PALGN Master Race Builders Thread (Build your PC + advice!)

ShortRaver · Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2012 11:45 am�� Post subject:

Cheers for that.

If only they had the old cleaning agent still as it had a fresh citrus scent to it!
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Playing: Fallout: New Vegas

G3ck0 · Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 9:53 pm�� Post subject:

The 6870 is AMAZING! Playing Crysis at 1600x900 (max res for some reason, but with black borders so it's okay) and everything on very high, shadows medium, 4xAA and I get an average of around 60 FPS. Far Cry 2, everything maxed, and it didn't go under 78 in the benchmark. I'm not going to need a 7970 for a while methinks, absolutely amazing

Frozencry · Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 10:19 pm�� Post subject:

What are you using for a monitor?
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G3ck0 · Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 10:36 pm�� Post subject:

An LG IPS 236, 1080P.

Frozencry · Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2012 12:57 pm�� Post subject:

3D Mark Vantage, highest performance score in the world.

This is literally more than double of what I can pull with my setup. Liquid Nitrogen is a wonderful thing.
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PixieGirl · Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2012 2:09 pm�� Post subject:

I really dont want to make a new thread again with my inane computer questions so I thought I'd ask this here

I put thermal paste under my CPU because it was overheating, all went smoothly, but I have very little experience with the insides of a PC. I unplugged a lot of wires so I had easy access to my CPU, and when I plugged everything back in again, I got a "Disk Read Error" when I tried to boot up. I tried every possible combination to connect the hard drive after that and I got the same error. However it did boot up at one point, but then the next time I restarted I got that error again and I havent been able to log on since.... According to a PC shop I took my computer into I put a floppy connector into my hard drive and that fried the hard drive.

First of all I know these places can screw you over and being a girl I'm probably more likely to be a target of that because they probably think I don't know anything. Does this sound convincing as the cause to my problem??

As an added question, is it possible to use an external hard drive to boot windows? I've looked everywhere online and some places are saying yes others no. I have a 1TB western digital external that is a spare.

Frozencry · Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2012 2:18 pm�� Post subject:

You can definitely fry hardware if you're putting the wrong connectors in, particularly if you've connected the HDD to a port on the motherboard where the voltage output is different (this is especially true for a Hard Disk, as they generally tend to be very sensitive to voltage spikes). Without having a look at it and testing it I can't say for sure whether they're lying about it, but it's a definite possibility to short hardware like that. Try playing around with boot disk priorities in your BIOS settings (usually hitting the del key at boot will get you in there) and setting that main Hard Disk as a priority. I know every time I do a clear on my BIOS from testing/overclocking/etc I have to re-prioritise the boot menu.

And I imagine you can boot from a portable HDD into windows, but you'd have to make sure it's reformatted into an NTFS format rather than FAT32. A lot of portable HDDs have e-sata available to them which you can probably use, though don't quote me on that as I haven't booted into windows ever from a portable.
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grim-one · Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2012 2:18 pm�� Post subject:

It is possible to boot from USB drives, assuming your motherboard has support for it. I've used it to install Linux at least once before. I assume Windows will work too.

As for your Disk Read Error. Floppy connectors are a different size to the hard drive ones. I don't see how you'd fit one in. Your computer and/or hard drive is reasonably old? It must still be using the wide, flat ribbon cables to connect your hard drive? If so, make sure the ribbon cable's red edge is at pin 1 (there should be a tiny number nearby) on the motherboard's connector and same on the hard drive connector. If the hard drive doesn't say which pin is #1, just put the red edge closest to the power connector.
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Steam:grim_one | PSN/Live:najakh | Flickr

jprockbelly · Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2012 2:28 pm�� Post subject:

perhaps a photo of the PC innards would help pix, particularly the HDD and cables, and where they plug into the mobo.

Also, if your HD is fried and windows is on that hard drive, then I'm not sure how you would boot anything. Correct me if I'm wrong, but booting from an external drive will require windows to be installed on that external drive first? Perhaps a live cd would help at least to diagnose the issue?

edit: If you have a windows CD try putting in and seeing if you can run a mem check from that. Otherwise assuming you have another PC with a burner you can get a free linux live cd here: http://www.ubuntu.com/download. Linux has heaps of diagnostic tools, but I should warn you googling how to use them can consume days of your time.... but as least you'll be having fun, right?
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Da Bessssss

PixieGirl · Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2012 5:45 pm�� Post subject:

My PC isnt really old I bought it in 2009 but the only thing I've ever changed in it is replacing my graphics card

My external has some stuff on it but I've bought a bigger external since then so everythings copied over, I can reformat that old external drive using my netbook, and then plug it into my PC and try installing windows directly through there? Not sure if my BIOS will let me do that because the PC is still in the shop, im collecting it tomorrow. But I'll check then...

