StarGateWars Forums

[BoT] Jack wrote:Blargh, I can't be bothered giving you anymore advice.

But I will say this, Da Vinci has no **Filtered** clue what he is talking about, his advice is likely to kill your computer. Listen to Kitfox or someone else that knows what they're talking about. Otherwise enjoy your $700 paperweight.

Kit-Fox wrote:A - Heatsinks for Intel or AMD are equally annoying to fit depending on the socket used. The fitting of a heatsink should be done carefully with plenty of time to read the fitting sheet that came with your heatsink. It should also be done before you fit the motherboard into your case.
yes, definitely. CPU and heatsink fitting should be done before the motherboard is put in the case. though, I find cooler fitting particularly easy. the AM3 I use now was especially so. in any case, davinci, before you do anything, read the manuals that come with your components. its always a good idea to get to know what you're going to do before you even make a start.

B - Intel & AMD processors - there is no winner, no one maker 'beats' the other in anything. It all depends on what you intend to use the system for. Each processor has its own benifits & shortcomings, as the user it is up to *you* to decide which one has the list of benifits that suits you the most
agreed here, though for general gaming grunt, intel chips do tend to benchmark higher than AMD cores, BUT AMD cores are a LOT cheaper. so basically you get a LOT of bang for your buck here choosing a mid-tier AMD. you've indicated this is a budget build anyway so eh. AMD being the natural choice here.

C - Never ever turn on a PC without having correctly fitted some sort of CPU cooling, dont even take the risk! Never, ever ever do that.
another reason to ignore KnowLedge. he's just voided the warranty on a relatively expensive part, because he was getting impatient. Patience is a valuable thing in PC building.

D - 4Gb of ram was once big enough but given how things are escalating and how memory managment is constantly ignored or removed from the hands of developers, 4Gb if you are playing games is considered just barely enough.
yes, 4gb is pretty small for a GAMING rig. Knowledge was only partially right here, mentioning 2gb for office stuff. but seriously, 4gb is the minimum you should look for in a gaming rig. and considering ram is coming down in price pretty quickly, there is no reason really to go under 4gb. (i got an 8gb kit, G.Skill RipjawsX for less than $50 AUD for example.)

E - Never ever, ever set an unmovable price limit either in total or for a piece of hardware, the rule you should live by is 'buy the very best you can afford'
budgeting is a good idea, but as KF says, dont set a budget in stone. DO however have a rough idea of what you'd LIKE to pay.

F - Never use a PSU that comes with a case, they are cheap & shoddy. A bad power supply to your mainbaord or any of the components in your PC can result in lots of errors occuring in your system, Always without exception get a good PSU that is '80 PLUS Gold' rated, do not use anything less!
word of advice, if it's a SHAW branded PSU, steer well clear of it. a PSU is the main thing you should NEVER settle for a cheaper one. SHAW PSU's for example, are notorious for irregular power supply, over exaggerated output figures, TERRIBLE build quality among other things. REMEMBER, if you buy an especially shoddy PSU, you run the risk of damaging other components. BUY A PSU WITH A REPUTABLE BRAND NAME, like Corsair, CoolerMaster, Antec, Thermaltake, Seasonic or Asus. or even some lesser known rebrands of good brands, like Vantec. and absolutely ensure you get one that is 80+ certified. some companies like to overstate what their products can do. and if on a cheaper branded PSU it can actually deliver what it says, it most likely is NOT stable, which will cause errors as KF said, or even damage components.

G - 500W is considered just barely enough these days, please do consider the draw you are putting on your system, if you google it there are several power cacluators out there that will give you some idea of the size of PSU needed

http://support.asus.com/powersupply.aspx

Is a good start

also keep in mind, that while wattage is a good indicator, it is certainly NOT the end of the line. Wattage of a PSU is calculated from the amperage of ALL the power supply rails. a more in depth and precise method, is to look SPECIFICALLY at the 12v rail. find how much your motherboard, CPU, Ram, Video Card and HDD's etc draw together (IN AMPERES) and then add about 10-20% for a safety margin. this will add a safety margin, and ensure you're hovering near-ish to the 80% draw mark, which most PSU's can sit at quite efficiently, meaning less of a power bill.

KnowLedge wrote:argh I love giving tips about computers, I love them so much. let me know if you need more opinions..

~Da Vinci~ wrote:-EVGA Nvidia 1Gb GeForce GTX 460 SuperClocked Graphics Card
-Sapphire 1024Mb AMD Radeon HD 6770 PCI-Express VGA Card
-1024Mb AMD Radeon HD 6770 PCI-Express VGA Card - GENERIC

~Da Vinci~ wrote:thx alot solus and kit fox, not rushing into it going to save some ect cash this comp is being made by purely selling naq hehe so it is kinda cheap,

ive narrowed it down to,

- http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1gb-sapp ... i-hdmi-mdp

- http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showprodu ... ubcat=1084

currently i have 2x2gb sticks of ram should i buy 2 more sticks so it's 8gb of ram 4x2gb

[BoT] Jack wrote:Blargh, I can't be bothered giving you anymore advice.

But I will say this, Da Vinci has no **Filtered** clue what he is talking about, his advice is likely to kill your computer. Listen to Kitfox or someone else that knows what they're talking about. Otherwise enjoy your $700 paperweight.