Author Topic: The PC (non-gaming) thread - What else do yours do? No RGB pics please! (Read 5684 times)

Riquende · « **on:** June 26, 2020, 08:21:01 pm »

A thread for technical questions, building help or just general comments about computing on PCs, far from the prying eyes of those Mac-using deviants! People tend to post all the PC chat in the gaming thread, but they can do so much more!

Anyway, I mentioned a few weeks ago in the PC gaming thread that I was rebuilding a new small PC to use for work or possible as an HTPC and said I'd post an update when I got round to it... and for some strange reason I woke up incredibly hungover this morning and decided not to bother with actual office work but get my build finished instead. Turns out it's not quite finished but I'll explain at the end...

So this is a top down look inside the case. It's generally old kit pulled from other builds. I7-3770S (the lower powered variant with reduced clock speed) on an H77 ITX motherboard, 16GB DDR3 and hidden in the drive bays is a 500GB SSD. I've removed the plastic shroud and its 40mm fan from the GTX 1050 as it sits so close to the twin 80mm fans (one of the few newly bought bits for the system). I also bought a Corsair 450W SFX modular power supply, it's worth spending money on a good PSU as it will usually outlast a more than one system it's used in!

Cable management is something of an issue, the modular PSU's cables are all individually braided so it looks like black spaghetti in there! Cheap SFF cases don't have clever cable routing systems so all I'll be able to do is cable tie it up.

I had to use my Dremel to modify one of the new case fans as it just intefered with the inside of the GPU's DVI port. It's not the cleanest of cuts but it's done the job!

A final shot for scale next to my old HD5870. It's a pretty minimalist case designed to sit under a TV pretending to be a console or media player, and doesn't have anything in the way of front ventilation.

So why is it not finished? Well, I'm not entirely happy with the idle temperature of the CPU sitting at 40° (although there is a heatwave currently in the south so I need to wait a few days for a more typical reading). The CPU cooler is a mid-tier AR06 which has performed well previously in a case with proper airflow but is struggling here. I've ordered a chunkier Noctua fan to mount on the heatsink to see if that helps any, if not then I'm not sure where to go really! I've already spent way too much money on what is essentially a 4th-choice ancillary PC so bigger, serious coolers and the necessary low profile RAM, or buying an even lower TDP processor aren't routes I want to head down...

Maybe I'll just only turn it on in the winter.

candys · « **Reply #1 on:** December 28, 2020, 12:55:03 pm »

great job btw! I'm building my own pc too right now

candys · « **Reply #2 on:** December 28, 2020, 02:43:21 pm »

It turned out not so easy tast. Yet, for some reason, I felt more excited spending time researching parts and putting the build together with my own two hands than being able to run almost everything so smoothly, which was kind of the point of buying a PC. I'm waiting for some parts right now. I ordered them from supplier here https://eltra-trade.com/catalog/baumer-encoders. It is fast developing company that supplying electronic components and complex systems in Europe and throughout the world.

Riquende · « **Reply #3 on:** December 28, 2020, 07:28:56 pm »

Quote from: candys on December 28, 2020, 02:43:21 pm

It turned out not so easy tast. Yet, for some reason, I felt more excited spending time researching parts and putting the build together with my own two hands than being able to run almost everything so smoothly, which was kind of the point of buying a PC.

That's very common! What have you built and what problems did you run into?

Despite being excited about building the PC in my first post, about 6 weeks later I disassembled it as the airflow direction wasn't compatible with its location and even with a better cooler it was sitting at a crazy 60 degrees at idle. I was going to move some stuff about but ended up breaking something on the mobo so abandoned the whole thing. It was a fun project to plan and build though, and stuff like cases and power supplies can always be used for something new down the line (which is why it's a good idea to buy good and not cheap ones).

