The 'Build Me A PC' Thread

[Rendakor]

There must be more software out there somewhere to rip movies. I see 720p versions of movies on torrents all the time.

DVDFab is great for ripping, but it doesn't do playback IIRC.

[Trippy]

DVDFab is no longer good for ripping. There are alternatives, though.

[MisterNoisy]

New gaming computer came in the mail today.  I7 4770k with a 770 GTX card.  Some kind of mid level Fata1ity H87 (which I feel very 1337 in regards to) board to hold the stuff with some Arctic cooling something or other (I don't overclock).  Rest is ordinary bullshit.

Sounds like a solid machine - which builder did you use?  The ASRock Fata1ity-branded motherboards are high-quality stuff, but I refuse to buy them because I hate the thought of that knob getting any of my money.

[Rendakor]

DVDFab is no longer good for ripping. There are alternatives, though.

Really? Is that because a new version/update broke it, or because better alternatives exist? It still works fine for me, although I don't use it in a standard manner.

[Trippy]

Thanks to action by AACS-LA they had to remove their AACS decryption support from newer versions of DVDFab sold in the US. Same reason their dvdfab.com domain was seized. Older versions pre-seizure can still decrypt most Blu-ray discs but at some point new discs will have protections the older versions can't handle. PassKey (standalone AACS decrypter) is also not available for US purchase anymore.

[Rendakor]

Ahh. I haven't ran into anything it wouldn't rip, but I've only done a handful of Blu-ray's.

[Cyrrex]

New gaming computer came in the mail today.  I7 4770k with a 770 GTX card.  Some kind of mid level Fata1ity H87 (which I feel very 1337 in regards to) board to hold the stuff with some Arctic cooling something or other (I don't overclock).  Rest is ordinary bullshit.

Sounds like a solid machine - which builder did you use?  The ASRock Fata1ity-branded motherboards are high-quality stuff, but I refuse to buy them because I hate the thought of that knob getting any of my money.

I live in Communist Denmark, so I don't get to use all the same fancy sources you guys have.  Still, I have a site I use that does stuff for reasonable prices (reasonable as defined by this country).  The motherboard was sort of a no-brainer... I had a choice of four different ASRock boards, and the two cheapest were pieces of shit.  So I took the cheaper Fa1a1i1y 1ooarc1 I could get...I figured based on the reviews that it was a solid enough board without actually being expensive and lining that douche's pocket with unearned cash.

Honestly, my experience with boards has always been that, as long as the shit doesn't break, it doesn't pay to overspend.  I currently have a sorta expensive Asus board with all kinds of thermal armor and fancy bullshit, and the stupid thing is slower than the barebones Dell I replaced with it without adding any meaningful features whatsoever.  I mean, besides housing a newer processor, that's a given.

[MisterNoisy]

Got the building bug again, but can't come up with a reason to build a new rig until DDR4 and the GTX8xx cards hit, so I decided to transplant my home machine into a smaller case that I had laying around.  The case is a bit of a downgrade, but it's a hell of a lot smaller (the box it came in is smaller than the Phantom) and it has a handle for carrying, so I call it a wash.

[Cyrrex]

Looks pretty tight.  I envy your cable management skills.  I just can't bother to spend time fussing with hiding the cables all nice and neat like that.  The new Zalman case I bought is a mid-tower and initially it seemed very small to me...but with all the components installed, it is still really spacious inside.  I don't know why some people buy these full sized cases and wonder what on earth they could possibly be filling them with.

I gave my old SSD to my son (who got my entire old rig).  I decided that was a big mistake (going back to a machine booting windows on a traditional drive is not enjoyable), and gave him the choice of either paying for it, or I would take it back.  Yeah, maybe that sounds harsh, but he basically has a much faster machine than all of his friends and a dad who spends a shitload of time and money keeping it that way, so I don't feel guilty about it.  Anyway, he chose to keep it, so I took the cash and the opportunity to get a better one than I had before.  Bought a Samsung 840 Evo with 256gb.  Combined with all the other new goodies...man is it fast.  Damn thing actually boots in about 12 seconds (from hitting the power button to actually be able to open things in Windows).  I always thought people were exaggerating that sort of thing.

