PC Build Advice/Review Thread

[Waraji]

lolol750watts You can run like 20 HDD's... Perhaps it might be malfunctioning hardware or might be Power Saving features where it turns off your USB's or something. Dunno why a desktop PC would be set to Power Saving though.

220 GB is extremely low for storage space. Take the 1 TB suggestion, although I would opt to use it for long-term storage vs active (regular stuff like browers, games, music, typical everyday programs). Most economical performance variance you can do atm is an SSD for booting and two 300ish GB HD's in RAID0, in my opinion. With of course the added space for long-term storage. You will get the OS booting speed as well as matching program booting speeds & active program space with the RAID0 setup for a fraction of the price.

[sruon]

Off topic: You'd be amazed at the amount of 750W PSU that can only handle 100 or so on the 12V rail

On topic: you're fine for another HDD

[arus2001]

Honestly, I think it's my printer. It's got some SD slots and such and I suspect that despite my boot order prioritizing the HD, it seems to want to try and go from that if it's connected. Oh well, I'll probably snag one of the suggested, thanks.

[TacoTaru]

Besides Jojimbo's suggestions, I see you have a regular 2600 and a P8P67 LE mobo. If you don't want to overclock at all this is fine, but if you do you need to get the "k" version of that CPU and the regular P8P67 or equivalent. The locked CPU barely overclocks at all and the LE motherboard doesn't have voltage control. Besides that, I agree that you should always buy everything at once or as close to it as possible. Hardware always gets progressively cheaper over time, and in 6 months you might be able to find better components for those prices.

Sorry to bump this question since I said I probably wouldn't, but seeing as it looks like I may end up with a decent chunk of parts by Christmas, I was wondering if I decided to go with the other CPU/Mobo what are the benefits to overclocking a CPU? My biggest fear is that I'd do something or go to far and burn it up, but if it's easy to do I may be more inclined.

[Jojimbo]

Sorry to bump this question since I said I probably wouldn't, but seeing as it looks like I may end up with a decent chunk of parts by Christmas, I was wondering if I decided to go with the other CPU/Mobo what are the benefits to overclocking a CPU? My biggest fear is that I'd do something or go to far and burn it up, but if it's easy to do I may be more inclined.

It is possible to damage it if you try and do something crazy (although the chances are your PC won't boot or crash a lot), but the limits of CPUs are mostly known soon after release and you can sometimes even find the limit for your specific mobo. You would need aftermarket heatsink for your CPU if you plan on OCing though, the Hyper 212 is a good budget cooler. The process itself is fairly simple and there are tons of guides for OCing, most of which will go into specifics for that CPU.

Benefits are a more powerful CPU, for instance you could get an i7 920 to be as powerful (or more) than the i7 950 by OCing. This will lead to higher FPS in games (assuming you aren't bottlenecked by your GPU) or faster times doing w/e CPU based editing.

[TacoTaru]

Not that $27 is enough to make me reconsider going cheaper, but if I went with the 2600k instead of the 2600 would that still need aftermarket cooling? Or is it pretty standard to need aftermarket cooling regardless of CPU if you plan on overclocking?

[Jojimbo]

You would need an aftermarket cooler regardless, stock fans with pretty much any CPU suck and won't work allow you to OC much/at all before temps get way too high.

[Isiolia]

Not that $27 is enough to make me reconsider going cheaper, but if I went with the 2600k instead of the 2600 would that still need aftermarket cooling? Or is it pretty standard to need aftermarket cooling regardless of CPU if you plan on overclocking?

The advantage the K model CPUs have is that they're unlocked - basically you can adjust more settings on them, though of course you need a motherboard/BIOS that has good options for it too.

Stock coolers are almost never great. If you're not on a strict budget, getting a decent third party cooler is a sound idea anyway.

[Madeline]

With what I want to do with this new built computer is pretty much play Starcraft 2, FF14, Skyrim, Diablo 3, TERA, etc without it looking like SNES. I want to play past the mid range for graphical settings. I'm most likely going to dual-monitor it with gaming on one screen with web-browsing, anime and whatever on the other screen.

I have pretty much no real knowledge on the techy stuff so I'm open to any advice and/or nitpicks at the list. My initial concerns is the power supply and GPUs as I have no idea if it's good enough for SLIing. I was told by my friend to SLI 2x 460s, but when I looked up 460s, there was a shit load of choices and I ended up blindly picking one that looked to be in mid-range price.

I'm planning to get another GPU and moar fans on the next paycheck if anyone is wondering on the 1x on the GPU.

http://i51.tinypic.com/2nqflhg.jpg

Thanks in advance !

[Jojimbo]

Get a Caviar Black (1TB) instead of blue version of the HDD, as blues are slower. Couldn't find any info about the PSU, it does appear in this list as red but reading the posts that list is inaccurate, however I have never heard of it before and couldn't find any reviews so I would stay away and get Corsair or something instead. Wireless is meh for gaming, I highly recommend trying to use Ethernet cables instead if possible.

