PC Building Guide and Discussion #12

Gaylord Q Tinkledink

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Seems decent for the money. CPU is way more powerful than you'd need but it's probably on clearance because it's last generation's model. Nothing wrong with this mind you.


At a quick search, I don't think this can be done.

The nearest system I found was actually $50 more elsewhere. Otherwise the specs/power of the system starts to drop fast if you go cheaper.

I'd bite the bullet and pay the extra $100 you don't want to and get the one you linked. But if the budget is the budget and you must get something I can find the best possible for $700. But it will likely be a lot worse performing.

Effort and research into this. Much appreciated.

Think I will as many with computer expertise seem to say this is a pretty good deal. Or at least better than what you'll get most days.
 

SniperHF

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Think I will as many with computer expertise seem to say this is a pretty good deal. Or at least better than what you'll get most days.

It seems pretty good yeah. It has a low end video card, but at least it has a real video card. Most everything else in this price range has an integrated graphics card.

The GTX 1050 is not great but it will at least play basically anything even if it has to be at medium settings.
 

flyingkiwi

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AB86Ttl.jpg


Got everything except my dang motherboard. Once it arrives I'll hook everything up to my big old 500w psu to test and get Windows and emulators sorted, then I'll try the system on the picopsu. If that doesn't work the whole build is screwed but at least I gave it a shot!
 

flyingkiwi

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Well damn, it got lost in the post. Now I have to wait for a lost item claim (fair enough) and then wait a refund to process (piss off). I don't want a bloody refund, but apparently that's all Newegg international customers can get.
 

SniperHF

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Maybe international is different, but I've always found Newegg to be very fast. Not Amazon fast but pretty good. Had a Power Color HD6950 that always thought it was running about 120C (!) I had to exchange one time.

and then wait a refund to process (piss off).

Time to fire up the credit card and order another one :laugh:
 

flyingkiwi

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Maybe international is different, but I've always found Newegg to be very fast. Not Amazon fast but pretty good. Had a Power Color HD6950 that always thought it was running about 120C (!) I had to exchange one time.



Time to fire up the credit card and order another one :laugh:
Don't even know if it's worth it. Even with the 2-3 business days shipping, our next business day in this country isn't until the Thursday 3rd and I'm back to work on the 7th. If it was a standard build sure, but I don't know if I have the time to give to it anymore.
 

RandV

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So this is what I have on the way in 4 separate shipments (prices in CAD):

From Memory Express ($8.99 shipping x2)
Ryzen™ 5 2600 Processor Bundle w/ MSI X370 GAMING PRO CARBON Mot $339.99
Arctic Cooling Freezer 33 TR Tower CPU Cooler for AMD Ryzen Threadripper sTR4, Red/Black $49.99
EVGA SuperNOVA 650 G1+ 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply, 650W $79.99
EVGA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti SC GAMING ACX 2.0 4GB PCI-E w/ DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort 249.99
Roccat ISKU+ Force FX RGB Gaming Keyboard 29.99 (current keyboard is on the fritz, but mouse is fine)

From Newegg (free shipping)
CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3000 (PC4 24000) Memory Kit Model 159.99
WD Blue 3D NAND 1TB PC SSD - SATA III 6 Gb/s M.2 2280 Solid State Drive - WDS100T2B0B 159.99

From Amazon (free shipping)
Thermaltake Versa N21 Black Edition Translucent Window Panel SPCC ATX Mid Tower Computer Chassis CA-1D9-00M1WN-00 76.97

So with shipping and before taxes/recycling fees that was $1,164.88 CAD... and I'll have to throw in a new Windows license, which looks like I can get off Reddit for $40. I have been using Windows 7, but with a new PC figure I may as well finally move up to 10.

I gotta say though for Western (BC-AB-SASK-MAN) Canada Memory Express is the best PC part's store. Always great customer service too, I sent an email boxing day morning to make a correction about a hard drive on my order and got a call back from the store that afternoon to correct it. And I guess I'll find out in a couple of days but now I'm curious if the CPU+MBO combo deal comes with them installed together, or if I still need to add some thermal paste and do it myself.
 

RandV

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...Speaking of that customer support though, I sent my SATA SSD back to get an NVMe one, and I thought I had found a 1 TB one for $160

20-250-092-V01.jpg


But yeah looking closer at the words that's still a SATA. I'm not really sure what's going on with that, as that's not a SATA connector and I hope it fits in my mobo (the Memory Express system builder says it does), but I guess that's still okay. 500GB would be too little, but with 1TB I don't need to add a storage drive - at least for a while. Not sure if I want to pay the premium to get a proper 1 TB NVMe right now, so this still looks like a good compromise.

