opticalmace
Member
If you can access safe mode it's probably a software issue... but out of curiosity, are you overclocking?
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"I Need a New PC!" 2015 Part 1. Read the OP and RISE ABOVE FORGED PRECISION SCIENCE
- Thread starter Hazaro
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If you can access safe mode it's probably a software issue... but out of curiosity, are you overclocking?
JordanN
Banned
Never overclocked my machine.
N
Noray
Unconfirmed Member
NoRéN;153534695 said:
Oh I get all that, I understand the concept of paying for convenience. But a direct comparison of prices that doesn't include an OEM Windows copy is skewed as it's like 90 euros difference. That's all I was saying, and it's the only specific feedback I got. The system with the same price and better specs he posted didn't have Windows or assembly costs.
Sorry, I assumed you would be fine with assembling it yourself, and that you possibly had Windows already or that it was a non-issue. The majority of people who we recommend parts lists to do not need to include the OS in the cost of parts.
If cost is an issue and people don't mind, we sometimes recommend them to buy Windows 8.1 licenses from reddit's microsoftsoftwareswap, for roughly 17 Euros or less. These are most likely keys that are resold from educational programs like Technet or Dreamspark. However, buyers are dealing with a person instead of a retailer, and informal Windows keys sales are unapproved by Microsoft and probably breaking some licensing agreement to be clear, 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 deactivate your license and refuse to reactivate it, although it's somewhat unlikely. We've had people here using those keys without issues for a long time and a few others who say Microsoft deactivated their key after several months.
Go into safe mode.
Run msconfig from the Run box.
Disable all programs from the startup tab.
Try boot into normal mode.
If this works then your issue is some startup program.
Report back on what happens.
Azure Dream
Member
One of the RAM sticks I recently bought has errors. Memtest (from the OP) confirmed this pretty clearly. But while I've read online it's supposed to output a log file, I don't see it on the USB drive, or the hard drives off-hand. Is there something I was supposed to do in the program to get that log? What's the easiest way to figure out which stick is bad? (One suggestion was to run the test again, this time limited to "each individual chip".)
Just remove all but 1 stick of RAM. Then test the others individually.
Azure Dream
Member
I was hoping to avoid that, getting them in and out is a bit of a pain. Alright, thank you.
JordanN
Banned
Doesn't work. :/
JordanN
Banned
i7 860
R7 270x
12GB Ram
Windows 7
1x SSD
1x HDD
Wacom tablet
Headphones
Everything was working fine yesterday. Today, I clicked the Street Fighter 5 Charlie thread and that's when everything went berserk.
thanks to all the suggestions from everyone!
this is a really great build compared to what I had with the little price increase. I'd feel more comfortable going with the 4130 due to not planning on OCing anytime soon because I'm new to this-I'm sure it's simple enough though-.
the only thing I'm seeing which I'm questioning is, and excuse my ignorance, but is it a notable knock down in dropping the 260x from a 2GB card to 1GB just to save another ~$25 or so? I'd rather spend the extra few bucks up front if it means ill get a few more months out of it and smoother gameplay.
this is a really great build compared to what I had with the little price increase. I'd feel more comfortable going with the 4130 due to not planning on OCing anytime soon because I'm new to this-I'm sure it's simple enough though-.
the only thing I'm seeing which I'm questioning is, and excuse my ignorance, but is it a notable knock down in dropping the 260x from a 2GB card to 1GB just to save another ~$25 or so? I'd rather spend the extra few bucks up front if it means ill get a few more months out of it and smoother gameplay.
Mad Season
Banned
Just got a 2nd SSD drive but my MB only has 1 SATA 6 port (so the new SSD is connected to sata 3) and my original SSD drive is already connected to the sata 6. Am I able to daisy chain 2 SSD drives to the sata 6 port? does such a cable exist?
Thank you very much RGM79. It now looks like this:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: *Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($368.32 @ TigerDirect Canada)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($89.99 @ Memory Express)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-Gaming 5 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($164.95 @ Vuugo)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($148.04 @ DirectCanada)
Storage: Crucial MX100 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($238.32 @ TigerDirect Canada)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 290X 4GB TWIN FROZR Video Card ($349.99 @ NCIX)
Case: Corsair 750D ATX Full Tower Case ($149.99 @ Canada Computers)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ NCIX)
Total: $1589.59
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-24 20:02 EST-0500
I'm still on the fence about the CPU and mobo, I'm sure you're right about the slight performance increase but if the price difference isn't too high, I'm ready to pay for it.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: *Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($368.32 @ TigerDirect Canada)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($89.99 @ Memory Express)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-Gaming 5 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($164.95 @ Vuugo)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($148.04 @ DirectCanada)
Storage: Crucial MX100 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($238.32 @ TigerDirect Canada)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 290X 4GB TWIN FROZR Video Card ($349.99 @ NCIX)
Case: Corsair 750D ATX Full Tower Case ($149.99 @ Canada Computers)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ NCIX)
Total: $1589.59
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-24 20:02 EST-0500
I'm still on the fence about the CPU and mobo, I'm sure you're right about the slight performance increase but if the price difference isn't too high, I'm ready to pay for it.
