Thoughts on new rigs

[demonix]

I'd decided recently to build a more modern desktop system, but after some consideration (and a damaged wireless mouse later since I thought that was at fault originally) I've decided to retire my current system since there seems to be an issue with the USB ports probably because of a power surge issue from a while ago where I was plugging in one of my external devices (if I has them plugged in a startup, it wouldn't clear POST for some reason probably because the USB hard drive was still starting up when everything else was ready) and I saw a flash from the plug and the power went out (it looked like at the time the anti-surge extension I was using did it's job and sacrificed itself, but it looks like more damage was done that I didn't notice) since (as I mentioned already) I started using a wireless mouse and I started having issues especially with the middle wheel button not working and I've started seeing the same issue cropping up with a wired mouse I know works in a different USB port then the wireless receiver was plugged into.

What I am doing is instead of having one system, I'll be building two of which the first will be for lower end gaming (those that don't require much graphical grunt) and the second will be for higher end gaming (since I do have a few that would do a lot better on a computer with a better graphics card) although both will be for general use and which I use depends on what game/s I want to play once I'm done.

What I had been thinking about is what I should do for the low end build as I would considering either a mini PC, a system with a mini ITX motherboard and a system with a micro ATX motherboard which I decided on the latter since it gave the better options (the mini PC limited me to one hard drive and the mini ITX system was just as limiting with anything else requiring an SATA card to get more ports).

So here's the list of parts I'm considering for each build and if you think of other options or other components that can be an option if the one I thought of getting might not be available or an alternative for one component that is in the same price bracket (everything is being purchased from OCUK), and before anyone suggests £500 intel processors I'm going to make it really clear...


I can't afford them also, I've had bad experiences with intel based systems in the past and won't ever build a system with an intel processor.

Low end system

Mobo: ASUS A88XM-A
CPU: AMD A4-4000
RAM: Corsair Value 2GB DDR3 PC3-10666C9 (Alternative would be the 4GB version of the same RAM set)
HDD1: Crucial BX100 120GB SSD
HDD2: Segate 2TB 7200RPM HDD
ODD: Samsung SH-224FB/RSMS DVDRW (retail)
PSU: Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular PSU
Case: Zalamn T1 Plus

"High" end system

Mobo: Gigabyte 970A-UD3P
CPU: AMD Piledriver FX-4 Quad Core 4350
RAM: Corsair XMS3 16GB DDR3 PC3-12800 (alternative would be the same type, but would be 8GB DDR3 PC3-10666)
HDD1: Crucial BX100 500GB SSD
HDD2: Seagate 2TB 7200RPM HDD x2 (no RAID is to be involved in this setup)
ODD: Pioneer BDR-209EBK BDRW (retail)
GPU: MSI GeForce GTX950 OC 2048MB
SC: Creative Sound Blaster Z High Performance Sound Card
PSU: Corsair CS650M 650w Semi Modular PSU
Case: Bitfenix Neos ATX Tower Case Black/Blue
CPU cooler: Noctua NH-D9L

Alternative items if I really need to get a PCI-E 3.0 compatible motherboard

Mobo: Asrock FM2A88X Pro3+
CPU: AMD Kaveri A8-7670K


I haven't considered any other components like a monitor and keyboard/mouse for the "high" end system since it isn't what I'll be focusing on getting parts for, so there might be some changes in the future but the OS to be installed has been decided, however I will be salvaging the monitor, keyboard and possibly the mouse (it is a bit old, and getting a wireless mouse might work this time) along with the graphics card (if a GT610 is better then what is on the processor) and the sound card (to be explained later) for the lower end system along with a CPU cooler (I might get a Noctua cooler, but if there's a budget CPU cooler that isn't going to be a pain to fit like the stock cooler would then please suggest one).

The OS for the low end system is going to be windows 7 (I have a spare home premium key floating around) due to compatibility issues since windows 8.1 broke 2 games (one now crashes when I start it and the text in another can't be read) although the shoe is on the other foot with another (it has issues with on board sound cards on 7 where voices cut out after a second and can only work properly if a setting in the directX diagnostic tool for sound is changed or an external sound card is used), and if my experiments on VMs doesn't work then I'll have to install a 32-bit version since there are more games that I have that don't work on a 64-bit OS (plus I can't be certain that the issues I had in windows 8.1 have been fixed in ten).