We've actually been decommissioning a few bits at work recently so my list of computers to tinker with grows ever longer, despite the non-completion of this box and throwing out a 10 year old HP prebuilt earlier in the year:

Custom gaming PC: i7-7700K, GTX 1070. Really showing its age now, I think I'll be building a new gaming rig towards the end of 2021 but I've got a house move/relocation to plan first.
2 x Custom HTPC: both i7-7700, 1 with a GTX 1050ti, the other with GTX 970 (bits from previous gaming PCs that got paired with lower powered CPUs and ITX cases to make capable little boxes).
HP Microserver: AMD X3421, GTX 1050 (upped the RAM to 16GB, put in the GPU and fitted a server-grade SSD into the DVD slot to keep the drive bays clear for storage)
Apple 2010 Mac Pro: Xeon X5675, GTX 1050 (the low profile 1050 from the first post! It's a big improvement over the Radeon HD5770 that came as standard but looks absolutely comical inside the cavernous interior of the Mac Pro. It's a decommissioned server so despite only having the single CPU tray it is packing 32GB of registered DIMMs. I don't really know what to do with this as it's worse than all my other desktops but an absolute power hog)
Apple 2012 iMac 21": i7-3770S, GT 640M (adopted work project to invesigate whether drive could be swapped to SSD. Also increased RAM and switched CPU whilst inside. Got it just before the lockdown and proved to be vital as it was my only machine with a webcam for all the sudden Zooms etc)
Apple 2012 Macbook Pro 15": i7-3715QM, GTX 650M (I can't say that I'd bother snapping up an 8 year old plastic Dell laptop but this this is solid as a rock and remains a decent performer. Switched to a good SSD and will bring the RAM up from 4GB to 16 once the festive spending is over)
Stone N120: Celeron 1037U (the runt of the collection with an 11" screen, this cheap bit of junk is my travel laptop that I can afford to lose. I've switched to an SSD and filled its single SODIMM slot with an 8GB stick but that's all I can do. I don't really like laptops due to their lack of tinkerability)

OperationIvy · « **Reply #4 on:** January 7, 2021, 07:13:19 pm »

Can someone help me with a technical issue please!

I recently upgraded the Mobo, RAM and CPU. I bought a Aorus x570 Elite, 16B Corsair Vengance 3200Mhz and a Ryzen 5 2600x. I have an old GPU (Radeon R9 270x).

Before the upgrade I had no issues. But now when I start my PC for the first time there is never any video output and GPU fans go berserk. But if I reset my pc then then it works fine. I literally have to do this everytime I want to use the PC.

After trying loads of different things in the bios, I finally managed to get it work normally on the first boot by just pluging the GPU in the secondary PCI-E slot (the x4 one) instead of the primary (x16) one.

So I'm wondering if the problem is more a compatability issue between the mobo and my outdated GPU. I want to buy a new GPU but literally every shop is sold out and I have until the end of the month to return my mobo if there is a problem with that.

So was just wondering if anyone else knows of this kind of issue and what the problem may be. Thanks.

jonnypb · « **Reply #5 on:** January 12, 2021, 12:25:48 pm »

Quote from: OperationIvy on January 7, 2021, 07:13:19 pm

Can someone help me with a technical issue please!

I recently upgraded the Mobo, RAM and CPU. I bought a Aorus x570 Elite, 16B Corsair Vengance 3200Mhz and a Ryzen 5 2600x. I have an old GPU (Radeon R9 270x).

Before the upgrade I had no issues. But now when I start my PC for the first time there is never any video output and GPU fans go berserk. But if I reset my pc then then it works fine. I literally have to do this everytime I want to use the PC.

After trying loads of different things in the bios, I finally managed to get it work normally on the first boot by just pluging the GPU in the secondary PCI-E slot (the x4 one) instead of the primary (x16) one.

So I'm wondering if the problem is more a compatability issue between the mobo and my outdated GPU. I want to buy a new GPU but literally every shop is sold out and I have until the end of the month to return my mobo if there is a problem with that.

So was just wondering if anyone else knows of this kind of issue and what the problem may be. Thanks.

Have you got the latest firmware installed on the BIOS?

Also make sure you have latest drivers installed for the GPU and Mobo.

Could be a faulty x16 slot, but without having another GPU to test it's hard to say, but if it works ok after a second boot it might be more a driver or incompatibility issue.

Might be something in this link of some use for you.

https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/gigabyte-r9-270x-not-running-in-x16-slot-but-running-in-x4-slot.196613/

Mr Mingebag Squid · « **Reply #6 on:** January 15, 2021, 09:41:01 am »

Hi All,

Complete PC building noob here - I'm looking at installing a SSD to run windows from. Would it be best to have an internal or external drive? How easy are SSD's to install? And how would I move windows from its current location to the SSD? (If that's possible?)

Thanks!

