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Strangelove
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  • 1 month later...

So its been some time coming but the steam sale really pushed it to the forefront.  I need a bigger storage drive. Before I just nab a 7200 hdd, anyone know if hybrid drive would be worth the extra $30-50?

 

 

looking at this one: http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Desktop-Solid-Hybrid-ST2000DX001/dp/B00EIQTKAS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1388440490&sr=8-1&keywords=2+tb+hybrid+drive

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From what I've heard hybrid drives aren't really worth it for gaming but do provide some of the SSD benefits for everything else.

 

Anyways, how many games do you like to keep installed at once? Do you really need a whole bunch? I find my data issues mostly come from tons of HD video. Games are a solid chunk of course but it doesn't really seem to change much since games get uninstalled once I'm done. Personally I just run a 5400 RPM drive with my games on it and load 2 games at a time onto my SSD.

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well I actually have 2 storage drives right now, 2 500GB drives.  One has video and pictures on it, the other has programs that I didn't want on the SSD, and steam.  I tend to not move / delete games very often because the few times I have it's messed with my library to the point I've had to completely wipe and reinstall some games.

 

And yes, googling has given me the impression that hybrid drives when not used for a main / boot drive doesn't offer many added benefits as well.

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Actually, Steam for me for that reason (or any store with an account that lets me redownload things at my leisure).  I'm a lot more confident in Valve's ability to keep track of my install files than I am in my own ability to do so.  I don't want to pay for a limited-time download of an installer only to lose track of it or have my HDDs die or something.

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>not printing out all of your installers in binary and storing them in a bomb shelter

This one cracks me up.

 

I actually do keep all that kind of thing backed up on multiple drives in my computer, but the whole thing could still be fried, or my house could burn down or something.  I keep important documents/pictures/etc in a Google Drive folder, but there's not enough space for a whole lot of actual program installers or that kind of thing.

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For the most part I like my case but for some reason every once in a while when I hit the power button just right the only things that really turn on is the fans and maybe a few lights on the board and video card. I don't know if this is user error (I know I'm just pressing a button, but still...) or a hardware issue. Have any of you experienced a similar issue and if so, how would I properly fix it when it happens and how can I prevent it?

:bun-valentimes:

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It happens to me mostly when I move my computer around from say my place to my parents place. So for me personally, I think just unplugging all the cables does something with at least whatever juice the computer has left*. Also, my computer mostly will restart itself if it get caught in that loop so its a non-issue in my 2-3 years of using this computer. Sometimes though it will remain in that state in which I just flip the switch on the back, wait 10 seconds and turn it back on. Good to go.

 

*So maybe its due to something with the PSU... I guess. -shudders-

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  • 2 weeks later...

Right then you nerds, its time to help me finally get a proper desktop PC. Basically my laptop is dying a slow death and seeing as I have my own place with a proper desk and everything, there's no need for me to have a laptop to ferry around so I'm looking at building my own pc. Or rather, pick the parts and have the folks at PC Specialist build it cos I don't trust myself to handle small, delicate and sensitive parts. 

 

I'm not looking for anything too fancy but the only provisos I would say is something that is going to play anything that is current now relatively well and will be capable of streaming at the same time. Also able to do some video editing and rendering would be nice but not necessary. My laptop already has a 240GB SSD so I'd like to put that in the new pc, if I can, though I'm sure it'd mean completely wiping the damn thing. So I'm guessing a second, huge HDD would be handy.

 

So yeah, I have no idea about parts and specs so I'll leave that to you; you're looking at someone who still has the mindset of bigger numbers = better. Budget is fairly flexible. I'd like to be spending £500-600 but will stretch so £750+ for something particularly special, though I would be reluctant as I'm going to need to buy two monitors, keyboard, speakers, etc. Suggestions on those would be nice too.

 

So, yeah, have at it.

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Don't be like that Baconrath jerk and have your cheap $40 power supply die during your burn-in test because budget lol

 

Also, do you already have a copy of Windows 7 or 8? I had a budget similar to yours and my copy of Win 7 was the only thing that made me go over it.

 

edit: just noticed thats a £ and not $ but still...

Edited by Baconrath
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My recent build was just a smidgen over £600, but I already had Win7 and HDDs and blu-ray drive (oh and monitors too I guess). In general I'd jam in a bunch of components that match your budget, double check they're compatible (Mainly gonna be the MoBo/CPU to check here) and then hit up Toms Hardware and co checking out benchmarks for those components and tweaking price:performance ratio of your build. One thing I saved pennies on was opting out of the OC-able CPU saving a pretty penny since I know I don't overclock.

 

I would strongly recommend a Shadowplay capable Nvidia GPU(GTX 650+) by the way since I know you're quite into your streaming and stuff, having it built right into the GPU would likely be up your alley.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Been meaning to ask, though I keep forgetting because I don't use my desktop a whole bunch.

 

Anti-virus: which one? I had Norton 360 on my laptop, but all the background performance crap would get in the way. I don't know if anything has changed, and it still gets recommendations. However, you've got a handful more options. One I've heard of is Bitdefender, but in stores I don't ever see it located with Norton, McAfee, Kaspersky, and AVG.

 

I'm open to suggestions, even if it's "don't get one."

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Microsoft Security Essentials. It's free, updates through Windows Update and runs smoith as silk. It's also pretty simple to temporarily disable the real time scan for when you're doing things that might activate it.

 

As for BitDefender I think that's another free one, hence not seeing it on shelves.

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