So look, comment and give suggestions for alternative parts if anything I've missed needs an alternative option.

 

[coupe69]

I'd decided recently to build a more modern desktop system, but after some consideration (and a damaged wireless mouse later since I thought that was at fault originally) I've decided to retire my current system since there seems to be an issue with the USB ports probably because of a power surge issue from a while ago where I was plugging in one of my external devices (if I has them plugged in a startup, it wouldn't clear POST for some reason probably because the USB hard drive was still starting up when everything else was ready) and I saw a flash from the plug and the power went out (it looked like at the time the anti-surge extension I was using did it's job and sacrificed itself, but it looks like more damage was done that I didn't notice) since (as I mentioned already) I started using a wireless mouse and I started having issues especially with the middle wheel button not working and I've started seeing the same issue cropping up with a wired mouse I know works in a different USB port then the wireless receiver was plugged into.

That's gotta be the longest sentence in the history of sentences!! Talk about wall of text! Take a breath man....

I've had bad experiences with intel based systems in the past and won't ever build a system with an intel processor.

Just out of interest what "bad experiences" have you had with Intel systems in the past?

 

[regi]

You haven't really mentioned a specific budget. Also why 2 PCs?

 

[Josh]

I don't get why you would buy and build 2 imo not very good rigs.

Buy and build one decent rig.

 

[Cyanide]

Total build you've specced is almost £1200 and you're getting pretty much naff all for it. You'd be insane to spend that kind of money on what are 2 quite low end systems.

Put your prejudices aside and buy a decent system with an Intel CPU and a decent GPU. Going ahead with your current plan makes absolutely no sense at all.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Crucial BX100 500GB SSD SATA 6Gbps 7mm Solid State Drive (CT500BX100SSD1) £129.95
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 950 OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £119.99
1 x AMD Piledriver FX-4 Quad Core 4350 4.20GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail £79.99
1 x Corsair CS650M 650W Semi-Modular 80+ GOLD Certified Power Supply (CP-9020077-UK) £74.99
1 x Gigabyte 970A-UD3P AMD 970 (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £71.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX16GX3M2A1600C11) £71.99
1 x Seagate SSHD 7200RPM 3.5" 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DX001) SSHD Hybrid Drive £69.95
1 x Creative Sound Blaster Z High Performance Gaming Sound Card - Retail (70SB150000001) £69.95
1 x Pioneer BDR-209EBK 16x BDRW Multilayer 128GB retail £64.99
1 x Asus A88XM-A AMD A88X Chipset (Socket FM2+) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £55.99
2 x Seagate 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache HDD - OEM (ST2000DM001) £54.95 (£109.90)
1 x Crucial BX100 120GB SSD SATA 6Gbps 7mm Solid State Drive (CT120BX100SSD1) £49.99
1 x Noctua NH-D9L CPU Cooler - 92mm £44.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020058-UK) £44.99
1 x BitFenix Neos ATX Tower Black/Blue £29.99
1 x AMD A4-4000 3.00GHz (Socket FM2) APU Richland Dual Core Processor (AD4000OKHLBOX) £25.99
1 x Zalman T1 Plus Mini-Tower USB 3.0 - Black £19.99
1 x Corsair Value 2GB (1x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Low-Voltage Single Channel Module (VS2GB1333D3) £14.99
1 x Samsung SH-224FB/BEBE 24x DVDRW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM M disc compatible £14.99
Total : £1,188.50 (includes shipping : £19.10 Ex.VAT).

 

[Cyanide]

FYI for the same budget as your 2 systems you can build something like that that would absolutely smoke anything you care to throw at it -

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus Z97-K - Devils Canyon Core i5 4690K Bundle **14 Saving** £263.58
1 x Powercolor Radeon R9 390 8192MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (AXR9 390 8GBD5-PPDHE) £229.99
1 x Samsung 500GB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E500B/EU) £136.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H100i GTX 240mm High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060021-WW) £101.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Fury White 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-14900C10 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit (HX318C10FWK2/16) £74.99
1 x EVGA SuperNova G1 650W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply (120-G1-0650-XR) £72.95
1 x Pioneer BDR-209EBK 16x BDRW Multilayer 128GB retail £64.99
1 x Asus Xonar U5 USB soundcard £64.99
1 x Phanteks Enthoo Pro M Midi Tower Case with Window - Black £59.99
2 x Seagate 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache HDD - OEM (ST2000DM001) £54.95 (£109.90)
Total : £1,196.56 (includes shipping : £13.50 Ex.VAT).

