How difficult is it to build your own PC?

[socko]

Speaking of POS motherboards, at my lab, we had a Dell go down due to exploding capacitors on the motherboard. The same thing happened to our apple G4s.

omputer Downtime Due To Leaky Capacitors On Dell GX270
Submitted by Khalid on Fri, 2005/11/11 - 22:39

* Miscellaneous

I have been use a Dell Optiplex GX270 at work for almost 2 years now. This has been a very stable machine, powered on 24x7.

Last week, the machine just shut itself off by itself. After powering it on, the colors on the monitor were off (no greens nor yellows). I notice that if you wiggle the monitor cable the colors will change, although the green/yellow will never reappear. The machine has an nVidia video card with DVI output, and a connector for DVI to VGA.

After calling Dell, they said they are going to send the video card and "cable". Overnight, the machine powered itself again. And then again every night afterwards. Then it would only stay powered to the login screen only, then power off.

Upon receipt of the video card and "cable" two days later, the cable was wrong (not DVI).

The local PC repair guy (Jeff) said it is not the video card, and probably a motherboard issue related to leaky capacitors. The field engineer (Tyler) said that he replaced dozens of motherboards in the lab for GX270. They opened my PC and looked at the capacitors and found that they are bulging.

They called Dell on my behalf, and asked for a motherboard. Dell said that they will not ship the mothernoard since I have another part on order (the video cable), and it is their policy not to partial ship. Jeff cancelled the cable, so we can get the motherboard shipped ASAP.

The new motherboard fixed the reboot issue, but the colors were still off. Jeff replaced the DVI to VGA connector, and everything was fine.

As for the root cause, it is known that many motherboards suffer from electrolyte leaking from capacitors, and they bulge or even explode.

 

[Finder]

Now that's quality.

 

[Lysis]

Had he bought all high end hardware with the same specs, wouldn't he have spent a lot more money? And even a more expensive computer will still be obsolete as far as playing the newest high-end games in a couple of years anyway.

A good gaming video card would cost him as much as the system he's buying. LOL Last card I bought was somewhere in the $850 range, but it's been a while.

 

[aanallein]

ya u cant build shit for 499 bucks..

 

[TheLoveBandit]

Any build I approach starts at about a grand Maybe 600 if I'm salvaging stuff from older systems.

 

[kratom luver]

If I replace the graphics card, install 64-bit Windows Vista and bump up the amount of RAM, will I be able to play FarCry2?

What kind of system do I need to be able to play pretty much all games without having to lower the settings?

Have I made a big mistake in not having spent more money to get a better system? I was told that if I just replace the graphics card I would be able to play any game just fine. Have I been misled?

I think you saved some money by buying inferior hardware that comes with a crappy Dell warranty, but whatever works. You should be able to play most games, especially with the settings lowered if needed.

What makes you say it's inferior hardware?

 

[Coolio]

Do not install 64-bit Windows Vista or any other copy of Vista to play games on. Stick with XP or even better, Windows 2003 Server (faster than XP).

 

[kratom luver]

Should I cancel my order for this computer and purchase a better system if I want something that will play any game well without me having to adjust the settings? What sort of system should I purchase?

Would it be more cost effective to use an AMD CPU?


Would it be better to install something Like Linux Ubuntu 8.10 with an emulator so that I can install applications that normally only work with Windows?

 

[socko]

Earlier in this thread, somebody posted a link to tomshardware and some other computer building websites. Those sites, and I know Tomshardware (and hardcore gaming sites) have charts that compare the performance of graphics card, cpu, etc for playing games like Farcry2. The charts will give you an idea of the maximum graphics settings you can use for certain games.
Those sites also have "Build your own gaming PC tutorials." Go there and study the charts and tutorials.
Also, I have read that for the latest releases of some games , you can spend 5000$ on gaming hardware and still not be able to play smoothely on the max settings.
You should also be able to find articles reviewing FArcry2. The authors usually give the specs of their rigs and how they well the perform when playing that game.
Linux + Emulators work great for some apps, but don't bother with linux and an emulator for games. They will be too slow .

 

[Lysis]

OP, it's hard to build a really good gaming system for cheap. Awesome graphics and performance are expensive. I wouldn't worry too much though. With as much money that I have spent on a gaming PC, there's always some guy who has outdone me in Warcraft. LOL

If it's a certain game you're looking to play, if it's newer you could take the minimum requirements and bump it up from there. Asking techies which hardware is best is gonna get you a shitload of differing opinions.

 

[Coolio]

kratom luver, cancel and upgrade to the ATI Radeon HD 4xxx series with 512MB of RAM for a video card.

 

[kratom luver]

^ So does that mean everything else on the system is okay except for the graphics card?

 

[Coolio]

If you're just worried about games performance, and are still looking to stay in the same price range, it's worth whatever extra the most expensive HD 4xxx you can afford costs. Anything else would add little value to your FarCry 2 average frames per second.

(FarCry 2 representing not just that game, but all games yet to come out for Windows/DirectX in the next few years that want nice video cards.)

 

[Cyc]

Building your own rig, you'll have to take into consideration...

1.) Motherboard. Make, model, form factor, processor socket, RAM compatibility and ports, bus speed (MHz), on-board features (such as sound, LAN, USB ports) and peripheral sockets (PCI, PCIE, AGP)

2.) Power Supply. Make, wattage, connectors (molex vs. SATA), and general heaviness (the heavier the better)

3.) Processor. Make, socket, bus speeds (MHz), core# (1,2,4), bit support (64 vs. 128.) and cache. (lvl 1, 2)

4.) Case. Don't overlook this. EASE OF USE, durability, cooling capacity, ability to accept form factors, size, and front ports.

