Building a PC, unsure on some stuff

xK Marcus

Hey, so after my laptop has been having a very unreliable period, I've decided to build a pc, I wanted to for a while anyway. I don't have much of a budget, but I'd like to keep it pretty close to 1,500. I've spent the last few hours going over some stuff, and this is what I think I'll be getting at the moment. I'll be buying with gaming in mind.


Motherboard - Gigabyte Z87X-UD4H or Gigabyte Z87X-UD5H, theres a £30 price difference on Amazon, but they look practically identical, is the UD5H worth an extra 30?

Memroy - 2x4GB, I'm right in thinking 2x4 is better then 1x8? Also, the manufacturer of this doesn't matter much? Was gonna just get Corsair/Kingston

Storage - SeaGate Barracuda 2TB

Video Card - Gigabyte Nvidia GTX 770, I was considering the 780, but it's quite a bit more expensive, is it worth that much more?

Power Supply - XFX Pro 750, It looks like a pretty good one for the price

Case - HAF X

SSD - Samsung 840 EVO, Was gonna go with the 250gb, but is that a bit overkill?

Fan - Silver Arrow, I heard this is the best one, and it's only £50 on Amazon

OS - Windows 8, is Windows 8 pro much different/better?

Monitor - Samsung S24C300HS, was a good price for a 24" I think, £110, on Amazon again


Now, the CPU is where I'm really undecided, should I go for AMD FX-8350, or Intel i7 4770k/4820K, or is i7 not needed and I should just got for i5 4670K?. On Amazon the AMD is only £145, the i7's are £247/£267 and the i5 is £175. Which one would be better? If the AMD is not better just by a little bit, I'd rather save 130 euro.


I've only really seen the prices of these on Amazon, so if you know where any of them are cheaper, that'd help a lot too, is there any of this I shouldn't be getting?


Just remembered I'll also need a keyboard, any advice on that? Also, will I need a Wireless Adapter too?

BloodBath

1500 is a big budget. You can get a very high end system with all the extras for that money.

You should fill this in though if you want help and advice.

1. What is your budget? [€xxx]

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? [Gaming/Video editing/3D Modelling/HTPC/Internet] (If gaming include which games)

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? [Yes/No]

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? [Hard drive/DVD Drive/Case/PSU/etc.] (If possible state brand and model of the parts to ensure compatibility)

5. Do you need a monitor? [Yes/No]

5a. If yes, what size do you need. [19'/20'/22'/24'/etc.]

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? [1920x1080/1440x900/etc.] [Yes/No]

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? [Keyboard/Mouse/Wireless Card/Card Reader/Speakers/etc.]

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? [Yes/No]

8. How can you pay? [Bank Transfer/Credit Card/Laser]

9. When are you purchasing? [In x days]

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? [South Dublin City/Cork City/Kerry/etc.]

xK Marcus

BloodBath wrote: »

1500 is a big budget. You can get a very high end system with all the extras for that money.

You should fill this in though if you want help and advice.

Thanks, I was looking for this, couldn't find it though.



1. What is your budget? I'd like to stay around 1500, but can go over if need be.

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Gaming and some video editing, gaming will range from minecraft to league of legends to battlefield.

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? Yes

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? [Hard drive/DVD Drive/Case/PSU/etc.] No, I can't

5. Do you need a monitor? Yes

5a. If yes, what size do you need. 24 inch

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? Not applicable.

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? I need a Keyboard and Wireless Adapter, and also a Sound Card if it isn't build in to Motherboard

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? Potentially, I don't know much about it.

8. How can you pay? Debit Card.

9. When are you purchasing? I have no deadline, I would guess in a week or so, whenever I'm comfortable with all the parts chosen

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? I'm in Dublin. I've never built a PC before, but I'm sure I'll be able to.

BloodBath

Something like this would do nicely. You have enough left there to get a good keyboard on amazon or elsewhere. You could easily save money on this if you wanted though. If I was spending €1500 that's how I'd do it.