 

[demonix]

Just out of interest what "bad experiences" have you had with Intel systems in the past?

Multiple hardware issues

1. Desktop (actually the predecessor to my current rig which uses the case of the old system) which initially worked fine, but after a few months (maybe a year) it started suffering from lagging issues (initially noticed by unnecessary CPU usage and verified when I got the sound card I'm currently using by a constant beeping on the headphones when the computer was idling which changed to a constant tone when the CPU was under load) which cleared after a reboot and I got so annoyed with it that I just scrapped the whole thing (I sold some of the viable parts that I'd purchased as upgrades since they weren't compatible with the exception of the sound card) and built a new system with at the time more modern parts.

2. Laptop which was less powerful then the desktop (as it was acquired around the same time) but beat the stink out of the desktop, but after a few months of non use it wouldn't power up (it wasn't a battery related issue since it was charged before the attempt was made) with only the lights coming on and nothing else happening and it was found out later on that the motherboard had failed.

Every AMD processor based system I've had and built have worked and haven't broken down like those intel systems did (that is two desktop systems (one of which is my fathers, but I helped get most of the parts) and a laptop) which is why I trust AMD more then intel (but it doesn't meant that I trust AMD over nVidia in the graphics card stakes since I've had more nVidia GPUs over AMD GPUs although the only AMD (or Ati at the time) GPU I had only had to go back because of a compatibility issue with the monitor).

You haven't really mentioned a specific budget. Also why 2 PCs?

That is because I'm getting the parts one or two at a time depending on how much I have available and that is likely not to be that much which is why some of the parts for the second build don't even break the £150 mark (note to Cyanide, this is why I didn't have any two hundred pound plus components in the second build), and the two PC setup is to mimic my current setup although that configuration is a laptop which acts as the low end system and the desktop is the "high" end system (since I put the GT610 into it, it has a better frame rate on low setting in world of tanks (as long as another programme didn't have anything to say about it) then the laptop ever managed which would partly be down to the GPU and partly down to the CPU even though it's over 10 years old), plus I'm doing some work in my bedroom which includes desk space for two computers since I was planning on using what I currently had, but after what I've recently discovered about possible intermittent issues with the motherboard on the desktop, I've decided to go down the new build route and built two new systems.

And just so everyone knows this was what I was going to pick if I went down the mini PC route since OCUK doesn't stock any AMD based mini PCs (and all the other units that are available would mean that I would have to get a new monitor since I don't think that there are any VGA to HDMI adapters available anywhere).

Also, to make it clear, the budget is the cost of each component (on the second build, the budget for the CPU could go to £120 or there abouts) so if there are options on the intel side that better either of my options for the high end system and isn't going to break on me or go mental after a year then do suggest them, and I'll take them under consideration and just remember that the low end system is going to run games that don't require that much graphical grunt (although it'll have to run WoT at decent frame rates until the high end system is built) as a majority of them only consist of static images and text (anything else will be older games), so if the low end configuration can handle that, then I'll lock that down and start figuring when I can get the parts purchased.

 

[Cyanide]

1. Desktop (actually the predecessor to my current rig which uses the case of the old system) which initially worked fine, but after a few months (maybe a year) it started suffering from lagging issues (initially noticed by unnecessary CPU usage and verified when I got the sound card I'm currently using by a constant beeping on the headphones when the computer was idling which changed to a constant tone when the CPU was under load) which cleared after a reboot and I got so annoyed with it that I just scrapped the whole thing (I sold some of the viable parts that I'd purchased as upgrades since they weren't compatible with the exception of the sound card) and built a new system with at the time more modern parts.

High CPU usage is usually a sign of malware/virus/unnecessary apps and a tone through the sound card under load sounds like it could be a low end/struggling power supply.

