General PC Help Thread - OP updated with useful links - READ

[deaglanb]

Thanks for the reply!

I was planning on purchasing a new 1920x1080 monitor (currently using a 1360x768 Acer monitor) once I had sorted out what parts to buy, but I'm still stuck on that. I was looking at the link Falsey posted at the beginning of this thread but I'm not sure if all the parts are up to date and if there are better alternatives.

[Super Dragon 64]

This will give you the best bang for buck at the moment. The links in the OP are very useful so you can use those to tinker with the contents of this build. Feel free to ask for more advice when you're ready to build your PC. It doesn't seem like the new Intel processors or nVidia graphics card will be out any time soon so there's no major worry that the processor and graphics card in this build will be rivalled by something better for the same price.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£155.99 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£25.24 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£103.18 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£62.58 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Toshiba 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£69.59 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 770 2GB TWIN FROZR Video Card (£228.92 @ Scan.co.uk)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case (£78.42 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: SeaSonic EVO Edition 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£63.74 @ Scan.co.uk)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (£10.84 @ Dabs)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£64.26 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £862.76
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-06-10 09:06 BST+0100)

[GM]

It doesn't seem like the new Intel processors will be out any time soon.

They're already out (4590/4690/4790 - overclocking versions out this month) and so are the matching motherboards, St Nick has them in his. That build also doesn't have an SSD which is definitely within budget or Windows 8 (say what you want, but under the hood it's got improvements on 7 and will be supported longer). You've also thrown in an overclocking processor/mobo for someone that's never built a PC before.

Basically: eh?

I'll knock one together later if nobody else does.

deaglanb, when you say 'a few video editing programs', what sort of stuff are you doing? It sort of dictates the processor choice.

[Super Dragon 64]

Last I heard the Broadwell chips had been pushed back to the end of the year. Anyway, I just put that together quickly before work so I'm glad that you checked it, but yeah, my bad.

I agree that an SSD should be included. The Crucial MX100s have been selling at great prices recently.

I don't think that overclocking is that taxing for anyone, even if it is someone's first build. I overclocked my current PC, which is the first one I ever built, and only put it back to stock because Acrtic Cooler CPU fan wasn't as good as I thought it would be.

[GM]

They're not broadwell chips, it's a Haswell refresh.

I don't think overclocking is a big deal either (I did the same with mine) but I wouldn't chuck it in someone's system without asking when there's a good £40 odd across processor/mobo/cooler that could be reallocated.

Also I wouldn't touch Crucial storage with a ten foot bargepole when Samsung EVOs are so cheap, but that's just me.

[deaglanb]

Thanks for the replies guys!

Sorry GM, but "video editing programs" might have been the wrong choice of words. I've applied for a course in Computer Games Development in an IT and a lot of the coursework will be done on this machine, but I'm really not sure what programs we will be using, sorry. I've done some research and a lot of people seem recommend an i7 for this sort of work (for the hyper threading or something), but again, I'm new to this sort of thing.

When it comes to overclocking, would you recommend it? If so, I'm all for it! I've also asked a friend of mine that builds and repairs PCs for a living for a hand and he was more than was willing to lend it, so that has made life a whole lot easier.

Thanks again for the help!

[GM]

Overclocking isn't a very big deal especially on a new high end system, but it's a decent way of sucking an extra bit of life out of an old one. You're basically weighing that and the time investment getting a solid, stable overclock vs. the extra bit of money and marginally lower performance. There's also the chance you'll get strawberry floated in the silicon lottery and get a chip that just doesn't take to OCing very well.

[Frank]

My processor shouldn't be running at 102 degrees (C) when I'm doing nothing but Skype, should it?

[HSH28]

It should never be running at over 100 degrees, over 80 is worrying at high load.

What CPU are you running?

[Frank]

It's an i5-3570K. It's also now not even turning on, so I fear something might have gone catastrophically wrong.

[systematic]

It could be that your CPU fan isn't working. Or maybe your CPU cooler became loose.

Physically unplug your power supply from the mains for about 10 minutes and then try turning your PC on again.

