Official PC Build/ Gaming Build/ Troubleshooting Help Thread.

much obliged friends. ill try this stuuf and get back ye.
 
THANX!!
 

PSN: ZosoSnake

ok so i dled it but i need to open it with something and im afraid i have nothing thats supports it?
 
its says its a MIME type a thingamujuga

PSN: ZosoSnake

OK so I have a lot of money to spend And I want to build a nice shiny new sandy bridge system to replace my 3-year-old laptop; something that can basically destroy any game I throw at it. ATM I'm having to tweak settings a lot to get things to run smoothly at 1920x1200 and some games don't run at all (e.g. Mass Effect) because of my lousy CPU. Cost is not so much of an issue, but obviously I want to keep it down as much as possible whilst still getting maximum gaming performance.

Here's what I have so far:

Case:
Lian Li PC-8FIB Aluminium Midi Tower Case - Black
Motherboard:
MSI P67A-GD65 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard
Processor:
Intel Core i7-2600K 3.40GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor with FREE Lost Planet 2 PC Game - Retail
Cooling:
Corsair Hydro H50-1 High-Performance CPU Watercooler
Memory:
Corsair Dominator GT 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-16000C8 2000MHz Triple Channel Kit
Graphics Card:
Gainward GeForce GTX 580 1536MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
Hard Drive:
Crucial RealSSD C300 64GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive
Edit: Noticed that this is 2.5".... are there comparable 3.5" drives? Or adapters?
Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM
PSU:
Antec TruePower New Modular 650W Power Supply
Disk Drive:
Samsung SH-B123L/RSBP 12x BD-ROM / 16x DVD Writer Drive - Black (Retail)
Monitor:
LG W2363D 23" TRUE 120Hz 3D Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black
OS:
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit - OEM

Now all told this comes to about £1900, but I've not searched around for prices. So now some questions:
Is the SSD worth it or should I just get two of the 500GB WD drives in RAID 0 since they are dirt cheap?
Is the RAM worth the money or should I get cheaper/slower RAM possibly with more than 6GB?
Is water cooling beneficial for the 2600K (I read one review where it seemed it was not much more beneficial than air?) (but the water cooling system is not very expensive anyway)
What is the difference between different makes of graphics cards if any, is that a good choice?
Worth it to go for the 120hz/3D monitor? (It will be a slight step down in resolution for me and it is not tremendously cheap)
I will need a keyboard but I am happy with my G9 laser mouse and my logitech speakers, also need a network card but they are cheap.
I have compiled this list on the overclockers uk website, are they a good vendor? (Quick delivery times, good service etc.)
General criticisms/have I been an idiot and left something important out

In the past I have always bought pre-built systems and upgraded them, so when this stuff arrives I'll probably come back for help

Hey Thor, nice build you got, Sandy Bridge is dual channel only, so get yourself a dual channel set, I'm gonna get the G.Skill RipjawX ( http://www.newegg.com/Pro..._-20-231-430-_-Product ), they look pretty nice. In terms of benchs, anything over 1333 Mhz really is unnoticeable, I would go for lower timings first, look for CAS latency of 6 or 7.

I noticed you went for the i7, the only difference is hyperthreading, which is useless for games(if that is all you plan to do), just a heads up if you want to save $100, go for the i5 2500k.

Watercooling is nice for the price of the H50, but if you don't plan on overclocking very high, air will be just fine IMO, these are 32nm chips, they run cool.

As for the 2.5'' drive, if the case does not have a fitting for a 2.5'' drive you will need an adapter, its a simple 3.5'' drive housing that you stick the SSD into.

Yes, SSD's are worth it, I highly recommend either the Intels or OCZ Vertex, they outperform the rest when it comes to real world applications. I have the Intel 80gig G2 and it is night and day over a regular HDD.

Nice choice on monitor, I have the same one, once again, it is night and day over 60hz, everything is so smooth. I tried out the 3D vision kit and I refunded it, it's not worth it IMO, too many glitches with 3D technology atm and I don't think games are the best application for it, however, you can get the anaglyph glasses from Nvidia for $10 and try it out for yourself if you are unsure about ordering their $200 kit. Suffice it to say, 120hz 2d >>> 3d.

You might want to get a 800W PSU if you want to consider a 580 SLI down the road, if not then 650 W should be fine.

I have a Razer BLackwidow Ultimate Keyboard, that I highly recommend, it is mechanical and feels like a dream, however there are a lot of nice keyboards out there, a lot of people love logitechs with the LCDs.

