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The PC Building Thread

It's pretty easy really, the CPU is probably the trickiest bit but nothing too difficult once taking a look at some tutorials.
 
Thanks ill think ill be going for the £700 machine, ill get someone else to build it for me though. Can I plug the PC into my tv with just a hdmi lead or is it more complicated than that?
 
Matt1234 said:
Thanks ill think ill be going for the £700 machine, ill get someone else to build it for me though. Can I plug the PC into my tv with just a hdmi lead or is it more complicated than that?
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Nope it really is as simple as that, then set up steam for Big Picture mode.

Also if you can stretch to £750 I would change the motherboard to the V-Pro version and then add a 64GB SSD and reduce the HD to a 500GB, that should come under £750.
 
My mother is looking for a new desktop, mainly for web surfing, managing photos and casual games so I'm wondering:

1) Where are the best places to buy PCs from online? She doesn't want to put it together herself and I'm away at uni so I'm after places where you can buy assembled PCs, not just the components.

2) All that's needed is an PC that's efficient and reliable for the aforementioned tasks, so does anyone have any suggestions for a cheap PC?

Thanks :)
 
Thanks Dags, seems like a good site - I'll have a bit of a nosey round :).

Jamezinho said:
Does she have to get a desktop because a laptop or tablet would make more sense for less intensive computing.

Sorry for stating the obvious but if I wasn't a gamer I wouldn't bother with a desktop PC.
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I did suggest a tablet and she already owns a laptop (same model as mine!) but finds those uncomfortable to use compared to a desktop with a properly adjusted and comfy chair (who doesn't love spinny chairs?) with the monitor at the correct eyeline etc.

The improved posture does make a notable difference, I find that when using a laptop or tablet on my lap, after prolonged use my neck and sometimes my back will ache. I'm a fairly active and healthy 20 year old and that issue is exacerbated with age. It usually results in her using the laptop on the dining room table, so if you're going to use a computer on a table then it may as well be a specialized desk.

The functionality of tablets is great, but I still think that if portability isn't an issue, then a well set up desktop station is the most efficient and comfortable form of computing for the home.
 
Can't argue with that. There's a lot to be said for using a desktop with a comfy office chair.

I'm (only!) 31 and my job gives me some back pain to start with. Using my tablet or laptop for even a short period can give me neck ache because of how I'm always looking down.
 
jonneymendoza said:
Managing snapshots or managing proper photography pic? If its the latter spend most on the monitor. Get a ips panel one as they produce the most accurate colours for your images
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Nah it's just for organising holiday photos - the monitor from the old PC will do just fine so it's just the computer itself I'm looking for.

The entry level PC on CCL looks like it's up to the task for £240;
http://www.cclonline.com/product/98...sktops/CCL-Alpha-Pioneer-II-PC/CCL-ALP-SBUD2/
 
bsmaff said:
Nope it really is as simple as that, then set up steam for Big Picture mode.

Also if you can stretch to £750 I would change the motherboard to the V-Pro version and then add a 64GB SSD and reduce the HD to a 500GB, that should come under £750.
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Ok thanks all ordered


Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivy Bridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail

500GB Seagate Barracuda ST500DM002 3.5" SATA III Hard Drive - HDD

60GB Intenso Premium 2.5" SATA 6GB/s (SATA-III) Solid State Drive

XFX Double D Radeon HD 7950 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card + 6 FREE GAMES

750W Corsair Builder Series 750CX 80PLUS Bronze Power Supply

8GB (2x4GB) Crucial Ballistix Sport 1600MHz CL9 DDR3 Dual Channel Kit

ARIAnet StealthX Black Midi Tower Gaming Case

LiteOn 24x Internal SATA DVD RW Drive [IHAS124-04]

ASUS P8Z77-V PRO Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) Motherboard

Come to roughly £800 hope it's worth it!
 
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I'm selling my gaming PC to get a laptop (baby due in a month or so, so have no room!).

Any help me price it up for sale please? Its really an awesome machine that runs everything I have at full whack.

