I took some pics at my local office depot and they are kinda fucked up, they sell DDR1/2 memory (can't remember prices but they are rip-offs) and they only GPU they sell is a Radeon 6850 for 80 bucks I believe, if you guys want I can take those pics, but it won't be for a while...
I know it's not non-techie...but it's close enough and I don't know where else to post it...
I think that picture would be more accurately depicting the atari 5200 and RCA studio II's shitty ass switch box connectors that combine power and video into one wire....
Speaking of sounding like a jet taking off... My school doesn't lock down the bios on all of the computers, so some asshole's going in there and is overriding the fans so they are mad loud! Once I turn them back down, they are whisper quiet...Edit: they're Dells or HPs with Pentiums and are only used for web browsing and against-the-rules flash games and Minecraft, so they should never produce so much heat that they would EVER need that much cooling
I meant to post here but forgot...
My friend dropped me off her brothers PC unexpectedly at work because 'wares', he couldn't get system restore to work or system reset to work. Windows was boned, whatever, too much VR Yiff porn I guess.
PC is a HP Omen. i7 8700 with a single 16GB stick of RAM and a 2080 blower card in a case with a single 92mm exhaust all running from a 500W PSU. CPU heat sink is TINY and I figured out why, the CPU is completely hampered by the BIOS by HP for thermal and power reasons. You get a short term PL2 of about 30 seconds at 120-130W during which it will thermal throttle and the very very tiny heatsink-less VRM on the H370 board gets hot fast, after that it slams down to 65W! And that's all it'll do, 65W! An 8700 at 65W runs an all core boost of about 3.2-3.4Ghz. I did him a favor once I was done with the wipe and Windows, I added a 120 fan to the case for air intake and used Intel XTU to bump the PL1 to a still safe 95W which lets it get to and hold nearly 4.0Ghz all core sustained, a small undervolt got a little more speed out of it too. HP, what are you doing? This is a $2,000 PC!?
Is this too long? Do you have a short attention span? Scroll all the way down to Essential-ception at the bottom of this post (not page!) if you're building a PC with recent parts. People with older PCs with older parts such as AM2 and older are advised to read the Essential catagories
Hello friends and new PC builders! Do you want a sparkly new gaming PC? Not enticed by pre-built computers? Want to build your own, with super flexible off-the-shelf parts?! But you don't know what works with what? Don't worry, because I'm here to sort some stuff out for you. I can hear the little guy in the back saying "Oh, Fgtfv567! Isn't there something like www.PCPartpicker.com that will make sure all your parts work? While PCPartpicker is a great tool that almost everyone here uses (including me), some novice builders still may have a few questions about WHY that CPU doesn't work with that motherboard. This is the guide to answer those type of questions.
This guide is only to help novice builders make sure their parts are compatible with each other. It's not to help you choose parts, balance your build, or learn how to build a PC. To choose parts and to balance your build, head over to the "New Builds and Planning" part of this forum, and to learn how to build a PC, head over to LTT's Youtube channel. If you'd prefer to have a written article on choosing parts and learning how to build a PC, check out Lifehacker's Night School on PC building. You'll also have another guide there to make sure your parts work, just in case my guide isn't up to date, or flawed in some way.