Many thanks Letros, I changed the RAM to Corsair 8gb dual channel, timings are 8-8-8-24 which is good for the price. I got an adapter for the HDD and I got an OCZ Vertex in the end as it was on offer. Got a bigger PSU since £30 spent now is £100 saved later if I want to upgrade to SLI. I didn't go for the 3D vision kit; shame since I thought that 3D would work out of the box but I really want the monitor for the 120hz (playing quake will be a dream on that monitor).

Razer blackwidow keyboards were out of stock everywhere, so would have been a wait - I also saw a less than favourable review of that one so I went for a cheap logitech.

Few things I want to suggest. 

Instead of that Antec PSU, get a Corsair one. I also suggest getting an 800-900W PSU. The Corsair 850HX is one of the best and Corsair has an excellent warranty. 

Air cooler will do fine, you can save about $50 on the cooler and still get a 4.0GHz 24/7 OC  from that 2600K. 

Lian Lis are over priced and have less features. Get an Antec, Cooler Master or Silverstone case. They are much much nicer and have way more features than any Lian Li case while being reasonably priced and even great value mid towers like the CM 690 II Advanced will have everything you need for under $100. 

For RAM, like Letros said 1155 is dual channel memory. Tighter timings will be better than faster clocks. Corsair makes good memory ;)

For the GPU... most manufacturers will make the same GPU. The 580 right now has no aftermarket cooler variations on the market, so what you want to look for is warranty and customer service satisfaction. For that I would recommend MSI, eVGA, ASUS, or ZOTAC. They are great and I have had good experience with MSI tech support so I usually go for their cards. 

As for the keyboard... I will never go back to a keyboard without an LCD monitor again after having my G15. It is simply not worth the downgrade. So much useful information at the touch of a button, toggling between screens showing FPS, system usage meters, game info like BFBC2 game stats, music, clock, etc... I would take a regular keyboard with an LCD over a mechanical keyboard without an LCD. It is just too useful. What I'm hoping is for Logitech to refresh the G19 or make an upgraded on with mechanical AND an LCD. Oh yeah, and Logitech4Lyfe. Razer is way over priced with less features. But it's all opinion, Logitech has great customer service too. 

SEE THIS THREAD. 

I'm disagreeing with Toaster(rare event), Razer Blackwidow = best keyboard ever! LCD screens are for teh nubs It's no surprise it's out of stock since it's made of pure awesome.

Performance > features

http://benchmarkreviews.c...p;id=442&Itemid=65

http://www.teamliquid.net...ge.php?topic_id=158928

http://www.tomsguide.com/...zer,review-1594-6.html



And yes Thor get the monitor even without 3D, zero input lag with 120fps on quake, you will be fraggin' like a champ.

I have nothing against mechanical. I want one myself since I've heard nothing but good things about them. BUT the usefulness of the LCD outweighs the pros of a mechanical in my opinion. It's just so useful for so many things. But maybe because I haven't tried a mechanical keyboard for myself since they are VERY VERY hard to find in my country I wouldn't think an LCD is that important. My mind could change, I know the benefits of a mechanical but for now the LCD is much more appealing. 

It may also be that I'm a huge Logitech fanboy.... lol. 



Yes I agree with Letros on the monitor. I'd get a 120Hz monitor too, but not for 3D. **** 3D, I want 120FPS Vsynced to that puppy. 

I know I'm just messin, Keyboards and Mice are probably the most personal preferenced items you can get on a PC.

I was like ZOMG 3D when I ordered the kit, now I completely agree with that pic, at least I got my money back and put it towards the SB setup.

Hiya Guys - me again - i'v decided to considerably reduce my budget because i think iv been a bit ambitious. Im no hardcore gamer; and i wont be gaming in anything much over 1280x720. And cutting the budget means i can enjoy gaming sooner and then upgrade further along the road.

 Intel Core I5 2400 3.1ghz - £149

Msi P67a-c45 Intel P67 - £103.99

Msi Geforce GTX 460 Cyclone 1024mb - £169.99

Corsair XMS3 4Gb - £44.99

Corsair TX 650W ATX Sli Psu - £68.99

Pioneer 24x Dvd - £17.99

Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB SATA-II 64MB Cache - £44.99

Coolermaster RC-600 Gladiator Case -£52.07

£652.01

What does everybody think? My first upgrade will be to SLi the 460. But as it stands alone; i think it can cope with most things il throw at it.

Nice build, that will play games in 1920x1080 easily. 

The only thing I would change is the hard drive. Green drives are terribly slow for gaming and it'll take longer for games to load. Either get the Caviar Blue or Caviar Black. Black is the fastest and Blue is just a normal drive. 

I just got my tracking number....damn....the 570 is around 4 pounds?

