Posts by fadedorca66

Depends on what you're using it for. If you're thinking about gaming, I guess it's probably not the best move since it'll start feeling outdated pretty fast.

Piece of cake. Back during the DDR2 era, a bunch of us on this forum used Kingmax RAM all the time. We rarely ran into compatibility issues and they hardly ever died on us, so I guess they’re a pretty solid choice.

Does anything like that even exist in the US? I guess I haven't heard a peep about it in Cleveland...

What kind of power supply are we talking about here? Like, what's the specific brand and model? I guess there's a difference between those cheap "550W" units meant for $33 and actual 550W supplies built for $133.

Maybe check the Walgreens app, you could probably just have them ship it to a local store for pickup...

Just a heads up, you should probably check the local shops first. They might try to push some low-end motherboards on you, and honestly, the CPUs and power supplies here are pretty much a disaster...

Maybe pop the power supply open and check if the capacitors look blown. Also, I guess you could try mashing the power button a few more times to see if it finally kicks in

Here’s your thread so there isn't any confusion.

CNN is fine, but if you're looking for solid shops in Washington, D.C., you could also check out IBM, ADP, or even just hit up an online retailer like Amazon.

Are you planning on paying cash? If so, ordering through a webshop is probably easiest (unless you're actually in D.C.).
If you're using cards, just let us know where you are and what stores are nearby.

Also, it matters what you're actually doing with the PC—does that $4,000 budget include a monitor and mouse, or just the tower itself?

1. Did you try updating the BIOS yet? Might be worth a shot if you haven't:
http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/FM2A88M...wnload&os=BIOS

Maybe just let your buddy handle that part for you.

2. Grab these 15.4 Beta drivers here and see if they help (if I remember right, you're running Windows 7 64-bit):

http://support.amd.com/en-us/downloa...Windows+7+-+64

3. I guess the next thing could be that the CPU is overheating (since it's got integrated graphics), which might cause the crashes. Modern browsers can actually be pretty heavy on the GPU, so who knows. Maybe download Core Temp:

http://www.cpuid.com/downloads/hwmon...nitor_1.27.zip

Send us a screenshot of the temps while the PC is just idling. Then, maybe run 3DMark to put some stress on the CPU and GPU:
http://www.ozone3d.net/benchmarks/fur/

And then shoot over a screenshot of the temperatures after it's been running for a few minutes. If it crashes during the test, the problem is probably somewhere there.

Let's clear something up here:

When you're buying used CPUs (or any hardware, really)—there isn't much difference between "new" and "used." Anything that’s been out of the box for even ten minutes is technically used, and its value drops accordingly.

With processors, the condition matters the least. They rarely die; the odds are incredibly slim. This is especially true if you're hunting for an Intel chip without a "K" suffix. Why?

- With Intel, the pins are on the motherboard rather than the CPU itself, which means less chance of damage.
- Non-"K" chips can't be overclocked, so nobody’s been pushing them or cranking up the voltage.

So, I guess the chances of stumbling upon a dead processor are tiny unless you're having a seriously bad luck day. As for the whole "new vs. used" debate, it doesn't matter much because a CPU isn't like a car with a bunch of wearing parts.

Basically, if you're picking up a used or "new" CPU, it's all the same. If you actually go for brand new, you'll probably just end up getting the latest socket anyway, like the 1150.

So what did you end up getting? What was the final build? It’s kind of a pain trying to dig through this massive thread to find it 😁

Basically: drop the price

How to check? Just try plugging it into another PC maybe.

Pff, don't sweat the power draw. That XFX unit is solid and can probably handle 450W, maybe even more if you're lucky. Even if you throw an AMD Radeon R9 280 in there, it should be fine. I'd say just grab the strongest one you can afford, like an AMD Radeon R7 260X or maybe even a 270, and call it a day.

The CPU and GPU are doing all the heavy lifting here. Your speakers, hard drives, SSD—all that stuff uses basically nothing.

Nice job putting that list together... I guess.

1 x Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5Ghz (4.1GHz) box
1 x Crucial 8GB DDR3 1600 Mhz (PC3-12800) CL11
1 x GIGABYTE GA-970A-DS3P, AM3+
1 x Fortron Hyper 500W, 80+
1 x CPU Cooler LC-CC-95, Intel/AMD, 90mm
1 x MS PHOENIX case without PSU
1 x EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3Gb GDDR5 Dual-X with boost
Total: $1490

Future IT

- $13 pay a bit more and you get 8gb of RAM
- Best Buy motherboard
- better power supply, that Naviatec one would probably pop, it's maybe 300w at most
- a decent cooler because the stock ones are loud and pretty inefficient
- a slightly better case

Bradley Smith88 said:Yeah, since I've got that 1TB Samsung HDD right now, I'm thinking about adding an SSD, so maybe that's why I'd rather just go with an NVIDIA GTX 750—it doesn't need an extra power cable.

I guess I don't see why that matters to you. SSDs and GPUs use totally different power cables; a GPU uses a 6-pin PCI-e connector (which you should have on your PSU). So if you grab a card with one connector, you're fine without needing any adapters.

If you end up getting a card that needs two connectors, you'd just use one PCI-e lead from the PSU and then use an adapter to turn two Molex plugs into the second PCI-e. Your SATA power cables for the SSD would be left alone, and most PSUs have at least six of them anyway.

The 750 doesn't need a power connector, but it's pretty weak. If you're gaming for $400, an AMD Radeon R7 260X or even a 750 Ti might be a better bet.

So, what kind of genius finds you?

Drew Sanchez82 said:I just need to figure out which version of uTorrent is actually safe to use.

qBittorrent 😁

Larry Ortiz5 said:Just save up until you hit a decent budget. Buying stuff one piece at a time is kind of a joke.

Why not? There's a new component dropping every month, so it's basically constant hype. 😁

It’s kind of a waste to just $50 throw it away if you aren't using it. I guess it might be easier to just grab a fresh, reliable version of Windows and flash it onto a USB instead?