34 replies to this topic

[Coffey]

To the OP, the best thing to do is give us a list of what you want it for specifically and a budget. That way we can all give our opinions better.

There isn't much point in us explaining Memory and processors to you, unless you genuinely want to learn that stuff. (lso some people have insane theories about needing 16gb memory for gaming... which is just lol)

To the 16gb memory guy, I'm running 4gb 1066mhz ddr2, overclocked Q6600 to 3.4ghz and a Nvidia 550ti GPU all on a 620w PSU and I cna pretty much run BF3 on max with a decent fps.... Hardcore gamers should know how to set up a decent rig with less to run higher settings.

Spid3rCyd3, on 26 April 2012 - 08:54 PM, said:

I'm the same as you. I don't like it either (it's bloatware), but I run their online scan every now and then, saves me from having to install anything at all. After being burned on McAfee and Norton back in the day, I've sworn off virii software. It's more headache than it's worth. I let windows defender and MS Security Essentials do the work on basic user pc's, then I teach them what NOT to do.

Fair enough then and Windows defender is actually really good.

I just think that from my experience it's better to be safer and I've found Avast to be perfect in the way it's not a resource hog. Even AVG which used to be brilliant has become a horrible resource hog.

Edited by Coffey, 26 April 2012 - 10:10 PM.

[whatisthis]

Sakari: I really would like to try the comodo site, I was going to download one of the programs, but I don't know if my Windows is 32 bit or 64 bit???  I think Norton is one of my problems; every time I turn my computer on, one of their ads pops up (because the protection expired 6 years ago).

Knight of Shadows: So I should be able to play videos OK with the cheaper processor?  I can't watch anything anymore!

Eldorado: Thanks for the site tip!  I'll definitely read what's there, since I need all the help I can get!

Spid3rCyd3: You're right, I haven't had virus protection on my computer for 6 years, and I haven't had TOO many problems...ALTHOUGH, McAfee pops up every day, does a security scan, and tells me I have a Trojan spyware/malware thing on C?  I've also had to overhaul the entire system a few times (you know, F10 when you turn on the computer).  What are Windows Defender & MS Security Essentials?

Coffey: I will also check into Avast, thanks!  I only need the computer for things like Google, Youtube, UM, "Teen Mom", "Mob Wives", etc., LOL...I would prefer not to spend too much over 500 dollars, but maybe that's unrealistic?  I haven't looked at prices yet.

Mr Right Wing: Sounds great, but I don't know anyone who would assemble it for me...I can't even get anyone to check the air in my tires, LOL!

WhyDontYouBeliEveMe:  I'm with you on the anti-virus thing!  *And for the record, everyone, I don't surf any shady sites*  I have no problem starting from scratch every now and then, although I've been too lazy to do that lately.

[WoIverine]

whatisthis, on 27 April 2012 - 12:35 AM, said:

Spid3rCyd3: You're right, I haven't had virus protection on my computer for 6 years, and I haven't had TOO many problems...ALTHOUGH, McAfee pops up every day, does a security scan, and tells me I have a Trojan spyware/malware thing on C?  I've also had to overhaul the entire system a few times (you know, F10 when you turn on the computer).  What are Windows Defender & MS Security Essentials?

Windows Defender and MS Security Essentials are free Windows Updates that you can download from Microsoft.

http://www.update.microsoft.com

Always run your windows updates if you can, it will keep your machine safe from potential problems, virus issues, software and hardware conflicts, you name it. MS is actually pretty good about safeguarding their OS.

Edited by Spid3rCyd3, 27 April 2012 - 02:07 AM.

[WoIverine]

Coffey, on 26 April 2012 - 09:58 PM, said:

To the OP, the best thing to do is give us a list of what you want it for specifically and a budget. That way we can all give our opinions better.

