DIY console PC

Flink_Poyd

This thread gave me a few pointers

http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/90348/buying-or-building-a-gaming-pc/p1

I ended up with i5 8gb RAM and a 1050ti from Dino PC, tweaked one of their builds and got a better spec for less than the standard one

ThePrettyDamned

You can cover the awful alien head logo with glowing blue eyes with black tape too, which I really need to do. 

octatonic

Sporky said:

The more the merrier.

Sweet.

Well, the last time I built a PC was over 10 years ago- a K7 Athalon.
I know how computers work, in terms of the components required and how they are pieced together but O don't know anything about what is current- I've only really been using Macs.

I want to build a dedicated gaming box.
Want it to be high-ish performance but I don't want to spend more than a grand.
It doesn't need to have anything other than games installed on it- I won't be using it for general computing type duties.
Would rather it be quiet and take up less space than more. 
Only want solid state drives (maybe just one).
Do people still put DVD drives in computers, or has that disappeared?

I play a mixture of FPS and strategy type games on Xbox and PS4.

Is it better to buy a bare bones system and add in the other components, or construct something from the ground up?
I assume buying a complete system is still not desirable- it never used to be.

Bidley

Sporky said:

Wotcher all. Lady BMcH has asked me to investigate our having a PC console - basically a Steam Machine. It should be a similar size and noise level to an XBone or PS4, and should be able to run pretty much anything at 1080p60 with high detail settings (though mostly it'll be playing fairly simple indie stuff).

For it to be a console it only needs to run 720p 30fps <trollface.jpg>

Strangefan

digitalscream said:

In terms of price and heat dissipation, you're probably better off looking at the Ryzen 5 than the i5. More threads, comparable single-core performance and - crucially - lower temperatures for the same amount of work being done (ie 4 cores under full load on the Ryzen is cooler than 4 cores under full load on the i5). Looks like the 1500X has the better Spire cooler.

They're also a good £40 cheaper than the equivalent i5.





First Brexit then Trump, now.... Someone recommending an amd over an Intel! The world is ruined. 

I ain't heard anyone say that since about 2002:D 

Sporky

Bidley said:

For it to be a console it only needs to run 720p 30fps <trollface.jpg>

I have access to very expensive test kit. Don't make me use it!

chrispy108

No idea on what's current, mines three years old and I've not kept up to date on bits, but this website is awesome: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/

Checks the parts work together, and finds the cheapest places to buy them.

Jalapeno

Sporky said:

Sorry, should have been clear - built-in Intel graphics sets probably aren't up to the job, and a PC (ie running Windows) rather than an actual Steam Box (running Linux and not able to play the majority of Steam games).

The Intel Iris is a serious graphics card in the latest Intel i7 NUCs - you'll have to get a bigger box (thanks Jaws) for a 3rd party graphics card, and for i7/SSD/16Gb Ram with Nvidia or AMD graphics adding it all up - yes you're looking at the best part £1k.

ThePrettyDamned

Look at this on eBay  http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/142349923293

That's got quite a bit more grunt than mine - upgraded graphics (unsure how stable that is tbh), everything else is pretty top end. 

There are several others on ebay, for less money too, with still-good (ie same or better than my own) specs. But obviously second hand... Buyer beware etc. I also don't know whether the Dell customer care transfers, but mine certainly did so... 

It is a crap looking thing. I hate the alien head on it... Bleurgh. 

It's also less upgradeable than a build-your-own option, but I don't see that a 16gb ram, Pci-e ssd and i5/i7 would need upgrading. The graphics card can be switched for a newer one that consumes less energy anyway, so that's kinda neat. 

In your situation... I think I'd probably lean towards a home build or custom build. It would cost more for the same spec but probably be easier to upgrade and have a more standard case that can be used in the future. But I'm not an expert at all - this is based off advice I'd received when I was shopping (£1k budget, got this as it saved me a few hundred quid and let me get a wide colour gamut monitor). 

Drew_TNBD

I need a new graphics card, but I can't until the 1060 and 1070 get Hackintosh drivers! They're currently not supported on OSX machines, so I'm stuck on my 650ti.

Pablo

Drew_TNBD said:

I need a new graphics card, but I can't until the 1060 and 1070 get Hackintosh drivers! They're currently not supported on OSX machines, so I'm stuck on my 650ti.

@Drew_TNBD, those drivers got released a week or two ago:

https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/nvidia-pascal-graphics-drivers-released-buyers-guide-updated.219153/

https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/nvidia-releases-alternate-graphics-drivers-for-macos-sierra-10-12-4-378-05-05-05.218005/

Drew_TNBD

Pablo said:

Drew_TNBD said:

I need a new graphics card, but I can't until the 1060 and 1070 get Hackintosh drivers! They're currently not supported on OSX machines, so I'm stuck on my 650ti.