The board supports sli/crossfire and the power supply is up to the task. If you had no intentions of going for dual cards you could get a basic 500w psu and the pro 4 board instead saving about €100. The 4670k would also be more than up to the task if you wanted to save a bit more on the cpu. You could even get the xeon e3 1230v3 and a cheaper board. If you don't think you will overclock then the xeon is definitely the best choice. It's basically a slightly slower 4770k without the overclocking feature and on chip graphics.

You could potentially save around €200+ there and only lose a little performance, practically none if you aren't overclocking or going dual cards. You could use this to grab more storage or other peripherals. Do you need speakers or a headset? What about a mouse/mat?

I think the 280x is a slightly better choice than the 770 gtx but if your heart is set on Nvidia then go for the 770.

The case comes in a few colors and variations so check them out.

Item|Price
Intel Core i7-4770K Box, LGA1150|€289.99
Thermalright HR-02 Macho Rev.A (BW)|€39.61
ASRock Z87 Extreme4, Sockel 1150, ATX|€120.23
MSI R9 280X GAMING 3G, AMD Radeon R9 280X, 3GB DDR5|€272.59
8GB-Kit G-Skill RipJaws PC3-12800U CL9|€72.02
Samsung SSD 840 EVO Basic 120GB SATA 6Gb/s|€89.99
WD Caviar Blue 1TB 6Gb's|€53.38
Nanoxia Deep Silence One Dark Anthracite mit Seitenfenster, ATX, ohne Netzteil|€109.90
Corsair Enthusiast Series RM750, Modular, 80 Plus Gold 750 Watt|€109.06
ASUS DRW-24F1ST (Bulk) Silent|€18.90
LogiLink USB 2.0 all-in-one Card Reader, für 3,5" Einbauchschacht|€3.32
2 x LogiLink SATA Anschlusskabel mit Sicherungslasche, 0.75m|€1.80
LG Flatron 24EA53VQ|€149.23
MS Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit SB-Version Englisch|€85.56
ASUS PCE-N15|€14.90
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€1449.47

xK Marcus

BloodBath wrote: »

Something like this would do nicely. You have enough left there to get a good keyboard on amazon or elsewhere. You could easily save money on this if you wanted though. If I was spending €1500 that's how I'd do it.

The board supports sli/crossfire and the power supply is up to the task. If you had no intentions of going for dual cards you could get a basic 500w psu and the pro 4 board instead saving about €100. The 4670k would also be more than up to the task if you wanted to save a bit more on the cpu. You could even get the xeon e3 1230v3 and a cheaper board. If you don't think you will overclock then the xeon is definitely the best choice. It's basically a slightly slower 4770k without the overclocking feature and on chip graphics.

You could potentially save around €200+ there and only lose a little performance, practically none if you aren't overclocking or going dual cards. You could use this to grab more storage or other peripherals. Do you need speakers or a headset? What about a mouse/mat?

I think the 280x is a slightly better choice than the 770 gtx but if your heart is set on Nvidia then go for the 770.

The case comes in a few colors and variations so check them out.

Item|Price
Intel Core i7-4770K Box, LGA1150|€289.99
Thermalright HR-02 Macho Rev.A (BW)|€39.61
ASRock Z87 Extreme4, Sockel 1150, ATX|€120.23
MSI R9 280X GAMING 3G, AMD Radeon R9 280X, 3GB DDR5|€272.59
8GB-Kit G-Skill RipJaws PC3-12800U CL9|€72.02
Samsung SSD 840 EVO Basic 120GB SATA 6Gb/s|€89.99
WD Caviar Blue 1TB 6Gb's|€53.38
Nanoxia Deep Silence One Dark Anthracite mit Seitenfenster, ATX, ohne Netzteil|€109.90
Corsair Enthusiast Series RM750, Modular, 80 Plus Gold 750 Watt|€109.06
ASUS DRW-24F1ST (Bulk) Silent|€18.90
LogiLink USB 2.0 all-in-one Card Reader, für 3,5" Einbauchschacht|€3.32
2 x LogiLink SATA Anschlusskabel mit Sicherungslasche, 0.75m|€1.80
LG Flatron 24EA53VQ|€149.23
MS Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit SB-Version Englisch|€85.56
ASUS PCE-N15|€14.90
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€1449.47

Thanks, this is all great. Just to clear things up though because I probably worded my first post wrong, when I said "I don't have much of a budget, but I'd like to stay around 1500", I didn't mean I didn't think it was a big budget, I mean I don't really have much of a limit, I'd like to buy a very good pc, but don't want to go absolutely insane.