You also need a CPU cooler if you plan on OCing (you have a K model CPU), the Hyper 212 is a good cheap option or you can use Thermalright Silver Arrow / Noctua NH-D14 for performance.

If you plan on using dual monitors and SLI/CF then you can only realistically use fullscreen to play games, this means that it will be a pita (and outright impossible with XIV atm) to use the second monitor as some games still crash when alt tabbed and all games will minimize if you try and use another window even if it's on the second monitor. You should try and get a more powerful single card like a GTX 570 or HD6950/6970 so you can play games in borderless window mode which will make transitions between monitors a lot smoother, this will also help avoid the compatibility issues with SLI/CF such as having poor performance with some games, or not working at all on most indie games.

If you still want to go the SLI route then you should get GTX 560Ti instead, they run quieter and cooler than 460s. Also I'm not too sure how well that case will handle two cards (or a larger card like 570) as it's a fairly small case but it might still work, you would want to get an additional fan for the side door in either case (side fans help a lot with GPU temps).

[Madeline]

The PSU is used by my friend and was saving me about 70 dollars versus the Corsair 750 I was planning to get. I'll look into it though. The Wireless is free with the i5 and I'm going Ethernet anyway.

I don't see how it's impossible with XIV atm. Isn't the game windowed? Most of what would be done on the second screen is watching anime or reading "HOW i KILL THIS BOSS?"

Edit : : What exactly should I be looking for in a PSU? I'm browsing through Corsair's 750s but past that, I have no clue on what's different between them.

[Isiolia]

I don't see how it's impossible with XIV atm. Isn't the game windowed? Most of what would be done on the second screen is watching anime or reading "HOW i KILL THIS BOSS?"

In order to take advantage of a multi-card setup, you have to use full screen. Neither SLI or Crossfire, last I heard, support games run inside a window.

In turn, most full-screen games don't accomodate clicking outside of them - some stuff -might- work if you have it going already, but not everything would work well. If FFXIV doesn't play well with alt-tabbing when run full-screen, then that'd throw a wrench in your plans.

It's not so much that you can't do what you want. More that an SLI setup won't be very effective for it.

[TacoTaru]

Glad I read this before I started buying. I didn't realize SLI couldn't be used when playing in a windowed mode. Does that mean if you have it set up for SLI and you choose to play in a windowed mode you'll only be utilizing one card, or will it start causing errors and problems? I went ahead and swapped my own stuff around to be a more powerful single card, but I'd still like to looking at doing SLI in the future if it's wouldn't be a problem when I didn't want to utilize it and then I could when I wanted to.

[Isiolia]

Actually, looking into it, apparently it's not a complete no-go at this point...just not something you can depend on (which goes for multi-card support/performance anyway). It seems dependent on the game - some are very glitchy, some don't see the performance they should, some can work fine. 'course, things are always in development.

The general point would still stand though - a better single card is preferable for compatibility reasons.

[Cyn]

Get a Caviar Black (1TB) instead of blue version of the HDD, as blues are slower. Couldn't find any info about the PSU, it does appear in this list as red but reading the posts that list is inaccurate, however I have never heard of it before and couldn't find any reviews so I would stay away and get Corsair or something instead. Wireless is meh for gaming, I highly recommend trying to use Ethernet cables instead if possible.

You also need a CPU cooler if you plan on OCing (you have a K model CPU), the Hyper 212 is a good cheap option or you can use Thermalright Silver Arrow / Noctua NH-D14 for performance.

If you plan on using dual monitors and SLI/CF then you can only realistically use fullscreen to play games, this means that it will be a pita (and outright impossible with XIV atm) to use the second monitor as some games still crash when alt tabbed and all games will minimize if you try and use another window even if it's on the second monitor. You should try and get a more powerful single card like a GTX 570 or HD6950/6970 so you can play games in borderless window mode which will make transitions between monitors a lot smoother, this will also help avoid the compatibility issues with SLI/CF such as having poor performance with some games, or not working at all on most indie games.

If you still want to go the SLI route then you should get GTX 560Ti instead, they run quieter and cooler than 460s. Also I'm not too sure how well that case will handle two cards (or a larger card like 570) as it's a fairly small case but it might still work, you would want to get an additional fan for the side door in either case (side fans help a lot with GPU temps).

Ditto on the Caviar Black. And yeah... that case looks awfully small. If you're looking for a mid tower that's roomy and affordable (especially in that style, the black with blue fan LEDs and whatnot), I can personally recommend the NZXT Tempest Evo. It's a bit more expensive, but it's definitely worth it for the extra size and better cooling.

[bori]

So I'm looking here soon to purchase my first SSD here soon and was wondering what you all would recommend as your favorite. My most important quality I'm looking for is reliability, but as I've researched for a while now SSDs reliability is hit or miss. I've read so many reviews now that are completely mixed, 50/50 saying "Great SSD, super fast, reliable!" and the next review being "Dead within 2 months" (etc) and there are a lot of the latter. I was looking at the OCZ Vertex 2, but was wondering if anyone would recommend something else. I prefer 80 -120gb of capacity but my budget is $150 and I somehow doubt I could get any decent 120GB SSD for $150.