I'll also take a photo of the insides for you guys and show you how I connected my Hard drive. This is just a guess but there was a cable with a white head that I think I connected into my hard drive, and after watching some tutorial videos on youtube it seems I wasnt supposed to connect that. Is that the floppy connector?

What really really sucks most is I had lots of stuff on that internal drive that got fried

All my photos of me and friends etc dating back 5 years which mean a lot to me. To keep them safe I had made that drive into 2 partitions because I knew if my Windows C: partition had problems my other would be safe, but I never prepared for the whole thing just frying and dying completely

Its like some personal history has been lost. I guess I can save stuff ive posted online but its only a small fraction.. I've also lost Tafe things and other files with important data on them including login details for sites and things. Bookmarks.. MSN history chats... Worst of all including convo history of a friend who died.. le sigh.

Pagan's Mind · Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2012 5:23 pm�� Post subject:

Umart has listed the 7970 as $695.

That's a fair bit more than the US price.

thebigm · Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2012 7:13 pm�� Post subject:

^Low supplies at the moment, since not on sale for another day or two as well.

Should lower down over the next month or so, just as most hardware launches do.

G3ck0 · Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2012 8:04 pm�� Post subject:

Oh nice, it's only gonna be around $700 on launch? Not as bad as I was expecting, hopefully it does go down a fair bit by the time I decide to buy one.

Frozencry · Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2012 8:05 pm�� Post subject:

$700 is a bit under what I paid for a 6990 on day 1. That's pretty bad for a single GPU

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G3ck0 · Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2012 8:59 pm�� Post subject:

You can probably get the same/close to the same performance with some nice OC's and decent cooling though. $700 is better than the $800+ price that was going around at least.

thebigm · Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2012 1:18 am�� Post subject:

I would expect pricing to drop to $600 in the coming weeks... and by arrival of 7990, should hopefully be less than $500 for the 7970, but hard to say really with regards to how stock levels will remain.

mikezilla2 · Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2012 7:31 am�� Post subject:

i should get myself a new internal HDD as im starting to run out of space but with the raasied prices and reports of 3tb drives being unreliable ? im not sure what size to get - same could be said for for an extranl as the old 1tb is being used for other things now .

i already have a 1.5 tb that has OS installed on and a 1tb for extra space ....
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Benza · Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2012 11:20 am�� Post subject:

Ok so my motherboard/power supply died over the weekend and basically I have no idea when it comes to this shit.

Guy at work reccomended this from e-bay as he's used him before and the guy will probably throw in a power supply nice and cheap. Any suggestions, recommendations etc? I'm pretty hopeless when it comes to this stuff.

I don't really use my PC for gaming at all, mainly 3D max, Photoshop and Premiere.
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Esposch · Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2012 11:57 am�� Post subject:

grim-one · Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2012 11:59 am�� Post subject:

So you're sure it's both the motherboard and PSU that died?

If it does absolutely nothing when you press the button, it's probably the PSU. Unless you're set on upgrading, I'd just try swapping the PSU first. Either borrow one off a spare computer/friend/work or buy a replacement (cheap ones are like $30, more expensive are $100+).
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Steam:grim_one | PSN/Live:najakh | Flickr

Benza · Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2012 12:07 pm�� Post subject:

nah it boots up, but there is absolutely no signal going through to the monitor. (If you leave it long enough you can hear the chime when windows starts) I originally thought it was my video card that had died so I grabbed a new one and threw that in and still nothing, took it to my dad said it's most likely the actual slot in my motherboard that you plug the video card into, or the power supply isn't providing enough power to the board to power the slots. (He's been a PC technichian longer then I've been alive so I trust him there)

@espoch
I'm not that keen on MSY, I bought this rig from there and have had a lot of problems with it since. I've got a brand new video card and am planning to just re-use my HDD.
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Esposch · Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2012 1:25 pm�� Post subject:

Benza · Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2012 1:58 pm�� Post subject:

Pagan's Mind · Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2012 2:12 pm�� Post subject:

Frozencry · Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2012 2:29 pm�� Post subject:

It does sound like a busted PCI-E Lane, though isolate it just in case, as you don't want to blow a few hundred and then find that it was a DVI cable or something.
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