31 replies to this topic

[miniQ]

No i hav'nt watercooled before but ive been planning this build for a good part of 1 year now lol...since new components come out every 6 months it's a case of keeping up to date, understanding what games you are going to be playing and finding the best bargians and combinations. I could run an 850W enermax but decided to stick with a 1250W as it gives me plenty of headway and when i want to update my rig in a few years i know it will be up to the job. Also you could say the 920 has been replaced but you can still buy it on the market and i believe it's still the best option i am looking into the i7 950 though, it looks good. I want to build a dream pc here but without overkill. I'm sure ill have fun playing crysis 2 with this rig and be happy with my choices.

AND to anyone who has got confused thiking i play WoW is wrong. That game was created by the devil.
ATM i still stick with cod4 promod,zombies,freezetag,jumper mods.
MW2 failed and black ops looks like it might go down that route as well... atm the games i look forward to are: Mirrors edge 2 and crysis 2

Edited by miniQ, 13 September 2010 - 12:00 AM.

[foxfan]

Cheers for all the advice, i'm pretty much sorted on my spec now, but its given me another problem. I was gonna try WOW again because I was a bit bored in the evenings, but to be honest I stopped playing WOW because IT got boring (took me ages to get my Night elf hunter to level 65). Any suggestions on good games now that i'm soon gonna be owning a decent spec pc ?

[danrock101]

Cheers for all the advice, i'm pretty much sorted on my spec now, but its given me another problem. I was gonna try WOW again because I was a bit bored in the evenings, but to be honest I stopped playing WOW because IT got boring (took me ages to get my Night elf hunter to level 65). Any suggestions on good games now that i'm soon gonna be owning a decent spec pc ?

lol less of the talk of WoW, I'm a recovering WoWoholic, with the release of the new exspansion getting closer I don't know what to do lol,
to be honest, the best games arn't always the ones that require a good PC, I loved the half life games! Buy orange box, you'll get portal with it, CoD, You say you're 65 on your hunter, get to 68 and then go to northrend, you can get XP in BGs now too, it's alot better to level, oh and there's the random dungeon thing now. Doesn't take any time at all to get to 80 now.
Depends what kind of games you like

[Deathrow]

danrock101, it's not always that clean cut.

Alot of processors (at least back in the LGA775 days (yes, I am speaking in the past tense )) there were varying FSB speeds, if you bought a processor that used an 800MHz FSB and bought a motherboard which only went as high as a 553MHz FSB, the chip would work but you wouldn't be getting anywhere near the performance you should be out of your chip.

Then you've got to take in to account things like these "upgrade" boards some companies sell, the prime example that jumps to mind for me was the board my Dad bought like a lemon. It had both an AGP slot and a PCI-E slot to allow you to upgrade your graphics card at a later date. Yeah great, I can whack my PCI-E x16 graphics card in a PCI-E slot which will only run at 8x or even 4x because the chipset used in the board is incapable as it's a hacked up AGP chipset.

I think you mistook what I was getting at though, I was talking about people who spend £200 on a new CPU and then pop it in to a £12 motherboard, complete false economy. You can't expect that board to work anywhere near as good as a decent board or for anywhere near as long. A half decent mobo only costs what, £40-60 these days. Why skimp?

Power supplies are another one. If you buy a £15 case off eBuyer and it comes with a 600w PSU, don't except it to give 600w, it won't. Just buy a decent brand and you'll be happy sailing!

I agree with you eniterely about water cooling though! I think it's one of those things you've just got to do, but when you do you think "Well this is a lot of messing about for some pretty tubes!". In the end it got too nerve racking for me as I had a few leaks.

Here are some pictures of my old loops:
http://i813.photobuc...ld/100_6520.jpg
http://i36.photobuck...9/berth2o02.jpg
http://i36.photobuck...9/berth2o01.jpg

foxfan, what spec have you settled on? Games wise, it depends what sort of thing you're in to. I got a bit addicted to Battlefield: Bad Company 2 when it was in the Steam sale a few months ago.

[danrock101]

ahh I wasn't sure how cheap you meant, I'd never trust a £12 board, £40-60 will get you a decent LGA775 board but you're looking at £140 ish for a x58, but say I brought a 1066mhz core 2 duo chip, and brought a 800mhz max board, it will not work. I thought you couldn't down clock bus speed?

