Computer hardware/software knowledge - What do you think is important to know? Or something you find interesting and just want to share.

[AndreeVs]

New topic, new views.

 

Hello guys,

 

I'm procrastinating my studying cause I got bored.

 

What do you think is something that MUST be known if you're building a computer, setting up a computer, or etc?

 

Is there something nifty only you know and want to share so you look like the coolest guy in the forum? Impress us!

[ARikozuM]

Do your homework! (Both of them!)

Check your budget.

What's the build's purpose?

Check your build for weak spots and fix them.

Check your budget.

Check for sales if there's a better component for less.

Do some more homework. (Both of them!)

Build the PC by testing it outside of the case first.

Keep your tools close and your pets closer. (My dog chewed an SSD once!)

Don't freak out if it doesn't work the first tiime. Do rechecks constantly.

 

Hopefully someone else can fill in what I've left out.

[NoRomanBatmansAllowed]

6 minutes ago, AndreeVs said:

New topic, new views.

 

Hello guys,

 

I'm procrastinating my studying cause I got bored.

 

What do you think is something that MUST be known if you're building a computer, setting up a computer, or etc?

 

Is there something nifty only you know and want to share so you look like the coolest guy in the forum? Impress us!

tl;dr at the end

 

A bit of both really, but in-depth knowledge of software just makes stuff easy. These days all you need to know is how to click next and you've installed basically any program around.

 

Hardware on the other hand, is very confusing. A bunch of numbers & seemingly random letters around a manufacturer's brand usually means nothing to a normal person (though we are different). Again, pretty much all you need to do is go to PC part picker and choose the first thing that appears and make sure everything is compatible(though it might not be the best idea to pair a GTX 1080 with a Pentium 4). 

Also, even if you don't know how to build a PC I'm sure that there are tons of stores/shops willing to do that for you, as the competition has increased exponentially in the past 2 or so decades.

 

tl;dr

So in short, you need no knowledge at all. You just need some common sense and a big wallet.

 

EDIT: Guess what? I'm procrastinating as well!

[AndreeVs]

Here's my contribution.

 

If you drop your ssd and maybe a dog chewed on it. It'll probably still work the same as if none of that happened.

 

tl;dr SSDs are sturdy

[The Pizza Thief]

I don't have much to say but I'm also procastinating, I have a Private Law exam tomorrow at 7am ): 

[GDRRiley]

I would not recommend buying 12+ year old hardware as it will most likely fail very fast. Also do you research and don't be afriad to ask questions. I only built my first PC a year ago but look how many posts I have.  

[givingtnt]

15 minutes ago, AndreeVs said:

New topic, new views.

 

Hello guys,

 

I'm procrastinating my studying cause I got bored.

 

What do you think is something that MUST be known if you're building a computer, setting up a computer, or etc?

 

Is there something nifty only you know and want to share so you look like the coolest guy in the forum? Impress us!

"beauty" is useless,
don't waste money on "nice parts" if they don't do anything for you. you're looking at the screen, not the pcb

[ARikozuM]

2 minutes ago, AndreeVs said:

Here's my contribution.

 

If you drop your ssd and maybe a dog chewed on it. It'll probably still work the same as if none of that happened.

 

tl;dr SSDs are sturdy

It did work and he's the type of dog to stealth his way to something he wants to chew on. I'm about 2 feet away and he's mimicking a carpet until he grabs the SSD and crawls away.

[Megaburn]

6 minutes ago, AndreeVs said:

New topic, new views.

 

Hello guys,

 

I'm procrastinating my studying cause I got bored.

 

What do you think is something that MUST be known if you're building a computer, setting up a computer, or etc?

 

Is there something nifty only you know and want to share so you look like the coolest guy in the forum? Impress us!

If you plan to upgrade get a piece of software called Belarc, it saves all your pc codes like your windows key and game codes (if you still use disks) into a file, great if your windows breaks and you need to register it again.

Regarding building,

 

I3s are practically one of the best price to performence chips now with hyper threading allowing them to compete against their i5 counterparts

 

i5s have no hyperthreading however can in most instances stack up against an i7 and are regarded as one of the best choices for most people as they rarely aren't able to play AAA games at max settings

 

i7s have hyperthreading and generally more cashe which makes them good for basically everything, however they are more suited towards virtualisation which could include 3d modelling and creating virtual machines.