Anyway, comparing these things to the ones in my first post.

Is the Silver Arrow fan just unnecessary, or is it pretty much the exact same as the one you suggested, but cheaper.

The motherboard you suggested looks very good, and very similar to the Gigabyte z87x-ud5h, is it also pretty much the same but cheaper, or is there something I missed?

I don't have my eye on any one particular manufacturer of grahics card, so if that AMD better suits my goals, then that's what I'll get.

As for the SSD, I was right in thinking the 250gb unnecessary, and 120gb will serve just as well for whatever I'd do?

As for the Hard drive, I was looking for a 2tb one, is it worth it to spend extra for 2x 1tb of the one you suggested, I know it is in case one fails, but is there any other reason I should?

Should the case be dependant on what I will put inside it? How does the one you suggested differ from the Haf X?

The Samsung 24' monitor I found is a bit cheaper then this LG one, does the LG one offer anything different?

Lastly, the wireless adapter, my internet connection hasn't always been reliable, so I'd like and adapter that is, one that will always work and give the best connection possible. I expected wireless adapters to be more expensive, or am I wrong?


As for peripherals, I have a good mouse, mouse mat, and headset. I'm pretty sure I have a few speakers around the house if I need those too. I will need a keyboard though, any suggestions there, or does it not matter. Also, are those two Logilink wires the only ones I would need?

Sorry if I'm being a bit too inquisitive, I would very much like to not mess this up.

BloodBath

Is the Silver Arrow fan just unnecessary, or is it pretty much the exact same as the one you suggested, but cheaper.

It's unnecessary. The way newer cpus are designed there is little difference between high end and midrange coolers in temps or achievable overclocks. The macho has a good price/performance ratio.

The motherboard you suggested looks very good, and very similar to the Gigabyte z87x-ud5h, is it also pretty much the same but cheaper, or is there something I missed?

Nope it's just crazy good value. It's a high end board for mid range price.

As for the SSD, I was right in thinking the 250gb unnecessary, and 120gb will serve just as well for whatever I'd do?

120gb is loads for your os and non game programs. Don't bother trying to put games on ssd's. It's not worth it. Loading times with a 1tb wd blue are pretty damn fast anyway.

As for the Hard drive, I was looking for a 2tb one, is it worth it to spend extra for 2x 1tb of the one you suggested, I know it is in case one fails, but is there any other reason I should?

It's no big deal either way. I prefer having multiple drives dedicated to certain things. A 1tb wd blue makes the perfect games drive. You could add another or a 2tb or larger drive if you want a bigger storage drive for other things.

Should the case be dependant on what I will put inside it? How does the one you suggested differ from the Haf X?

To a certain degree yes. You will need a larger case for dual cards and big cpu coolers ect. Also airflow is important. The Nanoxias are some of the best made cases for their price at the moment. Their stock fans are among the best as well running silent at even full speed. They are sound insulated as well to keep noise levels down. Overall it's just a much better case for the money. There is a selection of them, different colors, models and windowed or non windowed if you have a look.

The Samsung 24' monitor I found is a bit cheaper then this LG one, does the LG one offer anything different?

Yes it's a newer ips panel that offers better color reproduction and viewing angles.

Lastly, the wireless adapter, my internet connection hasn't always been reliable, so I'd like and adapter that is, one that will always work and give the best connection possible. I expected wireless adapters to be more expensive, or am I wrong?

Wireless is always going to be limited either way. Even the best adaptors will struggle if there is things blocking the signal between it and the router. You can get boosters but this gets pricey. Your best bet would be homeplugs. They use the electricity wiring to transmit the signal. You have 1 plug next to your router with a wired connection to the router and the other 1 next to your pc wired to the ethernet port on the pc. They still aren't faultless but a lot better than wireless. I'd grab a couple of cat 6a cables to use with it.

