Be a PC Gamer AND Build Your Own PC

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BUILd yoUr oWn GamInG pC FaLL 2013 Hardware Components

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Regardless if you’ll be gaming or web browsing, a great PC needs great parts. We’ve done all the heavy lifting for you providing plenty of recommendations that will suit a variety of tastes and budgets

How to Build the perfect pC

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Use our step-by-step illustrative guide to avoid fumbling through the building process

Install Windows 8 Like a pro

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A complete, easy-to-follow guide for properly confguring a fresh Windows 8 install

How to set Up a new pC the right Way 66 A detailed list of proper optimization techniques and must-own apps for all PC gamers

Fix It

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Having problems with your network? Does your videocard have a case of the Mondays? Check out this reference guide for how to solve the most common PC user woes

Gaming on a Budget

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Building a new PC is pretty expensive—luckily these incredible games are not

Hottest Hardware

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Every consumer CPU and videocard ranked in PC Gamer’s exclusive lustworthiness chart

the tech support Cheat sheet

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Use this convenient tear-out sheet to keep your hardware’s vital info at hand in case you ever need to contact tech support or replace defective hardware

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HardWare components 2 pC Gamer BUIld YoUr oWn GamInG pc FaLL 2013

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Install WIndoWs 8 lIke a pro www.pcgamer.com

gaming on a budgeT

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FALL 2013 build Your oWn gaming pC PC GAmeR 3

Build your own GaminG PC fall 2013 ediTorial editorial director Logan Decker editor-in-Chief Ryan Taljonick Contributors Alexandra Hall, Connor Sheridan, Katherine Stevenson, Gordon Ung, Josh Norem, Jimmy Thang, Alex Castle, Tom McNamara, Marco Chiappetta, David Murphy, Nathan Edwards arT art director Boni Uzilevsky Photographer Mark Madeo BuSineSS Vice President, Content and Brand Kelly Corten, [email protected] Publisher Ace St. Germain, [email protected] Vice President, Sales & Business development Nate Hunt, [email protected] national director of Sales Isaac Ugay, [email protected] regional Sales managers Brandon Wong, [email protected] Stacy Gaines, [email protected] Jen Doerger, [email protected], Tad Perez, [email protected] advertising Coordinator Heidi Hapin, [email protected] marKeTinG VP, marketing & Sales development Rhoda Bueno eCommerce & fulfillment director Lisa Radler newsstand director Bill Shewey ProduCTion Production director Michael Hollister Production manager Larry Briseno Production/Print order Coordinator Jose Urrutia

Ryan Taljonick

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF T

he most exciting thing about building your very own PC is that you’re in complete control of everything that goes into it. From general use budget parts to a high-end gaming components and everything in between, there are limitless customization options—the hard part is figuring out where to begin. Start by answering one very important question: What do you intend to use your PC for? If your answer is web browsing and light gaming, we’ve specced out an inexpensive build that’s sure to suit your needs. If you’re wanting a powerful gaming setup, that sexy PC on the front cover of this very copy offers powerful performance at a decent price. Or, if money’s no issue, we’ve even picked out parts for a high-end rig that’ll laugh in the face of any game on maxed settings. But regardless of your intended usage, this issue is all about the building experience, and how to properly take care of your fancy new machine once it’s put together.

fuTure uS, inC. 4000 Shoreline Court, Suite 400 South San Francisco, CA 94080, (650) 872-1642 www.futureus.com President Rachelle Considine Vice President, finance & Business management Lulu Kong Vice President / General manager, digital Charlie Speight General Counsel Anne Ortel SuBSCriPTionS To Subscribe: www.pcgamer.com/subscribe BaCK iSSueS To order: www.pcgamer.com/shop or by calling 1-800-865-7240 This Special is available only on newsstands. Future US, Inc. is part of Future plc. Future plc produces carefully targeted magazines, websites and events for people with a passion. We publish more than 180 magazines, websites and events and we export or license our publications to 90 countries around the world. Future plc is a public company quoted on the London Stock Exchange (symbol: FUTR).

future Plc 30 Monmouth St., Bath, Avon, Ba1 2bw, England www.futureplc.com Tel +44 (0) 1225 442244 (Bath) Tel +44 (0) 7042 4000 (London) non executive Chairman Peter Allen Chief executive Mark Wood Group finance director Graham Harding

4 PC Gamer BUILD YOUR OWN GAMING PC fall 2013

In the opening pages, you’ll find a detailed explanation of every component that makes a PC tick, with expert advice on what to look for when shopping around for each. Of course, we’ve done the heavy lifting for you and specced out no less than four different builds designed to cater to a variety of tastes. Then, we’ll help you put the whole thing together with our illustrative step-by-step build-it guide, as building a PC can be a daunting experience for newcomers. But what if something messes up along the way? Don’t panic—dead-on-arrival components are a very real possibility, but we’ve also included a whole how-to guide for fixing the PC’s most commonly recurring problems. Finally, we’ve also put together a list of incredible games you can pick up for an equally incredible price so you can put that new PC to work. So grab that screwdriver and get ready to find out why building your own PC is the most rewarding experience an enthusiast can have. We’ve got your back.

ryan Taljonick Editor-in-ChiEf

CPU This flat surface protects all of the CPU’s microscopic components, while also distributing the heat they generate. If using an aftermarket cooler, apply some quality thermal paste here before attaching the heat sink.

Integrated Heat Spreader

The i7-4770K features no less than 1,150 tiny connector pins, which correspond precisely with the 1,150 little holes of a motherboard’s LGA-1150 socket. You bend these pins at your peril, so only handle the top of the chip.

Land Grid Array

CPUs are rated by speed, but since some CPUs can do more operations per clock than others, this is only a general indicator. What you really want is a CPU that’s fast enough for your intended uses—do we hear “gaming”?—but doesn’t break the bank or generate excessive heat. Overclockability, the ability to run faster than the rated speed, is also nice. Our suggested Intel Core i7-4770K leans slightly more toward performance than value, which means that it’ll power through high-end games and applications for years to come.

What to look for:

A computer is a device that calculates and computes at amazing speed. And this crucial component—the central processing unit, aka CPU or processor—is where most of that magic happens. Featuring billions of microscopic transistors, the CPU breaks each task down to ones and zeroes, manipulates the data as requested, and returns the result before you can even blink an eye. A fast CPU is a key component in any enthusiast system, helping your OS run smoothly and supplying your GPU with all the data it needs to render beautiful scenery.

What it does:

Hardware

die

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budGet AMD FX 6300 BE amd.com | $120* AMD’s CPUs never quite seem to catch up to Intel’s in terms of gaming power, but for raw value they’re hard to beat. The $120 FX 6300 BE and an $80 mobo can form the core of a very reasonable budget build.

HiGH-end Intel Core i7-3960X intel.com | $1,070* When building a PC you must strike a balance between what is possible and what is reasonable. It’s certainly possible to blow over $1,000 on this six-core monster, but only the most specialized users will find it worthwhile.

Alternatives

*Listed are the current street prices, which may differ from the manufacturer’s suggested retail price.

mainstream Intel Core i5-3570K intel.com | $220* The i5-3570K was our main pick in our previous issue, and it remains an amazing combination of price and performance. While it’s a little slower per clock than the i7-4770K, it runs cooler and is easier to overclock.

Overclocking’s undeniably cool, almost like getting something for nothing. Except to safely do so, you’ll probably be buying a non-stock CPU cooling solution, additional fans, a more expensive OC-friendly motherboard…these are all costs. Today’s CPUs are so fast, too, that you may not notice much beneft. We like to OC in two main situations: when our hardware’s becoming noticeably outdated, and when we’re running CPU-hungry apps like PS2/GameCube emulators.

to overclock or not to overclock:

The CPU’s cores live here, crunching numbers and generating heat. The term is derived from the fact that larger silicon wafers are “diced” into smaller pieces, each of which becomes a “die.”

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INTEl CORE i7-4770K Price $340* Link intel.com Clock Speed: A general indicator of how much work a processor can accomplish per second. It’s a helpful guide, but newer processors can do more work per clock cycle than older ones. The 3.5GHz Core i7-4770K, built on Intel’s new 22-nanometer “Haswell” technology, is the absolute latest and fastest per clock. This new tech runs even hotter than Intel’s previous “Ivy Bridge” CPUs, though, which may impact overclocking plans. Cores: Cores are where the actual number-crunching happens, and mainstream CPUs like the i7-4770K typically have four. While the idea of multiple cores working concurrently is exciting, in reality it’s difficult for programmers to completely “parallelize” their code to take 100% efficient advantage of the discrete cores. Still, the more the merrier. Some Intel CPUs feature “hyperthreading,” which makes the PC think it has twice as many cores to work with. The performance boost is typically more subtle than the heat increase, however. Cache: Just like people, CPUs need short-term memory, so they put oftrequested data into super highspeed bits of cache memory to keep it quickly accessible. More cache is better, but any modern CPU will have more than enough. Socket: On the other hand, you really ought to pay attention to what motherboard socket type your CPU’s compatible with. Having your parts arrive only to find that your CPU can’t physically connect to your motherboard is pretty high up there on the list of crummy computer emotions. The i7-4770K supports the LGA-1150 socket standard.

the specs

What to look for:

Decide on a CPU first, as your choice of motherboards will be constrained by the socket type that CPU requires (LGA-1150 in this case). Actual performance doesn’t vary greatly between different mobos, so you’re mostly shopping for features. Look for lots of USB ports (you want at least two USB 3.0s), at least four RAM slots, 6Gb/s SATA III connectors for your storage devices, and user-friendly overclocking features. Consider the size; will it fit into your desired case? Finally, check reviews: do current owners find it stable? Sure hope so!

What it does:

More than any other component, the motherboard (aka mainboard or mobo) is the core of your new computer, providing the sockets, ports, and infrastructure to which all the other parts connect. Your hard drives connect to its SATA ports, your graphics card lives in a PCI Express slot. The motherboard’s feature set (or lack thereof) goes a long way toward defining your computer’s potential capabilities, so it’s important to plan ahead a bit and decide which features are must-have (say, lots of RAM slots) and which are optional.

Just like other pieces of hardware get regular software driver updates, mobo manufacturers regularly release firmware/BIOS updates for their motherboards. When a mobo is newly released its firmware can be immature, so the first couple updates often squash the most pressing bugs and add compatibility with more flavors of hardware. So, check your motherboard’s product webpage every month or two to stay on top of firmware updates; having the latest BIOS is rarely a bad idea.

Freshen Up Your BIOS

Your computer’s random-access memory (RAM) lives here. You’ll want to take advantage of the motherboard’s dualchannel memory configuration, which boosts performance, by inserting your RAM modules in alternating DIMM sockets. See your mobo’s included instructions for more details.

DIMM Sockets

Brain goes here. Put brain in slot. Make sure no hard pressure. Make sure no bend pins. Secure with lever thing. Now computer has smart brain.

CPU Socket

motherboard

Hardware

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budget MSI 970A-G46 us.msi.com | $85* Our low-cost AMD build requires a lowcost AMD mobo, and the MSI 970A-G46 serves nicely. With 6Gb/s SATA III, USB 3.0, CrossFire/SLI readiness, support for up to 32GB of RAM, and a user-friendly, OC-ready BIOS, the 970A-G46 ticks all the necessary boxes.

HigH-end Asus P9X79 Pro asus.com | $310* Intel’s X79 chipset is designed to run some of the company’s most powerful CPUs, so it’s no shock that X79 mobos cost a premium. But really, if you’re already a grand in the hole after your CPU then what’s another $300 for the ASUS P9X79 Pro? Embrace excess.

*Listed are the current street prices, which may differ from the manufacturer’s suggested retail price.

MainstreaM ASRock Z77 Extreme4 asrock.com | $135* If you’re going with a previous-generation Ivy Bridge/LGA-1155 build (a fine idea) the ASRock Z77 Extreme4 will provide a solid foundation. It’s very similar to the LGA1150 MSI Z87-G45, with minor variations like two extra USB 3.0 ports and one fewer PCIe graphics slot.

Storage devices like hard drives connect to SATA ports. You typically want SSDs on the 6Gb/s SATA III ports, while HDDs and optical drives can connect to whatever’s left.

These pins control a bunch of features, like the power and reset switches, drive access lights, and so on. Connect them to the appropriate wiring from your case.

Alternatives

sata Ports

Motherboard Headers

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MSI Z87-G45 Price $155* Link us.msi.com Chipset: “Chipset” refers to the electronics, usually designed by either Intel or AMD, that connect the various mobo components and largely define the capabilities of the platform. Our recommended MSI Z87-G45 sports Intel’s new Z87 chipset, which exclusively supports recent “Haswell” CPUs like the Core i7-4770K. Z87 is geared toward high-end gaming performance, with Crossfire/SLI graphics compatibility and good support for overclocking. Socket: Every few years Intel and AMD change the sockets with which their CPUs connect to motherboards, so you need to make sure your mobo has the right socket for your chosen CPU—easy enough if you pay a little attention. Our recommended MSI Z87-G45 mobo and Intel Core i7-4770K CPU both support the LGA-1150 socket. How convenient, and utterly crucial. UEFI: When you turn on your PC the BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) handles the task of testing and initializing the hardware, and then hands off control to your operating system (OS). UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) is a newer technology that does much the same thing while offering better security and surpassing some of the ancient limits imposed by the over 30-year-old BIOS system. UEFI delivers mouse-driven configuration, support for massive 2TB+ drives, and faster boot times.

the specs

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The best way to dissipate heat is to spread it out over the maximum possible surface area, which is why today’s heat sinks tend to have hundreds of wafer-thin metal fins.

Fins

COOLER The killer cooling formula is typically 1) a huge heat sink with 2) lots of narrow fins. Today’s plethora of massive aluminum-block “tower” designs testify to this: they just work. Copper “heat pipes,” which connect the cooler’s base to the tower, also help move heat up and out. Add a large but quiet fan (usually included) to blow away the hot air and you’re all set. We love the Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO. It’s been around forever, is cheap, and does a great job of dissipating heat. A true classic.

What to look for:

Thanks to the physical laws of the universe, even the smallest PC processors generate a lot of heat—so much so that they’d burn up if we just let them baste in their own warmth. Hence, CPU coolers. Intel and AMD supply lowest-common-denominator coolers with every CPU, designed only to keep the chip from destroying itself. If you want better cooling, and as overclocking enthusiasts who appreciate quiet PCs we always do, you’ll need to invest in an aftermarket CPU-cooling solution. The difference in temperature will be night and day.

What it does:

Hardware

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CooLEr MaSTEr HypEr 212 EVo Price $35* link coolermaster.com Compatibility: Just like CPUs, coolers are built to be compatible with certain mobo socket designs. The Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO supports a huge range: Intel LGA 1150/1155/2011/1366 and AMD Socket FM1/FM2/AM3+. Base Material: Different metals have different heat conductivity properties, making them better or worse as heat sinks. Today’s enthusiast designs use aluminum towers and copper bases. Dimensions: Enthusiast heat sinks are big, no lie, so make sure they’ll actually fit in your intended case. This is particularly important given today’s trend toward smaller cases. (Thermalright’s excellent TRUE Spirit 120M is a more recent cooler that is actually designed to be a little smaller.) Overly large heat sinks can also block the closest RAM slots, which is the opposite of good. Fan Specs: The best computer fans move a lot of air while being as quiet as possible, and the Hyper 212 EVO’s 120mm fan moves a lot of air while producing only modest noise. We are fans of this fan.

the specs

HiGH-end Thermaltake CLW0217 Water 2.0 Extreme thermaltakeusa.com | $90* Liquid cooling used to be the sole domain of total rockstar rebel nerds, but now you can enjoy its amazing cooling efficiency with ready-made devices like the Water 2.0 Extreme. Imagine the OC potential…

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mainstReam Enermax ETS-T40-TB enermaxusa.com | $36* Even cooler and quieter than the Hyper 212 EVO? Indeed, and for just a small price premium. What isn’t small is the heat sink, which is more likely to clash with your case and cover RAM slots. But if you can make it fit, go for it.

*Listed are the current street prices, which may differ from the manufacturer’s suggested retail price.

budGet Stock Cooler If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Well, your CPU’s stock cooler is a little broke, but it will get you by just fine if you don’t overclock and if you’re not too concerned about noise. It’s not glamorous or elegant, but keeping your CPU from baking itself is definitely a plus.

Alternatives

Your CPU’s integrated heat spreader is not a 100% flat, flawless surface, and your heat sink’s base plate is considerably less so. Air is a terrible conductor of heat, so you’ll need a heat-conducting compound called thermal paste to bridge the miniscule air pockets formed by these imperfections, enabling the efficient transfer of heat from CPU to heat sink. Most coolers come with their own thermal compound, or you can buy it separately. Check for an application guide online, because it’s no fun to clean up the mess left by an overzealous application.

filling in the gaps:

If you’ve got a big RAM surplus you can take advantage by dedicating some of it to a super-fast RAM disk (one good use for which is temp fles) and/or turning off the Windows page fle (a fle on your comparatively pokey HDD/SSD to which Windows swaps out RAM contents when free RAM runs low). There are pros and cons to each, so defnitely hit up Google before trying.

Fancy RAM tricks:

Right now, this sentence is in your brain’s “RAM.” Now this one is. And this one. Random Access Memory (RAM) is extremely fast memory meant to hold whatever data the computer’s working with at any given moment. It’s not quite as quick as the CPU’s cache memory, but it can be read and written to exponentially faster than even the most advanced solid-state storage drive. More RAM lets your computer handle more data without swapping out temporary files to the comparatively snail-like storage drives, so the more, the merrier.

What it does:

RAM

Current DIMMs have 240 gold connector pins. Look, but don’t touch.

Gold Pins

These days four gigabytes is the bare minimum, and eight or 16 will give you better future-proofing. RAM prices are at a historic low, but there’s a point of diminishing returns past which most people will no longer benefit from more. Enthusiast RAM is rated to run at higher speeds, but the difference is only noticeable in benchmarks. So, you’ll be fine as long as the memory you’re looking at is compatible with your motherboard and has good reviews for stability. If your new PC is crashing, the RAM is one of the very first things to check.

What to look for:

Corsair VengeanCe LP 8gB (2x4gB) DDr3 1600 Price $75* Link corsair .com Type: RAM standards change every couple years, but right now DDR3 (Double Data Rate Type 3) is the memory of note. speed: RAM can work at different speeds, and the maximum supported speed will be mentioned in the RAM’s product name. For example, our recommended Corsair Vengeance 8GB DDR3 1600 is meant to run at 1,600MHz. Enthusiast motherboards will let you overclock RAM a bit, but the difference is scarcely noticeable. Timings: Similarly, RAM is rated to meet certain timing standards. Our Corsair Vengeance’s timings are 9-99-24, with each number representing the number of clock cycles it takes the RAM to perform a certain task. Hence, lower RAM timing numbers are faster. You can attempt to tighten these a bit, but again, the performance improvement will be extremely minor. Multi-channel Kit: Today’s dualand triple-channel RAM sticks can operate more quickly when slotted in pairs or trios, respectively. All of our builds use dual-channel memory, which is why our recommended RAM DIMMs come in pairs (our 8GB Corsair comes as 2x4GB, for example). When upgrading memory, never add just one stick.

