So having used cyberpowersystems.co.uk twice for my 'gaming' PCs, and having been severely disappointed twice, I'm finally going past the dumb caution of not wanting to build my own machine because I don't know how and throwing budgets out the window now I have a steady job.

So I just wanted to list the parts I plan on purchasing to put together and wanted to get some opinions from you guys.

I've worked it out to be cheapest at around £850.

Motherboard
MSI Z87-MPOWER-MAX

CPU
Intel Core i5 4670 Quad Core

RAM
8GB

GPU
MSI NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Lightning Edition

PSU
Corsair Builder Series 750W

I also plan on getting a pair of Dell UltraSharp U2414H 23.8 inch monitors after I've got the components.

I have the tower and RAM already and possibly a good enough motherboard but it's currently being repaired from water damage so I can't remember what it was.

I may need to invest in a new tower anyway considering the insane size of the Lightning Edition.

Anyway, some feedback from you guys more in the know of computer components would be much appreciated. I'll be buying it piece by piece too so if any of you have any experience doing that and what I might need to be aware of that'd be cool.

At 2/26/14 10:49 AM, Snuff wrote: I've worked it out to be cheapest at around £850.

That's a lot of clams in America!

RAM
8GB

I'm not much good on Intel builds, but what kind of memory? Sounds like it could be a potential choke-point for overall speed.. depends on the MB, mainly.

GPU
MSI NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Lightning Edition

I guess this is where the most clams go.... how many GB of memory?

I also plan on getting a pair of Dell UltraSharp U2414H 23.8 inch monitors after I've got the components.

Have an application in mind? I figure I only look out one window at a time, so...

I have the tower and RAM already and possibly a good enough motherboard but it's currently being repaired from water damage so I can't remember what it was.

My condolences on the awful floods in the UK recently. I wonder what can be done to save a soggy MB?

I may need to invest in a new tower anyway considering the insane size of the Lightning Edition.

Time to bust out the ruler!

At 2/27/14 03:31 AM, VicariousE wrote:

That's a lot of clams in America!

Lot of clams in the UK too buddy

I'm not much good on Intel builds, but what kind of memory? Sounds like it could be a potential choke-point for overall speed.. depends on the MB, mainly.

It's DDR3 if that's what you're referring to. It isn't particularly high end as far as I can tell but it's served me well so far.

I guess this is where the most clams go.... how many GB of memory?

It's 3GB iirc. And costs about £400 give or take.

Have an application in mind? I figure I only look out one window at a time, so...

Nah man I just can't live without dual monitors.

My condolences on the awful floods in the UK recently. I wonder what can be done to save a soggy MB?

Oh no it was my girlfriend spilling a glass of water on it. The floods weren't so bad that they invaded my PC don't worry.

Thanks for your help though man

Hey, guys. I have an upcoming birthday which means I'll have some spare cash.

I had the idea of building a dedicated desktop computer for music production. Obviously this means my priorities are processing speed, a good sound card, and to a lesser extent RAM. I have a basic knowledge of computers but nothing too in-depth in terms of hardware.

Could I get a ballpark figure of how much this is likely to cost? And if you can help me out in any other way, that would be great.

hey guys I am starting to save money up for my Rig, I'll be saving 500 a month till I have enough to afford it. after that I plan on building a server with a standard 19' 45 Unit rack. I plan on using 4U units (because they have additional fans for cooling). my loadout for the server will be Intel Xenon processors. after I buy the frame rack each unit will cost 1300 I am planning on building 8 units.

thoughts?

At 3/18/14 03:48 PM, Tony-DarkGrave wrote: hey guys I am starting to save money up for my Rig, I'll be saving 500 a month till I have enough to afford it. after that I plan on building a server with a standard 19' 45 Unit rack. I plan on using 4U units (because they have additional fans for cooling). my loadout for the server will be Intel Xenon processors. after I buy the frame rack each unit will cost 1300 I am planning on building 8 units.

thoughts?

