First non-gaming PC build

[T_Yamamoto]

Cool, thank you.

Seems like prices have been going up for everything... Are there any trends to price fluctuations when it comes to components? E.g. a lot of things are cheaper after Christmas, is it worth waiting now for a bit (week or so, not till after Christmas), as for example the price of RAM went from £37 to £48.

The price of everything influxes. Different stores do offer discounts around holidays, but it isn't much.

 

[Mirith]

I wasn't asking about holiday discounts, as I'm aware those happen, well, around holidays. I was asking about the existence of trends when it comes to fluctuations, as £11 increase on a stick of RAM within a week seems like a bit much. I reckon it is possible it's temporary and I should wait another week as it might drop back - but I'm not sure whether there are any trends. Maybe I shouldn't wait because every year in the summer the prices just keep climbing up? I've never bought any computer parts so I have no idea if prices just fluctuate randomly or whether one can predict stuff.

 

[mfenn]

I wasn't asking about holiday discounts, as I'm aware those happen, well, around holidays. I was asking about the existence of trends when it comes to fluctuations, as £11 increase on a stick of RAM within a week seems like a bit much. I reckon it is possible it's temporary and I should wait another week as it might drop back - but I'm not sure whether there are any trends. Maybe I shouldn't wait because every year in the summer the prices just keep climbing up? I've never bought any computer parts so I have no idea if prices just fluctuate randomly or whether one can predict stuff.

Prices on individual parts will fluctuate wildly, but the price of a whole category of parts usually changes more slowly. Basically, what I am saying is that you shouldn't fixate on one particular part.

 

[mfenn]

I think I will go for i5 and drop GPU. It looks like i5 will give me more power in general and I think it will be easier to add a GPU later if need be, to round up the system a little bit more, while it would be harder and more expensive to upgrade the CPU.

One more question I have is about the DDR3 RAM - I was going for 16GB, following your advice that I need more than 8GB, but if it's DDR3 do I need 3 sticks? If I only had 2x8GB would it work in dual channel not taking full advantage of DDR3? Or does it depend on the motherboard/something else? Or is dual/triple channel completely independent of DDR2/DDR3 and I can run 2 sticks of DDR3 in dual channel without losing anything?

EDIT: If I go with i5 I'd be using Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H mobo.

Recent Intel desktop CPUs only support dual channel, so you will want to go with 2 DIMMs, 4 DIMMs, etc.

 

[Mirith]

Thanks :] So I'm buying stuff, since prices of a few components seem to have dropped a bit and are below average (even if I save £10 on each part it all adds up!).

Still looking for a slightly cheaper RAM, cheap DVD/CD writer (since I'll only use it to install the OS - can I do it from an USB stick?), need to pick a case (want something cheap, but reasonable quality).

Need to also pick a monitor, which I'm struggling with a bit - might actually post a separate question in the appropriate section about that. Might also go and see them in a shopping centre once I narrow it down to a few - I find it hard to imagine screen quality without seeing it. Might pick up a keyboard while I'm there and that would be the peripherals sorted.

 

[mfenn]

What is your current component list (with prices)?

 

[Mirith]

Below. You guys convinced me about the i5 in the end, I know you were suggesting a different model, but it was pretty much the same price as 3570K, so I decided to go with that, as it seems to do better in benchmarks and gets better reviews.

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (Purchased For £164.95)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (Purchased For £119.98)
?Memory: Kingston 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£76.99 @ Dabs)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (Purchased For £73.36)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For £39.99)
?Case: Xigmatek ASGARD PRO (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£34.17 @ Dabs)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply (Purchased For £34.59)
?Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£12.99 @ Dabs)
?Monitor: Dell U2312HM 23.0" Monitor (£149.99 @ Aria PC)
Other: keyboard (£40.00)
Total: £747.01

(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-14 10:40 BST+0100)

EDIT: I'm being cheeky and trying to see if I can get a copy of Win7 through my Uni at a discounted price. Fingers crossed. I hoped that there is a student version available anyway, but it doesn't seem so - the price of a normal one scared me off a tiny bit! ;]

 

[mfenn]

What you have now looks pretty decent. You can skip the ODD and install Windows 7/8 from USB if you want.

As for the memory, I did a casual search and it looks like 77 quid is a pretty decent price for 16GB. If you really want to lower the price, you are looking at dropping down to 8GB.

Your choice of monitor is really quite excellent. I'd keep that one around.

 

[Mirith]

Thanks, I might skip the ODD then. My budget for the monitor was initially lower, so every little helps, especially since I think this monitor is worth the little extra cash, it's getting really good reviews all around and seems like one of the best budget options.

Yeah, the RAM I've got picked currently seems like a good choice, although it's actually £89 on Amazon (I've read too many negative reviews about Dabs to buy from there now). It seems like Kingston fluctuates quite a bit, with relatively common big drops (http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/gskill-memory-f312800cl10d16gbxl), might give it another few days before I buy, maybe it will drop down for me (bless the naive and hopeful).

 

[Mirith]

Everything is here, but I still need RAM... Prices are a bit higher than I'd like (especially since they were at £20 lower last year for the same stuff).

Would BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00CEU be compatible with my motherboard (Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H)? If it is, I might go for that for now and add another 8GB later. It doesn't come up as compatible on Crucial's website, which worries me slightly, but I can't see why it would not work...

I'd appreciate input. Thank you.

 

[mfenn]

Putting off a whole build just to save a few quid on RAM is pretty silly IMHO. The Ballistix Sport kit that you mentioned is totally compatible with a Z77 Ivy Bridge system (or Haswell or Sandy Bridge, or Vishera, or Richland for that matter). At £50, it's basically on par with other DDR3 1600 8GB kits in terms of pricing as well. I say go for it.