There isn't much point in us explaining Memory and processors to you, unless you genuinely want to learn that stuff. (lso some people have insane theories about needing 16gb memory for gaming... which is just lol)

To the 16gb memory guy, I'm running 4gb 1066mhz ddr2, overclocked Q6600 to 3.4ghz and a Nvidia 550ti GPU all on a 620w PSU and I cna pretty much run BF3 on max with a decent fps.... Hardcore gamers should know how to set up a decent rig with less to run higher settings.






Fair enough then and Windows defender is actually really good.

I just think that from my experience it's better to be safer and I've found Avast to be perfect in the way it's not a resource hog. Even AVG which used to be brilliant has become a horrible resource hog.

I hear you man, I actually think I will check out Avast. I've been looking for a good one that's not too heavy. Thanks!  

Coffey, what is your opinion on Spybot Search and Destroy? I used to use it all the time until MS stole the show with their anti-spyware apps.

Edited by Spid3rCyd3, 27 April 2012 - 02:11 AM.

[Sakari]

whatisthis, on 27 April 2012 - 12:35 AM, said:

Coffey: I will also check into Avast, thanks!  I only need the computer for things like Google, Youtube, UM, "Teen Mom", "Mob Wives", etc., LOL...I would prefer not to spend too much over 500 dollars, but maybe that's unrealistic?  I haven't looked at prices yet.

Mr Right Wing: Sounds great, but I don't know anyone who would assemble it for me...I can't even get anyone to check the air in my tires, LOL!

$479.00

http://www.cyberpowe...1_Configurator/

[Coffey]

I'll have a look for a comp in a bit that I think would suit your needs. You sure you want a Desktop and not a laptop?

Spid3rCyd3, on 27 April 2012 - 02:09 AM, said:

I hear you man, I actually think I will check out Avast. I've been looking for a good one that's not too heavy. Thanks!  

Coffey, what is your opinion on Spybot Search and Destroy? I used to use it all the time until MS stole the show with their anti-spyware apps.

No problem, if you don't like it it's easy to uninstall anyway. You know your stuff anyway so that wouldn't matter. lol (By the way it speak to you as well - it has a woman's voice that tells you when the scan is complete etc lol)

I used to swear by Spybot S&D until they upgraded it and then made it all weird and complicated. (I knew how to use it, it just annoyed me that they made it more complicated that it needed to be) I recommend "Malwarebytes Anti-Malware" it's the best free spyware/malware program at the moment. (Well from what i've read in reviews etc that is my conclusion)


I also highly recommend to everyone that they try CCleaner. It is the best tool for deleting unwanted files, leftover installers and memory caches. It also fixes your registry which is good for those who don't want to mess with the registry themselves. I know how to do some pretty impressive overclocking and I'm very good with computers... But I still get funny about messing with the registry. lol

Sakari, on 27 April 2012 - 03:42 AM, said:

$479.00

http://www.cyberpowe...1_Configurator/

It didn't safe the configuration you put.

Edited by Coffey, 27 April 2012 - 12:09 PM.

[WoIverine]

LOL, CCleaner (Crap Cleaner), I use that all the time.  

[Mr Right Wing]

whatisthis, on 27 April 2012 - 12:35 AM, said:

Sakari: I really would like to try the comodo site, I was going to download one of the programs, but I don't know if my Windows is 32 bit or 64 bit???  I think Norton is one of my problems; every time I turn my computer on, one of their ads pops up (because the protection expired 6 years ago).

Knight of Shadows: So I should be able to play videos OK with the cheaper processor?  I can't watch anything anymore!

Eldorado: Thanks for the site tip!  I'll definitely read what's there, since I need all the help I can get!

Spid3rCyd3: You're right, I haven't had virus protection on my computer for 6 years, and I haven't had TOO many problems...ALTHOUGH, McAfee pops up every day, does a security scan, and tells me I have a Trojan spyware/malware thing on C?  I've also had to overhaul the entire system a few times (you know, F10 when you turn on the computer).  What are Windows Defender & MS Security Essentials?

