Want Help Building / Upgrading a PC?

    Alright, anyone know of a good skylake motherboard? It's like all of them are shit, most have garbage proprietary stuff, like killer ethernet or whatever, or they have shit software for sound or lights (like really, what the fuck, why would you put shitty LEDs on a motherboard?), or they waste tons of space on shit like PS/2 and VGA ports (wasn't skylake supposed to get rid of VGA?), or they just plain lack things I need.

    Currently I'm looking at this asus board (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132566 ), but it still doesn't seem especially great. Is there anything better? EVGA's looked nice, but they lack the USB 2.0 pins I needed.

    Quote from DrywallDreams

    Alright, anyone know of a good skylake motherboard? It's like all of them are shit, most have garbage proprietary stuff, like killer ethernet or whatever, or they have shit software for sound or lights (like really, what the fuck, why would you put shitty LEDs on a motherboard?), or they waste tons of space on shit like PS/2 and VGA ports (wasn't skylake supposed to get rid of VGA?), or they just plain lack things I need.

    Currently I'm looking at this asus board (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132566 ), but it still doesn't seem especially great. Is there anything better? EVGA's looked nice, but they lack the USB 2.0 pins I needed.

    What do you want on it? Dare I say you sound a little picky? :P

    Hahaha, I just want a computer that just is a computer, I don't need special "gamer" stuff! Like a Mac, but with Windows and Linux.

    I'm going for future-proof (usb 3.1 would be cool, but pointless lol), but I just want quite a few USB 3 ports, like 4-6 is what i'm going for because i'm a nightmare person. I need support for DDR4 3200, a 1151 socket, intel LAN (killer has no linux support ://///), and USB 3.0 and 2.0 pins. I'm maybe leaning more towards the MSI Gaming Pro (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc…N82E16813130867 ) right now, but I'm not too convinced.

    I've only really looked at EVGA, MSI, and ASUS's stuff, maybe Gigabyte will have something good? I've owned two of their boards, they've worked, but the software was always a bit dodgy.

    EDIT: Now I'm looking at this Gigabyte board: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc…N82E16813128841 . It seems to have everything I need, though I would want more USB because i'm a crazy person (as a side note, who designs the IO there?! everything is all over the place!)

    EDIT2: Or I could go for this ASUS board and join the REPUBLIC OF GAMER'S (R)(TM)(C): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132586 . It has more USB 2.0 due to lack of VGA+DVI (cuz it's 2016), though it looks like the USB 3.1 controller is wonky. The USB3 header is better placed for my case. Also it's much more expensive than the Gigabyte board. Maybe better quality??? Might as well just title this post "the motherboards are dreadful corner presented by party man x" I have literally been researching motherboards for days, I have a CPU arriving wednesday, and RAM today (maybe???), they're all terrible.

    jackophant I don't mind the hassle of having to assemble it, but stores where I live dot it for free anyways.

    I was thinking about embedded vs laptop as well. All in one systems.

    I have a few problems with my current computer. For instance it fails to do some common things without underclocking by about 75%. Its an AMD A8 6600k and I encountered the same error over the past month. Pretty much I use both shut down & sleep mode for alot of things. When I turn my computer on sometimes it get a black screen and nothing happens. I have to force-restart my computer many times before it actually gets working. Im not sure if its to do with the CPU or not, but otherwise I would like to upgrade my current CPU. Current computer: AMD A8-6600K Geforce GTX 960. I have somewhat budget of around £200 to upgrade and im not sure what to get :(

    Quote from rosk

    I have a few problems with my current computer. For instance it fails to do some common things without underclocking by about 75%. Its an AMD A8 6600k and I encountered the same error over the past month. Pretty much I use both shut down & sleep mode for alot of things. When I turn my computer on sometimes it get a black screen and nothing happens. I have to force-restart my computer many times before it actually gets working. Im not sure if its to do with the CPU or not, but otherwise I would like to upgrade my current CPU. Current computer: AMD A8-6600K Geforce GTX 960. I have somewhat budget of around £200 to upgrade and im not sure what to get :(

    Hiya, how do you mean it fails to do common things? When you say you get a black screen, does the monitor register that it's connected or does it time-out and go into standby?

    i'm not sure what you want to upgrade, but £200 isn't much. Your CPU is only a couple of years old and seems more than adequate for today's titles. Your graphics card can only be a few months old, but isn't particularly powerful, but again, more than adequate for most things as long as the graphics are low enough.