http://lifehacker.com/5828747/how-to-build-a-computer-from-scratch-the-complete-guide
If you're unclear about what a certain object looks like, see this visual guide over at PCgamer.com
http://www.pcgamer.com/the-visual-pc-parts-guide/
There are 8 pieces of hardware to build a fully fledged PC (9 if you count the OS, though it's software)
Central Processing Unit (CPU) [is the brains, does all the thinking]
CPU Cooler [Keeps your CPU cool while it's working hard, most CPUs come with their own "Stock" coolers except for LGA 2011, 2011-3, and any Skylake CPUs that are unlocked (K series)]
Motherboard (Slang would be Mobo) [The spine, so to speak, where everything data-wise crawls in and out of]
RAM (Memory) [stores larger info for the CPU to process, though the CPU has a small cache that is much too small]
Storage [stores your OS and other files and games, examples are Solid State Drives (SSDs, faster than HDDs, but generally more expensive) and Hard Disk Drives (HDDs)]
Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) [Pushes your pixels and textures so you can enjoy them on screen, most prebuilts have bad GPUs and don't get that great performance... You can run multiple GPUs in one system. SLI is using multiple Nvidia GPUs, and Crossfire is using multiple AMD GPUs]
Power Supply (PSU) [Powers all of your components by turning AC from the wall into DC power your PC uses, don't skimp on this, a bad PSU can take other components with it should it die]
Case [Puts everything in a box, so you can lug it around, and helps keep dust out, not required, but still]
(OS, this is software) [so you can interact with your PC further than just your BIOS]
So there are 6 important factors when building a PC:
Data (Data has to be sent and received in between your part and motherboard)
Power (Your part must receive power from the PSU)
Physical (Your parts must fit inside your case)
Heat (Your parts will kick out heat from processing those juicy textures)
Noise (Your parts will produce this irritating sound as it cools itself providing you entertainment)
Price (That enthusiast grade CPU doesn't come cheap you know)
But these 6 factors can be split up into two categories: Essential (Required for compatibility) and Important Considerations (Won't mess up compatibility, but is still important to think about)
Essential:
Data
Power Physical
Important Considerations:
Heat
Noise Price
We'll go over all of these 6 things for each component in a PC, starting with the Essential Category
ESSENTIAL:
Data:
CPU: CPU and Mobo must have the same socket type, such as LGA 1151 to LGA 1151
CPU Cooler: See Power, CPU Cooler
Mobo: Everything else in this section plugs into the motherboard.
RAM: Make sure that the RAM's DDR type is the same as the mobo's (ex. DDR4 to DDR4) DDR types are not forward or backwards compatible, and same goes for SODIMMs, which are smaller sticks meant for laptops.
Storage: Make sure that your storage unit has the same connector type as your motherboard. Most modern motherboards will use Serial ATA (SATA), although older PCs might use something called IDE. Optical Drives, Hard drives, and a lot of SSDs will use SATA. But because of bottlenecks, newer SSDs will plug into an M.2 connector, and others will plug straight into a PCI-E slot. Both M.2 and PCI-E SSDs use up PCI-E lanes, but M.2 will use your chipset's lanes, PCI-E SSDs will use your CPU lanes, which will affect multi-GPU setups (discussed further in Data, GPU) Make sure your motherboard has enough Sata ports for EACH of your HDD, Sata SSD, or ODD.
GPU: Most modern GPUs will use a slot called PCI-E 16x. The 16x is the length of the PCI-E slot, although PCI-E is up and downwards compatible, I still recommend that you plug 16x to 16x, and etc. Older GPUs may use PCI (non-E) If you have multiple GPUs in your PC, keep in mind of how many CPU lanes you have. You can check CPU lanes, and how they get divided at ark.intel.com, but Nvidia cards need 8x lanes to run while AMD cards need 4x lanes to run.
Multi-GPU setups: This shouldn't come as a surprise, but you need one PCI-E 16x slot for EACH of your GPUs You must have the same GPU model (GTX 970 to GTX 970, R9 290 to R9 290) for all cards. There are exceptions to this, some 300 series cards work with 200 series cards, and some cards do not SLI whatsoever, like the 750 Ti. For Nvidia cards, an equal amount of VRAM is needed. VRAM doesn't matter for AMD cards, but the card with more VRAM will lessen itself to the smaller VRAM card. Your motherboard must also have a seal of approval for SLI and Crossfire for Nvidia and AMD cards, respectively. SLI is usually only possible on higher end boards, so Z and X series boards for Intel, and 990FX and 990X for AMD. Crossfire is much more flexible and you should be able to Crossfire on virtually any board with enough PCIe 16X slots.
PSU: PSUs don't deal with data, don't worry about this part
Case: Your case has a few headers at the front: USB 2.0, USB 3.0, HD audio, AC97, Power switch, Reset switch, HDD LED, Power LED. Refer to your motherboard manual if you're not sure about how to plug in certain headers. This is quite standardized, so don't worry, just plug in the similar looking headers into one another. All case headers (except power/reset switch) need to plugged in a certain way, especially LEDs! AC 97 and HD audio both act as the mic and headphone jack, but AC97 is very old, so just use HD audio. If your motherboard doesn't have USB 3.0 ports, use a 3.0 to 2.0 adapter, and you'll be set, although it'll only run at USB 2.0 speeds.