I'm just so out of touch with PC stuff and it moves so quickly that I dont know how much its worth now. So if anyone can let me know what you would need to know to be able to price it, I'd appreciate it :)

I do know it has the following;

- Intel I5 2500 @ 3.3Ghz
- 8GB RAM
- 2 x Nvidia GTX560's in SLI formation
- Has an SSD, but not sure of the size till I can get on it - think its 128mb, with a 1TB HDD.
- Water cooled
- Corsair case
- Blu Ray Rewritable drive
- Licensed Windows 7.

Anything else that you'd need to know to price it?

Sure I paid near a grand for it last year.
 
pboreham said:
I'm selling my gaming PC to get a laptop (baby due in a month or so, so have no room!).

Any help me price it up for sale please? Its really an awesome machine that runs everything I have at full whack.

I'm just so out of touch with PC stuff and it moves so quickly that I dont know how much its worth now. So if anyone can let me know what you would need to know to be able to price it, I'd appreciate it :)

I do know it has the following;

- Intel I5 2500 @ 3.3Ghz
- 8GB RAM
- 2 x Nvidia GTX560's in SLI formation
- Has an SSD, but not sure of the size till I can get on it - think its 128mb, with a 1TB HDD.
- Water cooled
- Corsair case
- Blu Ray Rewritable drive
- Licensed Windows 7.

Anything else that you'd need to know to price it?

Sure I paid near a grand for it last year.
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Is still a really good spec.
You could get about £600 prob 2nd hand if you sell it too someone, if someone on here needs a new PC now, it would be a very ideal system for someone as would give amazing performance for games.

Just don't split it up, as if you do the components wont be worth a lot separately.
 
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pboreham said:
Cheers guys. I had a figure of £700 in my head, so not far off.

It is a great machine :(
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It is a great machine, but you got to think a lot of people are not that interested in buying 2nd hand PC's due to lack of warranty(absolutely none).

Sandybridge are now a generation old, and the new Haswell's are coming out in a couple of months so not many people will want the older Sandybridge tech.
Also the 560Ti is now nearly a 2 year old Mid-Range GPU, although in CF mode it is very close to a 680GTX, but the games have to be optimized for SLI which a lot of games aren't.

These are the reasons why it wouldn't seem that desirable to people.

But it is an excellent machine and anyone who gets it for £500 - £600 is getting themselves a bargain.
I am sure you could sell it on a forum like this to someone for £600, so next time someone on here is looking for a new machine, I would definitely recommend yours as it is better than the £800 spec machine I have put together on here.
 
Finished building the PC and installing software(windows 8 ect )

Downloaded arma 3 and every time I try to start it comes up with an error
"xapofx 4 dll is missing". Anybody know what that means?
 
Yeah there was quite a few files missing, all sorted now thanks a lot! Game looks amazing haven't really given it a proper go yet though.
 
Not really much of a PC "Building" post per se, but here's a useful site I used when setting up my laptop in terms of software.

http://ninite.com/
This is the most efficient way to install a bunch of essential programs quickly and easily, my choices are as follows; Chrome, Skype, foobar2000, MPC-HC (K-Lite), Spotify, Flash, .NET, Java, AIR, Picasa, MSE, Malwarebytes, Adobe Reader, µTorrent, Dropbox, Steam, Truecrypt, Revo, ImgBurn, Auslogics Defrag, 7-Zip, FileZilla and Notepad++.

You just tick the boxes for stuff you want, get an all-in-one installer and let it go, simple :).

Some more useful things;
Soluto - Keeps track of PC performance, crashes etc.
Dashlane - Easy to use password manager.
CCleaner - Gets rid of unnecessary crap on your PC.
f.lux - Seriously recommend this one. It changes the colour of your display to adapt to the time of day, after a few days you'll get used to it and it makes browsing in the early morning or late evening more comfortable.

Any alternatives/suggestions welcome :).
 
Selling my gaming pc today.

Guy wants it without operating system on. What's the best way to format c: without then installing windows?
 
I don't know if anybody has the time or inclination, but I am thinking of building a PC but I live in Israel and electronicy things are expensive, I found a site in Israel that does the different bits, but I haven't a clue if what they have is any good?

So I was wondering if somebody can have a quick look and see if they can get the bits together to build a decent one for around 3500 shekels (Around 600 pounds).

http://www.topmarket.co.il/

I want one that can play most games but I'm not too fussed on maximum settings, just as long as the games can be played well and look decent and I can update later when I have more money.

