113042
$299 from office depot on clearance
but yes, $1000+ is too much for a dual core machine nowadays

[Jewstinian]

Would you mind adding Zotac to the list of video cards? They're a pretty missed company. Also, you missed a comma between ASUS and MSI.

[GTAction99]

QUOTE (yojo2 @ Sunday, Sep 25 2011, 16:39)

scan.co.uk seems to be a sensible place to buy your PC. You're buying just a central unit, right? £242,60 Intel CPU Core i7 2600K Unlocked Sandy Bridge Quad Core Processor http://www.scan.co.u...ache-95w-retail £359,50 Asus 1536MB GeForce GTX 580 DirectCU II NVIDIA Graphics Card +Free Batman: Arkham City http://www.scan.co.u...s-hdmi-dp-plusf £124,00 Asus P8P67 Pro Rev3 http://www.scan.co.u...ie-20-(x16)-atx £42,83 Samsung 1Tb Spinpoint F3 Hard Drive http://www.scan.co.u...-cache-89ms-ncq £43,39 Corsair Memory Vengeance Jet Black LP 8GB DDR3 1600 MHz CAS 9 XMP Dual Channel http://www.scan.co.u...-9-9-24-xmp-15v £113,58 Corsair CP-9020006-UK AX 650W Professional Gold http://www.scan.co.u...s-12vquient-fan £17,03 Sony AD-7261S-0B SATA Writer http://www.scan.co.u...lightscribe-oem £51,58 Fractal Design Core 3000 ATX Case http://www.scan.co.u...ce-case-w-o-psu £54,56 Be Quiet Dark Rock PRO BK016 CPU Cooler http://www.scan.co.u...lus-am3-754-940 £74,87 Crucial RealSSD M4 64GB - Solid State Drive - CT064M4SSD2 http://www.scan.co.u...-s-write-95mb-s = £1 123,94 Fast four core CPu with Hyper Threading, great GPU with proper cooling system, decent motherboard, fast 1TB HDD, 8GBs of RAM, top notch power supply, DVD burner, case with good airflow, high performance air cooler and a SSD. BUT - don't stick to that rig so much, because things might change during these few months. Ask for building the rig about a week before buying your PC.

I am going to build my first PC soon, are these specs good enough to play GTA IV? (And maybe even V?)

[yojo2]

Yes they are, but this rig is outdated.

[Ice1980]

Not sure if this is a good place to ask, but I have about $1300 budget. Could I buy or have a decent custom built gaming PC for that price?

[yojo2]

Sure. This one would do the job quite nicely for example:

$319,99 Intel Core i7-3770K Ivy Bridge 3.5GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I73770K
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819116501

$379,99 GIGABYTE GV-R797OC-3GD Radeon HD 7970 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814125413

$134,99 ASRock Z77 Extreme4 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813157293

$79,99 Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.co...Tpk=st1000dm003

$43,99 Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Profile Desktop Memory Model BLS2K4G3D1609ES2LX0
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820148662

$89,99 SeaSonic G Series SSR-550RM 550W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817151119

$17,99 LG 24X DVD Burner - Bare Drive 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model GH24NS95 - OEM
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16827136259

$49,99 COOLER MASTER HAF 912 RC-912-KKN1 Black SECC/ ABS Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.co...x... master 912

$149,99 OCZ Vector Series VTR1-25SAT3-128G 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820227915

$51,99 COOLER MASTER RR-H612-20PK-R3 120mm Sleeve with 6 Heat Pipes Hyper 612 PWM CPU Cooler Compatible with Intel 2011/1366/1155/1156/775 and AMD FM1/FM2/AM3+
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16835103106

= $1 318,90

[Ice1980]

QUOTE (yojo2 @ Tuesday, Feb 5 2013, 15:25)