    How old is the rest of your system? I would guess it's a similar age to the CPU which puts it at around 3 years old. Not much should go wrong in 3 years, but often the first part to go is the power supply (PSU) which could explain your difficulty to turn the computer on. It can also flake out and cause a crash if your CPU ramps up and draws too much power than it is able to handle.

    With £200 and the current state and age of your machine I would look at replacing your PSU and maybe purchasing an SSD hard drive which breaths life into the oldest most decrepit computers (a lot of what "slows computers down" is cruddy old slow spinning hard drives).

    If you could get back to me with some more specifically described behaviours we can progress from there :)

    Hi there!

    I think that some people may relate to my issue, so I decided to post it there.

    My issue is either that my HDD is failing or there is a weird contact at the HDD port, since it randomly crashes after I move my laptop, but almost never crashes when I leave it in a state where it doesn't move. I'll have someone come over to help the diagnosis, especially to test the HDD more thoroughly. (When it is recognized by my laptop, standard HDD test are passed successfully).

    Anyway, I don't know if it is worth upgrading or changing the storage unit if it fails, or if I'll be better off changing it all.

    I have a 2 and half year old HP laptop, and i5 (I'll have to recheck which one) and an AMD 7600M series (which are now unsupported for new Amd driver because they are changing their gpu architecture). I will hopefully end up with a 500€ budget this summer and I have already everything for a desktop computer except the monitor.

    Quote from laminutederire

    My issue is either that my HDD is failing or there is a weird contact at the HDD port, since it randomly crashes after I move my laptop, but almost never crashes when I leave it in a state where it doesn't move. I'll have someone come over to help the diagnosis, especially to test the HDD more thoroughly. (When it is recognized by my laptop, standard HDD test are passed successfully).

    I have a 2 and half year old HP laptop, and i5 (I'll have to recheck which one) and an AMD 7600M series (which are now unsupported for new Amd driver because they are changing their gpu architecture). I will hopefully end up with a 500€ budget this summer and I have already everything for a desktop computer except the monitor.

    You say almost never crashes when left stationary... Hardrives are pretty robust so unless it's a faulty unit, a drop hard enough to break a hard drive would probably do a lot more obvious damage to other components. RAM can come unseated pretty easily, especially in laptops, so if that's wobbling around in a slot it could definitely cause crashing issues.

    Speaking of which, has the laptop been dropped? Provided the laptop can be fixed, purchasing an SSD would be a good way to make it feel more modern and fast, and squeeze a few more years out of it. Maybe change your RAM to allow for more if it's an area your PC lacks. I would guess it's 4GB now? Upgrading to 8GB could be worthwhile and is relatively inexpensive.

    So what does that leave you upgrading? You have a desktop computer, but no monitor? So would you be spending 500€ on a screen?

    Quote from jackophant

    You say almost never crashes when left stationary... Hardrives are pretty robust so unless it's a faulty unit, a drop hard enough to break a hard drive would probably do a lot more obvious damage to other components. RAM can come unseated pretty easily, especially in laptops, so if that's wobbling around in a slot it could definitely cause crashing issues.

    Speaking of which, has the laptop been dropped? Provided the laptop can be fixed, purchasing an SSD would be a good way to make it feel more modern and fast, and squeeze a few more years out of it. Maybe change your RAM to allow for more if it's an area your PC lacks. I would guess it's 4GB now? Upgrading to 8GB could be worthwhile and is relatively inexpensive.

    So what does that leave you upgrading? You have a desktop computer, but no monitor? So would you be spending 500€ on a screen?

    after BSOD'S it doesn't restart right away because it doesn't recognize the HDD anymore (no boot device found).

    never been dropped unless if being in its bag, which start falling but is caught mid air counts. That happened to me a few times.

    I have 6GB of ram available (8 in total, windows reserving 2GB apparently). I heard SSD had a very limited lifetime, is that true?

