The PC Building Thread

m.schumacher said:
Update on my PC after doing the "I want to beat the shit out of my GPU" Like.... Everything went fine. Ran the test for 3 hours and the Temp got up to 65c max. Machine didnt switch off didnt reboot. This was at Full 1080P with full AA switched on. Must be Saints Row The Third then?
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o this one?

Try a ram test next. MemTest springs to mind. After do a IntelBurn Test to test your cpu. if all goes well then its a software issue for sure
 
I'm thinking about going for a Z77 mobo instead of the Z68.

The Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H is just over £80 on ebuyer and has the ASUS style user friendly BIOS. Probably not worth going for a Z68 when I can get a Z77 for only a few pounds more?
 
From what I understand after to speaking to ASUS, there has been some early on bugs with the z77 chipset. I also found out that and I quote "The ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 will support 3rd Generation Intel CPU (Ivy Bridge)" If that is the deal, then go with Z68 chipset...seems all the bugs have been worked out and is a solid chipset.

That was posted on a different forum.
 
Well, the original choice for me was between:

ASUS P8Z68-V LX
or
Gigabyte GA-Z68AP-D3

I'm building on a budget so I'm not looking to spend too much on a motherboard. Both are around the £75-85 mark but the Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H falls into this price bracket too.

So it's a case of tried and tested Z68 or newer but potentially problematic Z77?
 
bsmaff said:
Well not too sure what your budget is, but the only component I would never buy cheap is a motherboard.
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You would rather get a cheap psu over a cheap mobo? lol

rule number one.

DO NOT SKIMP ON THE PSU!!! that should be priority over EVERYTHING else
 
bsmaff said:
Well not too sure what your budget is, but the only component I would never buy cheap is a motherboard.
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The boards in question have good reviews as well as positive user experiences. At the end of the day I don't see the point in spending out on a board with features I don't need when I'm on a budget. I've put more funds towards a quality PSU and a better GPU than I originally intended.
 
jonneymendoza said:
You would rather get a cheap psu over a cheap mobo? lol

rule number one.

DO NOT SKIMP ON THE PSU!!! that should be priority over EVERYTHING else
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Well I would never skimp on a PSU but not really the most important part as all PSU's around the £50 mark are all the same Seasonic rebrands.
As long as it is Bronze standard and has enough AMPs on the 12v rail there really isn't much difference between the lot of them.

But I would never recommend an Ebuyer own brand 500 watt.

But I would also never buy a motherboard that is under £100 as they normally are built on cheap PCB's.

If I was building on a budget I also wouldn't be too bothered about buying 2nd hand components to help save money.
CPU and RAM I wouldn't buy 2nd hand as you never know whether the CPU has been overclocked correctly and with RAM 95% has never been installed using the correct anti static precautions.

But with GPU's you can save yourself a fortune and make sure you know your looking for the right chipset as not many people know the 5870 out performs a 560ti and yet can easily be bought on ebay for £100.
 
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What real advantage is there in spending more on a motherboard? Things like GPU's have obvious reasons to get better chipsets etc but what difference is there between any Z77 boards?

I'm guessing some might have more PCI-X slots or something, but for the average user, why would I buy a £300 board when a £75 board appears to do the same thing?
 
DagsJT said:
What real advantage is there in spending more on a motherboard? Things like GPU's have obvious reasons to get better chipsets etc but what difference is there between any Z77 boards?

I'm guessing some might have more PCI-X slots or something, but for the average user, why would I buy a £300 board when a £75 board appears to do the same thing?
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As stated they use much cheaper PCB's and general quality of components on the board are not the same.

The chipset will remain the same but more expensive and better quality components are used on more expensive boards.

I don't buy £300 motherboards anymore but would also never buy one under £100.
 
Each to their own. I'm building on a budget and it's a case of allocating funds to the components that will give me the biggest bang for my buck. Otherwise if I spend high-end money on all my components then the budget goes out of the window.

I went for the Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H in the end as I thought it made sense to go for a newer chipset when it's the same price as a Z68 board. Apparently it is very similar to the GA-Z68AP-D3 just with a few new features. It was also recommended in the £700 gaming PC build over at AVForums so that's good enough for me. :))

As for the rest....