The Specs

Hardware

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RAM generates heat, so heat spreaders theoretically help dissipate it. But honestly, most manufacturers just use them as an opportunity to make their RAM stand out visually.

Heatsink

*Listed are the current street prices, which may differ from the manufacturer’s suggested retail price.

When inserting DIMMs you can rely on this handy notch to make sure you’re inserting them with the correct orientation. Thanks, notch!

notch

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HiGH-end Kingston HyperX 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 1600 kingston.com | $155* Only people doing specialized work like compiling or rendering can really benefit from 16GB (or 32GB!) of RAM, but it’s so cheap these days you might just want to go for it. It’s nice never having to worry about running out of memory.

mainstReam Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600 corsair.com | $75* Tricked you: there is no alternative. This is the same memory as in our standard build, as there’s little point to seeking out some other type just for variety when the primary pick is already plenty fast and, more importantly, stable.

budGet G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600 gskill.com | $40* A time traveler from even just five years ago probably wouldn’t believe that 4GB of RAM could be had for 40 bucks, yet here we are. G.Skill’s a good brand, even. Also crazy: 4GB is startin’ to feel a little cramped, so get more if possible.

Alternatives

Nvidia’s SLI (scalable link interface) and AMD’s CrossFire are similar technologies that let you run multiple graphics cards in tandem. Sounds good, but the added performance often comes with annoying glitches, not to mention more noise and heat. Do some research before partaking.

CrossFire Connector

All of today’s graphics cards feature technology from either Nvidia or AMD, and they tend to take turns having the absolute fastest cards. But unless you’re rich, you’ll probably want to look for the best balance of features and performance vs. price. Crucial as videocards are to good gaming, they can be expensive, so decide what minimum level of performance you’d like and check out some benchmarks to see which cards can supply that. Anything beyond $350 is getting into premium territory.

While a CPU is oriented toward performing general calculations, a graphics processing unit (GPU, or videocard) is a specialized device optimized to render sophisticated 3D images onto your screen. Today’s CPUs actually come with rudimentary built-in graphics capabilities, but anyone looking to play games will demand the faster graphics performance that only a discrete videocard can provide. When it comes to gaming performance, the GPU is probably the single most important component of your system, so try not to skimp.

GPUs compete with CPUs for being the hottest part of your PC, so we hold strong, quiet cooling in high esteem. Some videocards can accommodate after-market coolers, but it’s cheaper and more convenient just to find a card that comes with a good stock cooler. GPU fans can become distractingly noisy when rendering hectic game scenes, a scenario we prefer to avoid.

Fan

What to look for:

What it does:

Additional software can really help you get the most out of your GPU. MSI Afterburner is great for overclocking GPUs and taming excessive fan noise— try setting a custom fan curve. RadeonPro is a must for AMD users, offering wonderful tweaks that should really be built into AMD’s less-than-elegant drivers. D3DOverrider can sometimes enable framerateboosting triple buffering in games where nothing else can. And SweetFX is a cutting-edge hack that can greatly improve the graphics of many Direct3D games. Master these tools and you’ll never go back.

Tame your GPU:

Videocard

Hardware

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budGet MSI GTX 650 Ti Boost ($110) us.msi.com | $110* If you’re looking to save a bit on the GPU then MSI’s GTX 650 Ti Boost variant is a fine pick. It’ll run a lot of today’s games in 1080p (1920x1080) at or near 60 frames per second (fps), which is a good baseline to aim for.

HiGH-end Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan geforce.com | $1,020* Here it is: the current state-of-the-art in graphics excess. One grand gets you 6GB of memory and the best single-GPU performance available, not to mention bragging rights. But is your case big enough to accommodate a 12-inch card?

*Listed are the current street prices, which may differ from the manufacturer’s suggested retail price.

mainstReam Nvidia GeForce GTX 760 geforce.com | $255* The GeForce GTX 760 is very comparable to the Radeon HD7870, perhaps a little faster overall. If you’re a die-hard Nvidia acolyte who can’t fathom owning an AMD (you know if you are) then you’ll be quite happy with this pick.

Alternatives

This little tab helps keep your relatively heavy graphics card firmly anchored in its PCIe slot. Be careful not to snap it off when removing the card.

tab

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ASuS RAdeoN Hd 7870 Price $240* link asus.com Clock Speed: Just like CPUs, GPUs have clock-speed ratings. Our recommended ASUS Radeon HD7870 runs at an impressive 1GHz (1,000MHz), while its memory is clocked at 1,200MHz. As with CPUs, these speeds are just guideposts, and different cards can’t be directly compared. You can overclock most GPUs via their drivers or third-party software, but be careful to stop before temps rise too much or you start seeing graphical artifacts. Stream Processors: The number of stream processors (aka shader units, or CUDA cores in Nvidia land) is another general indicator of GPU performance. Stream processors power through crazy-tough math to generate the impressive special effects evident in today’s real-time game graphics. A good example is realisticlooking water: shader units at work. The HD7870 has 1,280. Memory: Videocard memory is split between two crucial tasks: keeping a copy of the current image (this is called the framebuffer) and holding copies of all of a scene’s many textures. 1GB has been the baseline rec for a while, but it’s finally time to bump that up to 2GB. 4GB or even 6GB would be smart future-proofing, considering the specs of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Bus: High-performance GPUs should go in the mobo’s fastest (generally 16x) PCI Express (PCIe) slot. outputs: HDMI and DVI are the most popular connection types for today’s monitors. It’s good to have as many outputs as possible, since you never know what you’ll want to hook up to. Our ASUS Radeon HD7870 has a great assortment: HDMI, DisplayPort, and two DVIs.

the specs

You want four things in a HDD: high capacity, a 7,200-rpm spin rate, reliability, and a multi-year warranty. 1TB (1,000GB) is a good baseline capacity, and more is better. Be sure to check other peoples’ reviews before buying; high drive failure rates are a huge warning sign. Your SSD, meanwhile, will be a lot smaller. 120GB is a good minimum, enough for your OS and some games. SSDs are still improving rapidly, so be sure to read up on any supposed bargains, which might be clearing out old models. Newer SSD technology is better.

Since RAM is only temporary memory, your computer also needs a more permanent way to store data that doesn’t get wiped every time you turn it off. Traditionally this task has fallen to hard disk drives (HDDs), but in the last few years much faster solidstate drives (SSDs) have become prominent too. A balanced system has both types of storage. HDDs, though slower, are much cheaper per gigabyte, and thus good for storing media collections and the like. SSDs are ideal for the OS, games, and anything else you’d like fast access to.

WesTern DiGiTal Caviar BlaCk 1TB Price $90* Link wdc.com Capacity: How much data can the drive store? That’s capacity. It’s important to know that advertised capacity will always be greater than actual formatted capacity. For example, a 120GB SSD like our recommended Corsair Force GT, once formatted, will actually have around 111GB of useable space. interface: Today’s storage (and optical) drives connect via SATA ports. Any SATA port will suit a HDD, but be sure to use your mobo’s 6Gb/s SATA III ports for any SSDs, along with a SATA III-compatible cable. rPMs: The circular disks inside hard drives spin at high speeds, typically 5,400 or 7,200 rpm. While any hard drive will seem slow compared to an SSD, you’ll still want to go for a 7,200-rpm model like the Western Digital Caviar Black. It’s not like it costs much more. Height: SSDs can vary in height. If you’re shopping for a laptop SSD, make sure that the SSD you’re considering will actually fit in your laptop. Just a few millimeters can make all the difference.

Corsair ForCe GT 120GB Price $130* Link corsair .com

It’s okay to make your SSD and HDD C: and D:, but we like to keep things a little neater. On the SSD make a small C: partition for Windows, no more than 60 gigs, and turn the remaining SSD into D:. That’s where games and portable apps go. The HDD becomes E:, for media/docs/data. Install any programs you like to C: and then use imaging software to create a disk image of it, to store on E:. This keeps your OS pristine, running like the day you installed it.

Keepin’ it fresh:

Storage drives require but two connections: power and data. The former comes from your power supply, and the latter from your motherboard.

Data/Power Connectors

What to look for:

What it does:

( ssd and hdd)

storage The Specs

Hardware

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*Listed are the current street prices, which may differ from the manufacturer’s suggested retail price.

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HiGH-end Crucial M4 512GB crucial.com | $400* If you like to have a ton of games installed, or perhaps multiple operating systems, a 512GB SSD is well worth the investment. Like the Samsung 830, Crucial’s M4 is a strong performer that’s finally seeing lower prices, relatively speaking.

mainstream Samsung 830 256GB samsung.com | $195* One of the most popular SSDs of the last year or so is now well south of that magic $1 per gigabyte landmark. The Samsung 830’s speed and reliability make it a nobrainer, and 256GB will give you a little room to stretch your legs.

budGet Seagate Barracuda 500GB seagate.com | $60* 500GB is about as low as you’ll want to go these days, and 60 bucks’ll get you the 500GB model of the venerable Seagate Barracuda. A good start, but don’t go too crazy on the downloading. If you’re strapped for cash, skip the SSD.

Alternatives

What to look for:

Optical drives are a commodity now, so any decently reviewed model is as good as any other. The 24x ASUS DRW-24B1ST is a reliable go-to for many, so it’s our pick for the main build. The only real question is if you’d care to invest a little more in a Blu-ray drive. Blu-ray discs will never become as important or popular as CDs and DVDs, but they are a viable way to back up a few dozen gigs of data and watch highdefinition versions of the latest movies.

What it does:

A long time ago, in a world without broadband, CD-ROMs were the preeminent way to distribute software, and owning a quick optical drive was mandatory. Now we’re lucky if we need them once a month. Still, an optical drive’s handy for installing operating systems and occasionally burning files to a disc. Optical’s days are numbered, though, and someday our kids will regard these shiny, fragile discs the way some generations look at eight-track tapes.

Optical Drive ASUS DRW-24B1ST DVD BURneR Price $20* Link asus.com “X” Speed: The first CD-ROMs transferred data at just 150 kilobytes a second, but that was a start. Soon 300-kilobyte/sec drives appeared, known as 2x CD-ROMs. Eventually they reached 52x. The same happened with DVDs, which started at 1.39MB/s. Now 24x drives, hitting a theoretical 33MB/s, are standard. Current Blu-ray drives are 14x, which for them translates to 63MB/s. Cache: Just like processors, optical drives have a bit of cache memory set aside for buffering data. Here in 2013, does a DVD drive’s amount of cache affect performance in any meaningful way? Nope, not really. Just know that it’s there, buffering its little heart out for you. Mysterious Suffixes: Terms like DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD-RAM, and so on simply refer to different standards for writing to DVD media. RW means rewritable, meaning you can write to a disc multiple times. DVD+R one-ups the older DVD-R standard by allowing for double the capacity, and so on. Again, any modern optical drive capably supports all of these standards.

The Specs

Hardware

www.pcgamer.com

budGet Lite-on iHAS124-04 DVD-RW us.liteonit.com | $16* Sometimes it’s nice to have an extra four bucks to spend at McDonald’s. If this is one of those times, save those dollars and hit the golden arches. Maybe the McRib’s in season?

HiGH-end LG WH14NS40 Blu-ray burner lg.com | $70* If you’re building the high-end rig then there’s no reason not to spend a little more for a Blu-ray drive. It’ll make you feel just that little bit more special, and your PS3 could use a break from the Blu-rays.

*Listed are the current street prices, which may differ from the manufacturer’s suggested retail price.

mainstream Asus DRW-24B1ST asus.com | $20* Okay, so there’s not really an alternative pick. Really, the ASUS 24x is all anyone’ll ever need to meet today’s limited optical media needs. No reason to switch things up just for the sake of variety.

Alternatives

Just like HDDs and SSDs, optical drives require a power cable from your power supply and a SATA connection. Any old SATA port will do, as optical drives aren’t fast enough to need more.

data/Power Connectors

Pro Tip!

fall 2013 BUILD YOUR OWN GAMING PC PC Gamer 21

1) Install Windows or Linux 2) Burn audio or MP3 CDs for your car 3) Burn mix CDs for your cutie 4) Install old games you don’t have on Steam 5) Boot a recovery disc to fx your PC 6) Back up modest amounts of critical fles 7) Rip your music collection to MP3 8) Rip console games for emulation 9) Ponder the ever-changing, transcendental nature of reality 10) Watch movies

10 things to do with optical drives:

Discs are a great backu p medium, b ut don’t so lely rely on them. T hey don’t la st forever, and you never wan t to be one bad bu rn away fro m losing imp ortant data.

Soundcards have always been kind of confusing, but they’re especially so today, where it can be hard to tell what sets two models apart (for example, the Creative Sound Blaster ZXR has a headphone amp, while some do not). User reviews, from which you can glean pros and cons, are crucial to understanding what each card offers. Things you’ll always want are good driver support for your OS of choice, a decent signal-tonoise ratio, and sufficient outputs (and inputs) for whatever you’re looking to hook up to.

PCs didn’t always have the versatile audio recording and playback capabilities we take for granted today. If you wanted more than beeps you needed a soundcard, which didn’t always come standard. Nowadays every PC has decent-sounding audio built right into the motherboard, making discrete soundcards a specialty item aimed at gamers and audiophiles. Onboard audio is good enough for most people, but if you prefer a higher-quality audio experience then a soundcard is the way to go.

Linux users can fin d soundcard drivers at alsa-p roject. org, while Window s ASUS Xonar users can fin d improved, third-party Xonar drivers at maxedtec h. com.

Pro Tip!

The ZXR features a companion card with high-quality recording inputs. It will occupy an expansion slot but doesn’t need a connection to the motherboard.

Daughter Card

What to look for:

What it does:

Creative Sound BlaSter ZXr Price $230* Link us.creative.com interface: Most soundcards connect via USB or your motherboard’s PCIe 1x slot (bet you were wondering what those were for). Internal soundcards are usually better products overall. Connections: Any soundcard will have a few basic audio outputs, but if you have a more specialized speaker/device setup you’ll want to make sure it has the specific outputs you need. Maybe you want discrete analog 5.1 jacks? Optical out? Maybe a specific input type? A headphone amp? Look before you buy. The Sound Blaster ZXR comes with an additional DBPro daughter card that hooks directly to the ZXR and provides “studio-quality” recording inputs. Misc features: Soundcard manufacturers tend to make hyperbolic claims that don’t really matter much to us end users, so you’ll need to roll up your sleeves and do some reading to discover the finer points of each product. Enthusiast hardware/audio forums and reviews on retailer sites are both invaluable.

The Specs

Though humans have just two ears, we can pinpoint sounds in 3D space thanks to sounds reaching one ear a fraction of a second before the other. Technology can simulate this phenomena for headphonewearers via head-related transfer functions (HRTF), which process sounds to simulate these real-world locational cues.

WTH is HRTF?

soundcard

Hardware

www.pcgamer.com

Most of the audio magic happens here, with a specialized chip processing all audio before it reaches your ears.

mainboard

*Listed are the current street prices, which may differ from the manufacturer’s suggested retail price.

fall 2013 BUILD YOUR OWN GAMING PC PC Gamer 23

HiGH-end Creative Sound Blaster ZXR us.creative.com | $230* The cutting-edge rig deserves a cutting-edge soundcard, and Creative’s Sound Blaster ZXR fits that bill more than any other. Its signal-to-noise ratio is a super-high 124dB, and an included daughtercard provides high-quality recording inputs.

mainstream ASUS Xonar DGX asus.com | $40* If our suggested Sound Blaster ZXR is too rich for your blood then a budget card like the ASUS Xonar DGX could be a good compromise. For $40 you get clearer audio, Dolby Headphone, and a nice headphone amp.

budGet Opting out of buying a soundcard entirely is a very valid choice. While it’s more prone to interference and lacks fancy features, onboard audio’s not the joke it used to be, and will be more than enough for a majority of people, even gamers.

Alternatives

!

ng with ing’s wro th e m o s If e tempta , resist th un d. ro a e your PSU k o dp pen it an tain lifetion to o can re rs o it c a C ap ges even ing volta ged threaten g unplug after bein hile. for a w

pro Tip

power supply Heaviness is a good sign when it comes to power supplies. The more powerregulating components in there, the better.

Enclosure

PSUs come rated for a maximum power output. Our suggested Corsair HX 750W can handle up to 750W of power draw at once, though realistically it’s best to stop a little shy of a PSU’s max rating. 750W is a nice enthusiast level, while a less game-focused rig can get by on 500W. The best PSUs have “80 Plus” certifications, which means they’re highly efficient (read: lower temps and power bills). Modular cabling is another great feature which lets you insert only the power cables you need, which helps for case airflow and cooling.

What to look for:

A power supply (PSU) converts the alternating current (AC) that electrical outlets provide into the direct current (DC) that your PC loves. Boring, huh? True, GPUs are much sexier, but you’re in for a world of hurt if you cheap out on the power supply. Your PC relies on the PSU’s steady supply of clean current to work properly, so if you overload your PSU or it otherwise starts acting up you will have a heck of a troubleshooting job on your hands. A good PSU’s even more important if you overclock or run CrossFire/SLI, so choose wisely.

What it does:

Hardware

www.pcgamer.com

Corsair HX 750W Price $130* Link corsair.com Maximum Power: Just about every device you add to your computer will draw some power, so you need a power supply that won’t buckle under the pressure. A gamer won’t want to go below 650W, and higher is better. Pay particular attention if you’re running multiple videocards, as those suckers can take 200– 300W apiece. PSUs tend to run more efficiently below their maximum output, so it’s smart to leave some breathing room at the top. input Voltage: PSUs expect 120 volts AC, at least in North America. If your outlet’s putting out something else you may well have been kidnapped, in which case stop reading PC magazines and seek out local authorities. Connectors: PSUs can have a dozen cables coming out of them, not all of which are the same. You’ll see power cables for SATA drives, 6- or 8-pin PCIe connectors for videocards, 4pin molex connectors for case fans, and a massive 24-pin cable that powers the motherboard (always satisfying to plug in). All these cables can be really messy when you’re trying to tidy up your PC’s internals, which is why we love modular PSUs like the Corsair HX 750W, as they let you plug in only the cables you need. Noise: PSUs are another possible source of PC noise, either via their fans or an annoying electrical phenomenon called coil whine. Check up on reviews to find out if your PSU’s known as a noisemaker.

The specs

HiGH-end Cooler Master silent Pro Gold 1000W coolermaster.com | $195* The high-end build will need a beefy power supply to keep everything running smoothly. 1000W will cover that and then some; in fact, we could probably stick another Titan in there. Hmm…

faLL 2013 BUILD YOUR OWN GAMING PC PC Gamer 25

mainsTream oCZ ModXstream Pro 600W ocz.com | $99* If 600W is all you need then the OCZ ModXStream Pro will save you $50. It’s only slightly less efficient than the Corsair HX750 and retains that lovely modular cabling we all admire.

