Learn how to assemble current DIY computers

[junialum]

Check with NightRaven or google for Uvinium

 

[Steven1991]

hi all, i want to DIY my own pc for the first time so i hope you guys can propose a decent gaming system which can probably support games like crysis. My budget isf $750 excluding Hard drive, dvd drive, mouse, keyboard, monitor, audio system as i will try to use from my current desktop computer. Thanks in advance.

 

[asleywtsn3]

I heard first time the concept of water cooled PC. Please elaborate if anyone knows it.

 

[ghillie]

http://www.clunk.org.uk/forums/water-cooling/33772-water-cooling-guide-beginners.html

Read up.

 

[Phelan77]

Recommend me motherboard & PSU for my pc

Hi there,

I'm in the process of building a new pc to play some of the latest games such as aliens Vs predator & COD black ops. I have already finalise the parts which i will purchase but i need recommendation for PSU and motherboard.

Below are the parts which i intend to buy:

1) Intel i3 540
2) Kingston DDR3 1333mhz 4gb memory
3) WD black 640gb HDD + Intel x25-v 40gb ssd(for OS)
4) WIndows 7 Pro 64 bit
5) MSI HD 5770 Hawk graphics card
6) Samsung DVDRW 22x

I need a motherboard (preferable below $250) which supports usb 3.0 & sata 3 as well as having an option to allow me to run ACHI mode for the SSD and IDE mode for the DVDRW as i have read comments that some asus MB does not allow this.

Thanks in advance!!

 

[batuchka]

For the $$ and COD Black Ops on the table + GPU hungry AvP: at least triple core + GTX 460 768m/192bit ler for best gaming performance hehe Also Corsair F40 Sandforce absolutely murders Intel X25/40GB @@ but if $$ tight i would concentrate on best frames my green could buy 1st @@

Corsair Force F40 Review (40GB)
http://www.storagereview.com/corsair_force_f40_review_40gb

Conclusion

The new low-capacity 40GB Corsair Force F40 is a stunner. Compared to other boot-only drives it blows the competition out of the water by retaining the high read and write speeds of its higher capacity brothers. In our real-world benchmarks the difference is amazing when you compare this drive against the Intel X25-V, which is in the same price category, but limited in write speed. It speeds ahead in our Productivity trace and soars in the HTPC trace, thanks to the 240MB/s write speeds compared to the Intel’s 40MB/s.

Pros

As fast as other SandForce drives
Fastest write speeds on a low-capacity SSD
Super low power consumption
Cons

A step slower than it's F120 big brother

 

[imbloghelper]

Gigabyte Motherboard

Hi there,

I'm in the process of building a new pc to play some of the latest games such as aliens Vs predator & COD black ops. I have already finalise the parts which i will purchase but i need recommendation for PSU and motherboard.

Below are the parts which i intend to buy:

1) Intel i3 540
2) Kingston DDR3 1333mhz 4gb memory
3) WD black 640gb HDD + Intel x25-v 40gb ssd(for OS)
4) WIndows 7 Pro 64 bit
5) MSI HD 5770 Hawk graphics card
6) Samsung DVDRW 22x

I need a motherboard (preferable below $250) which supports usb 3.0 & sata 3 as well as having an option to allow me to run ACHI mode for the SSD and IDE mode for the DVDRW as i have read comments that some asus MB does not allow this.

Thanks in advance!!

Go for GIGABYTE motherboard with Dual BIOS ACHI mode it allows you to run both modes it support usb 3.0 and also for AMD processors

 

[zetharz]

Hi guys, so my com has just died on me, not really sure if it's the motherboard or the cpu, and I have no choice but to build a new rig as this current rig is almost 2 years old. I'm planning on salvaging the gfx card, which is a MSI R4770 Cyclone, about 9 months old, both my hard disk, 1TB and 500GB but they're old models so a little slow.