Coffey: I will also check into Avast, thanks!  I only need the computer for things like Google, Youtube, UM, "Teen Mom", "Mob Wives", etc., LOL...I would prefer not to spend too much over 500 dollars, but maybe that's unrealistic?  I haven't looked at prices yet.

Mr Right Wing: Sounds great, but I don't know anyone who would assemble it for me...I can't even get anyone to check the air in my tires, LOL!

WhyDontYouBeliEveMe:  I'm with you on the anti-virus thing!  *And for the record, everyone, I don't surf any shady sites*  I have no problem starting from scratch every now and then, although I've been too lazy to do that lately.

Shopping List
Start by buying a new PC case which will keep everything cold. When choosing you need to read the description to see if it takes ATX, MicroATX or both sizes of motherboard. Heres a cheap one that takes both and has decent fans on it for £40 - http://www.maplin.co...ing-case-593960

Then I'd go for a different motherboard bundle such as this for £180 because it comes with a decent graphics card -
http://www.maplin.co...b-memory-621350

Then get yourself a new power supply. This is a good one for £50 as its 750 watts and has plenty of power cables on it - http://www.maplin.co...r-supply-227870

Total cost - £270

Future Upgrades
With that case and power supply all you will have to do in the future is replace the motherboard with graphics card bundle. Maybe in 4 years time and you'd be looking at £180ish again.

Home Assembly
Everything you need comes in the new PC case (screws and bolts etc). You line your new motherboard up with the holes that match it on the chassis and bolt it on. Next open up your old PC -
1. Unscrew the DVD drive. Note where its cable is plugged in on your old motherboard. When you switch it to your new PC it goes in the same slot on your new motherboard
2. Repeat above for your Hard drive.
3. Your new motherboard will come with blueprints telling you where to plug your new power supply into. Usually theres two places and the plug sockets are shaped so you cant go wrong.
4. The blueprints will tell you where to plug your USB cables, On off switch cables and any PC case lighting cables into. The USB is usually the problem as the amount of USBs your case has often doesnt match those available on your board. If you have 8 USBs and your board only has the pins for 6 you'll not be able to plug two of them in. It isnt really a problem though.
6. Plug in the graphics card, memory cards and attach your CPU fan using the levers on the board. The board has its own sound card built-in.

Its hard to go wrong on home assembly as the plugs, cables etc come in different shapes and sizes preventing mistakes. Sometimes you dont have enough power cables in which case you'll need to by some leads with extra links on them however with the power supply above it shouldnt be a problem.

Paid for assembly
Call your local PC repair shop up and ask how much for them to assemble it. You'd be looking at £30.

Edited by Mr Right Wing, 27 April 2012 - 03:54 PM.

[Coffey]

Mr Right Wing, on 27 April 2012 - 03:50 PM, said:

Shopping List
Start by buying a new PC case which will keep everything cold. When choosing you need to read the description to see if it takes ATX, MicroATX or both sizes of motherboard. Heres a cheap one that takes both and has decent fans on it for £40 - http://www.maplin.co...ing-case-593960

Then I'd go for a different motherboard bundle such as this for £180 because it comes with a decent graphics card -
http://www.maplin.co...b-memory-621350

Then get yourself a new power supply. This is a good one for £50 as its 750 watts and has plenty of power cables on it - http://www.maplin.co...r-supply-227870

Total cost - £270

Future Upgrades
With that case and power supply all you will have to do in the future is replace the motherboard with graphics card bundle. Maybe in 4 years time and you'd be looking at £180ish again.

Home Assembly
Everything you need comes in the new PC case (screws and bolts etc). You line your new motherboard up with the holes that match it on the chassis and bolt it on. Next open up your old PC -
1. Unscrew the DVD drive. Note where its cable is plugged in on your old motherboard. When you switch it to your new PC it goes in the same slot on your new motherboard
2. Repeat above for your Hard drive.
3. Your new motherboard will come with blueprints telling you where to plug your new power supply into. Usually theres two places and the plug sockets are shaped so you cant go wrong.
4. The blueprints will tell you where to plug your USB cables, On off switch cables and any PC case lighting cables into. The USB is usually the problem as the amount of USBs your case has often doesnt match those available on your board. If you have 8 USBs and your board only has the pins for 6 you'll not be able to plug two of them in. It isnt really a problem though.
6. Plug in the graphics card, memory cards and attach your CPU fan using the levers on the board. The board has its own sound card built-in.