2. Laptop which was less powerful then the desktop (as it was acquired around the same time) but beat the stink out of the desktop, but after a few months of non use it wouldn't power up (it wasn't a battery related issue since it was charged before the attempt was made) with only the lights coming on and nothing else happening and it was found out later on that the motherboard had failed.

Depends on the age of it - laptops tend not to last that long these days. If you'd only had it a few months could you not claim on the warranty?

That is because I'm getting the parts one or two at a time depending on how much I have available and that is likely not to be that much which is why some of the parts for the second build don't even break the £150 mark (note to Cyanide, this is why I didn't have any two hundred pound plus components in the second build)

Also, to make it clear, the budget is the cost of each component (on the second build, the budget for the CPU could go to £120 or there abouts)

Better spec, would run everything you need it to, gives a decent upgrade path on a brand new socket, not a single component over £130 -

YOUR BASKET
1 x Crucial BX100 500GB SSD SATA 6Gbps 7mm Solid State Drive (CT500BX100SSD1) £129.95
1 x KFA2 GeForce GTX 960 Reference 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card - Retail £129.95
1 x Intel Core i3-6300 3.80GHz (Skylake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - Retail £119.99
1 x Asus Z170-P Intel Z170 (Socket 1151) DDR4 ATX Motherboard £89.99
1 x EVGA SuperNova G1 650W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply (120-G1-0650-XR) £72.95
1 x Pioneer BDR-209EBK 16x BDRW Multilayer 128GB retail £64.99
1 x Asus Xonar U5 USB soundcard £64.99
1 x Phanteks Enthoo Pro M Midi Tower Case with Window - Black £59.99
2 x Seagate 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache HDD - OEM (ST2000DM001) £54.95 (£109.90)
1 x TeamGroup Elite 8GB (2x4GB) DDR4 PC4-19200C16 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (TPKD48GM2400HC16DC01) £39.95
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo CPU Cooler £29.99
Total : £927.62 (includes shipping : £12.50 Ex.VAT).

 

[neiljwd]

I can't be bothered waiding into the cluster-**** of your 2 pc decision making, lol, but.
Have you considered Steams streaming service? A beefy PC streams to a crappy PC to practically no discernible difference.

So you could build one good PC like these guys said, and just stream games and media to a second unit -your current old brokey PC, that has to do little more than have an internet connection.

 

[dirtybeatfreak]

I mean this with the utmost respect, and am not trying to be horrible in any way. But you are causing the Intel problems not the CPU's or components themselves. Intel CPU's just don't 'break down' like you're describing.

My advice is to do a little research into building and maintaining pc's first, then you will be better equipped to deal with any problems. This will enable you to get yourself a better deal and although this is just my opinion, a better platform (currently) with Intel.

please don't take that offensively, I am not trying to put you down, but from your posts and info you have given us, you do come across like you could benefit from it

 

[demonix]

High CPU usage is usually a sign of malware/virus/unnecessary apps and a tone through the sound card under load sounds like it could be a low end/struggling power supply.



Depends on the age of it - laptops tend not to last that long these days. If you'd only had it a few months could you not claim on the warranty?

First, the desktop wasn't directly connected to the internet at the time since my only source of internet access was the local library which had a program called deep freeze installed on them which restores the computer to its original state when it is restarted and I obtained any software I needed from the reputable sources of the time, although I did think that the issue came from installing iTunes/quicktime (I did have solo installs of quicktime from CD singles that had low quality music videos included), and an issue with USB2 suddenly not working sent me to my older sisters boyfriend at the time who knew a lot more about computers then I did at the time, and after USB2 suddenly started working he decided that the whole OS should be reinstalled (which lost me all of the software that was included since it was installed from a generic OEM disc and not the recovery partition on the hard drive which was also wiped).

The issue did go away for a few months (when the OS was reinstalled, all the updates that were available at the time were installed as well) since I didn't install iTunes/quicktime after the reinstall, but it did return and I did deal with it for a while even after I got connected to the internet at home (anti-virus was installed even though the first was what was provided by the ISP, and the second was that placebo called AVG since the first was hogging what little RAM I had available and neither picked up on anything which meant that unless it was well hidden, it wasn't a virus/malware issue), but after a while (and the laptop also gave out in that time) I gave up on trying to figure out what was causing the problem, purchased some new parts, backed up what I needed to back up, gutted the case (with the exception of the DVDRW drive I'd put in since it originally came with a DVD-ROM drive, and the floppy drive) and fitted the new parts with no issues cropping up since.

