Spec me a PC to replace my Xbox please!

Oh and the guide that somebody posted up on here, by EggTV, I found that one to be really helpful, can't remember where I saw it on here now though.

'Need for speed - the run' looks pretty good, I'm not into racing games myself so not really clued up on them, more of a Mario Kart man myself! :)
 
martinoheat said:
What you're saying does make sense tbh. And I could do with a new monitor whether or not I buy a TV. Ideally I would get one that is big enough to double up as a TV - 32inch would probably suffice, my room isn't so big.




What is 4:4:4 chroma? What kind of input lad is considered low for a TV?
Click to expand...

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1381724/official-4-4-4-chroma-subsampling-thread

You can't buy a 32" monitor and maybe you should do some research about why a monitor is a monitor and a TV is a TV.
 
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Nate Silvers said:
You sit five feet away, is this at a desk?
Click to expand...

Nah, that was a guesstimate. Turns out it's about 7ft.

I sit on one of these with a comfy footstool and a side table:
pello-armchair__38296_PE130209_S4.jpg
 
Lol, the keyboard sits nicely on my lap and the mouse is on a side table. Not absolutely ideal, but it works for me :D
Besides, I don't have the space to set up a dedicated desk/monitor area...
 
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MireMare said:
Oh and the guide that somebody posted up on here, by EggTV, I found that one to be really helpful, can't remember where I saw it on here now though.

'Need for speed - the run' looks pretty good, I'm not into racing games myself so not really clued up on them, more of a Mario Kart man myself! :)
Click to expand...

yeah, i watched them a few weeks ago and again today for a refresh before my parts come in a couple of days.

actually, i remember reading something about modding the physics on NFS shift to make a genuinely impressive sim.

Nate Silvers said:
http://www.avsforum.com/t/1381724/official-4-4-4-chroma-subsampling-thread

You can't buy a 32" monitor and maybe you should do some research about why a monitor is a monitor and a TV is a TV.
Click to expand...

thanks for the link.
i meant 30'' :P ... you can get those!
i am starting to see what you mean, and the more i think about it, the more i think a proper monitor might be better.

______________________________________________________________
p.s. Final Spec of the PC is as follows:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire HD 7950 OC 3072MB PCI-Express Graphics Card (11196-02-40G) - AMD 3 for FREE Promotion £239.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £184.99
1 x Asus P8Z77-V Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £145.99
1 x XFX 750W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £96.98
1 x Samsung 128GB SSD 830 Desktop Series SATA 6Gb/s KIT with Norton Ghost - (MZ-7PC128D/EU) £89.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £83.99
1 x LiteOn IHES112-115 Internal 12x SATA Blu-ray Bulk Combo - Black £61.99
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £54.98
1 x Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML8GX3M2A1600C9) £44.99
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 612S CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366/1156/1155/775/AM3/AM2+/AM2) £32.99
Total : £1,051.88 (includes shipping : £12.50).




I will be using an existing 500gb HD for storage for now. Should arrive tomorrow or thursday!
 
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What 23 - 24inch monitor can you guys recommend for under £150?
i want 1080p, HDMI and DVI input, not too ugly looking.

is the Iiyama ProLite B2475HDS worth a look at £160?
 
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The parts have arrived and I have started assembly.

I have the motherboard on the box it came in, with the RAM, CPU, GPU, CPU cooler connected.
The PSU is connected like this: main motherboard power, extra CPU power, 2x GPU power. There is one cable left free that I'm not using.

The PC is connected via HDMI to a TV.
When I turn it on I get fans spinning, but no picture on screen.

What am I doing wrong?
 
A big thankyou to everyone who gave me advice on here!

i built my PC last week with components chosen from recommendations on this thread and i am VERY happy with it.

A blurry (excited) pic of the components:
IMG_20120823_180539.jpg


Here it is after i put it together:
IMG_20120824_002816.jpg


Since then i have moved the SSD to the 3-in-1 Zalman tray and put it underneath the 2 optical drives, and moved the hard drive to be side-mounted 'tool-less-ly' at the bottom with the rubber + screws supplied with the case.

The cabling isn't too bad in my opinion, being a first build.

The PC is such an improvement from what i was using before (Acer 5742G laptop) - i'm amazed how i can watch a tv programme on one monitor and play GTA IV or Batman at 50+fps on the other.

p.s. I did buy the ProLite E2473HDS as per the recommendation on the last page (thanks!) and it is a beauty! - i did notice the lag from mouse inputs when the pc was connected to the family TV, so i decided against buying a big TV and instead gaming on a monitor, as the 24inches does seem to be plenty. If i do buy another screen it will probably be another E2473HDS.

Thanks again to all!


now on to upgrades......
My 500GB hard drive does the job for now, i have it partitioned into a backup drive/game backups/storage/game installations, but with modern games taking up 8 - 16GB it won't last too long, so i will probably need to increase my storage soonish.

I would like to give my laptop a bit of a boost as now it seems very slow in comparison, my idea is:
buy a 60GB SSD to replace my 500GB laptop hard drive, and use the resulting spare hard drive to increase my PC's storage.
Is that pheasable? as a 60GB SSD only costs about £60 and that would be killing two birds with one stone.

opinions please. (i know that it probably won't be as fast as my other hard drive, but i could use it for backups so i wouldn't access it all the time.)
 
Congrats dude! Glad you're happy with it.

The best thing I did for my mum's laptop was stick an SSD in there. Went from a couple of minutes to 30 sec startup. 60gb may be a little small though, but it depends on what you want to do with it.
I'd spend an extra £20 and find a 120gb ssd instead. It doesn't have to be the greatest one on the market.

PS, did you crap your pants when you heard the cpu clamp crunch? :D I did.
 
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Uncle Petey said:
Congrats dude! Glad you're happy with it.

The best thing I did for my mum's laptop was stick an SSD in there. Went from a couple of minutes to 30 sec startup. 60gb may be a little small though, but it depends on what you want to do with it.
I'd spend an extra £20 and find a 120gb ssd instead. It doesn't have to be the greatest one on the market.

PS, did you crap your pants when you heard the cpu clamp crunch? :D I did.
Click to expand...

are they the same physical size? SSDs are referred to as 2.5'' but when i measured my laptop HD it was about 2.8'' wide.
i guess £120 would probably be better; the OS takes up 30GB, so £60 would be enough but i might invest in a 120gb

When looking for an SSD for my PC i was recommended intel or samsung SSDs as they were better than the kingston v+200 for example, so i will probably buy another samsung.

haha yeah, i did. it is a horrible noise. luckily all went well though :D

another thing i'm impressed with is the cooling! - my laptop heated to about 100 degrees C when gaming at 800x600, the PC stays below 40 when gaming at 1080p!
 
foster grant said:
My wife has that very same Zalman and although its a very quiet case, once you break the expansion slots out...you cant put them back in ...also make sure you take them out before you place the motherboard in :)...another thing too lol....it lets in loads n loads of dust and crap :(
Click to expand...

i have the zalman z11 plus and when i take out my slots i can get them back in? you sure your doing it right hehe?
 
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