Official PC thread.

[whyhellothere]

I haven't read anything about windows 8, anything worth getting? I heard there is a built in virtual DVD drive.

Yeah, windows 8 finally supports iso mounting. It also has a new task manager that displays more info and a new file explorer that offers some more options. It runs a bit faster than Windows 7 but if you have a decent setup I don't think it matters to much. If you're comfortable with Windows 7 there's no real reason to upgrade unless you really like/want the modern ui. Everything else could be have been added in a service pack.

Skin8 really does look like it does a good job at getting rid of the modern ui & bringing back the start menu
______________
Eh Skin8 is better than classic shell but they still don't fully replace the start menu for me. Had trouble getting gta iv pinned.
if Microsoft just gave the ******g option........ *sigh*

 

[jackieboy]

What music players do you guys use? I'm used to iTunes, but I want something I can use with my S3 easy.

Spotify.

 

[chi based]

Can somebody help me out here? I really don't know much about PC's, I've had a mac for like 6 years but I was looking into getting one of these for myself. I'm not a hardcore gamer or anything so I know there are better options but I don't need all that. Which one is better? They both pretty much have the same specs except for the processor and the graphics card.

Amazon product ASIN B007KWM7OI
Amazon product ASIN B007KWM7UW

 

[wrod7]

Can somebody help me out here? I really don't know much about PC's, I've had a mac for like 6 years but I was looking into getting one of these for myself. I'm not a hardcore gamer or anything so I know there are better options but I don't need all that. Which one is better? They both pretty much have the same specs except for the processor and the graphics card.

http://www.amazon.com/HP-Pavilion-h9-1150-Phoenix-Desktop/dp/B007KWM7OI/ref=pd_sim_sbs_pc_2

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007KWM7UW/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=holidaydeals7-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B007KWM7UW

EDIT: Sorry I miss read.

I would do with this one

Amazon product ASIN B007KWM7OI

 

[whyhellothere]

^what wrod7 said
lulz @ thoses prices and the fact that they load the machine up with 10gb's of ram but only offer that pos 5400rpm 2tb drive for a boot drive

 

[wrod7]

^ lol Yeah I originally posted hes better of building his own at that price.

 

[chi based]

Yeah I know I would be better off, but I can get either one of those 2 for a hookup price. Is there a reason you went with that one? Isn't the radeon a better card?

 

[whyhellothere]

the 7770 is the better card but the i5 beats the 8150 in almost all task.
hope you plan on throwing an ssd in there

 

[wrod7]

Yeah I know I would be better off, but I can get either one of those 2 for a hookup price. Is there a reason you went with that one? Isn't the radeon a better card?

I personally dislike AMD processors, Although the AMD FX-8150 8-core processor the i5-3550 imo is better.

http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/365/AMD_FX-Series_FX-8150_vs_Intel_Core_i5_i5-3550.html

As far as the video card, the gtx 550 its fine. It also has double the ram, 4gb? You can always upgrade your gpu in the future for 150~300 bucks.

 

[chi based]

OK, so if I go with the i5 what are some good cards for a decent price? Like in the 2-300 range.

 

[whyhellothere]

radeon 7870 or a gtx 660 (660ti if you feel like spending extra)
make sure the power supply that comes with those hp's can handle the cards

 

[chi based]

OK. Thanks both of you guys. Appreciate it.

 

[goldenchild9]

My rig from 2006 just died on me. Can anyone recommend parts around the $800 range that will make a decent system with room for expansion?

 

[ninjallamafromhell]

My rig from 2006 just died on me. Can anyone recommend parts around the $800 range that will make a decent system with room for expansion?

I got the following from Newegg for about $550
Gigabyte Z77MX-D3H Z77 Motherboard
EVGA nVidia GTX550ti
Rosewill 530W Power Supply
i5 Ivy Bridge 3.7GHz
Corsair 8Gigs RAM (4x2)

Runs smooth as hell with Windows 7 x64

 

[goldenchild9]

I got the following from Newegg for about $550
Gigabyte Z77MX-D3H Z77 Motherboard
EVGA nVidia GTX550ti
Rosewill 530W Power Supply
i5 Ivy Bridge 3.7GHz
Corsair 8Gigs RAM (4x2)
Runs smooth as hell with Windows 7 x64

Much appreciated my dude. Can you recommend a good SSD and case? And what about the fan/cooling system?

 

[ninjallamafromhell]

Much appreciated my dude. Can you recommend a good SSD and case? And what about the fan/cooling system?

I don't have any experience with SSDs, and I haven't shopped for a case in almost a decade. I just use a couple of 12mm fans, I've been thinking of upping that though but haven't done any research into it.

