Other Building a PC?

Kallech33

New Member
Joined
Apr 11, 2012
Messages
1,072
Location
My happy place. Where I kill more than time.
It can in theory work how he's saying, and in some systems might well do, but I think you'll find it varies. Sometimes crossfire will cause problems if both cards aren't run at the same speed manually. It depends on the motherboard and game I believe, plus your overall set up.

But the stronger card will never quite hit 100% as far as I'm aware due to the very nature of how crossfire works. But again, it's been years since I dabbled in all that, so clutchy is probably right having done it.

It's a viable upgrade though if you really need to, but with the rig you have I think I'd save a little more money and just buy a decent new card. But of course, I know the feeling of wanting an instant few more fps, so if you are looking at a cheap card then it's worth a try ;)

But first give your machine a clear out and tune up if you don't regularly, you'll be amazed at what can be achieved through some simple maintenance.
Yeah, I think you're right. Saving money and getting a new card is definitely smarter.

Maintenance isn't really a problem. I reformat my PC about every 6 months and keep it clean and updated. Contrary to my laptop which is a mess but I don't feel like reformating is really worth it because I only use it like once every 2 weeks for an hour or two.
 

VidaRed

Unimaginative FC
Joined
Aug 23, 2007
Messages
29,612
I have a SSD which i haven't installed for over a year, im clearly lazy :lol:
 

Redlambs

Creator of the Caftards comics
Joined
Aug 22, 2006
Messages
42,176
Location
Officially the best poker player on RAWK.
So I went for this in the end: https://www.aria.co.uk/Systems/Bundles/Limited Edition Bundles/Gladiator Intel i7-4770K Limited Edition O.C. Bundle ?productId=61312

A bit of overkill but at only £50-odd more than a decent i5 option it seemed worth it. I won't bother with the overclock from the off either as it's totally not needed for gaming right now, but it's nice to have it there. I also treated myself to a nice new case with fans and airflow already built in, I'm getting lazy in my old age :lol:
 

UnitedBoy

Redcafe Yahoo Pool champion 2007
Joined
Mar 16, 2006
Messages
5,831
For some reason building another gaming rig is moving up my priority list. About 3 years ago i built one and even today it plays battlefield 3 on ultra graphics. They are incredible investments
 

Castia

Full Member
Joined
Jun 18, 2011
Messages
18,284
Nice one lambs, Aria are awesome as well, I've had them build my last two PC's and they will be building my third later this year.

I know its cheaper to build your own but for the price they charge and the professionalism of it (Immaculate cable management, OC and general build quality) its well worth the money. The store/warehouse is in Manchester, well worth visiting for anybody in the area.
 

Redlambs

Creator of the Caftards comics
Joined
Aug 22, 2006
Messages
42,176
Location
Officially the best poker player on RAWK.
For some reason building another gaming rig is moving up my priority list. About 3 years ago i built one and even today it plays battlefield 3 on ultra graphics. They are incredible investments
I know, it's an urge! My current one has lasted a good 8 years with the odd improvement, well worth it. But now is the time to drag it into the new decade :lol:


Nice one lambs, Aria are awesome as well, I've had them build my last two PC's and they will be building my third later this year.

I know its cheaper to build your own but for the price they charge and the professionalism of it (Immaculate cable management, OC and general build quality) its well worth the money. The store/warehouse is in Manchester, well worth visiting for anybody in the area.
Yeah cheers for the heads up mate, appreciated.

I don't think it's much cheaper at the moment to build those parts myself anyway, and the overclock is worth it for that little extra, so as long as it works out the box and the case is as good quality as it seems then I'm happy.
 

Redlambs

Creator of the Caftards comics
Joined
Aug 22, 2006
Messages
42,176
Location
Officially the best poker player on RAWK.
So I started building the new machine yesterday, thing is I don't have a windows 7 disc and couldn't be arsed to back anything up and wipe the hdd so I chanced just sticking it straight in.

Yep A2 then A3 code (after switching the bios back to IDE mode). Pressumably it's the age old shit with windows not liking any new motherboards, so has anyone had any success fixing this? Last resort is chancing burning of a windows 7 disc and hoping it installs fine over the other because I really don't want the hassle of formatting and starting again.

@Phurry you ever come up with anything for it?
 

b82REZ

Full Member
Joined
Jun 27, 2011
Messages
9,350
Location
Manchester
My PC died.

Can't switch it on and I've exhausted all possibilities available to me. Looks like I'll have to pay for someone to look at it.
 

Redlambs

Creator of the Caftards comics
Joined
Aug 22, 2006
Messages
42,176
Location
Officially the best poker player on RAWK.
My PC died.