Isn't that a little insane? You planning on creating a darknet version of NG? A buddy of mine had a 4U rack, should've given him a few bucks for it... as he's a scrapper.

At 3/10/14 08:27 PM, Conal wrote: After much consideration; I have decided that I'm going to get the Asus Mars 760 as the graphics card for my upcoming build.

The manufacture said it's 20% cooler than the other 760.

Get it? :3 Hurhruheruehru

Good luck with that.

At 4/14/14 09:33 AM, VicariousE wrote: Isn't that a little insane? You planning on creating a darknet version of NG? A buddy of mine had a 4U rack, should've given him a few bucks for it... as he's a scrapper.

MAAYBE. I also had to put in consideration of PU and the Swtichboard, I have to go down to 6 4U units. but yeah I plan on doing this right after I make my Workstation rig.

At 4/14/14 02:39 PM, Elitistinen wrote: What do you intend the server rack for? Home business? Small web service? You can build a solid and cheap rack's frame for less than $200. The rest is easy shopping. Building and getting server racks is easier than you thought.

If you're not intended for something big, why not shop for tower servers?

Small Web Service, personal use for IT purposes. I would like to have of power to spare.

I've just began buying parts for my first ever build, geared towards music production.

I've ordered an AMD A10-6800K processor, MSI A78XM-E45 motherboard, and Fractal Design Core 1000 case. Tomorrow I'm getting a (new) Western Digital 2TB hard drive for only €60 off some guy.

I have most of the rest of it planned out, I just need the money now. Making pizzas is so boring...

At 5/1/14 05:47 PM, Conal wrote: Hey, fuckers. What's new? I still don't have money for a single part that I need for the dream rig.

Me neither but that'll be because I just bought a new xbox or something.

At 5/1/14 05:47 PM, Conal wrote: Hey, fuckers. What's new? I still don't have money for a single part that I need for the dream rig.

I'm stashing 300 away every paycheck right now I'm at $600 if I had the money to put $500 a month I could get my dream setup pretty quickly but its gonna cost around $2600 (I am using quality parts and plan on Dual monitoring two 27' 1920X1080 monitors)

At 5/6/14 08:32 AM, Snuff wrote: Me neither but that'll be because I just bought a new xbox or something.

You should trade your Xbox in for computer parts. A good computer can outperform it.

Meh dream rig.

Cooler Master HAF X
ASUS GRYPHON Z87 LGA 1150 Intel Z87
ASUS DirectCU II 3GB 384-bit GDDR5
CORSAIR HX Series HX1050 1050W 80 PLUS GOLD Certified
Intel Core i7-4770K Haswell 3.5GHz LGA 1150 84W Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics
G.SKILL Trident X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) Desktop Memory Model
Seagate NAS HDD 2TB 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s Internal Hard Drive

and various Custom fans

Total cost: $2,000

At 10/18/14 09:29 AM, Conal wrote: What do you think of this buy list? It will be due for "Phase 1" build on the 6th of February, 2015.

Depends on what your needs/goals are. For anything but the most extreme gaming/computing, this would be way overkill (not that it isn't cool as hell).

At 5/1/14 05:47 PM, Conal wrote: Hey, fuckers. What's new? I still don't have money for a single part that I need for the dream rig.

Well, keep saving up and see what you can do.

Wow! I really am amazed that this thread kept going!

At 12/7/14 05:51 PM, Conal wrote: Also, I went with the GTX 980, for the three DisplayPort 1.2s and HDMI 2.0. This means it will work with a 1440p 144Hz monitor, 4k 60Hz monitor and 4k 60Hz TV, with room for one more DP1.2 peripheral, or I can use the DVI.

Certainly a future-proof rig! Hope you're getting the GTX 980 with 3 fans, it looks like a monster!

Needs rotation.
There's 2 arrow keys in Windows Picture Viewer that rotates the image, and saves it at the same time

VicariousE's New Computer: Box III

AMD FX-8370E Vishera 8-Core 3.3GHz (4.3GHz Turbo) CPU (Came with Thief, but it needs Steam to run)

Corsair Hydro Series H80i High Performance Water/Liquid CPU Cooler (Hope it fits)

Asus Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 Motherboard (What happened to R3.0?!)