Ship date 01/11/2011 23:25:01 Estimated delivery 01/13/2011

Service type GROUND Weight 3.90 LBS

Just added 1TB WD Caviar Black to my build, going to need it.   Am thinking about getting DC Universe on PC, 15 dollars a month isn't so bad.

Hello N4G from my new build!

Was really fun to put this together, hit a couple of snags but nothing that couldn't be overcome. Performance is really fantastic so far, and I haven't overclocked this bad boy yet!

thor


Hello N4G from my new build!

Was really fun to put this together, hit a couple of snags but nothing that couldn't be overcome. Performance is really fantastic so far, and I haven't overclocked this bad boy yet!

Congratulations.

Go straight to 850/1700/4250 on your gtx580 @ 1.1 volts in MSI afterburner. Make a custom fan profile so when it goes over say 60c that the fan switches up to 70% or thereabouts. Your GPU will go apeshnitzel in games. As for the CPU.....the reviews say 4.5ghz should be easy to achieve.

I'm just going to go spit on my i7-870 and gtx480 now...

I can't wait until I have $'s to upgrade again. My PC is basically 100% complete but I would like a new case.

thor


Hello N4G from my new build!

Was really fun to put this together, hit a couple of snags but nothing that couldn't be overcome. Performance is really fantastic so far, and I haven't overclocked this bad boy yet!

Sweet! What parts did you settle on? 


[EDIT] Herp derp.. just read your previous posts. Post pics. 

@ Whitenoise

Corsair has a new mid coming  650D aka 800D's little brother. 

toaster


@ Whitenoise

Corsair has a new mid coming  650D aka 800D's little brother. 

I want the HAF-X Nvidia edition. I know people don't like the colour, but the vanilla HAF-X looks like a vaccume cleaner.
 
 

WhiteNoise

toaster


@ Whitenoise

Corsair has a new mid coming  650D aka 800D's little brother. 

I want the HAF-X Nvidia edition. I know people don't like the colour, but the vanilla HAF-X looks like a vaccume cleaner.   

Full towers are way too huge for me. I posted pics of the HAF-X and 690II Advanced nVidia editions in a nother thread, they both look pretty sweet. I don't mind the color though, green machine for life. <3 nVidia. 





I don't know if you know this brand or not, they're a novelty manufacturer with surprisingly good products, some people from overclock.net have DFI boards. This would look soooooo gooooodddd in an nVidia case. They don't make many boards anymore, the green ones are only in LGA 775 and they stopped making LGA 1366 and 1156 boards too. If they come out with a 1155/1156/1366 board in green I would get it in a heartbeat along with the nVidia endorsed cases. 


Lanparty, by DFI. Socket 775 though :/ 

toaster

That would look pretty cool with my old 775 board. Since it's my backup system now I think I could make it in that case.

My old XFX 750i SLi

thor


Hello N4G from my new build!

Was really fun to put this together, hit a couple of snags but nothing that couldn't be overcome. Performance is really fantastic so far, and I haven't overclocked this bad boy yet!

Man, if you now have problems with your build you must have not checked the bios when you first turned it on.  To me you seem to have just put everything together without testing all of your parts.


Problems that could plague your system:
-defective parts
-missing a connector to the PSU from mobo
-thermal paste was not cured
-incorrect PSU







Always check your temp levels before you are to install the OS and everything else.  Did that with mine, also when I installed my H70.  Had a weird problem at first, but since I did everything step by step I was able to find the problem.  My problem was that I was missing the connector to the mobo to the PSU since my H70 blocked everything it was not easily visible.  Connected the PSU to my mobo and it worked.



Although, at least I know you got good taste.  Lian Li FTW.


Also, the H50 supports the new Intel sockets?  I thought it just ended at 1366? 

Gainward GeForce GTX 580

WTF????

anyone happens to have an extra Photoshop key theyre not using

itll be greatly appreciated

UnSelf


anyone happens to have an extra Photoshop key theyre not using

itll be greatly appreciated

That isn't really hardware..... but you can umm.... torrent... keys. Very easy to crack actually. 

toaster

UnSelf


anyone happens to have an extra Photoshop key theyre not using

itll be greatly appreciated

That isn't really hardware..... but you can umm.... torrent... keys. Very easy to crack actually. 

nah i kno, i just figure i post my request in an active PC thread. so torrent you say? im no experienced hacker, do i just download BitTorrent and search from there??

Umm, not exactly the right place to ask, but close enough.

I got a 32 bit software program, but using a 64 bit OS. Would that program still work?

Enough is enough!!  >:(

UNBAN RAGE AND TENSTEPS!!!  