*Listed are the current street prices, which may differ from the manufacturer’s suggested retail price.

budGeT rosewill Green series 530W rosewill.com | $55* Reliable, relatively quiet, and cheap, the Rosewill Green 530W is a strong budget pick. It’s not modular, alas, but it’s nice to get 80 Plus Bronze efficiency at such a low price point.

Alternatives

More and more cases provide a hole in the otherwise solid metal plate on which you mount the motherboard, providing convenient access when routing cables and installing cumbersome CPU heat sinks.

Backplate Cutout

All these expensive parts have to go inside something, and that’s where your case comes in. The chassis (as the cool kids call it) protects components from the outside world, funnels out the heat they generate, and hopefully looks damn cool while doing so. As with the motherboard, your choice of case can either expand or limit your computer’s possibilities, so it’s important to consider your expectations for the new PC and how you might hope to upgrade it in the future.

What it does:

case Well-designed cases offer lots of little clips and passages to help you arrange the cables just so, leading to optimal cooling. (A modular PSU is a big help, too.)

Cable Routing

Not to be shallow, but looks are absolutely important, as you don’t want some garish ugly thing spoiling your desk area forevermore. Beyond that, consider your rig’s needs. If you’re planning to overclock then good cooling is of utmost importance. If you like quiet PCs look for noise-suppression features. Removable drive bays and cable-management features (two strong points of our recommended Cooler Master Storm Stryker) are always a plus, as are backplate cutouts and toolless access.

What to look for:

Cooler Master storM stryker Price $160* Link coolermaster.com Form Factor/type: PCs have gone through a number of form factors over the years, but gaming-oriented desktop towers most commonly use the ATX specification. Any ATX motherboard should fit an ATX case. The CM Storm Stryker is an ATX full tower, which makes it about two feet tall. Case Material: Cheap cases will be made of lesser materials, usually plastics and thin metals. Thicker, higher-quality metals will grant heft, hardiness, and sound dampening. With cases you really get what you pay for, and “flimsy” is a four-letter word. Figuratively, at least. Front Panel: Cases typically expose a few ports on the front for convenient access. The CM Storm Stryker goes above and beyond, giving you USB 2.0 and 3.0, audio in and out, and fan control(!). Cooling: Computer components produce a ton of heat, so cramming them all into a small space like, say, a PC chassis is not the ideal cooling scenario. But we’ve gotta give the engineers something to do, and they’ve done a fine job designing cases that efficiently exhaust all of that problematic hot air. Most cases come with at least one fan, but you may want to add more. While fans add noise, keeping the temperature lower means they won’t have to run as hard, resulting in a quieter system.

The Specs

Hardware

www.pcgamer.com

budGet Antec Three Hundred Black Steel antec.com | $60* Gosh, this is a fantastic case for $60. Lots of bays, small dimensions, surprisingly good cooling (two fans), and enough space for a 10-inch+ videocard make for a chassis that’s small in size but big in features and value.

ard videoc es, so be Today’s ch in h to ceed 10 larly ex a little researc o ed d d n o t e t sure ur in that yo tually fit ensure c la ard wil e. videoc o ur ca s y e id s in

p! Pro Ti s regu-

HiGH-end Corsair Obsidian Series 800D corsair.com | $245* This chasis is massive, even for a full tower. Great cable management, good fit and finish, and a very clean look are key qualities. Is it worth almost $300? You’ve already spent two grand on the CPU/GPU, so don’t cheap out on us now.

*Listed are the current street prices, which may differ from the manufacturer’s suggested retail price.

mainstream NZXT Phantom nzxt.com | $110* Feature for feature, the steel/plastic NZXT Phantom compares well with our main pick, the all-steel CM Storm Stryker, while coming in a fair bit cheaper. Some might miss the Stryker’s side window, but we love the Phantom’s uber-sleek look.

Alternatives

fall 2013 BUILD YOUR OWN GAMING PC PC Gamer 27

Used to be that you needed a screwdriver to do just about anything to a computer, but today’s cases rely more on fingerfriendly thumbscrews, plastic clips, and the like. You’ll definitely still need a screwdriver to mount the motherboard onto the backplate, though.

toolless access

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You want a good signal-to-noise ratio, ample wattage, low distortion, crisp highs and deep lows, accessible controls, and so on. Also decide if you want a 2.1 (two speakers and a subwoofer), a 5.1, or even a 7.1 setup. The latter choices let you experience the magic of surround sound, but at the cost of added expense and bothersome placement/wiring considerations. We think a decent 2.1 setup paired with headphones for positional gaming audio is a solid combination.

No offense, but if we have to explain what speakers are then you may be biting off more than you should by building a computer. Computer speakers started as tinny “multimedia speakers” over two decades ago, but today’s desktop rattlers actually possess a fair amount of audio cred. If you’re a stickler for rumbly bass and want to potentially share your sound with others—say, when watching movies—a nice set of PC speakers could be a good investment.

Muscles convert electrical impulses into kinetic energy, while speaker drivers convert it into sound waves. Both are pretty neat.

Drivers

The magic of Bluetooth has enabled a new generation of wireless speakers, which makes wiring dilemmas a thing of the past (and possible interference a thing of the present).

Wireless

What to look for:

What it does:

speakers Creative t6 SerieS ii Price $400* Link us.creative .com Once you’re done sorting out all the usual technical specs, speaker preference is really kind of personal, isn’t it? What sounds good to us may not sound great to you, and vice-versa. That said, we’re still big believers in checking out user reviews and message board impressions to sort of get a ballpark idea of what others think about specific sets, which should help you make informed decisions about which ones you’d care to take a closer look at. We’re happy to recommend any of the speakers on this page, so there you go: your first data points. But past a certain point it’s just kind of down to what your ears happen to prefer, and if you’re particularly dogged in your search for personal audio nirvana you may have to go through one or more products before you find the one you like most (consumer-friendly return policies are a huge help here).

The Specs

Hardware

www.pcgamer.com

mainstream Creative GigaWorks T3 2.1 us.creative.com | $135* Creative’s GigaWorks T3s are another solid 2.1 set, and cost only half as much as our main build’s Creative Labs T6 Series IIs. They sound good, look sharp, and we really like the volume-control pod, which has a convenient headphone jack.

*Listed are the current street prices, which may differ from the manufacturer’s suggested retail price.

BudGet Logitech LS21 2.1 logitech.com | $30* How good can a $30 set of 2.1 speakers be? Good enough. They’re not fantastic for savoring music, but they’ll definitely add some oomph to your virtual explosions and YouTube fail montages.

Alternatives

A strong subwoofer will shatter your kidney stones but leave your teeth intact. You may need to fiddle with the settings a bit first.

subwoofer

fall 2013 BUILD YOUR OWN GAMING PC PC Gamer 31

hiGh-end Logitech Z906 5.1 logitech.com | $340* Going for 5.1 surround? Logitech’s Z906 setup is an excellent choice. Their sound is extremely clear and really fills the room; in fact, they might be a little too powerful for apartments and such. What’s the point of good speakers if you can’t turn ‘em up?

This may sound like sacrilege, but if you plan to play a lot of games with headphones (certainly our preferred method) then you may not actually need a set of speakers. This is especially likely if your monitor has its own built-in speakers; they won’t sound great, but they may be all you need to fll in during those rare times you’re not wearin’ the cans. As always, consider your own needs and how they affect your situation.

a speaker-free lifestyle?

Imagine the web without scroll wheels: excruciating. We like the clicky kind.

Scroll Wheel

mouse

Same as with GPUs, a little extra tweaking can do a mouse good. First we like to completely disable aim-disrupting mouse acceleration, a complicated topic well covered at donewmouseaccel.blogspot. com. Then we install X-Mouse Button Control (highrez.co.uk), an amazing little app that sits in your system tray and lets you customize your mouse’s buttons and behavior on a per-application basis. It’s kind of like a Firefox add-on, but for your entire OS.

Making mice roar:

Narrow the field by figuring out your preferred grip (see specs sidebar). If you like the palm grip, then avoid claw mice. Do you want extra buttons? How about a lot of extra buttons, for an MMO? Is high DPI important (the SteelSeries Sensei should please you), or will 1,600dpi suffice? Once you narrow the field down to a few, start reading about others’ experiences. Maybe one mouse has bad drivers, while another has build quality issues. There may be a few false starts, but eventually you will find your ideal mouse.

What to look for:

Who knows what the future may bring, but for now there is no better tool than the mouse for whipping around virtual guns with startling speed and precision (and we hear it’s useful in Windows too). The mouse is one of the two primary ways we interact with our PCs, so one that doesn’t track well or that disagrees with your wrist can put a damper on the computing experience. Luckily, we live in an era of unprecedented mouse variety and ergonomics, so you never need suffer a subpar clicker.

What it does:

Hardware

www.pcgamer.com

SteeLSeRieS SenSei Price $65* Link steelseries.com DPi/CPi: This is a measure of how often the mouse checks its position; in other words, its accuracy. Higher DPIs will make your mouse twitchier, and many modern mice support super-high settings that aren’t really that feasible to use. Our suggested SteelSeries Sensei can go up to an incredible 11,400 DPI, but if you’re happier at 800, that’s totes cool too. Drivers: Mouse drivers should enhance your experience, not annoy you. We like drivers that let us assign the mouse’s buttons however we like and completely disable cursor acceleration. You’d be surprised how hard the latter can be sometimes. Grip: Modern mice feature two grip styles: “claw” or “fingertip” on the smaller end and “palm” on the bigger. Some mice sit somewhere in the middle of the continuum. Which you prefer is highly personal, with the size of your hands being a factor (bigger hands may be better-suited to palm grip). Sensor: The truly hardcore will want to research the optical sensors each mouse uses, which have different pros and cons. It’s understandable if you don’t care to travel down this particular rabbit hole; it runs deep.

the specs

budGet Gigabyte GM-M6900 gigabyte.com | $30* It’s not going to show up in any CounterStrike tourneys, but Gigabyte’s GMM6900 is a solid, basic optical mouse that will get the job done. It has a good selection of buttons and a tilt wheel: nice for the price.

Alternatives

hiGh-end Razer DeathAdder 2013 razerzone.com | $70* Razer’s DeathAdder is another big fave, and this 2013 update gives its proven design a few nips and tucks. We’re not huge fans of Razer’s driver software, but your mileage may vary. In any case, the mouse itself is great.

faLL 2013 BUILD YOUR OWN GAMING PC PC Gamer 33

mainstream Logitech G500 logitech.com | $60* A long-time standard, Logitech’s comfy G500 is still many gamers’ mouse of choice. It has all the game-friendly features most people want, and if you shop around you can find it for a better price than other premium mice.

*Listed are the current street prices, which may differ from the manufacturer’s suggested retail price.

Mac mice used to have but a single button, but today’s PC mice can have 15+. Impressive, but we prefer a more modest five or six. They’re great for copying/ pasting, extra game buttons, macros, and so on.

side buttons

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Ever shake your keybo ard upside-do wn? Best d o it over a trash can . It’s gross b ut somehow satisf ying. You might wan t to clean fu rther with ca nned air.

Cherry MX Red: No click. Keys feel soft, “like typing on a pillow.” May activate keys by accident. Cherry MX Black: No click, soft, but considerably stiffer than Reds. Cherry MX Blue: The clickiest of the clicky, you’ll know when these hit their activation point. Great typing feel, but loud. Cherry MX Brown: Midpoint between Blue and Red, have a tactile bump rather than a click. Medium noise, good for gaming.

The most popular mechanical switches come from a company called Cherry, which makes a variety of switch types, identified by color.

Every switch way:

The most basic decision is membrane vs. mechanical. Membrane keyboards are most common, and tend to feel mushy rather than clicky. Mechanical boards, like our suggested Razer BlackWidow Tournament Edition, cost more but feature higher-quality components, lending them a superior tactile feel which we feel is worth the premium. Now, do you need gamer features, or are you looking for a more sedate presentation? Do you like backlit keys? If you’re going mechanical, what kind of switches seem appealing? See, we told you there’s a lot to keyboards.

The other half of your basic input equation, the keyboard is something many people take for granted, thinking one the same as another. Not so: a sturdy, well-designed keyboard can make your computing experience that much better. Perhaps you’d like an ergonomic board, like Microsoft’s Natural line, which is easier on your wrists. Maybe some gaming features, like macros and LCD displays. Or just a solid mechanical board that feels great to bash on. The possibilities are vast, but one thing’s for sure: you can do better than that sad little hand-me-down Dell.

Pro Tip!

What to look for:

What it does:

keyboard RazeR BlackWidoW TouRnamenT ediTion Price $70* Link razerzone.com mechanical Switches: While membrane keyboards have rubber domes underneath each key, old-fashioned mechanicals have actual mechanical switches, resulting in a completely different feel. Mechanical keyboards like our recommended Razer BlackWidow cost more, but may convert you for life. anti-Ghosting: Ever notice how some keyboards can only register a few keys at once? This is called ghosting, and is a hardware limitation. Better keyboards support “nkey rollover,” which reduces or even eliminates this problem. Razer’s BlackWidow can read 10 key presses at once. macro keys: If you play MMOs or the like you know how handy macros can be, so it can be nice to have them built directly into your keyboard. Backlighting: Backlit keys look cool, and are helpful if you need to check your keys when typing in the dark. PS/2: This ancient connector debuted with 1987’s IBM PS/2, but believe it or not, when it comes to keyboards it’s still better than USB in a couple ways. Specifically, PS/2 is not susceptible to ghosting. (Stick with USB for mice.)

The Specs

Hardware

www.pcgamer.com

*Listed are the current street prices, which may differ from the manufacturer’s suggested retail price.

Lots of gaming keyboards highlight the WASD keys, which is great unless you prefer ESDF.

Wasd

They feel good to press and are rated to last just about forever.

mechanical Keys

A minor but thoughtful feature, it can be helpful if your case is far away.

removable Cord

fall 2013 BUILD YOUR OWN GAMING PC PC Gamer 37

HiGH-end Gigabyte Aivia Osmium gigabyte.com | $130* This solidly built backlit mechanical comes with Cherry Reds or Browns, and has nice touches like USB 3.0 passthrough, lots of macro functionality, n-key rollover, and brightness/volume wheels.

mainstream Cooler Master CM Storm QuickFire Rapid coolermaster.com | $80* The CM Storm QuickFire Rapid may be the most popular gamer-oriented mechanical right now, and it’s a quality board through and through. You can find it with all four major Cherry MX switch colors, which is rad.

budGet Lite-On SK-1788/BS us.liteon.com | $10* For $10 you simply can’t do better than Lite-On’s SK-1788. It’s about as reliable and nice-feeling as a cheap membrane keyboard can be. It’s no luxury item, but it’s definitely good enough to get stuff done.

Alternatives

What to look for:

First choose a panel type: TN (worse viewing angles/ colors, faster updates) or IPS (great angles/color, slower refresh, pricier). Native resolution is your next decision; 1920x1080 (aka 1080p) is standard, but high-end 2560x1440 (1440p) and greater monitors are becoming more affordable. While high-res may be tempting, keep in mind that your videocard will have to be able to keep up with all those pixels. Another choice is 60Hz vs. 120Hz. 120Hz looks super smooth, but again, requires vidcard muscle. Finally, make sure it has all the inputs you need.

What it does:

The greatest videocard in the world would be wasted on a cruddy CRT from 1998, so it’s important to get a monitor that matches your system’s capabilities. If you think about it, you’re going to be staring at your monitor for much longer than any other part of your PC, so you’ll want to get one that pleases your eyes rather than aggravates. You’d be amazed at how much difference a quality display can make whether you’re gaming or browsing the web. Luckily, LCD panel prices have plunged such that a solid screen can be had for less than $200.

Display

A good stand is stable and provides comfortable viewing angles. Really nice ones let you rotate the screen vertically.

Stand

BenQ RL2455HM 24” Price $220* Link benq.us Connectors: Make sure your monitor can accept the types of signals put out by your videocard. HDMI and DVI are the two most important, with DisplayPort and VGA being secondary concerns. Our suggested BenQ RL2455HM has everything but DisplayPort. native Resolution: Unlike CRTs, LCDs have one key resolution they look great at; any video signal from your PC at a lower resolution gets scaled up, introducing blur. So, you want to use your LCD’s native res as much as possible, which is why it’s pointless to get a 1440p monitor if your videocard can barely keep up at 1080p. This 24” BenQ is 1080p. Panel Technology: LCD panels that use TN (twisted nematic) tech have great response speed (less blur) but iffy viewing angles and color range. In-Plane Switching (IPS) screens are the reverse; they look beautiful but are more prone to blur. TNs like the BenQ have fast response, wellsuited to gaming. Refresh Rate: Most LCDs redraw their images 60 times per second, but 120Hz screens double that. They haven’t caught on yet, partially due to their high videocard performance requirements, but FPS players who try 120Hz swear by it.

The Specs

Hardware

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If you’re running multiple monitors, it’s nice to have thinner bezels to minimize the gap between screens.

thin bezel

*Listed are the current street prices, which may differ from the manufacturer’s suggested retail price.

Virtual reality fopped in the ‘90s, but now hardware is fnally catching up to the idea. Oculus VR’s Rift headset, though not yet released, is currently making waves among developers with its amazingly immersive, head-tracked, full-3D VR experience. Just about everyone who tries it comes out a believer, and if VR headsets fnally take off they might start to achieve monitor-like importance among avid gamers. Oculus VR is aiming for a $300–$400 price point and a late-2014 debut, so keep an eye out for gamers wearing goofy visors on YouTube. VR is coming.

better late than never:

fall 2013 BUILD YOUR OWN GAMING PC PC Gamer 39

HiGH-end HP ZR30W 30” hp.com | $1200* We couldn’t possibly equip our high-end build with anything other than a 30”, 2560x1600 monster. Amazingly, it costs more than the build’s Titan videocard, which shows how bleeding edge it is. But price is no object, and the Titan can (probably) keep it fed.

mainstream ViewSonic VX2370Smh-LED 23” viewsonic.com | $160* If the TN panel of the BenQ is getting you down the 23” Viewsonic VX2370Smh-LED might cure what ails, with a beautiful (if slightly laggier) IPS panel. It has the same inputs, and the price is certainly right for an IPS.

budGet Acer S220HQLAbd Black 21.5” acer.com | $130* Aside from its low price, Acer’s 21.5” S220HQLAbd doesn’t stand out in any particular way. It’s a fine choice for loafing around the Internet and general gaming, but don’t expect the world from such an inexpensive monitor.

Alternatives

We like mics that can swing up and out of the way when not needed. Good work, Sennheiser.

Padding’s a huge asset, but you really need to try a headset on personally to see if it’s comfortable for your unique anatomy.

Padded Earcups

Good sound quality is our biggest preference, which means we’re always reading lots of reviews on headsets we haven’t tried ourselves. Prices range from sub-$50 to $200+, so pick a range. Connection type is important; many PC headsets are USB, which means they won’t work with standard audio jacks. How’s the mic? Will it snap off? Do you want fancy stuff like noise canceling? Finally, seek feedback on comfort level. If you’re going to be wearing these for hours, you don’t want an earache after just one.

