eth_jones

Hi mate,

Other people in this thread know a lot more than me about the hardware, so I won't comment on that! But when it comes to Windows 10, I purchase keys solely from eBay. In the UK at least, the OEM keys are literally £2-3. I've been using my key for over 2 years and never had any "Unlicensed" messages or issues at all. I've even upgraded my boot drive and so installed Windows on the new one, and the license key has just transferred over.
Only difference as far as I know with OEM is that you don't get Microsoft support, but you can ask yourself whether you really need it when answers to everything are just a google away ?

When I worked in first line support, I had a user call me who was based on the other end of the country. She told me that she had lost her laptop.
 
"Do you know where it is?", she asked me.
 
Take that in for a moment.... At least 300 miles away from me, never met her before, never been in her office at all.
 
"Do you know where it is?"
 
She called back roughly 30 mins later and told me she had worked it was in the cupboard, but it was locked.
 
"How do I open the cupboard?"

When I worked in first line support, I had a user call me who was based on the other end of the country. She told me that she had lost her laptop.
 
"Do you know where it is?", she asked me.
 
Take that in for a moment.... At least 300 miles away from me, never met her before, never been in her office at all.
 
"Do you know where it is?"
 
She called back roughly 30 mins later and told me she had worked it was in the cupboard, but it was locked.
 
"How do I open the cupboard?"

When I worked in first line support, I had a user call me who was based on the other end of the country. She told me that she had lost her laptop.
 
"Do you know where it is?", she asked me.
 
Take that in for a moment.... At least 300 miles away from me, never met her before, never been in her office at all.
 
"Do you know where it is?"
 
She called back roughly 30 mins later and told me she had worked it was in the cupboard, but it was locked.
 
"How do I open the cupboard?"

LOL, I mean, I know some companies will put tracking software on their devices and stuff like that, but she had apparently worked for the company for over a decade so she would've known we didn't do that. But then the cupboard.... oh my days I mean come on man seriously

When I worked in first line support, I had a user call me who was based on the other end of the country. She told me that she had lost her laptop.
 
"Do you know where it is?", she asked me.
 
Take that in for a moment.... At least 300 miles away from me, never met her before, never been in her office at all.
 
"Do you know where it is?"
 
She called back roughly 30 mins later and told me she had worked it was in the cupboard, but it was locked.
 
"How do I open the cupboard?"

When I worked in first line support, I had a user call me who was based on the other end of the country. She told me that she had lost her laptop.
 
"Do you know where it is?", she asked me.
 
Take that in for a moment.... At least 300 miles away from me, never met her before, never been in her office at all.
 
"Do you know where it is?"
 
She called back roughly 30 mins later and told me she had worked it was in the cupboard, but it was locked.
 
"How do I open the cupboard?"

Thanks a lot. I have tried that but unfortunately didnt work. I have a colleague who runs an rx580 in his system so we swapped cards. Guess what.... my system then worked perfectly and his had all the same problems. I have contacted the seller on eBay. 
 
Thanks so much for helping me diagnose the actual problem, I will keep you posted as to how the seller responds. 
 
Cheers

Would make sense I guess... I got it from eBay and the seller had 4 'in stock'. Well I have found a spare SSD so I'm putting windows on that to see if it works on there, if it does, I will wipe my SSD and do it on there. Will let you know how I get on!

Shouldn't sell phones on ebay, unless something is new in box and sealed.
Ever.
 
Sell them on Swappa.
Swappa absolutely requires that you take pictures of what you are selling from multiple angles and also write a verification for validity.  Then once your item is sold, the buyer pays you and you ship the item out.  
 
Since it's only phones, they run a good tight ship and people rarely get scammed.
 
Now I'm aware that you can put on your tinfoil hat and a dishonest buyer can bid and buy your perfectly mint pristine phone, then claim that you sent him a damaged phone even though you have pictures it was completely mint and packaged perfectly (impossible to have been damaged in shipping), and then demand his money back through paypal.  But if the phone's IMEI is good, swappa will be able to verify with the buyer that that is the exact same item that was put up for sale, which means that he damaged it on purpose.  But why would a buyer do this?  He has nothing to gain from it.
 
And the seller having two phones, one in pristine shape and one in horrible shape, taking pictures of the pristine phone and sending the horrible one?   Good luck with that.
 
These are absolute nightmare scenarios which are not realistic when people are truly trying to just sell their valid phones, so swappa is the best place for that.  Not ebay.

@AdroG23 Sorry for slow reply man. I can't wait to have a build like yours! It might take years, but slowly and surely I will upgrade and work my way up
 
I like your idea about the fans. I'm having a look at some cases at the moment in the hopes of upgrading so eventually I can get a bigger CPU cooler (Hyper EVO 212 hopefully) and an ATX mobo with more RAM slots. If for whatever reason I can't find one I like right now I will use your idea and 'tinker'

I remember an old workmate selling his new S7 edge on eBay and getting completely ripped off by the buyer, who damaged it, then sent it back and got all his money back, leaving my workmate with a broken phone instead of a MINT one. 
 
