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When using this resource, please read FragKrag's opening post. The Tech Support forum regulars have helped create countless of desktop systems without any compensation. The least you can do is provide all of the information required for them to help you properly. |
On October 27 2011 03:27 Myrmidon wrote:Show nested quote +On October 27 2011 03:18 Hierarch wrote:On October 27 2011 02:57 Myrmidon wrote:From newegg, no great PSU deals now. Antec Neo Eco 520C - $55 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371030Power cord (if you really don't have one) - $5 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812270406Only a few motherboards come with an integrated Wi-Fi adapter, so you'll need to get one. There are PCI, PCI Express, and USB varieties. Unless you have an 802.11n router and need to transfer a lot of files between different devices on your home network and need that to be a little faster (the link between the adapter and router would then be the bottleneck; for most people, the link between your setup and your ISP is the bottleneck when communicating over the Internet), then a single antenna model is okay. I'd get this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833704045In general you don't want antennas stuck to the back of the case, where reception usually sucks. Use the USB extension and maybe prop the thing up or tape it somewhere higher off of the ground if necessary. So I just plug this into a USB port? It's basically an external wifi adapter? Also, do all these parts come with the proper wires? or do I need to be the cables? Yes it's external and plugs into USB. Most internal ones have antennas mounted to the expansion card bracket, which is undesirable unless maybe you plan to move the case all the time, and if it's on the desk. Only cables you need are (1) cables attached to PSU, that plug into motherboard + drives + graphics cards, (2) cable from PSU to wall, (3) cables attached to case, that plug into motherboard, (4) SATA cables for data between drives and motherboard. Drives generally do not come with SATA cables, but most motherboards come with two or more. So yes you have all you need.
Awesome, thanks again everyone who offered help. Gonna be ordering everything later today :D
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What is your budget?
The cheaper the better, but as rough guide £400-500 (I'm in UK). But obviously if I can get what I want for cheaper then that is preferred.
What is your resolution?
1280x1024. I've never had anything else so i don't think I would miss it, and it would make it cheaper. If however you'd recommend I go higher then I'm happy to listen.
What are you using it for?
Gaming is what it needs to be directed at. Obviously I will be browsing etc though. I'd like to be able to play sc2 but I really don't need it to be high settings. I am happy with low-med tbh. I do however need to be able to play Guild Wars 2 when it comes out but no specifications have been released for that. If I could play that on med-high then that would be good.
What is your upgrade cycle?
I think I would rather get it cheap now and then upgrade as I need to. So something which I can easily upgrade upon is best, I think.
When do you plan on building it?
At the moment this is quite speculative until I can see what I get for my money. If it works out well I might do it now or I might wait till the end of the year. So probably best to just do it for now.
Do you plan on overclocking?
No it unless it is highly recommended.
Do you need an Operating System?
No.
Do you plan to add a second GPU for SLI or Crossfire?
Don't think so unless, again, it is recommended. Since I don't want much, though, I think this is unnecessary.
Where are you buying your parts from?
Since this is speculative I don't mind too much if you provide links to newegg or whatever, but I am in UK. If you convert the prices that would be nice but again I don't mind, I just want to get an estimate of what I will get for my money.
That should be everything. I will also add that I don't know much about building computers so don't assume I know something, I probably won't.
Also one thing is I currently have 1TB external HD so thought it might be worthwhile get a small SSD instead of a big HDD. What do people think about this? Is it worth it etc?
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There's 3 different AsRocks and an MSI H61 motherboard under 50 euro on that site. I'm not sure the differences between them, but they should all work. I'm assuming you don't have an SSD that would need a 6gb/s SATA connection. Using their menu system PC Components -> Mainboards -> mATX -> 1155
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On October 27 2011 04:40 MisterFred wrote:
There's 3 different AsRocks and an MSI H61 motherboard under 50 euro on that site. I'm not sure the differences between them, but they should all work. I'm assuming you don't have an SSD that would need a 6gb/s SATA connection. Using their menu system PC Components -> Mainboards -> mATX -> 1155
http://www3.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?adp=0&aid=46914&agid=1603&apop=2
will that work with everything?
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Should work fine. The only thing I'd think to note is that it only has 2 ram slots, so if for some bizarre reason you were thinking of doing 4x2gb ram in the future, that wouldn't work.
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Just wanted to drop this in here. I've been looking and observing the prices of PC parts for a few months as I'm going to be upgrading completely soon. So I go to check out HD prices.. and drives that were £70 are now £140... obviously I'm a little confused, but with a quick google search I found this...
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/seagate-wd-hard-disk-drive-thailand-flood,13802.html
Basically, there has been major flooding in Thailand where the factories are (for WD at least) and their production is going to be hit so severely that they've doubled the prices. So yeah, if you were thinking of upgrading your drives, you might have missed a good time to do so lol. They're saying it could take 6months~ before they will be back to full production capacity.
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On October 27 2011 04:40 MisterFred wrote:
There's 3 different AsRocks and an MSI H61 motherboard under 50 euro on that site. I'm not sure the differences between them, but they should all work. I'm assuming you don't have an SSD that would need a 6gb/s SATA connection. Using their menu system PC Components -> Mainboards -> mATX -> 1155
Only differences between them is the video out. One is VGA, one is VGA + DVI, one is VGA + HDMI. Everything else is the same. The MSI one is good as well.
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P67 Pro3 SE seems not to allow for manual voltage configuration.
