Gaming PC building regrets!! =^{

A few years ago I used the gaf pc thread to build a pc, and the cpu fan they recommended stuck 2 inches out of the side of the case they recommended, so I couldn't put the side on. So I guess my regret is that I listened to gaf's advice.


It wasn't 2 inches, and once I put the stock fan on the pc was actually pretty solid for the money I spent.
 
Kabouter said:
I guess I never use the €12 DVD burner I put in my most recent PC, and I sort of knew that ahead of time, but still felt I'd be better off getting one since you never know and it's cheap. That's about it though, I got lots of good advice on other components from GAF and people I know, and I'm pretty damn happy with everything so far.
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You can never go wrong requiring an optical drive in your build. Though I rarely use mine there have been times when I really needed it.
 
Despite not getting used anywhere near enough to justify the expense I'm pretty happy with my PC build.
However, going for an Antec P183 & it's partner PSU was total overkill - swear that case could be half the size and I'd still have room to spare
 
Gaf, I need your help, im having a serious issue right now. I just bought an Asus laptop n56J, Long story short, whenever I play any game, it uses the integrated graphics as apposed to the dedicated one. I search all over the internet and it seems to be a common problem. I tried switching the prioritized graphics card in the NVidia control panel and nothing. I tried right clicking and running it with the high performance card and still nothing. Whats the deal?
 
LBTRecords said:
Gaf, I need your help, im having a serious issue right now. I just bought an Asus laptop n56J, Long story short, whenever I play any game, it uses the integrated graphics as apposed to the dedicated one. I search all over the internet and it seems to be a common problem. I tried switching the prioritized graphics card in the NVidia control panel and nothing. I tried right clicking and running it with the high performance card and still nothing. Whats the deal?
Click to expand...

This is not the thread for this.
 
LBTRecords said:
Gaf, I need your help, im having a serious issue right now. I just bought an Asus laptop n56J, Long story short, whenever I play any game, it uses the integrated graphics as apposed to the dedicated one. I search all over the internet and it seems to be a common problem. I tried switching the prioritized graphics card in the NVidia control panel and nothing. I tried right clicking and running it with the high performance card and still nothing. Whats the deal?
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for PC issues , This way please :

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=745567
 
- would have splurged for a better case than the Antec 900
- would have tried to get a modular PSU instead (or at least semi-modular)

That's about it in terms of PC stuff.
 
A few years ago I lapped an i7 965 to try and get a better contact with the water block.

I got a beautiful mirror finish on it but turns out I went too far and it fried the first time I switched it on :(

Won't make that mistake again!
 
Captain Ninty said:
A few years ago I lapped an i7 965 to try and get a better contact with the water block.

I got a beautiful mirror finish on it but turns out I went too far and it fried the first time I switched it on :(

Won't make that mistake again!
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Something interesting about this, is that both heat spreaders and waterblocks flex when heated. If everything is lapped to fit flush naturally, then they actually have worse contact under load than if they weren't.

This probably wasn't the case in the 1366 days, but that was a tad before I got into watercooling.
 
Getting a Sager gaming laptop that I love in almost every way, except I specifically wanted one with Optimus but then finding out that Linux has poor support for it, and I couldn't do any of the cool CUDA stuff I had been doing on my older Sager laptop.

I also hate whenever a new game comes out, manually setting it to run on the Nvidia GPU.

Also, only being able to run two displays at any given time, despite there being two GPU's in the damn laptop.

Next time, I'll get a gaming laptop with an AMD GPU that has that multi-display feature. Co-worker got an Asus with that and he could hook up like 4 displays. Made me want to kick my laptop into the river.
 
When Sandy Bridge came out, I was planning on buying a 2500K, then it got recalled and therefore pulled from online stores so I bought an i7 860.

4 Weeks later, BAM SANDY BRIDGE IS THE BOMB.

Now im just waiting for intels 6 or 8 Core processors. until then its a no no to CPU upgrade.
 
