The PC Building Thread

Any game where it's feasible to use my Xbox controller, i'll use it.

Obviously playing an online fps such as Battlefield it's not feasible, or with games like Civilization/Sim City.
 
I must be the only one then who only prefers to use a keyboard and mouse for all games.

I have tried doing it on AC and Tomb Raider and it was just an absolute pain in the arse, but then it might be I have always gamed on a computer as such, had a Spectrum then Amiga then PC. I have owned pretty much every console but my preference has always been sort of computer based rather than console based.
But then when you use WASD and have so many keys you use in such close proximity, you never need to ever move your hand.

I guess it is all personal preference at the end of the day.
 
Scutch said:
I bought this GPU but it doesn't seem to include the free games? I thought they all did via Nvidia? No big deal but just curious.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_r=067NG2YZ29ACB8W56BD2
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I ordered the same GPU but from Scan.co.uk - I made an enquiry to find out how the free games bundle worked as I didn't know if I was meant to get codes by email to redeem through Steam or whatnot, and got this reply;

Good Afternoon,

The vouchers will be in with your delivery.

Kind Regards,
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So presumably that means they're just in the box with the GPU, so you should get them too. :)
 
Can I also just say thanks to everyone in this thread who has contributed. It is genuinely much appreciated and so much information has been gathered and taken on board.

Brilliant resource and always updated. I know I started this thread a while ago with the intention of building a PC. In a way I'm glad I didn't, as it would have needed upgrading by now and TBH I'm very happy that I've got such a good build right now and a 780 GPU to slot inside it.

Also Rob, your build spec pretty much led me to my own spec as it's almost identical now. Think the motherboard and PSU is perhaps a little different but other than that, very similar.

Top man.
 
Thanks Scutch - I'd also like to again say a big thank you to James and bsmaff who have been very helpful over the past few days and given a lot of valuable advice :TU:.

Most of my stuff has been dispatched now, hopefully by this time next week it will all be here! :)
 
Hope your builds go well. It's a pleasure to help in any way I can. Good to see more people getting into pc gaming.

Oh, and I bought my gpu from Scan and got scratch cards with download codes included in the package.
 
Scutch said:
I know I started this thread a while ago with the intention of building a PC. In a way I'm glad I didn't.
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The problem is there is never a good time to buy or not buy a PC, as PC always evolves unlike consoles, but now is as good a time as any because since the new consoles are so underpowered and using 2-3 year old PC tech you know by building a PC now it will at least last the console generation cycle.

This year your getting the new Nvidia graphics cards and monitors which contain the new G-Sync which will put an end to PC video-sync where your restricted to having to play games at 60FPS otherwise you get screen tear, also the new Nvidia cards are meant to blow everything available at present out the water(but at what cost).

Intel will obviously be releasing the new 'Broadwell' processors this year but will just be slightly improved over the current Haswell, as they use the same architecture. The next big one is next year when 'Skylake' is released and Intel are introducing a whole new crop of features and PC's will move on to DDR4.

The main thing to learn is to when to upgrade, as there becomes a time when components obviously become worthless, so you need to make sure that you sell your components and upgrade at the right time. I normally always upgrade my motherboard and processor every two years when there is a new processor architecture as this brings the best new feature set and worthwhile upgrade.
Graphics cards are a bit different as you will find if you constantly buy mid-range cards you will be upgrading every year, where if you buy a decent card it will probably last a year or two more than buying a mid range and will have a much higher re-sale value.
 
Scutch said:
Are you going Windows 7 or Windows 8 (8.1 now)?

Where are you getting it from?
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It is up to you which OS you are going to use, looking around both can be had for around the £50 mark.

Actually Windows 8 is a massive problem as you don't get COA anymore.
But Windows 7 I have a couple of codes, but you will have to get hold of OEM media.
 
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I think I'll go for Windows 8.1 - I do computer security with forensics at university and I can get product keys for Windows 7/8 Professional for free :) (well, 3 grand a year...).