If you ever watch a professional gaming event, you’ll notice every single competitor’s wearing a headset to block out the outside world and zero in on the action of their game. Indeed, a good headset can give you a competitive advantage, helping you isolate small sound cues that give away opponents. Then there’s the requisite mic, which (ideally) allows you to plan a strategy with like-minded teammates, or at least call them useless. Ultimately, you may find you actually prefer a headset to speakers.

Microphone

What to look for:

What it does:

headset SennheiSer PC 360 Price $210* Link sennheiser.com Drivers: We don’t mean software drivers, but the physical speaker drivers inside each earcup that translate the electronic impulses into audio. Bigger drivers usually leads to bigger sound. Connection Type: A lot of PC headsets only have USB connectors, which limits what you can hook them up to. Our suggested Sennheiser PC 360 headset connects to a standard 3.5mm jack, which lets you use it with hi-fi systems, consoles, and most either devices. Controls: Many headsets feature physical controls that let you tweak volume and such on the fly. The Sennheisers have a little volume dial on the right earcup. Comfort: Comfort is key, because you’re going to be wearing these things for ages. The Sennheisers are quite light, which is usually a plus for comfort.

The Specs

Hardware

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If you’re not feeling the gamer headset thing (or you just don’t need a mic too often) then consider a pair of audiophileoriented headphones. Match them with a discrete soundcard and you’ll suddenly have some top-tier PC audio. We love bargains, so one of our favorite sets of cans is Samson’s SR-850s. They’re only $50 but sound like they cost four times as much. And if you do need a mic occasionally, you can trot out a separate clip-on when the need arises.

Going old-school:

mainstream Logitech G930 Headset logitech.com | $105* Logitech’s G930s have a few key differentiators. They’re wireless and have simulated 7.1 surround, a noise-canceling mic, and the cushiest earcups this side of a Canadian blizzard. They’re USB, though, so not as versatile as the Sennheisers.

*Listed are the current street prices, which may differ from the manufacturer’s suggested retail price.

budGet Creative Fatal1ty Gaming Headset creative.com | $50* Want something competitive for 50 bucks? Creative’s Fatal1ty is an inexpensive way to test the waters. They’re prone to sound leakage, so they won’t be ideal for, say, a library. You shouldn’t be playing Counter-Strike there anyway.

Alternatives

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HiGH-end Astro A40 with MixAmp Pro astrogaming.com | $250* $250 is a bundle for a headset, but the Astro A40s have the fit and finish to justify it. Most interesting is the included MixAmp Pro, which lets you set voice and game volume independently and apply Dolby Headphone surround effects. Neat!

Build It

Parts and Price list* Case Cooler Master Storm Stryker

$160

CPU Intel Core i7-4770K

$340

motherboard MSI Z87-G45

$155

ram Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB DDR3

$75

Videocard Asus Radeon HD 7870

$240

Optical Drive Asus DRW-24B1ST

$20

Hard Drives Corsair Force GT 120GB Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB

$130 $90

CPU Cooler Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO

$35

Power Supply Corsair HX 750W

$130

Operating System Windows 8 64-bit OEM

$110

TOTal

$1485

*LISTED ARE THE CURRENT STREET PRICES, WHICH MAY DIFFER FROM THE MANUFACTURERER’S SUGGESTED RETAIL PRICE. ON THE BRIGHT SIDE, STREET PRICES ARE USUALLY LOWER!

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It’s time to build the

perfect pc! We show you how to build a powerhouse rig in just 14 steps! by Ryan Taljonick

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ow that you’ve got all the components for your new computer, it’s time to piece them all together. Yes, this part can be scary, and yes, it’s possible to screw the whole thing up—but don’t panic. Breathe. Oh, and punch your pre-building fear square in the face, because the end result of the next several pages means you’ll have one of the baddest PCs on the block. You’ve got all the instructions you’ll need within arm’s reach. Follow our 14-step guide and you’ll be booting up in no time. We suggest reading through this guide now so you have an idea of what to expect ahead of time.

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Also, grab your case, motherboard, and cooler manuals—you’ll need them for specific installation instructions. Plan to build your rig on a flat surface with lots of room, and don’t forget to discharge static from your body by touching a piece of metal inside your PC case before you begin. If you chose to go with one of our alternative builds (or a build of your own), this guide will still walk you through the basic steps of PC building. Take note that there may be some differences in setup depending on your selected components. And finally, have some fun!

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Build It

STEP 1 CraCk the Case A

Ready? The first step couldn’t be easier: remove both side panels of your case. The left panel opens the main cavity where all your hardware will go. The right panel gives you access to the back of the motherboard tray and hard drive bays.

B

A

The only thing that’s in your case at the moment is a box full of drive bay brackets and this rats nest of wires. These connectors power your case’s front panel and fans, but they’re one of the last things we’ll hook up. For now, just tuck them behind the case so they don’t interfere with the assembly of your system.

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C D

STEP 2 PRePaRe the Chasis C

Included with your chassis will be a bag (or box, in some cases) that contains various screws and other accessories. In the case of the Cooler Master Storm Stryker, there’s an included toolbox in the bottom front portion of the case. Find this, then grab the little standoff screws pictured above. These screws prevent the motherboard from making direct contact with the tray while powered on—which is good because your mobo would short out otherwise. Refer to the case manual to determine where these should be placed. Our mobo requires an ATX configuration. To properly seat the standoffs, twist until they’re tightly in place.

D

This thin metal plate, called an I/O (input/output) shield, comes packaged with your motherboard. Its purpose? To protect the motherboard’s rear ports from dust and Cheetoh crumbs. The I/O shield is installed through the rear interior of your case; just grab it and snap it into place, making sure the six round ports, reserved for audio inputs and outputs, are on the bottom.

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build it

sTep 3 Install tHe PoWer sUPPlY E

The first component you’ll install into the chasis is the power supply, which feeds electricity to the rest of your hardware. Take it out of the box. Notice the modular connector ports; these let you attach additional component cables as needed to avoid having a billion wires suffocating the airflow of your case. Drop it into the bottom of the chasis with the cables resting on the inside and the power cord connector facing out. The PSU’s fan should be facing the top of the case, which allows it to blow hot air toward the rear exhaust fan to keep it from overheating. Screw the PSU in place with the four screws included in its box. Finally, run the cables through the cable routing outlets on the bottom of the motherboard tray to move them out of the way.

E sTep 4 CPU Cooler PreP

F

F

Before you can insert the motherboard into the case, you’ll need to affix the backlplate of the Hyper 212 EVO to the board. That cooler’s pretty heavy, and this plate will give it plenty of support once you stand your PC on its feet. Place the cooler’s backplate on the back of the motherboard, with its insulating tape (located on each of the four legs) facing the back of the board. Find the four screws and nuts that come packaged with the cooler. You’ll put these through the front of the motherboard and through the middle anchor point on each of the backplate’s four legs (assuming you’re following our exact build—this may change depending on your motherboard). Be mindful of the flat portion of each screw and leg; you’ll need to line these up when placing them. Secure the backplate in place with the nuts on the backside. Refer to the cooler’s instruction manual for stepby-step details if necessary.

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WWW.COOLERMASTER-USA.COM

GAME AT THE NEXT LEVEL

/coolermasterna

/r/coolermaster

/coolermasterna

Build It

G STEP 5 mount the motherboard G

Now that the prep work is done, it’s time to insert the motherboard into the chassis. The first thing you’ll want to do is make sure that your case is resting on its side, with the main cavity facing upward. Look over your motherboard—sometimes they come with stickers attached to certain areas. If you see any, now’s the time to take them off. Gently insert the mobo at a slight angle so that its connector ports fit into the I/O shield. You might feel a bit of resistance here, but that’s normal. The motherboard should rest on the standoffs that you installed a few minutes ago, and the screw holes in the board should line up with them. If not, be sure you installed the standoffs into the correct holes. Next, screw the board in place with the included screws. If you’re not sure which ones to use, double check the case manual. Don’t over-tighten, though, or you’ll risk cracking the board.

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H

STEP 6 Seat the PRoCeSSoR H

That wasn’t so bad, was it? Now it’s time to seat the CPU; be sure to hold onto its packaging after you’ve taken it out of the box and plastic casing, as you’ll need these should you have to return a defective unit. To install, lift the lever of the CPU socket shield on the motherboard and remove the plastic placeholder protecting it. With the metal lever all the way up, carefully lower the CPU straight down into the socket. It needs to be aligned so the little golden arrow on the CPU matches up with the arrow on the socket shield—the arrow should be pointing down toward the PSU if placed properly. The CPU should drop in without any effort, but be careful. If you attempt to force a misaligned CPU into place, you could damage the processor and motherboard. Note that Intel CPUs don’t have pins on their undersides, while AMD CPUs do— be very careful not to bend any pins on either the motherboard socket or CPU.

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With the CPU in place (again, make sure it’s properly aligned!) lower the socket shield and secure it by clamping the metal lever into position. You’re going to feel some resistance. Scary, to be certain, but normal.

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Build It

STEP 7 Install the CPU Cooler J

Seeing as heat is the worst enemy of any CPU, you’ll need to provide a few lines of defense to protect it. The first of these is thermal grease, which improves the heat transfer between the CPU and its cooler by filling in microscopic holes on the heatsinks of each. With the CPU in place, apply a small, pea-sized dab of thermal grease to the center of the processor’s heat shield, but don’t overdo it. A tiny syringe of grease is included in the cooler’s packaging.

J K

L

50 PC Gamer BUILD YOUR OWN GAMING PC fall 2013

K

The second line of defense your CPU has against its arch nemesis is the cooler—its own, personal air conditioning unit. Before inserting the cooler, you’ll have to remove the giant fan from the side by gently bending the plastic clips that grip the heatsink. Next, grab the X-shaped brace that came packaged with the cooler. This needs to be screwed to the mounting bracket you installed on the motherboard earlier. By default, the brace is set to an LGA 775 configuration, so you’ll need to adjust it to the LGA 1150/1155 mode first (refer to the manual for specific instructions). Thread the brace through the cooler between the heat pipes and the heatsink in a crossstar pattern. Now, put the entire heatsink/brace combo on top of the CPU so the heatsink is parallel to the RAM slots and rear panel ports. Screw the brace into the mounting bracket one corner at a time, and tighten each corner evenly until all four screws are in place.

L

Finally, grab the heatsink fan that you removed in the last step, and reafix it to the side of the heatsink closest to the RAM slots. If you look closely at the sides of the fan, you’ll see arrows depicting the direction the fan blades spin, as well as where it will propel the hot air expelled from the heatsink. This placement ensures the dissipated air will get blown toward the exhaust fan on the upper back portion of the case. Once the fan is in place, plug its power cable into the fan connector on your motherboard. This should be located near the processor socket and DIMM slots, and is often labeled “CPU_FAN.”

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STEP 8 Install the Ram M

The next few steps are easy compared to dealing with a bulky CPU cooler. First up: the RAM. Locate the four DIMM slots (or memory slots) on the motherboard. They are the four thin, vertical ports adjacent to the CPU. You’ll want to install these into alternating slots (refer to your motherboard manual for specific instructions) so you can take advantage of the motherboard’s dual-channel memory configuration. To place the RAM, prop open the locking clips at the end of each slot, and insert the modules. Be sure the notch in the slot aligns with the notch on the bottom of the module before locking it into place. These can only be inserted one way: the right way.

M

STEP 9 a house of CaRds N

It’s time to install your computer’s two PCIe expansion cards: the videocard and soundcard(s). Grab a Phillips-head screwdriver, then unscrew and remove three of the PCIe slot shields from the back of the case. You’ll only need to remove the ones blocking the slots required to fit these cards. Hold onto these in case you ever need to remove a card.

O

First up, the videocard. Insert the GPU into the first PCIe x16 slot on the motherboard. Next, push the card straight down until the retention clip snaps into place. Finally, screw the videocard into the PCI slot bracket. If you ever have to remove the videocard, don’t forget to release the retention clip first!

O

P

P www.pcgamer.com

Grab the ZXR soundcards. The bigger of the two is the mainboard; insert it into the second PCIe x1 slot (one of those mega tiny ports). Gently press until it snaps into place, and secure it with a screw. The smaller card (or daughter card) does not require an expansion slot, and is powered by the mainboard via the included ribbon cable. Place it into an expansion slot, secure with a screw, and connect it to the ZXR mainboard.

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Build It

Q STEP 10 seCure THe HarD DrIVes

Q

Q

Nowadays, most cases feature toolless drive bays for hard drive and optical drive installation. Grab two drive caddies from the box that came in the Stryker chasis. Plant the WD Caviar Black inside one of them and secure it into place by lining up the drive’s screw holes with the caddy’s pins. Repeat the same process for the Corsair Force GT, but know that you’ll have to physically screw this one into place via the holes on the underside of the caddy. Note that the drives’ connectors will face the rear of the case, as to not clutter the front side with additional cables.

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Build It

R STEP 11 Insert the OPtICal DrIve

R

R

With the hard drives in place, it’s time to secure the optical drive. Remove a bay cover from the front of the Stryker by pressing the retention clips. It doesn’t really matter which one you choose to remove, as your optical drive will fit in any of them. Simply slide the optical drive into the case’s newly formed opening and push it back until its screw holes line up with that of the drive bay. You’ll need to screw it into place to secure it.

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STEP 12 CONNeCT SaTa DaTa aND POWeR S

Now you’ve got all your components seated and locked into place—great work! Now it’s time to connect your drives to the motherboard and feed them power. Start with the hard drives and optical drive. Each requires two connections: one for data and one for power. Data is fed to each via the SATA cables included with your motherboard. Grab three of these cables and connect them to the open SATA ports on the mainboard. Next, feed the cables through a routing grommet so you can connect their opposite ends to your hard drives and optical drive. If your GPU blocks access to these ports, remove the offender until the SATA cables have been locked into place. Don’t worry about plugging these in the wrong way—the grooving on the cords and connectors prevent misalignment. Stil, be careful, because you could accidentally snap the plastic connector if you’re too rough with it.

S S

T

That takes care of the data cables, but now you have to feed power to each drive. Locate a couple SATA power cables (included with your PSU). They’re longer and wider than SATA data cables. Attach as many as you need to your PSU (two should suffice) and feed them through one of the case’s cable management ports. Connect one to your optical drive. You’ll also have to connect one to both of your hard drives, which you can likely accomplish with a single cable, as each comes equipped with multiple connectors.

T

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Build It

U STEP 13 affix the frONt PaNel CONNeCtOrS U

Remember those front panel connectors you set aside at the beginning of this build? Now’s the time to round them up. Separate the small ones that correlate with the front panel LED and power switches from the USB and HD Audio connectors. You’ll want to refer to the motherboard manual to find out which connector goes where, an admittedly annoying but necessary process. Plug each connector into its appropriate port on the motherboard, and take care not to bend any of the board’s tiny pins.

V

Now it’s time for the USB, eSATA, and HD Audio ports. Plug the USB connector into the internal USB port on the motherboard, located near the front panel connector ports. (Be sure not to plug a USB cord into a FireWire connector!) Plug the front panel audio cable into the HD Audio port located on the left interior of our MSI board, and the SATA data cable into a free SATA port. Finally, plug the large USB 3.0 cord into the appropriate motherboard connector. You may have to remove your videocard or the soundcard’s daughter board first to properly install some of these.

W

The Storm Stryker comes with several fans to keep your system cool, but they need to be plugged into the motherboard to work. Attach a fourpin molex connector cable to your PSU, then attach it to the appropriate connector affixed to the case. Refer to the motherboard manual if you’re having trouble locating any of the above-mentioned ports.

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X STEP 14 the end’s in siGht X

You’re almost done! The last steps of the build involve feeding more juice to your rig’s power-hungry parts: the videocard, CPU, and motherboard. High-end GPUs require a lot of power, and our 7870 requires two six-pin PCIe power connectors. Grab one such cord, attach it to your modular power supply, and feed it to the graphics card. (Don’t forget to take advantage of the case’s cable routing features!)The cords will be labeled, and are keyed to prevent incorrect alignment.

Y

One of the cords that came attached to your power supply from the start is an eight-pin ATX power cable, which feeds steady electricity to your CPU. Sometimes these connectors are labeled, but if not, it will look similar to the PCIe cables you plugged into your videocard. Plug this into the corresponding port on your motherboard up near the CPU socket. It will only fit into the port one way.

Y

Z

Finally, grab that humongous 24-pin power connector, which powers the entire motherboard. Plug that beast into the main power connector on your board. Again, it only plugs in one way.

Congratulations, you’ve done it! For now, keep your case’s side panels off until you’ve powered up the system. Once it boots properly, go ahead and close up your case, grab a celebratory drink, and install Windows. Welcome to the DIY system builders club!

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Build It

your new pc! ed now go fe it some

bioshock i n fi n it e

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PC won’t boot? Stay calm! (It happens to the best of us)

Troubleshooting Checklist You’ve labored over every component, attached all the cables, and plugged the power supply’s AC cord into your wall outlet. You’re ecstatic. You’re salivating. You anxiously push the case’s power button and...nothing. Zippo. Nada. It doesn’t boot. Or it sounds like it’s booting, but your monitor mocks you with a blank and empty stare. But wait! Don’t take a hammer to your videocard. Instead, review our checklist of possible failure points to investigate and troubleshoot the error. The list is ordered from simple faults to more complex mishaps, but all of them are easily addressed (and each of them are readily solved without you chucking your new PC out the second story window). Check that the power supply is switched on and plugged into a working outlet. Also, if you’re using a power strip—and you should be—make sure it’s switched on as well. Reseat the ATX 12V connector and the main power connector on the motherboard. Reseat the RAM modules and ensure the RAM sticks are in the correct slots for dual-channel configuration. Check the case’s power switch wiring to the front-panel connector or use the power-on switch on the motherboard. Check to see that the DVI/HDMI/ DisplayPort cable to the monitor is properly connected to the videocard, not the motherboard. Reset the BIOS by pulling the CMOS battery. Unplug your power supply from the wall and then pop the circularlooking silver battery out of the motherboard. Wait five minutes and then re-insert. Reseat the videocard with the PC turned off and unplugged. Remove the CPU cooler and reseat the processor. Make sure it is aligned correctly in its socket (don’t forget to reapply thermal paste if you do this). Remove and reseat the motherboard, checking that the standoffs are correctly aligned with the otherboard’s mounting points . Pro Tip: A PC should be able to turn on and reach the BIOS screen with only the CPU, RAM, and videocard plugged into the motherboard. If you don’t see the BIOS screen after powering up, check these three essential components first.

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Windows 8 Install

HOW tO INStall WINdOWS 8 Bring your new PC to life with Microsoft’s latest OS by David Murphy

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ow that you’ve got your PC set up and ready to go, it’s time to install an operating system—a necessary step if you actually plan on doing anything with that fancy new rig. You’ve got a few options when it comes to the OS, but the two most popular ones for modern machines are Windows 7 or 8. Seeing as Window’s 8 is Microsoft’s latest initiative, that’s what we’ll be covering in this step-by-step guide. If you have a copy of Windows 7 on hand, though, feel free to install that instead.

