Strongly considering a PC upgrade. Is this spec ok?

[EEVILMURRAY]

pr0, my first order arrived. Came with a free fan. A Freezer 7 Pro:

Is one of these better than one of the other fans I got?

 

Awww this SSD looks so tiny and cute. I thought it was going to be a beast (like that fan)

Edited June 25, 2012 by EEVILMURRAY

[Sheikah]

You mean the fan attached to the coolermaster heatsink? If so that's part of it, yeah keep it on. If you mean you got a free extra fan to put in your case I would still stick with the 2 Tricools.

[EEVILMURRAY]

I think it's just an extra fan. The picture is all that arrived in nice tight plastic packaging.

 

I guess I'll try flogging it then.

[Sheikah]

Oh, what size (in mm) is it? If it's not a 120 mm fan it won't fit in the optional places you can install them in the case.

 

Basically the case comes with one 140 mm and one 120 mm fan installed already. The 2 Tricools I suggest you take off the front panel (where power on button is) and install them there to take in air (angle them blowing inwards).

 

You can put one more 120 mm fan on the side as a side intake fan, and another 120 mm fan on the other side as an exhaust for the processor (it's right next to the processor).

 

Also if you were to stand your case upright, on the base of the PC on the inside are 4 screwholes where you can mount your SSD down on, which is pretty sweet.

Edited June 25, 2012 by Sheikah

[drahkon]

I'm a noob when it comes to PC specs, etc.

 

I'd like to upgrade my PC, but I have no idea where to begin. Don't have the money to spend big time but I want a new graphics card and a new processor.

Currently I have an NVIDIA GeForce GTX8800 and Intel Core Duo processor with 2x3GHz.

 

First of all I have no idea what motherboard I have and I can't find out. Everest didn't help. And secondly, I'd like to upgrade to a quad processor and a neat graphics card wihout spending much (maybe 250€ total, if that's even possible...) but do not know whether the motherboard is compatible.

 

Also found this. Instead of upgrading I'm thinking about getting a second PC (as I'm commuting between home and work a lot), so this article got my attention. Is this any good?

Edited June 25, 2012 by drahkon

[Sheikah]

You would definitely struggle for 250 euros. A fairly decent graphics card alone will cost you around 200 euros or so, then the mobo that can take advantage of this around 100 and the decent i5 processors of the moment at least 150 euros.

 

That £400 PC would be outdated in no time (in fact I'd argue it already is). I think here it's probably a case of spend a bit more for better long term value.

[drahkon]

That £400 PC would be outdated in no time (in fact I'd argue it already is). I think here it's probably a case of spend a bit more for better long term value.

 

For that price it's already outdated? I'm not looking for an uber PC, just something so I can play Diablo 3, Skyrim and the likes with a decent setting and also work with several programs at the same time. So the 300-400€ PC might seem like a perfect fit. Maybe if I invest 150-200€ more I might even get a better setup.

 

You seem to be quite proficient in this area. What would you recommend? I do not have a lot of money to spare in the moment, so I don't want to/can't spend too much. Any cheap but still good graphics cards, processors out there?

[Sheikah]

Yeah Skyrim you could handle fairly well. Just games like Guild Wars 2 (which is awesome, I recommend it) require a bit more and you'd probably have to make do with medium and reasonable lag with crowding with that spec.

 

But then, you could argue that games consoles costing around 100-150 preowned can play those games already so for 300 it's not an amazing deal.

 

The trouble is, when you start upgrading your components you then need a better power supply, etc. It all spirals. :p

 

For say 450-70 euros instead of the 300 in that link you might be able to swap that graphics card for a HD 7850 and the processor for a Sandy Bridge 2500K processor. You could find a similar price budget motherboard (make sure it's socket 1155) to be compatible with your processor. That should see you right.

[Cube]

Ordered all the parts. I got most of it from eBuyer. The case was a little bit more expensive, but it actually worked out slightly cheaper in the end. Plus I didn't like the extremely vague postage. I've picked a date and I'll book the day off work.

 

I had to buy the graphics card from Dabs as eBuyer were out of stock. I made sure the model number was exactly the same.

 

I also decided upon this keyboard:

 

 

As it looks perfect for my usage (it'll be on my knee - no desk).

 

Now I just need to figure out how it all goes together.

[Sheikah]

Cool, like the keyboard.

