king grimlock
Member
Hmm.. I'll check everything when I get home but I listened to a few videos of that HDD clicking and that's not quite what it sounds like, it's more like a whirring sound that is constant.
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"I Need a New PC!" 2015 Part 2. Read the OP. Rocking 2500K's until HBM2 and beyond.
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twozerotwo
Member
If you're willing to take the risk..
Cheap Windows licenses can be bought from reddit's microsoftsoftwareswap for cheap, around $20 USD or less. Windows 10 licenses are also available for $30~40. These are most likely legitimate keys that are resold from educational programs like Technet or MSDNAA/Dreamspark. However, you are dealing with a person instead of a retailer, and informal Windows keys sales are not approved by Microsoft and probably breaking some licensing agreement, but it's not illegal. The risks involved are that the person could be selling you a fake or used key, or that Microsoft may refuse to give you support and/or deactivate your license and refuse to reactivate it. That's not very likely, usually it only happens if the seller and their list of sold keys was caught. We've had people here using those keys without issues for a long time and others who say Microsoft deactivated their key after several months. These keys should be upgradeable to Windows 10, but confirm with the seller to be sure, of course.
Coulomb_Barrier
Member
Rome 2: Total War. Even though vanilla game is weakest in series, graphics at max are sweet and you should be able to mod it so that an ordinary game becomes excellent. Oh yeah mods: PC is good for them too
CreepingFear
Member
Scored a 6700k!
Shining Sunshine
Banned
Well shit. My video just went balistic with artifacting all over the place when I left it on overnight.
Hope it's a one off.
Hope it's a one off.
An1malhouse365
Neo Member
If you want to check your system specs, use a program like Speccy. Building an HTPC for $400 is definitely doable. Will you need any additional things like keyboard, mouse, or Windows?
Here's a starting build to consider:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor ($64.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus H81M-D PLUS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($49.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Team Dark 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($37.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Toshiba Product Series
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($32.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($34.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $268.83
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-09-21 11:32 EDT-0400
I've personally built a very similar PC and it proved capable of playing just about any media I could throw at it. The processor is more than capable enough.
That should leave more than enough budget for you to upgrade your other PC with additional hard drive space and RAM.
Thank You so much. This is a great guide to follow. I see on pcpartpicker it mentions that some Intel H81 chipset motherboards may need a BIOS update prior to using Haswell Refresh CPUs. What does this mean?
And I've already narrowed my sights down to a Silverstone ML04 case for aesthetics, as it'll be sitting in my entertainment center. Any downsides to this?
And I won't be needing another mouse/keyboard but yes I'll be needing windows for both this setup and a gaming PC that I'm almost done building ( completely independent from this build). Again, never bought a windows key before. Is there a package I can buy to upgrade all 3 pc's? Gaming, current pc/media server, and htpc Currently using windows 7 professional.
The warning about the H81 motherboard refers to the fact that the parts list includes a newer processor with an older motherboard. They are technically compatible, it's just that the H81 motherboard when first released did not come with full support for all future processors. A BIOS update is needed for the motherboard to accept all compatible processors that would be released in the future. In all likelihood, H81 motherboards sold today should come from the factory with a recent enough BIOS version to support the processor I suggested for you unless it has been super old stock that has been sitting on the shelves since before the middle of 2014.
If you want to be sure it will be compatible, you can contact the retailer and ask them what BIOS revision the motherboard is shipping with.
There are no downsides to the Silverstone ML04 case, it will be compatible with and fit all of the parts in that part list.
Tell me if what I am about to say is correct: You're building a new HTPC so that will need a new Windows license of it's own. Then you have the current PC which already has Windows 7 which you can upgrade to Windows 10 for free, and then you have the gaming PC that you last talked about in August? That one will also need a new Windows license of its own. It seems like you will need two new licenses and you can just keep using your existing Windows 7 license (or upgrade it to Windows 10) on the PC that you are currently using.
How much do you want to spend for Windows licenses? Other than the usual way of paying $85~90 for each retail Windows licenses, there is a somewhat risky but cheap way to get cheaper licenses.
Cheap Windows licenses can be bought from reddit's microsoftsoftwareswap for cheap, around $20 USD or less. Windows 10 licenses are also available for $30~40. These are most likely legitimate keys that are resold from educational programs like Technet or MSDNAA/Dreamspark. However, you are dealing with a person instead of a retailer, and informal Windows keys sales are not approved by Microsoft and probably breaking some licensing agreement, but it's not illegal. The risks involved are that the person could be selling you a fake or used key, or that Microsoft may refuse to give you support and/or deactivate your license and refuse to reactivate it. That's not very likely, usually it only happens if the seller and their list of sold keys was caught. We've had people here using those keys without issues for a long time and others who say Microsoft deactivated their key after several months. These keys should be upgradeable to Windows 10, but confirm with the seller to be sure, of course.
