[Gnaw]

Tarthenal Theloman Toblakai, on 14 October 2014 - 01:02 PM, said:

Yeah I do hate Apple but....

[Tarthenal Theloman Toblakai]

Gnaw, on 15 October 2014 - 02:06 AM, said:

Tarthenal Theloman Toblakai, on 14 October 2014 - 01:02 PM, said:

Yeah I do hate Apple but....

[Nicodimas]

Another Vote for an apple...

The monitor comes attached...sheer engineering brilliance.

[worry]

Just makes it easier for them to monitor you, Nico.

[Nicodimas]

@ Worry

I have taken steps to shield them and me from monitoring. Most is OPSEC <sorry guys>, but the easier stuff involves a contraption consisting of aluminium foil, silver nitrate, and carbon fiber..

It serves it's purpose.

This post has been edited by Nicodimas: 15 October 2014 - 07:48 PM

[Gnaw]

worry, on 15 October 2014 - 07:40 PM, said:

Just makes it easier for them to monitor you, Nico.

Nicodimas, on 15 October 2014 - 07:48 PM, said:

@ Worry

I have taken steps to shield them and me from monitoring. Most is OPSEC <sorry guys>, but the easier stuff involves a contraption consisting of aluminium foil, silver nitrate, and carbon fiber..

It serves it's purpose.

Don't forget the piece of tape over the webcam.

[Nicodimas]

I suggest you forcibly remove the webcam..I can't quite go into details <opsec>, or break that part of the computer with a hammer.

This post has been edited by Nicodimas: 16 October 2014 - 01:12 AM

[MTS]

Hey all, first post from my new computer! It's awesome, thanks heaps guys.

I was wondering if I might be able to pick the collective IT brain here though. I installed all of the components myself, and it booted up fine, I installed Windows, installed updates, drivers, programs etc. So far so good. Started downloading some games and decided to give it a test run, when I noted that it was actually running slower than my Alienware laptop (which has about 1 GHz less of processor speed). I looked for solutions and people were suggesting to run a diagnostic tool on the processor to see whether it's running at full speed/efficiency. This is what I got:

Quote

---------------------------
--- Testing Processor 1 ---
---------------------------


--- IPDT64 - rev 2.10.0.0.MP ---


--- Start Time: 10/23/2014 17:12:13---


--- Skipping Config ---


--- Reading CPU Manufacturer ---

Expected --> GenuineIntel
Detected --> GenuineIntel
Found --- Genuine Intel Processor ---

--- Temperature Test ---

Temperature Test Passed!!!


Temperature = 3 degrees C below maximum.


--- Reading Brand String ---

Detected Brand String:
Intel Core i5-4690K 3.50GHz

Brand String Test Passed!!!


--- Reading CPU Frequency ---

Expected CPU Frequency is --> 3.50


Detected CPU Frequency is --> 1.03138

CPU Frequency Test Failed!!!


--- Test End Time: 10/23/2014 17:12:25---

System Information
------------------
Processor Name: Intel® Core™ i5-4690K CPU @ 3.50GHz
Processor Information: Intel64 Family 6 Model 60 Stepping 3
Number of Physical Cores: 4
Number of Logical Cores: 4
Installed System Memory: 16 GB
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-bit
Graphics Information: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980
System Product: Z97X KILLER
System BIOS: P1.00

As you can see it failed, and is only running at about 1GHz (previous tests were all lower than that). I noticed the temperature check and was concerned about that. I'm only using the onboard fans that came with the case (three 140mm fans, two front, one back, plus heatsink and fan that came with the processor), do I need to upgrade my cooling setup, and could that be what's causing the slow speeds? I have my power options on high performance, and I've got the BIOS version at the same one my motherboard manual says to, so not sure what else could be causing it. Any help you guys give me would be awesome.

[Gnaw]

MTS, on 23 October 2014 - 06:28 AM, said:

Hey all, first post from my new computer! It's awesome, thanks heaps guys.

I was wondering if I might be able to pick the collective IT brain here though. I installed all of the components myself, and it booted up fine, I installed Windows, installed updates, drivers, programs etc. So far so good. Started downloading some games and decided to give it a test run, when I noted that it was actually running slower than my Alienware laptop (which has about 1 GHz less of processor speed). I looked for solutions and people were suggesting to run a diagnostic tool on the processor to see whether it's running at full speed/efficiency. This is what I got:


As you can see it failed, and is only running at about 1GHz (previous tests were all lower than that). I noticed the temperature check and was concerned about that. I'm only using the onboard fans that came with the case (three 140mm fans, two front, one back, plus heatsink and fan that came with the processor), do I need to upgrade my cooling setup, and could that be what's causing the slow speeds? I have my power options on high performance, and I've got the BIOS version at the same one my motherboard manual says to, so not sure what else could be causing it. Any help you guys give me would be awesome.

First thought is not one you're going to like. Where did you get the CPU?