Secondly, with the laptop several months of non use didn't mean that it was that I'd used it after getting it and didn't for a few months (I probably should have explained it a bit better) as there was several months of use and a few noticeable issues even though it did kick the backside out of its more powerful desktop with a similar processor (the optical drive was faulty as it would only read DVDs and there was one lockup on one game in the exact same place where it didn't when run on the desktop) and then after I stopped using it (my father actually got it for himself, but never used it much so I was using it since it was better then what I had) it was unused for several months, and when my father tried to get it started (after I plugged it into the mains since the battery was flat) the light came on but nothing else did (there wouldn't have been any warranty since it was taken off a pallet of similar laptops).

I think I should also make it clear that the desktop was obtained when processors were mostly single core (the system was outdated since it had an AGP graphics card slot while motherboard of the time had PCI-E graphics card slots), the manufacturers thought that windows XP could run with only 512MB of RAM and hard drives hadn't broken the 100GB capacity mark (the hard drive in the desktop was only 80GB, and I had to initially get an external hard drive and then acquired an extra internal and higher capacity hard drive which was used for storage).

And the actual reason I'm going for two systems instead of just the one is for one massive reason....

Compatibility

I mean I could just dual boot with one system, but with everything MS is trying to do to stop dual booting (and even it there wasn't an issue trying to get around it since it looked to be a real mess with windows 8 ) and since a majority of what I have doesn't need that much graphical grunt, I decided to build one system that was cheap and could do what I wanted until I could get all the parts for a higher end system that I could use for the games that needed the extra grunt and could run the games I couldn't do on either of my current systems (that includes the witcher 2 which I got for free from GOG and have never installed since it's unlikely to run smoothly on either of my current systems), so even though it's more expensive, it's a risk free option to getting everything I have working without issues.

My current VM experimentation has met with great success for the older games that are unlikely to run in a 64-bit OS, so the basic system can run a 64-bit OS and I can have more RAM in it, but I have also considered an intel configuration for that with the CPU being an intel pentium G3220 and the motherboard being either a Asus H81M-K or an Asus H81M-PLUS which could add around £10 to the total cost of parts with the exception of the around £20 for having 8GB of RAM instead of 4GB, but I could balance the numbers by scrapping the SSD or I could just leave it as is or go up to the next capacity mark which doesn't seem to cost that much more (that's the fun of having a budget for each part instead of the whole system, since I can easily adjust what I need if I can afford it).

I'll take the suggestion under consideration (I'm guessing that there aren't any differences between socket 1150 and 1151 which would be why you suggested a CPU cooler that doesn't mention 1151 in the product blurb) although I might make some tweaks to minor parts.

 

[faceman123]

I logged in on my iPhone after seeing that 50tb wall of text. Didn't read like 99.99% of everyone but here's my 2 cents just put you money in to skylake and an ssd the rest in to your g card.

 

[enkoda]

Hate to say this but you really are making this as difficult as possible.

But...

...if you must insist on having two versions of Windows and are worried about the dual-boot scenario, why not just buy one decent machine, but have two boot drives; one with the older o/s for your older games, and another drive with your newer games on it? Just power down and swap the drives when needed.

At least that way you don't have to shell out for, IMHO, a pointless "cheap" pc?

 

[demonix]

Okay, it looks like I'm going to have to make things extremely clear.

Originally I had no plans to build any new computers when I was planning the overhaul of my bedroom as it was only going to be my current desktop and laptop each sporting a few upgrades.

All of this was originally a pet project as I decided to find out how much it would cost to build a low end and more modern system, and then I decided to list parts for a higher end gaming system, but after the possible problem with the desktop and with the issues I keep having with the laptop every once in a while (not to mention the display is getting to be rather dodgy) I decided to elevate this from pet project to something that in part needs to be done.

Another issue in the time needed to purchase the parts as it would take only three months to get all the parts for the basic system (even if I changed to an intel CPU and increased the RAM) where the higher end system would take twice that or even longer, and there might not be any opportunity to get those parts since I would have to sort out the bedroom along with what they would be placed on.

