Help...Decent Gaming PC

[PeteEU]

Going by what you guys are saying...I now have this:

Price: $980.00

______________________________________________________________________


CPU:Intel® Core™ i5-2550K 3.40 GHz 6MB Intel Smart Cache LGA1155 (All Venom OC Certified)

HDD:1TB SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 32MB Cache 7200RPM HDD (Single Drive)

Good.. sucks that HDDs are so freaking expensive due to the Thailand floods.

HDD2: 60 GB OCZ Agility 3 SATA III 6.0Gb/s SSD - 525MB/s Read & 475MB/s Write

TBH... maybe too small. My windows 7 install with office and a bunch of other programs is atm 44 GB. Games installed elsewhere, and all downloads, documents on a normal HDD (This you MUST do.. SSD suck when it comes to accessing documents, movies, saving downloads.. it cuts their longevity big time.) Does not leave much room .. I have a 90GB OCZ, but for some reason most sellers only have 60 or 120 gb.. For me 80GB would be perfect, but thats me. Now.. what you could do is go for the 120 GB version and then partion it into two.. one Windows and one Linux.. SSD and Linux = ubah fast

KEYBOARD:AZiO Levetron USB Gaming Keyboard [+30]

Never heard of it. Razar or Logitech have great gaming keyboards. G19 is great.. got G15 myself

MEMORY:8GB (2GBx4) DDR3/1600MHz Dual Channel Memory (Corsair Vengeance)

Good

MOTHERBOARD:* [CrossFireX] Asus P8Z68-V LX Intel Z68 Chipset DDR3 ATX Mainboard LucidLogix Virtu and Intel Smart Response Technology & 7.1 HD Audio, GbLAN, USB3.0, 2x SATA-III RAID,2 3 PCIe Gen2, 2 PCIe X1 & 2 3CI (All Venom OC Certified)

Well.. just fyi. It is not Gen 3, which means it cant run ivy bridge processors or graphicscards. Other than that it is great. Asus makes quality products and it is UEFI bios... with SSD... you will be shocked on how fast it starts up.

OS:Microsoft® Windows 7 Professional [+135] (64-bit Edition)

That or Ultimate. Frankly it dont matter. The difference between Home and the others is that certain functions are disabled/missing in Home vs Prof, and visa versa..

VIDEO:NVIDIA GeForce GT 520 1GB 16X PCIe Video Card (Major Brand Powered by NVIDIA)

Looks good.

 

[Ropey]

with SSD... you will be shocked on how fast it starts up.

That Z68 chipset speeds the boot up quite a bit as well. I went from an Asus P8P67 Deluxe to a P8Z68V-Pro.

I simply plugged the SSD in from one board to the other, set safe mode removal of old devices, re-enumerated the hardware and had an amazing boot speed increase.

The only difference was the board.

 

[PeteEU]

with SSD... you will be shocked on how fast it starts up.

That Z68 chipset speeds the boot up quite a bit as well. I went from an Asus P8P67 Deluxe to a P8Z68V-Pro.

I simply plugged the SSD in from one board to the other, set safe mode removal of old devices, re-enumerated the hardware and had an amazing boot speed increase.

The only difference was the board.

Yep..plus certain new advancements on the chip on the Z68 motherboard.. very technical.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Alrighty...I will increase the SSD to 120GB...the price is about $80 more...like I say - just not used to the OS taking up that much real estate.

-- @ Skull Pilot...yeah building my own from new egg etc. will save about $100.
However I just don't have the hardware knowledge that I did 10 years ago. I am not as familiar with compatibilities between components like I was. Because of that it is better for me, and worth the $100, to go to a custom builder.

 

[Ropey]

Alrighty...I will increase the SSD to 120GB...the price is about $80 more...like I say - just not used to the OS taking up that much real estate.

-- @ Skull Pilot...yeah building my own from new egg etc. will save about $100.
However I just don't have the hardware knowledge that I did 10 years ago. I am not as familiar with compatibilities between components like I was. Because of that it is better for me, and worth the $100, to go to a custom builder.

NCIX (USA) price matches really well.

NCIX US - Buy VTX3-25SAT3-120G - OCZ Vertex 3 120GB 2.5IN SATA3 6Gbps SandForce SF-2281 Solid State Disk Flash Drive SSD - OCZ Technology - Great price and fast delivery

$130.00 after rebate.

It's a lot simpler to put them together today. If you did it ten years ago, I think you can do it now.