EVGA SuperNOVA 850W 80 PLUS GOLD Modular Power Supply

EVGA GeForce GTX 760 2GB 256-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 SLI, 1152 Cuda Cores (Hope this fits too)

G.SKILL Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) Internal RAM

Samsung 840 EVO 2.5" 250GB SATA 6Gb/s SSD (with Far Cry 4 tossed in as a bonus)

Seagate 2TB 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s Internal Hard Drive

Pioneer BD-ROM 4 Layer SATA Blu-ray Burner

What it's going in: Ultra Case, Black, with stickers (circa 2007, also, the front door's broken)

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/kY6VCJ

Estimated Wattage: 384W
Cost: just under $1200 USD from Newegg.com Price, combo and rebate differences were so slight...

Most everything listed has great reviews. It's a bit pricer than I orginally wanted, but with Christmas so close, some of my lower end first picks were sold out. All the parts should've been here December 6th, however the tracking data is really scary, as I've counted 6 stops in 3 days! Maybe today... and intact :|

This will be my 3rd PC build in almost 20 years! I'm not happy with DRM and the new security stuff embedded in the HW and SW. I'm asking a friend to burn me a legit copy of Win7 (also a first in 20 years lol, since Win95b at least), and teach me about it on his laptop, as my current OS is WinXP on a 12 year old Dell laptop. I just don't wanna register with MS or get constant, incremental updates at all :| Updating HW and SW drivers is a careful business, which will hopefully go well, and in order.

I'll be back here soon, and let you all know how well the build goes. This is my Chirstmas present, to myself, as I'm leaving my home of 40 years on the 17th :( Still don't have a place to live, yet...

Hey guys. I've never built a computer but I'm interested in trying. My desktop is rapidly deteriorating and I'm looking to see what I can do as far as building a computer from scratch - the one I have is from 2007 and came as a set with absolutely abysmal specs (1GB of RAM, now upgraded to 3GB, an old 2006 graphics card that only accepts Windows XP drivers, a defunct version of Windows Vista that does not update properly, no PCI Express slots, and a modest dual-core processor.)

- - -

Anyway, my cousin was putting together a list of parts for a 'dream computer.' Basically what I want is something that can be the sum of these parts. He doesn't know how to build a computer either, so our main concerns are whether or not we have all of the parts needed to build a functional computer tower, and whether or not all of these parts are compatible with both the case and with each other. Beyond knowing more cores and more RAM are good for system performance, and that a newer graphics card is better than an old one, most of these specs mean absolutely nothing to me. If someone would be so kind as to take a look and answer my questions, that would be awesome.

Processor
http://www.amazon.com/AMD-Athlon-450-Processor-ADX450WFGMBOX/dp/B003YV64OI/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1386015311&sr=1-2&keywords=amd+athlon+ii
$71 (12/2/13)
Triple-core
3.2 GHz
AM3 Socket
1.5 MB Cache

EDIT: I'm actually interested in a quad-core processor. This is what was on the list, but I'm looking to swap out this part.

Motherboard
http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-SB710-Chipset-Motherboard-GA-78LMT-S2P/dp/B0054OWT0G/ref=pd_bxgy_e_text_y
$50 (12/2/13)
Compatible with AM3 CPU
2x DDR3 DIMM sockets for up to 8GB of RAM

RAM
http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-CT25664BA1339-240-PIN-PC3-10600-Memory/dp/B001NA25VS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386101211&sr=8-1&keywords=2gb+ddr3
$25 (12/3/13)
http://www.amazon.com/Kingston-1600MHz-Non-ECC-KHX1600C9D3B1-4G/dp/B0057Q4AGW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386101245&sr=8-1&keywords=4gb+ram
$35 (12/3/13)

Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136769&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-_-pla-_-Internal+Hard+Drives-_-N82E16822136769&gclid=CJ2dm7iwqrcCFcFDMgodTlMAYQ
$60 (11/3/13)
500GB
7200 RPM
16MB Cache
SATA 6.0Gb/s

Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150542
$70 + $3 Shipping (5/25/13)
480 Stream Processors
1GB 128-bit DDR3
PCI Express 2.1 x16

Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811156247&nm_mc=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r&cm_mmc=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r-_-Cases+(Computer+Cases+-+ATX+Form)-_-Raidmax-_-11156247
$44 (12/3/13)

Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817170010&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-_-pla-_-Power+Supplies-_-N82E16817170010&gclid=CO2EnaHyrLcCFcFAMgod91IAkg
$18 + $6 shipping (12/3/13)
ATX12V
100 - 240 V
50/60 Hz

Total: $382

- - -

Also, my sister is convinced that increasing hard drive space (eg. plugging in an external hard drive or USB drive) will increase system performance. What should I tell her?

At 12/14/14 01:01 AM, Kwing wrote: Anyway, my cousin was putting together a list of parts for a 'dream computer.

Hm, it's not bad from what I can tell. The mobo company will have a list of supported memory modules for that particular board... I'm kinda concerned about you using 2 different types of memory, there aren't any pairs sold that's within budget?

Also, my sister is convinced that increasing hard drive space (eg. plugging in an external hard drive or USB drive) will increase system performance. What should I tell her?

Kinda, depends on where her bottleneck is lol. If it's dying for onboard RAM, it should help a little by buffering to the HD, if so checked (usually, if it's not a removeable drive that is). She could label it for disk caching, but heaven forbid if she unplugs it while the computer is starving for memory... at least that's my theory.

At 1/2/15 02:36 AM, VicariousE wrote: Hm, it's not bad from what I can tell. The mobo company will have a list of supported memory modules for that particular board... I'm kinda concerned about you using 2 different types of memory, there aren't any pairs sold that's within budget?

Oh gosh, I really hadn't looked at this list for quite some time, but that is rather odd. I think it's likely I'll just get a single memory board for 8GB.

You mentioned the motherboard has specific memory modules that it supports - is this the only thing I have to worry about? It looks as if PCI Express slots and AM3 sockets are pretty much universal. Does that mean I can just pick and choose what I want?

At 1/3/15 04:43 PM, Kwing wrote: You mentioned the motherboard has specific memory modules that it supports - is this the only thing I have to worry about? It looks as if PCI Express slots and AM3 sockets are pretty much universal. Does that mean I can just pick and choose what I want?

If you're serious about building this, get a PDF of the mobo's owner's manual. In every one I've seen, there's a list of supported memory modules. The mobo makers can't program code for every memory chip ever made, though this can be done by manually matching the RAM's timing in the mobo's BIOS setup (press Delete or F2 as soon as you turn your computer on)... if the mobo can't fathom the memory, it'll either not turn on, or warn you in the BIOS, then you can manually enter in the proper timing, though some cheaper mobos don't have a timing range (and voltage) suitable for some chips. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAS_latency

Yo guys I need some help with mah rig.

I'm gonna get a 144Hz monitor with this beast (tempted to get the R9 290 but it seems like a huge waste of money since I don't buy THAT many games but I do play competitive)... To that end I'm thinking on OC'ing the GPU.

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/ArmouredGRIFFON/saved/TNGH99

CEX RAM bundle is just SSD/HDD stuff and 8Gb used 1600 speed RAM.

<3

At 2/4/09 12:46 AM, PolishMatt wrote:

At 2/3/09 11:54 PM, Rig wrote: I have a 500GB external, yes. I'm getting a terabyte drive or two when I can afford it ;P

They're 94.99$, I don't think it could be any more cheaper/beautiful. You get 9.48GB for every buck, meaning that the cost of an average McDonalds meal could get you at least 50GB of storage.

:You can have this edge boost pro ssd slate drive which cost $169.99 which is quality for money. (Also equivalent to a Macdonald meal for two :)

Is the Core i7 4790K worth getting for games?