 

I had the same philosophy with ebuyer (booked everything to arrive on Saturday). But watch out, if stuff is shipped from different warehouses some of it might arrive earlier (in my case some stuff arrived during the week, I wasn't in so had to pick it up from local post office). If you click your ebuyer order for each item under "status" it will have a coloured square which if you look at the key relates to the warehouse number. If there are items with different coloured bullets then you might not get it all on the same day (a con, I know).

 

If you need any help setting it up just give us a shout.

 

 

General things -

 

My power supply was slightly large for the case (it goes at the bottom of the case) - there's a metal prong I had to bend upwards with pliers to fit the power supply in

 

Slot some of the stuff into your motherboard prior to screwing your motherboard to the case (processor, RAM, processor cooler)

 

When attaching the processor cooler on top of the processor, first of all make sure you use the right side of the bracket (check instructions). Second, squirt a grain of rice sized amount of thermal compound paste (included with the processor cooler) on top of the processor.

 

Check the RAM slots which you need to install two sticks of RAM in to have proper dual configuration (for me it was slot 1 and 3).

 

Insert the graphics card into the motherboard after screwing the motherboard into the case. I had an issue where the graphics card wasn't sat properly in the port and the PC wouldn't even boot.

 

Lastly, when you turn your PC on if you look through one of the side grates you can see inside your PC. There's might be an LED that has a two digit code that will relate to a fault if your PC isn't starting (depends whether your mobo has it). I googled the code I was having and it led me to forum discussion about my issue and how people solved it.

Edited June 29, 2012 by Sheikah

[EEVILMURRAY]

Check the RAM slots which you need to install two sticks of RAM in to have proper dual configuration (for me it was slot 1 and 3).

Are they labelled for some sort of configuration?

 

Also, you mentioned using the original fans I bought (I keep meaning to take a comparison photo with the one I got free), but I think I'm confused - are you saying I am to put them right next to each other?

[Sheikah]

Yeah on my motherboard each RAM slot had a label by it. You will want to refer to your motherboard manual to see which 2 slots should be occupied for dual config.

 

I could take some pictures for you guys later, I'm sure that would help a lot. That'll show you where my fans are and how stuff is laid out in the inside of my face. The 2 Tricools I refer to are basically installed on the front of the PC after you remove the front panel. It's a case of aligning screws so it's quite easy once you see it, you're basically installing one fan higher up the front of the case than the other, they will almost be touching.

[Cube]

Thanks for the tips.

 

I had the same philosophy with ebuyer (booked everything to arrive on Saturday). But watch out, if stuff is shipped from different warehouses some of it might arrive earlier (in my case some stuff arrived during the week, I wasn't in so had to pick it up from local post office). If you click your ebuyer order for each item under "status" it will have a coloured square which if you look at the key relates to the warehouse number. If there are items with different coloured bullets then you might not get it all on the same day (a con, I know).

 

Just checked. While there is one which is different, it's all together.

 

The problem is that delivery was attempted (and failed) today. I'll have to contact Parcelforce about it.

 

Edit: Managed to rearrange it for redelivery Wednesday.

Edited June 29, 2012 by Cube

[Sheikah]

Yeah it's down right underhanded what they're doing. I paid a premium for Saturday delivery - admittedly all but one item came on that day, but you still expect that one item to come on a Saturday too because you did pay more for it to come that day.

 

Here's some pics that you guys might find helpful:

 

 

There's the front panel of the PC. Remove it and:

 

 

You see the 2 Tricool fans at the bottom? They're installed so that when the PC is on, they take air in (ie. blow inwards, into the PC). You only screw two screws per fan (one at the top left and one at the bottom right). The screws come with the PC as I recall.

 

The other 2 fans come pre-installed inside the PC so you don't need to worry about them. I'd say you probably don't need any other fans, my PC runs nice and cool (and so, so much quieter than my old PC!)

 

For interest's sake, here's the inside of my PC too:

 

 

The motherboard is mounted side on inside the case, with that big silver block being the processor cooler (hiding the processor beneath). Power supply is at the bottom, to the right near the bottom is a HDD (not currently hooked it up though since it's old IDE) and the graphics card is directly below the cooler. Probably got a few more wires than I need (I used wires that had multiple attachments on for attaching more drives but used a separate one for each).