A bit off-topic perhaps but..
I will need a chair. And a desk, though i know roughly what i'm going to get.
But chair. I've noticed Ikea Markus is getting good rep. Obviously a consideration. But what about the slightly cheaper Malkolm? Anyone used it?
(Desk i'll get from Ikea as well, probably a Micke.)
One i've made those choices, i have chosen more or less everything. Then i'll just need to clean my room, and start ordering stuff. I expect total price for everything, with shipping, will be a bit over 2000, perhaps 2150-2200 at most.
I will need a chair. And a desk, though i know roughly what i'm going to get.
But chair. I've noticed Ikea Markus is getting good rep. Obviously a consideration. But what about the slightly cheaper Malkolm? Anyone used it?
(Desk i'll get from Ikea as well, probably a Micke.)
One i've made those choices, i have chosen more or less everything. Then i'll just need to clean my room, and start ordering stuff. I expect total price for everything, with shipping, will be a bit over 2000, perhaps 2150-2200 at most.
Thanks! The Saphire sounds like a good choice and fits within the price range I was looking for. But like you mentioned, a new CPU would benefit me for my needs more. Perhaps a FX 8350 would be a good CPU choice?
Basically I intended to have both ghosting done and new graphics card installed, possibly before I decide on doing a full format clean install of Windows 10 (something about Microsoft servers keeping tabs on the hardware of your setup), but I also needed the SSD as a scratchspace for illustration programs and game creation software.
Jag
Member
I bought my Windows key from that subreddit at RGMs recommendation and it was a valid, working key that is now running fine on my PC. Just don't be super cheap like me and buy the Window 8 key since it was a pain in the ass to find a pure 8 ISO in order to upgrade to 8.1 so I could upgrade to 10. (ie: buy an 8.1 for a few bucks more). I think I paid like 12 bucks. It was worth the risk and the sellers get a ton of positive feedback.
Shining Sunshine
Banned
While I did say you'd need a better CPU to do what you want to do, I still wouldn't recommend a better CPU in your situation.
According to your motherboard's supported CPU list, it doesn't list the FX-8350. It may still work anyway, but the issue is that the motherboard is cleared for use with processors that produce 95 watts of thermal design power while the FX-8350 produces a 125 watt TDP. Read here for more information, but basically speaking, heat/airflow/cooling will be a issue for certain AMD motherboards and you should take care with that.
In your specific case I don't think I'd recommend the FX-8350. To put it simply, too hot for your motherboard especially if you value reliability. I don't know how long you intend to keep your current system for, but you might be better served by saving up and replacing both CPU and motherboard rather than just getting a stopgap CPU for now. AMD's AM3+ platform is already pretty much dead and any future upgrades you want to do will require replacing the motherboard and processor anyway.
It's somewhat hard to recommend buying an FX-6XXX or FX-8XXX processor because at this point, Intel has outstripped AMD in terms of performance. Their i3 processors (dual core with hyperthreading) can even beat AMD FX-6XXX or FX-8XXX processors in some games. There are still a few games that can take advantage of the 6 or 8 cores of the higher end AMD FX processors and still compete favorably with Intel processors, but it's not a good enough reason to recommend sticking with or buying into AMD FX at this point or in the future.
If you're still interested in keeping the motherboard and upgrading to a better AMD FX processor, there are some 95 watt processors you can upgrade to that are supported: The FX-6300 for $97 or the FX-8320E for $125. If you need any more performance than that, then you're out of luck, you're going to have to go with a new processor and motherboard.
So yeah, in the end I still recommend either saving up for a new PC or going with that Sapphire R9 380 graphics card.
Thanks for the feedback, always good to know that it worked out for those that tried it.
The seller should have provided download links for you, but it's your choice if you wanted to find an alternative download for the OS.
Burgess_101
Member
Before I go ahead and pick up an R9 390, does anybody that have it here have any views on the card? Also especially views from people that jumped from Nvidia to AMD. I have had cards from AMD before and wasn't impressed with the whole driver malarkey but it seems from a look at my brothers one they have stepped up their game a bit.
I got all the parts in to fix my pc which had fried (odorous burnt smell). I picked up a p8z77-v lx and a 960 strix to go with my existing 2600k, ram and power supply.