One of the reasons to get Windows 8.1 would be that NVIDIA Shadowplay can be set to record up to your last 20 minutes of gameplay. Basically you have it on in the background and don't have to pre-empt your recording, if something cool happens you just hit the hotkey and up to your last 20 mins of gameplay (depending on where you set the slider) is saved to a 1080p 60fps video encoded in a compressed format so it doesn't chew up your hard drive space like Fraps.

On Windows 7, the limit is 10 minutes due to filesize restrictions for the format Shadowplay uses.

Windows 8 gets a lot of stick but I'll try to give it a fair shot and see if I can modify it to my liking... If not I will just use Windows 7.

@Scutch - Get 64-bit
 
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I can give you Windows 7 for free, but Windows 8 doesn't come with the COA stickers anymore.

@Scutch it doesn't matter which version you buy the code will activate on both 32 and 64 bit.
 
The thing about Shadowplay I said in my previous post is from outdated information, NVIDIA released an update about a month ago;

http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/articles/geforce-experience-1-8-released

It can now record the last 20 minutes of footage on Windows 7 and record indefinitely in manual mode split into several 4GB files, more or less bringing it in line with Windows 8.1.

The latest update also added Twitch streaming.
 
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Indeed, very expensive! :LOL:

The final day of the Steam sale has some cracking deals if you want to add to the damage, but you can pick up some high quality games very cheaply! Steam is a fantastic service.
 
If you buy lots of games the PC will pay for itself in a couple of years.

There is always massive bargains. Amazon US is always really good.
 
The only issue I have at the moment is where to put the keyboard and mouse when I'm on my sofa. Going into the ergonomics etc.

I don't mind having a wired mouse but would prefer a wireless keyboard. Just don't know what I could position them on.
 
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The only issue I have at the moment is where to put the keyboard and mouse when I'm on my sofa. Going into the ergonomics etc.

I don't mind having a wired mouse but would prefer a wireless keyboard. Just don't know what I could position them on.
 
* Intel Core i5 4670K Quad Core Retail CPU (Socket 1150, 3.40GHz, 6MB, Haswell, 84W)
* Asus Z87-PRO USB 3.0 Motherboard (4x DDR3, ATX, 2x PCI Express 3.0/2.0, Intel, Wi-Fi)
* Toshiba DT01ACA200 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 7200rpm 3.5 Inch Internal Hard Drive
* Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5 inch Basic SATA Solid State Drive
* EVGA Nvidia GeForce GTX780 Superclocked ACX Cooler 3GB GDDR5 Graphics Card
* 8GB (2x4GB) Corsair DDR3 Vengeance Jet Black Low Profile, PC3-12800 (1600)
* Fractal Design Define R4 Arctic White Midi Tower Soundproof Case
* 750W Corsair RM Series 80PLUS Gold Modular Power Supply
* Samsung DVDRW.
* XBox 360 Controller Wireless Receiver
* Razer Deathadder 2013 Mouse
* Windows 8.1
* Wireless Keyboard
 
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Yeah I sat and watched that top video there yesterday afternoon - I have built computers before but obviously a bit more apprehensive when it comes to doing it with my own stuff so I want to go in with as much confidence as possible.

I'll watch that one for the cooler later, thanks for the link.

My case, motherboard, GPU, RAM and PSU have arrived - the SSD, CPU and CPU cooler are all estimated to arrive on Monday from Amazon, but they haven't even dispatched the CPU yet despite me ordering on the 31st... I changed it to next day delivery a couple of days ago and now that it's Sunday, I doubt I will get it tomorrow...

Also awaiting the monitor from Pixmania but I have a UPS tracking number for that and that will arrive Monday.
 
I tried switching the system on and got a red light on the case then off like it had tripped.

So not sure what's gone wrong. I've taken it back apart and plugged the CPU and ATX from mobo into the PSU, no noise at all from the PSU, motherboard light is red so I pressed that and got 00 digital display (temp?) although the power light was still red and the CPU fan is working. Just won't boot.

Stumped.
 
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