The Computer Question Thread

[Lone_Bullet]

Get an adblocking app?

Not a bad idea ofcourse, but I want to know the reason behind the lagfest.

Why only at these ad spaces that show several ads at once? 

 

[amateurstuntman]

It's probably the app forcing the ads to load first.

 

The easiest solution is also a huge time saver.

Either give up Facebook completely or only ever go on there on a PC once a day.

[Lone_Bullet]

Myeah... I should

I read 2 digital papers trough FB, but I think I can read them on the website as well...

Well fine, I'll limit my FB at work usage

[amateurstuntman]

I did it, it was tough for a few days and I nearly missed my friend's stag do but things are much better now.

[Xaccers]

Don't you just love it when an "IT Professional" governor comes out with "£9000 to replace the wireless? Rubbish, you can do it for fifty quid!" and you now have to write a short essay to send to him on why you can't actually do it for fifty quid.

[amateurstuntman]

Ask him to recommend the parts to do the job for £50.

Fit them.

Document the whole thing.

Point and laugh.

[Tinkerton]

Get him to sign something that says any network security issues, copyright infringements, data protection breaches and acts of cyber terrorism will be the sole responsibility of him, the new IT expert.

[Xaccers]

Oh we'd love to do all that, like there's so many times I'd love to use https://lmgtfy.com/ when replying to teachers.

 

Last week I got a call saying they wanted to play a BBC iPlayer video for the kids, but the website said they had to register, could I please come to the other end of the school and register for them! Pointing out it was a simple form and would require their own information so I wouldn't be much help didn't stop them demanding I head over to do it, so in the end I just said I'd love to but I'm far too busy.

[hitmanNo2]

I like to use 'So what part of this are you struggling with exactly?'  Get them to state out loud how lazy they are.  Often they don't bother and just do it.  Sometimes they'll explain, pause and then say 'never mind' when they realize how lazy they are coming across.

[Tommygunn]

Afternoon,

This morning, out of the blue, I decided I needed to upgrade my computer - after 10 years!

To put it simply I want to rebuild my computer, as a gaming rig, so that it is capable of running Battlefield 1 and to include a modicum of future proofing. Beyond gaming, I will only be doing some video editing (nothing special) and the usual comp stuff.

 

My current setup is as follows:

Intel E6400 Dual Core

Asus P5W DH Deluxe

Corsair 4GB (2x 2GB) 800MHz C5 DDR2

Sapphire HD 6850

Western Digital WD10EAVS 1Tb

Enermax Modu87+ (600W)

 

It looks as though the only components that are re-usable are the HD and the PSU, so I lay myself open to your advice.

 

My budget would be around €600-800 (£550-700 / $700-950) - I might be persuaded to part with a bit more.

 

Of course, I'm going to do some further research, but for now, if you'd like to offer some advice it would be most appreciated as I am somewhat out of the loop after 10 years.

 

Cheers,

Tom.

[DrAlexanderTobacco]

The best thing to do IMO is to head over to a parts comparison site like www.logicalincrements.com - It'll give you a good idea of the rough lay of the land, and what could fit into your budget.

 

The HDD is reusable, but after 10 years you might honestly want to consider upgrading to an SSD (solid state drive, much faster) for your main operating system drive, and use the HDD as a place to dump games for the time being. That way if the drive dies (all HDDs die after a while, 10 years is pushing it!) you won't have to reinstall OS.

 

Did you have any games in mind you wanted to play?

[amateurstuntman]

You are right in the 1080p sweet spot there.

 

An i5 or Ryzen 5 and a decent GPU and you are squared.

 

Is your monitor acceptable?

 

Logical Increments is flipping brilliant.

[Lone_Bullet]

Jay2Cents, a pc tech YT channel, just make a video of him building 2 500 dollar cases. Us dollar, that is.

Also, second hand market is awesome for cases and possibly non OC motherboards and CPU's.

 

Sent from my C6603 using Tapatalk

[amateurstuntman]

Yeah, 500 USD somehow works out as being the same as 500 GBP when it comes to 'puter parts.

[Tommygunn]

Thanks gents,

 

DrAlexanderTobacco,

Thanks for the link, very useful and will give me a good start for further research.

Concerning the HD, it is actually a replacement for the original which started to go bad. I also have another 1Tb HD as a backup.

I think your right concerning the SSD. If I buy one I'll use it for instant access needs such as the OS, games etc and leave all my slow stuff; photos, docs, films etc on the HD.

 

The only recent game I have in mind at the moment is BF1, my other games on my current machine are; BFBC2, CodMW2, Company of Heroes.

 

 

Amateur,

I think the only thing I'm half sure about at the moment is that I will go with an i5 of 6600 and above.

 

My monitor is not acceptable (Samsung 920n 5:4) along with my OS, but I'm treating them as secondary to the more complicated process of component choice.

 

 

Lone_Bullet,

I would not be adverse to second hand when it comes to CPU, GPU, M/Board or RAM, I have certainly considered it.

 

 

 

Ok. Concerning the principle components, what parts should I prioritise (spend the money on to make a difference). Are we talking something along the lines of CPU/GPU first and foremost, followed by RAM then the Mobo?

 

Secondly, what OS is currently in vogue? Personally, I am, and always have been, a fan of XP which is why I like W7 and hated W8 when it came out and that raises concerns about W10, amongst other things. I do not like the app style.

 

Tom.

