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JT's first computer build "oh my god help me!" thread.


JT!

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So a while ago I bought a new laptop:

http://www.trials-forum.co.uk/topic/177855-gaming-laptop-advice/

But now I think it's time to learn how to build a desktop. Never done it before, I've only ever owned laptops so it's completely new to me. However the laptop I have now has become nothing more than something that sits on my table. Never has it once left the house or been ran on the battery.

So I'm looking at building something in the $700-$800 region. Something that'll be perfect for future upgrades, lots of room to work with, size/power consumption isn't an issue. Doesn't need to look fancy with a bunch of flashing lights. Will definitely be going with a SSD with a regular HDD in there too. As for the spec I'm kind of clueless. 2GB graphics card over a 1GB for sure. 16GB ram. But as for the case, powersupply, motherboard and everything else I've obviously forgotten I'm cluless.

I'll primarily be using www.newegg.com and keeping an eye out for really good deals which they tend to have, I'll probably wait around untill I can get good deals on items rather thanjust buying it all in one go.

Also need a 17"ish decent monitor.

Any advice on where to start or anything else would be great!

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Looks top notch, the graphics card doesn't really matter weather it's 1GB or 2GB, the main thing is the core and memory clocks on them.

Always good to spend an extra few quid on a power supply, not really something you wanna change for a long time, so when the computers outdated in 7 or 8 years or so, you're still able to cope with that psu. XFX and corsair power supplys are the dogs bolloks, can get a lot of power supplys that rate at say 600w but that's their max output recorded, so normally they can't acutaly run at that spec meaning you can burn stuff out buying cheap psu's. Same thing happened to me a few years ago.

Hope that helps :)

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What are you going to use it for?

Pretty much everything all at the same time. Certainly not looking for a powerful gaming rig, but I certainly want to build something up that's well above my needs and will last a few good years.

Edited by JT!
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I'd change that PSU to a decent one (I swear by Corsair).Those GT640 GPUs are nothing special either, I'd swap that for a GTX660 or GTX660TI. I'd also avoid OCZ drives like the plague, as they have a history of dying. Samsung seem to be offering the best reliability at the moment. (Tied the Crucial, but after owning Crucial drives I'm not convinced by their firmware support).

Other than that, looks good! :)

Although to be honest I'd spend more on the case. That's the bit you look at every day, and it makes a difference having a nice one, trust me. :P

Oh, and you don't want that internal DVD drive, they make your case look very ugly on the inside. You should get a USB one that sits on your desk just under your monitor like me. :P

Edited by Muel
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I'd change that PSU to a decent one (I swear by Corsair).Those GT640 GPUs are nothing special either, I'd swap that for a GTX660 or GTX660TI. I'd also avoid OCZ drives like the plague, as they have a history of dying. Samsung seem to be offering the best reliability at the moment. (Tied the Crucial, but after owning Crucial drives I'm not convinced by their firmware support).

Other than that, looks good! :)

Although to be honest I'd spend more on the case. That's the bit you look at every day, and it makes a difference having a nice one, trust me. :P

Oh, and you don't want that internal DVD drive, they make your case look very ugly on the inside. You should get a USB one that sits on your desk just under your monitor like me. :P

External disk drive is a good idea!

So hypothetically would eveything on that list actually work? I assumed there'd be a list a mile long of incompatible components.

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Never skimp on the PSU. It might not be a noticeable part of the system as far as speed and usage goes, but if you end up with a serious power issue you will be waving goodbye to your expensive hardware and if that happens to be the HDD you could lose years of data.

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Noted!

What size SSD are people using? Obviously Windows would go on there and a bunch of other programs... what's the least I could get away with?

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Given the price of them now I'd go with a ~120Gb SSD or so - you may never need to fill the entire thing, but you've got enough headroom there for it without it being silly big. I bought one when prices were still >£1/Gb and even then it was totally worth it, so given that they're down to almost half that now you can't go wrong.

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External disk drive is a good idea!

So hypothetically would eveything on that list actually work? I assumed there'd be a list a mile long of incompatible components.

Yeh should be fine, I can't see anything wrong. External drive is nice, especially if you're planning to keep the computer on the floor. :)

Noted!

What size SSD are people using? Obviously Windows would go on there and a bunch of other programs... what's the least I could get away with?

Around 120gb is about right IMO. Depends how many games and stuff you'll have installed though. I have a 60gb Steam folder that has to be stored on one of my HDDs, but regretting not getting a 240gb and storing it on there now. All depends how many games and programs you have.

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  • 1 month later...

Are all SSD 2.5"? If so, I was thinking I could just go ahead and buy a SSD now and use it in my laptop then switch it over to the desktop when the time comes. Originally I didn't even think this was an option as I thought I'd have to buy a 3.5" SSD but these don't seems to exist?

Is that a good idea?

And could I just buy an enclosure for my old HDD and use that for things that don't need to be on the SSD? Any issues setting it up like that?

Edited by JT!
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Haha, that's amazing, I had no idea that could possibly exist. Thought you'd sent me the wrong link at first.

Although I don't think it'd be worth it, even though my DVD drive is now useless since I took your advice and bought an external blu-ray drive (which is now sat under my tv), I don't really need it to be mobile.

But that's incredible non the less.

I'll probably treat myself to a 256gb SSD and just buy a cheap USB 3.0 enclosure for the old drive and just have it constantly connected. Would rather have more money available for the desktop computer.

Edited by JT!
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Yeh it's awesome. I had one in the laptop I bought for my final year of uni (then sold to my missus when I was done). I put a 128gb Samsung M4 in it, and then moved the 1tb hdd into that tray thingy. It's stupidly fast, far faster than my desktop in everyday stuff. (Not gaming or heavy workloads).

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I don't think they ever will be. SSDs are too expensive to produce in large sizes. By the time 2tb SSDs are out (and affordable), 10tb hard drives will be around.

I think they'll stop being in regular use for desktop users though, but for server use I reckon they'll always be around.

But, I hope I'm proved wrong. :P

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When looking at external enclosures, they all appear to have limits. Up to 180gb, up to 500gb etc. I don't get why they have limits, after all aren't they just boxes and a cable?

Also, another question, what watt power supply should I go for? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=17-139-027&nm_mc=EMC-GD072413&cm_mmc=EMC-GD072413-_-index-_-Item-_-17-139-027&RandomID=330157513413519320130724014957 seems like an excellent deal from $70 down to $30 with rebates.

Edited by JT!
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Got a SSD in the mail. Not going to clone my current drive. And advice on how to install it etc? Or can I simply just plug it in and install windows?

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Pretty much. Worth grabbing all the drivers you need now to save time/effort later (at the very least your Ethernet/Wifi drivers so you can get to the rest online)

Used to be a bit of software called "DoubleDriver" about which would pull the existing drivers and make life mega easy. Not sure if it's still about but worth a quick look (Y)

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Trudat. Plus if you're running a larger storage drive for films/music etc you'll need to set that up and so on along with installing software that you'll be wanting (but that's the same with any fresh install, not just an SSD of course)

There are a fair few decent guides online for setting up an SSD install - well worth having a quick read :)

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That, but make sure TRIM gets turned on and auto-defrag gets turned off.

KK, they seem simple enough to do.

Backed up all of my drivers with Double driver so I won't have to worry about all that.

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