I turn the pc on and I get nodisplay from the on board or from the strix. When it powers on, it'll reboot two times quickly and then just run but I have no visual.
I removed the strix and tried only onboard. I also tried only 1 of the memory sticks at a time with the same outcome.
The mobo I purchased is a refurb and does not have a speaker built in. It does have a "Dram_led" which is supposed to indicate if there is an issue. When I power on, it lights up for a second, and then goes away. Right before the reboot, it lights up and then cycles.
I'm inclined to think that it is the memory as the CPU is really hard to have issues with (IIRC) as long as it is seated. My power is good. Am I right in thinking this?
BB has PNY 8gb (2x4) for sale (DDR3 1600) for 50 bucks. I was thinking about running out and picking it up to test. Can I return if it isn't the ram?
I turn the pc on and I get nodisplay from the on board or from the strix. When it powers on, it'll reboot two times quickly and then just run but I have no visual.
I removed the strix and tried only onboard. I also tried only 1 of the memory sticks at a time with the same outcome.
The mobo I purchased is a refurb and does not have a speaker built in. It does have a "Dram_led" which is supposed to indicate if there is an issue. When I power on, it lights up for a second, and then goes away. Right before the reboot, it lights up and then cycles.
I'm inclined to think that it is the memory as the CPU is really hard to have issues with (IIRC) as long as it is seated. My power is good. Am I right in thinking this?
BB has PNY 8gb (2x4) for sale (DDR3 1600) for 50 bucks. I was thinking about running out and picking it up to test. Can I return if it isn't the ram?
You'll have to confer with Best Buy if you can return it. I don't know what their policy is.
While CPUs themselves rarely go bad from normal operation or even overclocking (when properly set) it's not unheard for a power supply to ruin other parts, including the CPU..
CreepingFear
Member
They had like 4-6 6700k's at the Tustin Micro Center when I was there about an hour and a half ago. There was 2 in case and I believe the sales man said they had like 4 in back. The web site in store tracker was not accurate when it said sold out.
Thanks. New memory did not fix the issue. I removed it all from the case as I was concerned about grounding but not the case.
Now I'm stuck. I'm not sure if I should try and get a new board as the refurbished may be bad or buy another lga1155.
It just power cycles three times now and on the fourth cycle, the dram led blinks 3 times. I've read that this does/doesn't mean anything, can't get a clear answer.
I verified yet again that I'm getting good voltage out of the power supply.
opticalmace
Member
Does the manual not say anything about the blinking dram light?
Haloid1177
Banned
Anyone know how I should troubleshoot the network connection on my new PC? It's way slower than my old computer in that regard. Checked for driver updates and it did nothing.
No. Here is the page from the manual
http://imgur.com/9l1zWJg
Sorry, on mobile.
Edit: gave asus a call, they were very nice. Within warranty, they are having me send it in. They did not have the code btw for what the led means.
We'll see when it gets back if it is indeed the CPU.
I tried that & it still turns on by itself.
No
Motherboard: Asus Z97I Plus
CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K
Memory: Kingston HyperX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866
OS: Windows 10 pro
Burgess_101
Member
So I'm pretty sure I just killed my motherboard. I'm done, I'm not doing computers anymore.
opticalmace
Member
What happened?
Burgess_101
Member
I was trying fix my water cooling, I just added a cable to my PSU when my loop started making a funny noise. Should have just left it really because all it ended up with was me making worse. No idea how the mobo died, I didn't think any nonconductive liquid could do the job, maybe I just fucked up somehow. Tried battery and CMOS no luck. Plugged in a spare mobo and that works so it must be the board.
I sat here 4 hours trying to fix this problem just to find out I broke my motherboard.
It's my birthday tomorrow and I must say its positively ruined everything.
I sat here 4 hours trying to fix this problem just to find out I broke my motherboard.
It's my birthday tomorrow and I must say its positively ruined everything.
Burgess_101
Member
It just powered up for a second... I don't know if I can save this...
Burgess_101
Member
Oh my God it's alive, its a Christmas miracle.
Burgess_101
Member
It died again but at least I saw it boot so I have to figure what the problem is. First thing, I'm done with water cooling. Giving me nothing but issues from day one.
Custom loop or water block?
Burgess_101
Member
Custom.
When I get it working its fantastic but its not worth hassle it brings. Going to invest in a good quiet heatsink I think.
I just hope the motherboard lives, I can't be starting again with all the windows crap, I just did that and I got it the way I like it.
Ooh, ok. Yeah I don't do custom loops.
Haloid1177
Banned
Also, does anyone have a game recommendation (that isn't Crysis) for testing out a new machine? Kinda thinking GTAV but not sure.