Before you take the full plunge into Windows 8, be sure to have your serial key ready. Unlike its predecessor, Windows 8 requires that you have one on-hand during the installation. No trial for you! Before we get started, we’re also going to assume that you’ve backed up any data you want to keep. Otherwise, you might want to do so before you perform the unrecoverable process of wiping your drive and installing Windows 8 from scratch. Now, let’s get started!

Step 1: Configure your BIOS When installing an operating system the first thing you’ll need to do is navigate to your system’s BIOS (Basic Input/Output System). First, turn on your PC. While it’s going through its POST (Power On Self Test), you’ll need to hit the corresponding key on your keyboard that either pulls up your system’s boot menu (the key varies) or your motherboard’s BIOS (often the DEL key). If the latter, navigate on over to the menu that contains your system’s boot priority list (it might be within something called “Advanced BIOS Features”). Set your optical drive to boot first. Next (assuming you’re installing the OS to a solid-state drive), you’ll need to enable AHCI SATA mode; this, too, is located in the BIOS settings, typically in the “Advanced” menu. Once AHCI has been selected, hit enter, and then Save Changes and exit your BIOS. Your PC will now reboot.

1

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Step 2: Boot from the DVD Whether you set your boot priority in your BIOS or specifically selected to boot from your optical drive via a separate option during your motherboard’s POST, you’ll want to keep an eye out during your system’s boot process—specifically, be on the lookout for your screen to prompt you to “Press any key to boot from CD or DVD…” When that happens, do just that. It’s OK if you miss your chance: Just wait for your computer to boot into your existing OS (or give you an error message like “No Operating System Found”), restart, and try again. Assuming all went well, you’ll be shown a black screen with a blue Windows 8 icon in the center and a spinning “progress bar”—really, a wheel—on the lower-center portion of the screen. The Windows 8 setup utility is loading and might take a bit of time before you’re taken to the primary screen depending on the capabilities of your particular system. Hold tight.

2

Step 3: Entering the Windows 8 setup wizard 3A. Here we go! Once you see the official Windows 8 “Windows Setup” screen, click “Next”— you likely won’t need to adjust language, time and currency, or keyboard input settings. Before you do so though, a note: Windows 8 presents a more automated, faster installation experience than what you might have previously seen when installing a Microsoft OS from scratch, especially if you’re slapping Windows 8 onto an SSD. Don’t expect to go make a fancy dinner or watch your favorite sitcom while the installer runs; you won’t need to.

3A

3B. Similar to the installation routine of Windows 7, you’ll now see a screen with one of two options—a big, fat “Install now” button in the screen’s center and a smaller “Repair your computer” link in the lower-left corner. If you find yourself having issues with your PC, you’ll want to remember the latter. Otherwise, click on “Install now” to continue forward with Windows 8’s installation process.

3B

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Windows 8 Install

Step 5: Agree to the software license Legalese gives us a headache. If you want to read the entire license agreement for the version of Windows 8 you’re installing, go right ahead. Ninety-nine percent of your peers will simply click the “I accept the license terms” checkbox, and then click the now-available “Next” button in the lower-right corner to proceed forward with Windows 8’s installation. In short: You get one key and copy of Windows 8 per computer. Ta-da.

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Step 4: Enter Your Product Key In previous versions of the Windows operating system, Microsoft gave you a choice: You could either enter your product key at the point of installation (why not!) or defer until later, which gave you a “trial period” of sorts—free rein within the operating system for 30 full days from the point of installation, and a limited version of the OS for stragglers after that. Windows 8? Not so much: If you don’t have a product key, this is where your installation journey draws to a close. 5

selecting “Upgrade” at the top of the Windows Setup screen. If you’re ready for a clean slate, then the “Custom” installation is your ticket, and it’s what we’ll focus on for the rest of this how-to. Click the option and the installer will ask you where you want to install Windows. If you’re installing on a brand-new hard drive, odds are good that the program will recognize its big, empty chunk of unallocated space and allow you to click “Next” to continue sans issue. If your drive is full of data and you want to wipe it clean first to free up as much space as possible (which you should do), the installer can help you out there as well.

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Step 6: Choose your installation type If you want to install Windows 8 on top of your existing operating system and let Microsoft handle all the details—replacing the OS; preserving some files and settings; telling you what you need to install (or uninstall) to make the process run smoothly—you can by

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Highlight your drive (or drive and data partition, depending on how you’ve set it up) and click on the “Drive options (advanced)” link in the lower-right. Click on the “Delete” option to delete the partition, and you’ll see that the drive’s total capacity has been converted into—you guessed —unallocated space. Repeat the process for any other partitions you want to clear out, and then click on “Next” to continue forward. We should also mention that you can use this screen to set up new partitions from your giant pool of unallocated space, in case you want to save some space for a secondary operating system down the road (for example). Click on “New” after you’ve selected your unallocated space and you’ll be able to specify the size of your new partition as you see fit. If you’re just slapping Windows 8 on your SSD (the smaller of your drives), just select that and click “Next.”

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Step 7: Let Windows Roll Sit back, relax. Windows 8 is now copying the necessary files to your hard drive, installing features and—if you happen to have your system connected up to the Web—installing any updates that it can pull down. Your system will automatically restart whenever Windows needs it to do so. Depending on the speed of your components (optical drive, whether you’re putting Windows on a mechanical hard drive or an SSD, et cetera), this total process could take a few minutes. While Microsoft has worked to slice time out of the installation process as a whole—especially compared to previous versions of the OS—you could still be spending as much as 30 minutes installing windows on a less-speedy system. Thankfully, you won’t be required to input any information until the Windows 8 installer is good and done with the bulk of the heavy lifting. 7

8A

Step 8: Configuring Your System 8A. Naturally, the first configuration screen that Microsoft will send your way is one where you’re asked to pick a color for your system and assign it a name—do that and click “Next.” 8B. You’re now given a fun choice: You can let Microsoft set up most of the standard Windows options for you, like automatic updates; allowing apps to your system’s location, name, and account picture to personalize your experience; and turning on network file sharing. Just click on “Use express settings” to do just that if you’re so inclined.

8B

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If you’d like a little more control over your Windows experience, however, you’re going to want to click on the “Customize” button. For the sake of this guide, we’re going to assume that you’ll be doing that—and we’ll help you quickly navigate these configuration waters in the next step!

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Windows 8 Install

Step 9: Customize Your System You’re free to edit your system’s configuration as you see fit, but there are a few variables that you might want to set in particular ways to ensure that your system remains healthy and secure. Additionally, Microsoft’s thrown a few new options into the mix that warrant a bit of explanation if you’re going to be editing these initial settings all manually anyway. 9A 9A. First off, we recommend you leave Windows update set just as it is—to automatically install updates as they arrive. If you don’t want to have to fuss with installing new drivers for your system’s components, you can also have Windows 8 grab those on your behalf. However, you’ll likely be able to acquire them faster if you just scan the websites of the manufacturers that make your system’s parts from time to time. Leave the setting on, however—that was just an FYI.

9B

9B. SmartScreen Filter is an Internet Explorer feature that helps protect you from phishing and malware; feel free to flick it off if you’re not an IE fan. Windows SmartScreen filter protects you from running unrecognized apps that might be harmful, which could be useful or summon a pop-up when you try to install legitimate apps. Your call there. Do Not Track is great for IE privacy; leave that on and click “Next.”

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9C

9C. The next screen of options relate to just what information you want to send Microsoft. Only you can decide what you’re comfortable with here. The same goes for the following screen’s worth of options, which includes settings that allow apps to use your name and account picture and prompt you for your location as needed. Make the decision that best reflects your personal privacy on each option, then hit “Next” when you’re ready to continue!

Step 10: Wrapping it Up Give yourself a user name, password, and password hint, and you’re almost ready to start tinkering around in your brand-new operating system. While you might have heard about the operating system’s ability to use your existing Microsoft account to log into Windows 8, which opens up all sorts of possibilities for keeping your data, preferences, and apps synchronized across multiple computers, you don’t set that up on this screen. The user name and password is the standard Windows account that you’ll use to sign into your system

until (or if) you decide to switch over to Microsoft account-based authentication instead—unless you decide to use one of Windows 8’s more unique password setups, like its brand-new picture password functionality. As soon as you click “Finish,” Windows 8 will take a moment to finalize your settings and, while doing so, it’ll provide you with a little instructional video on the raw basics of Windows 8.

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First Time Setup 66 PC Gamer BUILD YOUR OWN GAMING PC Fall 2013

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HOW TO

SET UP A

NEW PC —the Right Way

Whether you just built or bought a new PC, it Pays to optimize your setup from the start

NothiNg holds more promise than a brand-new PC. The hardware is fresh and full of potential, the OS is clean and clutter-free, and you have nothing but pure, unadulterated storage space awaiting your precious data. It’s an exciting time, indeed. But before you start dumping old files onto your new rig willy-nilly, and downloading every shiny bauble of an app that catches your eye, take some time to consider a more measured approach to moving in. After all, you only have this opportunity once. The way you set up your new PC now will have a lasting impact on your experience over time. Do it haphazardly, and your experience will be plagued by disorder and regret. Do it thoughtfully, though, by following the course of action we prescribe on the following pages, and you will have a machine that’s primed and ready to meet your every need from the start.

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First Time Setup

CheCk Your SpeCS If you’ve just built your rig or unboxed a sparkling-new PC, it’s always a good idea to verify the hardware specs to make sure all parts are actually performing as they should be. We’ve seen simple BIOS misconfigurations downclock chips by hundreds of megahertz. First download CPU-Z (www.cpuid.com). This excellent free utility will query your CPU and report the model number, cache size, and clock speed of the chip in real-time. To test your CPU’s speed, put a load on it using, say, Prime95 (www.mersenne.org/ freesoft) and run a stress test. CPU-Z should report the correct clock speed for your chip. While you’re here, pull up Task Manager by hitting Ctrl+Alt+Del. Select the Performance tab and make sure that each of your cores, virtual or real, is represented. Believe it or not, we’ve seen Hyper-Threading turned off occasionally on some systems. Turn off Prime95, but keep CPU-Z open. Click the Memory tab. You should see the memory frequency reported under DRAM Frequency. This is the base clock, so you should double it to get the frequency of the RAM. For example, if your DDR3/1600 is reporting as 667, your RAM is actually running at DDR3/1333 speed. CPU-Z will also report graphics speed, but we prefer GPU-Z for more detailed info. Download it at www.techpowerup.com/gpuz. GPU-Z will generate a CPU-Z-like interface. Pay particular attention to the default clock speed and memory speeds for your GPU. If you paid for an overclocked GPU, check that it is running at the speeds you paid for. GPU-Z will also tell you if SLI or CrossFireX is enabled or not and also at what speed the PCIe slot is running. Yes, it's possible that a new machine will have the GPU running in a slower slot, which may impact performance.

STreSS IT ouT If a component is going to fail, you want it to fail while it’s under warranty. For CPU stress tests, we prefer the free Prime95 (www.mersenne.org/freesoft). Just download it and run the inplace stress test. A properly configured and cooled stock-clocked system should have no problem running Prime95 for hours on end. For GPU stress testing, FurMark (www.ozone3d.net/benchmarks/ fur) is still quite popular, or you can run Unigine’s Heaven benchmark (www.unigine.com) in a loop for a few hours. Keep in mind that stressing the GPU will also stress your PSU and cooling, so any shortcomings may crop up there, as well.

Any new PC should be able to run Prime95 for at least a few hours without issues.

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TechPowerUp’s GPU-Z will tell you what speed the PCIe is running at.

Inspect CPU-Z’s memory tab to see if your RAM is configured correctly for double- or triple-channel (whichever you chose to run), and that the frequency is set to the level you paid for.

rTFM Did you know your motherboard has a special USB port that allows you to make BIOS updates without a CPU being installed? No? Well it’s right there in the frakking manual. One of the first things you should do with your new machine is to read the documentation, particularly the motherboard manual, that came with it.

STore Your eXTrA pArTS Once you’re done building a new PC, collect the extra modular power cables, drive rails, special sound-dampening drive screws, and put them in one place. You could even store the extra parts in your case, as long as there’s room to spare and it won’t block airflow. You won’t thank us now but you will in three years.

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GET DRIVERS IN ORDER

High-end peripherals should be paired with the latest drivers to unlock all of the device’s functionality.

If you installed the drivers from the disc that came with your motherboard, your drivers are already way out of date. Any new PC should be paired with the freshest drivers available for the platform, as updates can add performance, enhance compatibility, and fix the wonkiness that usually occurs with the first drivers to ship. The freshest drivers are usually available directly from the manufacturer of the component, so the best source for updated drivers for an AMD motherboard is AMD. If you’re running a fancy gaming mouse or keyboard, you’ll also want to install the matching drivers for them. These drivers unlock the full functionality of the mouse or peripheral beyond the built-in Windows 8 HID drivers.

SET UP YOUR SECURITY

Thanks to AVG’s free AV app, even cheapskates can be safe from malware.

There’s no point in taking the time and care to set up a new PC just right if you don’t also make security one of your first priorities. Other wise, it’s just a matter of time before some form of malware gets in your system and mucks up the works, possibly even requiring a reinstall. We found Nor ton Internet Security ($80, w w w. nor ton.com) to be the best AV suite for purchase, while AVG Anti-Virus Free 2012 (w w w.avg.com) proved to be a ver y capable free solution. Before you do anything else, be sure to do this.

PREPARE FOR DISASTER With Windows 8, everything you need for data backup and system repair is right there in the OS. Combine that with a large hard drive, and you have no excuse not to establish a full-fledged data recovery plan. With a secondary drive in place (either internal or external), head over to Control Panel, then System and Security, then Backup and Restore. Choose Backup Your Computer, then Set up Backup. Select the drive that backups will be saved to, choose the files to be saved, and set a schedule. Next, choose the option to Create a System Image, an exact copy of your drive—OS, system settings, program files, etc.—to use in the event your drive fails or your system stops working. Finally, opt to Create a System Repair Disc. This disc will save your bacon should your machine not start, allowing you to boot your computer from the optical drive and then retrieve the system image and backups you’ve dutifully created.

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DECRAPIFY YOUR PC When you build a new PC, you have full control over the software that gets installed. Not so when you buy a system, which is practically guaranteed to host a number of apps you have little use for, or that slow your PC’s performance, or that constantly pester you with pop-ups. Get rid of that crap with PC Decrapifier (www.pcdecrapifier.com). The free tool walks you through the process of removing unnecessary programs, startup items, and icons.

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First Time Setup

TRANSFER YOUR FILES, EASILY It’s time to sully that pristine PC with craploads of junk from your old PC. Power users normally go manual by popping the old PC’s drive into a spare SATA port on the new rig. This lets you pick and choose what’s really worth moving. If you’d rather just do it on autopilot, check out Microsoft’s free Easy Transfer utility. It’s meant for newbies, but it can make the move to a new machine fairly painless. Run Windows Easy Transfer on your new PC (Search > Windows Easy Transfer), and it will give you options for the move: USB hard drive, the network, or an optional USB cable. The utility will ask you to insert a USB key where an executable will be installed. Run this executable on your old box, and it will package up all of the files into a single file that will be stored on an HDD or moved across the network to your new PC, where everything is unloaded into its proper place.

TIPS FOR TRICKIER FILE TRANSFERS

STEAM GAMES

On your old PC, go to your Steam folder (C:\Program Files\Steam, by default) and copy the steamapps folder and its contents to your external drive. On your new computer, install Steam and launch it once, then exit it. Go to the Steam folder and delete everything in it except for steam.exe. Now copy the steamapps folder from your old PC into the Steam folder on your new PC, and launch steam.exe again. After a brief self-update, Steam should show your games as installed. You’ll have to do a quick file-verify as you launch each game for the first time, but that’s a lot faster than downloading them all over again.

GAME SAVES

Not all your games come from Steam, and not all that do have Steam Cloud to manage their saves. And it seems every publisher has a different method of storing saved games. That’s where GameSave Manager (free, www.gamesave-manager.com) comes in. Run GameSave Manager on your old computer, and it will auto-detect the games you have installed, find out where the game saves are, and back them up, all via the Backup Gamesave(s) menu. Once you have a backup archive (a .gsba file), you can move it to your new computer and use GameSave Manager to automatically restore all your saves.

Moving documents from one computer to another is usually just a matter of copying-and-pasting onto an external hard drive and then to your new PC. That’s fine for office docs and photos, but what about apps that build media libraries, like iTunes and Steam, or saved games, which go wherever the publisher feels like putting them?

iTUNES

If you’re using an iDevice, you might be stuck with iTunes as a media manager. Here’s how to move your music and other media (and keep your ratings, playlists, etc.) without having to rebuild your library. First, open iTunes and go to File > Library > Organize Library > Consolidate Files. This will ensure that all your music is in one place. Once done, exit iTunes. Copy your iTunes folder, which should be under My Music (unless you’ve moved it) to your external drive. If you’re decommissioning your old PC, be sure to deauthorize that computer from your iTunes account. Open iTunes again and go to Store > Deauthorize This Computer. Enter your Apple ID and password. Install iTunes on your new computer, and then copy the iTunes folder from your external drive to the Music folder of your new computer. Next time you open iTunes, hold down Shift while you double-click the launcher. You’ll be prompted to choose an iTunes library; look for iTunes Library.itl in the folder you just copied to your PC. You should now have your library, with ratings and playlists intact, on your new PC.

GameSave Manager hunts down all those weird game save directories and lets you back them up easily.

Hold Shift while launching iTunes to manually select your library file.

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CONFIGURE AUDIO By default, most motherboards and soundcards come configured for stereo speaker output. By default, most gamers today play with headphones. The problem is that most advanced audio cards feature algorithms tuned for the output mode. Cool features such as head-related transfer functions (HRTFs) and other filters that greatly enhance sound for headphones don’t get used unless you set the driver accordingly. To do this, just dig into your soundcard’s control panel and set the default to Headphones for the best experience.

DISABLE ACCESSIBILITY SHORTCUTS Windows comes with a host of accessibility features that can be a great help for people with disabilities or other difficulties using computer hardware. There are keyboard shortcuts for some of these options, but the shortcuts are easy to perform accidentally, and can pop up unwanted dialogue boxes. These shortcuts are: > Press shift five times: StickyKeys > Hold right-shift for eight seconds: FilterKeys > Hold num lock for five seconds: ToggleKeys You can disable each shortcut individually by performing it, then choosing to turn off the shortcut, or you can disable them all in one fell swoop in Control Panel > Ease of Access Center > Make the keyboard easier to use.

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CALIBRATE YOUR MONITOR If you got a new display with your new PC (or if you’ve never taken the time to adjust your old monitor), it might be badly calibrated, degrading the image quality you see. For a quick-and-dirty fix, you can run the calibration software built in to Windows by clicking the Search button, then entering DCCW into the search bar. The program will run you through several simple calibration exercises, and adjust your monitor appropriately. For a more thorough calibration, we recommend that you use high-quality calibration test images, such as those found at www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/.