Its hard to go wrong on home assembly as the plugs, cables etc come in different shapes and sizes preventing mistakes. Sometimes you dont have enough power cables in which case you'll need to by some leads with extra links on them however with the power supply above it shouldnt be a problem.

Paid for assembly
Call your local PC repair shop up and ask how much for them to assemble it. You'd be looking at £30.

The OP said she doesn't know anything about building computers or wants to bother with it. You didn't even mention wearing an anti static wrist band. I know without certain carpets and if you touch your case etc it's alright, but precautions should still be taken, especially by an inexperienced builder. I really recommend not attempting this as one slight mistake like touching the wrong bit of the motherboard and frying it.

Also the OP stated the price she wanted it to be around and said in Dollars, you are giving links to a British retailer.

I know you are trying to help, I'm not being nasty, just that you need to take these things into consideration.

Also massive piece of advice, never skimp on the case or power supply. The power supply has to give power and protect all the more expensive and fragile equipment. Always best to spend more on it for better quality. Same with the case, you want good clean airflow. If you get a case then you won't need to upgrade it again for a long time. Always best to make a better investment in those 2 things.

My advise to anyone is, watch loads of youtube videos and do lots of homework before attempting a build yourself. (also you will come across countless different opinions on ways to build computers etc) So it's really easy if you know your stuff, but you need to put time into learning it. I doubt the OP cares enough to bother.

Spid3rCyd3, on 27 April 2012 - 01:26 PM, said:

LOL, CCleaner (Crap Cleaner), I use that all the time.  

Yeah I thought you would, it's probably the best free program in the world. lol Especially for how basic it is.

Edited by Coffey, 27 April 2012 - 08:14 PM.

[Coffey]

Anyway I'd recommend somehting like this:

My link

In my opinion Asus is the best Computer manufacturer there is. They made the inside components of all the big manufacturers like Dell, Sony, Samsung etc for years before they came on the market with Desktops and Laptops. that's why the name isn't very popular with non techies.

I remember when they started making Desktops and laptops and they where seriously cheap due to them not being very popular with non IT people, yet they where far better than all the big name manufacturers.

[Sakari]

Coffey, on 27 April 2012 - 08:28 PM, said:

Anyway I'd recommend somehting like this:

My link

In my opinion Asus is the best Computer manufacturer there is. They made the inside components of all the big manufacturers like Dell, Sony, Samsung etc for years before they came on the market with Desktops and Laptops. that's why the name isn't very popular with non techies.

I remember when they started making Desktops and laptops and they where seriously cheap due to them not being very popular with non IT people, yet they where far better than all the big name manufacturers.

I agree with above.....That is a great price, and system.

[Timonthy]

Mr Snuggles, on 25 April 2012 - 04:27 PM, said:

Not really i have an i5 with 4gb ram and i play CoD and Skyrim pretty well on medium.

Yeah but 'pretty well on medium' isn't hardcore gaming.

I'm running 12GB Patriot Sector7 RAM (which is top of the line) with an i7 & GTX 570 and that is just for single monitor gaming.

I can max most games, but some like ARMAII or even Skyrim with mods, will drop frames.

Then there's multi-monitor gaming. That's hardcore. 3 or 6 monitors with Dual or Tri video cards at extreme resolutions - and max settings.  

whatisthis, on 26 April 2012 - 02:38 AM, said:

Any tips on virus protection?  I haven't had any in 7 years, ever since the free 6-month protection expired...

Also AVG free is another good one, I have used it the past 5 years and never had a virus. Even exploring the world of illegal downloads (purely for non malicious reasons) or other dodgy sites, I have never had an issue.

