PC Specialist Forums

Keyboards

lady0sheep — Thu, 17 May 2012 10:54:57 GMT

Anyone who can shed some light as to what keyboard would be worth me getting? I want it to last a few years ideally... I've never had a gaming one before but willing to get one if it's really worth it and will last as long as a standard one. Ideally I'd like to spend not more than �50 or so. Doesn't have to be limited to ones PCS sell as I've already ordered my computer from here so now just assembling the peripherals.

Frustrated...

BinaryBoy — Thu, 17 May 2012 09:45:44 GMT

Hi All,

Like many of you I am currently waiting for my PC Specialist PC to be built, tested, and shipped to me.

I am currently on day 14 of "Pre-Production" which in itself is not to unexpected giving the lead times I was told to expect and due to the fact that my order contains the much supply constrained GTX 680.

Now I know that patience is not a virtue of mine, having agonised for days over the build I wanted to go for and then finally deciding and placing my order, I knew that the wait was going to be agonising ! I tried to order the fast track option however I couldn't because of my choice of the GTX 680 and having carefully researched my options and made up my mind what I wanted, I didn't want to compromise on my build and downgrade my GPU.

So I settled in for a long, painful wait and tried to resist the temptation to refresh my order page on a hourly basis...! Two very slow weeks passed and I kept hearing about the worldwide shortages of the GTX 680, a phone call to PCS told me that there were 60 orders still waiting for a delivery and I was about 20th on the list.

At the end of last week I came across a few posts by people who had been contacted by PCS and offered a 4GB version of the GTX 680, and so I got straight in touch on Monday to ask if this was an option for me too. I was told that yes, I could do that, yes the 4GB was in stock, and yes my PC should go into build on the same day if I decided to upgrade, so I duly parted with another �50 even though I am unlikely to need 4GB of VRAM. Like I said, I am not a patient man !

After a day of wearing out the F5 key on my keyboard waiting for my order status to move from "Pre-Production" into "In Building", I was disappointed that by the end of the day it had not done so.

I phoned again on Tuesday morning to ask for an order update and was told it should go into build today. Another day of F5 bashing followed but once again no change. I then noted on the forum that the other people who had upgraded were reporting their PC's were being built and tested. Surely tomorrow I thought !

Wednesday morning - no update, so I phoned again and was told that it was 100% going to go into build today. By now my F5 key had been taking some serious punishment (at least I think its the F5 key - the white writing on it has long since disappeared) but I relented, once again no change.

So here I sit on Thursday morning facing the prospect of another day of frustration. I don't want to call again as it takes ages to get through (they do seem to be very busy - on one day alone I counted around 100 abandoned calls) and also I'm mildly embarrassed about my obvious lack of patience and restraint.

I am posting this in the hope that a passing moderator might take pity on me and go and ensure that the PC gets built today, if only for the sake of my poor F5 key who has done nothing to deserve the punishment he has received over the last few days...:)

Can we build one for �600 guys???

Ombos — Thu, 17 May 2012 09:26:25 GMT

Hi all, my niece whats a computer to start playing Diablo 3 (Shes a diablo 2 nut) and it looks like its down to me to get her one. Now I know its easy to say well GTX 570 etc etc but I just don't have the cash and I've just had a new one myself so funds are low. I know its going to be difficult but the budget is �600 can we do it for her folks? Thanks.

Oh its for general work and the internet also.

Hi everybody

Baradruin — Thu, 17 May 2012 07:41:31 GMT

Hi I'm George,
just ordered a Vortex III last week but waiting for the new AMD Radeon 7970m so figured it was a good way to pass the time
by getting involved on the forums! might distract me from the agonising wait.... well abit!!

New mouse recommendations

truegrace — Thu, 17 May 2012 07:32:45 GMT

Just after some opinions of a new gaming mouse, currently using a Microsoft wireless laser mouse 5000, which does the job, but doesnt quite cut the cheese.

Been reading some reviews and tempted with either the Corsair M60, the Logitech G500 or possible the razer deathadder. The R.A.T 5 would be nice, but mainly for the fact it looks a bit funky :P

Anyone used these and can sway my vote either way? :p

Ta

Unresponsive Trackpad

Mynnion — Thu, 17 May 2012 06:07:58 GMT

Yesterday my trackpad just stopped working. I had pressed the button to stop my music playing, and it just stopped working. I don't know if the two are related. I have pressed the same buttons again. Restarted the laptop, turned off and waited then turned it back on. Tried, searched a few websites but nothing has helped, I bought it from pcspecialist. And unfortunately I can't remember the exact name of the laptop... {enigma? Maybe.} Also not sure how I can find out.

