Help Me Build My PC Catch-All

It's normal for Sandy and Ivy Bridge boards, especially from ASUS, to power up for a second, power down, and then power all the way up and stay up. If you're getting more than one brief poweroff, you've replaced the motherboard, and you've tested with the motherboard outside the case (to rule out short circuits), then something is probably wrong with the PSU.

I'm helping a friend build his first gaming PC. He already has a keyboard, mouse and monitor. What RAM would you guys recommend for this build?

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/lHM8

And does everything else look ok?

Citizen86 wrote:
complexmath wrote:

Swap drive maybe? Plus space for a few games you want to load extra fast. I think steam let's you specify an install location these days.

I don't think so, but there are programs you can use to change where games are stored after theyre installed.

It does for me. When I select to install a game I get a drop-down that lets me either install into the default location or create a new install location on drive C. I'm signed up for the Steam beta if that matters. I haven't seen this option until fairly recently.

My home desktop has been developing issues lately and I'm ready to switch to a solid state drive with Windows 7 for the operating system (coming from a mechanical HDD and XP).

Right now, I'm planning on just updating to a SSD for the operating system and keeping my current HDD for media storage with the same processor, memory, video card, and motherboard-- an Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 Conroe 1.86GHz processor, 2 GB of DDR3 memory, ATI Radeon HD 4600 video card, and an Asus P5P43TD motherboard.

I'm looking at the Crucial M4 128 GB SSD for around $110 and Windows 7 Home Premium for $100. It has a 6 GB/s SATA connection while my motherboard only supports 3 GB/s SATA. Am I being short-sighted for not taking this opportunity to upgrade the other primary components listed? FWIW, a rough estimate for new processor, memory, video card, and motherboard puts me at another $350ish.

I'm currently in a gaming lull (toddler in the house), so I'm not particularly concerned with running the latest and greatest games-- I haven't logged into Steam in about 2 years. I just want a computer that boots quickly and doesn't have that "need to reinstall Windows" feeling.

gtnissanfan wrote:

My home desktop has been developing issues lately and I'm ready to switch to a solid state drive with Windows 7 for the operating system (coming from a mechanical HDD and XP).

Right now, I'm planning on just updating to a SSD for the operating system and keeping my current HDD for media storage with the same processor, memory, video card, and motherboard-- an Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 Conroe 1.86GHz processor, 2 GB of DDR3 memory, ATI Radeon HD 4600 video card, and an Asus P5P43TD motherboard.

I'm looking at the Crucial M4 128 GB SSD for around $110 and Windows 7 Home Premium for $100. It has a 6 GB/s SATA connection while my motherboard only supports 3 GB/s SATA. Am I being short-sighted for not taking this opportunity to upgrade the other primary components listed? FWIW, a rough estimate for new processor, memory, video card, and motherboard puts me at another $350ish.

I'm currently in a gaming lull (toddler in the house), so I'm not particularly concerned with running the latest and greatest games-- I haven't logged into Steam in about 2 years. I just want a computer that boots quickly and doesn't have that "need to reinstall Windows" feeling.

Limited time deal here for a 256 gig model for only $10 more (after mail-in rebate).

What do you guys think of this RAM? I want to start picking out the parts for my new system, this came up as being on sale.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...

NathanialG wrote:

What do you guys think of this RAM? I want to start picking out the parts for my new system, this came up as being on sale.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...

Do you have any plans to overclock? If so, you might want to opt for something with 1600 MHz speed. I believe it was more of an issue with the first gen i5/i7. With overclocking sandy/ivybridge, it may not be as much of an issue. With the first gen i5/i7 that I have, you would have to downclock the memory to below 1333 MHz in order to get an overclock over 3.2 or so. With the current 3.8 GHz overclock I have to clock the memory at 1500 something MHz.

Anyways, you might want to check that really quick before ordering.

I am honestly too lazy to overclock, and I dont plan on doing it right away if I did. I would rather run the computer at stock speeds now and then overclock when it starts to fall behind.

NathanialG wrote:

I am honestly too lazy to overclock, and I dont plan on doing it right away if I did. I would rather run the computer at stock speeds now and then overclock when it starts to fall behind.