    I have neither the desktop pc nor the monitor. Thought about buying a monitor, but I don't think my laptop would handle good resolution very well, it has a 1366x768 monitor and when I play I play in medium or low, so the Gpu/CPU combination cannot handle more than that apparently. For me the upgrade would be to go from the laptop to the desktop PC. What I said was that I already have mouse/keyboard/headset/speakers etc. I think all that is needed except the monitor (I may borrow one from my brother though).

    Quote from laminutederire
    1. after BSOD'S it doesn't restart right away because it doesn't recognize the HDD anymore (no boot device found).
    2. I have 6GB of ram available (8 in total, windows reserving 2GB apparently).
    3. I heard SSD had a very limited lifetime, is that true?
    4. The upgrade would be to go from the laptop to the desktop PC.
    1. Is "no boot device found" the boot error you get? I find it strange that it then suddenly recognises it. Sudden loss of power can be pretty bad for Windows. What is the BSOD error code you get? That is the best place to start any BSOD investigation.
    2. Yeah that's fine, don't worry about upgrading that then, but you do need to check to make sure it's sitting properly in the slots. You may have to screw the bottom panel off, RAM is usually easy to reach. If you're uncomfortable doing it, maybe try finding a YouTube tutorial for someone changing RAM in your specific device, but anything will do. It's pretty straight forward, just don't get it wet, drop it, or rub your fingers all over it and make sure you're grounded before touching it.
    3. When SSDs first came out they had shorter life spans than their spinning relatives. But their MTBF (Mean Time Before Failure) has increased as well as the number of read/write cycles it can make before dying, meaning only a server operator might have to worry if at all.
    4. Ah, I misunderstood. So you want a new desktop PC for about €500. I'll happily throw something together for you when you know you've got the money :)
    Quote from jackophant

    1. It does BSOD'S like unexpected_store_exception or critical_process_died. It then reboot, but cannot do it because it doesn't find any boot device. It starts working again like 15-30min later and begins by being really slow.

    2.yeah being grounded is the part I'm uncomfortable with

    3.it can last about 2 years or more?

    4. Will do! But 500€ doesn't seem much to buy a computer and a monitor though?

    Quote from laminutederire
    1. It does BSOD'S like unexpected_store_exception or critical_process_died. It then reboot, but cannot do it because it doesn't find any boot device. It starts working again like 15-30min later and begins by being really slow.
    2. it can last about 2 years or more?
    3. Will do! But 500€ doesn't seem much to buy a computer and a monitor though?
    1. Googling unexpected_store_exception seems to suggest reinstalling windows will fix it.
    2. It will easily last more than 2 years. They can last up to 10 years depending on usage.
    3. €500 is good for a PC build excluding monitor.
    Quote from jackophant
    1. Googling unexpected_store_exception seems to suggest reinstalling windows will fix it.
    2. It will easily last more than 2 years. They can last up to 10 years depending on usage.
    3. €500 is good for a PC build excluding monitor.

    1. First of all I reinstalled it twice. Secondly, it only happens after I move my laptop in my bag, and if I don't move it it doesn't happen. Googling it I found a lot of people with issues with their HDD especially for HP laptops like mine. I'll have a professional check it thoroughly it will be simpler in my opinion, he can test the hardware more easily, after doing so if all the hardware is good, I'll reinstall windows with an upgrade to pro edition. That should leave no place for any error anywhere

    2. 10 years sounds good I'll have to block the automatic windows Defrag utility with an SSD to maximize its life length, right?

    3. Ahah I'll try to earn more money then!

    Quote from laminutederire
    1. First of all I reinstalled it twice. Secondly, it only happens after I move my laptop in my bag, and if I don't move it it doesn't happen. Googling it I found a lot of people with issues with their HDD especially for HP laptops like mine. I'll have a professional check it thoroughly it will be simpler in my opinion, he can test the hardware more easily, after doing so if all the hardware is good, I'll reinstall windows with an upgrade to pro edition. That should leave no place for any error anywhere
    2. 10 years sounds good I'll have to block the automatic windows Defrag utility with an SSD to maximize its life length, right?

    Fair enough, yeah get it checked to be sure. However, I doubt upgrading to Pro would solve anything.

    Window's automatic maintenance won't run defrag on your SSD for Windows 8+, and I'm seeing mixed results for Windows 7.