Thank you very much!

[Ayn]

Hi. I posted this in the laptop thread but didn't have much success. Apologies for posting here. I know enough to build my own PC (built mine about 3 years ago, still runs just fine) but I'm absolutely clueless when it comes to laptops:

I hope this is the right thread, but I'm shopping around for a laptop. At a minimum, I'd be happy with something that either meets or exceeds the capabilities of my three year old desktop (which I built on my own). I don't think it should be too hard, but the pertinent specs:

Processor: Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0 ghz
Video Card: ATI Radeon 6850 (had to rep my 4850, which I was fond of)
RAM: 4 gigs.


Main purposes:

Gaming: Potentially some FFXI, games like DA: O, Elder Scrolls, the Witcher. Likely not any heavy/intense FPS games.
Browsing the web (duh)
School related stuff (from the teacher end)


I'm not particularly picky on it being bulky. Smaller is nice since I do travel from time to time and would take it with me, but if it's a good machine, I'll deal.

I'm really not sure what the price range is on this. I'd like to stay under $900, as I've seen what appears to be some good deals on new egg in the 500-800 price range (if I'm being naive, please correct me!). I'm leaning towards Asus, since I've heard nothing but good things about their machines, but my friend told me that a Dell XPS 15 or 17 would be better bang for the buck.

I know this is hardly an original question (and apologies if you're one that's seen and answered this dozens of times), but I tend to hold off on purchases for awhile, yet when I do buy them, they tend to be things that last a good chunk of time.

If there's anything else I need to know, please inform me (such as the 'something better's coming out in a few months, hold off').

Thank you in advance for any advice the tech gurus here can provide.

I'm really not sure where to go here. Ideally I'd like something similar to my PC in the sense that.. while not top of the line, it still seems to run everything I throw at it pretty well. While my friend did suggest Dell and I've had ok experiences with them in the past, I'd like to try to avoid them if there is a better option.

[Orochimaru7]

So I'm building my first desktop for games like FFXIV (When it gets fixed xD), Diablo 3, and a few other upcoming titles. Just wanted to get a 2nd opinion on my choices. It got a bit pricey since I have to start from scratch with a case and monitor etc. I have no parts from the past or anything.

Here's what I got so far:
http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/2034/comp1r.jpg

http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/2697/comp2i.jpg

Some things I'm on the fence about:

Case:
I'm between the case I have picked in that checkout and this
Antec Performance One Series P183 V3 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129174
I know this one isn't as pretty xD but it has good reviews on noise reduction and I think that's a big plus. Hearing a constant berrrrrrrrr from a fan can get irritating. But idk if it'll have enough airflow to keep everything coool.

SDD/HDD?:
Like someone said earlier, I've read that SSD can be unreliable and that some die within a year. I chose the intel 510 SSD for its SATA III and for the fact that Intel is a more trusted brand to me. I read less comments about they dying overall than brands like OCZ. I was also thinking if I do go SSD route should I just get 2 cheaper ones and put them in RAID 0? Or should I just avoid the risk and get a normal HDD.

Cooling:
For cooling I'm between hydro pump and fan/heatsink. I have 2 in mind but if there is cooling that one of you prefer/recommend then I'll check it out too ;D

Hydro Pump - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835209054
More expensive but if I have my CPU overclocked at about 4.0 then I wanna make sure I prolong the lifespan as long as possible and keep it as cool as possible in the long run.

Fan - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835103055
Has good review about keeping CPU's cool during OC 4.0+.

Thoughts? Opinions?

[Jojimbo]

900-2 is a good case, bit annoying to get to the front filters (unless they fixed that in v3) but I like mine.

HDD: You will most likely want to get a normal 1TB HDD as well for storage, Western Digital Caviar Black or Samsung F3 are good. Intel is typically regarded as more reliable although is more expensive and slower than competing SSDs.

Cooling: Noctua NH-D14 or Thermalright Silver Arrow are best options. Don't bother with enclosed water, Corsair H100 (has huge hintsink as well) barely competes with Noctua/Thermalright

CPU: Doing any rendering/editing? If not then you can use i5 2500k instead, cheaper and will be the same when it comes to games.

[Orochimaru7]

Thanks for the quick response ;D

Ya I was planning on getting the more reliable Intel 510 SDD with another 1 TB HDD for storage. I'll put like 1-2 games on my SDD for quick loading times.

I've seen this Noctua NH-D14 recommended on another website as well, I watched a couple reviews and I think I'll go with it. Since you have the 900-2 as well, it has enough room for these fans? I heard they are big so you gotta have a case with the space.

Ya there might be some video rendering and editing on this computer, so it'll probably stick with the i7

Thanks!