My PC just died

[MasterBlaster76]

That is a thing of beauty - but it's quite a way outside what I really want to spend. I don't really want to go above ?1000 - even ?900 would make my wallet weep at the moment.

By the way, it appears that DinoPC will pricematch anyone - they're looking more and more attractive as time goes by. I had a look at some of the options as well - I could double my RAM for only ?19. One other thing though - I've always had wireless dongles for my internet - would I be better off going for an internal wireless card with the new build (if it's necessary)? Are they generally faster/more reliable than USB dongles?

 

[puddleduck]

I would assume that any newish PC will have it built into the mobo.

----------

Novatech Barebone Bundle - Intel Core i5 2400 - 4GB DDR3 1333Mhz - Intel H67 Chipset Motherboard - Novatech Midi Tower Case & Novatech PowerStation Gaming 400W PSU | BB-I524GC - ?309

+

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560Ti OC 1024MB GDDR5 | GV-N560OC-1GI ?179

+

Your existing HD + Crucial RealSSD M4 64GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive - Retail | CT064M4SSD2 - ?69

= ?550...

Am I forgetting anything?

----------

Basically, that Dinopc isn't that great. You can definitely get more for your money if you do it a little bit yourself, and a lot more for your money if you do it all yourself

 

[Chewie]

I wouldn't really trust any PSU if it didn't come from any of the big companies tbh

I dunno what the prices are like over there but I spent about 1700NZD on my computer in January which is around 900 pounds. I got this:

i5-2500k CPU
8GB Corsair Vengeance RAM
Sapphire Radeon HD6950 1GB Graphics Card
Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3 motherboard
Corsair TX850 80 Plus Bronze PSU
CM690 II Advanced Case
Crucial 128GB m4 HDD
Some cheap DVD drive
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo CPU Cooler

You might be able to wait for a sandy bridge processor, or afford a 7950 graphics card.

Also re cases, most good ones will be decently heavy

 

[puddleduck]

Overpriced, but small case -

Alienware unveils its first small and cheap gaming PC, the X51 • News • Eurogamer.net

 

[MasterBlaster76]

-Chewie: Agreed, I've learned that lesson; a cheapo PSU was responsible for my X1950XT's premature death. That's what's so annoying - this wasn't a cheapo PSU, it was a 650w Corsair that cost around ?60. One thing I noticed about the cheapo PSU was that it was very light. The Corsair on the other hand weighs a ton, making a very heavy system to start with even more heavy!!

-Puddleduck: Very interesting, but what would the upgradability be like? Also, a tiny case like that surely isn't going to be that efficient when it comes to airflow? That Novatech you linked to on the other hand looks very attractive.

I'll have to get some quotes from the shop - if they can't recover my current system for me, and compare them with the online. I'm sure they'll pricematch if I say that I'll go elsewhere if they don't.

 

[puddleduck]

Indeed the upgradeability in something like that would be limited. Just quite a cool concept. I think the airflow is probably all good since it's specifically designed to handle it.

Yeah, still worth trying to fix your current one, if only to see what still works. For example you may already have a HD and then could look at getting a nice small SSD to have your windows run off. Or you may need to get a new Hd and instead look at a good 7200rpm one.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

That's a good idea - if my system can be recovered, I might as well take the chance to get a small SSD for Windows, along with a GPU upgrade - my 4850 is beginning to struggle a little with some games at 1920x1080. Looking at the midrange area, which card would you recommend? PC Gamer mentioned the Radeon HD6850 - for ?98(!) - and it looks to be a very good card right now, but I'm not sure how long it'll be before that gets left behind a bit. After all, ?98 is ridiculously cheap for a GPU? What would ?120 to ?150 get me?

One other thing, have you heard of these guys?

PC Callout Ltd - UK Computer Repair Service

No callout fee? No fix, no charge? Hmmm....