Z68 Pro3 user comments seem to indicate a lot of i5-2500ks running around 4.5 GHz, and a i7-2600k at 4.8 GHz supposedly stable. Well that's probably good enough for you then, so I'd go with that to be safe.
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Hey guys, with your help i made my first build a few months ago from help by skyR n Myrmidon. Right now im confused what to do.
I got the i5 2400, hd 5850, and the H61M-vs motherboard, the cheapest motherboard back then. Right now i bought a 7.1/24bit sound card but.... you guessed it.... this cheap motherboard has no expansion slot... only the graphics card slot..
So this is my situation, i was plannin on building a comp for my brother around amd cause it was going to be cheap. I got the
Asus M5A 78:-M LX motherboard on clearance for $28 few days ago.
So my question is, should i sell this amd motherboard to buy a new h61 motherboard and use the h61m-vs mobo for bro's build, or.. Buy a bulldozer for the am3 mobo, and give my h61m-vs and i5 2400 to my bro cause this asus mobo has a expansion slot.
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Hi,
Looking to potentially upgrade my PC for some BF3 (D3 too) action.
Here are my current specs;
AMD Athlon II X4 630 2.80GHz Processor
Gigabyte GA-MA785G-UD3H Mobo
CoolerMaster 650 PSU
GeForce GTX 260
2x 2GB Patriot RAM
30" Dell Main Display (2560x1600)
27" Dell Secondary (1920x1200)
Windows 7 Home Premium
According to canyourunit, it's the GPU letting me down. Can I simply replace the 260 with either a 550Ti or 560 (Much difference here?) and it will all run smoothly with my other components? Is this as easy as replacing physically then running installation CD? Does Windows have a problem with this?
Few other random questions;
Should I be disabling my secondary monitor to play intensive games? Does it make a difference?
Is the 550/560 not enough to run such a high resolution? Don't want to spend more than $150-200 AUD.. HERE is a link to the cheapest prices I have available.
Any other thoughts on my setup, much appreciated.
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On October 27 2011 11:42 HCmystic wrote:+ Show Spoiler +Hey guys, with your help i made my first build a few months ago from help by skyR n Myrmidon. Right now im confused what to do.
I got the i5 2400, hd 5850, and the H61M-vs motherboard, the cheapest motherboard back then. Right now i bought a 7.1/24bit sound card but.... you guessed it.... this cheap motherboard has no expansion slot... only the graphics card slot..
So this is my situation, i was plannin on building a comp for my brother around amd cause it was going to be cheap. I got the
Asus M5A 78:-M LX motherboard on clearance for $28 few days ago.
So my question is, should i sell this amd motherboard to buy a new h61 motherboard and use the h61m-vs mobo for bro's build, or.. Buy a bulldozer for the am3 mobo, and give my h61m-vs and i5 2400 to my bro cause this asus mobo has a expansion slot.
The decision is yours to make. Going from a core i5 2400 to a Bulldozer (even if it's overclocked) will be a downgrade. Buying a new H61 motherboard is going to be slightly more expensive. I wouldn't suggest getting a Bulldozer, I would stick with the second generation Phenom if you intend to use that motherboard.
On October 27 2011 11:52 siro) wrote:+ Show Spoiler +Hi, Looking to potentially upgrade my PC for some BF3 (D3 too) action. Here are my current specs; AMD Athlon II X4 630 2.80GHz Processor Gigabyte GA-MA785G-UD3H MoboCoolerMaster 650 PSUGeForce GTX 260 2x 2GB Patriot RAM 30" Dell Main Display (2560x1600) 27" Dell Secondary (1920x1200) Windows 7 Home Premium According to canyourunit, it's the GPU letting me down. Can I simply replace the 260 with either a 550Ti or 560 (Much difference here?) and it will all run smoothly with my other components? Is this as easy as replacing physically then running installation CD? Does Windows have a problem with this? Few other random questions; Should I be disabling my secondary monitor to play intensive games? Does it make a difference? Is the 550/560 not enough to run such a high resolution? Don't want to spend more than $150-200 AUD.. HERE is a link to the cheapest prices I have available. Any other thoughts on my setup, much appreciated.
It's going to be an improvement but I'm not sure what settings you're expecting to run at that resolution. You definitely won't be able to play most games on max settings smoothly with either card though.
Installing a graphics card is as easy as you said. Remove the old one, put in the new one and plug in the cables, install drivers from the provided CD or download from the website, and you're done.
Removing your second monitor won't make a difference since rendering the desktop isn't intensive at all.
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There exist PCI Express 1x sound cards that can handle 7.1. Or do you already have something in the bottom PCI Express 1x slot? There also exist external USB sound cards that can handle 7.1 and have all those outputs. Also there's more that can do 5.1 (honestly there's little motivation to get 7.1 over 5.1 in most cases).
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ughh, from the looks of it im better off getting a new mobo, and building the new rig around the h61m-vs mobo. Why like why i have to get the only motherboard without an expansion slot..
looking at benchmark, i5 2400 outshines phenom, so it'd be a waste to switch to amd it looks like
Edit: Yea aren't there alot of sound cards with 7.1 sound off 1 pci slot? The sound card i have is the diamond xtreme 7.1/24bit sound card
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That's $285... No real reason to get the 2GB variant over the 1GB variant or GTX 560 Ti unless you plan on doing a multi-GPU configuration sometime in the future for Eyefinity.
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I'm happy with one monitor thank you! I gotta get cracking on this new rig... need a paypal account :|
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EPT