So that is my entire plan, build one, maybe get some of the parts for the second while I also get all of the stuff for my bedroom and then finish off the second build (I might get some of the cheaper parts, and leave the motherboard, CPU, RAM and graphics card along with the SSD (since it is one of the higher cost items) until I'm done since things might have changed with either prices or new components that have become available).

 

[VKleita]

I was very interested in your posts until the Intel "Never again bit"

You have explained your reasons but I have to say I think you have just been unlucky, the "Desktop going slow" sounds entirely like malware/virus related to me, I know you go to great length to say it isn't, but that's what it sounds like.
The fact a reformat cured the issue for a while also adds to that fact, maybe you have an infected memory stick or something?

The laptop I'm confused about, you said it broke, you said you didn't use it for ages, then you mention your still using it.

I've been burnt many times by early AMD cpu's but I would still build a AMD pc now for someone if they were limited to budget, you can't stop something that happened eight years ago to cloud my judgement now, things have changed, modern kit is much better quality from all vendors.

I realise your story is different but I really think you should reconsider and keep your mind open for value.
Second hand Intel may be the way forward.

The other questions I don't feel I know about so haven't commented.

 

[demonix]

You have explained your reasons but I have to say I think you have just been unlucky, the "Desktop going slow" sounds entirely like malware/virus related to me, I know you go to great length to say it isn't, but that's what it sounds like.
The fact a reformat cured the issue for a while also adds to that fact, maybe you have an infected memory stick or something?

How do I know it wasn't a virus or malware [kirk]simple, logic[/kirk].

All I had at the time in regards to external devices was a 250GB (or there abouts) USB hard drive and a 256MB USB flash drive (that is about all you could get nine years ago) of which the former never left the house since all the desktop had was a 80GB hard drive, and everything was used on the new build and that was never affected in the same way.

Also if you'd read the whole of my previous message, you would have seen the word current used when I referred to the laptop as I purchased an acer aspire 5551 a few years ago (again everything else I mentioned previously happened at least nine years ago, and who would be using a laptop that has a single core processor in this day and age) and I had intended to increase the RAM and clone the OS onto a larger hard drive, but one of the screws that when removed allows me to access the RAM and hard drive can no longer be removed, which means that if I had to, I would have to take a drill to that screw to get rid of it and I don't want to risk doing any further damage in the attempt if I mess things up.

If you had gone through everything I'd posted here (and this possible makes me sound like an ass), I did consider an intel processor option if I went for a mini PC option, but I decided against it because of the limiting storage options which was the same for the mini ITX (AMD sempron) option since the only available motherboard had 2 SATA connections and required an external card to add extra ports (from what it looks like) which is why I went for the micro ATX option for the basic system with a socket FM2 motherboard and processor.

That's why I asked here since what the heck do I know since my last build was eight years ago and I didn't want processors suggested that would take a loan to pay for, but what I didn't expect was the tenth degree about my plans to have a low end system and a dedicated high end gaming system since what I wanted to know was if the configurations were okay for what I wanted and if they weren't to suggest alternatives that wouldn't take half a year to pay for just one part.

 

[dirtybeatfreak]

That's why I asked here since what the heck do I know since my last build was eight years ago and I didn't want processors suggested that would take a loan to pay for, but what I didn't expect was the tenth degree about my plans to have a low end system and a dedicated high end gaming system since what I wanted to know was if the configurations were okay for what I wanted and if they weren't to suggest alternatives that wouldn't take half a year to pay for just one part.

There was no tenth degree, you asked our opinions and people have given you examples which are within your budget and also allowing for the individual max cost you would like for each part. The machine suggested will also be a big improvement but you just ignored it.


For example:

Better spec, would run everything you need it to, gives a decent upgrade path on a brand new socket, not a single component over £130 -

YOUR BASKET
1 x Crucial BX100 500GB SSD SATA 6Gbps 7mm Solid State Drive (CT500BX100SSD1) £129.95
1 x KFA2 GeForce GTX 960 Reference 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card - Retail £129.95
1 x Intel Core i3-6300 3.80GHz (Skylake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - Retail £119.99
1 x Asus Z170-P Intel Z170 (Socket 1151) DDR4 ATX Motherboard £89.99
1 x EVGA SuperNova G1 650W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply (120-G1-0650-XR) £72.95
1 x Pioneer BDR-209EBK 16x BDRW Multilayer 128GB retail £64.99
1 x Asus Xonar U5 USB soundcard £64.99
1 x Phanteks Enthoo Pro M Midi Tower Case with Window - Black £59.99
2 x Seagate 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache HDD - OEM (ST2000DM001) £54.95 (£109.90)
1 x TeamGroup Elite 8GB (2x4GB) DDR4 PC4-19200C16 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (TPKD48GM2400HC16DC01) £39.95
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo CPU Cooler £29.99
Total : £927.62 (includes shipping : £12.50 Ex.VAT).