I will have to eat a small portion of crow, however, and admit that the Fa1a1i1y MB has something to do with it.  It came with surprisingly good software as well.  Only problem is that it comes with some kind of onboard "Purity Sound" audio, but there are no drivers for it included and when I initially tried to get something from Realtek, it didn't seem to work.  Like, no sound at all.  I have a pretty good Creative X-FI card that is doing the work, but I seem to be having problems with that as well.  Despite using the optical output into a 7.1 surround receiver (and ensuring the card is configured to put out at 7.1), it is all still coming out in stereo.  Annoys the shit out of me.  I seem to remember having and solving this problem in the past, but I cannot recall what that was.

I'll spend time eventually trying to figure it out, but if anyone has a "dur, you just have to go here and clickety click..." answer, I'm listening.

[MisterNoisy]

Looks pretty tight.  I envy your cable management skills.  I just can't bother to spend time fussing with hiding the cables all nice and neat like that.  The new Zalman case I bought is a mid-tower and initially it seemed very small to me...but with all the components installed, it is still really spacious inside.  I don't know why some people buy these full sized cases and wonder what on earth they could possibly be filling them with.

I gave my old SSD to my son (who got my entire old rig).  I decided that was a big mistake (going back to a machine booting windows on a traditional drive is not enjoyable), and gave him the choice of either paying for it, or I would take it back.  Yeah, maybe that sounds harsh, but he basically has a much faster machine than all of his friends and a dad who spends a shitload of time and money keeping it that way, so I don't feel guilty about it.  Anyway, he chose to keep it, so I took the cash and the opportunity to get a better one than I had before.  Bought a Samsung 840 Evo with 256gb.  Combined with all the other new goodies...man is it fast.  Damn thing actually boots in about 12 seconds (from hitting the power button to actually be able to open things in Windows).  I always thought people were exaggerating that sort of thing.

I will have to eat a small portion of crow, however, and admit that the Fa1a1i1y MB has something to do with it.  It came with surprisingly good software as well.  Only problem is that it comes with some kind of onboard "Purity Sound" audio, but there are no drivers for it included and when I initially tried to get something from Realtek, it didn't seem to work.  Like, no sound at all.  I have a pretty good Creative X-FI card that is doing the work, but I seem to be having problems with that as well.  Despite using the optical output into a 7.1 surround receiver (and ensuring the card is configured to put out at 7.1), it is all still coming out in stereo.  Annoys the shit out of me.  I seem to remember having and solving this problem in the past, but I cannot recall what that was.

I'll spend time eventually trying to figure it out, but if anyone has a "dur, you just have to go here and clickety click..." answer, I'm listening.

Thanks - I like a nice clean case interior (and a window and lighting to show it off), and it only takes a bit of time and some zip ties to make everything all tidy - I was less anal this time around, actually and yea - SSDs are pretty much mandatory at this point, even if you just get a small (120+ GB) one for the OS and primary applications.

The drivers for your board's onboard sound are on ASRock's website, though there might be different packages depending on which version of Windows you're on.  As far as the stereo thing, check Control Panel > Sound, then highlight 'Speakers'


...then click 'Configure'


...and select '7.1 Surround' and finish the configuration from there.

[Cyrrex]

Huh.  Odd that I didn't find them before.  Will follow the link when I get home tonight.

I have already done all the speaker configuring.  When I set it to 7.1 and run a test, it pretends like it is actually doing a test of all 7 channels, but it is clearly all coming from front left and right speakers.  Starting to wonder if something might be wrong with my surround receiver, I suppose that is possible.

[MisterNoisy]

Huh.  Odd that I didn't find them before.  Will follow the link when I get home tonight.

I have already done all the speaker configuring.  When I set it to 7.1 and run a test, it pretends like it is actually doing a test of all 7 channels, but it is clearly all coming from front left and right speakers.  Starting to wonder if something might be wrong with my surround receiver, I suppose that is possible.

If the correct drivers aren't installed, it could just be defaulting to stereo.  Try the configuration after installing drivers and you may be gtg.