 

You might just be able to see my SSD installed on the bottom of the PC (slightly to the right of the power supply). It has 4 screwholes in the SSD that you can screw into the base (you get the screws again with the case).

Edited June 29, 2012 by Sheikah

[Cube]

Those pictures will be extremely useful (oddly, I was thinking today "Why do the fairly heavy power supplies always to at the top and not the bottom").

 

Two quick questions: should the power supply come with the plug or should I get a spare one just in case? (Note to self: Also need pliers and a blank DVD-R).

 

And once all the parts are together does anything need doing other then turn on - wait for a message like "no OS found, insert disc" then insert the OS disc and install?

 

My graphics card arrived today (it was sent to my work address), it was actually much better than I was expecting. (Oh, and a free game in the form of Dirt Showdown)

 

Looking at that, a good order for building could be: tricool fans - DVD drive - HDD - SDD - Motherboard/RAM/Processor/Processor Fan (connect cables from other parts to motherboard, along with plugging in the rest of the cables) - Graphics card (connect to motherboard) - power unit (connect to motherboard and graphics card) - close it up - connect to TV/mouse/keyboard - turn on - install OS - overclock (or leave to a later date) - enjoy.

Edited June 29, 2012 by Cube

[Sheikah]

Those pictures will be extremely useful (oddly, I was thinking today "Why do the fairly heavy power supplies always to at the top and not the bottom").

 

Yeah it's weird how shitty shop bought PCs have that. It's better to have them at the bottom as well since it helps with heat dissipation.

 

Two quick questions: should the power supply come with the plug or should I get a spare one just in case? (Note to self: Also need pliers and a blank DVD-R).

 

Yeah the PSU comes with a plug, along with a bunch of cables to hook up parts of the mobo / optical / hard drives to the PSU. The motherboard tends to come with the SATA cables (for connecting your hard drive and optical drives to the motherboard). One wire for power, one to hook up to your system.

 

And once all the parts are together does anything need doing other then turn on - wait for a message like "no OS found, insert disc" then insert the OS disc and install?

 

If you turn on with the disc in the drive then it'll either boot automatically from the disc (most likely) or ask you where to boot from (select the disk drive). That's after you hook up all the wires and whatnot. Note the PC case comes with some wires too (to hook up the front USB 3.0 ports as well as the power button and whatnot to the mobo). The motherboard manual is good for showing you what to hook up where.

 

My graphics card arrived today (it was sent to my work address), it was actually much better than I was expecting. (Oh, and a free game in the form of Dirt Showdown)

 

Big bloody thing eh? :p The cool thing is, suppose in 4-5 years when these cards might be dirt cheap you can buy another and run a dual card setup (with AMD cards this is called crossfire).

 

Looking at that, a good order for building could be: tricool fans - DVD drive - HDD - SDD - Motherboard/RAM/Processor/Processor Fan (connect cables from other parts to motherboard, along with plugging in the rest of the cables) - Graphics card (connect to motherboard) - power unit (connect to motherboard and graphics card) - close it up - connect to TV/mouse/keyboard - turn on - install OS - overclock (or leave to a later date) - enjoy.

 

I installed the PSU first into the case then the SSD at the bottom. These are sort of separate from everything else and a good idea to get out of the way.

 

The optical drive can be done at any time, it is the easiest thing ever. Literally just slots in.

 

HDD isn't that hard either, you assemble these plastic brackets that come with the case and slide them in too.

 

Only thing that really matters is to leave the graphics card until after you screwed the motherboard (with all the other stuff on it) into the case since it comes out of the rear end of the case. You might need to unscrew two slots worth of the metal guards on the rear of the PC since the graphics card is fat. Also motherboards usually come with more than one graphics card slot (for dual setups, etc) so check the right one first.

 

The Tricool fans can be done earlier on too but shouldn't matter much either. Double check where you're feeding the wires from the Tricool fans into the case since the bay you choose to install your HDD in (not SSD) can obstruct it. Plenty of bays to choose from though.

Edited June 29, 2012 by Sheikah

[Cube]

Once again, thanks.

 

I'm looking forward to Wednesday.

[CoolFunkMan]

I had the same philosophy with ebuyer (booked everything to arrive on Saturday). But watch out, if stuff is shipped from different warehouses some of it might arrive earlier (in my case some stuff arrived during the week, I wasn't in so had to pick it up from local post office). If you click your ebuyer order for each item under "status" it will have a coloured square which if you look at the key relates to the warehouse number. If there are items with different coloured bullets then you might not get it all on the same day (a con, I know).