 

[Chewie]

I use the Toms Hardware forums to help me with any problems I have, maybe make a thread there? They also have a graphics card hierarchy list so you could look on there for card recommendations

 

[MasterBlaster76]

I should;ve thought of that site. I'll definitely do that in the future.

Anyway, I've decided on the HD6850 because it's cheap (just over ?100 at amazon) - but yet it can still throw Skyrim around at 40+ fps, on ultra high at 1920x1080.

PSU's going to be a Coolermaster or something like that - one of the big names certainly (if the PSU is found to be at fault) - and I'm going to try and get an SSD as well - unless they're incompatible with my current system for some reason. My current system drive is on shaky ground anyway, so if it is going to be replaced, it'll be with a 60gb SSD - any higher than that and these things are still ridiculously expensive.

PC's going to the shop tomorrow to figure out exactly what's wrong with it, then we'll go from there.

 

[puddleduck]

Yeah generally a small 60gb SSD is all you need to have to boot windows from and some key programs, and then you store everyone on a normal backup hardrive anyway

Always worth posting on a helpful forum like Chewie said, normally get some good advice

 

[MasterBlaster76]

Hmmm...

Dino PC have just fallen right off my radar - I've been reading some absolutely shocking reviews: everything from PCs that don't work, to damaged packaging, to terrible delivery times, all backed up by awful customer service. Maybe I'll just get my shop to do my new build if that's what's necessary: better the devil you know and all that - and to be completely fair, I never had any real problems with it until the PSU decided to hang up its umm.... boots. They'll contact me later today about what's still working and what isn't.

 

[iridescentt]

Oh no, typo. My bad! I was referring to one of these:

An Uninterruptible Power Supply.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

Ha ha, that's OK.

Latest: It looks like I might have got lucky (no, not like that - chance would be a fine thing... ). No - lucky with the PC. It appears that everything is fine apart from the PSU of course and the GPU - but I was planning to upgrade the GPU anyway.

Here's what I'm getting:

Sapphire HD6850 1gb GPU

Corsair CMPSU-650TXV2UK Enthusiast Series TX650 V2 High Performance 650W Power Supply

I know my Corsair went pop, but they're a good brand so I'm willing to give them one more chance. Any possible incompatibilities with my system that you guys might notice with the new components, be sure to let me know. Thanks for your help.

 

[AngryPixel]

Sorry to hear that mate.. Is it a sheer coincidence or what? My pc died too just a week ago. It was exactly same as your config except the mobo which was dg31 in my case. Tried some new PSU but it didn't work, tried without graphics card and it was still dead as a dodo. I don't know what the hell happened Even the card is fried, Tried it on a friend's pc and it showed no output.

 

[puddleduck]

Ah dear, too many people not researching their PSUs. Essentially the equivalent of buying a beautiful bodykit, awesome seats, lovely wheels, rims and tyres, and then trying to power it with a mouse in a ball. That mouse will probably die, and hopefully you weren't doing 70mph down a hill at the time

So wait, you both had the same PSU and it fecked your computers? That's pretty poor luck

Iri asks a good question, what do you have them hooked into? A poor and cheap splitter can be just as dangerous for expensive high power consumption parts.

Anyway, that Corsair TX powersupply seems ok, seems to be used in quite a few benchmark systems, but in its first few weeks just keep a listen out for whether the fan is making excessive noise or anything, because a PSU can be faulty, and if you can get it quick you can get it replaced under warranty sooner rather than later (when invariably you've lost all proof of purchase!).

The GFX card seems alright, shouldn't be spending much more than a ?100 on it by the looks of it, so it's not exactly going to change your world, but it does seem like it benchmarked pretty well and will handle most stuff at the moment. Obviously check for compatibility with existing motherboard etc first.

Other than that, enjoy shopping for new CPU parts... I love it. Already planning to build myself a gaming desktop PC sometime around November, I like my gaming laptop, but I want something with some serious grunt to it for no other reason than that I want it.