Built this PC with an i5 2500k and an aftermarket cooler with the intent to overclock some day in the future - problem is when I came to look at motherboards I went for an Asus P8P67-M but it doesn't have any overclocking capabilities, only the Pro version does. I just thought that the website I was buying it from hadn't put the Pro part at the end, not that Asus have a ridiculous naming system and that I was getting a gimped version. Even Asus's website mentions overclocking as part of the description for the basic board, it's only by trawling forums you find out that it is locked.
 
mkenyon said:
Something interesting about this, is that both heat spreaders and waterblocks flex when heated. If everything is lapped to fit flush naturally, then they actually have worse contact under load than if they weren't.

This probably wasn't the case in the 1366 days, but that was a tad before I got into watercooling.
Click to expand...

Yes you need two very precise and stable surfaces to get good heat transfer. Even if you do it's only going to gain you a drop of 1 or 2 degrees at the best so it's not really worth it. Still, live and learn.
 
Once spent 1900 € on the PC hardware alone, and boy did I regret that.
The components were a mess, that rig ate up 1 PSUs, 2 graphics cards, 1 Soundblaster X-fi and 4 HDDs. I still don't know what the fuck was going on with that piece of shit.
 
Azure Phoenix said:
Built this PC with an i5 2500k and an aftermarket cooler with the intent to overclock some day in the future - problem is when I came to look at motherboards I went for an Asus P8P67-M but it doesn't have any overclocking capabilities, only the Pro version does. I just thought that the website I was buying it from hadn't put the Pro part at the end, not that Asus have a ridiculous naming system and that I was getting a gimped version. Even Asus's website mentions overclocking as part of the description for the basic board, it's only by trawling forums you find out that it is locked.
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I think you're mistaken. I checked the manual and I'm pretty sure you can OC with that board. I think the pro version has some extra features (which I haven't bothered to look up) but I'm 99% sure you can at least do some basic overclocks with that board.
 
plainr_ said:
-Not using an SSD sooner
-Not going liquid cooling sooner
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Ugh. I'm still on air and still don't have an SSD. As far as the SSD is concerned, I've just been stubborn. I want one but don't want to format my shit just now.

And watercooling just intimidates me. I'd like to do it but have no idea how and I already get anxiety about building a new system and fearing it won't boot up.
 
neoenigma said:
Ugh. I'm still on air and still don't have an SSD. As far as the SSD is concerned, I've just been stubborn. I want one but don't want to format my shit just now.

And watercooling just intimidates me. I'd like to do it but have no idea how and I already get anxiety about building a new system and fearing it won't boot up.
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It is basically to the point where if you know how to screw in a third party heatsink/fan and bracket, you could just as easily install water cooling.

I only choose not to because I really don't require it, plus cost. Just not worth it.
 
i5 2500k
MSI P67A-GD55
4GB Corsair XMS Ram
XFX 7950HD
Coolermaster HAF 912 Plus

TBH my current setup is pretty much what I want. I suppose I could regret only getting 4GB ram and sticking with stock cpu cooler, but they're easily fixed and the plans for the next few months. I guess I could regret not getting an Nvidia GPU as I now miss out on Shield and the like, but the 7950 is serving me well at 1080p (Hopefully a CPU overclock will get me back up to steady 60fps in certain games).

Previous regrets, I MASSIVELY regret getting an Antec 900 case. While the cooling was decent, the thing had absolutely zero work space inside. Having to work on any of the internals just set me to cringing as I knew I'd come away with scraped knuckles, and the cooling advantages got diminished due to the crappy cabling. Hated it, especially since it cost a premium at the time.
 
MikeE21286 said:
Just thought of another.....

Buying the NZXT Phantom case





Instead of the Fractal R3 Define I wanted (and eventually ended up buying in the end)




The Fractal cases are so awesome looking and quiet. The NZXT looks like a stormtrooper. Now the NZXT just sits there, unused, mocking me. What was I thinking..... :/
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Granted it's up to personal preference, but i think the NZXT looks sweet.
 
Moral Panic said:
ATX mobo and case.
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First PC I built in a long long time was ... MicroATX.

In the end:
1. Turned out to be a huge pain getting everything to fit inside
2. When I had to work on it, it sucked big time
3. I had to worry if something would fit
4. Was stuck with the stock cooler because I didn't have enough room for anything else

Also, I got an i3-530 instead of an i5-750. Really should have just gone with the i5 from the beginning.

My current PC is ATX, yes, but all it does is sit on the floor.
 