Can't switch it on and I've exhausted all possibilities available to me. Looks like I'll have to pay for someone to look at it.
You sure it's not the psu? What exactly happens?


any recommendations for laptop? budget £400
Laptops aren't my thing really. What's it for, general use?
 

b82REZ

Full Member
Joined
Jun 27, 2011
Messages
9,350
Location
Manchester
You sure it's not the psu? What exactly happens?




Laptops aren't my thing really. What's it for, general use?
Well for a few weeks I've had an issue with my screen intermittently cutting out. Then the other day I had left my PC on and when I came back it had turned itself off. When I tried to turn it back it wouldn't switch on.

I checked all the connections were secure. Tried removing RAM, gfx, hdd and blu ray drive but nothing happened. The LEDs still light on the mobo and gfx but I get no beeps whatsoever.

I dropped it off at a PC repair shop today. So hopefully they'll figure out what's wrong.

I'm hoping the PSU is gone because that'll be the cheapest thing to repair. I'm just hoping it didn't blow and fuse everything else.
 

b82REZ

Full Member
Joined
Jun 27, 2011
Messages
9,350
Location
Manchester
Good, did it take anything else out? If you haven't already, make sure you get a decent brand one. They are cheap anyway.
The guy who checked it out didn't mention anything.

I had a Coolermaster PSU but gone for 600w Corsair this time. Hopefully it'll arrive by Saturday. The shop that checked it tried to flog me some no name brand for £50 or £80 for a 500w Corsair. I paid £50 on Amazon.

Some shops really take the piss thinking they can rip people off. When I went back to collect they asked me if I'd pay for the "free" consultation because I'd opted to not pay them for parts and repairs. I told them to piss off and that I would have happily paid them £60 for a Corsair but such a massive markup for an inferior product was a joke. Plus they'd left the cables all over the place with my hdd just banging about inside the case.
 

Redlambs

Creator of the Caftards comics
Joined
Aug 22, 2006
Messages
42,176
Location
Officially the best poker player on RAWK.
The guy who checked it out didn't mention anything.

I had a Coolermaster PSU but gone for 600w Corsair this time. Hopefully it'll arrive by Saturday. The shop that checked it tried to flog me some no name brand for £50 or £80 for a 500w Corsair. I paid £50 on Amazon.

Some shops really take the piss thinking they can rip people off. When I went back to collect they asked me if I'd pay for the "free" consultation because I'd opted to not pay them for parts and repairs. I told them to piss off and that I would have happily paid them £60 for a Corsair but such a massive markup for an inferior product was a joke. Plus they'd left the cables all over the place with my hdd just banging about inside the case.
Yeah repair shops are terrible. But I'm glad it's just the psu!

I finally got my new parts set up, predictably I had to reinstall windows but lucky enough I didn't have to format my hdd.

I'm set well into the next gen after this one now :D
 

JTW95

Gullible sausage
Joined
Jun 21, 2013
Messages
9,110
I think I am going to take plunge and build a PC. It will be a first time for me so plenty of research (and saving) is in order.

Is it worth spending extra on Intels i7 CPU's or saving a little money and sticking to the i5?

Also what graphics cards would you recommend for the best gaming performance (ultra graphics, 60fps etc.) but hopefully for no more than £300-£400?
 

Cina

full member
Joined
Aug 10, 2007
Messages
50,911
I think I am going to take plunge and build a PC. It will be a first time for me so plenty of research (and saving) is in order.

Is it worth spending extra on Intels i7 CPU's or saving a little money and sticking to the i5?

Also what graphics cards would you recommend for the best gaming performance (ultra graphics, 60fps etc.) but hopefully for no more than £300-£400?
i5 is perfect for gaming.

I'd go with the r9 290. But they'll have new cards out at some point this year if you want to wait.
 

Redlambs

Creator of the Caftards comics
Joined
Aug 22, 2006
Messages
42,176
Location
Officially the best poker player on RAWK.
I think I am going to take plunge and build a PC. It will be a first time for me so plenty of research (and saving) is in order.

Is it worth spending extra on Intels i7 CPU's or saving a little money and sticking to the i5?

Also what graphics cards would you recommend for the best gaming performance (ultra graphics, 60fps etc.) but hopefully for no more than £300-£400?
I just went with an i7, but that's because the bundle was only £50 more than the i5 one, but realistically i5 is more than enough. If you get a k one, it can be overclocked down the line too.

Is 300-400 the budget for the card alone? You could spend as little as £80 on one that'll play recent new titles at 1080/60fps (the excellent r7 260x for example), so that sort of budget you really just want to look at high end nvidia.
 