 

[Ringel05]

Hey guys, off subject but just discovered my wife's desktop has be loBOTomized.
Ran Stinger, Malwarebytes and Avast but they found nothing. Note: last week Avast found and deleted one from the bootlog.
Backed up, copied her e-mail to a thumb drive and scanned it via my system and found two redirects in there, they're gone. Currently running avast on her's in safe mode, but It looks like I might be wiping that drive and loading Win 7 on it, been looking for an excuse to do it.

 

[Ropey]

Hey guys, off subject but just discovered my wife's desktop has be loBOTomized.
Ran Stinger, Malwarebytes and Avast but they found nothing. Note: last week Avast found and deleted one from the bootlog.
Backed up, copied her e-mail to a thumb drive and scanned it via my system and found two redirects in there, they're gone. Currently running avast on her's in safe mode, but It looks like I might be wiping that drive and loading Win 7 on it, been looking for an excuse to do it.

Is your OS 32 or 64 bit Ringel?

 

[PeteEU]

Alrighty...I will increase the SSD to 120GB...the price is about $80 more...like I say - just not used to the OS taking up that much real estate.

Technically it aint the OS that is taking up so much space. The Windows file system is 22 GB (Windows Ultimate), and the rest is programs and user files. Not saying that 60GB wont be enough, but I would personally be safer than sorry imo..

-- @ Skull Pilot...yeah building my own from new egg etc. will save about $100.
However I just don't have the hardware knowledge that I did 10 years ago. I am not as familiar with compatibilities between components like I was. Because of that it is better for me, and worth the $100, to go to a custom builder.

TBH, not much has changed in those 10 years. The plugs and slots might be different but the prinicples are the same. Plus with the CPU and motherboard there are extensive "how to do it" guides wit pictures and what not.

 

[Ringel05]

Hey guys, off subject but just discovered my wife's desktop has be loBOTomized.
Ran Stinger, Malwarebytes and Avast but they found nothing. Note: last week Avast found and deleted one from the bootlog.
Backed up, copied her e-mail to a thumb drive and scanned it via my system and found two redirects in there, they're gone. Currently running avast on her's in safe mode, but It looks like I might be wiping that drive and loading Win 7 on it, been looking for an excuse to do it.

Is your OS 32 or 64 bit Ringel?

32 bit XP on a system that will take 64 bit. Back when I built it the Win7 OS hadn't arrived yet and my wife needed her computer for job hunting so I loaded what I had on hand. Been wanting to load the Win 7 for a while but every time I mention it it's always "wait till I get done with.......".
Oh and she demanded I put Outlook Express on it because that's what she's familiar with, I guess now she'll listen to me.

 

[PeteEU]

Hey guys, off subject but just discovered my wife's desktop has be loBOTomized.
Ran Stinger, Malwarebytes and Avast but they found nothing. Note: last week Avast found and deleted one from the bootlog.
Backed up, copied her e-mail to a thumb drive and scanned it via my system and found two redirects in there, they're gone. Currently running avast on her's in safe mode, but It looks like I might be wiping that drive and loading Win 7 on it, been looking for an excuse to do it.

Windows XP I am guessing? Malwarebytes is very effective... if it does not show up there then it is most likely gone. You could try Spybot Search and Destroy

The home of Spybot-S&D!

to see if that finds anything.

I just had a nasty one on a customers laptop.. he clicked yes when he should have clicked no. The bugger had made a fake Flash download thingy.. Any ways I got rid of the rootkit virus, but by then it had removed critical services.. like the Windows Firewall.. Thank god for the restore function in Windows 7

 

[Ropey]

Alrighty...I will increase the SSD to 120GB...the price is about $80 more...like I say - just not used to the OS taking up that much real estate.

Technically it aint the OS that is taking up so much space. The Windows file system is 22 GB (Windows Ultimate), and the rest is programs and user files. Not saying that 60GB wont be enough, but I would personally be safer than sorry imo..

-- @ Skull Pilot...yeah building my own from new egg etc. will save about $100.
However I just don't have the hardware knowledge that I did 10 years ago. I am not as familiar with compatibilities between components like I was. Because of that it is better for me, and worth the $100, to go to a custom builder.

TBH, not much has changed in those 10 years. The plugs and slots might be different but the prinicples are the same. Plus with the CPU and motherboard there are extensive "how to do it" guides wit pictures and what not.

If you're running a desktop OS and don't use hibernate mode then you can use a command to remove the hibernate file which is comparative to a good portion your active memory.

You need to open a command prompt in Administrator mode.

Click Start --> All Programs --> Accessories -- Command Prompt. (right click Command Prompt and Choose "Run as Administrator".

Then in the prompt, type:

powercfg -h off

^ (power configuration plugin, disable hibernate function)

To re-enable, simply repeat with "on".