@Drew_TNBD, those drivers got released a week or two ago:

https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/nvidia-pascal-graphics-drivers-released-buyers-guide-updated.219153/

https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/nvidia-releases-alternate-graphics-drivers-for-macos-sierra-10-12-4-378-05-05-05.218005/

ooooooo... news to me! Cheers!

Sporky

chrispy108 said:

No idea on what's current, mines three years old and I've not kept up to date on bits, but this website is awesome: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/

Checks the parts work together, and finds the cheapest places to buy them.

That is quite nifty!

I've also found some refurb Alienware Alphas (M470X, 8Gb of RAM, 1Tb drive and an i5) for about the price these things ought to be. They look decent propositions.

Myranda

Sporky said:

chrispy108 said:

No idea on what's current, mines three years old and I've not kept up to date on bits, but this website is awesome: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/

Checks the parts work together, and finds the cheapest places to buy them.

That is quite nifty!

I've also found some refurb Alienware Alphas (M470X, 8Gb of RAM, 1Tb drive and an i5) for about the price these things ought to be. They look decent propositions.

While partpicker.com is quite good at price comparison - shop around a little afterwards as it's search engine is a bit retarded - sometimes it will pick the ex-display model that comes with only a 90 day warranty but costs £50 less, other times it will ignore the Amazon supplied prime item at £290 because the first Amazon item it found matching was a £400 probably dating back to release private seller item that wasn't updated - thus deciding that the £310 + £10 P&P would be cheaper... and on rare occasions it will pick a cheaper item that's unavailable and not being restocked

It's also not 100% right with compatibility issues - motherboard with 8 SATA ports, throw on an M.2 drive and a spinning HDD and it throws up the error that the parts are incompatible because the M.2 uses up a SATA port... it might (in SATA mode) but that leaves 7 more ports... 

Generally speaking though it's a quite good way of building a PC and helpful to stop you forgetting a CPU cooler, or power supply - just once you're sure you have what you want to get, double check and then price check each part prior to ordering

Sporky

All good points.

I am quite taken with the Alienware Alpha idea though. They're tiny, sensibly powerful, somewhat upgradeable and run Windows. And the factory refurbs go from about £350 up to about £550 - the top end ones being able to run Fallout 4 at Ultra settings and full HD. Which is probably as demanding as my requirements will get; in practice it's probably more Fez, Stardew Valley, Rogue Legacy sort of stuff as we've got an XBone and a PS4 too.

Sporky

I are have bought a refurb Alpha R2 for £520, which seems about the right price. i5, 8Gb of RAM, 1TB hard drive, M470X.

There've been a few reports that the boot time isn't great, in which case I can add an m2 drive for the OS, and it seems to have a single 8Gb stick of RAM, but that's also up gradable if necessary. I suspect it'll be fine as-is.

Sporky

It arrived jolly quickly, but it reboots constantly. If you leave it be it sits there happily enough, but try to run Steam or do anything else and it comes up with a memory management error (or, once, a machine hardware corrupt message).

The seller has another so has offered either a full refund or a swapsie; the hardware itself is very nice so I've opted for the swapsie. Bit of a shame but no disaster.

Let's hope the workshop PC (also arriving today) fares better!

ThePrettyDamned

Sporky said:

It arrived jolly quickly, but it reboots constantly. If you leave it be it sits there happily enough, but try to run Steam or do anything else and it comes up with a memory management error (or, once, a machine hardware corrupt message).

The seller has another so has offered either a full refund or a swapsie; the hardware itself is very nice so I've opted for the swapsie. Bit of a shame but no disaster.

Let's hope the workshop PC (also arriving today) fares better!

Ouch, that's not good. 

Hopefully Mark ii will fare better! Mine has very, very rarely crashed and its used fairly heavily - long run times, doom is a heavy game, lots of photoshop and Lightroom, with and without plugins. 

Make sure you register with Dell - you'll get a bios update probably, as well as drivers etc and alienware computers get dell's premium service thing, which is ace. 

Sporky

I'm confident it was a one off. It's a nicely put together thing, suitably weighty and solid.

The workshop PC is up and running. Slight faff with the motherboard needing drivers for USB straight off and no CD drive, but there's a tool to sideload the drivers on a USB installation stick.

Sporky

The replacement has arrived and works very well. Steam Big Picture means that Lady BMcH and I can each have our own libraries without any logging in/out faffery, and the box itself seems very grunty but quiet. No problems thus far with anything at 1080p.