I've sold a few things on ebay but nothing too expensive, the unfortunte thing is there is just no way to tell what sort of person you are selling to until it's sold

My wife has a laptop that she paid £350 for a couple of years back. She generally plays the SIMS on there, but it just can't cope with all the processing it needs to do. I have wanted to build a pc for a while now, so I said: "If I can build a PC that you can play the SIMS on for £300, will you sell your laptop?" She said yes. So this is my build!
 
Case: A recycled HP G2 MT Business PC case from my office  - FREE
MoBo: Asus H81M-C - NEW                                                         - £38.99 (Amazon)
CPU: Intel Core i5 4690K - USED                                                 - £100 (eBay)
RAM: Hyper X Fury 16GB - NEW                                                  - £50 (Schpock)
GPU: GTX 1050 - USED                                                               - £86 (eBay)
CPU Cooler: Intel stock cooler - USED                                         - FREE (came with CPU)
PSU: Cheap brand PSU - NEW                                                    - £15 (Schpock)
HDD: WD Blue 1TB - USED                                                         - £25 (Schpock)
SSD: Kingston 120gb - NEW                                                        - £28 (Amazon)
 
I spent £6 on thermal ompund from PC world, and another £4 on some front panel adaptors as the HP front panel connectors don't go into any other Motherboards. Overall, this entire build came to around £350.
 
She still hasn't sold her laptop.
 
This was my first ever build, and I learnt a lot. Firstly, 8gb of ram would have been fine and could've saved me £25.
Secondly, I should have not have bought a 4690k CPU, because my motherboard doesn't even support overclocking. I could've saved another £40 by buying a normal 4690. In fact, I could have even gotten away with buying an even cheaper CPU altogether, because at the moment my GPU is stopping me from getting the most out of the CPU anyway.
Thirdly, I should not have bought a cheap unbranded PSU. It works fine, but every time I turn the system on, I just wonder if the PSU is getting ready to destroy the whole rig.
And lastly, the case I have is quite compact and not very good for airflow. Maybe even a really flimsy case for £20 with room for a couple of case fans would have been better.
 
All this being said, I tend to play Fortnite and Tomb Raider quite a bit and even on Epic settings I can achieve 80 fps. Tomb Raider is really smooth too.
 
I'm posting this just for inspiration for anyone who wants to build their first PC without investing too much money. Personally, it is a good build for me. But I definitely plan on upgrading the case, cooler, GPU and Mobo one step at a time. But for my first build on a very low budget, this PC is great for gaming and I feel that it out performs my PS4. It's been a great gateway into the world of PC gaming and I can't wait to keep moving forward.

Here's a low profile cooler.
 
https://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-RR-212E-20PK-R2-Direct-Contact/dp/B005O65JXI?th=1&psc=1
 
Just make sure that the RAM has enough clearance. 
Some RAM have tall heatspreaders making it hard, or impossible to install this cooler.
Since the fins hang over the RAM.
Also, needless to say, the RAM isn't going to be easy to replace with this cooler on.
 
Or alternatively. 
 
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cooler-Master-Heatpipes-Connector-RR-TX3E-22PK-R1/dp/B005HIRDUA
 
This is a smaller variant, (92mm fan instead of a 120mm fan) less heatpipes, and an overall smaller cooler means that this will perform worse than the 212 evo, but that's the name of the game.
 

Even with the limitations and hiccups you comment, i think it's a nice rig for the money.
You could pump it up with little effort if you're so inclined.
The mobo could be sold and recover some cash there and with a little investment get an overclockable one
The gpu can be a little difficult, but there is always a groom for a bride... and then maybe a 1050 ti? or a 1060 could last longer in time
You could leave the psu for powering up led strips and fans and get a new reputable-brand one
If tinkering is your cup of tea, you could mod the case to make more space for airflow
 
Still, if it runs Tomb Rider smoothly, then mission accomplished!
 

My wife has a laptop that she paid £350 for a couple of years back. She generally plays the SIMS on there, but it just can't cope with all the processing it needs to do. I have wanted to build a pc for a while now, so I said: "If I can build a PC that you can play the SIMS on for £300, will you sell your laptop?" She said yes. So this is my build!
 
