PC gaming hardware thread.

Doctor Glyndwr · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 32624

WTB wrote:

But also, "if it works, it works" isn't necessarily true.

Yeah, it is. More or less. I can't imagine any scenario in which a driver conflict (which is itself quite unlikely these days) wouldn't manifest as failure to boot, BSoDs, or similar hard crashes.

WTB · **Joined:** 27th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 14497

Well, go for it then! *awaits critical errors with anticipation*

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22397

I have ordered new shinies! I shall report back.

myp · **Posted:** Tue Sep 04, 2012 13:43

WTB babbling about something he doesn't have a clue about? It must be Tuesday.

WTB · **Joined:** 27th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 14497

I know plenty, you massive cunt.

myp · **Posted:** Tue Sep 04, 2012 14:12

WTB wrote:

I know plenty, you massive cunt.

Like what?

Doctor Glyndwr · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 32624

The Last Salmon Man wrote:

WTB wrote:

I know plenty, you massive cunt.

Like what?

He knows you're a massive cunt.

WTB · **Joined:** 27th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 14497

*applauds*

myp · **Posted:** Tue Sep 04, 2012 14:20

But that's common knowledge. Never has he said anything of interest that wasn't complete bollocks.

WTB · **Joined:** 27th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 14497

What about my bit about bees?

Grim... · **Posted:** Tue Sep 04, 2012 15:04

Make sure to "unregister" your copy of Win7 before swapping the MB, as it counts as a new install against the key.

WTB · **Joined:** 27th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 14497

Good point! Although a call to MS can sort that out. Premium rate though.

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22397

Is there a way I can check how many installs I've done? It's a proper boxed retail copy of Windows 7 and everything!

TheVision · **Posted:** Tue Sep 04, 2012 15:55

Grim... wrote:

Make sure to "unregister" your copy of Win7 before swapping the MB, as it counts as a new install against the key.

I didn't know this.. Good tip! Thanks.

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22397

Can you unregister though? Google seems to say no. It looks like i'm going to have to call them up at registration time regardless.

WTB · **Joined:** 27th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 14497

I've never unregistered. I always just ring them up and type some numbers in. It's fairly painless.

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22397

I seem to recall doing that in the past when it refused to think I had an internet connection.

TheVision · **Posted:** Tue Sep 04, 2012 17:00

I had to do that once when the calendar was set for 1970 or something daft.

Hearthly · **Joined:** 11th May, 2008 **Posts:** 13386

WTB wrote:

I'm not an expert on this subject, but I think it's basically down to the fact that you'll have new drivers and old drivers competing against each other - some software will try to use the old drivers, some the new. It's undoubtedly more technical than that, though.

But also, "if it works, it works" isn't necessarily true. Your new CPU would probably "work" running on your old CPU's drivers, only with an increased chance of critical errors.

(I'm kinda hoping someone who knows what they're talking about will tell me I'm wrong and explain what a driver conflict actually is.)

viewtopic.php?p=557231#p557231

I ran on that install for a good year or so afterwards and it didn't give me one single spot of bother, I only rebuilt when I upgraded to an SSD, not because the Windows install had gone wonky in any way whatsoever.

Windows 7 really does just work with this sort of stuff, it's very impressive.

Quote:

Snagged myself a bargain from work this week, one of the dudes there was selling off his 'old' stuff (his old stuff being better than anything I'd buy new) and I snapped it up.

Intel Core i7-920 CPU
Asus P6T Deluxe mobo
12GB (6x2) of fancy GEIL 1600MHz tri-channel DDR3 RAM

His asking price? £180, thank you very much.

Got it installed last night, (everything else I've kept the same, including going back in the same case), and for a laugh I let Windows boot up from my hard drive, expecting carnage. (Win 7 Ultimate 64.) I was of course fully expecting to have to do a rebuild.

To my amazement it didn't miss a beat, it detected all the new hardware (and it doesn't get bigger in change terms than mobo + CPU + RAM, with most stuff being integrated onto the mobo these days too), installed a shitload of drivers, asked for a reboot, went off to Windows Update for a couple of bits and bobs, and carried on working perfectly - no rebuild required.