WhereAngelsPlay · « **Reply #7 on:** January 15, 2021, 06:37:26 pm »

Quote from: Mr Mingebag Squid on January 15, 2021, 09:41:01 am

Hi All,

Complete PC building noob here - I'm looking at installing a SSD to run windows from. Would it be best to have an internal or external drive? How easy are SSD's to install? And how would I move windows from its current location to the SSD? (If that's possible?)

Thanks!

If you're only going to use it on the PC then internal is tidier and as you're using it to run the OS it'd be the best option imo.

Mr Mingebag Squid · « **Reply #8 on:** January 19, 2021, 09:48:01 am »

Quote from: WhereAngelsPlay on January 15, 2021, 06:37:26 pm

If you're only going to use it on the PC then internal is tidier and as you're using it to run the OS it'd be the best option imo.

Cool - cheers!

Riquende · « **Reply #9 on:** January 21, 2021, 02:45:32 pm »

Quote from: Mr Mingebag Squid on January 15, 2021, 09:41:01 am

Hi All,

Complete PC building noob here - I'm looking at installing a SSD to run windows from. Would it be best to have an internal or external drive? How easy are SSD's to install? And how would I move windows from its current location to the SSD? (If that's possible?)

Thanks!

Definitely internal if it's holding the OS - there are no situations you need a removable OS and the USB interface would slow the system down massively. If you can even make it work at all, I've honestly never tried.

Ease of installation depends on the computer - if it's a laptop then it could involve a lot of screws. Also, there are the new 'NVMe' drives which aren't boxes at all but just slip into a socket straight on the board and are screwed down.

Tranferring the drive can be done via cloning software - when SSDs were new it was common that they would come with something to help you but I don't know about now as the expectation is that everyone already has one, or their computer is old enough that it needs replacing entirely.

Mr Mingebag Squid · « **Reply #10 on:** February 7, 2021, 10:30:32 pm »

Well, my old PC just decided to not want to reboot and wouldn't repair, wouldn't restore and wouldn't reset.

So, have had to buy a new one anyway which had an SSD loaded with windows.

Only issue is that it only came with an integrated intel 630 UHD graphics. Now I'm not a hardcore gamer, in fact I only play football manager/cities skylines and planet zoo.

Any recommendations for a decent "cheap" graphics card? I've been told the geforce gtx 770 would be ok - but looking at graphics cards is like looking at a foreign language!!

Riquende · « **Reply #11 on:** February 8, 2021, 07:01:51 pm »

Quote from: Mr Mingebag Squid on February 7, 2021, 10:30:32 pm

Any recommendations for a decent "cheap" graphics card? I've been told the geforce gtx 770 would be ok - but looking at graphics cards is like looking at a foreign language!!

The 770 was higher spec in its day but that day was 8 years ago and a lower-powered modern card might serve you better. We'd need more info about the system, and not just the headline numbers - how much physical space does the case have? What's the wattage of the power supply? If you've bought a cheap pre-built system then the power supply may not even have the right cables for some graphics cards.

Mr Mingebag Squid · « **Reply #12 on:** February 8, 2021, 10:26:17 pm »

Quote from: Riquende on February 8, 2021, 07:01:51 pm

The 770 was higher spec in its day but that day was 8 years ago and a lower-powered modern card might serve you better. We'd need more info about the system, and not just the headline numbers - how much physical space does the case have? What's the wattage of the power supply? If you've bought a cheap pre-built system then the power supply may not even have the right cables for some graphics cards.

I'll reply with more information in the morning, but looking at the power supply, it's only 180w - so that's gonna need replacing too.

Reason I mentioned the 770 is I want to be able to run Planet Zoo and that's the recommended minimum.

I may have got a GTX 1080 through Facebook marketplace for £80 though.... although will presume I haven't.

This is the unit I have. Looking to upgrade PSU and GPU... https://support.hp.com/gb-en/document/c06530377#AbT0

Riquende · « **Reply #13 on:** February 9, 2021, 10:47:35 am »

Quote from: Mr Mingebag Squid on February 8, 2021, 10:26:17 pm

This is the unit I have. Looking to upgrade PSU and GPU... https://support.hp.com/gb-en/document/c06530377#AbT0

I can't find a good picture of the inside of the case but you may have problems here - brands like HP often use proprietary sizes/fixtures of components like motherboards and PSUs that can make better replacements impossible. Your case cooling also looks minimal, which would concern me if I was putting good gaming components it.