There is a huge selection of good keyboards tbh. I have no recommendations. Have a look at mechanical keyboards and see if they interest you.

Those sata cables should be all you need unless you add more drives. If you add more grab more sata3 cables. The 2 listed are sata1 for the dvd drive and card reader. The board comes with 2 x sata3.

xK Marcus

BloodBath wrote: »

It's unnecessary. The way newer cpus are designed there is little difference between high end and midrange coolers in temps or achievable overclocks. The macho has a good price/performance ratio.



Nope it's just crazy good value. It's a high end board for mid range price.



120gb is loads for your os and non game programs. Don't bother trying to put games on ssd's. It's not worth it. Loading times with a 1tb wd blue are pretty damn fast anyway.



It's no big deal either way. I prefer having multiple drives dedicated to certain things. A 1tb wd blue makes the perfect games drive. You could add another or a 2tb or larger drive if you want a bigger storage drive for other things.



To a certain degree yes. You will need a larger case for dual cards and big cpu coolers ect. Also airflow is important. The Nanoxias are some of the best made cases for their price at the moment. Their stock fans are among the best as well running silent at even full speed. They are sound insulated as well to keep noise levels down. Overall it's just a much better case for the money. There is a selection of them, different colors, models and windowed or non windowed if you have a look.



Yes it's a newer ips panel that offers better color reproduction and viewing angles.



Wireless is always going to be limited either way. Even the best adaptors will struggle if there is things blocking the signal between it and the router. You can get boosters but this gets pricey. Your best bet would be homeplugs. They use the electricity wiring to transmit the signal. You have 1 plug next to your router with a wired connection to the router and the other 1 next to your pc wired to the ethernet port on the pc. They still aren't faultless but a lot better than wireless. I'd grab a couple of cat 6a cables to use with it.

There is a huge selection of good keyboards tbh. I have no recommendations. Have a look at mechanical keyboards and see if they interest you.

Those sata cables should be all you need unless you add more drives. If you add more grab more sata3 cables. The 2 listed are sata1 for the dvd drive and card reader. The board comes with 2 x sata3.

Yeah, I have a set of those homeplugs for my console, Devolo is the manufacturer I think, I'll get another if wireless doesn't work out. Thank you very much for this, you've helped me choose many items, at a good price too

xK Marcus

Also, is this the Hard drive I should get if I want 2tb? Looks identical to the 1tb one, but is a bit heavier.

http://www.hardwareversand.de/7200+RPM/70889/WD+Caviar+Green+2TB+SATA+6Gb+s.article

BloodBath

Nope grab a seagate barracuda if going for 2tb. They don't do wd blues in 2tb afaik. Only reds and blacks.

xK Marcus

BloodBath wrote: »

Nope grab a seagate barracuda if going for 2tb. They don't do wd blues in 2tb afaik. Only reds and blacks.

Ok, I'll do that. About to order my stuff, but I see that the AMD Radeon R9 280x has an unkown delivery date, and a couple others are ready to dispatch from 21/11 and 26/11. Should I order the AMD from Amazon or something? Or doyou know if it comes back in stock fast?

Edit: I found it cheap here http://www.pcnation.co.uk/product.aspx?id=8200

Buying from here is fine too? Or have a missed something and it's somehow different

SterlingArcher

xK Marcus wrote: »

Ok, I'll do that. About to order my stuff, but I see that the AMD Radeon R9 280x has an unkown delivery date, and a couple others are ready to dispatch from 21/11 and 26/11. Should I order the AMD from Amazon or something? Or doyou know if it comes back in stock fast?

Edit: I found it cheap here http://www.pcnation.co.uk/product.aspx?id=8200

Buying from here is fine too? Or have a missed something and it's somehow different

**** that is cheap. 220 euro converted what is delivery?

xK Marcus

SterlingArcher wrote: »

**** that is cheap. 220 euro converted what is delivery?

Ahh, I just checked, they didn't include VAT there, it's £235 including VAT and delivery, average price.

SterlingArcher

xK Marcus wrote: »

Ahh, I just checked, they didn't include VAT there, it's £235 including VAT and delivery, average price.