It's just a $10 difference so it's up to you if you prefer 2GB or want to save a bit of money with 1GB. Having twice the VRAM means it could last longer, yet from the few reviews I've found, it doesn't make a difference in framerate, and for recent games you would probably be playing on reduced settings anyway. eTeknix reviewed the Sapphire R7 260X 1GB and it more or less tied with the reference R7 260X 2GB in framerate in every game they tested.
You didn't mention an overall budget and you were asking for ways to actually cut down on the price, so I was more concerned with keeping it as low as possible, despite the my recommendations already costing more than your build. I felt that moving up to an i3 processor justified the higher cost, but the 2GB model didn't.
Well, I guess it boils down to when you intend to upgrade the computer after building it. The 2GB model will last longer but it won't change framerate performance or anything, just how high you can crank up textures.
What motherboard do you have? Certain SATA controllers can handle multiple drives per port (still with performance drop), but I doubt your motherboard can do that. You're looking at a performance drop for one of the SSDs or replacing the old SSD with the new one, no real way around it. SATA controller cards exist, but at PCI-E x1 it's not full SATA3 6.0Gb/s, and PCI-E x4 SATA controller cards are very expensive, last time I checked.
Oh, the Gigabyte Gaming 5 motherboard dropped in price by $15 today. It's not that big of a price difference, then, go ahead. I'd still recommend the i5 4690K, you did say it was for gaming, the 4790K would mostly be a waste of $100 that could be spent elsewhere.
Pollux
Member
i felt the need to vent.
I just got back from micro center with my new computer excited as hell to start playing games...and I unbox it and THERE'S NO FUCKING GOD DAMN MOTHER FUCKING POWER CORD
So right now I have a $1400 paper weight and I live an hour away from fucking micro center.
I don't think I've ever been more pissed off in my entire life.
I just got back from micro center with my new computer excited as hell to start playing games...and I unbox it and THERE'S NO FUCKING GOD DAMN MOTHER FUCKING POWER CORD
So right now I have a $1400 paper weight and I live an hour away from fucking micro center.
I don't think I've ever been more pissed off in my entire life.
Didn't the power supply come with one?
Or surely you have one from another device (not the safest tbh but I interchange them all the time YOLO).
ThoseDeafMutes
Member
I don't know what America is like, but the power cord PCs use are standard parts ("Jug Plugs" they are known as here). If you have an electric kettle, it's usually the same cord and interchangeable with your PC's cord.
You may actually have one lying around.
If you have a fat PS3, the power cable might work.
PeakPointMatrix
Member
Soooo, how up to date are those build charts in the OP post? I can pretty much just pick a column and be good to go right? I've never built a PC, and honestly the entire prospect seems a bit overwhelming to me considering all the possible options and prices. Especially since I like to look at a multitude of reviews and sources for most electronics before I buy. So if that chart is all I need, it's hugely convenient. I'll pick a build and basically treat it as a shopping checklist?
I find it hard to believe the power supply didn't come with one. I don't suppose you have a common power cable in the home or you could pick one up from a hardware/electronics shop? Check a department store, maybe.
They're guidelines, the prices aren't set in stone. Give us a budget and we'll find you current price quotes for a parts list, as sometimes better parts can be found for cheaper. It'd be nice if you could answer the [Basic Desktop Questions] in the OP so we can figure out suggestions.
Another question that isn't on that list that's handy to know is if you prefer a PC of a certain size. Smaller PCs work well as living room HTPCs or compact gaming PCs you can move around easily. Mid and full tower PCs are more or less normal desktops that stay where they are.
Celcius
°Temp. member
Sorry for the late reply but nope, the keys feel great.
Pollux
Member
Ok, the power supply unit did not come with it - it must have just not been boxed by accident.
I don't have any spare AC power cord (D cord's) lying around so that's a no go.
I'll be going to office depot to pick one up tomorrow.
Now here's a possibly very stupid question - I have a d-sub cable connecting my monitor to my i think motherboard. But on the back of the GPU there's a DVI-I slot and on the back of the monitor there's a DVI-D slot.
Should I pick up a cable for that or will the D-Sub cable connected to the motherboard be fine?
I don't have any spare AC power cord (D cord's) lying around so that's a no go.
I'll be going to office depot to pick one up tomorrow.