 

I ordered all my parts off ebuyer, and didn't realise that, but they all arrived the same day. My cousin and I will be building my system later.

 

Just one thing that's bothering me. I bought this external caddy: http://www.ebuyer.com/221430-startech-infosafe-3-5-black-esata-usb-2-0-to-ide-sata-external-hard-uni3510uebgb for my hard drive. When I put my hard drive in there, will all my data be wiped when I use it?

 

Thanks if anyone can help.

[Sheikah]

I ordered all my parts off ebuyer, and didn't realise that, but they all arrived the same day. My cousin and I will be building my system later.

 

Just one thing that's bothering me. I bought this external caddy: http://www.ebuyer.com/221430-startech-infosafe-3-5-black-esata-usb-2-0-to-ide-sata-external-hard-uni3510uebgb for my hard drive. When I put my hard drive in there, will all my data be wiped when I use it?

 

Thanks if anyone can help.

 

You shouldn't need to format it. You might need to adjust the jumper settings (although unlikely) to set it to master if using an older IDE drive (ie. non SATA):

 

For many the true benefit of a HDD caddy is that it enables you recover data from a hard disk taken out of an old PC. When you are using a salvaged Hard Disk Drive then if you are using an IDE, ATA or PATA Hard Disk Drives then you need to make sure that the jumper settings on the hard disk drive are set to “master” and not “cable select” or “slave”. If you don’t get the jumper settings correct then the caddy won’t be recognised when connected to the PC.

 

Whilst you might expect the hard disk drives to be set to “master” as by default its not always the case so its definitely worth checking the disk before you use a caddy. If you need to change the jumper settings it’s easy to do and only takes a few seconds. Most Hard Disk Drive manufactures will have put a self explanatory label on top of the hard drive showing how the jumper needs to be set up to create the “master” “slave” and “cable select” options.

 

Jumpers are just metal pins that have small black plastic sleeves that slot on them.

 

Hard disk drive caddy’s usually connect to your PC via a USB cable but there are options available that also support Firewire and e-SATA. For most USB 2.0 is all that’s needed not least because you’ll pay a premium for a caddy with a range of connection options.

 

When the caddy is connected to your PC via a USB cable it works in pretty much the same way that a USB flash drive works – a new drive letter is dynamically created and you can then copy, save, drag and drop data to the hard disk drive.

 

Note that the newer standards of SATA hard disk drives have no jumper setting to worry about

 

 

To find out if your hard drive has SATA (and therefore doesn't need messing about with jumpers) see the following image below. If your drive has the connector on the left you're set:

 

[CoolFunkMan]

Thanks for that. Should be building my system in a few hours. Exciting times!

[Sheikah]

Cool let me know how it goes. Pics would be cool too.

[CoolFunkMan]

Thanks again for all the help. My system is now built, and it's awesome! We did have an issue with the graphics card, but it turned out, on of the power leads weren't plugged in properly . Plus my external caddy isn't being detected.by my computer, so it looks like I need a jumper for it. I'm not too fussed about that though, it can be sorted easily enough.

 

Thanks again for everything.

[Sheikah]

Hey no problem! Good to know it's all working for you. Now to get some games... like the *cough* awesome Guild Wars 2 which has been given a release date for 2 months time.

[CoolFunkMan]

I think I will do.

 

I just thought of another issue that I forgot to mention. I have the PC connected to my 22" Samsung Syncmaster monitor and my 42" Panasonic G30. However, when I've tried to have the output on both screens, the image is cut off at the top and bottom on my Panasonic. This is when cloning the monitor, as well as setting it to extension. The monitor is 16:10, and the TV is 16:9, could that be the problem?

 

Again, not a major issue, but I'm not sure what to do. Thanks again if you can help.

[Sheikah]

Yeah, you should do a separate resolution for each monitor configuration. I have the same Syncmaster by the way. :p

 

I don't have an nVidia card so your control panel software (nVidia control panel I think it's called) is slightly different. But from what I can research, you don't want to clone displays in the way you're doing it. What you want I think is called DualView, although it might require having both display devices being hooked up to your PC before you switch your PC on.