Ah that's more like it. None on amazon?

xK Marcus

SterlingArcher wrote: »

Ah that's more like it. None on amazon?

The MSI one is £286, but they have one called Sapphire, which is £239

BloodBath

If you're using chrome and most likely firefox you can get an extension called Amazon currency switch that will show you the price in euro.

xK Marcus

Alright, so I've bought all my stuff now, and I've done what I think I need to do to put it all together (Am I supposed to have a fair few wires left over). However, I've run in to a problem trying to install windows 7, my disc drive doesn't seem to be getting power, it's plugged in to my motherboard, and my psu, is that wrong?

Also, am I supposed to have a wire connecting the graphics card to the PSU? I can see places a wire could go in to the Graphics card, but I don't have a wire that has that amount of holes

BloodBath

There should be 4 x 8 pin connections on that psu with removeable 2 pin sections. These are for graphics cards. Yes they need to be connected.

As for the dvd drive I don't know. Fix the graphics card issue first and see how you get on.

SterlingArcher

Ok firstly dont worry about extra wires you get them in the packaging for each component. You need two wires going into your DVD drive. One from the PSU to power it and the other going from the motherboard to the DVD drive connecting them.

Marcus have you watched any youtube Vids on building a pc and followed the examples.

You definitely should have power connections going into your graphics. After you slot the.card in. as blood said you have 2 PCI express connections. They are small black 8 pin connections that can separate two pins from to make a six pin one if needed for your card.

Again you can find detailed vids on YouTube fo. Connecting the DVD and Gpu

killanena

+18.99 for shipping = €1504.86
A 5'er over budget
Went with the FX 8350 because you mentioned video editing + 8 cores if fun
When that rig thats to go out of date for gaming well down the line, just add another N770 for crossfire

xK Marcus

Ok, I have the disc drive working, and I plugged that PCI cables in to my Graphics card, it was an 8 slot wire that went in to PSU, and on the other end it split in two with each of the two being a 6 slot+2 detachable for each. My graphics card has an 8 slot hole and a 6 slot hole, which a plugged the both splits of the end of the wire in to, with a 2 slot part left over, is that all right so far?

Next I have my vga cable going from my screen in to a dvi converter and in to the graphics card, however, the menu I get on my screen is

"ASROCK

Press F2 or DEL to run UEFI Setup - (Brings me to a setup screen for what must be for my motherboard, I don't want to mess around her until I know more about what I should do)
Press F6 for Instant Flash - (Tells me I have no Supported Device
Press F11 for Booth Menu - (Brings my to a men telling me to select a boot device, the options are: AHCI P0: ST2000DM001 and AHCI P2: Samsung SSD 840 EVO 12. If I select either of them I can then select Boot Default, or Configuration, both of which bring me to the same message as the second part of when I press Tab)
Press Tab to switch Screen - (Brings me to a copyright claim, and then tells me to Reboot and Select a proper Boot Device or Insert boot media in to selected Boot device and Press a key"


I also can only power my pc by turning it on by pressing the on button on my motherboard, the on button on my pc doesn't turn it on from the off position, but it does reset it. Is that supposed to be how it is?

xK Marcus

I have my Windows 7 disc in, but now the disc drive isn't co-operating again. I'm 99% sure I have it wired correctly, I did get it to open, put the disc in, then it wouldn't close, but it closed automatically when I turned off my PSU, my disc drive did have a green light on it when I had my stuff up and running again, but when I pressed to try open the drive, nothing happened and the green light turned off

BloodBath

You must not have it wired properly. Make sure the pc power button wire is connected to the right connection on the board. Those little wires are annoying to deal with but once it's done, it's done.

You will have to set the dvd drive as the first boot device in the bios which you access by pressing the "delete" key after powering up. Keep pressing it until the menu comes up.

There's lot's of detailed guides online and on youtube.

xK Marcus

Update: I've got my Disc Drive working, I plugged all of my SATA cables in to different slots, must have been a faulty slot or something because they were all plugged in correctly. Installing W7 now

xK Marcus

BloodBath wrote: »

You must not have it wired properly. Make sure the pc power button wire is connected to the right connection on the board. Those little wires are annoying to deal with but once it's done, it's done.