Ignore recommended specs on old games as they can only describe the hardware at the time - you'd be doing well to find a 770, let alone one you can trust hasn't been well-used in its time. Your 180W can't even power that card (or the 1080) by itself without accounting for the rest of the system so if a PSU swap isn't possible then you're never using that 770 (and I'd also question whether the bigger cards will physically fit in the case. Even if you can squeeze it in you're likely starving everything of airflow).

I'd honestly look for a 1050ti or a 1650 (non-ti), the benchmarks on these are in a similar area to a 770 and the key thing is that they require no additional power than what they draw through the PCIe slot. Now this doesn't guarantee that your 180W will be enoughas they want 75W themselves (there are PSU calculators online if you want to run the numbers) but it's worth a shot if you can find a card cheap enough. They will also be smaller generally so fit better within what you're working with. Used ones are less likely to have been used for mining or pushed graphically as they were never top-tier gaming cards.

I'd also look for a 2nd 8GB RAM module to bring yourself up to 16GB total as it's a fairly cheap upgrade that brings you to what most mid-level systems would have now.

Mr Mingebag Squid · « **Reply #14 on:** February 9, 2021, 11:23:36 am »

Thanks for that.

Essentially, its so I can work from home - it easily runs excel and outlook, so that ticks all the requirements.

Mainly for gaming I use the Xbox - so this isn't essential and I can run Football Manager at a decent level anyway. I did think as I bought it that it probably wouldnt be able to be a semi decent gaming setup - but I'll look for a 1051ti or 1650 and see where I go from there!

Riquende · « **Reply #15 on:** February 9, 2021, 11:55:44 am »

Quote from: Mr Mingebag Squid on February 9, 2021, 11:23:36 am

but I'll look for a 1051ti or 1650 and see where I go from there!

The main trouble with trying to get hold of those cards is that they are the perfect card to drop into ex-business desktops to create what eBay sellers are happy to call a 'gaming' machine - they buy up batches of old office hardware for up to £50 per machine, throw the bits in a £50 case with coloured LED fans, add a £100 GPU and then throw it on eBay for £300-£400 advertising that it can easily run Fortnite.

Mr Mingebag Squid · « **Reply #16 on:** February 9, 2021, 02:15:55 pm »

Quote from: Riquende on February 9, 2021, 11:55:44 am

The main trouble with trying to get hold of those cards is that they are the perfect card to drop into ex-business desktops to create what eBay sellers are happy to call a 'gaming' machine - they buy up batches of old office hardware for up to £50 per machine, throw the bits in a £50 case with coloured LED fans, add a £100 GPU and then throw it on eBay for £300-£400 advertising that it can easily run Fortnite.

Whats the difference between a low profile and non low profile?

And although you can get different manufacturers (Gigabyte/ASUS etc) are they all essentially the same card?

Riquende · « **Reply #17 on:** February 9, 2021, 02:47:41 pm »

Quote from: Mr Mingebag Squid on February 9, 2021, 02:15:55 pm

Whats the difference between a low profile and non low profile?

And although you can get different manufacturers (Gigabyte/ASUS etc) are they all essentially the same card?

Some manufacturers tweak the cards slightly for better performance, and they may be different sizes and having different cooling setups. Lots of people end up with brand loyalty (a lot of my kit these days is MSI) but any of them will work to a basic degree.

'Low profile' refers to PCs that are about 10cm thick (common in offices, and like in my first post of the thread you can make VCR-sized boxes for TV cabinets with them). Because of this, any component has to be able to fit inside that reduced-size case; most commonly this affects PSUs and GPUs as they sit across the whole case. Low profile GPUs usually come with two brackets, one for full cases and one for low profile cases. You can see this in the amount of blank metal on the fitted bracket in this picture:

There really isn't a benefit to using low profile if you don't need to as by necessity compromises are made to fit the card into the space - usually in their cooling ability.

Mr Mingebag Squid · « **Reply #18 on:** February 9, 2021, 03:00:16 pm »

Ah I see!

Sorry for all the questions - this is all like a foreign language to me!

Malaysian Kopite · « **Reply #19 on:** March 2, 2021, 10:03:33 am »

Thoughts on this build?