My question is that, what should I get that's best for gaming, i.e. casual gamer, at least a medium settings on most newer games. I've read up about liquid cooling and I don't mind spending some money to get a Corsair H50 but I'm not a very hardcore gamer, so I'm stuck inbetween. Would really appreciate if you guys can help me come up with parts to get with around $800 - $1k budget.


P.S. I'm really clueless when it comes to the newest parts and technologies, have not been keeping track since getting my diploma


Thanks alot!

 

[anderson2805]

First Timer, trying to DIY a PC

Hi All,
I am new to this forum and in building a PC. I hope someone can help me. I am on a budget of 2.5k (include 2Xmonitor and casing). I wish to build a PC from scratch that can support 4 monitors. I am planning to use the computer for some intensive gaming, such as Guild War 2, Diablo 2, Star Craft 2 and it expansion and Call of Duty.

I am thinking of buying the material from Sim Lim Square so i was hoping any IT expert here to provide the list of shop that can be trusted and the list of equipment i need to buy.

Many Many thanks in advance.

 

[Matrix_78]

Any one knows how to add Sapphire 5850 Extreme graphic into Cooler Master 360 casing? Need assistance..

 

[Vasilli]

Building A Awesome Rig > last 7 years

hi i'm new here too , i'm going to build my pc from scratch , any ideas ? i want to build a high end rig from ground up.

i'm wondering to LGA1155 or LGA2011, because i've done some reading, LGA2011 seems to be pricey & not worth buying for a gaming rig.

budget around 3K , any kind soul can direct me to the best and best discount to help save me room for added stuff ?

Best Regards
Sebastian

 

[xClementx]

i have some questions!

1) screwing the motherboard onto the casing

i am sure not all motherboards are compatible with all casings. how can i tell which one is compatible with which?

2) graphic card - vga card

it connects via the PCI Express slot on the motherboard right? are these made to standard specification sizes with every motherboard/casing because it has to pop out from the casing at the back? i saw a video on youtube that there is this small VGA card that needs to be slotted in as well, what does it do? give it VGA output?

4) calculate how much power is needed

is it stated on each part that i purchase or do i have to estimate it?

5) RAM compatibility with motherboard

i was told that there are 4 numbers on every RAM module. they need to correspond with the motherboard, if not they will never work.

6) parts compatibility

how can i tell if the parts are compatible in terms of specifications (not sizes)?

e.g.
this motherboard can support this type of ram
this motherboard can use this type of graphic card

7) sound card

where can i place the sound card on the motherboard and how to tell if the motherboard can support it?

8) size compatibility

how do u guys estimate if the parts can fit into your casing?

 

[Sinkukree]

I have taken hardware coaching, but i think your instruction is good as compare to my coaching.

 

[amycompton]

This is good post.I don't know the any idea about this post.Please help,Share your views.

 

[Mystyque]

i have some questions!

1) screwing the motherboard onto the casing

i am sure not all motherboards are compatible with all casings. how can i tell which one is compatible with which?

ATX/ITX/BTX standards define the locations of the mounting holes. Just make sure the size of your case can fit the board, e.g. if your case is a microATX case, don't try to fit a full ATX board into it. But a microATX board will fit fine into most standard ATX mid towers.

2) graphic card - vga card

it connects via the PCI Express slot on the motherboard right? are these made to standard specification sizes with every motherboard/casing because it has to pop out from the casing at the back? i saw a video on youtube that there is this small VGA card that needs to be slotted in as well, what does it do? give it VGA output?

The openings at the back of the case are standardized.

Ignoring older slot types, most PCI-Express cards will fit into any PCI-Express slot, even if the slot is shorter than the card. You just get potentially slower performance. But mostly only on the highest end cards and even then very minor differences.

Not sure what small VGA card you meant but in some very small casings, where you cannot insert a card upright, they may have a horizontal slot and will provide you with a riser that you insert into the motherboard so that the card will be installed horizontally.