 

[goldenchild9]

Ok. Thanks again for the recommendation bout to hit up Newegg.

 

[thockey66]

Much appreciated my dude. Can you recommend a good SSD and case? And what about the fan/cooling system?

CoolerMaster Hyper 212+ for cooling.
Crucial M4 or Samsung 830series for SSDs.

 

[goldenchild9]

Good looks THockey.

 

[wrod7]

Much appreciated my dude. Can you recommend a good SSD and case? And what about the fan/cooling system?

For SSD, I would get either Intel, corsair or OCZ in that order.

Case, 800D or wait for the 900D

For cooling try one of the Corsair non maintenance cpu water coolers.

 

[zk1mpls]

For SSD, I would get either Intel, corsair or OCZ in that order.
Case, 800D or wait for the 900D
For cooling try one of the Corsair non maintenance cpu water coolers.

^He said he had an $800 budget though.

What the others on here has been on point, and since what they recommended was below your budget, you can spend the remianing funds on better hardware, like a better GPU for instance (GTX 660ti or even a 670) or a better/larger capacity Power Supply Unit (PSU) - Corsair and Seasonic come to mind. You did say you wanted room for expansion (for say, an additional GPU for SLI or Crossfire).

If you're not short on space (and do decide to get another GPU down the road), I would advise against an M-ATX board/case, as the slot spacing can sometimes be less than desired -critical if you go for GPUs that use large air coolers that take up two-three PCIe slots' worth of spacing. They need room to breathe and stay cool. If you're keen on going watercooling in the future, this won't be much of an issue.

For cases, a medium-to-large mid tower case should suffice for most users. Examples of good ones are the Corsair 600T / 500R / 550D, CM Storm Sniper, etc.

SSD - Intel, Crucial, Corsair, OCZ, and Samsung are pretty good brands. The 256GB capacity offers the best performance, while the 128GB capacity offers the best value -with many going under the $100 mark apiece these days. I personally use a 128GB Crucial M4. Love the performance boost, definitely, but I only have 5GB of space left -practically nothing. :\ Looking to get a 256GB unit soon.

Cooling - Air cooling is definitely more affordable than watercooling -and much easier to maintain, too. But it's hard to match the cooling performance of a watercooling loop (unless you buy the more expensive air coolers in the market). For air cooling, Cooler Master makes some affordable coolers (Hyper 212+ comes to mind), Noctua makes expensive but silent air coolers (that perform really well -just butt-ugly though IMO ). For water cooling, easiest way is the maintenance-free route like wrod7 said (Corsair H80/H100 or Antec Kuhler 620). Custom loops can get real expensive -fast. Still saving up for mine. Lol.

 

[zk1mpls]

By the way, that 900D looks pretty good. But I like the 800D's side panel window more:

But if I had the choice to build another rig, I'd settle for a Bitfenix Prodigy.

 

[wrod7]

nah man, 800D side panel aint touching the 900D

EDIT:

That Bitfenix Prodigy looks bad /\$$ tho

 

[whyhellothere]

No SP2 for Windows 7

microsoft has been shafting windows 7 users too much to upgrade to windows 8.
think im done with microsoft & their software.

 

[whyhellothere]

think im done with microsoft & their software.

Welp im just gonna eat my crow now.
After reading about people upgrading to windows 8 for $15 I decided to get two copies for my pc's just in case I ever wanted to upgrade.
While I still thing the modern UI for the most part is a waste on traditional desktops & laptops I think some of the other enhancements are worth the upgrade price (if you can get it for $15, $40 not so much unless $40 is throw away money for you).
The out of the box driver support is Only needed to manually install 1 card reader driver for my backup machine.
I thought the boot up times people had mentioned before were exaggerated but even with a pos 5400 rpm drive inside my backup pc boots significantly faster than it did with Windows 7 & my main pc pretty much instantly on. I pretty much find myself on the desktop so I dont really see the modern ui but after spending a few minutes customizing it to my liking it isnt that bad. I didnt bother with any of the apps besides the weather one and I really do hate how there is essentially two different settings menus in windows now. Another thing that I thought was going to be exaggerated was game performance but I do get a couple more frames on Windows 8 and it seems that I can finally have a lag free experience while playing gta iv. Also noticed to score improvements in wei (not that it really matters & i always thought the highest was 7.9?)

tldr: Windows 8 while not perfect isnt as bad as I originally thought it would be & there are some noticeable improvements in performance. Whether or not you should upgrade depends on how much you'll have to pay & whether or not you feel like dealing with the new start menu or using classic shell/start8 in order to get some performance enhancements.