Some time yesterday after activating mouse keys, I remembered I had a graphics tablet; so I had been using that. But now that isn't working.

Any help would be great, mouse keys just aren't the same....

Thanks
~M

Soundcard Thoughts Recon 3D PCI-E

Garfield — Thu, 17 May 2012 00:56:19 GMT

Evening All,

Just some opinion, i ordered a new PC which is currently in pre-production. Included in that I went for the Recon 3D PCI-E, I know some people stay stick with onboard sound, but i want a soundcard, as there is still some difference between the two.

Anyway i hear the performance of that particular card is pretty poor with Music/TV shows, whilst awesome in games, so wanted some opinion whilst i can still alter the order. My needs for the cards are playing 320kb MP3's/CD's and watching/streaming TV episodes/films from Netflix. I'm not interested in the budget Asus card. Opinions seem mixed in review some sites say its a nice card others prefer the old X-Fi line, I currently have a PCI X-Fi XtremeMusic, will the above usage be fine on 2.1 speakers?

Some reviews i've read say this card is the all round edition, whilst the Fatal1ty is the specific gaming card, is this right?

Does anyone have this card and can provide some insight, any info would be appreciated. I'm not looking for a card to rig to an amp, just cans and the above 2.1 speakers.

Thanks guys,

Garfield

Vortex II Ruined My Life

Rehash — Thu, 17 May 2012 00:29:19 GMT

A little hyperbole in the title, but still...

Just under a month ago my Vortex II arrived. The best i7 I could get, 6mb RAM, SSD + SATA HDD and the like.

I bought it principally for pro audio. The other main components of my setup are a Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 firewire interface and KRK VXT4 monitors.

Only in this last week have I finally gotten round to installing my interface and really getting up and running to see what this laptop could do.

The first noise I heard sounded like a Gameboy stuck in a toilet, rather than the crisp high quality wav samples I was expecting.

Through a lot of searching on various boards and a little tech assistance on PCSpecialist's customer support I finally discovered that this was down to the firewire chipset - Jmicron - which is, I've discovered, known to have compatibility issues with a whole host of firewire interfaces.

Ho-hum, I thought, serves me right for not researching enough. I'll try my old soundcard, an M-Audio Firewire Audiophile.

Clean sound. Tonnes of mouse noise when the laptop is plugged in.

Must still be the poor firewire host controller, I thought. So I borrowed a friend's USB soundcard.

Tonnes of mouse noise when the laptop is plugged in. The boards say "buy an audio isolation transformer."

So, cutting to the chase, I've paid nigh-on �1300 for a laptop which has worse compatibility with my equipment than its 7-year-old Dell predecessor. Left with a decision to downgrade my gear and shell out for an audio isolation transformer (with no assurances that this would work) or enter into the grisly business of returns, I'm tearing my hair out.

Could PCSpecialist alter the firewire controller somehow on my motherboard if I bought the parts? Could I do this indepedently?

Is the AIT going to fix the mouse noise problem?

Should I bung it on eBay?

Or call the police?

Moral questions abound.

I'd be profoundly grateful for any help.

Many thanks.

Will The IIYAMA E2273HDS 22 Be Compatible With 4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 690 DUAL GPU

pcpower — Thu, 17 May 2012 00:04:37 GMT

The IIYAMA E2273HDS 22 monitor is HDMI - Dvi-D and the NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 690 DUAL GPU is mDP - Dvi-i . Do I need to buy Dvi-i monitor.:confused:

What I've build on the site opinions pleeease

littlejon10 — Wed, 16 May 2012 23:38:51 GMT

Are these specs all in working order?, any recommendations or opinions would be appreciated.
& Will it be able to play almost/all games high settings effortlessly?
Please no biast opinions, want this to be a special purchase & no let downs or disappointments <3

Case
PCS MAELSTROM T900 BLACK GAMING CASE

Processor (CPU)
AMD BULLDOZER QUAD CORE FX-4170 (4.20GHz/4MB CACHE/AM3+)

Motherboard
ASUS� M5A99X EVO:USB 3.0, SATA 6.0Gb/s, Quad CrossFireX�/SLI�

Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)

Graphics Card
1GB AMD RADEON� HD6870 - 2 DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX� 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
2TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 64MB CACHE

1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER �R/�RW/RAM

Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT

Power Supply
600W Quiet 80 PLUS Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (�59)

Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER

Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs

USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD

Monitor
22" Widescreen TFT 1920 x1080 2MS D-Sub, DVI, 21.6" Panel (�89)

DVI-D & HDMI Monitor Cables
1 x 2 METRE DVI-D CABLE (�5)

Keyboard & Mouse
LOGITECH� K200 USB MEDIA KEYBOARD (�10)
Mouse
LOGITECH� OPTICAL USB MOUSE (�5)
Speakers
LOGITECH S120 2.0 BLACK SPEAKER SYSTEM (�9)

Price: �763.00 including VAT and delivery.

