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PC Builds Megathread

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You could be lazy and not utilize every mounting point if its only a few. Given the art décor hole there I doubt you could use every single one.

PSUwise you said you didn't order what was listed, we'd need the model for that. Looks like 8 pin to 8/4 cables runs 5 to 15 USD.
 
Wootius said:
PSUwise you said you didn't order what was listed, we'd need the model for that
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My current PSU is a thermal take, but I dunno what exact model. Maybe this one?

In regards to mount ports, the issue is that my motherboard has only a single spot available that I can screw in, once I get it all aligned nicely with the input port holes on the left. I also have trouble getting the alignment right for the GPU, with the connection slots being off centre, coupled with both it & the wifi card bring tricky to screw to the case.

I'm guessing only bolting the mobo to the case with one screw is a poor idea?
Geh, this has been a real pain to build...
 
Mizu said:
My current PSU is a thermal take, but I dunno what exact model. Maybe this one?

In regards to mount ports, the issue is that my motherboard has only a single spot available that I can screw in, once I get it all aligned nicely with the input port holes on the left. I also have trouble getting the alignment right for the GPU, with the connection slots being off centre, coupled with both it & the wifi card bring tricky to screw to the case.

I'm guessing only bolting the mobo to the case with one screw is a poor idea?
Geh, this has been a real pain to build...
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Are you sure the motherboard is correctly aligned? Because at the very least the top three stand offs look to be in the correct position for an ATX motherboard. It looks like there is a solid pin in the middle below the cutout, you should be able to align that with the middle/middle hole in the motherboard.

You don't need to screw in all nine/eight screws, however, one is definitely to few. With the pin in the middle, I'd at least try and screw in the four corners.
However! Under no circumstances can you have standoffs under the motherboard that are not aligned with the holes in the motherboard. If there are standoffs under the motherboard, then they might cause a short.

If you're missing the 8 pin CPU/EPS cable and need to buy a replacement, you have to check that the cable and the PSU are compatible. There is no pin out norm that everyone follows, so the worst case is that the replacement cable is wired differently and shorts the system.

Personally, I'd probably put the PC away for the day (or two), and start again when you are fresh. I at least tend to do stupid mistakes when I've already spent hours building the PC and am getting tired and annoyed.
 
Well, I've dropped my PC off at Centercom, a local computer parts store. They'll finish construction for me, test it, and I pick it up again a week or so later.

I think in future I'll stick to just modifying the RAM & GPU, heh. Those I can install relatively easily, but anything else I'm happy to pay people to do.

EDIT:
Picked it up a week later, and all seems good. The new parts are plugged in properly, it turns on when I connect power, monitor and keyboard, and overall seems to be running smoothly.

Then I installed Win11 and all Microsoft internet-connected programs (Calender, Store, Weather, etc) proceed to break and throw an error code at me. It isn't related to the parts upgrade, so I probably need to tweak some settings. Windows Update still works fine, at least, and I've got the latest software from it now.
 
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I am looking to buy a notebook to play video games

my budget is $1256

and i had found a nootebook (lenovo thinkbook) with an I5 1135g7 (with iris xe graphics g7 as integrated graphics), ddr4 8 gb ram and 256 ssd for $1155

I don't know if it's worth it?

do you know any other better in that budget?

thanks in advance
 
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Fluffy_serpent said:
I am looking to buy a notebook to play video games

my budget is $1256

and i had found a nootebook (lenovo thinkbook) with an I5 1135g7 (with iris xe graphics g7 as integrated graphics), ddr4 8 gb ram and 256 ssd for $1155

I don't know if it's worth it?

do you know any other better in that budget?

thanks in advance
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So.

1. Do not aim for a notebook for gaming. A full-fat 13-16" laptop still isn't going to be as good as a desktop in the same price range, but far better than a notebook.

2. Do not get something with integrated graphics unless your budget is sub-1k. A dGPU is *incredibly* important for gaming, and you will hate yourself for not getting something with one.

That said,

3.

These would be what I'd recommend that should come out to under 1250 after tax. If you actually want a notebook instead of a proper laptop, don't expect it to be useful for gaming.
 
While not looking for an entire PC per say, I do believe this falls under the threads remit.

I am looking to spend south of $800 USD. I understand this is going to be a pricey venture, just due to the cost of hard drives these days.

I would like to have 16 to 32 (cost effectiveness may wind up giving a lot more that that, but i'm more concerned with reliability) terabytes of reliable* direct attached storage. Or a NAS, if my security concerns can be assuaged.**

I've had my file storage HDD drop and reattach twice in the past week, with no errors given nor bad check disk results. Its been in service and abused for 5 years, its time for something better.