[GM]

Thanks again for the help!

Here are the parts I'd look at for what you've described. Neither is an overclocking build because those chips aren't out yet and it's silly building on outdated architecture. Bare in mind that the RAM will change price - just go into PCPartpicker and pick something that's DDR3-1600mhz, 2 sticks of either 4GB or 8GB (depending on which build you want) and consists of 240-pin DIMMs. They should mostly be 1.5v but tick that anyway. If more than one is cheap, get one with lower CAS latency. All that info is on PCPartpicker, you just need to tick the right boxes.

Overkill, i7 (8 thread) 16GB RAM "I don't think any course could reasonably expect this but strawberry float it'll be fun" system:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor (£215.99 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£25.28 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: Asus H97M-E Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£63.24 @ Dabs)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£96.24 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£92.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£35.99 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB Superclocked ACX Video Card (£367.99 @ Aria PC)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case (£78.42 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£61.59 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (£10.84 @ Dabs)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£81.36 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £1129.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-06-13 00:50 BST+0100

More sane build. Graphics changed, RAM cut in half, processor changed. Same base build:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£152.99 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Asus H97M-E Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£63.24 @ Dabs)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£55.34 @ Scan.co.uk)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£92.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£35.99 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 770 2GB TWIN FROZR Video Card (£228.92 @ Scan.co.uk)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case (£78.42 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£61.59 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (£10.84 @ Dabs)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£81.36 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £861.68
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-06-13 01:03 BST+0100

I'll let the others gooseberry fool on anything dumb I've said.

[deaglanb]

Thanks again, GM!

I think I'm going to go with the first build. I've been looking at some reviews and it looks like a fun machine! And am I correct in saying this but you can't over clock with this processor?

And I was wondering, since I'm building this machine, should I invest in a 1440p or a 120Hz monitor? I'm currently using a 1360x768 monitor and I don't think it would do it justice. Have any recommendations?

Thanks again for all the help. I'll be ordering the parts tonight and should be starting my first build in a matter of weeks!

[Albert]

Thanks again, GM!

I think I'm going to go with the first build. I've been looking at some reviews and it looks like a fun machine! And am I correct in saying this but you can't over clock with this processor?

And I was wondering, since I'm building this machine, should I invest in a 1440p or a 120Hz monitor? I'm currently using a 1360x768 monitor and I don't think it would do it justice. Have any recommendations?

Thanks again for all the help. I'll be ordering the parts tonight and should be starting my first build in a matter of weeks!

Just in case you haven't spotted this thread, deaglanb.

http://www.grcade.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=36215

[Harman]

I think I'm actually going to build a gaming PC this summer now I'm back at work. Yay.

[Harry Bizzle]

It's an i5-3570K. It's also now not even turning on, so I fear something might have gone catastrophically wrong.

Sounds like you've cooked it.

Shouldn't really happen, though. Your motherboard should power down if the CPU gets too hot. If it switches on again, make sure the heatsink fan is working.


Bought an i5-3570 today. Hopefully it'll show up before next weekend.

[Holpil]

Were you using the stock cooler Frank? The plastic clips on it are a bit naff to be honest, so it's quite possible it wasn't properly secured. I had a similar issue with the 3570k when I first put my PC together, I remember getting to around 80 degrees on Tribes: Ascend. You shouldn't really be going over 60 on stock. Anyway, it just needed reseating.

[Green Gecko]

Yeah you really need to push them down and hear all 4 pins click. You should be able to literally pick up the motherboard with the heatsink and not hear any creaking etc. It's really locked in when it's done right.

I had to do my first lga775 cooler a few times before getting good temperatures.

Ironically you can also get misled by good thermal compound if the heatsink isn't seated right.

[Harry Bizzle]

I find the Socket 1155 cooler is a pain in the neck to reinstall - the pins go a bit funny and don't click in as easily. Lots of pulling them up and what not involved.


If it's a new build I doubt he would have gotten as far as a Skype conversation if it wasn't seated right.

[Green Gecko]

I dunno, I managed to run at about 80c for a day before realising something wasn't quite right. It was heating up over time.