[Deathrow]

Yeah, I wouldn't trust any of those boards either, but people still buy them. The mind boggles!

I'm pretty sure it would work, it just won't run at the speed it's rated at, the mobo would bottle neck it. It definitly works that way for RAM but I'm pretty confident it does with a CPU too. I'm happy to be corrected though as it's not somehing I've had experience with myself first hand.

[danrock101]

Yeah, I wouldn't trust any of those boards either, but people still buy them. The mind boggles!

I'm pretty sure it would work, it just won't run at the speed it's rated at, the mobo would bottle neck it. It definitly works that way for RAM but I'm pretty confident it does with a CPU too. I'm happy to be corrected though as it's not somehing I've had experience with myself first hand.

Yes you can downclock ram as I had 2000mhz ddr3 to go in my 790i but it wouldn't run at 2000... had to run it at 1600 to enable me to overclock my cpu, I got a feeling you could downclock some older single core chips but I can't see it happening on say a core 2 duo
Most CPUs have the FSB fixed/locked anyway

Edited by danrock101, 14 September 2010 - 12:01 AM.

[Deathrow]

Yeah, I'm not sure on the newer chips without whacking one in and trying it.

Anyway, we shouldn't corrupt the innocents with our experiments haha.

[danrock101]

Yeah, I'm not sure on the newer chips without whacking one in and trying it.

Anyway, we shouldn't corrupt the innocents with our experiments haha.

lol

[Guess-Works.com]

God I've been out of the PC building game too long, I don't have a clue what parts you're recommending... however, here's a word from an old timer....

If you're building your own, decide first on your processor, then a branded mobo to stick it on and compatible memory, unless you get that right then you'll be forever cursing..

another vendor for part you may want to try...

http://www.stak.com

[davidv]

Nice Builds on links above.A good spec. does cost so much bought or built.I use a Gold Pedator Accer system but it did cost a lot.The Spec. is so high and a nice hudge case.If you can find a secound hand Blue one at a fair price they are still very good for Games.Water cooled is standard on them.

[bunch1980]

I built one for first time last year read all sorts about it, and can easily get to carried away with spending to much. Speaking others who done it before also seemed to add more confusion as peeps all have different opinions on whats best.
I found www.scan.co.uk good prices for what i wanted and have there daily deal sales offers.
I went for an acrylic ultra violet reacting cube case in end sure does look bee knees all lit up now and a front fan that has leds to say something when its spinning lol!

Edited by bunch1980, 14 September 2010 - 09:45 AM.

[bobs]

I've built every PC I've owned ever (apart from my BBC Basic) I don't trust so called computer shops.

Novatech is a great source, and if you live near their stores even better.

As mentioned above NEVER skimp on a PSU, and don't use the one that came with the case, good cases don't come with a PSU... I swear by Tagen, does "watt" it says on the box also...

I fried an Asus board's onboard P amps and an AMD chip learning this lesson, the surface mounted componets slid down the motherboard, I have it framed at home, it's an awesome warning and cool geeky art. I like Asus, I personally avoid intel and gigabyte from experience and any other, my choice tho...

My PC was top spec about 4-5 years ago, I need a new one soon, but the mini is more important, it cost nearly 2k and I've easily upgraded to keep up with HD video processing and most games, although it's DX9. I like Nvidia.

I only really play CS:Source lately, always seem to come back to it... I only bought a DVD drive for my PC for HL2 that's how much I love Steam and couldn't wait for that bodged download launch!

Did I mention Steam...?

[Deathrow]

Steeeeaaaammmm!

We all hated it when they forced us on to it with CS1.6 but now it's awesome.

Bobs, I'd like to see some pictures of your geek art!

[bobs]

Steeeeaaaammmm!

We all hated it when they forced us on to it with CS1.6 but now it's awesome.

Bobs, I'd like to see some pictures of your geek art!

"It's at A" I mean home through the "Double Doors" ARRGH, anyone else see a crosshair then?

I'll get one when I'm next in for you, it's basically consists of a coaster and a slightly melted motherboard on my mantlepiece, I don't charge admission, but donations towards my art are appreciated, also there is a overpriced gift shop...as you leave.

STEEEEAM, agreed, hated it when it came out, love it now, also solves this common problem "why will my brother want for Christmas?" gift of a game... sorted. (or mini bits...)