Windows trial?

[MrGinger310590]

Hi guys,

I'm about to put an order in for a desktop and was wondering something.

I'm not sure about windows 10 yet so I haven't included it in my build, when my PC arrives will it have a trial version of windows installed?

My last computer did and I was able to get a copy and verify it, is that the case with PCSpecialist or will the computer just be empty?

Thanks for any advice you can give me.


Daniel.

 

[Oussebon]

The PC will have a trial version of Windows, as PCS will install that plus the appropriate drivers in order to test the PC actually works before shipping it out to you.

Note that you can also get Windows 10 Insider Builds for free. So if you wanted to test it out on an existing PC before ordering your new one you could do so.

What is the PC for may I ask? If gaming then Windows 10 is the only way you get DX12, so Win 10 is probably worth getting on that basis alone. If it's just general use, it's worth bearing in mind that Windows 7 support stops in January 2020, so just over 3 year away: https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/13853/windows-lifecycle-fact-sheet That means no updates and security fixes etc after that point.

There are (entirely legit) apps like Classic Shell which can give Windows 10 a more Windows 7 feel: http://www.classicshell.net/

 

[MrGinger310590]

Hi,

Thanks for replying that puts my mind at ease.

It's for gaming so 10 is probably what i'll go for, but I want to play around with shells and stuff before I commit the money so i'm happy I'll be able to do that.

While i'm here please see the attached build. Budget was £800 but couldn't resist the little extra for the monitor (SUPER cheap!!)

Thanks again you've been great,

Daniel.

 

[Oussebon]

No worries, glad it was of interest

It looks like a nice basic spec.

Just glancing at the spec, I would say that the storage setup is a little conventional. Why the 1TB HDD + a separate 2TB HDD? It would be cheaper to get a single 3TB HDD, and would be barely more expensive to get an SSD for Windows and your programs with a 3TB HDD for games and other files.

These are the relative price increases of various storage configs if we take a build with a single 1TB drive as a baseline:
1TB HDD and a 2TB HDD = +£58
3TB HDD = +£32
120gb Uv400 SSD + 3TB HDD = +£69

You might also consider a 450W PSU for more GPU upgrade headroom in the future (350W is quite limited and has fewer connectors than a 450W VS series). You'll also find yourself wanting to replace the stock Intel cooler before long due to the noise and it not being very efficient. Given how fiddly mounting a CPU cooler can be, you may want to shell out extra at the outset for the Titan, which adds £13 to the build.

I strongly suspect that the price is a typo But if it's not I'd go for the 30" IPS 2560 x 1600 monitor for £36 :/

 

[MrGinger310590]

Funnily enough you're right about the storage it was meant to be a SSD, see the attached for the (hopefully) final build.



I went with the 450W as I think 350W might've been a bit too borderline.

I stuck with the 27" (hoping it's not a typo!) Because I also went with the CM keyboard and mouse and needed to stick in budget!

Finally, this CPU cooler. Would you say it's something I NEED? I'd like to stay under £850 but if it's going to start overheating and break something i'll bite the bullet, noise isn't really an issue i'm more than used to it already!

Thanks for the help!

Daniel.

 

[Oussebon]

You'll want to swap the SSD and HDD around. Perhaps you didn't get this message if you editing an existing order, but ordering an HDD in the 1st storage drive slot and an SSD in the 2nd storage drive slot will bring up this notification from PC Specialist:

We note that you have selected a mechanical hard disk drive (HDD) as your primary drive and a solid state drive (SSD) as your secondary drive. Given that we will install your operating system on your primary drive, we strongly recommend that you select the SSD as your primary drive.

Solid State Drives are much faster drives and will provide a much better performance than a mechanical hard disk drive.

Finally, this CPU cooler. Would you say it's something I NEED? I'd like to stay under £850 but if it's going to start overheating and break something i'll bite the bullet, noise isn't really an issue i'm more than used to it already!

I'll let you gauge that. Most reviewers don't seem to include stock coolers in the comparison charts, presumably because they take it as a given that they won't be used. Tweakdown do, and show the following:
http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/7426/cryorig-m9i-cpu-cooler-review/index6.html



The Titan isn't in that list and nor is the CM212 Evo (for some weird reason, it's gotta be like the No1 best selling cooler) but the M9i is probably around the same ballpark as the Titan. You can see the difference between an intel stock cooler and the M9i or any of the other coolers with a 90mm fan (mostly the coolers with a '9' in the name) like the Titan has. And then for acoustics:


The stock Intel cooler should probably prevent thermal throttling of the CPU. But the difference between it and even very basic tower CPU coolers is stark. For £13.

If you didn't have those £13 to spend now, it'd probably be worth waiting the extra week or two until you did.

 

[MrGinger310590]

Thank you so much for that!

I changed them round and got the cooling, you're right going by those pictures it's the only sensible thing to do!

Looks like that's me done then finally! I'll be buying tomorrow (unless you think waiting for black friday might be worth it?)

 

[Oussebon]

I've heard that last year there was a £15 off offer on black Friday, although this offer is also available at other times with discount codes in various magazines. Up to you if you want to wait a few days or not. Given the current state of the £ though there have been a number of price rises recently. Probably won't be another one by Friday, but you never know...