[Ironwood]

Got the building bug again, but can't come up with a reason to build a new rig until DDR4 and the GTX8xx cards hit, so I decided to transplant my home machine into a smaller case that I had laying around.  The case is a bit of a downgrade, but it's a hell of a lot smaller (the box it came in is smaller than the Phantom) and it has a handle for carrying, so I call it a wash.

That's a right pretty looking setup.

[Cyrrex]

Huh.  Odd that I didn't find them before.  Will follow the link when I get home tonight.

I have already done all the speaker configuring.  When I set it to 7.1 and run a test, it pretends like it is actually doing a test of all 7 channels, but it is clearly all coming from front left and right speakers.  Starting to wonder if something might be wrong with my surround receiver, I suppose that is possible.

If the correct drivers aren't installed, it could just be defaulting to stereo.  Try the configuration after installing drivers and you may be gtg.

You may be on to something else here, because for my X-FI card I cannot find the Windows 7 install CD (it is actually a VISTA CD that you have to download via the backdoor), so I have been getting it online...and their drivers are kind of retarded to be honest, so it is entirely possible that I have a version issue.

[MisterNoisy]

That's a right pretty looking setup.

Thanks!  I wish I could just build these things all day - it's stress-relieving in the same way that LEGO is.

[Yegolev]

I haven't had to return a DOA LEGO block yet.  Or buy a new one because the 30-day return window expired.

[Salamok]

That's a right pretty looking setup.

Thanks!  I wish I could just build these things all day - it's stress-relieving in the same way that LEGO is.

It is nice and clean but I would imagine you could spaghetti monster the fuck out of it and Ironwood would still be all "well hellooo there lassee" with the Scottish flag colored wiring.

[Ironwood]

Ha, I hadn't even noticed that !

I love, love, love, the power units with the detachable cables.  Love 'em.

[Yegolev]

Scottish or Israeli cables?

[Cyrrex]

Huh.  Odd that I didn't find them before.  Will follow the link when I get home tonight.

I have already done all the speaker configuring.  When I set it to 7.1 and run a test, it pretends like it is actually doing a test of all 7 channels, but it is clearly all coming from front left and right speakers.  Starting to wonder if something might be wrong with my surround receiver, I suppose that is possible.

If the correct drivers aren't installed, it could just be defaulting to stereo.  Try the configuration after installing drivers and you may be gtg.

Now that I am on the ASRock site, I can see that those were the very same Realtek drivers I downloaded before and didn't get to work - as in nothing coming out of the optical plug at all.  Have since reinstalled Windows again on the new SSD drive, so will give it a whirl.

[Azazel]

So it's that time of the decade again, where I've saved up some money and am looking to build-buy a new PC. The last one was built 4 years ago now from advice here and still works a dream, it just doesn't quite have the grunt I'd like to have for a few of the newer games out there.

I do have a bunch of criteria, though.

Remember, these are Australian Dollars and Australian prices. Yeah, we get ripped off. It's the way of things.
Am buying it from this place: - they have some of the best local prices around. I'm not willing to mail order parts internationally from newegg, etc
http://www.centrecom.com.au/buildpc

Budget is AU$2000
SSD HDD for boot disc. Probably a second one for Steam games and stuff I access all the time.
CPU and GPU - I'm after that 75% point where the best value and price intersect - no need for bleeding edge and the price that comes with it. I generally prefer NVIDIA/Intel, but you guys are more up to date than I am with this stuff.
8gb RAM? 16gb RAM? More? You tell me - I don't want to ever need to touch it again, though.
Some 3 of 4tb internal drives. At least two. I'll have to pull a couple from this machine to add in, as well.
Maybe a built-in WAP so my wireless devices can access the network (or should I buy a couple of inexpensive standalone WAP/switches for upstairs and downstairs? Any advice there?) Someone recommended tplink wa901nd for coverage since I have 2 floors and a separate garage
Optical Drive - Ideally a BR player that is also a DVDR and not region locked

No need for a sound card. Onboard 5-channel is fine

For the case I want easily-added/accessable drive bays. Preferably side-mounts, potentially hotswappable, tool-less - and an external mount for a full SATA drive wouldn't hurt, either. (my wife's Coolermaster case has all this, and I have been jealous for years now!)
Definitely side-mounted drives so there's no chance of me bumping the GPU card and so forth when I add (or remove) HDDs

Probably this card reader:
http://www.centrecom.com.au/tehrmaltake-black-extreme-speed-30-multi-card-reader

I've got an unopened OEM Win7 home I'll be using instead of Windows 8.