Help I cant Log on

pcpower — Wed, 16 May 2012 23:34:52 GMT

It is me Katvena, I cant log on, So I had to make a new account, When I trying log on with IE9 or Firefox and when I click LOG IN, it keep taking me back to the log in page.:mad:

Ebay Feedback is Unfair ?

liamnic2 — Wed, 16 May 2012 23:28:17 GMT

yo guys

I put my ps3 slim up today on ebay as a bundle at �180 starting auction and �255 buy it now.

I also put up my P11 headset. In under 1 hour someone bought the headset. He never payed straight away but I waited for a bit. I then looked at his mere 3 feedback score which were all comments on how he never pays for items but the buyers can only leave positive feedback.

I showed my mum who had a good 422 100% feedback. She couldnt be bothered to have her time wasted so she messages him not to pay and dont waste our time. Later I see that my mums feedback is 99.4%. Turns out he left negative feedback saying we had bad communication and we told him not to pay, even though he never pays anyway. And ebay cant do anything about this. REALLY ? Its a total joke how my mum and I can use ebay just fine and get postive feedback all the time. But this guy can leave negative feedback about not being aloud to buy an item he was never going to buy, but no one can leave negative feedback for him because he is a buyer. ITS A TOTAL JOKE.

Anyone else had this problem ? Im just interested.

Heres the guy : http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/786masta

And heres my/my mums account with 422 positive feedback and 1 negative : http://feedback.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayIS...ab=AllFeedback

gaming pc

adogg — Wed, 16 May 2012 23:03:42 GMT

Hey,
I am new to PC gaming. After looking at the forums i came up with this quote.

Case
PCS MAELSTROM T900 BLACK GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel� Core�i5 Quad Core Processor i5-3550 (3.3GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS� P8Z77-V: PCI-E 3.0 READY, WIFI, SLI, CROSSFIREX
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 670 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
10x LG BLU-RAY RE-WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD �R/�RW (�65)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W ENTHUSIAST SERIES� TX750 V2-80 PLUS� BRONZE (�86) (I chose this so I have the option of adding anothe GTX670 in the future if needed)
Processor Cooling
SPIRE THERMAX ECLIPSE II UNIVERSAL DT EXTREME CPU COOLER (�39)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (�79)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft� Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Monitor
IIYAMA E2273HDS 22" LED WIDESCREEN, HDMI/DVI-D 1920x1080 (�129)
Keyboard & Mouse
LOGITECH� MK520 WIRELESS KEYBOARD & MOUSE COMBO (�39)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (�5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
FAST TRACK 5 WORKING DAY DISPATCH (�39)
Quantity
1

Price: �1,353.00 including VAT and delivery.

i have a couple of questions:
1) in nearly all of the specs people make on this site, they seen to use the HAF 912 case, is this just preference or is there a technical reason? I prefer the look of the one I have selected, however if anybody is aware of any problems with the one I have selected I will be open to suggestion.
2 ) Is the motherboard worth the extra money?
3 ) Is a soundcard worth the money or is integrated sound fine?
4) Does anybody have the monitor? I read a couple of reviews elsewhere about dead pixels, was wondering if they were both unlucky.
Finally, will this be future proof?
Thanks in advance.

Vortex II Bluetooth & Subwoofer

SmokeDarKnight — Wed, 16 May 2012 23:02:09 GMT

Hello,

Having a wee problem with my Vortex II 15". When ever i switch on the Bluetooth after having switched it of or opened the lid of the laptop i have to restart the machine to get the Bluetooth to register. The annoying thing is that once i hit restart then i get a DOO DOO DOO and its there. I've tried reinstalling the drivers but to no success.

Also i've been trying the tests to see if the subwoofer is actually working on the machine and not getting any sound from it, is it working and i just dont notice or should i hear definitive sound from it? Dont get me wrong the sound from it is great just if i can get more bass then i'd assume a sub that was working would help.

Any advise would be appreciated as always.

Very pleased with my new PC

Dave159 — Wed, 16 May 2012 22:57:42 GMT

Hi all,

I think PCSpecialist are really fantastic.
But I have a problem with my second hard disk showing up.
Also not showing in disk management.
The second disk, which is a caviar green, looks connected.
Its as if it doesn't exist or may be its faulty.
assume it was tested but got damaged in transit.
I've looked on the net but really haven't a clue.

Dave159