Also, try disabling Windows hibernation.
Celcius
°Temp. member
I've found Battlefield 3/4 good for testing stability of both cpu's and videocards.
Did you get a leak? If not, maybe, static electricity damage the MB. Did you ground yourself and discharge the PC before messing around inside the case?
Burgess_101
Member
Well it seems to be working again but it won't turn on again now and I am not sure how it I got it to start working in the first place.
ASUS Announces ROG Maximus VIII Extreme
This is the top of the line of Asus' Republic of Gamers brand motherboards. ...This is based on the Intel Z170 Express chipset and LGA 1151 socket.
This is formal reveal, after multiple teases.
Stupid Question: Generally speaking, how long does it usually take for a component to be revealed until it begins being sold in online stores? (NewEgg, Amazon, Tiger Direct, etc)
I want this....like, yesterday.
This is the top of the line of Asus' Republic of Gamers brand motherboards. ...This is based on the Intel Z170 Express chipset and LGA 1151 socket.
This is formal reveal, after multiple teases.
Stupid Question: Generally speaking, how long does it usually take for a component to be revealed until it begins being sold in online stores? (NewEgg, Amazon, Tiger Direct, etc)
I want this....like, yesterday.
Vulcano's assistant
Banned
It's weird, sometimes. iirc x99 boards were revealed the same day that they launched (there was an NDA). i5 6600 isn't available to buy yet even though you can buy his overclokable twin.
Shining Sunshine
Banned
Dead mobo?
When I bought mine at NCIX, they opened the box and displayed the chip pins to me to make sure they're not bent because bent pins aren't covered in the warranty.
MrOogieBoogie
BioShock Infinite is like playing some homeless guy's vivid imagination
Actually, I screwed up the link I submitted earlier.
Here are my PC parts.
Okay, so do you still recommend a 380 or 960 for my system? Which one is generally considered better? Will either one be incredibly bottle-necked by my CPU, and do I need to get more RAM? If so, same brand I currently have, or just add new RAM? And should I really not worry that I'm supplying all this juice with a 430psu?
An1malhouse365
Neo Member
Thanks for clearing that up. I'll most likely be ordering from amazon so who knows how old their stock might be.
You hit right on the nose with the window licenses. I should be ordering the last of my parts for my gaming pc next week or so. Just trying to plan ahead with the htpc to jump right in afterwards. I think I'll try buying the OS from reddit tho. Seems secure enough.
First review of the A4-SFX mini-ITX case (German)
http://www.computerbase.de/2015-09/...s-kleinste-gaming-gehaeuse-der-welt-kann-was/
Seems like it has temperature problems (well, according to Google Translate).
http://www.computerbase.de/2015-09/...s-kleinste-gaming-gehaeuse-der-welt-kann-was/
Seems like it has temperature problems (well, according to Google Translate).
My bad, I might have underestimated how much wattage the R9 380 takes. Still might be alright, though.
The Radeon 6850 seems to generally draw around 140 watts of power. Compare that to the GTX 960 which draws a bit over 120 watts of power or so, and the R9 380 which draws just under 200 watts of power.
Yes.. your PSU does run under the recommended wattage (and only outputs 336 watts (older model) or 384 watts (newer model) for the 12V line which powers graphics cards and CPU and whatnot), but it should be still be alright. I won't lie, it is low, but wattage recommendations are usually a bit higher than what is actually needed to run the graphics card so as to be a safe statement by the manufacturer. If you want to be safe, then go for the GTX 960.
As my understanding is, the i3 2100 should draw around 80~90 watts (source:[1][2]), the motherboard may account for 25~40 watts, and then you can add in the wattage consumption of the graphics card. Things like hard drives and fans are usually very small numbers (less than ~10 watts each according to that last link) and nearly negligible. If you want, you could also get a new power supply, but what you should go for will depend on how much you can spend.
The i3 2100 is not great, but will still be somewhat OK for gaming. It's a bottleneck, but not something that will prevent you from playing games at all. Honestly, it'll depend on the kinds of games you play.
As for RAM, 4GB is the minimum. According to this article 8GB is the sweet spot for games. It's fairly cheap to get another 4GB of RAM to add to your existing 4GB, so that should be something you should be aiming for.
Are you ordering all of your parts from Amazon? I could rework the parts list for best cost from there.
j0hnny_385
Member
Adwcleaner is pretty good too.
https://toolslib.net/downloads/viewdownload/1-adwcleaner/
My main anti virus software is Avira, I use Malwarebytes from time to time and adwcleaner just in case.
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