Power:
CPU: Make sure the PSU has the needed 4/8 pin EPS connector that goes into your mobo. Sometimes you'll get a 4 + 4 pin connector that can accommodate either 4 pin or 8 pin connections. DO NOT CONFUSE YOUR PCI-E 8 PIN WITH YOUR 8 PIN EPS. This is important, confusing the two WILL fry your mobo. Your connectors should be properly labeled on the plug itself. CPU Cooler: Plug all needed CPU fans into the needed headers on the mobo labeled "CPU Fan" or something similar. All fan headers (mobo and fan) are either 3 or 4 pin headers or molex. These are forward and backward compatible, but only 4 pin to 4 pin will give you PWM Fan Control, instead of Voltage Fan control, which isn't as sophisticated. If you plug your fan into a 3 or 4 pin header, you can control your fans, but if you plug into molex, they'll run full blast, no exceptions.
Mobo: Plug in as many 20/24 pin connectors as needed (usually one). Just like CPU power, you can get a 20 + 4 pin connector that will let you plug in 20 pins or 24 pins.
RAM: No extra connectors needed.
Storage: For Sata based devices, plug in one Sata power connector for each drive from your PSU. For M.2 or PCI-E SSDs, don't worry about it, the data connector has you covered, similar to RAM sticks
GPU: The PCI-E connector is not enough, so plug in as many 6 pin or 8 pin connectors into each of your GPUs. 6 + 2 pin connectors can handle both 6 pin connectors and 8 pin connectors.
Multi-GPU setups: If you run 3 or 4 GPUs at once, you may need to plug in a supplemental Molex connector into your motherboard. If you have multiple GPUs, you will need a higher watt PSU. Use this calculator for details regarding PSU wattage. http://www.coolermaster.outervision.com/ Be sure that you have enough PCIe connectors for all of your GPUs
PSU: Everything in this section plugs into the PSU. Your PSU needs to have a large enough wattage for your parts. Overclocking and multiple GPUs will require a high wattage. Use the wattage calculator in Power, GPU.
Case: The case has no need to be powered
Physical:
CPU: See Data, CPU
CPU Cooler: Make sure that the air cooler's height is short enough to fit inside the case, you can check manufacturer websites to make sure. For Watercooling, make sure the radiator fits in your case (See manufacturer website), and make sure the CPU block meets your CPU Socket type.
Mobo: Motherboards and cases come in all types of shapes and sizes. From smallest to biggest: Mini-ITX, Micro-ATX, ATX, E-ATX, XL-ATX. Both Motherboards and Cases use this naming scheme, but an E-ATX case will fit an E-ATX mobo and smaller. It will not fit bigger motherboards like XL-ATX. Follow this example to see which motherboards will fit in your desired case
RAM: Some RAM sticks won't work with large air CPU Coolers due to height, so check the manufacturer's website for details.
Storage: Make sure your case has enough sleds/mounts for your storage devices. Sata SSDs are 2.5 in, HDDs can be 2.5 or 3.5 depending on laptop or desktop, respectively, and ODDs are 5.25 in GPU: Double check to see that your GPU is 2, 2.5, or 3 PCI-E slots wide, and make sure your case has that many slots for your GPU (Rear case covers underneath mobo IO). Also make sure that your GPU is short enough to fit in your case. (Manufacturer's website)
Multi-GPU setups: The more GPUs you plug in, the larger your case will have to be with more rear slot covers and the more PCIe slots on your motherboard you will need. PSU: Make sure your PSU is short enough to fit inside your case and the PSU is the right type for your case. Smaller cases sometimes use SFX PSUs like the Corsair bulldog and Ncase M1. ATX cases for ATX PSUs and same goes for SFX PSUs
Case: Everything in this section fits into the case
Important Considerations:
Noise:
All of your fans and anything else that moves will produce sound, you can do a few things to combat this:
Use software to turn them down Buy bigger/quieter fans Use sound dampening foam inside your case Use rubber grommets to stop vibrations Remove hard drives and optical drives. (SSD only storage COULD be expensive and/or too small)
Heat:
The biggest contenders for heat production is your CPU and GPU, and anything else that has an active heatsink on it (fan on heatsink) If your components get too hot, they will slow themselves down, and possibly shut off entirely if things are too bad. You can:
Buy a better cooler like liquid cooling or big air towers Turn up your fans, at the cost of noise Make your case be a wind tunnel, and don't have recirculating air. In which the air spins around and around in your case and is unable to leave. This creates a negative feedback loop in which the CPU/GPU heats up the air, that exhausted air goes back into the CPU/GPU, heating up the CPU/GPU and recreating the cycle. Again, overheating CPUs/GPUs lead to thermal throttling which lowers your performance, lessens the lifespan of the chip, and can shut down your PC if it really gets too hot.