JTW95

Gullible sausage
Joined
Jun 21, 2013
Messages
9,110
I just went with an i7, but that's because the bundle was only £50 more than the i5 one, but realistically i5 is more than enough. If you get a k one, it can be overclocked down the line too.

Is 300-400 the budget for the card alone? You could spend as little as £80 on one that'll play recent new titles at 1080/60fps (the excellent r7 260x for example), so that sort of budget you really just want to look at high end nvidia.
I do want a higher end graphics card. I am going to burn most of my money on that while trying the keep everything else as cheap as I can without sacrificing quality. I am thinking a Nvidia GTX 780 maybe. Could you recommend any good motherboards for less than £150? I am almost certain that I will go for a Intel Core-i5 4670k processor.
 

Redlambs

Creator of the Caftards comics
Joined
Aug 22, 2006
Messages
42,176
Location
Officially the best poker player on RAWK.
I do want a higher end graphics card. I am going to burn most of my money on that while trying the keep everything else as cheap as I can without sacrificing quality. I am thinking a Nvidia GTX 780 maybe. Could you recommend any good motherboards for less than £150? I am almost certain that I will go for a Intel Core-i5 4670k processor.
I'm running an msi z97 us plus which is great, especially for the overclock. Are you getting the cpu, board and memory from scratch? Because I highly recommend Aria's overclocked builds. You don't really save doing it yourself and they are very stable.
 

JTW95

Gullible sausage
Joined
Jun 21, 2013
Messages
9,110
I'm running an msi z97 us plus which is great, especially for the overclock. Are you getting the cpu, board and memory from scratch? Because I highly recommend Aria's overclocked builds. You don't really save doing it yourself and they are very stable.
I didn't know you could get them already built. It is good to know that. Especially with it being overclocked.

I think picking components is going to be harder than building the damn thing though. There are so many different products out there it is such a headf*ck.
 

Redlambs

Creator of the Caftards comics
Joined
Aug 22, 2006
Messages
42,176
Location
Officially the best poker player on RAWK.
I didn't know you could get them already built. It is good to know that. Especially with it being overclocked.

I think picking components is going to be harder than building the damn thing though. There are so many different products out there it is such a headf*ck.
Go to aria and look at the prebuilt bundles, and the overclock ones. I think they had an i5 4770k with the same motherboard as mine, a great cpu cooler and 8gb ram for about £340. It's prebuilt and overclocked, great deal. Mine was the i7 version for 400, though to be honest both are well overkill for this gen.

I also got one of their cases with the fans built in for about £30, I couldn't be happier with the service and performance of all the parts, and even with the OC switched on and a stress test, it's all well within temperature tolerances, so I'm set for well into the future.
 

backofthenet

Correctly predicted France to win World Cup 2018
Joined
Oct 15, 2009
Messages
4,534
Location
He's not the messiah... he's a very naughty boy
I'm going to build a PC. Eeek.
I've always enjoyed doing it. That first time that it posts and everything fires up as it should is a lovely moment. It does depend on whether your'e going to go the whole hog and over-clock or whatever. If its your first time, definitely stick to a vanilla build, do your research on your components, and have a look at all of the guides that are out there. Will make life a lot easier.

That said, if you get a dodgy component, or a loose connection or whatever, it can be painful!
 

AngeloHenriquez

Full Member
Joined
Dec 23, 2009
Messages
13,403
Location
Location Location
Supports
Stevenage
I've always enjoyed doing it. That first time that it posts and everything fires up as it should is a lovely moment. It does depend on whether your'e going to go the whole hog and over-clock or whatever. If its your first time, definitely stick to a vanilla build, do your research on your components, and have a look at all of the guides that are out there. Will make life a lot easier.

That said, if you get a dodgy component, or a loose connection or whatever, it can be painful!
I would say most who think they want to build one, don't in reality.
 

Nickosaur

Full Member
Joined
Mar 9, 2011
Messages
11,875
I've always enjoyed doing it. That first time that it posts and everything fires up as it should is a lovely moment. It does depend on whether your'e going to go the whole hog and over-clock or whatever. If its your first time, definitely stick to a vanilla build, do your research on your components, and have a look at all of the guides that are out there. Will make life a lot easier.

That said, if you get a dodgy component, or a loose connection or whatever, it can be painful!
Yeah I think over-clocking might be a bit of a stretch for my first build. I've already had a look through a number of guides, there's some pretty good stuff on reddit. Putting in the research over the next month or two then may start deciding and ordering parts and hopefully have it up and running by Christmas.