No need for KB+M, Monitor, etc. I have those.

[Hoax]

Wait you want to get PSU+CPU+Mobo+Ram+GPU AND multiple SSD and HDD from that site for $2k? That seems like its going to be difficult from a quick look.

It'd be good to post your current rig's stats to get a feel for what your looking to make a performance jump from. Also how many monitor(s) and what resolution do you game at?

[Cyrrex]

Can't you pillage some stuff from your old system?  Any DDR3 RAM?  The optical drive?  Can't you live with just one SSD?  And just how much HDD space do you really need?  And you really have to have a new case?  And a card reader...people still use those?  You don't have one already?

When value is important, you need to figure out how to cut the fat.  You might end up building a nice looking rig with all the trimmings...that is slow in two years.  But at least you'll have your 16 TB porn ready to go!

[MisterNoisy]

So it's that time of the decade again, where I've saved up some money and am looking to build-buy a new PC. The last one was built 4 years ago now from advice here and still works a dream, it just doesn't quite have the grunt I'd like to have for a few of the newer games out there.

I do have a bunch of criteria, though.

Remember, these are Australian Dollars and Australian prices. Yeah, we get ripped off. It's the way of things.
Am buying it from this place: - they have some of the best local prices around. I'm not willing to mail order parts internationally from newegg, etc
http://www.centrecom.com.au/buildpc

Budget is AU$2000
SSD HDD for boot disc. Probably a second one for Steam games and stuff I access all the time.
CPU and GPU - I'm after that 75% point where the best value and price intersect - no need for bleeding edge and the price that comes with it. I generally prefer NVIDIA/Intel, but you guys are more up to date than I am with this stuff.
8gb RAM? 16gb RAM? More? You tell me - I don't want to ever need to touch it again, though.
Some 3 of 4tb internal drives. At least two. I'll have to pull a couple from this machine to add in, as well.
Maybe a built-in WAP so my wireless devices can access the network (or should I buy a couple of inexpensive standalone WAP/switches for upstairs and downstairs? Any advice there?) Someone recommended tplink wa901nd for coverage since I have 2 floors and a separate garage
Optical Drive - Ideally a BR player that is also a DVDR and not region locked

No need for a sound card. Onboard 5-channel is fine

For the case I want easily-added/accessable drive bays. Preferably side-mounts, potentially hotswappable, tool-less - and an external mount for a full SATA drive wouldn't hurt, either. (my wife's Coolermaster case has all this, and I have been jealous for years now!)
Definitely side-mounted drives so there's no chance of me bumping the GPU card and so forth when I add (or remove) HDDs

Probably this card reader:
http://www.centrecom.com.au/tehrmaltake-black-extreme-speed-30-multi-card-reader

I've got an unopened OEM Win7 home I'll be using instead of Windows 8.

No need for KB+M, Monitor, etc. I have those.

Here's what I came up with - I have no clue what optical drive to get because I don't use them any more, but you still have $150, so I hope that'll give you enough $ to get whatever fits the bill there.  I tried to avoid anything that's not immediately available (special order, etc).  No provisions for overclocking - change the CPU to 4790K (+$61) if you want that.