I'll just go with jumping straight from an old fashioned physical hard drive to a NVMe SSD would blow my mind too much, so probably better to step into a SATA SSD first.
 

flyingkiwi

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Don't even know if it's worth it. Even with the 2-3 business days shipping, our next business day in this country isn't until the Thursday 3rd and I'm back to work on the 7th. If it was a standard build sure, but I don't know if I have the time to give to it anymore.

Ah screw it I bit the bullet. Gotta love the confirmation email:

Thank you for shopping at Newegg International Inc.
We're delighted we had what you were looking for!


No you bloody well didn't, watch your tone. :laugh:
 

SniperHF

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But yeah looking closer at the words that's still a SATA. I'm not really sure what's going on with that,

m.2 is one port type they can connect to An NVMe can use an m.2 port(if the board is new enough) or a PCIe port. A SATA drive can use either the m.2 port or a traditional SATA cable. The drive type has to match too of course.

If it runs over SATA, you're limited to that bus speed which is 4.8 gigabit thereabouts. NVMe is 32 gigabit. But the actual speed of the flash memory is still a limiting factor for NVMe. Where as flash memory is now faster than SATAs maximum speeds.

I don't think NVMe is worth the price premium generally. Good SATA drives are very fast. It was one thing when going from mechanical drives to see load times decreased by as much as 30 seconds. We're talking single digit differences in NVMe vs SATA SSDs.
 

God King Fudge

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Hey guys. Hoping someone can help me out. I just bought a new case and it's got 3 pre-installed fans on the front.

My previous case was several years old and didn't have near the "bells and whistles" that this one does. It just had a 4 pin fan connector that I ran to the Mobo and it was good.

This one has a 4 pin fan connector but it also has one of these (they're rgb fans. I know, I know):

w8rS4RI.jpg


I apologize if the size is crazy, I'm posting from.mobile.

Does this look right? The manual labels this as 12v /5v.

I have connectors on my PS that match this, but they all have 4 female ends and this thing has the 3.

None of the fans spin or light on the front, the other case fan does.

When I plug that end into the connection on my PS, the PC doesn't turn on at all.

I've never had one of these before in my case, so am I just doing this wrong or does that connector look wrong?

If the info helps, the case is a Lian Li Alpha 550, the Mobo is a ASRock z370 pro4 and the PS is a Senty725
 

God King Fudge

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Messed with this thing for 2 more hours and still can't get the fans on at all. Almost feeling like something is defective because I'd be real embarrassed if I spent this much time just overlooking something.

Everything in the case works except those 3 front fans. I figured they'd at least turn on and spin with the 4 pin connector plugged into the mobo and maybe just not light up but they don't.
 

Osprey

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That's a Molex connector, which was the standard way to power components before SATA power connectors came around. Power supplies sometimes still come with a few (or include adapters for them) for compatibility. When such a connector has one or more pins missing, it provides less power and, so, can be used only with low power components, like fans. A fan plugged into that connector should work, whereas other components, like old hard drives, may not. Also, since it provides low power already, it may not work to daisy chain multiple components (even fans) onto it. Try connecting a single fan and nothing else to that connector.
 

God King Fudge

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I was able to get the lights working (there was a bent pin in the connector on the rgb controller I had to unbend) but the fans still won't spin.

Bios only detects the rear chassis fan, so something is still weird with it.

I also can't boot to windows anymore for some reason. This thing has been a headache.

Thanks for the info, though. Never had one or those in a case lol
 

God King Fudge

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Can anyone think of a reason why a HD wouldn't boot after moving from one PC to another? It's detected in bios, but when I boot it says "please reboot and select proper boot device?
 

SniperHF

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Everything in the case works except those 3 front fans. I figured they'd at least turn on and spin with the 4 pin connector plugged into the mobo and maybe just not light up but they don't.

The fans sound like a somewhat unique setup from this review:

Lian Li Alpha 550X Case Review: Thermals, Noise, Build Quality, & Cable Management
"
The LED fans bundle four RGB and three PWM wires into a single plug, which is convenient in terms of cable management but doesn’t allow the fans to be connected to typical fan or RGB headers. Instead, they must be connected to Lian Li’s controller. This controller seems like it’s replaced an older design: there’s only one screw hole (there should be two) drilled in the case for it, and there’s an empty spot on the front I/O with a diagram of a button labelled “RGB” but no actual button. There is no mechanical control, and there’s also no way to control via the motherboard with CAM or other software. Instead, LED color, pattern, speed, and brightness are all adjusted with a remote control. On the bright side, there is a lot of customization available, and there are some wild baked-in animations. The fans and LED strip sync well with each other for the most part (our bottom fan was rotated one turn out of alignment) and the use of a remote does allow for more detailed controls than the usual “press button to change color.”