AMD Ryzen 5 3600
MSI B550M PRO-VDH WIFI
GSKILL TridentZ Neo 2x8GB DDR4 3200mhz (F4-3200C16D-16GTZN)
GIGABYTE Geforce RTX3060TI Gaming OC PRO 8GB DDR6
SEASONIC FOCUS PLUS GX-650 80+Gold Full Modular
LIANLI LANCOOL 215
CORSAIR FORCE Series MP510 960GB Gen3 PCIe x4 NVMe(3480/3000)
ACER 27"XV272UP-IPS/144HZ/2K(2560x1440/1ms/HDMIX2/DP/Speaker)
LOGITECH C310 HD WEBCAM

Riquende · « **Reply #20 on:** March 2, 2021, 03:56:00 pm »

Why the micro-ATX motherboard? Generally they're not as popular these days. People either want all the possible ports/headers that you get from ATX or want to minaturise and go down to ITX.

Malaysian Kopite · « **Reply #21 on:** March 2, 2021, 04:11:33 pm »

Quote from: Riquende on March 2, 2021, 03:56:00 pm

Why the micro-ATX motherboard? Generally they're not as popular these days. People either want all the possible ports/headers that you get from ATX or want to minaturise and go down to ITX.

One of the cheaper Wifi B550s a local retailer stocks, almost went for the Aorus Wifi B450 ATX instead but decided to pony up a bit more for this.

Kashinoda · « **Reply #22 on:** March 4, 2021, 04:56:41 pm »

I got this case (Link)

Coupled with:
AMD Ryzen 3 3200G (Link)
Noctua NH-L9a AM4 Low-profile Cooler (Link)
Gigabyte B450M DS3H mATX (Link)
Crucial 8GB RAM (Link)
GameMax GT300 TFX PSU (Link)
SanDisk SSD PLUS 1 TB (Link)

SSD and the Noctua cooler weren't essential but I wanted to eliminate noise.

Cost around £350 total, fits nicely in my Ikea Hemnes TV Unit. Perfect little box for a media center, no problem with high bitrate 10Bit 4K HDR files. Also replaced my SteamLink for streaming games from my PC.

Tempted to get a low profile 1050ti for upscaling 1080p content in MadVR but prices are mad right now.

Graeme · « **Reply #23 on:** June 2, 2022, 10:15:28 am »

Morning all, after a bit of advice on a PC build. It will be my lads Christmas present so buying the bits over the coming months to spread the cost.

So far I’ve got…

Asus Prime B660M-A WiFi D4 Motherboard (£86.08)
Crucial P5 Plus 1000GB PCIe M.2 2280SS SSD (£80.74)
MSI Radeon RX 6500 XT MECH 2X 4GB OC Graphics Card (£144.99)

I’ve built many PC’s over the years, but not so much recently so I’m a bit behind the times on some of the technology such as water cooling, RGB lights etc. With regards to RGB lights, the motherboard has an RGB header, but beyond that I don’t know what else would be needed to have the likes of a CPU fan, case fans, RAM etc all lit up. Is it very plug and play or is the more to it?

hixxstar · « **Reply #24 on:** June 10, 2022, 05:58:33 pm »

Greame.. to control RGB lights in the system install software like 'Aura' (Aura is ASUS’ RGB control software).. Link below.. (basically you just plug them in & go-but you can custom colour/brightness etc)

https://rog.asus.com/us/articles/guides/how-to-customize-your-pcs-rgb-lighting-with-aura-sync/

As for your Mobo.. i did hear of major problems with it, Ram issues so Asus rushed a bios update out.. people said just use memm slots 2 & 4.. link below... (hope i'm wrong-just a heads up mate)

https://www.reddit.com/r/ASUS/comments/sl9qc4/beware_asus_prime_b660plus_d4_is_having_serious/

Graeme · « **Reply #25 on:** June 10, 2022, 06:17:16 pm »

Cheers I’ll have a read through that Reddit post tonight

hixxstar · « **Reply #26 on:** June 11, 2022, 10:12:59 pm »

Quote from: Graeme on June 10, 2022, 06:17:16 pm

Cheers I’ll have a read through that Reddit post tonight

Should be ok but i thought i'd just give you a nod to read...
mobo & M.2 ssd looks fine (some mobo when you add M.2 ssd it hijacks the nearest pci lane for data transfer and creates a bottleneck of data)
PSU.. Min-550/600w 80+ gold semi modular (Corsair TXM Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply) £60 ish.. just a thought..

i know the mobo is wifi but if its connecting to router via rj45 cable get the latest one .. cat 8, might do nowt but its faster & backwards compatable.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B086XGZ7QW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

CornerFlag · « **Reply #27 on:** March 15, 2023, 01:44:28 pm »

Hey folks, so I've started to look into building my own system and I'm looking at the parts needed for it. Been using PartPicker to get a few components together and just wondered how you think it's looking, and what sort of changes you'd probably look at for it:

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/6j6VpH

Chosen the processor as, while I don't need top-end particularly, I'm looking to use the computer to eventually edit videos and possibly stream, as well as use it as somewhat of a home media centre. That's why I've gone with the 32GB of DDR4 as well as the 8TB HDD.