Also in some rare cases, the board has onboard graphics/sound/network that isn't connected to an integrated output port and requires slotting in a riser card to provide the physical ports.

4) calculate how much power is needed

is it stated on each part that i purchase or do i have to estimate it?

Check reviews, estimates and calculate. In most general cases, a decent 350~400W is more than enough.

5) RAM compatibility with motherboard

i was told that there are 4 numbers on every RAM module. they need to correspond with the motherboard, if not they will never work.

Not really. You just need to make sure the board supports the type of RAM. e.g. don't try to fit a DDR2 ram into a DDR3 board. Server boards may require ECC ram but not likely an issue here.

You may have to install RAMs in pairs or threes for some boards.

6) parts compatibility

how can i tell if the parts are compatible in terms of specifications (not sizes)?

e.g.
this motherboard can support this type of ram
this motherboard can use this type of graphic card

Read the specs, google for information e.g. if you are planning to use board XYZ with card ABC, google if anybody has problems with XYZ and ABC. Of course make sure ABC can actually fit into XYZ first, you're not going to find people complaining about their IDE hdd being slow on their SATA only boards for example

Usually parts are quite well tested nowadays so the common stuff will work most of the time unless you're using very niche configs.

7) sound card
where can i place the sound card on the motherboard and how to tell if the motherboard can support it?

As previous, although I feel sound cards are a waste of money given the quality of onboard cards nowadays.

8) size compatibility

how do u guys estimate if the parts can fit into your casing?

Apart from expansion cards (graphics card, sound cards etc), all parts have standard sizes. For the cards, you only need to worry about the length, but this usually only applies to highest end graphics card which can be full length and some casings are too small to take them.

 

[ylin90]

hi, i need some help.

I upgraded my com recently to gigabyte z77 motherboard with i5 3550 processor and 2 x 4gb corsair vengeance ram. But it is currently running without any graphic card. It is capable of running game like Diablo 3 in low setting but i would like to upgrade it if possible. I need help in deciding which graphic card is better for my budget and whether it my psu 650w coolmaster can support it. my budget is around 300-400sgd. I thinking that gtx560ti fix my budget but are uncertain which one to choose from. Please advice. Thanks.

Also if any1 noe how to fix engenius EUB9603H frequent disconnection problem do let me know. As i plan to get a new network adaptor if it still fail me.

 

[batuchka]

In your shoes if u are a casual gamer or only play D3 just hunt for used GTX 460/HD 6850 loh 30 fps is generally considered playable either cards mentioned no issue doubling that

 

[stranded88]

hi, i need some help.

I upgraded my com recently to gigabyte z77 motherboard with i5 3550 processor and 2 x 4gb corsair vengeance ram. But it is currently running without any graphic card. It is capable of running game like Diablo 3 in low setting but i would like to upgrade it if possible. I need help in deciding which graphic card is better for my budget and whether it my psu 650w coolmaster can support it. my budget is around 300-400sgd. I thinking that gtx560ti fix my budget but are uncertain which one to choose from. Please advice. Thanks.

Also if any1 noe how to fix engenius EUB9603H frequent disconnection problem do let me know. As i plan to get a new network adaptor if it still fail me.

ello if ur budget is that u shld consider getting hd 7850. it is better than gtx560 ti and more value for money.

 

[pokerkido]

hi, im new to this community and is searching for tips to build up a new desktop, tough enough to last me at least 5 years, i play games like League of Legends, Dota 2, Team Fortress 2, Starcraft 2, Diablo 3 and so on. budget around 2k? already have a monitor thanks in advance!

 

[modul8]

Hi. Not sure if this is the right thread.

Would like to know if I can mix 2 different brands of rams together. I am currently using OCZ DDR3 PC3-12800/ 1600MHz / Platinum Edition / 2GB x 3 and I realized SL are no longer selling them. Need upgrade so what is recommended?

Thanks in advance!