Price:
Should be pretty self-explanatory, your parts will cost money. Use PCPartpicker, do some careful planning before you buy, also talk it over on this forum at "New Builds and Planning" Remember to follow your posts so that you can see when someone responds!
TL:DR? Use the Bold and Underlined text in the Essential Categories to quickly learn what's what. And!...
Essential-ception (Summary)!
Ok, the TL:DR sucks, I get it. There's a lot of stuff up top, and most of it doesn't have to be checked if you're buying brand new, up-to-the-date parts such as Skylake and Haswell. So I've created Essential-ception (funny? clever?) to sort out the bare basics of what you need to double check. If you're troubleshooting a older PC (like AM2, my dad's old PC which went to shit), go back up, read that other stuff. Also,
M.2 connectors and Multi-GPUs are not covered here, Essential-ception assumes you are using one GPU, no SLI/Xfire! This list is in no particular order of importance, just top to bottom. This is so barebones, no examples or further discussion will be mentioned
Again, Essential-ception is only for parts that are new and up to date such as: Skylake, Haswell, AM3+, and the upcoming Zen CPUs. Older PCs, please read the whole thing.
Data:
CPU: CPU and Mobo must have the same socket type
RAM: Make sure that the RAM's DDR type is the same as the mobo's
Storage: Make sure your motherboard has enough Sata ports for EACH of your HDD, Sata SSD, or ODD. (This is only if you have a ton of HDDs, SSDs, or ODDs, at least 5 or 6 of any combo)
Power:
Storage: For Sata based devices, plug in one Sata power connector for each drive from your PSU (This is only if you have a ton of HDDs, SSDs, or ODDs, at least 5 or 6 of any combo)
GPU: Plug in as many 6 pin or 8 pin connectors into each of your GPUs.
PSU: Your PSU needs to have a large enough wattage for your parts. http://www.coolermaster.outervision.com/
Physical:
CPU Cooler: Make sure that the air cooler's height is short enough to fit inside the case. For Watercooling, make sure the radiator fits in your case, and make sure the CPU block meets your CPU Socket type.
Mobo: From smallest to biggest: Mini-ITX, Micro-ATX, ATX, E-ATX, XL-ATX. Both Motherboards and Cases use this naming scheme, but an E-ATX case will fit an E-ATX mobo and smaller. It will not fit bigger motherboards like XL-ATX. Follow this example to see which motherboards will fit in your desired case.
RAM: Some RAM sticks won't work with large air CPU Coolers due to height,
Storage: For Sata based devices, each drive needs its own mount/sled. (This is only if you have a ton of HDDs, SSDs, or ODDs, at least 5 or 6 of any combo)
GPU: Make sure your case has enough slots for your GPU(s) slot width. Also make sure that your GPU is short enough to fit in your case.
PSU: Make sure your PSU is short enough to fit inside your case and the PSU is the right type for your case. (Usually only small form factor computers like ITX cases/mobos need apply here)
This is pretty huge imo. I've never been a huge fan of game streaming, but I'm really interested to see how this will work, or if it'll have any sort of touch screen controls for point and click styled games or jrpgs/civ.
I've never really watched any movies on steam so can't comment on that yet.
This would be really amusing to get working with a business that has an automated phone system press 1 press 2 etc. Two robots holding a conversation with each other to set up an appointment for a human being. What a future we live in.
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