Now here's a possibly very stupid question - I have a d-sub cable connecting my monitor to my i think motherboard. But on the back of the GPU there's a DVI-I slot and on the back of the monitor there's a DVI-D slot.
Should I pick up a cable for that or will the D-Sub cable connected to the motherboard be fine?
PeakPointMatrix
Member
Thanks for the info. In terms of form factor, the smaller, slimmer sizes look the most appealing since I'd like to have this PC act as a slim-pick and play console in the living room. Just much more powerful of course. I'll answer the questions:
Your Current Specs: None!
Budget: $1100-$1500 (Not including monitor, will be plugged into living room HDTV)
Main Use: Gaming, 1080p+ media playback, streaming
Monitor Resolution: 1080p HDTV currently. Will upgrade much later down the road for a 4k/120Hz set
List SPECIFIC games or applications that you MUST be able to run well: 60fps with all bells and whistles on modern games within reason. Photoshop and Aftereffects as well.
Looking to reuse any parts?: Got none!
When will you build?: Whenever! If there are some good price drops coming, I'll wait.
Will you be overclocking?: Noooope.
Yeah. Even if D-Sub is an option I'd use DVI anyway.
Pollux
Member
So don't use both? (god I feel like a moron)
And if I don't use both, then why does the motherboard have a socket for the D-Sub cable as well?
Intergrated graphics. if you don't have a GPU installed the motherboard and cpu handle the graphics. So, in that case you would plug your monitor into the motherboard.
opticalmace
Member
Does your monitor not have HDMI or displayport?
Yeah, whatever cable your monitor supports(hdmi, dvi, etc) you plug that into your GPU.
Mad Season
Banned
ok major issue here....
had a 250gb ssd connected to sata 6, a 2nd hd connected to sata 3. went and bought another 500GB ssd. hooked it up to what I thought was sata 6 but it was really sata 3. I realized this when samasung magician notified me. So I opened back up the pc and changed the new HD to my 2nd sata 6 port.
Now windows 8.1 is no longer recognizing any HD other than my original 250GB HD. I even went to disk management and it only sees 1 drive. The BIOS (within) and on boot sees all HDs, but windows will not for some reason, no matter what I do. I even put my original 2 HDs back without the new HD hooked up and windows still only sees 1 HD. what happened and what do I do?
MB = ASUS MAXIMUS GENE Z IV
help!
had a 250gb ssd connected to sata 6, a 2nd hd connected to sata 3. went and bought another 500GB ssd. hooked it up to what I thought was sata 6 but it was really sata 3. I realized this when samasung magician notified me. So I opened back up the pc and changed the new HD to my 2nd sata 6 port.
Now windows 8.1 is no longer recognizing any HD other than my original 250GB HD. I even went to disk management and it only sees 1 drive. The BIOS (within) and on boot sees all HDs, but windows will not for some reason, no matter what I do. I even put my original 2 HDs back without the new HD hooked up and windows still only sees 1 HD. what happened and what do I do?
MB = ASUS MAXIMUS GENE Z IV
help!
LiquidMetal14
hide your water-based mammals
Just to be clear, the disk management didn't even ask to add volumes? I have an M.2 SSD, 850 pro, and 2 HDD's and all either show up as a simple volume to basically format/add to Windows or are already enabled to function in Windows. Everything is ACHI correct? Is there any PCH or settings related to storage in bios that might effect things?
Worse case scenario is a new install but also try different ports or getting it 100% the way you had the connectors because if the C drive was your OS and the secondary was your D drive then the musical chairs might have disrupted what you had.
Would ~$360 be too low of a threshold to be comparative and/exceed a current gen system? Since I do already have some of the more expensive pieces already.
In all honestly though I just want to play games like Skyrim*, Fallout*, Bioshock's, Rust, CS, H1Z1, GTAV, etc. in 1080p between 30-60 FPS without having the textures clog up the performance. I plan on keeping it upgrading it later on, at least 6+ months to a year before I purchase a new part right now. I'll worry about extreme textures and max settings at 120 then.
**Skyrim modded off course, because that's why I want a PC.
Eventually when I do start upgrading, will I have enough room to work with to achieve my end goal before the i3 starts to bottleneck?
No worries. That's what we are here for.
How slim, exactly? For a high end living room PC I'm thinking of the Silverstone Grandia line or similar because for 4K, you'll eventually need to run twin graphics cards for a good framerate in games. There are slimmer HTPC cases like these Silverstone models but they will only take a single graphics card at best, and will be more cramped to build in.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($214.89 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-C14 CPU Cooler ($73.69 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($101.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Kingston Fury Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($115.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($104.99 @ Adorama)
Storage: Toshiba Product Series
T01ACA 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($71.99 @ NCIX US) Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 980 4GB Twin Frozr Video Card ($549.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Silverstone GD09B HTPC Case ($73.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1357.50
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-24 23:57 EST-0500
The GTX 980 seems to work best here because for 4K you could drop in a second GTX 980 whenever you need it, and they have semi-fanless quiet modes which work well for keeping noise down. The 750 watt power supply ensures you have enough wattage to support the a second GTX 980 in the future.