    Quote from jackophant

    it won't solve anything, but while I'm at it, I might as well benefit from a fresh install to upgrade it. It is a pain with licences and so on when reinstalling, so I try to reinstall not too often

    oh okay, that's intelligent of them then.

    Thank you for your help :)

    Quote from jackophant

    Hiya, how do you mean it fails to do common things? When you say you get a black screen, does the monitor register that it's connected or does it time-out and go into standby?

    i'm not sure what you want to upgrade, but £200 isn't much. Your CPU is only a couple of years old and seems more than adequate for today's titles. Your graphics card can only be a few months old, but isn't particularly powerful, but again, more than adequate for most things as long as the graphics are low enough.

    How old is the rest of your system? I would guess it's a similar age to the CPU which puts it at around 3 years old. Not much should go wrong in 3 years, but often the first part to go is the power supply (PSU) which could explain your difficulty to turn the computer on. It can also flake out and cause a crash if your CPU ramps up and draws too much power than it is able to handle.

    With £200 and the current state and age of your machine I would look at replacing your PSU and maybe purchasing an SSD hard drive which breaths life into the oldest most decrepit computers (a lot of what "slows computers down" is cruddy old slow spinning hard drives).

    If you could get back to me with some more specifically described behaviours we can progress from there

    The monitors both say "monitor going to sleep" then I scan for connections and they dont register. Also my hard-drive is very old and has had lots of stuff installed and uninstalled from it. Thanks for helping me on this!

    Hey Jack, as you know I've been running on the same slavtop toaster since 2007, and I think in a couple of months I will be time to upgrade to first world standards haha, I was wondering, if I had a budget of about 581$ minimum and 800$ maximum, which is 5000 to 7000 KR in Sweden, what would I be able to achieve? I have never built a computer before but I know a bit about it and I've done the research but I'm afraid of fucking up somewhere, also I have no idea what type of components to choose and they have to all be compatible etc, do you think you could mock something up for me? I love games but I also do 3D, Texturing and so on in modern+powerful applications, also level design in Hammer ofcourse but even this toaster can run that. From what I've asked around people who know shit about all this, for what I'm doing I should have atleast about 16GB of Ram and more emphasis on a good CPU, and the rest is just whatever. Thoughts? :)

    Quote from rosk

    The monitors both say "monitor going to sleep" then I scan for connections and they dont register. Also my hard-drive is very old and has had lots of stuff installed and uninstalled from it. Thanks for helping me on this!

    Sorry for late reply!

    When the monitors go to sleep, is the computer on? I would have suggested maybe it being the monitor, but if both are doing it perhaps it's the graphics card? To rule out the monitor/gpu situation, you can plug a monitor directly into your motherboard display output and see if the same occurs.

    Quote from Vorontsov

    budget of about 581$ minimum and 800$ maximum, which is 5000 to 7000 KR in Sweden,

    I love games but I also do 3D, Texturing and so on in modern+powerful applications

    about 16GB of Ram and more emphasis on a good CPU

    Yeah good starting point, it really depends on if you are more game orientated than compiling?

    For instance a CPU like the i5 4690K will be fantastic for games and will churn through your compiles/renders compared to your "slavtop", but as an i7 is out of your budget you might want the extra cores from a cheaper AMD cpu which isn't anywhere near as good for gaming, especially on a CPU biased game CSGO.

    @jackophant If it's a possibillity I would like it to do both just fine, but gaming will come second for me, so I prioritize my 3D work, etc. I mean anything when it comes to gaming will be an upgrade to this so I'm not sure how much that will matter. The i5 4690K sounds like something I would be very happy with, seeing as it can serve me in both fields ^^

    Quote from Vorontsov

    @jackophant If it's a possibillity I would like it to do both just fine, but gaming will come second for me, so I prioritize my 3D work, etc. I mean anything when it comes to gaming will be an upgrade to this so I'm not sure how much that will matter. The i5 4690K sounds like something I would be very happy with, seeing as it can serve me in both fields ^^

    I'll see what I can throw together

    You'll literally need everything won't you? Windows installation and hard drives too? Monitor / Keyboard / Mouse?

    Any size preference?

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