ADJUST YOUR POWER SETTINGS Whether you’re looking to save the environment, or just your battery life, you should pay a visit to your new PC’s power options. If you open the Control Panel, then select Hardware and Sound, and then Power Options, you’ll see the available power profiles. You can select one of the available profiles, or change your screen's brightness from this menu, but if you want more control, you’ll need to select a profile and click the link that says “Change plan settings.” A new menu will pop up, where you can change how long the computer waits before it dims the display, turns off the display, or goes to sleep. Even more options can be found by clicking the advanced power settings button.

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First Time Setup

TIDY UP YOUR INSIDES your computer has a lot of cables inside, from front-panel connectors to sata and power cables. if your case doesn’t have a window, it might be tempting to just leave a rat's nest of wiring inside, but there are substantial benefits to an uncluttered chassis—better cooling and less dust, for example. if you bought your PC from a boutique builder, it should have come with a decent wiring job, but if you built your own or bought an off-the-shelf system, there’s likely room for improvement. many modern cases have cable-routing cutouts in the motherboard tray, and room behind it to route cables. you should route as many wires as you can behind the motherboard tray— usually your motherboard power cables, at least, can go back here. route as many power cables from your Psu behind the motherboard and bring them back out near where they need to plug in; you can dramatically reduce clutter in your case this way. if you don’t have any cutouts in your motherboard tray, you can still use zip ties to keep your cables organized and out of the way. you can also buy stick-on organizing clips to keep your cables attached to your motherboard tray, not hanging out in the middle of your case. if you have a modular power supply, disconnect (and keep in a safe place) any cables you’re not using. if you don’t, use zip ties to bundle unused cables together, and try to keep them out of the way of your fans’ airflow.

Sloppy wiring can create pockets of hot air and dust in your case.

Routing cables behind the motherboard tray (if possible) can lead to a much cleaner and cooler build.

Must-Have apps and utilities

No PC is ComPlete without these key Programs GooGle Chrome

Dropbox

If you find yourself using more than one computing device daily, Dropbox makes it easy to share documents across all those devices, including smartphones. www.dropbox.com

a password manager, allowing you to store all your passwords (e.g., email, Facebook, online banking) in a single and secure database that can only be accessed by you. www.keepass.info revo UninSTAller

STeAm This

KeepASS Using top-of-the-line encryption algorithms AES and Twofish, KeePass acts as

Google Chrome remains the singlefastest web browser out there. Couple that with exclusive apps and a fully customizable web interface, and you’ve got a browser that no PC should be without. www.google.com/chrome is a must-have application for PC gamers. Through Steam, you can download just about any title (often for a good deal!), and it stores all your games and save files in one convenient location. www.steampowered.com Revo Uninstaller

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These days, it’s simply not enough to use Windows to uninstall

your programs, as harmful remnants can be left behind. Enter Revo Uninstaller, a free app that not only uninstalls software, but allows you to manually remove additional data left behind. www.revouninstaller.com SKype

Installing Skype allows you to talk face to face with anyone, anywhere, so long as they have the software and a webcam. Skype also allows you to set video conference calls, call mobile devices, and make international calls for additional fees. www.skype.com

SUmATrA pDF Sumatra PDF is a free PDF creator and viewer

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Hot Air Cold Air

Provide a consistent airflow pattern for your case. Here, cool air enters at the bottom and exits through the top and rear.

7-Zip 7-Zip is a fast, free file archiver that can pack and unpack a huge range of files, from ZIP to TAR files. It features an extremely easyto-use interface that presents users with all facets of the unzipped file, automatically organized by folders. www.7-zip.org

Skype

FileZilla If you need to connect to an FTP server, FileZilla is the best way to go. It’s easy to use and highly customizable—you can even configure your own transferspeed limits and transfer up to 4GB of files. www.filezilla-project.org Digsby With Digsby you can

for Windows. It’s a relatively small file, starts up extremely quickly, and is tremendously easy to use. It can also read XPS, DjVu, CBZ, and CBR files. bit.ly/aHICnC

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consolidate all of your instant messaging accounts into one centralized hub, supporting AIM, Digsby

OPTIMIZE YOUR FAN SETUP Your components will last longer if they run at lower tem‑ peratures. They will run at lower temperatures if they have sufficient airflow. That’s science. Your case should have both intake and exhaust fans. You’ll need at least one front intake fan and one rear ex‑ haust fan. Many cases have additional intake fans on the front or left side, and additional exhaust fans at the top of the case. This helps keep hot air moving up and out of your case. You should have roughly the same num‑ ber of exhaust fans as intake fans, and you should make sure they’re in places that make sense, to create obvious paths for the air. Don’t create dead zones where hot air can stay trapped. If your case has filters for its intake fans, clean them regularly. If not, dust inside your case regularly with canned air. Many motherboards offer fan control in their BIOS set‑ tings; you can set your fans to ramp up when your system gets hot and ramp down when it’s cool, or you can wire your fans to a fan controller and set their levels yourself. Most motherboard manufacturers also offer a desktop fan‑control utility for use with their boards. Simple fan controllers just offer speed control; others, like NZXT’s Sentry series, also include temperature sensors, which you can use to automatically control fan speeds based on the temperature of various parts of your system.

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware

MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, and Google Talk. It’s also a handy notification tool for personal email. www.digsby.com Malwarebytes’ anti-Malware

Yes, you already have an AV program (right?), but it never hurts to have a second opinion or line of defense. For us, that’s Malwarebytes’ AntiMalware Free. It doesn’t run auto scans, so it won’t conflict with your other AV solution. www.malwarebytes.org superantispyware You could say that SuperAntiSpyware is the third prong in our three-prong approach to PC security. Like Malwarebytes’, it provides yet another line of defense. And it’s free, so why not avail your PC of this extra layer of protection? www.superantispyware.com

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Fix it! WindoWs Won’t boot. Your hard drive Won’t spin and Your internet is sloW. no this ain’t no countrY song, it’s What happens When things on Your pc break. We tackle the five most pressing problems in each major component category!

I

t’s happened to us all. You get home from a long day at work and you want to blow off some steam with an hour of gaming or maybe browsing the web, but when you tap your mouse button or punch the power switch, the unthinkable happens. You’re SOL. Whether the system is red-lining, the OS is BSODing, or your Internet is crawling on all fours, this frustration is familiar to any person who drives a PC. You’re faced with a problem that stops

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you dead in your tracks. If you’re a salty self-tech, you run through your proverbial checklist of areas to look at. But not everyone is so experienced, and even old hands have holes in their troubleshooting repertoire. So, in the interest of providing the most useful advice to the greatest number of people, we’ve compiled a list of the top five problems that could impact each of your computer’s major hardware or software subsystems and our best advice on how to fix them.

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Storage

What to do when your hard disk is dying and your SSD is sputtering

Problem: Hard drive disaPPears solution: If it’s a drive that was previously visible, the first step is to see if the drive shows up in the BIOS (check under Boot). If not, swap out the SATA and/or power cables. If the drive shows up, run CHKDSK on it by right-clicking the drive in My Computer, choosing Properties, then the Tools tab, and then “Check now” and “Automatically fix file systems errors.” If the drive continues to give a ton of errors, and is behaving erratically but is visible in Windows, copy all data off it immediately if you can, or run Data Recovery on it STAT. If the drive is not visible in Windows, your options are limited to the Freezer Trick (an hour or so of extreme cold sometimes sets things straight) or expensive forensic-style data recovery. If this is a brand-new drive that’s not showing up, you need to initialize it first. Right-click My Computer and select Manage, then Disk Management and follow the prompts.

solution: This is usually an issue with 3TB or 4TB drives, as 2TB drives should have zero issues in Win7 (WinXP users might have to download a utility from the drive’s manufacturer to allow for a drive with 4K sectors). Out of the box these 3/4TB drives are typically MBR disks, which limits a partition to 2TB (actually, 1.8TB or so) relegating the rest to a separate partition. If you want the full capacity in one partition, you need to convert the disk to GPT. To do this, type cmd at the Start search box; at the prompt type diskpart, then list disk, then select disk X (substituting X for your drive number), then convert gPt. Now go to Disk Management and create your massive single partition.

Problem: ssd PerFormance is slow solution: If you’re using a hard drive and it feels slow, don’t worry; that’s how they are for the most part. If you’re using an SSD and its slow, there is a problem. If you’re not sure if it’s slower than spec, download CrystalDiskMark and see what kind of sequential-read/write speeds you are getting. Second, make sure the drive is connected to the native SATA 6Gb/s ports on the motherboard. You can’t rely on color, only your mobo manual, to tell. Third, go into the BIOS and make sure the SATA port for that drive is set to AHCI mode instead of IDE mode, as that will usually give you better performance.

Problem: aHci causes bsod solution:

Problem: oPtical drive disaPPears solution: This classic conundrum involves either a missing drive or one that stops functioning suddenly. Put on your big-boy pants and type regedit in the Start menu search box, then navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\ Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}. If you see an entry named UpperFilters, delete it. If you see an entry named LowerFilters, delete it. Once you’ve done this, exit Regedit and reboot your system. In most scenarios, your optical drive will reappear and/or magically begin working again. Note that you may have to reinstall software that accesses the optical drive (e.g., burning software) to get back to 100 percent functionality.

Sometimes, people install Windows 7 without AHCI enabled, only to find out that enabling it after the install causes a BSOD. To fix this, you have to edit the registry. Press Windows + R key, type regedit, then navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\msahci. Then right-click the word Start on the right-side and click Modify. Change the value in the window to “0” and click OK. Exit Regedit, reboot the system, and change your SATA controller to AHCI; you will boot right into Windows.

Problem: drive not rePorting Full caPacity

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USB

What to do when it won’t plug nor play

Problem: Some USb PortS Don’t Work SolUtion: Nonfunctional USB ports could be caused by a few things. If the ports are front-mounted, make sure the internal cables are connected properly and that the requisite USB header is enabled in your system BIOS. If the ports are soldered on the motherboard (and enabled), open up Device Manager and see if any USB root controller or hubs are reporting a problem. If so, a driver update/reinstallation may resolve the issue. It’s also possible that the physical connectors have been damaged (or a fuse has blown), in which case you’ll need to replace your motherboard— hopefully it’s still under warranty. If the USB ports are associated with a third-party controller, be sure its drivers are installed, because Windows may not recognize the controller automatically.

Problem: CHarging PHone over PC’S USb Port takeS Forever SolUtion: Standard USB 2.0 ports connected on a root hub have to share 500mA of current (USB 3.0 powers up to 900mA). If you’ve got a bunch of USB devices connected and the port your phone is plugged into is competing for limited power, it will take much longer than normal to charge. Try plugging the phone into a different port (preferably USB 3.0, if possible) or disconnecting other USB devices while charging. It’s worth noting that some motherboard manufacturers—such as Gigabyte—have begun incorporating high-powered USB ports that can deliver up to 2.7A of current onto their boards. If you want to rapidly charge devices while they’re connected to your system, it may be worth checking out one of these boards.

Problem: SloW File tranSFer over USb SolUtion: Windows Vista and 7 have some known USB performance issues, so the first thing to do is run Windows Update and make sure your OS is fully patched. We’d also advise installing the latest drivers for your motherboard’s chipset and any discrete USB controllers. You could also try setting the USB drive to performance mode. Open Device Manager, right-click the USB drive, and choose Properties from the menu. In the resulting window, click the Policies tab and tick the option labeled “Better performance.” Please note, this feature will enable write caching, so you’ll have to use the Safely Remove Hardware option when disconnecting the drive to prevent any data loss.

Problem: USb DeviCe iS not reCognizeD SolUtion: USB devices are usually as plug-and-play as you

Problem: USb HUb DoeSn’t Work

can get, but if a particular device isn’t recognized properly, it may be incompatible with your USB controller or require drivers to be manually installed. Compatibility is very good with USB controllers native to modern chipsets, but we’ve seen some incompatibilities with some discrete USB 3.0 controllers that are yet to be resolved. Should you need to install drivers for the device, plug it into a USB port, then go to Device Manager, right-click the device, and choose Update Drive Software from the menu. Then, you can search the web for drivers automatically or point the wizard to any drivers downloaded from the device manufacturer’s website.

SolUtion: This problem is almost always caused by insufficient power being supplied to the hub. If the hub came with an AC adapter, make sure it’s plugged in and working properly. And if you’ve got the hub plugged into a front-mounted USB port, try connecting it to a rear port that is soldered onto your mobo. Rearmounted ports can usually provide more power (or more stable power), which can resolve some issues with finicky hubs.

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Video Cards Problem: GPU Is slow solUtIon: If your GPU is lagging, the first stop on the road to redemption is a driver update. Both Nvidia and AMD are engaged in a drivers arms race, with each company updating its drivers with an OCD-like frequency that’s impressive. So always check to see if there’s a new driver before you launch a brand-new game. You can find your driver version easily in both Catalyst Control Center under Information/Software, and in the Nvidia Control Panel. Overheating can also cause the GPU to throttle its clock speeds, so monitor your temps using the software provided by your GPU manufacturer.

Problem: mUltIcard setUP not workInG solUtIon: Dual-card setups can be problematic for a number of reasons, and getting them recognized by Windows is the first challenge. If CrossFireX/SLI isn’t an option you see in the software, ignore your motherboard’s color coding and move the second card to a different PCIe slot. Games are a different story, as the drivers have to include a profile for a certain game, benchmark, or application to allow both cards to function, so there is usually a bit of a wait after a game comes out for a compatible driver (EVGA uniquely offers temporary profiles for new games). Assuming dual-card mode is enabled in the drivers, and the game has been out awhile, your SLI/CrossFireX bridge could be faulty, but that is rare. You can try forcing dual-card mode via the Catalyst Control Center or Nvidia Control Panel, but success is hit-or-miss when doing this.

Problem: screen corrUPtIon and artIfacts solUtIon: Graphical corruption is usually due to one of two things: a video card that is either overheating or dying. First, check your temps using software like MSI Afterburner, EVGA Precision X, Asus GPU Tweak, GPU-Z, etc. Anything below 80°C is fine but a

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Gee, pee-yew! well-cooled card typically doesn’t exceed 70°C. Second, take your GPU out of the case and give it a good cleaning with compressed air, and after you reinstall it, put some cool air on it by removing the case door for a bit, or manually turn up the fans to 100 percent using the above-mentioned software. To see if your card is dying, try running it in a friend’s system to test; conversely, use his or her card in your system. Also, if you are overclocking, immediately go back to stock speeds.

Problem: dIsPlay and resolUtIon IssUes solUtIon: While not as common, you should never overlook a cable/connection issue as the cause of your problem. If you are running 2560x1600 resolution, you probably need a dual-link DVI cable (and therefore a dual-link DVI port on the video card, as well—some DVI ports are single-link, so check). DisplayPort also runs at 2560x1600, but VGA and single-link DVI do not. Also double-check the input source for your LCD, as that’s a mistake that even non-rookies make. And double-check the cable you’re using—swap it out if possible.

Problem: second dIsPlay not recoGnIzed solUtIon: First, make sure you are running the latest drivers. Many systems that are running the default Windows drivers have issues with this. Second, make sure you have gone into the control panel of the drivers to enable the second display. Third, some DVI ports do not work if you are using a VGA-DVI adapter, so if there are two ports on your card, try them both. If you have everything set normally in the drivers, make sure your Windows settings are configured properly, and that you have multiple displays enabled.

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CPU

It’s usually not the culprit

Problem: CPU Is overheatIng solUtIon: Don’t assume that high temps automatically warrant a new heatsink. The cooler is likely dust-clogged (try cleaning it), or the fan is dying (requiring a replacement). Or the heatsink has been poorly installed—remove it and remount it with new thermal paste. (Incidentally, degraded thermal paste alone can be the culprit). Other possible causes include the case fans—clean and check them. Or a newer, hotter GPU could have swamped your case’s ability to stay cool. A BIOS update could also change the fan profiles from what you had set. Also keep this in mind: If your CPU is seemingly running “hot” but the machine isn’t blue-screening or throttling clock speed, you probably don’t have to sweat it.

issues first (see “CPU Is Overheating”). Also check your RAM with Memtest86+ (www.memtest.org). Check your power supply connectors to the mobo and GPU. If the PSU is overheating and failing, it could cause crashes. Failing PSUs cause power sags, which can look like a bad CPU, too. If you have a known good PSU you can swap in, do so. Oddly enough, a failing GPU can resemble a CPU failure, so if you have a spare GPU or an integrated option, try switching to it and testing again.

Problem: CPU Is slow solUtIon:

CPU performance issues typically come from misconfiguration in the BIOS or overheating. First, verify your chip’s clock speed by running CPU-Z (www.cpuid.com) while running a CPU load in Cinebench 11.5 (www.maxon.net). If the clocks are correct (remember, chips don’t Turbo under heavy loads on all cores), compare your Cinebench 11.5 scores with others on the Internet. The scores should be within a few percentage points of others. If the scores are close, the CPU is not “slow;” it’s something else in your system. If the scores don’t match, you may have a thermal issue. Check that your heatsink hasn’t come loose, reapply thermal paste, and clean the heatsink and fans. A BIOS update could also be needed, as well.

Problem: CPU Is always Under a heavy load solUtIon:

Heavy CPU usage can be a sign of malware, so make sure your AV is updated and run a full system scan. Also consider running a secondary scan using Malwarebytes Free (www. malwarebytes.org) and any of the free web-based scanners such as those from Trend Micro, Bit Defender, or ESET. Also check to see that your own AV app isn’t thrashing the system by doing a scan—check the running processes in Task Manager (Ctrl + Alt + Del, Start Task Manager, select Processes.) Click the CPU column to sort by usage and begin searching the Internet for each suspicious process name.

Problem: CPU only works In sIngleChannel mode solUtIon: First, make sure the RAM is OK by running MemProblem: CPU Is Unstable solUtIon: CPUs rarely “go bad.” They typically work or don’t work. Usually, it’s everything around them that breaks. If you’re overclocking, stop. Try to isolate CPU problems by running a CPUintensive app such as Prime95. If it blue-screens, check thermal

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test86+ (www.memtest.org). If the RAM clears, check the slots for debris and swap out the DIMMs for known good RAM. If crashing persists when put into dual-channel mode, you likely bent a pin installing your CPU. We’ve seen this on LGA1366 and LGA1155 platforms several times. It can be fixed by taking a sharp knife and carefully straightening the pin in the socket (or on the CPU in AMD chips).

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Network

Why can’t it just work?

Problem: Internet ConneCtIon DroPs solutIon: The most likely culprit is your ISP, so prepare to wait on hold. Before you do, though, try some basic troubleshooting. If your system(s) connects through a router, connect the system directly to your modem to see if the router has a problem, and also cycle the power on your broadband modem. But don’t just quickly hit its power switch or reset button. Unplug it from power for a few seconds. Plug it back in and wait for the modem to resync with your ISP’s network before testing the connection again. If you find yourself resetting your modem monthly or even weekly to resolve Internet connectivity issues, a call to your ISP is in order. There may be an issue that only a modem replacement or a service tech can fix.