You will have to set the dvd drive as the first boot device in the bios which you access by pressing the "delete" key after powering up. Keep pressing it until the menu comes up.

There's lot's of detailed guides online and on youtube.

I was worried about this, these are the little 1 pin slots/plugs, right? On all the guides they are colour coded on the motherboard, but they aren't on this one, not that I can see anyway

SterlingArcher

killanena wrote: »

+18.99 for shipping = €1504.86
A 5'er over budget
Went with the FX 8350 because you mentioned video editing + 8 cores if fun
When that rig thats to go out of date for gaming well down the line, just add another N770 for crossfire

Did you post in the wrong tread? by the by Could have done better for 1500.

xK Marcus

killanena wrote: »

+18.99 for shipping = €1504.86
A 5'er over budget
Went with the FX 8350 because you mentioned video editing + 8 cores if fun
When that rig thats to go out of date for gaming well down the line, just add another N770 for crossfire

I've already got all the hardware, what I have is in the first page of the thread, thanks though.

SterlingArcher

xK Marcus wrote: »

I've already got all the hardware, what I have is in the first page of the thread, thanks though.

Ha I was wondering why he was posting that. Guess he missed a page or two. Anyway keep us updated Markus.

xK Marcus

SterlingArcher wrote: »

Ha I was wondering why he was posting that. Guess he missed a page or two. Anyway keep us updated Markus.

Will do, thanks for all this help everyone.

Ok, so I've installed Windows 7, and I now need to activate it online, so I've connected up my wireless adapter, but it doesn't seem to be being picked up, I've got it in the right slot on the motherboard, but none of the lights on the adapter are on, and windows can't detect any networking hardware. I've tried resetting just in case that was necessary for it to be detected, hasn't worked though. I don't think there were any buttons on the chip, I'll take it out and see if there was an on/off button on that.

I've also now fixed the small 1 pin wires in the right order, power button on the case works now.


Update Edit: I took out my Wireless Adapter and checked it out, no activation buttons/switches, I have it in the third slot of the motherboard, marked "Fast Lan". It also fit in to the first slot of the motherboard, which is unmarked, I tried that slot too, but it didn't work either.

Side note, I have my Graphics Card in the second slot down that it could fit in to which is unmarked, the first slot that it could fit in to is marked "PCI Express 3.0", I'm assuming that it doesn't matter which of the two slots it's in? I thought it would be better spaced out for air flow if it was in the second slot, same for the Wireless Adapter.


Update Edit #2: Silly me, there's an installation CD for the Wireless Adaptor

xK Marcus

So I installed the drivers for the Wireless Adaptor, but it isn't working, when I click on the control centre for it I get an error message that says "ASUS Wireless LAN card is taken apart from your desktop PC"

I've tried searching for solutions, but they all just say to download the Realtek drivers, how can I do that if I can't connect to the internet? I supposed I could transfer it if I find an external hard drive somewhere, or is there an easier way?

SterlingArcher

xK Marcus wrote: »

So I installed the drivers for the Wireless Adaptor, but it isn't working, when I click on the control centre for it I get an error message that says "ASUS Wireless LAN card is taken apart from your desktop PC"

I've tried searching for solutions, but they all just say to download the Realtek drivers, how can I do that if I can't connect to the internet? I supposed I could transfer it if I find an external hard drive somewhere, or is there an easier way?

If you have a smart phone download the drivers to it. Hook phone up via USB and copy it to your drive and install.

As for the graphics card ideally should be in the slot marked PCI 3.0...

Again Make sure it is connected properly. YouTube it if you have to.

xK Marcus

Okay, I'll move the graphics card up soon, my hard drive however is not being detected now, it was, when I was installing windows 7 it gave me the option of the 2tb hard drive, and a 100gb one that must be on motherboard or something, it's not being detected now though, in 'Computer' it only shows the 100gb one

wush06

xK Marcus wrote: »

I've tried searching for solutions, but they all just say to download the Realtek drivers, how can I do that if I can't connect to the internet? I supposed I could transfer it if I find an external hard drive somewhere, or is there an easier way?