I live in southern california, I do not have AC. I need an external box with adequate cooling for an average 85F / 30C environment.

I will need to power it down completely daily, I have previously discovered that some storage solutions do not like this at all.

Browsing amazon and newegg has left me wanting to bash my skull against my desk due to the large amounts of chaff and clearly bad products littering search results.

So, I figured I'd give asking around a try. Thank you for your time.

*Raid of some sort to protect against data loss from drive failure.

**My homes network is shared with several other people, I do not want my storage visible to them.
 
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ShinSpark said:
I've had my file storage HDD drop and reattach twice in the past week,
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Worth checking, but from experience that's often a cabling issue. Try reseating your sata and power cables or outright replacing the sata cable, preferably with a latching one.

Also, you probably meant 16-32TB, not GB? Because 16-32GB is basically usb stick capacity these days.

For HDDs, you are currently looking at ~$300-$350 per 16TB drive. 2 of them mirrored already would fill up most of your budget so you would be limited to the lower-end 2-bay nas boxes.

You really don't want the direct-attach USB ones with hardware raid; if the controller fails you're shit out of luck. Most nas boxes have the benefit of internally running some flavor of linux and using linux built-in md-raid so recovery in case of controller failure is significantly easier.

As for security; if your computer has a 2nd network port, hook the nas box straight to that and keep both the nas box and computer's network port on a different subnet from your main network. That way your drive will only be as accessible to the outside as anything in your computer itself.
 
I am under the impression that most 16 gig drives require climate controlled environments and are quite out of the picture. My bedroom see's highs in the 115F / 47C range in the summer. One of the many reasons I would need to be able to completely power down and unplug the array.

I do not have a private area network, and I have no options for creating one seeing as i have neither a second network port nor a pci-e lane for a network expansion card. Hell, I don't even have USB type C on this 5yr old i7 / GTX 1080 rig.

I was hoping there was a better option then just buying a cheap external enclosure or trying to do a raid1 on the 2 remaining empty sata ports on my mobo (because there is no space in my PC for more physical hard drives)
 
Made myself a desktop home server recently, out of the computer parts left over from my recent gaming desktop upgrade. Only had to buy a stick of M2 SSD storage and a case, happily, and I even managed to put the entire thing together by myself this go around. Skipping the CPU install - and not having to fiddle with case screws* - saved a fair bit of time.
home server said:
PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3 GHz Quad-Core Processor (Purchased For $0.00)
Motherboard: Asus H97M-E Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (Purchased For $0.00)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR3-1600 CL10 Memory (Purchased For $0.00)
Storage: Crucial P2 250 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive (Purchased For $0.00)
Storage: Seagate Constellation.2 1 TB 2.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For $0.00)
Case: Aerocool CS-1102 ATX Mid Tower Case (Purchased For $0.00)
Power Supply: Thermaltake Smart 600 W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply (Purchased For $0.00)
Total: $0.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-06-01 19:54 AEST+1000
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(the case and storage aren't 1:1 with my model, but it's close enough)

Now I'm in the process of setting up the operating system and such, for a headless server, and promptly ran into trouble. Namely, the monitor isn't picking up any video, despite the cable working fine (it's my gaming desktop one) and all the connections being plugged in properly. Well, on the outside of the case - could be I missed a hookup on the internal wiring? Only plugged in the CPU and motherboard power there, as I lack a GPU, but I don't think I needed a dedicated power cable for the motherboard to output video?

Not quite sure how to debug things here, honestly. I'm gonna try and install a headless OS and hope I can remote-SSH into the machine, but if that don't work I'm rather out of ideas.

*I did screw the mobo to the case, to clarify. I just didn't need to change them from mini-ATX to ATX arrangement this time.
 
Mizu said:
Well, on the outside of the case - could be I missed a hookup on the internal wiring? Only plugged in the CPU and motherboard power there, as I lack a GPU, but I don't think I needed a dedicated power cable for the motherboard to output video?
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Did you connect all the cables for all the exterior ports (USB, Audio visual etc) inside the case to the motherboard?
 
MrCogmor said:
Did you connect all the cables for all the exterior ports (USB, Audio visual etc) inside the case to the motherboard?
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I didn't plug the RAM in properly, turns out. After checking numerous other connection issues, I poked the RAM again, and realised I'd inserted it backwards; the connection ports weren't plugging in. Put things in properly and instant fix.
 
Mizu said:
I didn't plug the RAM in properly, turns out. After checking numerous other connection issues, I poked the RAM again, and realised I'd inserted it backwards; the connection ports weren't plugging in. Put things in properly and instant fix.
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You're lucky you didn't cook the RAM or the memory controller inside the CPU. Another potential cause for the problem you were having would have been if you used to have a GPU on that mainboard and had the bios set to exclusively use that external GPU and disable the onboard one. When you suspect something like that, clearing the bios memory (clear cmos jumper) is a quick way to check.
 