Case - Bitfenix Shinobi
PSU - Corsair Enthusiast Series TX650M
CPU - i5 2500k
Cooler - Gelid Solutions Tranquillo Rev 2
GPU - Sapphire HD 7850 OC Edition 2GB
RAM - Corsair 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz Vengeance Low Profile
SSD - Crucial M4 64GB

Plus, Windows 7 64bit OEM, a cheap LiteOn DVD drive and a couple of Xilence fans for the case. Using existing Samsung HDD until prices return to normal.

Just waiting for all the bits to turn up.
 
Looking at the spec of your machine and the fact you decided to get a Z77 Ivybridge chipset.

Why did you choose the 2500k over the 3570K, when the prices are pretty identical and yet has obvious performance advantages.
 
bsmaff said:
Looking at the spec of your machine and the fact you decided to get a Z77 Ivybridge chipset.

Why did you choose the 2500k over the 3570K, when the prices are pretty identical and yet has obvious performance advantages.
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I'd read that the Ivy runs hotter than the Sandy, especially when overclocked. How true that is I don't know but I thought it safer to side with the tried and tested processor, especially when the advantages of the 3570k are of little consequence to me.

But then again I'm no expert.
 
Jamezinho said:
I built it yesterday!

Going to be installing Windows 7 this afternoon and all the other gubbins.

Copy of PES2012 on standby.:))
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Excellent :TU:

Now get on Steam, add Dazimus, and start saving for the Steam summer sale. Keep an eye on the AVF bargains thread too.
 
DagsJT said:
Excellent :TU:

Now get on Steam, add Dazimus, and start saving for the Steam summer sale. Keep an eye on the AVF bargains thread too.
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I've already got a username on Steam (Jamezinho81) so I'll see what bargains I can pick up so I have a few games to play.

Dazimus - was wondering what your AVF name was. Seen you post a few times in the PC gaming section. :))
 
added a few new parts, the ssd is such a huge difference, wow.

img_0113zsylk.jpg
 
Yep, I'd hate to go back to a mechanical main drive now.

Same memory as me too :)

Are you on Steam, OPM?
 
i am but i doubt i have any useful games to be honest :D what would be worth getting for online gaming? :)

at the moment the only 2 games i have installed are fifa via origin and diablo 3 :)
 
Yes, SSD's are amazing. My system boots up in about 20 seconds with the Crucial M4. I can get going quicker than my PS3 and 360. Prices seem to be falling like a stone now too. You can get 128gb drives for around £80-90. I think I'll hang on and see if the 256gb models come down to a decent price and then buy one to put my games on.
 
I will add to it as well SSD is the single best thing you can ever buy for your PC.
I bought a Vertez 3 about 3-4 months ago and the speed increase is incredible, unfortunetly I don't have any games on the SSD but I have all my applications and it is incredible to see Photoshop and Premier open in about 2 seconds, as well as booting the computer is usable as soon as the Windows screen is up rather than waiting another 20 seconds for everything to idle.

An SSD for steam might be a problem though as I currently have 751GB of Steam games installed on my computer, even though I should cut this down as prob not healthy having all my Steam games installed and I don't play a 10th of them.
 
bsmaff said:
I will add to it as well SSD is the single best thing you can ever buy for your PC.
I bought a Vertez 3 about 3-4 months ago and the speed increase is incredible, unfortunetly I don't have any games on the SSD but I have all my applications and it is incredible to see Photoshop and Premier open in about 2 seconds, as well as booting the computer is usable as soon as the Windows screen is up rather than waiting another 20 seconds for everything to idle.

An SSD for steam might be a problem though as I currently have 751GB of Steam games installed on my computer, even though I should cut this down as prob not healthy having all my Steam games installed and I don't play a 10th of them.
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I use Gamesave Manager's "Steam Mover" function to move some Steam games over to my SSD. Works a treat.
 
I would do that but don't really have much room on my SSD only a spare 30GB so don't really want to have the SSD completly full, as sometimes need extra space for video converting.

As the problem is with games these days they are prob around 10GB average, and FM is prob the only game which would use the SSD properly, as it is very processor intensive whilst everything else runs perfectly.
 
Do any of you guys run virtualisation software? I was thinking about trying out OS X so I could play with Final Cut and with Logic Pro. But I'm currently running a 6 year old machine (which was well specced for its time) with Windows XP.
 
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