Windows Device Manager is entirely happy, it hasn't missed anything, including recognising my Auzentech X-Fi Prelude soundcard (admittedly a Creative chipset), and I haven't had to manually install a single driver.

I am, it has to be said, pretty fucking impressed.

BikNorton · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 10175

I have to reactivate win7 on my microserver every time I take a shit these days

Moving the licence from laptop to laptop to the first laptop again to Microserver then upgrading the RAM and then cloning to an SSD has really pissed the activation stuff off.

At work, our XP Pro SP3 build machine died. Someone put the drive in a very different chassis and it picked itself up and carried on. Then I imaged the drive and put it in a Virtualbox - again it picked itself up and carried on. Just a few reboots as it swapped drivers around. It even managed to swap HAL from uni- to multi-core, which I thought was impossible.

The only things that will cause problems on a Win7 install are graphics card* and RAID** (maybe manufacturer-specific-HDD, like Intel Storage Matrix) drivers. Maybe Creative soundcard ones, if they even exist any more.

* UNINSTALL THEM FIRST.

** It took bastard hours to get Win7 installed fresh on the Microserver using the AMD RAID drivers, never mind attempting to switch chassis.

Doctor Glyndwr · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 32624

BikNorton wrote:

It even managed to swap HAL from uni- to multi-core, which I thought was impossible.

Holy shitballs. So did I.

Bamba · **Joined:** 25th Jul, 2010 **Posts:** 11128

BikNorton wrote:

The only things that will cause problems on a Win7 install are graphics card*...drivers

I dunno; I've recently had cause to swap graphics cards around a fair bit on an existing Win7 install and it was perfectly happy to boot up, find/install drivers automatically and then just keep on trucking even with the old drivers for a completely different manufacturer still on there. Seems pretty solid.

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22397

So, I pulled everything out of my PC this afternoon, swapped over the motherboard and CPU, started up the PC. Windows found the majority of drivers, the rest I installed off the driver CD that came with the board. A couple of reboots and I was off and running again.

Early days, but no crashes yet, so I might have fixed it.

Hearthly · **Joined:** 11th May, 2008 **Posts:** 13386

Trooper wrote:

So, I pulled everything out of my PC this afternoon, swapped over the motherboard and CPU, started up the PC. Windows found the majority of drivers, the rest I installed off the driver CD that came with the board. A couple of reboots and I was off and running again.

Early days, but no crashes yet, so I might have fixed it.

Sounds promising

Windows 7 is practically fucking voodoo when it comes to stuff like that, the idea that you'd even comprehend swapping mobo+CPU without an OS rebuild in the past would be laughable.

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22397

The only issue I had was AHCI not being enabled on my Windows install, so I couldn't get it boot.
Booted in IDE, turned on AHCI, the turned AHCI back on in the bios.

Windows even activated online with no problem.

KovacsC · **Posted:** Sun Sep 09, 2012 13:54

Power button on the case has been broken! (maybe kids).

I need a new case unless you can buy the front panels!

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22397

Or a random £2 button from maplin and a drill?

KovacsC · **Posted:** Sun Sep 09, 2012 15:29

Now it keeps powering off. I think it is dying. Time to get a new barebones pc I think. Any suggestions I don't have a clue what to look for.

Hearthly · **Joined:** 11th May, 2008 **Posts:** 13386

KovacsC wrote:

Time to get a new barebones pc I think. Any suggestions I don't have a clue what to look for.

Are you going to give us any clue as to what you'd be intending to use it for?

Bamba · **Joined:** 25th Jul, 2010 **Posts:** 11128

Or what your budget is?

ApplePieOfDestiny · **Joined:** 17th Dec, 2008 **Posts:** 8293

Don't buy anything from HP.

KovacsC · **Posted:** Sun Sep 09, 2012 16:53

Cheap. I don't play games on it. Kids use it for homework on it. I use it for iTunes.

KovacsC · **Posted:** Sun Sep 09, 2012 17:14

http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/bare ... 004cc.html is one I found.

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22397

I don't think that comes with an OS?