Silly question but is the on board LAN not working straight out of the box with windows 7?

BloodBath

Stick the drivers on usb memory stick and install them from there.

The easiest way to do anything for a new build.

xK Marcus

wush06 wrote: »

Silly question but is the on board LAN not working straight out of the box with windows 7?

It's working now, it didn't work as soon as I connected it though, not sure exactly what got it working, I didn't do anything I hadn't done before

wush06

Once you have internet it makes things a lot easier. Have to say love the look of your build.
From reading your posts looks like it's your first build if so give yourself some time and step back for a bit and look at the bigger picture last thing you want is to fry something. I have to say the lads on here are great for helping out and got me out of some hot spots.

xK Marcus

wush06 wrote: »

Once you have internet it makes things a lot easier. Have to say love the look of your build.
From reading your posts looks like it's your first build if so give yourself some time and step back for a bit and look at the bigger picture last thing you want is to fry something. I have to say the lads on here are great for helping out and got me out of some hot spots.

Thanks, it is my first build, and it is looking quite good at the moment, only thing not working is the Hard drive I think.

I've already tried out a couple games, it's working well.

wush06

When setting up windows 7 for the first time did you format the drive and add no petition to it.

xK Marcus

wush06 wrote: »

When setting up windows 7 for the first time did you format the drive and add no petition to it.

I installed the drive after setting up windows 7

wush06

Ok try right click my computer and try manage. Not in front of mine using a tablet at the mo. But you should be able to see your drive in there and set it accordingly.

xK Marcus

wush06 wrote: »

Ok try right click my computer and try manage. Not in front of mine using a tablet at the mo. But you should be able to see your drive in there and set it accordingly.

Okay, I had thought you were talking about my Wireless Adaptor there. I had my Hard drive installed before windows 7, and I didn't do anything like formatting it, the only place it came in to the situation was when I was selecting what to install windows on.

Anyway, when I manage "my computer", and expand "Storage", and then click on Disk Management, there's two parts to the screen, one part contained a list of " (C:), Expansion Drive (E.)"(An external Hard Drive I have plugged in at the moment), and "System Reserved". On the second part it says that System Reserved has 1863GB, so that must be my Hard Drive. Right clicking it gives the option to Change Drive Letter and Paths, Format, multiple volume options, and properties. Selecting Format gives an error saying "Windows cannot format the system partition on this disk"


Edit: Ok, I've gone through Command Prompt and deactivated the active partition, now I click format, go through the window, accept, and another error saying "Format is not allowed on this current boot, system, pagefile, crashdump or hibernation volume."

wush06

Sorry my bad I was thinking of your hard drive. We can come back to the wireless later.
So the system is seeing the 2tb hard drive or am I missing a post. If you double click on my computer what does the hard drive show.

xK Marcus

wush06 wrote: »

Sorry my bad I was thinking of your hard drive. We can come back to the wireless later.
So the system is seeing the 2tb hard drive or am I missing a post. If you double click on my computer what does the hard drive show.

I just edited my above post with the current situation. Also, my wireless adaptor is working fine now.

wush06

Something I've learned over the years computers just don't work straight out of the box (for me anyway).
Put the windows disk back in start from scratch and format the hard drive when setting up windows set it to just the one hard drive and delete any other partition that is there.
After you do this for the 5th time you soon learn. Welcome to your first build.

xK Marcus

wush06 wrote: »

Something I've learned over the years computers just don't work straight out of the box (for me anyway).
Put the windows disk back in start from scratch and format the hard drive when setting up windows set it to just the one hard drive and delete any other partition that is there.
After you do this for the 5th time you soon learn. Welcome to your first build.

Will the activation key still work if I've already used it?

wush06

Sorry for the late reply xK Marcus I have windows 7 and I have used it several times with no problem.

xK Marcus

wush06 wrote: »

Sorry for the late reply xK Marcus I have windows 7 and I have used it several times with no problem.

Ok, I've done it and everything is working out so far

wush06

Good stuff enjoy looks a great machine.