The PC Building Thread

An SSD is a no-brainer really. It adds to the budget but the benefit of having one in your system is really worth it (e.g. having a PC that will boot up as quick as a console). Windows doesn't take much space so you'll still have enough room for some programs and the odd game. The 60-64gb models can be picked up for around £50 and prices are falling all the time. Just make sure you get a SATA III drive.

DVD drive - just make sure it has got a SATA connector. My old one didn't so I had to buy a new one.

Graphics card - I'd push the budget here personally rather than scrimp on a card that might give you the urge to upgrade again sooner than you'd like. As said earlier, Nvidia's GTX 560Ti or AMD's Radeon HD7850 would be the best "bang for your buck" cards. You could always look at an older 6850 for just over a £100 or pick up a second hand card (try AVF).

Case - there shouldn't be any compatibility issues as everything has to conform to the ATX standard. Just look for one with plenty of openings for air-flow, sufficient fan mounting options, enough drive bays, etc. I'd avoid a case with the PSU mount at the top for cooling issues and general stability.

PSU - I went for a 650W PSU. Anything more is probably overkill and you could probably quite happily use a 550W PSU. Always nice to have a bit of headroom though. Stick to the good brands like Corsair, OCZ, XFX.....bsmaff or Dags will be able to advise you better on this. Then you have a choice between modular or non-modular PSU. Modular is better for a tidier system (cables aren't hardwired into the PSU so you only use the ones you need) but is more expensive.

Oh, and the PSU isn't generally that noisy.
 
Jamezinho said:
Let us know what's on your shopping list before you buy. :))
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Great thanks, will do!

Software query: I'd like Windows 7, MS Office 2010 or above inc outlook, a newer version of Paintshop Pro or equivalent and also a program for newsgroups.

I have all of these now, and they were free.

Is it still possible to get them free this day and age?
 
kevano22 said:
Great thanks, will do!

Software query: I'd like Windows 7, MS Office 2010 or above inc outlook, a newer version of Paintshop Pro or equivalent and also a program for newsgroups.

I have all of these now, and they were free.

Is it still possible to get them free this day and age?
Click to expand...

Not sure about all that to be honest. I bought the OEM version of Windows 7 which was still £70.
 
Jamezinho said:
Not sure about all that to be honest. I bought the OEM version of Windows 7 which was still £70.
Click to expand...

OK cool.

I don't mind paying and Windows 8 looks interesting. I've seen something about a £14.99 upgrade with some Windows 7 offers lately, I'll research that.
 
I'd just use Open Office and save your money. Free and reads pretty much all Office files.

Which Windows do you want? I managed to get Ultimate half the price as it didn't come in the Micro Soft box from Play. If your upgrading from an older version, it won't cost as much I believe.
 
kevano22 said:
OK cool.

I don't mind paying and Windows 8 looks interesting. I've seen something about a £14.99 upgrade with some Windows 7 offers lately, I'll research that.
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As Jamez said make sure you post your system specs and build selection before you buy so certain components you purchased could maybe be changed.
The Windows 8 upgrade offer is only available to those who buy new machines otherwise I believe it is $49.99 to upgrade for regular people.

Windows 8 is a very weird one to get used to but def has its advantages as it boots and loads applications much faster than 7.
I will have to wait and see what they have done for the final release though when the company I work for gets the RTM in early August.
 
It's CPUI is unlocked - does this mean I can overclock it?

1) What advantage will I have doing this?

2) How easy is it?
 
kevano22 said:
It's CPUI is unlocked - does this mean I can overclock it?

1) What advantage will I have doing this?

2) How easy is it?
Click to expand...

Yes, if the CPU has the 'k' suffix it means it's unlocked and can be overclocked. Looking at the picture an aftermarket CPU cooler has been fitted so you should be good to go if you decide to overclock. You should be able to get 4.5Ghz out of it (possibly higher, or a more conservative clock if you prefer).

I've got the 2500k too but not overclocked it yet, but there are loads of overclocking guides for this CPU. It's basically a case of trying to find the minimum CPU core voltage for your desired overclock. Trial and error basically. Each chip is different so there won't be universal settings for an overclock.

It's not essential or anything. I haven't done mine yet but plan to soon. You'll get most benefit with programs which heavily use the CPU, which most games do not.
 
kevano22 said:
It's CPUI is unlocked - does this mean I can overclock it?

1) What advantage will I have doing this?

2) How easy is it?
Click to expand...