There's a bit under $150 left in the budget for a keyboard, mouse and whatever else you may want. Blu-ray drive for this HTPC, maybe? Wireless gamepad? Wifi connectivity?
Well, the current build list is already quite close to that, there's not much else to change. I'm not too familiar with PS4 and XB1 games right now, but I hear that they're still doing 720p/900p and sometimes rarely getting up to 60FPS. I don't know what monitor resolution you'll be playing at, but the R7 260X does recent triple-A PC games at 30FPS or so at low-medium settings at 1080p.
For Skyrim modded, I'd go with the 2GB version of the graphics card. Games like that can use more VRAM.
i3 bottlenecking will depend on the game, really. Normally we'd recommend an i5 processor if possible, but i3 shouldn't be too bad for now, games won't be unplayable, it may just hold back whatever graphics card you put in there in the future.
JordanN
Banned
An update to my problem form last page:
In safe mode, I went to MSconfig and disabled all the services. I got my computer to boot past the logo.
Bad news is, one of the microsoft services is causing it. There's too many to check off and I don't want to break my computer by resetting too much. Is there a faster way of finding the bad service?
I also don't know how to get things back like my internet outside of safe mode.
In safe mode, I went to MSconfig and disabled all the services. I got my computer to boot past the logo.
Bad news is, one of the microsoft services is causing it. There's too many to check off and I don't want to break my computer by resetting too much. Is there a faster way of finding the bad service?
I also don't know how to get things back like my internet outside of safe mode.
Tesseract
Banned
seems like a good build, any thoughts?
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($169.61 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock H81M-HDS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($49.99 @ Micro Center)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport XT 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($60.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 280X 3GB Video Card ($212.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Silverstone PS08B (Black) MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($33.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($44.99 @ Micro Center)
Total: $622.43
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-25 00:18 EST-0500
Now, there's roughly $80 left. You have a choice when it comes to Windows. You can buy a normal retail copy for ~$88, or buy a Windows 8.1 license from reddit's microsoftsoftwareswap for $20 or less, and use it with the official Windows installer tool.
These keys from reddit sellers are most likely legitimate keys that are resold from educational programs like Technet or Dreamspark. However, you are dealing with a person instead of a retailer, and informal Windows keys sales are unapproved by Microsoft and probably breaking some licensing agreement to be clear, 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 deactivate your license and refuse to reactivate it, although it's somewhat unlikely. 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.
If you go with the cheaper option of buying a Windows license from Reddit, then there's about $60 left that can go towards better parts like stronger graphics card such as the XFX R9 290 ($263 after $30 rebate) which will be stronger for 1080p gaming for the next year or three, or you can just pocket the difference.
Do you have any parts from an old computer you'll be reusing? Worth asking to see if there's anything that can be done to drive down the cost some more and fit other better parts in.
Also, do you live near a Microcenter? They have the newer, faster, yet cheaper i5 4590 for $160, but it's in-store pickup only.
hmm, it's sounding like I may be better off holding off a little longer and adding another $100-50/50 split maybe-to the budget to upgrade the CPU and GPU from this build? Hoping to stay under $500 at the max, $475 comfortably and $450 preferred. But I'd rather spend toward the higher end of the budget to run say Skyrim on medium settings at the lowest with high setting preferred at a steady 30+ rate.
Tesseract
Banned
no to both, unfortunately
probably gonna forgo the hdd and get a ssd. i got plenty of internal and external hdd drives on hand, if necessary.
any ssd recs would be appreciated
I've used the xbox 360/xbone controllers and I do agree that they are one of the best controllers. The dpad on it is the only bad thing about it, but I will go with this if it easy to hookup.
I haven't got a change to try the new dpad on the 360 controller. I won't be playing much fighting games on there, just occasional platformer or beat em up games. Does the new dpad works great on those genre?
That's great to hear that both versions of Windows work fine on game support. The only reason I'm asking is because there seems to be a lot of hatred toward Windows 8 and people tends to favor Windows 7 more. I figured there would be more support for Windows 7 version.
That Logitech F710 game pad is nice and at a decent price too. I have to look more into it.
I noticed it takes AA batteries, how long does it tend to lasts for you? The dualshocks seems like a good choice between 2d/3d with its dpad/analogue sticks too.
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