Problem: FIle DownloaDs take Forever, PIng tImes suCk solutIon: Contrary to popular belief, there aren’t any tweaks that will significantly speed up or improve Internet connection speeds. If your connection is usually fast, but slows during peak hours or only when connecting to certain sites, there may not be much you can do. You should certainly run a broadband test to see where your speeds actually are. ISPs usually have a guaranteed speed band that, if you’re under, they will either fix or charge you less for. Also, power cycle your modem and router. Check your router’s log to see if you have an unauthorized guest sapping speed. Streaming Internet cameras, or streaming Netflix to multiple devices will also sap performance. Problem: Can’t aCCess new server/ nas/PC From other systems solutIon: There are a number of things that could cause a new system/NAS to be inaccessible from other machines on a network. First, make sure the new system is definitely connected to the LAN properly and that its network controller is active. And also check that the system’s configured with the correct IP address. If the server or NAS is on a different subnet, for example, it may appear to be connected to a network, but it won’t be visible to your other systems. With a standalone NAS device, you’ll have to log into its configuration

menu, navigate to the LAN settings, and then enter the proper IP address (or set it to DHCP). To change an IP address on Windows 7 systems, you’ll want to go to Network and Sharing Center, click the Local Area Connection, then click the Properties button, highlight Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4), and then click Properties again. You can change the system’s IP address on the General tab. It’s also possible that your client PC has network discovery disabled or an overzealous firewall that won’t let the system see other devices, so check that, too.

Problem: ssID aPPears but Can’t ConneCt usIng wI-FI solutIon:

Wi-Fi connectivity problems are almost always caused by interference or firmware and/or driver incompatibilities. The first thing to try is to simply reset your wireless router in case something’s gone wonky that a reboot might fix. Pull your router’s power cord, wait a few seconds, and then plug it back in. Once the router has fully booted, try to connect again. If the issue persists, the wireless channel being used by your router may be congested. Download a utility like Insider (www.metageek. net) to your laptop, or Wi-Fi Analyzer to your smartphone, and scan the wireless networks in the area. If your router is using the same channel as many others within range, log into your router’s configuration menu, navigate to the wireless network section, and change the channel to the one that’s least used in the area. If that doesn’t help, try updating the router’s firmware. Hit your router manufacturer’s website and check for a firmware update. If one is available, download it, and then log into the router’s configuration menu and apply the update (this process will vary from router to router—consult your manual). Once the firmware update is installed, configure the wireless network settings and try connecting again. Updating the drivers for your wireless network controller is worth a shot, too.

Problem: Internet ConneCtIon Is unrelIable solutIon: Unreliable or intermittent Internet connections are usually the result of a hardware or signal problem at some point between your PC and the web. Some of these problems you can fix, others may require a service call from your ISP. The first thing to try is resetting your modem and router and swapping out the network cables between them. Kill the power to your modem and router, wait a few moments, and then power them back up. Also, be sure to use known good cables to connect the devices together. We can’t count how many times a faulty cable has caused funky issues on a network. If the problem persists, give your ISP a call and have it run a diagnostic to check the signal strength and quality on your line. Should your ISP find a problem, odds are it can be fixed by a service technician.

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Windows

What’s made of 50 million lines of code and rarely breaks? Nothing

Problem: WindoWs is Freezing solution: The biggest culprits here are usually malware (malicious software, whose favorite installation method is through browser exploits) or high temperatures in your case. With malware, there are no real standards for quality, so badly written ones can cause all kinds of performance issues. The stuff is also designed to be hard to find and hard to remove, so your antimalware software (Norton, McAfee, or Malwarebytes) might not remove it. In which case, you may need to reinstall Windows. But before you nuke it from orbit, how dusty is your case? The stuff insulates whatever it's collected on and will clog fans over time. But a can of compressed air held upright and triggered in short bursts should take care of most of it. Case vibration over time can also loosen cables and cause random loss of signal, so make sure those are all squared away (and not chewed up by gremlins). Lastly, if you're overclocking your CPU or GPU, you may just need to tone that down a bit.

from the manufacturer's website, preferably the drivers labeled "WHQL" (for Windows Hardware Quality Labs), Microsoft's seal of approval. Didn’t write down the BSOD info? Check out BlueScreenView (www.nirsoft.net).

Problem: WindoWs sloWs doWn

Problem: blue screen error

solution: The usual villains are beta GPU drivers and over- solution: The most common source of this problem is a proclocked CPUs (but feel free to Google specific error messages). GPU drivers see the most frequent changes in enthusiast PCs, and beta versions are sometimes shaky. You can uninstall these drivers in the Add or Remove Programs section of your Control Panel (Programs and Features in Windows 8), where the files are labeled according to your brand (usually Nvidia or AMD, sometimes Intel). Then reboot and install an older version of the driver obtained

What to Do When WinDoWs Won't start

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gram eating up your CPU power or RAM. Sometimes it's a memory leak, which means that a program isn't releasing RAM that it's no longer using, which can snowball over time to occupy all available memory. Restarting the program should fix the leak temporarily, but the long-term solution usually requires the program's creator to produce a new version. Other times, it can be a scheduled virus scan running in the background, or even a virus or other malware.

Let's say you

can get your computer to perform its POST (power-on selftest, which ends with a single, short beep from your motherboard if you have a speaker installed on it), but Windows itself won't load. Before you start sweating through Google searches, sometimes the problem is temporary and random; simply restarting your PC can make the problem go away. If your PC tells you that a file called NTLDR.exe is missing, the problem may be more serious. Sometimes you can just create a new version of this file. For Win-

dows 7, reboot and hit F8 just before Windows would start loading. This loads a troubleshooting menu, from which you select Repair Your Computer. This is mostly an automated process; you follow a few onscreen instructions and let Microsoft take the wheel. For Windows 8, you boot from its installation disc to access repair options, or you may have a Recovery Drive on a USB stick. To make your computer boot to those devices instead of Windows, consult your motherboard manual for the keyboard shortcut that can open your boot menu during the POST.

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To check background programs, press Ctrl + Shift + Esc, which opens the Task Manager. You can click the labels at the top of each column to sort alphabetically, or by CPU or RAM usage. Save your documents or whatever else you were working on at the time. Then, if a program is eating up your resources and you don't recognize it, Google its name to determine its danger level. If it's not supposed to be there, you may need to manually run a virus scan to remove it. Or you may just be able to right-click the program in the Task Manager list and select End Process. In some cases, simply rebooting can make sluggishness issues disappear.

Problem: WindoWs UPdate Hangs solUtion: First, is the time and date right on your PC? Mi-

Down) or other program hogging your RAM, you can try increasing your virtual memory, which is a cache that Windows stores on your hard drive. Right-click the Computer icon on your desktop and select Properties. (In Windows 8, switch to Desktop Mode to see the icon.) Click Advanced System Settings on the left. In the section labeled Performance, click the Settings button. Click the Advanced tab and click Change. Uncheck the box at the top and select Custom Size. A good rule of thumb is to set Initial Size and Maximum Size to 1.5 times your amount of RAM (listed on the Properties window you opened earlier). More than that can actually slow down your PC. Click Set and then click OK. Editing high-def videos, high-res photos, or large audio files can eat up gigs of RAM, too. If that's something you do, adding more RAM is not a bad idea, assuming you have available slots on the motherboard and you can find sticks of the same type and speed.

crosoft has a "Fix It" file available on its support page that talks about this issue, Article ID 2700567. Just run that, and it may fix your issue. If not, you may have to use System Restore to reset Windows to before it hung on Windows Update. In Windows 8, you get there by restarting your PC, clicking the power icon on the login screen, holding down the Shift key, and selecting Restart. That will load a screen with some troubleshooting options. Select Troubleshoot, then Advanced Options. When you click System Restore, your PC will reboot in the Restore mode. Select your account, select Next on the next screen, choose your Windows drive, hit Next again, then wait for the restore process. You can hit Restart when that's done, then redo WIndows Update. If your system isn’t booting in Windows 7 and you need to restore, you need the installation disc and access to an admin account (home desktop users have this account type by default). Pop in the disc, reboot, and press any key when your PC prompts you to (shortly after the POST, but before your current Windows installation would start loading). Click through the CD's language, time, and input settings, select "repair your computer," and follow the onscreen instructions. The most recent Restore Point should work. After this process reboots your computer, try Windows Update again.

Problem: loW memory solUtion: If it's not a memory leak (see "Windows Slows

Sometimes, you can still boot into Safe Mode to diagnose the problem. This is a stripped-down environment—only the minimum necessary services and drivers will load. For Windows 7, this is accessed via the F8 menu mentioned above. For Windows 8, you must also hold down the Shift key when pressing F8. It may take several tries to get your timing right, because your window is small. This will load Windows 8's recovery mode. Once there, click Troubleshoot to get a number of options, including loading a restore point, recovering from a backup drive image, accessing the command

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prompt to enter text commands, and altering Windows startup settings. It's not a bad idea to try the restore point or drive image options, if you created those recently. If not, then click the Startup Settings button, then click Safe Mode. Once this mode has loaded, you can try running a virus check or uninstalling recently installed programs or drivers. It could also be a loose data cable on the storage device that contains your Windows installation, making it invisible to your PC. You'll want to shut down your rig, open the side panel, and do a spot check.

It's also possible that the drive Windows is installed on is dead. Storage devices usually do not give much warning of imminent failure. At most, you'll hear some crunchy sounds or clicking before they give up the ghost. If you install the drive in another computer and you still can't "see" it, it's probably a goner.

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Sleep

Even PCs can get insomnia

Problem: When PC Goes to sleeP, I Can’t Wake It baCk UP solUtIon: Systems that don’t wake up after going to sleep usually have a device connected or an internal component that misbehaves when the machine enters the sleep state. If you’re lucky, the device is throwing an error before the system hangs and you can ascertain the culprit by checking out Event Viewer (click your Start button, type event viewer in the search field, and hit Enter. Then check the system log for critical errors). If your system isn’t providing any clues, though, run Windows Update to ensure the OS is fully patched and also try updating your device drivers, especially for components like graphics cards, chipsets, and storage controllers. It’s also possible that a device connected via USB is the root cause of the problem, so try disconnecting any nonessential devices until you figure out which one’s at fault.

malware infestation that triggers some sort of scheduled task, so run a scan on your system to be sure it’s not infected. A component in the system can also be the culprit. To find out exactly what caused your system to wake up, open a command prompt with elevated privileges (type cmd in the Start search, right-click and Run as Administrator); at the prompt type: powercfg /lastwake and the utility will list the device or service that last woke the PC. If it turns out it was a nonessential service, you can simply disable it. If a system component was the cause, open Device Manager, find the component, right-click it, and choose Properties from the menu. In the window that pops up, click the Power Management tab and uncheck the field labeled “Allow this device to wake the computer.”

Problem: WakInG PC CaUses Crash solUtIon: A vital component or driver that doesn’t reinitialize properly when the system is coming out of the sleep state is most likely the cause of the crash. More often than not, driver and/or firmware updates can resolve issues like this one. A flaky piece of hardware, like a bad stick of RAM, can also be the root cause, but software issues are much more likely, especially if the system is stable and behaves normally otherwise. Add-in storage controllers and older graphics cards are commonly the cause of sleep-related instability, so make sure you’re using the latest drivers and firmware for both. Installing the latest BIOS on your motherboard and using the latest drivers for your chipset are also recommended. Problem: PC Crashes When It Goes to sleeP solUtIon:

The most likely solutions to this problem are virtually identical to the previous question, so follow our recommendations above. Also keep in mind that if the crash results in a memory dump and an event being written in the system log, checking out the details in Event Viewer can help quickly sniff out the offender. Googling the actual error codes or using a utility like BlueScreenView can also come in handy to help pinpoint the cause.

Problem: system keePs WakInG from sleeP

Problem: PC Won’t Go to sleeP solUtIon: If your PC won’t go to sleep, check that you’ve got it configured to go to sleep in the first place. Click your Start button, type power options in the search field, and hit Enter. Then click the “Change plan settings” link for the plan you have selected and make sure there is a value in the “Put the computer to sleep” field. If you’re certain the system is configured properly for sleep, but it still won’t power down, open a command prompt with elevated privileges and at the prompt type powercfg /requests and hit Enter to see a list of items that are preventing the system from going to sleep. Once you’ve found the culprit, disable it (if it’s nonessential) or change its Power Management settings (see above) and your PC should go to sleep.

solUtIon: A few things can cause a system to constantly wake from sleep. One of the more common problems is a pesky

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The 10 CommandmenTs of TroubleshooTing Important life lessons for dealing with a broken PC 1. Pause Your overclock

any built-up static before touching any sensitive electronics.

Overclocking is indeed a wonderful way to get free performance, but when you are troubleshooting a mysterious issue, put a pause on your extracurricular clock-pushing.

6. at the first hiNt of trouBle, Back uP When your drive makes one mysterious click or when even a single NAS fan fails, do a complete backup rather than waiting and potentially feeling remorse that you didn’t act sooner.

7. wheN iN DouBt, reBoot Rebooting will fix more things than you can imagine, especially for those folks who put their PC to sleep rather than shutting down.

8. retrace Your stePs

2. Do Not use Microsoft as a BoogeY MaN It’s easy to point fingers at Microsoft for everything from the JFK assassination to, well, the Modern UI, but usually OS problems can be traced to buggy applications and drivers rather than the OS itself. Don’t get us wrong, there are still many, many bugs in Windows’ probably more than 50 million lines of code, but blaming Microsoft while throwing your hands in the air with defeat, rather than really investigating the problem, is a cop-out.

If something just broke, it’s usually the last thing that you did. So, if you installed a new AV program, a new stick of RAM, or mucked with the registry to improve performance, put the truck in reverse and beep your way back.

9. choose the right tiMe for MaiNteNaNce Your term paper is due tomorrow morning, so it probably isn’t a good time to flash your BIOS and firmware and resize your disk partitions. Rather than turn a standard

3. uNPlug it It’s common to begin working on your system with the PSU still plugged in or switched on. People forget that when the PSU is hot, power is still running through the RAM and PCIe slots. It’s very little power but there’s still a small risk of damaging components when removing parts from the motherboard, so switch off your PSU before you tinker.

4. check Your coNNectioNs The thing about wires—and even expansion cards—is they don’t always like to stay put. This especially holds true if you move your PC every now and then, as momentum can jostle them out of place. When things go wrong, always check to see if your PC’s connections are secure (after grounding!).

5. alwaYs Be grouNDeD Granted, donning a grounding strap or ESD smock just to pull out a stick of RAM is a tad overkill, but you should at least touch a large metal object such as file cabinet to discharge

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repair job into a critical emergency, choose the right time for maintenance.

10. Most harDware ProBleMs caN’t Be fixeD The sad thing about integrated circuits is that 80 percent of hardware issues can’t be fixed by you. Sure, you can replace a burst capacitor or bend back a socket pin, but a fried CPU, bad stick of RAM, or disabled SSD can’t be fixed no matter how many hours you burn on it. Sometimes, it’s better to just know when to fold ’em.

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gaming on a budget

Gaming on a Budget

Pick up a lot of games for not a lot of money by Connor Sheridan

Y

ou fretted over which components to buy, waited in agony for days or weeks for them to arrive, and put them together with migraine-inducing care (perhaps suffering a few thermal-grease related scares along the way). Now you’re ready to play some video games. Just one problem: Buying all that stuff left your cash reserves dangerously low. If you were a console gamer, you’d have to get by with just a game or two: all dressed up with no mobs to kill until your fiscal vital signs stabilize. But you’re a PC gamer, pal, and if there’s one thing you have, it’s options. The next few pages lay out a small sample of the deals you can score in the wonderful world of digital distribution, and where to find them. These games will keep you clicking, shooting, platforming, looting, sneaking, leveling, perma-dying, and low-Earth orbiting on the cheap for months to come. You better get playing.

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GAMES FOR $30 OR LESS

The Walking Dead

At least the zombies won’t attempt to guilt trip you.

When the dead attack the living, there are no easy choices Publisher: Telltale Games Developer: Telltale Games

Surviving is one thing, but living with yourself is another in Telltale Game’s The Walking Dead. Its survivors skirt around the comic and television series, telling a new story of the zombie apocalypse come to Georgia. A smattering of adventure game puzzles and action segments bow to its adaptive narrative—this game is all about making choices. Characters live and die by your words and actions; who appears and what happens in each episode depends on who you help and who you forsake. It’s up to you to decide what’s most important, but remember, a little girl is watching and learning about how to live in the new world.

Payday 2 Pull off the perfect heist Publisher: 505 Games Developer: Overkill Software

Kerbal Space Program

A good heist needs a bit of planning, plenty of communication, and a touch of intimidation to end with duffel bags full of cash. A bad heist just needs ample ammunition and body bags to clean up the mess. Robbing a well-secured institution involves many moving parts—not just squirming hostages. Keep in mind that Payday 2’s extended scenarios track your performance over multi-mission arcs, rewarding your team for precision strikes with less police interference, friendlier criminal cohorts, and more cash.

Build, fly, and watch the fiery demise of custom rockets Publisher: Squad Developer: Squad

Ever looked at a space shuttle and thought, “I could do better?” Well, it’s time to put your rocket science where your mouth is, buddy, because Kerbal Space Program is all about putting adorable little green dudes on the moon. Or at least in orbit. Or at least somewhere above the... oh, nope, they just crashed into a plume of fire and broken dreams again. KSP is goofy and challenging; chances are, you’ll fail dozens of times before finally building a space-worthy rocket. But that doesn’t mean you won’t feel like Neil Armstrong and Elon Musk rolled into one when your Kerbal crew leaves its first boot prints on an alien world. www.pcgamer.com

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GAMES FOR $20 OR LESS Gaming on a Budget

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

An old dog learned some new tricks Publisher: Valve Developer: Valve

Amnesia: The Dark Descent Hide for your life and sanity

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive doesn’t fix what isn’t broken. The original CS helped propel competitive PC gaming to its industry-defining state today, so a graphical overhaul, a few equipment tweaks, and some new modes are more than enough to modernize the lethal classic. Veterans of de_dust and bomb-defusing neophytes alike can find a lot to love in this update. Classic modes like hostage rescue and bomb defusal remain intact, but an official Gun Game mode (called Arms Race here) should be enough to get anybody on board. Don’t let the terrorists win. Unless you spawn as a terrorist.

Publisher: Frictional Games Developr: Frictional Games

There are jump scares, and then there are dark, quiet horrors that tie stomachs in knots and submerge their sufferers in nauseating suspense. Amnesia: The Dark Descent generally goes for the latter. Despite inspiring a renaissance of firstperson horror, Amnesia’s penchant for producing boundless dread remains unmatched. Players must balance physical health, mental fortitude, and all-important lantern oil as they explore a dingy castle full of unsettling sights and freakish monsters. Fighting its native horrors is out of the question, so you’d better keep an eye on the nearest closet or dark corner to hide in... and hope you’re alone in there.