Case: A recycled HP G2 MT Business PC case from my office  - FREE
MoBo: Asus H81M-C - NEW                                                         - £38.99 (Amazon)
CPU: Intel Core i5 4690K - USED                                                 - £100 (eBay)
RAM: Hyper X Fury 16GB - NEW                                                  - £50 (Schpock)
GPU: GTX 1050 - USED                                                               - £86 (eBay)
CPU Cooler: Intel stock cooler - USED                                         - FREE (came with CPU)
PSU: Cheap brand PSU - NEW                                                    - £15 (Schpock)
HDD: WD Blue 1TB - USED                                                         - £25 (Schpock)
SSD: Kingston 120gb - NEW                                                        - £28 (Amazon)
 
I spent £6 on thermal ompund from PC world, and another £4 on some front panel adaptors as the HP front panel connectors don't go into any other Motherboards. Overall, this entire build came to around £350.
 
She still hasn't sold her laptop.
 
This was my first ever build, and I learnt a lot. Firstly, 8gb of ram would have been fine and could've saved me £25.
Secondly, I should have not have bought a 4690k CPU, because my motherboard doesn't even support overclocking. I could've saved another £40 by buying a normal 4690. In fact, I could have even gotten away with buying an even cheaper CPU altogether, because at the moment my GPU is stopping me from getting the most out of the CPU anyway.
Thirdly, I should not have bought a cheap unbranded PSU. It works fine, but every time I turn the system on, I just wonder if the PSU is getting ready to destroy the whole rig.
And lastly, the case I have is quite compact and not very good for airflow. Maybe even a really flimsy case for £20 with room for a couple of case fans would have been better.
 
All this being said, I tend to play Fortnite and Tomb Raider quite a bit and even on Epic settings I can achieve 80 fps. Tomb Raider is really smooth too.
 
I'm posting this just for inspiration for anyone who wants to build their first PC without investing too much money. Personally, it is a good build for me. But I definitely plan on upgrading the case, cooler, GPU and Mobo one step at a time. But for my first build on a very low budget, this PC is great for gaming and I feel that it out performs my PS4. It's been a great gateway into the world of PC gaming and I can't wait to keep moving forward.

Aaaaaaand now we are back to 100c and 80% cpu again.... Man why did i ever wanna switch to pc gaming?? Ahahaha jokes
 
Will keep looking for a cooler

@TopHatProductions115 @Cinnabar Sonar whilst remounting i vacuumed the system especially the heatsink. I also changed the fan speed in the bios to turbo. Fan is ridiculously loud now lol but i am able to play fortnite at 80fps consistently on epic settings.
 
Cpu is about 60% and about 40% utilisation.... gpu is still at 99% though.
 
Maybe short term it just needed a clean haha.

@TopHatProductions115 @Cinnabar Sonar thanks guys. Just remounted my cpu from scratch with the paste etc again to see if it makes any difference. Looked into measurements for the cooler that you recommended but its too tall for my case... will look for a smaller on but are there any that you would personally recommend? Cant really afford a new case and coooler right now haha.
 
Will limit the cpu and run the tests again tomorrow also, will keep you posted!

Thanks so much @Cinnabar Sonar. OKay so in answer to your questions: 
1) Yes, I put a "pea sized amount" of thermal paste onto the processor before putting the cooler in (btw, don't worry about your questions sounding degrading haha, I am honestly a complete noob when it comes to PC building lol)
2) I have checked the mount of the cooler and it is all clipped into place nicely
3) The fan is very loud, so maybe on it's way out?
4) I live in the middle of England where the temp is rarely warm, but I have actually tried it in my air conditioned office at work this morning and this is where it was registering 100C.
 
I will take a look at those link in a moment, thanks again. Just a bit of background about me - I am an IT technician for a company of about 200 employees. I look after the network, domain etc etc. I'm 21 years old and realised that I didn't know anywhere near enough about hardware as I should do, so that's why I decided to build myself a PC. I hope that these experiences will help me to be better prepared to face hardware issues at work, so you guys really don't know just how much your knowledge is helping me here! Thanks again

@Cinnabar Sonar@Jtalk4456@TopHatProductions115@cereal5
 
Thanks all of you, I'm really overwhelmed by the support I am receiving on here! Ok so a few things:
 
1) I ran fortnite on my pc on a 3g dongle instead of my broadband, and the performance was almost exactly the same in terms of fps, gpu and cpu usage, despite the dongle being a 7mbps connection (Far slower than my home broadband)
2) I should probably have mentioned that I have a PS4 at home too on the wi-fi and online gaming has never been an issue.
3) I have monitored my CPU temp whilst in a server alone on Fortnite and it is consistent at 100C (I guess this is way too hot @Cinnabar Sonar?)
4) @TopHatProductions115 I will be running your recommended tests throughout the day and will get back to you with results ASAP
 
@SHROUD thanks so much for your advice. I'm sure you can probably tell from my specs that this was built on quite a budget haha so these upgrades will probably be something for later on down the line. I will keep them in mind!
 
Thanks again all of you