 

[PeteEU]

Hey guys, off subject but just discovered my wife's desktop has be loBOTomized.
Ran Stinger, Malwarebytes and Avast but they found nothing. Note: last week Avast found and deleted one from the bootlog.
Backed up, copied her e-mail to a thumb drive and scanned it via my system and found two redirects in there, they're gone. Currently running avast on her's in safe mode, but It looks like I might be wiping that drive and loading Win 7 on it, been looking for an excuse to do it.

Is your OS 32 or 64 bit Ringel?

32 bit XP on a system that will take 64 bit. Back when I built it the Win7 OS hadn't arrived yet and my wife needed her computer for job hunting so I loaded what I had on hand. Been wanting to load the Win 7 for a while but every time I mention it it's always "wait till I get done with.......".
Oh and she demanded I put Outlook Express on it because that's what she's familiar with, I guess now she'll listen to me.

There is no outlook express in Windows 7. In fact Microsoft only makes Outlook now and even the Live Email program is gonna die with Windows 8. But of course there are alternatives.. Thunderbird from Mozilla is good.

 

[Ropey]

Hey guys, off subject but just discovered my wife's desktop has be loBOTomized.
Ran Stinger, Malwarebytes and Avast but they found nothing. Note: last week Avast found and deleted one from the bootlog.
Backed up, copied her e-mail to a thumb drive and scanned it via my system and found two redirects in there, they're gone. Currently running avast on her's in safe mode, but It looks like I might be wiping that drive and loading Win 7 on it, been looking for an excuse to do it.

Is your OS 32 or 64 bit Ringel?

32 bit XP on a system that will take 64 bit. Back when I built it the Win7 OS hadn't arrived yet and my wife needed her computer for job hunting so I loaded what I had on hand. Been wanting to load the Win 7 for a while but every time I mention it it's always "wait till I get done with.......".
Oh and she demanded I put Outlook Express on it because that's what she's familiar with, I guess now she'll listen to me.

I'd let her know that Outlook Express is not functional in any Win7 Iteration. Some iterations do have a Windows Mail that is superseded upon update by Windows Live Mail but none have OE.

She might not like moving to another e-mail client and you don't want that so I'd let her know.

 

[PeteEU]

Alrighty...I will increase the SSD to 120GB...the price is about $80 more...like I say - just not used to the OS taking up that much real estate.

Technically it aint the OS that is taking up so much space. The Windows file system is 22 GB (Windows Ultimate), and the rest is programs and user files. Not saying that 60GB wont be enough, but I would personally be safer than sorry imo..

-- @ Skull Pilot...yeah building my own from new egg etc. will save about $100.
However I just don't have the hardware knowledge that I did 10 years ago. I am not as familiar with compatibilities between components like I was. Because of that it is better for me, and worth the $100, to go to a custom builder.

TBH, not much has changed in those 10 years. The plugs and slots might be different but the prinicples are the same. Plus with the CPU and motherboard there are extensive "how to do it" guides wit pictures and what not.

If you're running a desktop OS and don't use hibernate mode then you can use a command to remove the hibernate file which is comparative to a good portion your active memory.

You need to open a command prompt in Administrator mode.

Click Start --> All Programs --> Accessories -- Command Prompt. (right click Command Prompt and Choose "Run as Administrator".

Then in the prompt, type:

powercfg -h off

^ (power configuration plugin, disable hibernate function)

To re-enable, simply repeat with "on".

True, but I do use it sometimes

 

[Ropey]

Technically it aint the OS that is taking up so much space. The Windows file system is 22 GB (Windows Ultimate), and the rest is programs and user files. Not saying that 60GB wont be enough, but I would personally be safer than sorry imo..

TBH, not much has changed in those 10 years. The plugs and slots might be different but the prinicples are the same. Plus with the CPU and motherboard there are extensive "how to do it" guides wit pictures and what not.

If you're running a desktop OS and don't use hibernate mode then you can use a command to remove the hibernate file which is comparative to a good portion your active memory.

You need to open a command prompt in Administrator mode.

Click Start --> All Programs --> Accessories -- Command Prompt. (right click Command Prompt and Choose "Run as Administrator".

Then in the prompt, type:

powercfg -h off

^ (power configuration plugin, disable hibernate function)

To re-enable, simply repeat with "on".

True, but I do use it sometimes

Which is why there is a return function.

How cool is this. A lineup to talk geek.

Damn nice.