Fan speed is controlled via a PWM header attached to the motherboard, so the main benefit of bundling RGB/fan power together and connecting the fans to the hub is to reduce cable clutter. The exhaust fan has a normal 3-pin fan header and a molex plug, so even though there are empty slots on the hub, it must be plugged in elsewhere.

To summarize: Lian Li’s fans must be connected to Lian Li’s controller, and Lian Li’s controller must be be adjusted with Lian Li’s remote. The BORA 120mm RGB fans are very well made and currently go for $40 on Amazon (with a controller). It’s understandable that Lian Li would want their fans to be connected to their RGB controller to make sure they can take full advantage of the individually addressable LEDs with the variety of animations that they did, but it’s a shame the fan connectors are bundled in as well, when they could just as easily be separate standard 3-pin connectors. Plus, we’ll probably lose the remote."

Is there a fan controller somewhere you can plug them into? And is your controller getting power?




As for the HD, you are trying to boot the existing install of Windows on it?

Also in the bios, when selecting your boot device if it's Windows 8 or 10 you don't generally select the specific hard drive. There should be an entry for "Windows boot manager" which you should use.

Another possible issue could be if the drive came from a system that had multiple drives the boot loader could be installed on the other drive.
 

God King Fudge

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Yeah, there was a controller box (which ended up being the problem with the lighting, as one of the pins in the connector were bent), but the portion connected to the 4 pin fan connector is securely plugged in.

As for the HD, It's an existing install. No new components added, just taking out of one case and into another.

When I first booted it up, it took me to some kind of a recovery screen for some reason. I thought maybe something happened so I went into bios to make sure everything was detected and it was. When I first looked at the boot order, the boot manager is what was selected as primary boot and it kept putting me into that recovery screen, but any of the options (system restore, rollback) fail.

It's super weird. I think I'm gonna send that case back and just stick with my old one. I've spent 4-5 hours on this thing overall and can't get the fans to come on at all. I'm not an expert by any means, but I feel like I would have lucked into getting them going by now.
 

SniperHF

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When I first booted it up, it took me to some kind of a recovery screen for some reason. I thought maybe something happened so I went into bios to make sure everything was detected and it was. When I first looked at the boot order, the boot manager is what was selected as primary boot and it kept putting me into that recovery screen, but any of the options (system restore, rollback) fail.

I would probably just install Windows again on top of your existing install.
Your profile and files should be fine provided you do it right (IE Don't format the drive :P )

You may need to reinstall some programs though.
 

SniperHF

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Yeah, there was a controller box (which ended up being the problem with the lighting, as one of the pins in the connector were bent), but the portion connected to the 4 pin fan connector is securely plugged in.

Another thought, on the fans. It says they are PWM. If the PWM plug is connected to your motherboard your motherboard may be what is telling the fans not to spin.

Now that the lights are on the fans obviously have power so perhaps your fans won't come on until they hit a certain temperature?

I would dig around the UEFI settings and see if you can play around with the temperature thresholds for the fans. Or set them to always on just as a test. Most mid level + motherboards have these settings.
 

God King Fudge

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I'm calling it quits on this one. Shame because I really love the case.

Bios doesn't even detect the fans. It picks up the back chassis fan but not the front. I saw some settings in my fans on header 3 that dealt with pmw, so I moved the connector there, nothing. Moved it to header 2, where the working case fan was, nothing. Just some pretty lights.

This could all absolutely be something I'm doing wrong, I just don't know what it would possibly be after this long and if I can't even figure out the fans, I'm just gonna stick with what I have.

Boy it was nice actually having some room in my case for a few hours.

Thanks as always to this thread. Always good advice and information.
 

flyingkiwi

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The replacement motherboard I ordered is already in Australia. Shoulda just paid the extra bucks for the priority shipping the first time. :facepalm:
 

542365

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Any 1440P 144Hz monitor recommendations? I'd like to stay under $500 or so if possible, but I'd spent more for the perfect one.
 

flyingkiwi

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The replacement motherboard I ordered is already in Australia. Shoulda just paid the extra bucks for the priority shipping the first time. :facepalm:
So the replacement (and slightly better model) arrived yesterday. Sweet. Guess what showed up today? The original order. I hope they still do my refund tho, even if I have to send it back.
 

flyingkiwi

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Got everything running on the Pico-PSU today!

luQa9zm.png


Emulates everything up to PS1/N64 great, haven't tested anything newer but I don't have high hopes for anything on Dolphin.

hiCrCrV.png


Now to really start on the case mod which is slightly more frightening.
 

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