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[gimlet]

Try booting without the graphic card if you think your PS is too small.  Yeah I'd say you want a *good* 550-600 watt PS with honest ratings for that combo imo.  Also, as usual make sure the memory is firmly seated - even try taking it out, blow in the socket and put it back in.   I really recommend installing an internal speaker and listening for the beep code - that will very often tell you what stage it's stopping at.  You can buy a little piezo speaker for $3 or so it's AMAZINGLY helpful when you run into something like this.   Also go step by step through the motherboard manual and make sure you hooked up all the power cables - there's a 6 or 8 pin one that goes by the CPU that I often forget, plus the 1 or 2 that plug into your graphics card...

[MaximumZero]

Bay12, I have some existential questions for you.

I have 8GB of RAM now. Maximizing my RAM will cost about $90. That'll give me 16GB. Is it worth it?
Video card: How does the Radeon 7850 HD stack up?
Power supply: Is 500W enough?
Money: Do I upgrade the computer while I have the money, or do I save it for more important things?

[Aklyon]

I assume its a given you're using 64-bit, MZ?

[Lord Shonus]

If it's a high-quality brand, and you're running a fairly bare system (1xHDD, 1xOptical, 1xGPU), then 500w is probably adequate. If it's a no-name that came in a prebuilt or with a case, junk it. More than any other component, brand-names matter with PSUs.

The videocard you suggested isn't bad for the price, according to the specsheet I'm looking at. This is, however, an area where extensive research is recommended. It's also a lot more power than is strictly needed for anything current.

As for Ram, 8gb is quite probably adequate for gaming. For the most part, that much memory is only needed for extensive video or photo editing, or 3D modelling. It will help with anything, but it's a safe place to skimp on a budget.

[MaximumZero]

I assume its a given you're using 64-bit, MZ?

Yes. I'm on 7 Home Premium 64 bit.

If it's a high-quality brand, and you're running a fairly bare system (1xHDD, 1xOptical, 1xGPU), then 500w is probably adequate. If it's a no-name that came in a prebuilt or with a case, junk it. More than any other component, brand-names matter with PSUs.

The videocard you suggested isn't bad for the price, according to the specsheet I'm looking at. This is, however, an area where extensive research is recommended. It's also a lot more power than is strictly needed for anything current.

As for Ram, 8gb is quite probably adequate for gaming. For the most part, that much memory is only needed for extensive video or photo editing, or 3D modelling. It will help with anything, but it's a safe place to skimp on a budget.

Grazi. The power supply in question is actually the one I'm looking at implementing, however. The 300W that came in my prebuilt (yeah, yeah, I know, custom is always better. HP just happened to put it together for cheaper than I could buy the parts for,) just isn't going to cut it.

[Lord Shonus]

Then you should be fine, as long as it's a Corsair. Cooler Master, or comparable brand.

[Tellemurius]

the HD 7850 is great for 1080p gaming, you can easily run alot of games at 60fps from high to ultra settings. for ram 8gb is good enough for anything, i only ran into problems when i start getting memory leaks and such but other than that no reason for 16gb.

[darkrider2]

the HD 7850 is great for 1080p gaming, you can easily run alot of games at 60fps from high to ultra settings. for ram 8gb is good enough for anything, i only ran into problems when i start getting memory leaks and such but other than that no reason for 16gb.

That's what I have. Its awesome.

[MaximumZero]

Thank you, mentlegen.

[darkrider2]

So I wanted to ask about how good tv tuner cards or those tv-to-usb sticks are. I'm considering getting one.

[gimlet]

I have hauppage tv tuner card (TVR-950 iirc) and usb stick that I bought at least 5 years ago, and they work pretty decently for me - I can watch full screen over-the-air DTV at 1920x1200 and it gets most channels in the area.  Of course getting OTA tv depends on your location - you may need a better antenna (starting from rabbit ears/old UHF antenna up through "build DTV antenna from coathangers" up to rooftop huge 8 bowtie depending on distance to the transmitters).  I made a custom dipole to get the station that's on RF channel freakin 2, for most of the rest an old wire-loop UHF antenna worked fine.   The tuner was well worth the $50 or so it cost at the time, I can watch tv in a little window while I check email, etc.

[Chiefwaffles]

So upon further investigation into my problem I found out that the problem was originating at the CPU, and proceeded to find out the CPU wasn't receiving power. Luckily, thanks to gimlet's advice about the CPU power connector, I was able to fix the problem.

Thanks.

[Absolute Niro]

Not sure if this is the kind of question that would go well in a thread like this, but I do have something computer related to ask. Does anybody think the following specs in a prebuilt is worth ~$1350?

Processor: Intel® Core i7-2700K
Motherboard: MSI B75MA-P45, Socket-1155
RAM: Crucial DDR3 BallistiX Sport 1600MHz 8GB
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 660Ti 2GB PhysX CUDA
Storage: 1TB

Comes with a normal DVD burner and 500W power supply. I've no experience with PC building and I'd rather not spend several hours on making one anyways so I'm really just looking for the best premade available in Norway, where Alienware and all the big PC builders from the US aren't available.

[Tellemurius]

My only issue with this is the B75 board, those are only for business and commerical use and not alot of bios options for the gamers and such. Other than that this is a great build you will love that 660TI to death

[Absolute Niro]

I honestly have very little experience with hardware at all and I don't think I've ever touched my BIOS at all. Does it have any negative effects on the build other than that?