Not included a graphics card as yet, partly because I'm umming and aaahing over which one, partly because my budget isn't really where I want it to be for a decent GDDR6 one either, and partly because the iGPU of the 13500 is meant to be decent for now, and I'm not likely to play anything more demanding than Football Manager for the foreseeable future.

Draex · « **Reply #28 on:** March 15, 2023, 04:35:14 pm »

Quote from: CornerFlag on March 15, 2023, 01:44:28 pm

Hey folks, so I've started to look into building my own system and I'm looking at the parts needed for it. Been using PartPicker to get a few components together and just wondered how you think it's looking, and what sort of changes you'd probably look at for it:

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/6j6VpH

Chosen the processor as, while I don't need top-end particularly, I'm looking to use the computer to eventually edit videos and possibly stream, as well as use it as somewhat of a home media centre. That's why I've gone with the 32GB of DDR4 as well as the 8TB HDD.

Not included a graphics card as yet, partly because I'm umming and aaahing over which one, partly because my budget isn't really where I want it to be for a decent GDDR6 one either, and partly because the iGPU of the 13500 is meant to be decent for now, and I'm not likely to play anything more demanding than Football Manager for the foreseeable future.

Where you based?

I got a prebuilt one from https://www.scan.co.uk/ during a sale.

I struggled to find much value in building it myself v's the support of it you not doing it!

your GFX card is where you need to put your money! Especially if you're doing videos but make sure your monitor is as good a spec as your gfx card.

CornerFlag · « **Reply #29 on:** March 16, 2023, 08:55:36 am »

Quote from: Draex on March 15, 2023, 04:35:14 pm

Where you based?

I got a prebuilt one from https://www.scan.co.uk/ during a sale.

I struggled to find much value in building it myself v's the support of it you not doing it!

your GFX card is where you need to put your money! Especially if you're doing videos but make sure your monitor is as good a spec as your gfx card.

Based in the UK, been looking a lot at Scan (as well as ones like Cyberpower, Ebuyer, etc) but the specs are never quite right, and it feels like there's a £100 mark-up that I could otherwise invest into the system. I feel like, while 16GB is fine, I'd want 32 to future-proof it a bit more, especially when RAM prices are about the only part of a system that isn't insanely marked-up (I'm looking at you specifically, graphics cards and motherboards)

Display is okay for now but I would upgrade it when I get a chance, it runs at 1080p at 75Hz but I'd be looking at a 4k with 144Hz (min) down the line.

jonnypb · « **Reply #30 on:** March 16, 2023, 11:07:19 am »

Quote from: CornerFlag on March 16, 2023, 08:55:36 am

Based in the UK, been looking a lot at Scan (as well as ones like Cyberpower, Ebuyer, etc) but the specs are never quite right, and it feels like there's a £100 mark-up that I could otherwise invest into the system. I feel like, while 16GB is fine, I'd want 32 to future-proof it a bit more, especially when RAM prices are about the only part of a system that isn't insanely marked-up (I'm looking at you specifically, graphics cards and motherboards)

Display is okay for now but I would upgrade it when I get a chance, it runs at 1080p at 75Hz but I'd be looking at a 4k with 144Hz (min) down the line.

If you've got the knowledge to build your own and going to be using it for more than browsing the web, then your own custom build is a good choice. When I built mine I weighed up buying pre-built or doing my own custom one. While there wasn't big difference in costs when looking at similar spec pre-built machines, there was a big difference in the parts used. I found that a lot of the pre-built ones came with cheap parts, especially the PSU and motherboard. Doing your own means you can get decent quality parts and still come in lower than a pre-built one and like you say you can put that extra money into a GPU or display in the future.

I found the forum on pcpartpicker to be extremely helpful when picking parts.

Draex · « **Reply #31 on:** March 20, 2023, 04:54:38 pm »

Fair point about the mobo etc.