TMAN


Umm, not exactly the right place to ask, but close enough.

I got a 32 bit software program, but using a 64 bit OS. Would that program still work?

yea it should, im running on the latest mac

UnSelf

TMAN


Umm, not exactly the right place to ask, but close enough.

I got a 32 bit software program, but using a 64 bit OS. Would that program still work?

yea it should, im running on the latest mac

Cool, thanks. I'm installing it now, see if it'll work.

Enough is enough!!  >:(

UNBAN RAGE AND TENSTEPS!!!  

great, lemme kno if it works

Newtype


Also, the H50 supports the new Intel sockets?  I thought it just ended at 1366? 

1155 mounting system and brackets are the same as 1366.




@Whitenoise


Here's Corsair's new case, Obsidian 650D. 150€ sure is a lot though.. you can get a HAF-X for that money. 







Source: Nordic Hardware.

UnSelf


great, lemme kno if it works

Nope. No worky.

NVM, I fixed it. Damn I'm getting good at some of this stuff...

Enough is enough!!  >:(

UNBAN RAGE AND TENSTEPS!!!  

Iv made my final decision :) Ordering next friday - gaming by sunday :) can't wait!!




Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (oc - 4.5ghz)
 MSI P67A-GD55 Intel P67 
 MSI GeForce GTX 460 Cyclone 768MB (oc 927MHZ (core) 1854mhz (shader) 4200 mhz (memory) 
 Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit 
 OcUK Crusade 650W Dual-Rail High Efficiency Power Supply 
 Corsair XMS3 4GB 1600mhz
 Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 
 Sony Optiarc AD-7260S 24x DVD±RW

^^^ Is that a prebuilt? lol

nope - just made the picture up myself.

Spend a little more and get a better PSU. Don't get a low quality PSU. It doesn't even have an 80+ rating... 

Buy a branded BFG PSU.

Cooler Master GX 750W Power Supply

razielsonofkain



Cooler Master GX 750W Power Supply

......



Ook well that's better than your current one.. I'd recommend a Corsair. Your PSU is one of the most important parts of the computer, it's not smart to skimp out and get a crap one. If your parts don't get good clean constant power than it will fry. I learned that the hard way. Do yourself a huge favor and get a quality PSU from Corsair. It might cost a bit more but it's because of the superior build quality and performance compared to other PSUs in it's power range. Trust me, when something goes wrong with your computer hardware wise your PSU will be one of the root problems. 

It puts me £2 over budget but its worth it :) aha

Corsair tx 650w :) 

Good man :) You won't be disappointed. Corsair has a great warranty too. 

What's a real good monitor cost? Should I go the touch screen one? Or no?

Enough is enough!!  >:(

UNBAN RAGE AND TENSTEPS!!!  

razielsonofkain


Iv made my final decision :) Ordering next friday - gaming by sunday :) can't wait!!




Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (oc - 4.5ghz)
MSI P67A-GD55 Intel P67 
MSI GeForce GTX 460 Cyclone 768MB (oc 927MHZ (core) 1854mhz (shader) 4200 mhz (memory) 
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit 
OcUK Crusade 650W Dual-Rail High Efficiency Power Supply 
Corsair XMS3 4GB 1600mhz
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 
Sony Optiarc AD-7260S 24x DVD±RW

I would recommend you spend slightly more on the GPU too, make sure you get the 460GTX with 1 gig of ram, its only going to cost you 15-20GBP more however at higher resolutions it will help when you want to push more AA.

razielsonofkain


Iv made my final decision :) Ordering next friday - gaming by sunday :) can't wait!!




Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (oc - 4.5ghz)
MSI P67A-GD55 Intel P67 
MSI GeForce GTX 460 Cyclone 768MB (oc 927MHZ (core) 1854mhz (shader) 4200 mhz (memory) 
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit 
OcUK Crusade 650W Dual-Rail High Efficiency Power Supply 
Corsair XMS3 4GB 1600mhz
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 
Sony Optiarc AD-7260S 24x DVD±RW

raziel

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Please, please, PLEASE don't buy that motherboard

It has given me nothing but a headache since I got it
- At first I couldn't overclock AT ALL because the BIOS crashed
- Then the BIOS update utility downgraded my BIOS instead of upgraded it
- Now it is a brick and doesn't even POST
- I'm probably going to have to get a new motherboard (not this one)
- Numerous people have posted problems about this motherboard such as
    - BIOS won't save settings
    - BIOS shows clock speed as 20GHz

Edit: Hmm mine is a GD65... I think it's still best to avoid. I saw the very similar box and panicked.