CPU *
   Intel i7-4790 3.60GHZ Quad-Core 8MB Cache LGA1150    1    $337.00    
Motherboard *
   ASRock Z97M PRO4 MATX Motherboard 1150 Socket    1    $135.00    
RAM *
   16GB (8GBx2) Kit Kingston Hyper X DDR3-1600 CL10 240-Pin DIMM Blue    1    $179.00    
Storage Devices *
   Western Digital WD Green 3TB, WD30EZRX WD Green, SATA III    2    $126.00    
Case *
   Thermaltake Black Urban S41 Mid Tower Chassis (USB3)    1    $149.00    
Power Supply
   600W SILVERSTONE Technology Strider Plus Cable Management PSU 80+ Silver    1    $129.00    
AssemblyLabour *
   PC Assembly Labour    1    $82.50    
Solid State Drive
   Samsung 840 EVO Series 250GB SSD    1    $144.00    
CPU Cooler
   Thermaltake NiC F3 PWM Multi Socket CPU Cooler [CLP0605]    1    $45.00    
Graphic Card
   Gigabyte nVidia GeForce GTX 770 (N770OC-2GD) - WINDFORCE 3X 450W    1    $395.00    

Total: $1847.50

[Chimpy]

He needs it in AU$ and from a seller down there (which are all more expensive too).

You should invest in something like a synology or QNap NAS if you need that much storage.

[MisterNoisy]

He needs it in AU$ and from a seller down there (which are all more expensive too).

You should invest in something like a synology or QNap NAS if you need that much storage.

All those prices are from that CentreCom site he linked.

[Azazel]

Wait you want to get PSU+CPU+Mobo+Ram+GPU AND multiple SSD and HDD from that site for $2k? That seems like its going to be difficult from a quick look.

It'd be good to post your current rig's stats to get a feel for what your looking to make a performance jump from. Also how many monitor(s) and what resolution do you game at?

This is the current rig. It's got a couple more HDDs bolted into it these days.

Intel i7-870   $313.00    (i7-950 $335?)
Asus P7P55D-E PRO  $195.00
WD Caviar Black 2 TB  $206.00
Corsair DDR3 8 GB PC-10600/1333 (4x 2GB)  $155.10 - "Call for stock" - Get the 2x 4GB sticks instead if they are out of the 4x 2GB ones? Other options?
EVGA NVIDIA GTX460 SC (01G-P2-1373-KR)  $244.20 - "Call for stock" - I have NFI about motherboards.
Corsair ATX-750 750W  $225.50  (rebranded Seasonic) - "Call for stock" - aside from wattages, I can't tell the differences, I've bought Thermaltake in the past...
* Corsair AX-850 ATX? $255.20
* Corsair HX-750 ATX? $199.00
* Corsair TX-850 ATX? $180.40

Case (whatever you like)
DVD burner (whatever you like)

[Azazel]

Wait you want to get PSU+CPU+Mobo+Ram+GPU AND multiple SSD and HDD from that site for $2k? That seems like its going to be difficult from a quick look.

It'd be good to post your current rig's stats to get a feel for what your looking to make a performance jump from. Also how many monitor(s) and what resolution do you game at?

It's never been a problem before, and my budget has been lower in the past. 1 Monitor, 1920x1080

Can't you pillage some stuff from your old system?  Any DDR3 RAM?  The optical drive?  Can't you live with just one SSD?  And just how much HDD space do you really need?  And you really have to have a new case?  And a card reader...people still use those?  You don't have one already?

When value is important, you need to figure out how to cut the fat.  You might end up building a nice looking rig with all the trimmings...that is slow in two years.  But at least you'll have your 16 TB porn ready to go!

My old rig goes to my wife (and her PC becomes the spare). I may pull a HDD from it, but beyond that I won't be touching it. We both use the card readers all of the time. Incredibly useful in our line of work, and far better to spend a few bucks for a good integral one than have one permanently dangling out of a USB port (which is what she has right now).

[Cyrrex]

Ah, well, that makes more sense then. 

In which case, the list MisterNoisy produced up there is a corker.  The rig I just built is pretty similar, and it is fast as the blazes.  If you absolutey need more HDD space, you can probably cut down a little on a couple of the things and still fit it in the budget.

[Azazel]

Thanks guys. MisterNoisy - anything there that you'd change if we are allowing for out of stock/special order? It's still over a week before I'll have the cash, and who knows what might come into stock/get sold out in the meantime.