Edited by Timonthy, 28 April 2012 - 02:14 AM.

[Coffey]

Sakari, on 28 April 2012 - 12:45 AM, said:

I agree with above.....That is a great price, and system.

You could actually build it cheaper on that site you provided, but it wouldn't save the settings for some reason. Maybe there was an option to, but I couldn't see it. Unless we note down all the things to choose, then thought this was easier.

Timonthy, on 28 April 2012 - 02:07 AM, said:

Yeah but 'pretty well on medium' isn't hardcore gaming.

I'm running 12GB Patriot Sector7 RAM (which is top of the line) with an i7 & GTX 570 and that is just for single monitor gaming.

I can max most games, but some like ARMAII or even Skyrim with mods, will drop frames.

Then there's multi-monitor gaming. That's hardcore. 3 or 6 monitors with Dual or Tri video cards at extreme resolutions - and max settings.  


Also AVG free is another good one, I have used it the past 5 years and never had a virus. Even exploring the world of illegal downloads (purely for non malicious reasons) or other dodgy sites, I have never had an issue.

Oh you mean that sort of "hardcore". lol I personally view that stuff as overkill. Like owning a car that can do 0 to 60 in 2 seconds and 240 odd mph... (over exaggerating but you get the point)

You should try Avast now, everyone is switching to it from AVG. AVG has become heavy and is a pain if you have a gaming rig. Not saying it doesn't do a good job, cause it does. It's the performance issues.

Edited by Coffey, 28 April 2012 - 02:19 AM.

[Timonthy]

Coffey, on 28 April 2012 - 02:15 AM, said:

Oh you mean that sort of "hardcore". lol I personally view that stuff as overkill. Like owning a car that can do 0 to 60 in 2 seconds and 240 odd mph... (over exaggerating but you get the point)

You should try Avast now, everyone is switching to it from AVG. AVG has become heavy and is a pain if you have a gaming rig. Not saying it doesn't do a good job, cause it does. It's the performance issues.

Haha yeah but with a car if you're rich enough to afford it you can probably afford to take it to a track. And with gaming the same concept is actually pretty practical.

If I'm rich maybe I'll have an awesome setup some day. But for the moment I'm happy with one monitor maxed.

With AVG/Avast, is there much of a difference at all? Unless running scans, AVG only uses ~30MB of RAM & ~1% of CPU on my system so it ain't bad. And if I'm playing a really demanding game I usually end any unnecessary processes anyway.

[Coffey]

Timonthy, on 28 April 2012 - 05:13 AM, said:

Haha yeah but with a car if you're rich enough to afford it you can probably afford to take it to a track. And with gaming the same concept is actually pretty practical.

If I'm rich maybe I'll have an awesome setup some day. But for the moment I'm happy with one monitor maxed.

With AVG/Avast, is there much of a difference at all? Unless running scans, AVG only uses ~30MB of RAM & ~1% of CPU on my system so it ain't bad. And if I'm playing a really demanding game I usually end any unnecessary processes anyway.

Good point , I just like to stay at meduim to high spec because of how fast new tech comes out. Always upgrading would cost so much if you always went for the hardcore stuff. lol

I prefer one monitor for gaming. I have 2 monitors so it's not like I haven't tried it, I use 2 for music production, but just the one for gaming.

I have tested the exact usage amounts etc. I went by reviews and stuff from trusted reviewers etc for that side. They all said it was less of a resource hog. I can say from having it for nearly 2 weeks now thta i have noticed a huge difference. With Avast idle it seems not to be that much of a difference, what I haven't noticed is when Avast does a scan or updates etc. This is a good point, cause I always noticed AVG scanning or updating. If I forgot to hold a scan off and I was in a game or doing music production etc and AVG started scnaning it would just start lagging everything out. Avast doesn't, it can scan away and update while playing games etc. I think I like the fact that it sits their doing it's thing and I never notice it. Just get a voice saying "scan complete" or update complete" every so often. (not during games etc though)