My First Complete PC Build. (Now with Dual Monitor question)

[Shaun]

Who says you can't teach old dogs new tricks?

Up until recently I've had very little interest in PC's. As a young lad in the 80's and 90's I was into computers, some of the systems I had at the time where the Spectrum, Commodore 64 and Amiga 500 but that interest was soon lost as I found wine, women and soul. Fast forward to GT5P release time and I realised I was going to need an internet connection. Enter my father in law who had an old PC that he gave me.

Anyway that POS I was given served me well for a few years and the PC bug began to bite again.

In the last few months I decided I was well and truly in need of an upgrade and started to ask around about parts. Some I sourced very cheap through pure luck and some I have bought from various sources. A big thankyou to T-12 and Casio who gave me advice along the way 👍.

So without further fanfare here it is.

The parts I needed to finish it off arrived today and after 6 beers that's ^^^ what I have come up with. I'm happy to admit that it's not the best going around by a long way but it will do me for a couple of years anyway.




It is Alive!!!

Now please hold back from saying you should have got this or this part, I'm happy enough with what I have to build on. Keep in mind this build was pretty cheap through some luck on my behalf. I'm not going to tell you all the parts in it but if anyone has a correct guess on any part I will confirm that guess (T-12 consider youself out of bounds on guessing ).

Looking at the second pic, I need a bigger desk. Oh well that will come as will the PC upgrades I already have in mind .


Cheers Shaun.

 

[Terronium-12]

Very neat inside, almost makes me wanna cry.

 

[Ibonibo]

I need to take my hat off, if I would wear one.

Your built is very proper and neat.

I am on my fifth rig or something along those lines, and even though I try to keep it clean, it never really is (well alone 4 HDD makes up for 8 cables )

Respect, hope you enjoy your new rig 👍

And yes you need more place for the mouse

(my guess : Antec case, Amd processor, gigabyte MB,4gb ram, radeon Gfxcard, artic cpu cooler, dvd burner and a 500Hdd)

 

[nick09]

(my guess : Antec case, Amd processor, gigabyte MB,4gb ram, radeon Gfxcard, artic cpu cooler, dvd burner and a 500Hdd)

It's actually a Corsair Carbide Series 500R Case, Samsung DVD Burner(cheapest one), and the heatsink is actually a Cooler Master 212(which version I'm not sure). Plus with how the parts around the heatsink look like, I'm guess it's an Intel motherboard(AMD socket would not leave room for that CMOS battery). Also I'd like to add that he has a SSD as a boot drive.

 

[Shaun]

Very neat inside, almost makes me wanna cry.

Thanks, being an electrician for 22 years I've had a bit of practice running cables.

(my guess : Antec case, Amd processor, gigabyte MB,4gb ram, radeon Gfxcard, artic cpu cooler, dvd burner and a 500Hdd)

Gigabyte Z77X-D3H MB.
Yep Radeon graphics and 500Hdd.
8gb of ram of some generic brand, carryover from my last system. To be upgraded soonish.

It's actually a Corsair Carbide Series 500R Case, Samsung DVD Burner(cheapest one), and the heatsink is actually a Cooler Master 212(which version I'm not sure). Plus with how the parts around the heatsink look like, I'm guess it's an Intel motherboard(AMD socket would not leave room for that CMOS battery). Also I'd like to add that he has a SSD as a boot drive.

Very close on the case, 400R not 500R.
Not a Samsung DVD burner, I can't actually recall the make as this is one of the parts that is a carry over from my last system. Yes cheap though.
Yep Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo cooler.
Correct on Intel MB, CPU is i5 2500k which is one of the parts I lucked out on getting it for $30 from a mate.
Correct again on the SSD, 120GB OCZ.

Cheers Shaun.

 

[nick09]

Not a Samsung DVD burner, I can't actually recall the make as this is one of the parts that is a carry over from my last system. Yes cheap though.

You sure? That looks like a Samsung DVD burner to me.

 

[Shaun]

Actually you're correct.
Just worked it out 20 mins ago. Went to our local PC shop to get a couple of bits to make my last system up for my son. Said to the guy I need this and that and your cheapest DVD burner. Low and behold he hands me the same one as I have and yep it's Samsung.

Cheers Shaun.

 

[nick09]

I knew it!

I just don't know about it but the design just screams cheap to me. Then again I don't like the circular button on it. Though that is just me when I used computers that had rectangle buttons since the first personal PC(Pentium II can't tell you much more due to bad memory). I usually go for a drive that costs $1-2 more and that usually hits a LG unit or Asus unit. Both have slightly faster speeds(mostly faster writing) and some usually have a 2MB cache.

 

[tlowr4]

Dear god that's beautiful...

Anyone got a tissue? *sniffle*.

Honestly that's one of the tidier rigs I've seen for a while. I highly respect you for ditching that peice-o-crud cooler Intel provides, nice job man 👍

EDIT: A random guess of hardware:

Intel Core i5 2500K/3570K
Gigabyte Z77-D3H (know it since I literally was looking at one 10 minutes ago)
Radeon HD6770/7770/7750 (random guess, not sure)
Corsair Carbide 500R (fairly sure since I saw a review last week)
500GB HDD (random guess since it's a more semi-budget orientated rig)
Thermaltake 775W PSU (pretty obvious)
Coolermaster Hyper 212+
8GB of some sort of RAM (looks OEM from the pic)
and I *think* there's an SSD in there, possibly a 64/128GB OCZ Agility 3 (or such)

 

[NissanSkylineN1]

I have the same DVD drive. It looks like a Samsung.

 

[Shaun]

I knew it!