All these people regretting K processors and buying Antec cases. I feel like I should screenshot each one for evidence when people ask why I suggest differently. :P
 
My only regret was getting a WD Green HDD, its just too slow on boot up, I should've gotten a Caviar Black and a small SSD, and maybe 16gb of ram as opposed to the 8 that I got.
 
Primarily a console gamer here, so I regret not taking advantage of and putting the effort into learning kb&m controls. I always mess around with it for a little bit before feeling out of my comfort zone and frustrated, so I always end up plugging the controller back in to play stuff like BF4, Metro: LL, and Crysis 3.

It's gonna take some serious reprogramming in order for me to learn how to play shooters with WASD :(

Edit: not just shooters...ANY game for that matter.
 
Buying a cheap case probably, it was flimsy and bent dented, was hard to build in, the front ports stopped working after a month and it vibrates and is quite loud. This was on my first build so I didn't want to invest into the case thinking it wasn't important aside from ascetics, I learnt the lesson from that one pretty fast.
 
Cimarron said:
In this thread we talk about what things we regret about how we built our gaming rigs. I'll start first.

GeForce GTX 580 1.5 GB...... :(

This was almost two years ago. I wish I had sprung for a better card. Or at least one that had more memory than 1.5gb. It is really beginning to show its age when I play some games in 3d now. In retrospect the 16gb of ram and the cpu were probably overkill. :P

What about you?
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Glad I got the overclocked 3gb GTX580 then. Not having to turn anything down yet tbh.
 
Still not building a gaming PC :(
I'm making due with my laptop right now as it's pretty solid. I don't want to buy a heavy gaming laptop because they feel like overkill as I can build an amazing rig with their price but I don't want to build a gaming rig yet because I'm waiting for the next big thing in CPU/GPU tech. I'm afraid if I buy the parts now they'll announce something amazing the next day, lol.
 
I kind of regret getting a 7870 which I got a month ago to upgrade from a 4870. It was only £100 and was good for the money but I feel the 7870 won't be able to keep up when truly next gen games release in the coming years. I should have got something with at least 4GB video RAM.
 
I both love and hate my Fractal Design Define Mini. I love how it's super quiet and the relatively small size and it's "boring" looks make my partner happy.

But it can be a nightmare to work with. Specifically, the back panel is extremely hard to take on and off and there's very little space behind the motherboard tray. Also, the HSF cutout in the motherboard tray is no where near the mounting area on my Asus Gene Z.

I've been thinking of replacing it with the Corsair 350D, but I checked out the 350D at Microcenter and the build quality seems worse and I have doubts it would be as quiet.
 
I haven't bothered with an ssd yet. How do you guys handle your steam folder? My bandwidth cap makes it difficult to be constantly uninstalling and reinstalling games. I have my steam folder on a 1tb drive and it is half full.

The one regret I tried to alleviate the last build was to get a silver stone case that lets me swap CPUs without changing the motherboard. Only thing is that the rig now weighs a ton!
 
1. I bought a 2500K just before the release of Ivy Bridge CPU.
2. I bought a 560Ti just before the release of Kepler.
3. I bought a Fractal Design R3 case just an handful of months before the release of the R4 (and its 4 USB plugs on the front).

1 I can live with, CPU is a beast and can be overclocked; 2 will be addressed in the coming months and/or as soon as the 770 has a new drop in price; 3, though... :(
 
Kabouter said:
I guess I never use the €12 DVD burner I put in my most recent PC, and I sort of knew that ahead of time, but still felt I'd be better off getting one since you never know and it's cheap. That's about it though, I got lots of good advice on other components from GAF and people I know, and I'm pretty damn happy with everything so far.
Click to expand...
I have no regrets in regards to the ability to use it but it does hardly get used. I think I've only opened it to copy my brother in laws fitness DVD for him to take on the road and to backup data on my own. Probably only used it purposefully to install Windows but these days it's all about dat USB.

isb said:
Getting a non-modular PSU.
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I went non modular for my pre-2500k rig which had an AMD dual core Phenom CPU. I liked the PSU (OCZ) but the wire mess made me stick with fully modular for the future.

I had regret with that particular 2500k rig but my 3930k rig was a fully unadulterated great rig. I even got that Samsung "miracle" RAM and got it to OC to 2133. It's going to be a little heartbreaking to part ways with this rig but I'm sure someone out there would love what I have once they see all I'm selling with it.
 