I'm thinking about upgrading my 6+ year old Core 2 unit to something that can max-out some of the newer, more demanding games.

And while Broadwell and Skylake desktop CPUs are just on the horizon, I doubt the initial releases will be the high-end enough to outperform the 4790K.

Edit:

The CPU currently retails for around $400 CDN, but was $350 CDN during Boxing Week.

At 1/21/15 06:47 PM, Painbringer wrote: Is the Core i7 4790K worth getting for games?

I've read of more than a few who think it's the cat's ass, I guess it depends on the game's programming.

The CPU currently retails for around $400 CDN, but was $350 CDN during Boxing Week.

Not cheap, and you wouldn't want to skimp on a cheap mobo either... Also a consideration: how much to operate. I've got a newish AMD 8 core that can run 4.3 GHz at just under 100 watts in turbo mode. I could ramp it up to 4.5 or 4.6, but beyond that, it would be a complete waste of electricity, for what I would gain in speed... not that I've needed it O_O no game I've played yet has gone over 50% of CPU usage... it's the GPU/videocard that does the heavy n' fast math for games; the CPU runs the program, so if there's good AI (background movement, bots) at work, the CPU will likely get a workout

So just yesterday I bought myself a Core i7 4790K CPU, an MSI Z97 U3 PLUS motherboard, and 2 x 8 GB (16 GB) of Kingston HyperX FURY DDR3 memory in blue.

I pre-assembled the parts today and will be upgrading my old comp shortly.

At 4/2/15 03:28 PM, Lich wrote: CPU: Xeon E5-1650V3

Wow man, very impressive build and application, congratulations! How much was the CPU? Seems somewhat comparable to my AMD FX-8370E, well, only on the idle speed anyway. Any pics? Must have a full AT tower, eh?

At 3/31/15 07:08 PM, Painbringer wrote: So just yesterday I bought myself a Core i7 4790K CPU, an MSI Z97 U3 PLUS motherboard, and 2 x 8 GB (16 GB) of Kingston HyperX FURY DDR3 memory in blue.

I've read about one or two instances where that CPU bugged out a game, but then again, I've had a similar problem with my AMD chip in Mass Effect, had to kill lighting effects via ~console in two spots. But damn, if that isn't a good CPU

I pre-assembled the parts today and will be upgrading my old comp shortly.

Hope it went well. Awful lot of memory, you keep that many tabs open lol?
Dunno why I mention it, but I'm shocked to learn I could (on paper) run GTA V either at 60fps or 4k using a GTX 760

Fuck, I came here to ask something. I've got a case with a hole and removable cowl in the side, to vent the CPU heat. But I gots no fan, it's liquid cooled by two fans inside the case. Do I plug up the hole? I can switch the front case fan to wither blow out or suck in... just wondering what might work best. Gets really hot just above video card, near the back edge of the MB and case, bad spot, right below the radiator.

At 4/17/15 06:42 AM, Lich wrote: The Xeon E5-1650V3 cost me about £500 on it's own (maybe a tinsy bit higher like £503 or so). It's pretty much the Workstation equivalent of a wrecking ball, the tasks I've been able to pull off with it and the audio projects ran with it are insane hahaha.

DDR4 couldn't have been cheap either! Registered EEC? Witchcraft!
You happy with the ASRock mobo, everything's running cool?

Think of the E5-1650V3 as an i7-5930K with ECC REG support for Workstation/Server grade RAM and a few other nifty protocols which lets me work in an extremely stable environment. It benchmarks for around the same as the 5930K as well while costing a little bit more but mentioned ECC REG support and protocols make up for it for my uses.

Like shit through a goose, I'm sure! I've got the 250gb Samsung EVO HD, amazing transfer speeds... after 15 years, I finally have something that can handle video editing! My first choice (in the mid 90's) was an Amiga with Video Toaster loaded, but it was quite pricey.

I'm at work at the moment but I can PM you pics later.

Upload the pic of the litter here, dump and link the rest.

excuse the pun