 

[Mirith]

Thanks for your answer, I'll go for that then :] All the little bits I've saved on components (£10 here, £20 there) allowed me to buy a better monitor, so it's worth it I think, and since due to bureaucracy and issues in the finance department I haven't been paid in over 2 months and I also have to pay my rent and eat even a few quid makes a difference right now. It was all supposed to be sorted by now, but still isn't and I'm not sure when the money is coming in, but I need the PC for work too :/ So in a bit of a pickle, but hopefully will be sorted both money- and pc-wise soon.

EDIT: The saving on RAM would be over £60. That is a tiny bit more than "a few quid" too. But anyway, getting worked up about it now because I just spent the last week fighting with the finance department!

 

[mannox]

apple all the way baby!

 

[Mirith]

If you buy me an iMac I won't say no!

 

[mfenn]

Thanks for your answer, I'll go for that then :] All the little bits I've saved on components (£10 here, £20 there) allowed me to buy a better monitor, so it's worth it I think, and since due to bureaucracy and issues in the finance department I haven't been paid in over 2 months and I also have to pay my rent and eat even a few quid makes a difference right now. It was all supposed to be sorted by now, but still isn't and I'm not sure when the money is coming in, but I need the PC for work too :/ So in a bit of a pickle, but hopefully will be sorted both money- and pc-wise soon.

EDIT: The saving on RAM would be over £60. That is a tiny bit more than "a few quid" too. But anyway, getting worked up about it now because I just spent the last week fighting with the finance department!

In a sense, all of the parts you have right now represent wasted money because they don't constitute a functioning computer, ergo you get no value from them. That's what I meant when I said that postponing the whole build was silly.

RAM is super upgradeable, you can get the 8GB kit for £50 and fill the rest out later.

 

[Mirith]

Hm, I think I see your point when you put it this way. I think of it more as invested money though - yes, I could have waited and I could be buying it right now and put it together straight away, but it would cost me more if I did that, while it would have the same power/functionality.

I asked before whether I'll need anything else for that build and no-one said anything, but I'm realising now that I'll need some sort of a wifi card if I want to have Internet access (I understand those are more reliable than USB ones). Is there anything I need to check while picking one of those, like compatibility with motherboard etc.? I'm putting the rest of the stuff together, should have it done by the end of the week - excited :]

 

[piasabird]

Quantitative Easing = value of money decreases = Cost rises.

The Fed Keep printing money to buy back bonds. This is welfare for the stock market.

 

[mfenn]

Hm, I think I see your point when you put it this way. I think of it more as invested money though - yes, I could have waited and I could be buying it right now and put it together straight away, but it would cost me more if I did that, while it would have the same power/functionality.

I asked before whether I'll need anything else for that build and no-one said anything, but I'm realising now that I'll need some sort of a wifi card if I want to have Internet access (I understand those are more reliable than USB ones). Is there anything I need to check while picking one of those, like compatibility with motherboard etc.? I'm putting the rest of the stuff together, should have it done by the end of the week - excited :]

The best thing to do is to run a wire if at all possible. Much more reliable than WiFi.

If you absolutely have to go with WiFi, I would suggest a unit that supports multiple streams like this TP-Link PCIe card.

 

[Mirith]

Thanks, I will have a look at that. Unfortunately in my current house I'd have to have the cable running on the staircase all the way to the ground floor, which poses too much of a hazard :/

 

[Mirith]

PC is up and running, OS installed, no internet yet though.

I can't get one of the case sides back on ekhem... Seems to have jammed half way and I can't move it at all - my chicken arms are helpless. But other than that it was a pretty nice experience - everything seems to work just fine :]

Thanks for all the help once again!

 

[mfenn]

Sorry to hear about that side panel. You'll want to try to unwedge it and then look for bent tabs on the side panel.

 

[Cerb]

Going by case photos, it looks like you should be able to slide it out backwards. You should be able to to put pressure towards the case, on the top or bottom edge of the side panel, and then push against (like sheering) the top or bottom panels, trying to slide the whole panel out towards the back.

If there's room, you could also try using a screwdriver, parallel to the front panel (just push it back, not try to pull it out). If there's enough room on the back, where the side panel screws in, you could try carefully twisting a screwdriver head in there to loosen it up (probably not worth trying if there's more than 1/8" of space).

Then, look to see if anything has been bent, straighten anything that has, and try again, this time being careful to make sure the panel is not bulging out anywhere.

I doubt you're even part of the first million people to have that problem with such a case.

 

[Mirith]

Thanks, I will have a go again. It might be all fine (as in: nothing bent) and I might simply not be strong enough to do it - I couldn't slide the panels out in the first place and needed to ask for help. I thought that sliding back might be easier as it will be pushing rather than pulling them and it went ok to a point. It's just the last 0.5cm that I can't get in now. I will try to get it all out and make sure nothing is bent though.

 

[Mirith]

Managed to sort the case out (with some help). Initialising/formatting the HDD now.

Is there anything else I should do, that I might be missing? I'm trying to read all possible tutorials online to make sure I'm not omitting anything...

Also, my motherboard, SSD and monitor all came with CDs with drivers/software. But I have no optical drive, so can't use those. Once my internet is sorted should I try to find all those drivers online and update everything? I don't know much about BIOS and whether it needs to be updated if it works (seemingly) fine right now? The manual says to avoid flushing the BIOS and as far as I understand updating = flushing?

 

[mfenn]

Don't use the stuff that came on the CD, it's all old. You should be getting the newest drivers online anyway. Windows should come with good enough default drivers for pretty much everything. The only ones that I would make sure to grab are the ones for the IGP and USB 3.0.

As for the BIOS, I think the word you're looking for is "flashing". Yes, that is the same as updating, and no you don't need to mess with it unless there is something wrong.