1. Just better performance, you can see it in benchmark, heavy-gaming, productivity such as render time etc.. sometimes overclocking jsut as a hobby :P

2. No experience yet with intel sandy bridge, got AMD phenom II x3 but overclocking is not that hard :)). You can always go to overclock.net loads of info/help there.. hell, i5-2500k is already damn fast :))
 
kevano22 said:
Cool, thanks all.

I won't bother then!
Click to expand...

Bear in mind that the i5 2500k has 'Turbo' mode which will bump the core speed up from 3.3GHz to 3.7GHz when required, so it kind of overclocks itself automatically to a small degree. It also downclocks to 1.6GHz when idling.

Like I said, I've had no need to OC my chip yet. When I do it will just be out of curiosity and because the chip 'can' do it.

Otherwise, the PC you've bought looks really good for the price. The only thing I'd do is pick up two case fans and fit them to the spaces on the front and top of the case. You could pick up a couple for a tenner. For instance, I stuck a couple of these in my system:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Xilence-Red...TJT8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1343039381&sr=8-2

...although the ones I've got are black.

Best to get some good airflow through the case.
 
Overcloking is very simple to do.
But would recommend when you receive your new machine before reformating it like you will do, turn it on and get a stable overclock then before installing Windows.

If you go into your BIOS the easiest way to overclock a CPU is just to use the OFFSET mode as this changes the voltage as to how much is needed to keep the system stable.

You should be able to get around 4.5GHZ with the 2500K without making too much heat, the Intel specifications stat that anything over 70c is damaging to the processor.

Here are pics taken with my phone so sorry for poor quality but shows my bios and running PRIME95, real temp and CPUZ with a stable overclock running at 4.5GHZ.







 
bsmaff said:
If you go into your BIOS the easiest way to overclock a CPU is just to use the OFFSET mode as this changes the voltage as to how much is needed to keep the system stable.

You should be able to get around 4.5GHZ with the 2500K without making too much heat, the Intel specifications stat that anything over 70c is damaging to the processor.

Here are pics taken with my phone so sorry for poor quality but shows my bios and running PRIME95, real temp and CPUZ with a stable overclock running at 4.5GHZ.
Click to expand...

Do you recommend using the offset mode or is it still best to manually adjust the voltage? I've read a few guides that say do the latter.

I ran Prime95 when I first got my PC to check my TIM and heatsink (@ stock) and I was hitting between 57-61c across the four cores. Should be ok for an OC you think?

How long do you run Prime95 for to check an overclock? Some say 24hrs, others 12hrs, some say 6hrs?
 
Jamezinho said:
Do you recommend using the offset mode or is it still best to manually adjust the voltage? I've read a few guides that say do the latter.

I ran Prime95 when I first got my PC to check my TIM and heatsink (@ stock) and I was hitting between 57-61c across the four cores. Should be ok for an OC you think?

How long do you run Prime95 for to check an overclock? Some say 24hrs, others 12hrs, some say 6hrs?
Click to expand...

I use offset mode as that is what most people used in the guides I was using and is much simpler to do than having to watch your computer blue screen every 5 minutes and having to clear the CMOS everytime it fails.

When using Prime95 I just leave it for 15 mins then I am satisfied it is 99% stable as I always find if it is unstable Prime crashes within the first 2 minutes. Then that night I will just leave it overnight.
 
Placebo said:
Everyone gets to ask one dumb question a day right? Here's mine! ;)

So I buy a new SSD http://www.kingston.com/us/ssd/vplus/#svp200s3 it says it has the following specs:

Sequential reads: SATA Rev. 3.0 - 535MB/s
Sequential writes2:SATA Rev. 3.0 -120GB – 480MB/s
Sustained Random 4k Read/Write2: 120GB – 20,000/44,000 IOPS
Max Random 4k Read/Write2: 120GB – 85,000/55,000 IOPS

I run AS SSD Benchmark and get this:

ssdtestamdsatadriver.png


My motherboard is an ASUS M5A97 motherboard which is Sata3 and I'm using Sata3 rated Sata cables to connect it to the motherboard


I think this was the result from when I was using the generic MS Sata driver on my old Sata2 motherboard:

ssdtestsata2mobomsdrive.png


So despite upgrading to a newer supposedly much faster motherboard the SSD speeds have actually pretty much gone down, and either way the speeds I'm getting are nothing like the supposed 535MB/s reads and 480MB/s writes advertised? Am I missing something obvious here and/or being dumb or is something not configured/working right in my system?
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Really shows what a POS the Kingston SSD is :( Just for the Vertex 4 today, put it into my PC, formatted it as standard with windows and even before updating the firmware these are the speed results:

oczvertex4sat2307201213.png


Now gonna register it and update the firmware, then I'll send a rather lengthy and in depth complaint to Kingston to see what they're going to do about it!
 