The 1333 MHz stuff you listed will be fine then. The memory performance difference between 1600 and 1333 MHz memory is negligible. Someone even mentioned overclocking it to 1600 MHz without issue in the reviews section on Newegg (not that you would want or need to do that).

tuffalobuffalo wrote:
NathanialG wrote:

I am honestly too lazy to overclock, and I dont plan on doing it right away if I did. I would rather run the computer at stock speeds now and then overclock when it starts to fall behind.

The 1333 MHz stuff you listed will be fine then. The memory performance difference between 1600 and 1333 MHz memory is negligible. Someone even mentioned overclocking it to 1600 MHz without issue in the reviews section on Newegg (not that you would want or need to do that).

Cool beans. Thanks!

To return briefly to the Win8 conversation...I installed Win 8 Pro yesterday after having used the consumer preview since building my new machine. I went with the Pro version because I'll actually use the Media Center, and Amazon had it on sale for $69, including a $30 Amazon credit--so it ended up the same price as the $40 digital version of regular Win 8. It went very smoothly, sticking all my stuff into a Windows.old file, and even keeping a lot of the files and settings I had before. I had to reinstall my programs and games, then copy over some save game files, and I was back in business.

I like the level of integration in Win 8; it's clearly a goal they've been reaching for over the last few years. I just had to sign in to my Live account, and it automatically populated the related apps on the start screen--contacts, email, calendar, and xbox live/smart glass. I like the ability to see all my xbox stuff, though I won't use my PC to control it, and I still don't understand why the console has to be turned on in order to see my profile. That just doesn't make sense when it could be pulled from the web just like everything else. I even like the interface, but I end up spending most of my time on the desktop, just like always. Signing out and powering down requires multiple steps now, which is kind of annoying.

Anyway, every game I own still runs great on it, and that of course is the most important function a PC can ever have.

conejote wrote:

To return briefly to the Win8 conversation...I installed Win 8 Pro yesterday after having used the consumer preview since building my new machine. I went with the Pro version because I'll actually use the Media Center, and Amazon had it on sale for $69, including a $30 Amazon credit--so it ended up the same price as the $40 digital version of regular Win 8. It went very smoothly, sticking all my stuff into a Windows.old file, and even keeping a lot of the files and settings I had before. I had to reinstall my programs and games, then copy over some save game files, and I was back in business.

I like the level of integration in Win 8; it's clearly a goal they've been reaching for over the last few years. I just had to sign in to my Live account, and it automatically populated the related apps on the start screen--contacts, email, calendar, and xbox live/smart glass. I like the ability to see all my xbox stuff, though I won't use my PC to control it, and I still don't understand why the console has to be turned on in order to see my profile. That just doesn't make sense when it could be pulled from the web just like everything else. I even like the interface, but I end up spending most of my time on the desktop, just like always. Signing out and powering down requires multiple steps now, which is kind of annoying.

Anyway, every game I own still runs great on it, and that of course is the most important function a PC can ever have.

do you have Bioshock 2/Fallout 3? Wondering if they run without problems, because when I ran the upgrade assistant it said these two games wouldn't work.

I don't...though Fallout New Vegas runs fine. I don't know what issue Fallout 3 would have that FNV wouldn't.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:
NathanialG wrote:

What do you guys think of this RAM? I want to start picking out the parts for my new system, this came up as being on sale.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...

Do you have any plans to overclock? If so, you might want to opt for something with 1600 MHz speed. I believe it was more of an issue with the first gen i5/i7. With overclocking sandy/ivybridge, it may not be as much of an issue. With the first gen i5/i7 that I have, you would have to downclock the memory to below 1333 MHz in order to get an overclock over 3.2 or so. With the current 3.8 GHz overclock I have to clock the memory at 1500 something MHz.

Anyways, you might want to check that really quick before ordering.

Went with this instead, they are 1600mhz and with the discount they were even less.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...

NathanialG wrote:

Went with this instead, they are 1600mhz and with the discount they were even less.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...

Nice!

complexmath wrote:

I'll look for it in the bios. But I'd expect that to be one or two cycles, not 10. I do have a power supply in my old case that I can hook to my new motherboard. I'll give that a try as well.