I just don't know about it but the design just screams cheap to me. Then again I don't like the circular button on it. Though that is just me when I used computers that had rectangle buttons since the first personal PC(Pentium II can't tell you much more due to bad memory). I usually go for a drive that costs $1-2 more and that usually hits a LG unit or Asus unit. Both have slightly faster speeds(mostly faster writing) and some usually have a 2MB cache.

I agree, it's not a nice looking drive but it helped me to install W7.
Performance wise I'm not too fussed as it's soon to become a secondary drive when I source something with Blu-Ray writing capabilities.

Dear god that's beautiful...

Anyone got a tissue? *sniffle*.

Honestly that's one of the tidier rigs I've seen for a while. I highly respect you for ditching that peice-o-crud cooler Intel provides, nice job man 👍

EDIT: A random guess of hardware:

Intel Core i5 2500K/3570K
Gigabyte Z77-D3H (know it since I literally was looking at one 10 minutes ago)
Radeon HD6770/7770/7750 (random guess, not sure)
Corsair Carbide 500R (fairly sure since I saw a review last week)
500GB HDD (random guess since it's a more semi-budget orientated rig)
Thermaltake 775W PSU (pretty obvious)
Coolermaster Hyper 212+
8GB of some sort of RAM (looks OEM from the pic)
and I *think* there's an SSD in there, possibly a 64/128GB OCZ Agility 3 (or such)

Most of your guesses have been confirmed in previous posts. But your absolutely correct on the PSU and your last guess on the graphics card is the closest.
Totally agree on the intel cooler. Today I rebuilt my old system for my son and the stock cooler was a PITA to install.

I have the same DVD drive. It looks like a Samsung.

See above.

Thankyou all guys for the kind words. 👍
Honestly screwing it all together and running the cables was pretty much second nature to me due to my job. I'm not afraid to admit that my software/OS knowledge is limited. Touch wood, so far so good everything seems to be working well.
Heck I'm sure I'll soon be looking to overclock and whatnot if it's going to beneficial to me. For that I will need some googling help.

Cheers Shaun.

 

[Crushed]

Very neat inside, almost makes me wanna cry.

LOL you should see my case, that will definitely make you cry! Probably not the same way though...



Anyway great build!

 

[Shaun]

So all has been going well with my system.
I'm now currently about to update my RAM (as the current RAM is going into my sons PC).

I've had a look around and I'm not afraid to admit that the choices are confusing to myself. I'll probably stick with 8Gb but it's the speeds and what not that confuses me.

Current RAM is 1333 and I see there are many other options out there. Would 1600 be enough or should I go even higher?
I'll probably purchase from here http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=186_538_913 so if anyone can make a suggestion or two from that list I would very much appreciate it. 👍

Current PC specs:

Gigabyte Z77X-D3H MB
i5 2500k @ 4.0ghz
2 7850 GPU's (second one added since original build)
8Gb of generic RAM (manufactured by AMD)

Cheers Shaun.

 

[II-zOoLoGy-II]

The 2500k IMC is only rated by Intel to handle 1333. Overloading the IMC can cause system instability. Can it handle higher? Yes, but the difference is minuscule.

Overclocking the RAM and narrowing down the timings will give you 1-3 FPS. Nothing significant.

Just pick up 2x4 GB 1333 DDR3. If you want to go higher (1600/1866/etc.) you can but there is no guarantee that your system will be stable at that speed.

 

[Shaun]

Ok thanks zoo. 👍
I'm happy enough with the performance as is and the only reason to upgrade is due to my sons pc requiring new ram.

I'll have a look and just stick with the 1333 then.

Cheers Shaun.

 

[II-zOoLoGy-II]

No problem.

You might throw some more intake fans into your case as well. I am sure you have noticed an increase in temps since you went crossfire.

Enjoy the rig.

 

[Shaun]

Seems that you have mind reading powers zoo.
Intake fans are also on the shopping list, I didn't bother to mention it as I'm sure I can work that one out for myself.

Cheers Shaun.

 

[tlowr4]

1600 is fine for a 2500K. 95% of 2500K users are using 1600 and I've never in all my searching heard of an issue. From memory Intel specifically underrated it for some reason or another, that I'm not sure of. Personally I'd suggest you pick up 1600, it's basically the same price as any 1333 stick so why bother targeting slower memory if you can pay the same price and get something quicker. A bloke I know here in town is even running his RAM at 1866 last I heard, and he was pushing for 2000, but that is pushing it.

Yes, I know, the difference is so miniscule just, you might as well since you can use it in systems in the future should you move to Ivy bridge, or whatever Intel releases next with their new 'Tock' release (overall redesign of Ivy for a perfomance increase, whereas a 'tick' release is just a die shrink).

 

[paskowitz]

You need to buy pCARS.

 

[Shaun]

You need to buy pCARS.

Already done my friend. 👍
Take a closer look at the desktop pic on my monitor in the first post.

Cheers Shaun.

 

[mikAE86]

Nice Computer, I am building one to.

 

[Shaun]

Sorry about the bump but I didn't think it was worth a new thread.

Quick question.
I'm a total noob when it comes to dual monitors. I have another 1080p monitor in a box that I don't use.
That got me thinking the other day when playing F1 2012 and testing different tunes. Instead of exiting/minimizing the game to open and view GTP's F1 forum can I just have it open on the secondary monitor and browse while the game is open?

Also I'll assume that with two video card both monitors still get plugged into the one video card?

On the other hand during normal use I'll probably just use my main monitor and have the secondary switched off. Can this be done or does the desktop spread over the two monitors?

Cheers Shaun.

 

[Joel]

You can maybe run the game in windowed or fullscreen windowed mode and then have GTP on the other one without alt tab. As for the desktop, you can use "extended desktop" mode, which means one of your screens is the desktop with the task bar and the other is just a workspace to drag windows onto.