PCS don't generally do big Black Friday discounts, if that's what you're asking.

 

[MrGinger310590]

Another note, the cooling prices are wrong. It says £19 £24 £29 but it's actually £7 £12 £18 so would going for the coolermaster hyper 212x be worth it? seeing as I won't be spending any more than I thought I would be? Figure I might aswell get the best of the 3 unless it doesn't matter?

 

[Oussebon]

Another note, the cooling prices are wrong. It says £19 £24 £29 but it's actually £7 £12 £18 so would going for the coolermaster hyper 212x be worth it?

I don't think the prices are wrong, I think the stock cooler just has a £6 baseline cost, such that the £19 Titan only adds £13 to the build while the £29 CM212 Evo adds only £23.

I doubt you'd get much benefit off the 212 Evo over the Titan tbh. If you were going to spend £10 more I'd get a better case.

Edit: In fact I thought you already had the "PCS DOMINATOR 6806B" whereas it seems you have the "PCS ENIGMA 6003B". The Dominator has 2 fans - one front intake, one rear exhaust, unlike the Engima which has only the rear exhaust. 2 fans would significantly improve airflow, and help keep the GPU in particular fed with cool air from outside the case. I'd strongly recommend a case with at least 2 fans for a powerful GPU like the GTX 1060.

 

[MrGinger310590]

Fair enough, i'll just go for the Titan then.

Ok, that's me finally done I think.

Thanks SO much for the help you've been fantastic!

 

[Oussebon]

In case you missed the edit, I'd strongly recommend a better case.

Edit: In fact I thought you already had the "PCS DOMINATOR 6806B" whereas it seems you have the "PCS ENIGMA 6003B". The Dominator has 2 fans - one front intake, one rear exhaust, unlike the Engima which has only the rear exhaust. 2 fans would significantly improve airflow, and help keep the GPU in particular fed with cool air from outside the case. I'd strongly recommend a case with at least 2 fans for a powerful GPU like the GTX 1060.

 

[Tony1044]

By the way - my personal opinion of Windows 10:

It's a far less jarring change if you're coming from Windows 7 than either 8 or 8.1 were. That said, there are some oddities in the way MS have decided to place various system items. Some are in the control panel, others not, for example. It can take a bit of getting used to if you're a tinkerer.

There's all the talk about MS "slurping data" but honestly - it's no more than the likes of Facebook, Google or Amazon do.

It is a rock solid OS. I've had one blue screen and that was a borked AV update.

Games look stunning under DX12 (e.g. GoW 4).

Honestly, I think you will like the experience more than you may be expecting.

 

[MrGinger310590]

In case you missed the edit, I'd strongly recommend a better case.

Would I be ok with the current case but add extra fans in the options? It's a bit cheaper, if not i'll get the case.

 

[MrGinger310590]

Also the monitor price went back up >.> Gutted.

Now my problem is that buying the bits by themselves and building it myself comes to about £750 (£834 for prebuilt) Honestly I want the warranty/security of the prebuild, is it worth it?

 

[keynes]

Also the monitor price went back up >.> Gutted.

Now my problem is that buying the bits by themselves and building it myself comes to about £750 (£834 for prebuilt) Honestly I want the warranty/security of the prebuild, is it worth it?

Well it is against the rules of the forum to advice on self builds and that is a choice you must make. For peace of mind I wouldn't go with a self build ask don't want the hassle of troubleshooting or contacting manufacturers directly if I need a replacement. With PCS it just takes a phone call .
Regarding the case, you are getting a pretty basic one and to improve cooling a better case will be better rather than adding more fans

 

[Tony1044]

Back when I first started getting into PC's in the early 90's I loved self build.

Finding the bargains in the computer press, going to the fairs etc.

Then a bit later, the same thing but online.

And it was always satisfying knowing I had done it myself and that each build had saved me some money. Back then, that "some money" was often a lot compared to the prebuilt stuff.

These days though, I much prefer the ease of letting someone else do that hard work. Also the warranty is so much clearer - if something goes wrong, I don't need to put the time and effort into discovering myself which component went, I just hand it over to someone else to again do that hard work.

And on top of that, I am so out of touch with the various configurations that I wouldn't really know where to start without putting in a lot of effort to bring myself back up to speed.

Dunno...if you're of the mindset where you'd like to put it all together and have that satisfaction, maybe it's for you, but for me...nah.

I also, to be fair, think that since I work in IT, I simply cannot be bothered these days doing it as a hobby - I just want things to work.

 

[MrGinger310590]

Well it is against the rules of the forum to advice on self builds and that is a choice you must make. For peace of mind I wouldn't go with a self build ask don't want the hassle of troubleshooting or contacting manufacturers directly if I need a replacement. With PCS it just takes a phone call .
Regarding the case, you are getting a pretty basic one and to improve cooling a better case will be better rather than adding more fans

Ahh, sorry about that.

I looked into it and this place is still cheaper than e-buyer so i'm placing the order (With the extra case, but not the one you guys mentioned because it was incompatible with the GFX card)

Thank you both you've made this SO much easier!

Daniel.