I spent $400 on a GTX780. I might regret that in the future. But not today. Today, life is good.
 
Oh lord. I bought 2 9800 GX2's when they came out. One worked better than both in SLI. I was able to use EVGA's step-up program and get a GTX 280 for one of them. Soooo much better. The other I sold on ebay. Later the guy tells me it blew up along with the rest of his PC. I RMA'd it for him but no luck, they wouldn't accept it. :(
 
I don't regret anything recent. My first build, hoo boy.

Really wish I had gotten a better case than an Antec 300. I also way overspent on the motherboard (>$200 IIRC) and underspent on the GPU (<$150).

On the bright side I did a great job with the PSU, forgot the exact model but it was a Seasonic built Corsair 450W. That thing is still going strong in my brother's PC. I'll never go non-modular again though.
 
Getting a 60 GB Vertex3 SSD, along with a GTX 580 with 1.5 GB of RAM.

Now that I have less money, I completely regret changing these when I first bought it in 2011 :(
 
My current build is going on 4 years old now. I can't really regret much of what I bought considering it was a budget build and handled everything well so far (~£450 athlon x3 440, 5770, 4gb ram, win7). Theres a few things I'd have done differently though if I had spent an extra few hundred.

-Probably should have gone for the 1tb hdd instead of a 500gb. It wasn't that much extra, and the extra space would be nice. Then again, I only use ~200gb anyway.

-Would have made more sense to just get an external dvd drive for more flexibility, instead of an internal. Could have used it for all pc's etc.

-I probably could have got an i5 750 + board + cooler and then OC for an extra ~150. Would last a year or two longer as I think this cpu is pretty much ready for an upgrade at this point.

-The case is a mixed blessing. I cheaped out and got a coolermaster case for ~£30 and its pretty much average. A better case might have been wiser, but at the same time I only *really* like the more recent cases like the Define R4/mini and Arc Midi R2/Mini R2, so maybe its best I didn't bother.

-Should have taken advantage of the cheap ram prices a year or two back. Especially that samsung ram everyone raved about.

The 5770 is a champ though. With the games in my steam backlog, I can probably make it to 2015 with this thing (touch wood).
 
- wouldn't have bought a msi motherboard for overclocking, its still rma at the moment :(
- will check in the future for 4-pin fans after the mistake of buying 2 blue led corsair fans that go vrooom at ~1500rpm without being able to slow it down.
 
Actually, I kind of regret my NH-D14. Totally awesome cooler, but the thing is too damn big. Broke the plastic pin on the PCI-e slot when I swapped my GPU earlier this month and I can't swap out my RAM without removing the thing.
 
Getting an i5-750 instead of an i7-920 in my current build. The number of games that actually benefit from the the extra threads that I've played over the years is practically nil, but I still want them.
 
Durante said:
I regret buying a i7 920 5 years ago, since it's so good that I still can't talk myself into upgrading.
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This has also kept me from upgrading. The core of my build is still from 2009. Motherboard, cpu, ram (but much more now) and even videocard (but added a 2nd 5850). I still feel like I could put a powerful new videocard into this setup because that's how good my i7 920 @4.2GHz is..

I'm very worried that this gpu purchase will be my first real regret though. I'll probably stick it out until Witcher 3 comes out and see how things perform at that time. Hopefully the cryptocurrency crap has cooled down by then too.
 
oneils said:
I haven't bothered with an ssd yet. How do you guys handle your steam folder? My bandwidth cap makes it difficult to be constantly uninstalling and reinstalling games. I have my steam folder on a 1tb drive and it is half full.
Click to expand...

What I used to do when I had Steam installed on my SSD but wanted the games on my HDD was move the entire steamapps folder to the HDD and use Link Shell Extension to create a junction point back in the folder's normal place. You can think of a junction as a shortcut in the NTFS file system itself, so that anything that tries to access the junction is seamlessly directed to the other drive instead. For games I did want on my SSD I'd just move them back onto it someplace and create another junction. There's also a program called Steam Mover that does much the same but on a game by game basis and may be easier to use, but I've never tried it.

Of course now I got a 500GB SSD just to keep Steam and all my games on. Prices have really fallen!
 
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