I will be buying bits over a few months as I cant splash the cash all in one go.

Israel is expensive, but if I get them sent to my family in UK and then sent over here it could be just as much in shipping costs.

Anyway, if anybody can be bothered it would be appreciated :DD
 
pboreham said:
Selling my gaming pc today.

Guy wants it without operating system on. What's the best way to format c: without then installing windows?
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I guess one way would be to simply put the hdd in an enclosure if you have one, connect to a laptop, format, put back in.

Alternative put in a windows install DVD, boot into the DVD, follow the install prompts until it asks you where to install windows, choose the existing hard drive and say you want to format, once the format is complete cancel the installation.

@Bobby just had a look and it seems 99% of the stuff is out of stock? Not a good start!
 
Placebo said:
@Bobby just had a look and it seems 99% of the stuff is out of stock? Not a good start!
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I had a look yesterday and they still had quite a few of each different bits available? (There was a small choice at least :)) )

It's so annoying here, I need to sit down properly and plan it. Looking yesterday the Ram looks to cost around 3 times as much here for starters.

I would get some stuff shipped, but over a certain amount I get taxed. So if I got things sent to a UK address then I will have to pay to get it posted to me in Israel. If I get all the bits posted individually then I may be able to avoid the taxes, but then there is more chance of them getting lost etc.

Maybe I can get a few things that don't cost that much here and then get the more expensive things sent to the UK and then pick them up when I am next there (The problem is I don't know when that will be?)

I miss living in the UK for things like this..........and the transport ;))
 
Well first thing I looked for is AMD motherboards as I'm an AMD man and they didn't have a single one in stock, then looked at Intel and they have about three! I picked an Intel mobo, I7 CPU and 8gb cheap Ram and that alone was nearly £600!

Do you still get taxed if say I send you two sticks of ram and mark it as a gift with a low value?
 
Placebo said:
Well first thing I looked for is AMD motherboards as I'm an AMD man and they didn't have a single one in stock, then looked at Intel and they have about three! I picked an Intel mobo, I7 CPU and 8gb cheap Ram and that alone was nearly £600!

Do you still get taxed if say I send you two sticks of ram and mark it as a gift with a low value?
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:LOL:

I need to check the amount up to you can get away without being taxed and see. (They changed it quite recently I think)

I tried it with a couple of other things marking them as gifts etc and they opened the things and I had to pay for them!

I think it is hit and miss though, if it is relatively inconspicuous then I could get away with it, I think they do random checks.

I will probably just have to try it and see.

Might be best to get the case, dvd drive, power and hard drive here and then get the the rest from the Uk and get my folks to send them over (Or collect them next time I am there).
 
pboreham said:
Selling my gaming pc today.

Guy wants it without operating system on. What's the best way to format c: without then installing windows?
Click to expand...

Get the low level formatting tool for you specific HD, usually an ISO. Then burn it and it will run through DOS, as the Windows tool doesn't format the drive just deletes the Boot Record so it thinks the drive is empty.
Low Level Format is the only way you will know the data is gone.
 
Placebo said:
I've used this place: http://www.worldwide-parcelservices.co.uk/ to send a box from the UK to Sweden, I just looked and you can send a 50cm x 50cm x 50cm 15kg box for £181 to Israel from Sweden, if it's filled with "personal effects" which just happen to include some PC parts would you get taxed?
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I just saw this post, sorry. It's hit and miss I think, they could check it, which will mean if the electrics come to over the equivalent of $200 (Something like this) then they can charge me extra etc

I am already paying the extra 180 pounds for the delivery as well.

I think it might be best to get the less expensive things here and then either get the expensive stuff shipped over once a month and say they are presents and worth nothing (Hope they don't get checked.). Or just get them all delivered to my folks and then just pick them up when I go over there and bring them back in my hand luggage.

It's going to take a while to get the bits anyway, so it might not be too bad.

Thanks for your help matey as usual :))
 
No worries, obviously I'm happy to help get bits off Ebay etc but post from here is crazy expensive, definitely be better from the UK I'd imagine, or maybe Germany, "DHL Deutsch post" tends to be really good, cheap, reliable and can handle big sizes, I've had life fishing worms and all sorts sent from Germany to Sweden :)
 
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