Sure. This one would do the job quite nicely for example: $319,99 Intel Core i7-3770K Ivy Bridge 3.5GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I73770K http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819116501 $379,99 GIGABYTE GV-R797OC-3GD Radeon HD 7970 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814125413 $134,99 ASRock Z77 Extreme4 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813157293 $79,99 Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive http://www.newegg.co...Tpk=st1000dm003 $43,99 Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Profile Desktop Memory Model BLS2K4G3D1609ES2LX0 http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820148662 $89,99 SeaSonic G Series SSR-550RM 550W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817151119 $17,99 LG 24X DVD Burner - Bare Drive 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model GH24NS95 - OEM http://www.newegg.co...N82E16827136259 $49,99 COOLER MASTER HAF 912 RC-912-KKN1 Black SECC/ ABS Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case http://www.newegg.co...x... master 912 $149,99 OCZ Vector Series VTR1-25SAT3-128G 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820227915 $51,99 COOLER MASTER RR-H612-20PK-R3 120mm Sleeve with 6 Heat Pipes Hyper 612 PWM CPU Cooler Compatible with Intel 2011/1366/1155/1156/775 and AMD FM1/FM2/AM3+ http://www.newegg.co...N82E16835103106 = $1 318,90

Thanks a lot!!!

[SausageInACan]

How is this build? I am trying to keep it around 1,000


CPU: Intel Core i5 3570k 3.4 GHz Turbo Boost to 3.8 ghz

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H Motherboard

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO

RAM: Kingston HyperX Genesis 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz

HDD: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM Hard Drive

Power Supply: Thermaltake TR2 700W Cable Management Optimized Power Supply (TR-700)

Case: Cooler Master HAF 912

Case Fan: Cooler Master 200mm Red LED Silent MegaFlow Case Fan

DVD Drive: ASUS Internal 24x DVD Writer

GPU: NVIDIA - Asus Radeon 7850 GPU

[•¿F¡ññ4L¡ƒ£?•]

I forgot about this great thread, was very useful information for beginners. And it's just about to have the 3 month anniversary.

Thanks Ryan.

[Urban Legend]

Ryan, under the "Choosing your components" section I like how you described everything such as the CPU, Motherboard, Video card, etc... but what would make it for me is if you added like a "Average price" at the end of your description. Seeing this topic though makes me want to build my own pc in the future.

[WhatsStrength]

Are there any helpful guides on cable hook-ups and management? It's kind of overwhelming to have a huge bundle of cables that come in the case and not knowing where to place them on the motherboard.

Also, I've been having a hard time installing my GTX 670 onto my motherboard in the case. The removable slots on the back of the case are sticking too far inwards for me to lower it all the way down on top of the motherboard.

[kamuran]

QUOTE (whatsstrength @ Friday, Jun 21 2013, 16:23)

Are there any helpful guides on cable hook-ups and management? It's kind of overwhelming to have a huge bundle of cables that come in the case and not knowing where to place them on the motherboard. Also, I've been having a hard time installing my GTX 670 onto my motherboard in the case. The removable slots on the back of the case are sticking too far inwards for me to lower it all the way down on top of the motherboard.

I have a question about installing the Noctua NH-D14 to an AM3 board. Do you have to take the motherboard backplate off and use the backplate Noctua gives you? Or do you just install the Noctua without removing the backplate? I can't seem to find this anywhere. I don't even think they give you a backplate now. I'm confused.

[mirmihir]

@whatsstrength: Please mention your chassis, and then I'll give you some tips on cable management.


OT: Don't know if this is allowed, but here it goes anyway.

I have a Fiverr gig in which i answer questions about buying desktops and help buyers pick parts which give the most bang for their buck. I have 4 years of goodwill on this site, so I won't give the link here. If anyone is interested, they can PM me.

[Hungo55]

I'm going to buy new PC very soon i'm not sure should i make my configuration .. :S

[Silvester Norman]

If you have some knowledge of computer hardware and all the raw materislas such as HDD,RAM,Graphics Card,Power Supply parts then it is not tough to assemble a system.