New PC!

[Billargh]

A few months ago I started having issues with my PC, constantly bluescreening/hanging/freezing/boot looping etc. I thought I'd fixed the problem by getting a new PSU sorted out, turns out the issue has came back though. I've went through a tonne of fixes to rule out any software issues and I simply don't have the parts to troubleshoot every piece of hardware.

So I plan on writing this rig off and am considering building a new one! I'm a bit out the loop with regards to PC hardware so if anyone could mock me up one for around the £500 mark that'd be dandy.

 

[Raven]

Anything salvageable from your current PC? I assume the PSU should be OK? How many watts is it? Drives?

 

[Raven]

Assuming your PSU is up to the job and you have a case and drive then how about this?

Intel Core i5 4690 3.50GHz Socket 1150 6MB L3 Cache Retail Boxed Processor
http://www.ebuyer.com/629960-intel-...-1150-6mb-l3-cache-retail-boxed-bx80646i54690

Gigabyte GA-Z97P-D3 Socket 1150 HDMI 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard
http://www.ebuyer.com/642653-gigaby...mi-8-channel-audio-atx-motherboard-ga-z97p-d3

Corsair 8GB DDR3 1600MHz Vengeance Memory
http://www.ebuyer.com/339598-corsair-8gb-ddr3-1600mhz-vengeance-memory-cmz8gx3m1a1600c10

Then either, depending on your preference.

Gigabyte GTX 760 OC Windforce 2GB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDMI DisplayPort PCI-E Graphics Card
http://www.ebuyer.com/525309-gigaby...i-hdmi-displayport-pci-e-gv-n760oc-2gd-rev2-0

PowerColor TurboDuo R9 290 4GB GDDR5 OC DUAL DVI HDMI PCI-E Graphics Card
http://www.ebuyer.com/634809-powerc...vi-hdmi-pci-e-graphics-axr9-290-4gbd5-tdhe-oc

 

[Athan]

Corsair 8GB DDR3 1600MHz Vengeance Memory
http://www.ebuyer.com/339598-corsair-8gb-ddr3-1600mhz-vengeance-memory-cmz8gx3m1a1600c10

A single DIMM of DDR3 ? So not actually doing DDR at all, and thus half the bandwidth and probably impact on latency too ?

 

[ECA]

Raven your build is bizarre man.

 

[Raven]

Opps, this one I mean

http://www.ebuyer.com/248846-corsair-8gb-ddr3-1600mhz-vengeance-memory-cmz8gx3m2a1600c9

Boy, will I be tightening that cinch tonight. A thousand pardons.

 

[ECA]

So I'd guess you can use your current case and your new PSU which saves at least £100.

Here's what I'd get for your money.

[PCPartPicker part list](http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/nzsLYJ) / [Price breakdown by merchant](http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/nzsLYJ/by_merchant/)

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
**CPU** | [Intel Core i5-4570 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor](http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80646i54570) | £142.99 @ Aria PC

**Motherboard** | [Gigabyte GA-Z97P-D3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard](http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-gaz97pd3) | £64.99 @ Novatech

**Memory** | [Kingston Fury White Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory](http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/kingston-memory-hx318c10fwk28) | £59.78 @ CCL Computers

**Storage** | [Crucial M500 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive](http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/crucial-internal-hard-drive-ct240m500ssd1) | £74.99 @ Amazon UK

**Video Card** | [Sapphire Radeon R9 270X 4GB Dual-X Video Card](http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/sapphire-video-card-112170420g) | £155.99 @ Amazon UK

| | **Total**
| Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available | £498.74
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-13 13:45 GMT+0000 |

 

[ECA]

Also if you wanna splurge a bit more than that, for £270 ish ( so £115 more ) you can get a gtx 970, and your pc is pretty much as beast as a single card gpu pc can get, and will last the rest of this console gen ( except if oculus actually release a product in the next 7 years ).

 

[Billargh]

Aye the case isn't an issue, it just sits in the corner anyway. PSU should also be ok as I've only had this one about 6 months and if memory servers it's 500w ish.