I got one of these a few years ago, a water cooled version with RTX2070.

https://www.scan.co.uk/3xs/configurator/3xs-gamer-3080-amd

Their bespoke systems are amazing

https://www.scan.co.uk/3xs/custom/pages/custom-shop

Claire. · « **Reply #32 on:** July 3, 2023, 10:40:39 am »

Not a PC question but a (probably) stupid question about this monitor: https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/dell-32-curved-4k-uhd-monitor-s3221qsa/apd/210-bfvu/monitors-monitor-accessories?cjevent=043d9c1c192811ee81e9012a0a18ba73&dgc=CJ&publisherid=1453124&publisher=&aff=Pepper+Deals+LTD&affid=1453124&aff_webid=1546795&aff_user_id=2543267696&cjdata=MXxZfDB8WXww&gacd=12387083-28470564-5750457-344826123-176915672&dgc=af&VEN1=1546795&dclid=CKO_9MCJ8f8CFVdBpAQdMQUEhw

It's got speakers, so can I connect like the sky mini box to this? I assume it'll be fine as it mentions console gaming but always worth a check, was thinking about a replacement upstairs telly and think I'll get more general usage out of this.

Graeme · « **Reply #33 on:** July 3, 2023, 11:20:35 am »

Yeah it’ll work, but I’d expect those speakers to be shite.

You should be able to pick up a Sky Soundbox pretty cheap nowadays. I have one a Bluetooth speaker but it supports HDMI passthrough from a Sky Q box so you could plug the Sky Q into the Sky Soundbox and the Soundbox into the monitor via HDMI. Small extra outlay for a much better experience.

Claire. · « **Reply #34 on:** July 3, 2023, 11:51:03 am »

Thanks Graeme, will have a look at soundbars if it's awful, though most of the reviews on it about the sound say it's pretty good

Now for Dell to get on and send me my advantage code.

stoa · « **Reply #35 on:** July 9, 2023, 04:23:30 pm »

I have two questions and they are kind of related. First one is about how Windows licensing works. I grew up at a time, where you needed a programme and a matching key to use it. It's how I've been using Windows. However, at one point I decided to link the whole thing to my Microsoft account and ever since then I've never had to use windows licenses. I have a normal desktop PC (which was how I got my first windows license). Over the years I've added two more laptops to the collection and I don't think I ever had to enter any product keys for Windows. Just logged in with my Microsoft account and Windows was activated. Does that mean, I can basically use Windows on any PC where I'm logged in to my account basically giving me unlimited activations? Because I remember years ago they linked your Windows license to your hardware and whenever you changed significant parts of it, you had to re-activate your windows.

Second question is kind of related to that, because I have tons of old hardware around and I'm kind of a data-hoarder. So, I was thinking about building a system with some of the old stuff I have and just fill it with all the HDDs and some older SSDs I have here, to basically just use it for storage. There's tons of stuff on Youtube or found via google about building a NAS, home media server or whatever. I have absolutely no idea what to do. Basically, I want to have my regular PC for everyday use and then another PC basically next to it (or in the same room) to put pictures and videos on it from time to time and everything else I might want to store, but I wouldn't want to have it running all the time. What's the best way to get a setup like that?

Elmo! · « **Reply #36 on:** July 9, 2023, 04:30:26 pm »

In answer to your first question, there is a limit, though I'm not sure what it is. When I built a new PC a few months ago, I signed in with MS account but it said I didn't have any available licenses. It did however let me remove it from one of the existing computers - which was fine as I just removed my old PC that I was replacing.

Claire. · « **Reply #37 on:** July 11, 2023, 11:48:06 am »

Quote from: Graeme on July 3, 2023, 11:20:35 am

Yeah it’ll work, but I’d expect those speakers to be shite.

You should be able to pick up a Sky Soundbox pretty cheap nowadays. I have one a Bluetooth speaker but it supports HDMI passthrough from a Sky Q box so you could plug the Sky Q into the Sky Soundbox and the Soundbox into the monitor via HDMI. Small extra outlay for a much better experience.

Just set it up and the sound is surprisingly good!

Graeme · « **Reply #38 on:** July 11, 2023, 12:43:14 pm »

All good then! In fairness I’ve not used a monitor with speakers for years so probably based my opinion on dated tech.

CornerFlag · « **Reply #39 on:** July 13, 2023, 04:48:36 pm »

Stupid question, but sound cards used to be a necessity back in the day due to the on-board stuff being kind of trash. Is there still a need for them outside of specialist audio-recording equipment at all?