How many have you built out of interest?
 

Nickosaur

Full Member
Joined
Mar 9, 2011
Messages
11,875
Out of interest, for what purpose did you look into this?
Look into..? Building a PC?

I haven't owned a PC in a while, I've had Apple laptops for the last five / six years. I like the idea of putting together my own PC, a friend of mine did it a few years back but I was far too busy at uni to look into it any further. Choosing between different components, customising it to your personal needs/preferences and the feeling of actually creating something pretty powerful that is better value than you could buy at retail all sounds pretty cool. I've recently got a job in IT and I figured it would be a pretty good side project to get stuck into.
 

AngeloHenriquez

Full Member
Joined
Dec 23, 2009
Messages
13,403
Location
Location Location
Supports
Stevenage
Look into..? Building a PC?

I haven't owned a PC in a while, I've had Apple laptops for the last five / six years. I like the idea of putting together my own PC, a friend of mine did it a few years back but I was far too busy at uni to look into it any further. Choosing between different components, customising it to your personal needs/preferences and the feeling of actually creating something pretty powerful that is better value than you could buy at retail all sounds pretty cool. I've recently got a job in IT and I figured it would be a pretty good side project to get stuck into.
Ah okay, sorry but I actually meant about overclocking..
 

backofthenet

Correctly predicted France to win World Cup 2018
Joined
Oct 15, 2009
Messages
4,534
Location
He's not the messiah... he's a very naughty boy
Yeah I think over-clocking might be a bit of a stretch for my first build. I've already had a look through a number of guides, there's some pretty good stuff on reddit. Putting in the research over the next month or two then may start deciding and ordering parts and hopefully have it up and running by Christmas.

How many have you built out of interest?
5 I think over the years... but I've typically upgraded each once or twice before replacing the back-bone of mobo and processor... and even then some components may well have been carried over into the next build. So I'd carry one or more hard drives from the previous build into the new one.. but they would be data drives rather than system drive.

Most have been pretty clean but the last one I did I had a very very fiddly cpu fan that wouldn't register that it was properly seated, meaning that the cpu wouldn't fire up. Like I said, it can be a pain, especially if you don't do your research. The biggest pain that I had with the current build is that I had to take a hacksaw to the case as the previous graphics card was too big to comfortably fit! It all worked fine in the end... it was just a pain that I could have avoided.
 

AngeloHenriquez

Full Member
Joined
Dec 23, 2009
Messages
13,403
Location
Location Location
Supports
Stevenage

girish

I too love women...for their shoes.
Joined
Jul 23, 2004
Messages
14,476
Location
Kerala,India
I recently upgraded from core 2 Duo to i5. But my system restarts right after I shuts it down and it seems to be a motherboard grounding issue. It was an old cabinet. Should I get a new one?
 

Cina

full member
Joined
Aug 10, 2007
Messages
50,911
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/G3420-Dua...t=UK_Computing_DesktopPCs&hash=item2ed1d7f3f6

Can someone let me know what that is like in reference to being able to play the latest PC games such as Rome II, FM15 etc...

Good ram, good processor, good motherboard and memory, probably cheap power supply, but ii can replace when it goes, I don't need a screen, so it's just the GFX card I'm unsure about..
It's an integrated graphics card, so not great. It'll run FM15 probably, but not much else.

Calling that a '4k gaming PC' is farcical from their perspective, really.

What's your budget?
 

AngeloHenriquez

Full Member
Joined
Dec 23, 2009
Messages
13,403
Location
Location Location
Supports
Stevenage
It's an integrated graphics card, so not great. It'll run FM15 probably, but not much else.

Calling that a '4k gaming PC' is farcical from their perspective, really.

What's your budget?
Haven't so much a budget, just thought it was a very good price for what it was...

Ideally though would like to spend around £300 as it's not for me :lol:
 

Cina

full member
Joined
Aug 10, 2007
Messages
50,911
Haven't so much a budget, just thought it was a very good price for what it was...

Ideally though would like to spend around £300 as it's not for me :lol:
Cheapest and best way to go is to build it yourself, really. Would you do that?

£300 isn't bad, more than enough to get you a decent rig.
 

AngeloHenriquez

Full Member
Joined
Dec 23, 2009
Messages
13,403
Location
Location Location
Supports
Stevenage
Cheapest and best way to go is to build it yourself, really. Would you do that?

£300 isn't bad, more than enough to get you a decent rig.
Building a PC isn't ridiculous I suppose, I've done it before and to put the basic bits together it's quiet easy from what I remember, so that's not a problem, guide me o'l wise one