The Chattybox.

[DanFromDownSouth 1,706]

Cook hits 100 in his last ever innings for England. Fantastic stuff.

 

Really well played. Glad he got the 100, more importantly I'm glad Root finally converted a 50.

It just shows that he must have been feeling so under the pump pressure wise, as once the pressure is off ue scores 200+ runs in 2 innings.

I have a sneaky feeling he will have 12 months out of the international scene then make a comeback, once we have a decent pair of openers.

[Gadgey 4]

So, my laptop has bitten the bullet, but I don't really know where to go get a new one... Can anyone help me? Laptop or desktop, new, used or refurbished, I'm not fussed. Just looking for something with the following:

 

i5/i7 processor (Not a low-powered U processor)

8GB Ram,

HDD running at min 7200rpm or SSD

1GB dedicated graphics card

 

Or if anyone knows anything about building one from scratch and could advise me, I wouldn't mind doing that.

 

Cheers folks!

 

I built my first computer in 1980, starting with an unpopulated motherboard, a big tray of components and a soldering iron. Compared to that mammoth undertaking (hundreds of hours), slinging together a modern PC is a walk in the park. Even so, if you've never done it before it's probably not a task to be undertaken unaided. Fortunately, there's loads of help readily available on YouTube.

 

I recommend you adjust your component list to:

i5 processor

16GB RAM

120GB SSD for Windows 10

2TB HDD for programs and data

No graphics card

 

This will get you a decent PC that will breeze through everything you might want it to do, short of running the very latest and most demanding video games. If you discover next year that some game you've bought is a bit stuttery, that's the time to consider buying a 2GB (min) graphics card. Until then, you'll be more than happy with the i5's inbuilt graphics. I know this because I built my current PC at a time when graphic cards were in short supply and prices were through the roof. Consequently, I held off buying one pending prices returning to normal - all due to huge demand for use in crypto-currency mining rigs. I'm presently hooked on the XCOM 2 game and it runs very well at 1920x1200 resolution so I have seen no need for a graphics upgrade, yet.

 

Other components you will need if you haven't already got them:

Motherboard (Mine's a B250 pro)

Power supply unit (500W has plenty in reserve for prospective graphics card)

Wireless network card (or dongle)

Midi-tower case

Monitor

Keyboard and mouse

 

Only tool needed:

A phillips screwdriver, magnetised for dratted runaway screw retrieval.

[BillyWoofs_shinpad 1,884]

I like the new look site, nice and clean looking, I’ve only looked at in on iPad, but I like it. Nice work.

[OldManGravz 1,350]

Thanks for everyone's help with the PC, really appreciated it. Currently on parts picker creating a list using the suggestions.

[Gadgey 4]

If you let me see your list I'd be happy to look it over for compatibility problems.

 

By the way, I bought my Win 10 pro licence from Amazon partner S&CW (Shape and control Wear of Rochdale) for £4. To acquire WIN 10 this way involves downloading it from Micro$oft, burning it to DVD and supplying the purchased key during the installation process. Saves you more than £60 and it's all proper - the keys were all bought from M$ in the first place and nobody's getting ripped off. Nobody, that is, unless you're daft enough to pay M$ £70 for a DVD.

[OldManGravz 1,350]

If you let me see your list I'd be happy to look it over for compatibility problems.

 

By the way, I bought my Win 10 pro licence from Amazon partner S&CW (Shape and control Wear of Rochdale) for £4. To acquire WIN 10 this way involves downloading it from Micro$oft, burning it to DVD and supplying the purchased key during the installation process. Saves you more than £60 and it's all proper - the keys were all bought from M$ in the first place and nobody's getting ripped off. Nobody, that is, unless you're daft enough to pay M$ £70 for a DVD.

 

Is this the windows 10 thing you were on about Gadgey?

 

This is my build so far...

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8400 2.8GHz 6-Core Processor  (£155.45 @ Amazon UK) 

Motherboard: ASRock - B360M Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  (£64.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk) 

Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  (£126.84 @ Amazon UK) 

Storage: SanDisk - SSD PLUS 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (£38.99 @ Amazon UK) 

Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£52.79 @ Aria PC) 

Case: Zalman - T2 Plus MicroATX Mini Tower Case  (£25.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk) 

Power Supply: be quiet! - Pure Power 10 500W 80+ Silver Certified ATX Power Supply  (£48.48 @ Ebuyer) 

Software: Microsoft - Office Professional 2016 Software  (£14.90 @ Amazon UK) 

Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link - TL-WN822N USB 2.0 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi Adapter  (£12.49 @ Novatech) 

Monitor: LG - 24M47VQ 24.0" 1920x1080 60Hz Monitor  (£92.91 @ CCL Computers) 

Keyboard: EagleTec - K005 / KS03 Wired Gaming Keyboard w/Optical Mouse  (£15.75 @ Amazon UK) 

Total: £649.58

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-09-14 14:18 BST+0100

[Gadgey 4]

Your Amazon link for the Win 10 key is fine. Don't be put off by any negative reviews you might see from people who didn't understand properly what they needed to do. Your £4 buys you an email with a Micro$oft product key and there is a bit of work to do before you can use the key, as described in my earlier post.