I don't think I'll be splashing out on a GTX 970 mind @ECA , I really don't play games as much as I'd like to these days so can't really justify spending that much on a GPU.

I do think though that whatever I get, even if I end up spending less than £500 will be a significant improvement over my current rig, which is:

Radeon 5770 HD 1Gb
AMD Phenom II X4 955 3.2GHz
4Gb DDR3 1600 Mhz RAM
1Gb Samsung Spinpoint T3
m4a785td-m evo Mobo

Also is it common now to not have a HDD? 240Gb of storage really doesn't seem like a lot. I assumed people just got a smaller SSD to install vital programs on and had a standard HDD to store films/music etc on.

 

[Raven]

I have 2 SSDs a 60gig one for the windows installation and office then another 250gig for games. I then have a 2tb HDD for porn, music and indi games. I then have a 32gig stick for college work.

 

[Billargh]

Well assuming the HDD isn't the issue in my PC currently, I could just bang that on it. Failing that I'm sure I can put all my music/photos/films etc onto an external HDD until I've got a bit of spare cash to get a new HDD.

I've got the money like, I just don't want to deplete my entire savings. Especially knowing I need to get a new car sorted come May.

 

[Raven]

An SSD is a really good investment, though I would rather spend the money on other parts if on a budget.

 

[ECA]

Aye the case isn't an issue, it just sits in the corner anyway. PSU should also be ok as I've only had this one about 6 months and if memory servers it's 500w ish.
Also is it common now to not have a HDD? 240Gb of storage really doesn't seem like a lot. I assumed people just got a smaller SSD to install vital programs on and had a standard HDD to store films/music etc on.

A lot of people have say a 60gb ssd for the os, a 120/240gb ssd for games, and then a hdd/nas for media.
You can just format and use your old samsung hdd ( which I assume is 1tb, not 1gb ), as a second drive though.

 

[Billargh]

A lot of people have say a 60gb ssd for the os, a 120/240gb ssd for games, and then a hdd/nas for media.
You can just format and use your old samsung hdd ( which I assume is 1tb, not 1gb ), as a second drive though.

Haha aye, it's 1tb. I'll probably end up doing that, 'bout time I joined the SSD revolution!

I imagine that the setup you posted would be a massive improvement on the one I posted a few posts up like, am I right? I'm a little out the loop with regards to hardware, I only take an interest again once it's PC building time

 

[Billargh]

Also if I were to knock down my budget to around £400 and got a GTX 750 and a lesser processor, would the difference be significant?

 

[ECA]

H
I imagine that the setup you posted would be a massive improvement on the one I posted a few posts up like, am I right? I'm a little out the loop with regards to hardware, I only take an interest again once it's PC building time

Yup.
A decent i5 will have about 4x the single thread performance ( gaming ) compared to your current cpu, and the GPU I posted is 3x the performance over your current card.

Then factor in SSD, and tldr, you'd have a really strong pc, with room to upgrade the gpu and stay relevant for the next ~5-10 years.

 

[Billargh]

Yup.
A decent i5 will have about 4x the single thread performance ( gaming ) compared to your current cpu, and the GPU I posted is 3x the performance over your current card.

Then factor in SSD, and tldr, you'd have a really strong pc, with room to upgrade the gpu and stay relevant for the next ~5-10 years.

Cheers man, I'm liking the sound of that!

 

[Bigmac]

Once you go SSD you never go back.

 

[leggy]

I have an SSD in my gaming rig and I honestly see no 'in-game' performance (frame rate) difference between a game installed on the HDD and the same game on the SSD. There are obviously improvements in load times etc. but no actual FPS performance changes.

 

[Moriath]

I have an SSD in my gaming rig and I honestly see no 'in-game' performance (frame rate) difference between a game installed on the HDD and the same game on the SSD. There are obviously improvements in load times etc. but no actual FPS performance changes.

I agree it's all in the load times.

 

[old.Osy]

Tbh, for playing current games, your box is fine, with the argument that your video card and ram need to be upgraded / amended.