 

[demonix]

Erm....

I'll take the suggestion under consideration (I'm guessing that there aren't any differences between socket 1150 and 1151 which would be why you suggested a CPU cooler that doesn't mention 1151 in the product blurb) although I might make some tweaks to minor parts.

Sorry to be an ass, but you either need to read posts fully or you need your eyes testing since I did take that list you quoted under consideration as it was only the first that I refused because some of the parts required a thousand percent APR payday loan to buy, and the tenth degree came from the fact that I mentioned using AMD processors and all I seemed to get was people calling them inferior even though after some looking through some tech channels on youtube especially for videos that had a top list of recommended processors for gaming rigs had AMD piledriver six and eight core processors close to the top next to intel core i5 and i7 processor options (which were normally in first and second places).

Now that I've gone through my own thoughts, the reason I went AMD instead of intel when I rebuilt the useless desktop was down to cost and such as I did purchase an LGA775 motherboard with the ability to move all the upgrades I'd purchased over to it (I did buy a motherboard with an AGP graphics slot since I had an AGP graphics card at the time), but the cost of the CPUs and what I heard about the pentium D processors being more like radiators I scrapped those plans and went AMD (the hatred went more towards generic manufactured boxes) even though I might be able to build a linux box if the board still works after being boxed up considering I should be able to get a CPU for it cheaply, but that's another matter and nothing to do with this discussion.

As I've said, I have been going through some tech channels on youtube and have a better opinion on what processor I could use for a gaming rig going from a piledriver FX-6 6300 to the aforementioned suggestion, and a few of the build videos I've watched have given me some ideas as to what components are better to use, so regardless of if I use that suggestion, a modified version of my original plan or a mix of both or whatever I should be able to build a pretty decent gaming system.

What isn't going to change is the number of computers I will be building, but what has changed with the basic build is the RAM has been upped to 8GB (just to be safe), the SSD capacity is being doubled (since it's only just over £10 more), a Radeon R7 240 GPU is being added along with a sound card (the former because I'd rather have all 8GB of RAM dedicated to the system instead of a part being taken by the graphics part of the APU, and the sound card for compatibility reasons that I forgot about since the onboard is likely to have issues with one game) but both systems will be housed in bitfenix neos cases (one black/red and the other black/blue) since I actually like the design and where the front panel is located.

 

[dirtybeatfreak]

Erm....



Sorry to be an ass...

Yea sorry I missed that in one of your many wall of texts. I thought it quite obvious though, that said quote was just an example of how you were ignoring (and still are reading from your last post) any advice but hey ho, it's your money to waste

Good luck though, I hope you get it sorted.

 

[FixupSellon]

thats a lot of text bud, need to work on dividing it up somehow like .... or something..

i myself can understand the 2 system setup, loads of members do it infact, maybe not gaming based as such and im sort of the same, well was untill i sold what i got as money needed(i build/upgrade computers), but one was more for testing and the other for games/movies, but having a windows 8.1 computer a lot of games of old i have(more old school gamer) either dont run or doesnt run well due to compatibility, so i will be looking for an older but nothing fancy computer for such games...


my advise would be if you have a computer thats oldish and has issues then fix/upgrade that for low en dand save up for the high end or just go on ebay/gumtree and buy a computer for 45-60 and just add the required bits if needed..


ps my 8.1 computer is intel and ive had many amd/intel computers be they single core or better and cant really fault either, other than bent pins ive had no issues and had a lot of fun(if frustrasting) trying to get a 754 sempron 1.8 beyond 2.29ghz, but my intel is a 1150 i3 4160 and cant fault it at all, so dont be afraid of intel, only real problem is they cost more..