Second one is only slightly less unhappy making. Are you sure you got the heatsink seated properly on the CPU?

Note: both those questions 'might' be obsolete. There used to be a very thriving market in counterfeit CPUs that would lie to the OS about what it really was. And it used to be quite possible to put a heatsink on incorrectly, usually 180 degrees, and damage the CPU when the sink was clamped/screwed/tightened.

Get a copy of Ubuntu that will boot from USB or optical drive. Boot into it instead of windows. There are several diagnostic tests that you can run from that. If nothing else, it will help you eliminate Windows or application software problems. I'm sure Silencer can tell you exactly what you need. I've not used Linux in 6 or 7 years.

I know how you feel 'cause I've been there before. Lots of money and time invested and it not running correctly sucks badly. But troubleshooting is a part of building your own system.

[MTS]

Gnaw, on 23 October 2014 - 07:28 AM, said:

Second one is only slightly less unhappy making. Are you sure you got the heatsink seated properly on the CPU?

I think this was my issue. I took out the heatsink and the CPU and reinstalled them, making sure the heatsink was pressed firmly down and making good contact with the CPU. Now it's going great, although running a little faster than it should for some reason (first diagnostic clocked it at 4.3 GHz, second at 3.9, third at 3.7, fourth at 3.6...).

[Obdigore]

Windows 8? Its 10 or nothing. GET WITH THE TIMES.

[Tarthenal Theloman Toblakai]

seating the CPU and heat sink is easily the scariest and most important part of installing your own parts IMO, second is mounting the Motherboard correctly. My cousin broke his MB and had to replace through poor seating or rough handling. Glad your PC is now operating within expected parameters!

[Macros]

thread necro.


My trusty Alienware seems to be finally on its way out. its given me 6 years and taken a lot of physical abuse in that time, with my humping it around the world for work. I will probably format it and keep it as a site laptop, but I need something new for the house.

What I need it to do:

very little, watch netflix and internet browsing. no interest in gaming specs at all. The only power drain I use is Photoshop and other design/ graphics software. has to be able to run my tablet as well obviously.

What kind of specs do I need to look into, whats my minimum for RAM, graphics and GPU or whatever. do I need solid state HDD?

[Macros]

Am I better to just buy a pre configured set up, or is customising your order better value if I can find one that lets me remove shit I don't need?

[Cause]

Always cheaper to buidlld your own.

When you say you use photohop do you mean professionally?

Otherwise is sounds like you can get away with 8 gb ram the latest Intel i5 and just use the on board graphics of the cpu.

No one needs a Ssd. That said they make your pc faster. The hdd is often the bottleneck in load times and boot times. I'd recommend a 128 or 256 Ssd for the OS and most rum programs and a second 1 Tb hdd fornstorage

[Mentalist]

Cause, on 08 February 2018 - 01:49 PM, said:

Always cheaper to buidlld your own.

When you say you use photohop do you mean professionally?

Otherwise is sounds like you can get away with 8 gb ram the latest Intel i5 and just use the on board graphics of the cpu.

No one needs a Ssd. That said they make your pc faster. The hdd is often the bottleneck in load times and boot times. I'd recommend a 128 or 256 Ssd for the OS and most rum programs and a second 1 Tb hdd fornstorage

Building your own laptop's not that easy though. You still get parts put together by manufacturer usually.

If you aren't gaming, then yeah, 8 gigs RAM is a safe bet. (Win 10 takes up like 4, I think? dunno, b/c I still run 7 at home and @ work).

[Macros]

I wouldn't be building building myself, I just mean to customise a rig instead of buying an off the shelf model, cut out crap I don't need, like eye tracking and pointless crap like that, but still have a good chunk of ram and a solid gpu.

Regarding use, my current laptop, when running smoothly, handles everything I've ever needed to do, but I did upgrade the ram a few years ago when one of the chips went down.

[Macros]

Can't access device manager to check my current specs. Trying to track down my invoice to see what it was.


ETA - have managed to get into system information:

700GB hard drive, cant really figure out much more on that
something about an Invidia Geforce GT 555M
Intel graphics ® 3000
intel core i7 2670QM CPU @ 2.20 GHz, 2201 MHz, 4 cores, 8 logical processors
I *think* what I'm seeing is 16GB of ram, but I cant be sure, theres a lot of numbers being thrown around with the word memory attached to it.

This post has been edited by Macros: 08 February 2018 - 03:07 PM

[Mentalist]

Right-click "my computer". Click " properties"

The dialog box should tell you how much RAM you've got. Right next to the OS version and name/company

[Nevyn]

For low end I'd say you are better off off-the-shelf.

Maybe just do a fresh OS reinstall to get off any manufacturer bloatware after. But even that stuff won't hurt you much for surfing and video.

If it's netflix and browsing, do you even need a laptop? Tablet only could get the job done.

EDIT: you had a pretty powerful laptop before if that's all you used it for.

This post has been edited by Nevyn: 08 February 2018 - 04:04 PM