It is for these reasons why I always read reviews and benchmarks before I buy any PC component as on paper they all look the same but in reality, the OCZ ones are quicker than all the rest.
 
bsmaff said:
I use offset mode as that is what most people used in the guides I was using and is much simpler to do than having to watch your computer blue screen every 5 minutes and having to clear the CMOS everytime it fails.

When using Prime95 I just leave it for 15 mins then I am satisfied it is 99% stable as I always find if it is unstable Prime crashes within the first 2 minutes. Then that night I will just leave it overnight.
Click to expand...

Good advice, I'll have to look for some guides and give it a go.

@ Placebo - hope you get your SSD returned ok.
 
bsmaff said:
It is for these reasons why I always read reviews and benchmarks before I buy any PC component as on paper they all look the same but in reality, the OCZ ones are quicker than all the rest.
Click to expand...

I'm the same, and I read lots of reviews and such which is why I was under the impression that the Kingston whilst possibly slightly slower was a very reliable driver whereas the OCZ's had a really bad rep for errors/failures!
 
Placebo said:
I'm the same, and I read lots of reviews and such which is why I was under the impression that the Kingston whilst possibly slightly slower was a very reliable driver whereas the OCZ's had a really bad rep for errors/failures!
Click to expand...

The OCZ drives did have a pretty bad rep but that was just the Vertex 1&2 not many people had problems with the Vertex 3 and thats why I bought one at the time as it was top of every benchmark and now the Vertex 4 is even faster providing you have firmware 1.4 or above.
 
This one came with 1.4.1.3 and I've just updated it to 1.5, waiting to finish some stuff so I can reboot then start a windows clone, at least from one SSD to the other should be pretty quick!
 
Never runs that smooth does it! Updated the firmware and rebooted, should be 1.5 now but still showing the same revision of firmware! Grrrr
 
I had the same problem.

Update the firmware. You have to SHUTDOWN and not restart.

It took me 5 times before I read forums and worked it out.
 
Ahhhhhhhhhhhh! I see. I read some of that in the forums, also read that I should change back from the AMD driver to the standard MS one which I've done now, just doing a quick Crystal Diskmarks benchmark which is showing higher speeds from using the MS Driver, once that's finished I'll run the toolbox as admin, update the firmware, turn off the PC, wait at least one minute then turn it on again :)
 
Jamezinho said:
Bear in mind that the i5 2500k has 'Turbo' mode which will bump the core speed up from 3.3GHz to 3.7GHz when required, so it kind of overclocks itself automatically to a small degree. It also downclocks to 1.6GHz when idling.

Like I said, I've had no need to OC my chip yet. When I do it will just be out of curiosity and because the chip 'can' do it.

Otherwise, the PC you've bought looks really good for the price. The only thing I'd do is pick up two case fans and fit them to the spaces on the front and top of the case. You could pick up a couple for a tenner. For instance, I stuck a couple of these in my system:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Xilence-Red...TJT8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1343039381&sr=8-2

...although the ones I've got are black.

Best to get some good airflow through the case.
Click to expand...

Roger that, I have some Amazon vouchers I'll use up and pick some up, thanks.

I think I'll leave Overclocking for now.
 
bsmaff said:
Overcloking is very simple to do.
But would recommend when you receive your new machine before reformating it like you will do, turn it on and get a stable overclock then before installing Windows.

If you go into your BIOS the easiest way to overclock a CPU is just to use the OFFSET mode as this changes the voltage as to how much is needed to keep the system stable.

You should be able to get around 4.5GHZ with the 2500K without making too much heat, the Intel specifications stat that anything over 70c is damaging to the processor.

Here are pics taken with my phone so sorry for poor quality but shows my bios and running PRIME95, real temp and CPUZ with a stable overclock running at 4.5GHZ.







Click to expand...

All sounds great but probably unnecessary for me.

Maybe I'll try it one day...
 
Has anyone come across any good sites/tips for getting their RAM running at correct clock speeds? I have the Asus M5A97 motherboard and my RAM is 8GB G.Skill DDR3 1866MHz but by default it's only running at 1600MHz so need to do some tweaking to get it running at stock speed, not adverse to overclocking my whole system but want to test it all for stability before doing so :)
 
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