5.) RAM. Make, form factor, bus speed (Mhz), memory size (MB), voltage, timings (4-4-4-12 etc. the tighter the better)

5.) Video Card. Make/Model, GPU (GT, GS, GTX, XT), pixel pipelines (you want atleast 8 of these for decent gaming) memory, bus speed (Mhz)

The rest of your peripherals (headset, sound card, LAN) are all pretty straightforward.

 

[robydoo24]

Kratom,

If I was you I would cancel the order to Dell out of principal if nothing else.

There are numerous uk sites that will do a bundle deal ie motherboard memory and processor. Then add a cheap case and a hard drive. Or re-use the ones that you are currently using. Then look out for good deals on a decent spec graphics card.

The monkey that said 800 dollars for a graphics card needs his head re-calibrated.

You can get an excellent system sub 500 quid.

And vista 64bit works like a dream combined with a decent dx10 graphics card. The people who knock it have poor systems that can't hack it. The main reason for the 64bit is that the 32 bit version can't use more than 4gig of ram.

If you need any help just drop me an message and I will guide you step by step. Or catch me on EADD.

I am a tight fisted Scot and have been building PC's for 15 years so I can show you the best deals for yer money.

 

[Joeof1]

^^ When the GTX 280 first came out it was around 800 USD. It's not just RAM though. a 32bit OS can not allocate more tha 3.25GB of RAM system wide. Well it can, but it's set-up to not to it for stability reason's. The OS would have to scrub the table and redraw it everytime it went to read something that is written in the RAM past that certain point. That's why everyone has moved onto 64bit. It doesn't have to waste resources to maintain resources.

A lot of mis-information here. I build rig's for gaming and bench marking all of the time for friend's and myself. You can easily put together a killer gaming rig for around 800-1000 if you already have the external stuff, like monitor and whatnot.

For Farcry 2 I would stick with an Intel system. Here's an example of a recent build I did for a friend:

C2Q Q6600 ~ 160 USD
EVGA nForce 750i SLI FTW ~170 USD
RAM Mushkin DDR2 4gbX2 kit PC2 8500 ~75 USD
WD VelociRaptor 300GB 10Krpm HDD ~220 USD
EVGA 896-P3-1255-AR GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 896MB ~250 USD

Total spent = ~875-900 USD

He supplied the case and power supply from an older build I guided him on. I built this one for his GF, and set it all up so she could play games with him when he's home.

The CPU ended up being overclocked to 3.4Ghz, and an aftermarket water cooling system was installed. It run's Vista 64 Ultimate with no issues what so ever. Vista "had" issues yes, but almost all of them are fixed now with SP1.

I prefer to stick with EVGA product's, for the simple fact the have the best RMA, and the step-up program which saves you a lot of money in the long run when upgrading. The most important thing to get is the video card, you want around 1GB to play something like Farcry 2, due the sheer massive amount of data being processed will fill up even 1GB of VRAM fast. 512MB will not cut it and be enjoyable. My experience has also shown me that ATI card's are nice, but only if the driver's decide to work right. It can cause week's of headache's trying to find which version of their driver's will work right for the setup. I just solved it by sticking with Nvidia. I run EVGA GTX 260's in SLI mode, and have no issues with anything I throw at it.

If you would like some further guidance pm me, I am more than willing to help.

 

[toastedpanda]

Sometimes building a true quality system isn't cheap. It took a good deal of money and time to acquire the income and knowledge of what hardware to buy when to finally get the system of my dreams. From the quality case and gaming hardware, the high def. set up with blu ray and a 22'' monitor, and the microfiber throne of a chair.

What PC enthusiast wouldn't want a system built to there exact needs and specifications, and the knowledge you gain and understanding in what your computers doing.

Whats nice is today you can build a midrange system and slowly upgrade as you please. Put a midrange video card in to get started on your first build, and when you want to upgrade you can you use your new card right along side the old one. Buy a little RAM at first, and drop in a gig or two later.

Man I'm all excited now, for me building computers is funner than drugs (even funner on drugs), to the OP, it might be a bit challenging at times, but very fun and interesting experience that your more than capable of doing, I built my first at 14 with very little knowledge. It was kind of a funky mishmash of hardware, but I was proud of it. I still use the same floppy drive in my "main" rig.

 

[MrM]

Probably more, but I wouldn't say "a lot". There is something to be said for knowing exactly what parts you have put into a machine, which you never get from a manufacturer. Who knows what POS motherboard Dell is building that thing with.

All the dells i've ever used have been fine. Very reliable.

Dell are the company i recommend to people who don't want to build their own pc's because they are big enough to get savings on the hardware they buy (so reasonably priced) and the warentee usually seems pretty good. I'm sure a few explode (capacitors etc) occasionally, but if it's in warentee you won't have a problem with dell.

However, that dell machine you specced up for gaming - the graphics card is no good. You'd be better off getting a dual core processor rather than the quad and spending the money saved on a better graphics card as you'd get a faster system as a result.

 

[Finder]

I had nothing but problems with the very expensive Dell laptop I bought about three years ago. The video card crapped out last month which is an apparent flaw both Nvidia and Dell obfuscated from the public. Of course it is out of warranty now.

I would never recommend a Dell product to anyone after my experience.