 

[Ringel05]

Hey guys, off subject but just discovered my wife's desktop has be loBOTomized.
Ran Stinger, Malwarebytes and Avast but they found nothing. Note: last week Avast found and deleted one from the bootlog.
Backed up, copied her e-mail to a thumb drive and scanned it via my system and found two redirects in there, they're gone. Currently running avast on her's in safe mode, but It looks like I might be wiping that drive and loading Win 7 on it, been looking for an excuse to do it.

Windows XP I am guessing? Malwarebytes is very effective... if it does not show up there then it is most likely gone. You could try Spybot Search and Destroy

The home of Spybot-S&D!

to see if that finds anything.

I just had a nasty one on a customers laptop.. he clicked yes when he should have clicked no. The bugger had made a fake Flash download thingy.. Any ways I got rid of the rootkit virus, but by then it had removed critical services.. like the Windows Firewall.. Thank god for the restore function in Windows 7

So far I've had her laptop, desktop and my laptop hit with a virus, Malwarebytes missed them all but Avast found and removed them from the bootlog on the laptops (Win 7) but not the desktop (XP).

 

[Ringel05]

Is your OS 32 or 64 bit Ringel?

32 bit XP on a system that will take 64 bit. Back when I built it the Win7 OS hadn't arrived yet and my wife needed her computer for job hunting so I loaded what I had on hand. Been wanting to load the Win 7 for a while but every time I mention it it's always "wait till I get done with.......".
Oh and she demanded I put Outlook Express on it because that's what she's familiar with, I guess now she'll listen to me.

I'd let her know that Outlook Express is not functional in any Win7 Iteration. Some iterations do have a Windows Mail that is superseded upon update by Windows Live Mail but none have OE.

She might not like moving to another e-mail client and you don't want that so I'd let her know.

Oh she already knows when I move her to Win 7, OE is permanently gone, I've made that perfectly clear.
And yes, she's getting Thunderbird.

 

[Ropey]

32 bit XP on a system that will take 64 bit. Back when I built it the Win7 OS hadn't arrived yet and my wife needed her computer for job hunting so I loaded what I had on hand. Been wanting to load the Win 7 for a while but every time I mention it it's always "wait till I get done with.......".
Oh and she demanded I put Outlook Express on it because that's what she's familiar with, I guess now she'll listen to me.

I'd let her know that Outlook Express is not functional in any Win7 Iteration. Some iterations do have a Windows Mail that is superseded upon update by Windows Live Mail but none have OE.

She might not like moving to another e-mail client and you don't want that so I'd let her know.

Oh she already knows when I move her to Win 7 OE is permanently gone, I've made that perfectly clear.
And yes, she's getting Thunderbird.

Thunderbird?

 

[PeteEU]

Hey guys, off subject but just discovered my wife's desktop has be loBOTomized.
Ran Stinger, Malwarebytes and Avast but they found nothing. Note: last week Avast found and deleted one from the bootlog.
Backed up, copied her e-mail to a thumb drive and scanned it via my system and found two redirects in there, they're gone. Currently running avast on her's in safe mode, but It looks like I might be wiping that drive and loading Win 7 on it, been looking for an excuse to do it.

Windows XP I am guessing? Malwarebytes is very effective... if it does not show up there then it is most likely gone. You could try Spybot Search and Destroy

The home of Spybot-S&D!

to see if that finds anything.

I just had a nasty one on a customers laptop.. he clicked yes when he should have clicked no. The bugger had made a fake Flash download thingy.. Any ways I got rid of the rootkit virus, but by then it had removed critical services.. like the Windows Firewall.. Thank god for the restore function in Windows 7

So far I've had her laptop, desktop and my laptop hit with a virus, Malwarebytes missed them all but Avast found and removed them from the bootlog on the laptops (Win 7) but not the desktop (XP).

Wtf are you and your wife surfing lol! Not had a virus for years!.. well I did get one, but that was my own fault and deliberate

Malwarebytes is not an anti-virus, it is a malware/spyware remover.

You could try Kaspersky Lab United States | Antivirus Computer Security .. it is at the moment the best anti-virus program out there. It is one of the few that can see Zeus and other nasty new virus that are designed throw you to fake sites to steal your info. I put it on my parents PCs since I dont trust them not clicking yes when they should click no.. Kaspersky has a 30 day trial... fully functional.

 

[PeteEU]

I'd let her know that Outlook Express is not functional in any Win7 Iteration. Some iterations do have a Windows Mail that is superseded upon update by Windows Live Mail but none have OE.

She might not like moving to another e-mail client and you don't want that so I'd let her know.

Oh she already knows when I move her to Win 7 OE is permanently gone, I've made that perfectly clear.
And yes, she's getting Thunderbird.

Thunderbird?

Hey it is better than many other products... of course you could just punt her mails to a GMail account and let her use that instead..