Bamba · **Joined:** 25th Jul, 2010 **Posts:** 11128

KovacsC wrote:

Cheap. I don't play games on it. Kids use it for homework on it. I use it for iTunes.

Fair enough, that one you linked is probably as good as any then.

ETA: probably stupid question, but does that mobo have some kind of onboard gfx? Or do you already have a separate card you can swap into it?

KovacsC · **Posted:** Sun Sep 09, 2012 17:42

Not sure. I have an ati radeon 4800 card

KovacsC · **Posted:** Sun Sep 09, 2012 17:42

Trooper wrote:

I don't think that comes with an OS?

os is not a problem.

Hearthly · **Joined:** 11th May, 2008 **Posts:** 13386

£150 - http://www.ebuyer.com/389623-zoostorm-d ... -7873-1066

For what you're after doing Kovacs, literally just about anything will do.

throughsilver · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 6197

4p discount, too!

Hearthly · **Joined:** 11th May, 2008 **Posts:** 13386

throughsilver wrote:

4p discount, too!

In all fairness that's probably about half their profit margin in it.

KovacsC · **Posted:** Mon Sep 10, 2012 9:47

Bamba wrote:

KovacsC wrote:

Cheap. I don't play games on it. Kids use it for homework on it. I use it for iTunes.

Fair enough, that one you linked is probably as good as any then.

ETA: probably stupid question, but does that mobo have some kind of onboard gfx? Or do you already have a separate card you can swap into it?

just asked the sales chat thing. It needs a HDD, DVD or GFX.

Bamba · **Joined:** 25th Jul, 2010 **Posts:** 11128

KovacsC wrote:

Bamba wrote:

KovacsC wrote:

Cheap. I don't play games on it. Kids use it for homework on it. I use it for iTunes.

Fair enough, that one you linked is probably as good as any then.

ETA: probably stupid question, but does that mobo have some kind of onboard gfx? Or do you already have a separate card you can swap into it?

just asked the sales chat thing. It needs a HDD, DVD or GFX.

Presumably you've got a hard drive, optical drive and gfx card you can swap over from the old machine though?

KovacsC · **Posted:** Mon Sep 10, 2012 10:01

Yes. I also have an SSD that I could set up as a primary.

KovacsC · **Posted:** Mon Sep 10, 2012 13:14

I am properly getting confused over changing my pc.

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22397

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B007PEI58S

Medion Akoya E1006 D Desktop PC
AMD Brazos E450 Dual Core 1.65GHz,
4GB RAM,
1TB HDD,
DVD/CD-RW,
LAN,
AMD Radeon HD6320,
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit

£240, buy it, plug it in, use it

KovacsC · **Posted:** Mon Sep 10, 2012 14:08

http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/bare ... 2204a.html

£214.99

The main specifications of this barebones are: -

Intel Core i3 3220 Processor
2 x 2GB DDR3 1333Mhz Memory
Novatech Micro ATX Tower Case
300W ATX Power Supply
Intel H61 Chipset

I can use the SSD I bought a while ago.
What is the best way to set up ssd and a data drive?

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22397

As in instructions on how to do it, or a more hypothetical what is the best way to run stuff.

Personally, on my windows box, I have the full Windows install on my SSD, and any apps I use a lot, the rest goes on my data disk. I just use the installer to change the install directory for each app I install. Sometimes I forget

KovacsC · **Posted:** Mon Sep 10, 2012 14:24

And profiles.

There are 4 profiles. Me, Mrs kov + 2 kids.

Do I set them up on the SSD or the data drive?

Trooper · **Joined:** 4th Mar, 2010 **Posts:** 22397

SSD I would expect, I don't use profiles myself.

Doctor Glyndwr · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 32624

How do you get HDMI out of a Windows PC with video and 5.1 audio combined? Does that Just Work with some graphics cards?

Edit -- research indicates that it does.

Be Excellent To Each Other

PC gaming hardware thread.
Takes down the torture rack.

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Be Excellent To Each Other

PC gaming hardware thread. Takes down the torture rack.

Who is online

PC gaming hardware thread.
Takes down the torture rack.