[MEGATHREAD] Personal Computer - Updated builds thanks to Logical Increments

[¥ola³]

780 = total disappointment

great job releasing a card for $400 more than an older generation card that gets near same performance.

[Ad Bot]

[Freeze]

What would be the best 'gaming' computer I could get for £400 (including VAT)? Preferably (but not 100% needed) from cyberpower (I'm not gonna build one) and (100%) needs to include Windows 7 but not accessories? I'd rather AMD but also not completely needed.

I obviously put inverted commas on gaming because I know it won't be great, but it's for my sister who wants to play some games (not really high graphics ones) and family use.

[Randomness]

780 = total disappointment

great job releasing a card for $400 more than an older generation card that gets near same performance.

Your expectations are weird.

The 700 series is more of an improved 600 series. The 800 series will be where its at, since that will introduce the brand new Maxwell architecture. 600 and 700 brought us Kepler.

[King Leo]

Do you know if it was the actual GPU or something in the card?

It could be anything, from all I know.
Here's what happend:
I was playing a heavy game (Crysis first time / BF3 now) when suddenly the game froze and alternating grey and black lines appeared on the screen. Upon restart, the computer boots, but no image is transfered to the screen. The fans go (including the one on the graphics card), and I hear the post beep. But the VGA LED lamp on the mobo is on, indicating an error on the graphics unit. I tried switching the card to a different PSI-slot, but same result. When I take out the card and run with onboard CPU graphics, everything works well.
I've got some theories:
1) Defect graphics card(s). Possible, but unlikely, since it has happened twice now.
2) Defect PSU. Could possible fry the card with over-voltage or something. But shouldn't that affect other components too?
3) Defect mobo. I don't know about this one. Wouldn't this affect some other stuff as well? Like not being able to run anything at all.
4) Defect RAM. I have no idea how this would affect the graphics card, but who knows.
The other components shouldn't really matter.
5) Overheating due to bad airflow. But wouldn't the computer crash before this happens?

[Mr.jacksaunt]

A desktop GPU shouldn't fry under normal conditions, in any circumstance, airflow or not. It might be the motherboard, what brand is it?

[Nexus]

Are laptops fair game in this thread too?

I need a new laptop for college as my old one is starting to get some hardware issues.

I don't have a set budget, but I'm still paying for it myself.  Something around $1000 is probably ideal.  I have been stuck with some really crappy laptops in the past and don't want something that can't even do blockland well.

Probably first priority for me is having a good battery life and not being a giant brick of lead to lug around.
I don't need it to be a really powerful computer since I'll be bringing along a desktop most likely, although I am not too keen on getting an ultrabook because they all seem to be stupidly expensive and low performing.

I'm tempted to get this computer since it seems to be a great value (moderate/low price+high performance), which might even make it possible to not need to bring my desktop along, but apparently the battery life sucks (not surprising), which is a problem.
http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/catalog.workflow:item.detail?GroupID=457&Code=59371972

I think things like touchscreens/backlit keyboards are nice and I'm willing to pay a little extra if that's an option, but I wouldn't pass up an otherwise good computer because it doesn't have them.

I would jump for this computer if it didn't have a ridiculously small 128GB of disk space (less than half of which is actually usable) and didn't seem overpriced.
http://www.cnet.com/laptops/lenovo-ideapad-yoga-13/4505-3121_7-35477652.html

Any suggestions for computers that I should look at?

[Titanium Man]

what you gona be doing on the laptop?

[Nexus]

what you gona be doing on the laptop?

College stuff, not really sure about anything more specific.  Probably carrying it around wherever I go.
I'm going into computer science/software engineering, so it definitely can't be cheap and low performance.  At the same time, I plan on having my desktop for anything really intensive.

[MegaScientifical]

Is it normal for the new hardrive to be making a definite pulsing sound? It's like... I don't know how to spell the noise, but it pulses like "wuum... wuum... wuum..." perfectly audible.

[King Leo]

A desktop GPU shouldn't fry under normal conditions, in any circumstance, airflow or not. It might be the motherboard, what brand is it?

Asus P8Z77-V Pro

[Tokthree]

Out of curiosity, did anyone buy a GTX 660+ while they were doing that f2p premium currency promotion and not use their codes for World of Tanks?
'Cause I'd probably be able to put them to use if anyone was willing to part with them :v

[MegaScientifical]

Is it normal for the new hardrive to be making a definite pulsing sound? It's like... I don't know how to spell the noise, but it pulses like "wuum... wuum... wuum..." perfectly audible.

It seems when the drive stops spinning, it makes a 'dunk' noise...

[Tokthree]

I'm no expert on HDD's, but it sounds like it's not spinning consistently, could be the motor in the drive itself, could be the power distributor in the drive, could even be a reliability issue with your PSU, as in it's not putting out power at a stable rate.
Might be worth trying some other HDD's in your house if you have any, or trying your HDD in another computer, see if the problem persists, if so then it could be your PSU, if not then it could be something wrong with the drive.

Again, I'm not expert so take my advice with a pinch of salt

[devildogelite]

I'm no expert on HDD's, but it sounds like it's not spinning consistently, could be the motor in the drive itself, could be the power distributor in the drive, could even be a reliability issue with your PSU, as in it's not putting out power at a stable rate.
Might be worth trying some other HDD's in your house if you have any, or trying your HDD in another computer, see if the problem persists, if so then it could be your PSU, if not then it could be something wrong with the drive.

Again, I'm not expert so take my advice with a pinch of salt

I know you're trying to help him. But he has been in a panic over his hdd since he had to chose one. I think he is just being paranoid. He had a ton of problems choosing an hdd, he had a ton of trouble installing it, and he has had a ton of trouble since he's started using it.


On a related note to hard drives. What is the failure rate for an SSD? Mine just failed and I'm really pissed about it.

[Tokthree]

SSD's are supposed to last, like, 2-3x longer than HDD's on average so long as you're using them for what they're designed (caching, running your most important applications, booting) and not what a HDD is designed to be able to handle (20~gb+ write per day).

Don't know why so many people have been having their SSD's fail lately, which brand are you using?