For added effect, put in a SSD, and you're sorted, if gaming is your point. The x4 955 is a beautiful processor, it should handle current games just fine, more so if you OC. Not sure what your mobo is, but it should have at least basic OC functions.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Billargh]

Tbh, for playing current games, your box is fine, with the argument that your video card and ram need to be upgraded / amended.

For added effect, put in a SSD, and you're sorted, if gaming is your point. The x4 955 is a beautiful processor, it should handle current games just fine, more so if you OC. Not sure what your mobo is, but it should have at least basic OC functions.

Just my 2 cents.

I'm totally happy with my current rig besides it being on it's way out.

Mentioned it being on it's way out in the OP, and how I'm having the same issues I had 6 months ago. I've already ruled out software, RAM and power supply issues. Next guess would mean something on the board and if I replace that I'll have to get a new CPU sorted too, and I quite like using this an excuse to get a new rig sorted out.

I am considering just getting a new MOBO and CPU for using all my current components just to see if this resolves the issue. If it does I can just replace all the other parts intermittently.

 

[Scouse]

I'm totally happy with my current rig besides it being on it's way out.

I'm gonna echo what @old.Osy has to say.

I've got the X3 as a processor and a 7870 graphics card. There aren't any games that make it struggle unacceptably that I've played.

Just reinstall your O/S from scratch m8.

 

[Billargh]

I'm gonna echo what @old.Osy has to say.

I've got the X3 as a processor and a 7870 graphics card. There aren't any games that make it struggle unacceptably that I've played.

Just reinstall your O/S from scratch m8.

I'll be honest, I haven't bothered to do a fresh install of Windows but that's because this is an identical issue I've already had and that didn't fix it last time.

 

[Scouse]

I'll be honest, I haven't bothered to do a fresh install of Windows but that's because this is an identical issue I've already had and that didn't fix it last time.

What's happening? Just the odd blue screen of death?

 

[Billargh]

What's happening? Just the odd blue screen of death?

It's a bit more frequent than the odd one. It can happen within minutes of me turning the PC on or it can happen after I've been using it for a few hours.

Sometimes it bluescreens and then resets, other times it bluescreens and just hangs on the bsod screen. Sometimes it simply reboots itself then gets stuck in a boot loop. Sometimes it will reboot, get to the start menu and my KB and mouse are unresponsive so I'm not able to log in. Sometimes it will turn itself off but still be partly powered on although nothing is showing on the screen, the fans are still humming away quietly and holding the power button will power it off totally.

This may be totally unrelated btw, lately my ad blocking Add ons on Chrome haven't been working. I'm getting absolutely bombarded with them on certain websites. This has happened with both Ad Blocker and Adblock Plus. Is it possible that this is a malware issue? And if so, what's the best program for getting rid of them? Granted this didn't fix it last time either.

 

[Scouse]

You use a kosher or d/l'd OS when you did your reinstall @Billargh?

That could be a malware issue, but does sound hardwarezy or driver fuckupzy. If you've got the space try swapping what ports your hard drives are plugged into on your motherboard and swap your ram to other slots.

Do a full a/v scan and run malwarebytes and have a look. But if you want to be sure, format then reinstall.

 

[Billargh]

You use a kosher or d/l'd OS when you did your reinstall @Billargh?

That could be a malware issue, but does sound hardwarezy or driver fuckupzy. If you've got the space try swapping what ports your hard drives are plugged into on your motherboard and swap your ram to other slots.

Do a full a/v scan and run malwarebytes and have a look. But if you want to be sure, format then reinstall.

Yeah, I'm only of only like 5 people in the world who bought a legit copy of Windows.

Currently running a scan on Malwarebytes, already ran a scan through MSE and some other Windows program that I forget the name of which both come back clean.

I've tried swapping the RAM into different slots as well as using some brand new sticks of RAM I borrowed from a mate and that didn't fix it either. I guess I could try the HDD thing or the reinstall again but can't see that doing much.

 

[Scouse]

try the HDD thing

This.

 

[Billargh]

This.

Okay, I'll have to try this tomorrow though as I'm heading to bed any minute.

Just scanned with Malwarebytes though and it came back with 6 items, so got them quarantined/deleted etc.