 

Ram speeds after 2400 becomes somewhat meaningless until we have programs that will be able to utilize it

 

GPUs are difficult to choose from but here is a short summary

-Nvidia have the most powerful cards hands down

-AMD cards are better price to performence in most cases with the rx 480 even being able to run VR applications for less than a GTX 970

-Nvidia has shadowplay so for youtube gamers this is a huge plus as its a great bit of software

-AMD has better stock coolers from what ive heard (have never owned an AMD card but i hear great things from people who do)

 

SSDs are a must in any build over $1000 

 

Water coolers are better but in most cases you can find a high end air cooler which will do about the same (I use a noctua D14 and it runs about as good as a 240mm AIO)

[paprikman]

PCs are not waterproof.

[GDRRiley]

4 minutes ago, givingtnt said:

"beauty" is useless,
don't waste money on "nice parts" if they don't do anything for you. you're looking at the screen, not the pcb

really. I am looking at my PC right now and am mad that I have random sata and power cables all over the place because my parents hard drive Failed.

[Megaburn]

1 minute ago, GDRRiley said:

really. I am looking at my PC right now and am mad that I have random sata and power cables all over the place because my parents hard drive Failed.

Bro i know the pain when you have a perfectly good looking pc only for one thing to go wrong

[GDRRiley]

12 minutes ago, Megaburn said:

Bro i know the pain when you have a perfectly good looking pc only for one thing to go wrong

All because a 9 year old hard drive dies. Will get it fixed soon but it is pissing me off.

[Megaburn]

Just now, GDRRiley said:

All because a 9 year old hard drive dies. Will get it fixed soon but it is pissing me off.

Bro, my grandparents drive died like 4 times over a 2 year period, i ended up buying them an ssd and there have been no problems since. #thepowerofssds

[GDRRiley]

Just now, Megaburn said:

Bro, my grandparents drive died like 4 times over a 2 year period, i ended up buying them an ssd and there have been no problems since. #thepowerofssds

they have a ssd but the hard drive is used for pictures.

[Megaburn]

Just now, GDRRiley said:

they have a ssd but the hard drive is used for pictures.

Dam, whats wrong with it anyway?

[GDRRiley]

Just now, Megaburn said:

Dam, whats wrong with it anyway?

it is having read errors. 

[Megaburn]

Just now, GDRRiley said:

it is having read errors. 

Esh, have you tried using a surrogate pc or usb bootable os like ubuntu to try and extract the files

[GDRRiley]

Just now, Megaburn said:

Esh, have you tried using a surrogate pc or usb bootable os like ubuntu to try and extract the files

the drive was cleared and backed up a few months ago 

[Megaburn]

Just now, GDRRiley said:

the drive was cleared and backed up a few months ago 

Hmm, still have you tried a different pc or os?

[GDRRiley]

Just now, Megaburn said:

Hmm, still have you tried a different pc or os?

it is fine there was nothing really on it

[Megaburn]

1 minute ago, GDRRiley said:

it is fine there was nothing really on it

Ok then, btw is there a way i can change my display name withought making a new account?

[GDRRiley]

Just now, Megaburn said:

Ok then, btw is there a way i can change my display name withought making a new account?

not that I know of unless you long in using a different account 

[Megaburn]

1 minute ago, GDRRiley said:

not that I know of unless you long in using a different account 

Dam, i hate this username, it was an old username i used when i was like 10 and now its just cringey

[AndreeVs]

1 minute ago, GDRRiley said:

it is fine there was nothing really on it

Main reason why I always keep my important files/videos/photos stored on OneDrive. Even though my data was cut in half, I still managed to squirm all my important files in it. It's a long process but it's worth it IMO.

 

For school: I save all my files from word/excel/powerpoint into my OneDrive file. That way I always have the file on all my devices. Since, the way it saves the date is through Microsoft Upload Center you don't have to be connected to an internet source to save it. It works by saving it as cache onto the Upload Center and when you have a stable internet connection it will automatically upload it to OneDrive or OneNote whatever source you picked originally. This should save people's bacon.,