So what exactly are the advantages of an AIO? You get slightly better cooling performance and noise profile for the crippling issues of springing a leak and cooler degradation
 
FailLord said:
So what exactly are the advantages of an AIO? You get slightly better cooling performance and noise profile for the crippling issues of springing a leak and cooler degradation
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Having moved from air to an AIO, it's considerably cooler and quieter given the volume available; my UPS now is dramatically louder than my computer. And the risks, I think, are pretty limited.
 
So long as your not using an Enermax AIO, most of them will outlast to your next build. If you're really worried, I believe Corsair also has component coverage on their AIO warranty.
 
I'm in the market for a new laptop; I'd like to run at least Elden Ring on it but I've heard not-great things about Windows 11, so I'm thinking of going either full Linux or a dual-boot. I'm tentatively weighing either a Razer Blade for the dual boot or a System 76 for a pure Linux. Any opinions either way? I don't have first-hand experience with either brand.
 
Wootius said:
@Skyllian Blitz

You said before the Carbide 540D was outdated, what a good current model of that case style?
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lian-li.com

PC-O11DYNAMIC - Black Tempered Glass ATX Mid-Tower Computer Case

Space optimization chassis, The O11 DYNAMIC is the combination of modern design and art. Through years of researching, collecting feedback and redesigning; We have successfully craft the best edition of the dual chamber chassis. Experience the full view seamless front and side tempered glasses...
lian-li.com lian-li.com

Lian Li O11 is what you're looking at if you're after the dual chamber cube design.

Edit: Carbide 540 or did you mean Carbide 450D
 
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Skyllian Blitz said:
lian-li.com

PC-O11DYNAMIC - Black Tempered Glass ATX Mid-Tower Computer Case

Space optimization chassis, The O11 DYNAMIC is the combination of modern design and art. Through years of researching, collecting feedback and redesigning; We have successfully craft the best edition of the dual chamber chassis. Experience the full view seamless front and side tempered glasses...
lian-li.com lian-li.com

Lian Li O11 is what you're looking at if you're after the dual chamber cube design.

Edit: Carbide 540 or did you mean Carbide 450D
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This one,

https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categories/Products/Cases/Carbide-Series™-Air-540-High-Airflow-ATX-Cube-Case/p/CC-9011030-WW .

The names blend together lol.
 
Skyllian Blitz said:
lian-li.com

PC-O11DYNAMIC - Black Tempered Glass ATX Mid-Tower Computer Case

Space optimization chassis, The O11 DYNAMIC is the combination of modern design and art. Through years of researching, collecting feedback and redesigning; We have successfully craft the best edition of the dual chamber chassis. Experience the full view seamless front and side tempered glasses...
lian-li.com lian-li.com

Lian Li O11 is what you're looking at if you're after the dual chamber cube design.
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This, but make sure to get the O11 dynamic air - the base version is simply incomparable to it for thermals and the price increase isn't particularly significant.
 
I have an old ASUS K55A that a relative wanted. It came with 8GB of RAM I want to upgrade it to 16GB. The OEM manual says no, but I have seen some people pull it off online.

The bios is the original 2012-2013 UEFI

I also plan to change the network card.
 
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FailLord said:
I have an old ASUS K55A that a relative wanted. It came with 8GB of RAM I want to upgrade it to 16GB. The OEM manual says no, but I have seen some people pull it off online.

The bios is the original 2012-2013 UEFI

I also plan to change the network card.
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It looks like you need a BIOS upgrade, the only one on the asus page for that model does say "memory margin increased" corroborating the online posts I found, to go from 8 to 16 GB. Then you need to source some DDR3L-1600 SODIMMs.
 
Well, damn. I thought I treat myself on PrimeDay and got a 2TB Samsung 870Evo for a pretty good price. Wanted to install it today, so I unplug all the cables, carry the PC somewhere I can work on it, remove the metal side panel, remove the tempered glass side panel, carefully put it away and it explodes into thousand pieces o_O
After taking a photo and cleaning up, I tried to put the SSD into the case. Two small problems: one, I've already used all SATA ports, but since one is an old DVD burner I don't need, I can use that port. Problem two is, that I don't have a free HDD cage and no other place to securely put it, so I'd have to just chuck it in the bottom. At least I've the space for another cage, so I got one for 12€.
So, I started today with a SSD outside of my computer, and I ended it with the same SSD still outside of my computer, but also down 12€ and missing my side panel. Great..
Well, at least BeQuite will send me another panel free of charge, so at least there is that.
 
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