The HDD space isn't for porn, but my MP3s, photos, digital copies of an immense amount of tabletop and RPG stuff, photos, video editing, and of course, Steam (and Origin.) - and backups of all but the Steam/Origin stuff on separate internal HDDs - so I'll be keeping full backups of it all on this rig when it becomes my wife's PC as well. Other legitimately acquired media files live on external HDDs.

[Azazel]

And only semi-related, but what are the thoughts on this thing? The shop guy recommended it to me, but I trust you guys more than I'll ever trust a shop guy.

tplink wa901nd
http://www.centrecom.com.au/tp-link-tl-wa901nd-300mbps-wireless-n-access-point

2 storey house, attached garage. Wired network, but would like freedom to use the tablet in the garage, in bed, wandering around downstairs, etc. Doesn't need to be for low-latency gaming, etc - just browsing and maybe some youtube, etc.

[Trippy]

And only semi-related, but what are the thoughts on this thing? The shop guy recommended it to me, but I trust you guys more than I'll ever trust a shop guy.

tplink wa901nd
http://www.centrecom.com.au/tp-link-tl-wa901nd-300mbps-wireless-n-access-point

2 storey house, attached garage. Wired network, but would like freedom to use the tablet in the garage, in bed, wandering around downstairs, etc. Doesn't need to be for low-latency gaming, etc - just browsing and maybe some youtube, etc.

No you don't want that. Get something that supports 802.11ac.

[Cyrrex]

It wasn't directed at me, but my two cents on what you could cut down on....that 4790 CPU is for all intents overkill fast.  On the other hand, this site doesn't give you many choices, so your next best bet is one of the i5 models (which would probably be fine, to be honest.  Even an i5 2500k is a good CPU, and I think all of these are faster).  You could also live with less than 16 gigs of RAM, though you did say you never want to touch it again so I'd probably still get at least 12.  Finally, he recommended a Z97 motherboard...you could probably save a few bucks and go down to an H87 board without noticing any drop, but to be honest the price diffs aren't huge.

The SSD is fantastic and worth every dollar...only downgrade if you can live with the 128gig model.  Do not get a different video card.

[Azazel]

Well, not so much looking at downgrading, but if there were other potential 1st choices not made because they were out of stock on something right now.

No you don't want that. Get something that supports 802.11ac.

This is the part where I make the drooling idiot face and ask which one I should buy because I don't know enough about this stuff (again, from Centrecom, or CPL.
Without spending too much, I'm after something I'll use as a WAP for upstairs, downstairs and the garage by plugging it into (probably) the upstairs switch that's wired through the walls to the router.

[MisterNoisy]

Thanks guys. MisterNoisy - anything there that you'd change if we are allowing for out of stock/special order? It's still over a week before I'll have the cash, and who knows what might come into stock/get sold out in the meantime.

The HDD space isn't for porn, but my MP3s, photos, digital copies of an immense amount of tabletop and RPG stuff, photos, video editing, and of course, Steam (and Origin.) - and backups of all but the Steam/Origin stuff on separate internal HDDs - so I'll be keeping full backups of it all on this rig when it becomes my wife's PC as well. Other legitimately acquired media files live on external HDDs.

Not really - most of the stuff that was 'special order' was things like super-premium cases (the one in that build was selected for the built-in 3.5" HDD dock on the top and fairly tasteful appearance), high-end motherboards, the 4970K and what not.  If you want a full ATX motherboard for more expansion room, replace the ASRock with the Gigabyte Z97-HD3 Motherboard (+$14).

When you say that the HDD space is for Steam, are you going to install Steam (and all the games) to one of the spinners?  If so, change one of the 3TB Greens to a 2TB WD Black (+$39).  The other option is to install Steam to the SSD and then move games back and forth from the SSD to a folder on the mass storage drives - just drag the folder for the game to and from the steamapps/common folder, do the 'verify all files' command for the game in Steam and you're gtg - alternately use Steam Mover to move them back and forth between storage and SSD.

As for the 4970, with new consoles sporting 8-core APUs and development still leading on them, I figure big-time game development will finally go multithreaded in a significant way, so if you've got the coin I'd go with an i7, just in case.