Mark of the Ninja

None who see your sweet ninja moves may live to tell the tale.

Stylish sidescrolling stealth honed to a shuriken’s edge Publisher: Microsoft Studios Developer: Klei Entertainment

When a guard sees his partner strung up from a chandelier just in time for the lights to go out and 180 pounds of ninja to land on his chest, you begin to wonder why stealth sucks so much in every other game. Mark of the Ninja takes the simple act of sneaking around in a 2D environment and builds, polishes, and simplifies until it’s more or less a lifestyle choice. 88 PC Gamer build your own gaming pc Fall 2013

You don’t have to stay quiet in Mark of the Ninja if its gratuitous combat beckons, but you seldom need to bloody your blade if you prefer wearing the shadows. Whichever path you decide to take, a generous checkpoint system and ample replayability means each scenario can (and should) play out a dozen ways. This is easily one of the best ninja games ever made. www.pcgamer.com

Rogue Legacy Each ancestor’s grave is just a stepping stone to success

Build a better dungeon-diving future for your offspring.

Publisher: Cellar Door Games Developer: Cellar Door Games

In this brilliant fusion of lethal Castlevania-inspired exploration and persistent RPG advancement, you can get rich and die trying. Every hero that delves into Rogue Legacy’s sidescrolling dungeons will find a treacherous new layout to map and plunder. But death is just an intermission: you can begin again as one of your character’s descendants, who benefits from all the cash, equipment, and abilities his or her forebears found and purchased. Each descendant has a distinct class and genetic quirks like color blindness or gigantism, so getting to know your new character is almost as fun as exploring the ever-changing environment.

Metro 2033

Teleglitch

Post-apocalyptic Moscow’s horrors mostly don’t go in the subway

Build guns and set traps in this top-down shooter roguelike

Publisher: THQ / Deep Silver Developer: 4A Games

Publisher: Paradox Interactive Developer: T3P

Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Developer: CD Projekt Red

You need to do a few things to survive in the tunnels under Moscow: scavenge everywhere and everything, always keep a few gas mask filters on hand, and try to save the good bullets for special occasions. Metro 2033’s wrecked tunnels and brief, terrifying surface interludes make a unique setting for a grim first-person shooter. Its story of tenuous survival in a nuclear winter (which destroyed the surface world and produced scads of deadly mutants) is based on a Russian novel, but this ain’t no Tolstoy.

Teleglitch looks like Doom fan fiction. Instead of a first-person romp through a moon base, it’s a tense top-down shooter with scarce ammunition and plentiful enemies. Fortunately, your lone survivor is clever, and junk like tin cans and nails can be crafted into deadly weapons. Teleglitch’s randomly generated environments are pixelated, but subtle perspective shifts and distortion create a surreal sense of motion. Mind your woeful line of sight and you just might make it to the exit.

The Witcher series has a complex story with many significant characters and compounding player choices. But main character Geralt of Rivia is an amnesiac, anyway, so it’s not like anybody can expect you to remember them if you didn’t play the first game. You, on the other hand, will remember The Witcher 2’s intricate towns, deep plotlines, and intense, fight-for-your-life battles. You’ll also remember how good it is to be a PC gamer when you get all this for just shy of $20.

www.pcgamer.com

The Witcher 2:

Enhanced Edition Enter a dark and memorable fantasy world

FALL 2013 build your own gaming pc PC GAmeR 89

Gaming on a Budget

GAMES FOR $10 OR LESS

The Binding of Isaac The most gruesome of roguelikes Publisher: Edmund McMillen Developer: Edmund McMillen

Who knew the story of a sad little boy fleeing from his filicidal mother could be so entertaining? The Binding of Isaac looks like a cartoonishly disturbing take on The Legend of Zelda’s dungeons, but it plays like a top-down shoot-em-up through legions of disgusting hellspawn. Power-ups scattered throughout randomly generated layouts turn Isaac’s tears into powerful weapons, and secrets beckon behind every wall. If you manage to reach the end, a new dungeon full of freshly unlocked secrets will be waiting next time.

When the going gets tough, the tough get kinda creepy.

McPixel Save the day in 20 seconds or less Publisher: Mikolaj “Sos” Kaminski Genre: Mikolaj “Sos” Kaminski

There’s no time to get frustrated by adventure game logic when each scenario explodes in twenty seconds. MacGyver wannabe McPixel defuses his way through dozens of tiny puzzles, each with only one solution that doesn’t end in everyone’s demise. Chunky sprites, crunchy tunes, and endless potty humor make this send-up of the early Infocom and LucasArts adventuring days seem like a hot mess, but McPixel’s boundless determination to defy expectations makes it impossible to put down.

whERE tO Find diGitAL dEALS

Steam PC gamers need Steam. It’s home to more games, players, and crazy-good seasonal discounts than any other service, and it even hosts some compelling social features like game communities and guides. Consider the other services auxiliaries.

90 PC Gamer build your own gaming pc Fall 2013

Origin The only place to play current Electronic Arts games on PC is Origin, so at least it hosts its own social features and ties in with your EA account. Nothing about Origin bests Steam, but it’s mostly harmless.

Good Old Games A DRM hater’s paradise of new and classic games. Its seasonal savings are second only to Steam, and its selection of classic games puts Valve’s store to shame. GOG is a lightweight one-stop retro shop.

www.pcgamer.com

Hotline Miami Hyperviolence at its best Publisher: Devolver Digital Developer: Dennaton Games

Get your invite to the Electric Kool-Aid Murder Fest.

Hotline Miami is a 2D top-down shooter, but it’s more Drive than Smash TV. Buildings laid out flat like flashing, nauseating floorplans become horrific crime scenes as your character shoots, stomps, and smashes his way through dozens of faceless goons at the behest of a voice on his answering machine. Which is a lot harder than it sounds—this game is tough as nails.

To the Moon A bittersweet journey through a dying man’s memories Publisher: Freebird Games Genre: Freebird Games

Green Man Gaming You can download and trade games through Green Man Gaming’s native service, but it’s also a frequent middleman for cheap Steam codes. Some truly mind blowing deals come through every now and then, so keep your eye on it.

www.pcgamer.com

Two doctors have a single mission: to fulfill the last wish of a dying man. Before they can grant his desire—to go to the moon—the two must rewrite his memories and work backwards through his life to find out why. To the Moon looks like a SNES-era RPG, but its flawed, funny characters and understated music will build a little lighthouse in your heart.

Hotline Miami’s unflinching violence is a puzzle as much as it is a test of twitch reflexes: can you shoot a guard to death then take out his friend across the hall before he splatters your brains across a pool table? Can you dodge bullets long enough to find and aim a fresh assault rifle? Don’t expect any easy resolution to the stomach-turning tasks from its stark, ambiguous narrative.

FTL Space roguelike with a penchant for blowing up your ship Publisher: Subset Games Genre: Subset Games

Desura An easy way to install and play dozens of lesserknown standalone titles and mods, Desura’s a godsend for PC indie gamers. Don’t expect to find the latest cinematic shooter, but you are liable to dig up something deliciously different.

This Kickstarted space-roguelike will satisfy all your ship-to-ship combat fantasies, but don’t get too attached to your vessel. One slip-up and it’s gone for good, and you’re back to the beginning. Fortunately, a randomly generated selection of ships, galaxies, and enemies to fight means you’ll always find fresh obstacles to best and spoils to salvage.

Uplay Ubisoft’s dedicated PC portal has less going for it than Origin. Still, it’s an improvement from the publisher’s old DRM policies. You can even use points earned in console games to unlock bonuses in PC games, and vice versa.

FALL 2013 build your own gaming pc PC GAmeR 91

Gaming on a Budget

FREE GAMES

PlanetSide 2

Find your niche on one battlefield with hundreds of players.

A massively multiplayer world that’s yours for the first-person conquering Publisher: Sony Online Entertainment Developer: Sony Online Entertainment

Three factions. Three continents. Thousands of players. One hotspot where you could make the difference. It’s one button press away in PlanetSide 2, where the battles are tremendous and every single muzzle flash comes from some other player’s first-person perspective. Fortunately, this battlefield is newbie friendly: instant action teleports you wherever you’re needed and enlists you in a platoon of squadmates. But it’s a good thing taking over the world one hexagon at a time is so fun, since improving gear and abilities takes a long time without spending cash.

League of Legends

Team Fortress 2

The world’s biggest MOBA is an unbelievable value at $0

Gib your friends in the best classbased shooter ever

Publisher: Riot Games Developer: Riot Games

Publisher: Valve Developer: Valve

If you try this game first, there’s a good chance you’ll never install another game onto that rig you just built; you’ll be too busy learning the interplay of more than a hundred heroes and drinking in victory after hour-long struggles against five of your worst enemies. League of Legends may have cribbed its notes from Defense of the Ancients, but its streamlined battlefield mechanics and rotating lineup of free champions made it the biggest game in the world. Clear out a few afternoons to learn its ways, and watch the rest of your free time disappear.

The definitive class-based multiplayer shooter is easily the oldest game on this list, but you wouldn’t know it from the patch notes. Team Fortress 2 shows no signs of slowing down after more than six years online, and it gets as deep as you want it to be: a newbie soldier who doesn’t know a rocket jump from a spy check can still blow flag runners to smithereens, but a devoted scout with equipment customized to perfection can dance around his helmeted noggin for a dramatic comeback. Oh, and there are bout a billion digital hats for you to collect.

92 PC Gamer build your own gaming pc Fall 2013

www.pcgamer.com

Blacklight: Retribution

Tribes: Ascend

Super Monday Night Combat

Feast on some fast, futuristic firstperson shooting

Momentum and fancy guns are your best friends

Claim the lanes in third-person scrums

Publisher: Perfect World Entertainment Developer: Zombie Studios

Publisher: Hi-Rez Studios Developer: Hi-Rez Studios

Publisher: Turbine Developer: MMORPG

Customize your futuristic gun from stock to muzzle, load out your soldier with top-of-the-line equipment, and send him or her into fast, frantic firstperson battles against other players or zombies in Blacklight: Retribution. That fancy visor can see through walls, but it can’t stop a rampaging hardsuit.

The jet boosting, slope skiing classic returns in a slick update. Capture the flag is still the star of the show, but a host of new classes boost the tempo of every high-speed firefight. Your PC hasn’t lived until it’s hosted a desperate spinfusor duel across frosty peaks and ski-friendly valleys.

Third-person tower defending isn’t just the sport of the future in Super Monday Night Combat: it’s a deep, thrilling take on MOBAs. More than a dozen customizable characters can compete online, and—even if you’ve had it up to here with lanes and creeps—shooting mascots stuffed with cash never get old.

DOTA 2 MOBA greatness requires discipline Publisher: Valve Developer: Valve

Valve’s take on multiplayer online battle arenas is a Scorsese thriller to League of Legends’ Bruckheimer blockbuster. Exacting mechanics and truly distinct heroes make LoL’s learning curve look like a bunny slope. But once Dota 2’s complexity clicks, it’s a sport of kings. www.pcgamer.com

Path of Exile A world of random, customizable loot Publisher: Grinding Gear Games Developer: Grinding Gear Games

Action RPGs are always about the items, anyway, so why dally with restrictive classes and structured progression? Path of Exile’s dark world is full of randomized loot, monsters, and other players, and it boasts one of the deepest character advancement systems ever devised.

Warframe Time to raid Publisher: Digital Extremes Developer: Digital Extremes

Blades, swords, and creepy robo-ninja suits await in cooperative action game Warframe. Think of it like any other sci-fi romp where you raid hostile bases and mow down legions of enemies with special abilities, but this time you do it with a bunch of your friends.

SWTOR A galaxy full of stories

Spiral Knights Top-down brawls in dungeons

Publisher: Electronic Arts Developer: BioWare

Publisher: Sega Developer: Three Rings Design

Star Wars: The Old Republic could have easily been Knights of the Old Republic 3. And 4. And 5. Whether you find MMOs appealing or not, dozens of elaborate stories waiting to unfold make it worth playing for Star Wars fanatics and dialogue wheel wizards alike.

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords and Diablo III had a baby, and they named it Spiral Knights. Team up with strangers or pals for randomized dungeon dives and score sweet new gear and weapon combos. Just put aside a couple bucks for extra energy—you’re going to need it.

FALL 2013 build your own gaming pc PC GAmeR 93

GeForce GTX 760 The GTX 760 is the cheapest of Nvidia’s new 700 series line of cards, and even surpasses the more expensive 660 Ti.

Radeon HD 7970 ATI’s flagship single-GPU card, the HD 7970 was once the fastest of its kind on the market. Then Titan happened.

Radeon HD 7990 AMD’s flagship dual-GPU videocard goes toe-totoe with Nvidia’s GTX 690 at every turn. This thing is disgustingly fast.

GeForce GTX 690 Radeon HD 7990 GeForce GTX Titan GeForce GTX 780 GeForce GTX 770 GeForce GTX 680 Radeon HD 7970 GeForce GTX 670 GeForce GTX 580 GeForce GTX 760 GeForce GTX 660 Ti Radeon HD 7950 GeForce GTX 680MX Geforce GTX 570 Geforce GTX 480 Radeon HD 7870 GeForce GTX 680M GeForce GTX 590 GeForce GTX 660 GeForce GTX 675MX Radeon HD 7850 GeForce GTX 470 Radeon HD 6970 GeForce GTX 560 Ti GeForce GTX 650 Ti BOOST Radeon HD 6950 GeForce GTX 560 GeForce GTX 465 GeForce GTX 650 Ti GeForce GTX 460 Radeon HD 5970 GeForce GTX 580M Radeon HD 5870 GeForce GT 645 Radeon HD 6870 GeForce GTX 460 v2 GeForce GTX 675M GeForce GTX 560 SE Radeon HD 5850

GPUs

here’s more to choosing a videocard and CPU than just picking the latest and fastest model, but we all know that performance is still what everyone really cares about. So we’ve weighted and rated virtually every consumer videocard and processor currently on the shelves in this chart, from the current kings to the court jesters. The rankings here are based on benchmark results from the PerformanceTest benchmarking software. Use this chart as an upgrading guide—begin by looking up your current hardware on the chart, and if you find you’re falling too far down the thermometer, it may be time to heat things up.

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120 Core i7-3960X Core i7-3930K Core i7-4770K Core i7-4770 Core i7-3770K Core i7-4770S Core i7-3770 AMD FX-8350 Core i7-3770S Core i7-3820 Core i7-2700K Core i7-2600K Core i7-3720QM Core i7-2600 AMD FX-8320 AMD FX-8150 Core i7-3630QM Core i7-3610QM Core i5-4670K Core i5-4670 Core i5-4570 Core i5-3570K Core i7-3612QM AMD FX-8120 Core i5-3470 AMD FX-6300 Core i5-3450 Core i5-2500K Core i5-2500 Core i7-2670QM Core i7-960 AMD Phenom II X6 1100T Core i5-3330 Core i5-2400 Core i7-950 AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Core i7-2630QM Core i5-2320 Core i7-870 AMD FX-6100

CPUs

The hoTTesT hardware

Core i5-2500K The 2500K offers considerable bang for the buck, but its Sandy Bridge architecture of yesteryear means it doesn’t quite keep up with the similar—but marginally pricier—3570K above.

Core i5-3570K It may not reign supreme on the benchmarking charts, but Intel’s Core i5-3570K has a price-to-performance ratio that’s nigh impossible to beat.

Core i7-4770K Intel’s new Haswell architecture has landed at last, and the i7-4770K—the CPU in our recommended build—is high enough on the benchmark list to last you a few years.

Core i7-3960X Are there faster CPUs than the 3960X? Yep—but those are typically designed for servers or video encoding. Chances are you aren’t willing to drop a grand on a processor, but this thing’s mega fast if you felt so inclined.

H ow g o o d is you r PC ’s ga m i n g f u ?

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Radeon HD 6770 Don’t be fooled by the model number change. This is really an HD 5770 with a new video block bolted on. Nice for HTPC buffs

GeForce GTX 550 Ti Nvidia’s entry level gaming card can’t hit high end performance levels, but is okay at lower resolutions.

Radeon HD 7770 The Radeon HD 7770’s price puts it into budget card territory. Decent performance at 1080p, though.

GeForce GTX 560 Ti The GTX 560 Ti is the spiritual successor to the original 8800 GT. It’s affordable and decently fast.

GeForce GTX 460 SE Radeon HD 6850 GeForce GTX 480M Radeon HD 7770 GeForce GTX 670MX GeForce GTX 485M Radeon HD 5830 Radeon HD 6700 Radeon HD 6900M GeForce GTX 670M GeForce GTX 570M GeForce GTX 555 GeForce GTX 550 Ti GeForce GTX 650 Radeon HD 5770 Radeon HD 6770 GeForce GTX 660M Radeon HD 7750 GeForce GTX 560M GeForce GTS 450 Radeon HD 7870M Radeon HD 4890 Radeon HD 7850M Radeon HD 5750 Radeon HD 4870 Radeon HD 6750 GeForce GT 640 GeForce GT 650M GeForce GT 545 GeForce GTX 285 GeForce GTX 280 GeForce GTX 275

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60 Core i7-930 Core i7-860 AMD Phenom II X6 1055T Core i7-920 AMD Phenom II X6 1045T Core i7-3520M AMD Phenom II X4 965 Core i3-3220 Core2 Quad Q9550 AMD Phenom II X4 955 AMD FX-4100 Core i3-2120 Core i5-760 Core i5-3210M Core i5-750 AMD Phenom II X4 945 Core i3-2100 Core i5-2520M Core i5-2450M Core 2 Quad Q9400 AMD Athlon II X4 640 Core i5-2430M Core i7 Q 740 Core2 Quad Q9300 Core i5-2410M AMD A10-4600M Core i5-650 Core i5-3317U Core i7 Q 720 Core 2 Quad Q8300 Core2 Quad Q6600 Core2 Quad Q8200

Core i3-2100 If you want to skimp on the CPU so you’ve got more cash for a high-end videocard, the Core i3-2100 isn’t a bad way to go—especially because it fits the common LGA 1155 socket type. In short, buy an inexpensive CPU now, upgrade later once you’ve got available funds.

Phenom II X4 965 On a tight budget? AMD’s quad-core chips will give your PC a decent computing foundation without decimating your bank account.

Phenom II X6 1100T AMD’s X6 series of chips offers a great price break to Intel’s painfully expensive hexa-cores. In pure CPU performance, the X6 will get badly beaten by Intel’s hexa-cores and, frankly, can even get beaten up by Intel’s quad cores in many tests.

The Tech SupporT cheaT SheeT PC Gamer’s clip-out guide to...your PC

It’s bad enough when a part goes kaput two days after your first boot-up. But it’s even worse when tech support asks for a

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accessible place, like a filing cabinet. Should anything go awry, just consult your cheat sheet for help. But remember to keep your boxes, packing material and receipts for at least the length of each component’s warranty.

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www.pcgamer.com