My old PSU didn't have the connectors to fully power the motherboard, so that experiment was a kind of failure. I RMAed the PSU (Silverstone 850w) and have the same problem with the new one. At this point I'm pretty sure the problem isn't just a bad capacitor on the motherboard or PSU, since I think it's unlikely I'd see the same behavior from two versions of each, both from good manufacturers. I have been reading about cold boot problems with z77 motherboards in general though, so I'm definitely not alone in this. Since the only real effect is a slow initial cold boot time I'm not going to worry about this too much right now though. I've updated the BIOS and will find some time to unplug everything and see if anything turns up with that approach. It's just slow going because I get one test per day before the system is warm and boots immediately.

So if you guys were to buy a 24" PC Monitor today..what would you get?

Dr.Ghastly wrote:

So if you guys were to buy a 24" PC Monitor today..what would you get?

I was going to go with a 24", but wound up getting a 27" Samsung S27B350H at Costco for $219 after a $50 instant rebate. Very happy with it so far, and I need to try out some games on it in 1080P.

Dr.Ghastly wrote:

So if you guys were to buy a 24" PC Monitor today..what would you get?

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/selector...

May not be perfectly suited to you, but should narrow down what you're looking for.

Dr.Ghastly wrote:

So if you guys were to buy a 24" PC Monitor today..what would you get?

I am going to be getting a 24" 120Hz monitor in the near future, probably one from BenQ.

Dell U2412M if your budget is around $300. 27" is just too big for me at my desk.

EriktheRed wrote:
Dr.Ghastly wrote:

So if you guys were to buy a 24" PC Monitor today..what would you get?

I am going to be getting a 24" 120Hz monitor in the near future, probably one from BenQ.

120hz LCD's are a great choice.. but be obviously mindful to pair them with appropriate VideoCard.. as well as make sure it has a DVI-D as most LCD's will not do 120hz over HDMI... Not sure if you can get current VideoCards to push 120hz over DisplayPort.. even though I do believe the spec more than supports it.

But the obvious point is 120hz @ 1080P requires more muscle than 60hz @ 1080P so make sure you are looking at current video cards reviews and seeing the card you have or are considering struggling to hit an average of 65fps at 1080P then its all but pointless to be getting a 120hz Monitor if you are hoping to game at 120fps

DanyBoy wrote:

I put in an order last night, this is what I ended up getting:
i5-3570k, unlocked version, 3.4 GHz
MSI Z77A-G45 atx motherboard
Xfx radeon HD 7870
16gb (2x8gb) 1600mhz ddr3 ram

Before taxes and shipping, it ran me ~$650.

Just reporting back on the above now that I've had it a week (The ram had to ship from China, so it took awhile to get all the parts together).

Everything is working smooth as butter. My boot time is much improved, 32 seconds to the log-in screen and maybe another 5 seconds to get chrome open. GW2 is running at a steady 75+ fps with everything on high. The initial load is still a bit long, but once I'm in game awhile, warping from zone to zone takes barely any time at all. I'm very satisfied with how things are running now.

The only tricky part was the lack of IDE ports on the motherboard, which meant I couldn't use my existing DVD drive. Anticipating this I prepared a thumb drive with Win7 ahead of time, but the ethernet port didn't work without the motherboard drivers (Provided on a disc), so I ended up tethering my phone to the USB in order to have temporary wifi just long enough to download the drivers from MSI's website.

So I take it no one is rushing to build a Windows 8 machine?

Jakobedlam wrote:

So I take it no one is rushing to build a Windows 8 machine?

I installed Win8 on my work/play laptop. Working well so far.

I think past Vista you don't have to build a PC 'for' your OS any more, and it seems the case with win8 you choose which one is your preference, especially as there's little exclusive on the desktop side (i.e. no one is demanding DX11.1 for the hot new games)

I'd say only if you're looking at a hackintosh or linux for some special requirement you would need to think much about compatibility.

Citizen86 wrote:
Jakobedlam wrote:

So I take it no one is rushing to build a Windows 8 machine?

I installed Win8 on my work/play laptop. Working well so far.

I have Windows 8 at work.. so far so good.

Is there going to be any kind of performance hit if I use Windows 7 home vs pro?

NathanialG wrote:

Is there going to be any kind of performance hit if I use Windows 7 home vs pro?

Nope.

NathanialG wrote:

Is there going to be any kind of performance hit if I use Windows 7 home vs pro?

Only thing that I think of off the top of my head is Home Premium limits you on the 64bit version to 16GB of RAM, where as Pro goes way up to 192GB.

But most people don't really go past 16GB anyway.