 

I'll get back to you shortly on hardware compatibility after I have had a proper look at your list.

[Gadgey 4]

I can confirm that all your devices will work together to build a PC that will knock spots off your old laptop. The CPU will work with the mobo, the memory is suitably rated for the CPU and is configured suitably for the mobo so that's the big-cost items out of the way.

 

Your storage devices are well chosen and will give you lots of space in reserve for media files and games. You will probably set things up so that Win 10 and Office reside on the SSD (Windows C:\) with everything else going on the HDD. If you are certain that won't have any "everything else", you could even get by with a smaller HDD or even no HDD at all! Either way, you're going to be bowled over by the system boot and program load times delivered by your solid state drive.

 

You will, however, need a DVD writer - about £12 and I'll mention that Liteon devices are good value. I still shudder when I remember that I paid over £200 for a not very reliable Teac CD writer all those years ago. And that was using pristine CDs without the deep scratches and dollops of raspberry jam that CDs were claimed to tolerate back then. The BBC even did a demonstration of flawless data recovery from deliberately damaged media, possibly the first bit of fake news they ever broadcast.

 

I see you've plumped for a semi-modular power supply - very nice! A couple of things I noticed is that one of the pics shows a round 2-pin mains connector and I can't see a 6/8 pin PCIe power cable in the pics. However, it would surprise me if the PSU really does come with a US mains connector and/or without a PCIe connector. (The latter is used to supply power to your (potential) graphics card but suitable molex/PCIe adapters aren't expensive and usually come free with the card anyway.)

 

Personally, I wouldn't go for a USB Wireless network adapter, especially since the mobo sports an M2 slot for that very purpose. My mobo doesn't have an M2 WLAN slot and M2 cards are still expensive so I got this card from Amazon and, cheapskate that I am, I went for the Amazon Warehouse option at less than £9. Just to be clear, it'll fit your mobo and it works fine with Win 10, as do plenty of other WLAN cards.

 

Your monitor puts laptop displays to shame and its HDMI connector is compatible with your mobo so all is well there. The same goes for your keyboard and mouse although my personal preference is for wireless units, even for gaming.

 

Your case has a DVD slot, USB2, USB3 and audio sockets at front top, along with internal bays for your SSD and HDD so you're all set. Case connector leads and motherboard sockets are colour coded and I see nothing unusual about your configuration so it should be a (slightly fiddly and mildly confusing) doddle to hook up the case and mobo. The case's reset button usually gives me trouble but the connector is always on the mobo and all you have to do is find the little bugger.

 

I have done some terrible things to computer components on occasion and all without damaging anything - a real testament to the robustness of modern electronic components and circuitry.

[SmogDane 4,055]

[SmogDane 4,055]

Man over board?

 

Have we lost CT?

 

Haven't seen any action for a while...

[wilsoncgp 9,283]

I spotted him lurking earlier today. :whistle:

[smogsterking the Inspirati 2,490]

I don't know if anybody stayed up for the fight but my word one of the best I have seen. Fury was robbed despite being knocked down twice. How the one judge scored 115-111 in Wilders favour was ridiculous.

[Dan1234 1,056]

I don't know if anybody stayed up for the fight but my word one of the best I have seen. Fury was robbed despite being knocked down twice. How the one judge scored 115-111 in Wilders favour was ridiculous.

 

Cracking fight but same as you can't for the life of me see where 115-111 to wilder came from. Judging in combat sports is an absolute joke, corrupt as Fook.

[OldManGravz 1,350]

I don't know if anybody stayed up for the fight but my word one of the best I have seen. Fury was robbed despite being knocked down twice. How the one judge scored 115-111 in Wilders favour was ridiculous.

 

Cracking fight but same as you can't for the life of me see where 115-111 to wilder came from. Judging in combat sports is an absolute joke, corrupt as Fook.

 

Amazing fight, Fury deserved that. I've taken a real liking to Fury since his comeback, he seems more professional and focused. He was an animal before but now he also has this drive/desire to see himself back on top. There's no doubt in my mind that Fury could still unify that division.

 

The worst part is that everyone knows the scoring is a joke in almost all combat sports but they don't try and change it. I don't know if you've ever watched The Ultimate Fighter but Dana White is always saying to the competitors that you don't want it to go to the judges because you never know how they're gonna score.

 

Admittedly that's more to try and make it more exciting and to get them to go for the finish but it still rings true

[trekkers 104]

Anyone get tickets for the MLB London Series 19 between Boston Red Sox and NY Yankees today. Ticketmaster were their usual nightmare but managed to bag a couple. The first time MLB are holding games in Europe during the regular season. Games being played next June at the Olympic stadium.