 

[hitmanNo2]

Yeah.  I'm a fan of Win7.  You can tweak Win10 to be similar to Win7.  There are a few annoying issues but it's not too bad.  Certainly a million miles away from that pile of dog what is Win8.

[amateurstuntman]

Win 10 spies on you constantly, except the Chinese market version of it.  Not even kidding.

 

I hate it.

 

I use Win 7 and Linux.

 

If your monitor is garbage then plan on getting a high refresh rate 1080p monitor, at least 144hz and either Freesync or G-Sync is very important.

 

Remember choosing between G-Sync and Free Sync ties you in to a GPU manufacturer.

 

I would not get a 6600 processor, at £200 it is too high a proportion of your budget.

You should look to spend about £200 on your GPU and then get the rest of the machine for £300.

 

You are in the GTX 1060 / Rx480 / Rx570 department there, don't pay over the odds due to those mining knobs.

 

Now, I know this isn't the right place to do this but I have a z170a mobo with RAM and a 6600k on it that I was going to sell.

I don't know if it works but I could check it out and let you know...

[Tinkerton]

I'm happy with my RX480, but tbh you dont need the full 8gb of GDDR.

[Lone_Bullet]

Alright. It's a lot for 500 quid.

You want a good monitor. Fast, synced and at least 1080p. IPS is a plus if you like good colouring. So I'd suggest you don't buy one yet and save up for a nice one.

Cpu, mobo and ram are not developing in great leaps for the average user. The most interesting thing for a common user is 'instructions per clockcycle' and if you're paying your own bills ' performance per Watt '. Ram? Meh. Get 3000 mhz and you're certainly good. Check compatibility. Motherboards, it depends what extra's you want. ASUS prime boards are performance minded withouth going all out of gadgets. But even a budget 80 quid board will not hold you back.

Study the features. Usb 3.0 is nice to have, m.2 is nice, but expensive and NVMe is unusable for the common user. Overclocking is nice for intel, but don't if you're out of your water there.

ATI Rx480 is nice, but the prices are fok'd right now. Get the higher VideoRAM for future proofing. From own experience, it's stupid having to upgrade a 1060 3gb to 6gb because I went from 1080p monitor to 1440p. I was so mad at myself for not researching, I saved up for a 1080ti.

3gb was fine 5 years ago. Now you'd want 6.

 

Ssd, samsung 850, 950 non -pro, I think?

DONT cheap out on Power Supply Unit!

It's the vascular system of your system. Thats fails and your system fails, it fails hard and it can easily take parts of your system with it.

Corsair makes very nice PSU's for every pricerange and it comes with years of warranty ( I had a ax750 burn out, got a new ax760 in warrany which itself has 5years of warranty. Love it!)

Don't go to big of wattage. 450-600watt is fine for systems with one mechanical drive.

 

 

Can't think of anything more to say, really. Educate yourself on Overclockers.co.uk, hardOCP.com, Guru3d.com. They also have a second hand market. Good info there.

 

Sent from my C6603 using Tapatalk

[Tommygunn]

Thanks for the advice so far from everyone, it's been very useful.

 

Ok, I've been doing some looking around and have reached some conclusions on components, with one sticking point.

I'll list them with the cheapest price I've found them at.

I also used Logical Increments as a baseline putting myself in the 'Great' to 'Excellent' categories.

 

CPU: Intel i5 7600K                                               €204.13

GPU: Radeon RX580 (4Gb)                                  €272.03

RAM: Corsair CMK8GX4M2B3000C15 (2x4Gb)    €85.69

SSD: SK hynix HFS250G32TND-N1A2A SL308    €89.99

 

The sticking point is the Mobo, here's my list:

MSI Z270-A Pro                                     €102.86

ASRock Z270 PRO4                              €107.04

Gigabyte GA-Z270-Gaming K3              €124.76

MSI Z270 SLI Plus                                  €126.54

ASRock Fatal1ty Z270 Gaming K4         €130.87

MSI Z270 Gaming Pro                            €142.42

Asus Prime Z270-A                                €143.49

Gigabyte Aorus GA-Z270X-Gaming 5    €157.29

 

Any input on the Mobo selection?

 

Any thoughts generally? Am I overcompensating/overspending anywhere?

 

Tom.

[Tommygunn]

Amateur,

Thanks for the offer but I think I'll take an alternate path.

 

Tom.

[amateurstuntman]

No problem.

You've smashed your budget there but you have a very capable rig.

 

The MoBos are all Z270 so it just depends of what the features are worth to you.  Since you have the K SKU on the processor you want decent overclocking support, I like MSI and ASRock for that.

 

Don't forget that using Z270 means you are stuck with Windows 10, they won't be supporting Z270 with older OSs.

[Tommygunn]

Amateur,

Farts! Thanks for the warning, I might have to go W10.

 

 

You can tweak Win10 to be similar to Win7.

 

 

HitmanNo2,

How would that manifest itself. Would that be in navigation, file sorting or what?

I know very little about W10, off to have a look at it. If it is just a polished version of 8 then more farts.

 

Tom.

[hitmanNo2]

In terms of appearance and navigation to a degree.  I use Classic Shell to replicate Win7.

[Tommygunn]

Ok, thanks. Just watched a video review for W10, I don't dislike it.

 

Just to stay on the W10 theme for a moment, has Microsoft changed it's attitude to the chopping and changing of hardware when using OEM W10? I've just read on Tom's Hardware that you can now use the same OEM W10 from one machine to another. Can anyone confirm that?

 

Tom.