Poll: Your computer's weakest link...

[razerdoh]

Graphics card: Using one of two reserve GForce 8800 GT cards i have, I had a newer ATI card but thanks to a certain someone for shutting down a fan on my PC for it was "to fucking loud" some shit inside it melted...><

 

[cloone8]

MY computer used to have a power supply proble, but only yesterday i upgraded from a 750w to a 1000w, everything runs fine now, i can even play Crysis on very high

 

[RadiusXd]

core i5 2500k 3.33Ghz
4Gb 1333MHZ ram
AMD 2GB 6950 DDR5
and my rubbish 500Gb main drive <---- all of the above is Great but is bottle necked by this because a solid state drive is just too expensive for so little storage

if you can secure a second Identical drive and are willing to reformat you could double the space and speed with RAID. your motherboard would have to support it, but I don't know if there are many that do not.

 

[Shadow-Phoenix]

Mine can hardly handle TF2 mate. So I just sit around playing half life and minecraft because it can support those just fine weirdly...well if fog is all the way turned on for minecraft.

You should totally build a rig because that's what iv'e got my mind set on this summer hopefully in time for BF3 =D

 

[Anezay]

I have to lower the settings for most games. My ram, hard drive, and video card can take it, but my processor is a puss.

 

[Insideout Ink Demon]

I'm slowly replaceing everything in my rig
over time the only original parts in this old stock pc are the case and the dvdrw

i voted RAM
i'm using 2x 1GB DDR2 as i'm using an AM2 5000+, incidently oc'd from 2.6Ghz to 3.0Ghz.
i did have it oc'd to 3.2Ghzbut i blue screened alot with Prime 95.(I was only really doing the stress test for temps under load)

when i get some DDR3, (next pay day) I'll use my AM2+ 7550 2.5Ghz that i got with the mobo (as I believe DDR3 wont work with AM2)and actually use a OC'ing guide rather than the auto OC settings on the ASRock bios, and try n get it to a stable 3.0Ghz minimum

I recently got my first graphics card, anyone tell me why the fans point down? as i thought heat travelled up?

 

[Anaklusmos]

CPU - Since I bought this computer I have upgraded everything that needed to be upgraded to keep up, but my CPU... I just cannot find a single place that sells one that is better than my current one and is compatible with my other hardware.

 

[Wicky_42]

My video card burned out playing Dead Space 2 (well, that was when it failed at least), so I've got a new HD6950 strapped to an old Intel Q6600. When I have monies, I plan to upgrade to a second gen Intel i5K, but that means replacing motherboard as well, so that's around a £300 job :/

Of course, once I've done that my machine will be a bit of a beast. Upgrade the RAM, make it that much more tasty. Get an SSD to run the OS off? That would hit the 'win' point

 

[ghostalker.cepo]

I built my PC as a cheap, mid end box in 2007, now it's pretty much meeting minimum system requirements for most games. Oh and it has Vista, something I desperately need to change. Anyone got a copy of windows 7 I can have for free?

 

[Balgus]

core i5 2500k 3.33Ghz
4Gb 1333MHZ ram
AMD 2GB 6950 DDR5
and my rubbish 500Gb main drive <---- all of the above is Great but is bottle necked by this because a solid state drive is just too expensive for so little storage

if you can secure a second Identical drive and are willing to reformat you could double the space and speed with RAID. your motherboard would have to support it, but I don't know if there are many that do not.

Don't think I will though RAID, if it fails utterly screws you over and sometimes my second hard drives doesn't want to wake up when my computer boots up from sleep mode so don't want to risk it =)

 

[CrazyCapnMorgan]

The human infront of the keyboard, simple as that really.

Mine's a similar problem, except it's not a human. It's a loose nut.

 

[Boris Goodenough]

My GTX 480 graphics card, I would only be able to run around 20-25 fps in Crysis 2 (DX11+high res)

 

[Kaymish]

my rig can play anything except perhaps crysis 2 so far but soon my hard disk will start messing me up i went stupid and got the best of everything that was out but i went for the big 1TB HDD rather than a smaller faster unit so access time is soon going to be a bugger and it is already bad when i open screen shot folders or folders with pron in them it takes some time to load up the files

 

[RadiusXd]

core i5 2500k 3.33Ghz
4Gb 1333MHZ ram
AMD 2GB 6950 DDR5
and my rubbish 500Gb main drive <---- all of the above is Great but is bottle necked by this because a solid state drive is just too expensive for so little storage

if you can secure a second Identical drive and are willing to reformat you could double the space and speed with RAID. your motherboard would have to support it, but I don't know if there are many that do not.

Don't think I will though RAID, if it fails utterly screws you over and sometimes my second hard drives doesn't want to wake up when my computer boots up from sleep mode so don't want to risk it =)

how does it screw you over more then if your current drive fails? at least they last more write cycles then an SSD.

 

[The Lugz]

Heat sink/fans/cooling system.
My laptop has tons of good ram, a insanely powerful processor, a state of the art graphics card, a fast, fairly large hard drive, and the best OS currently available.

It overheats when I try to play ANY game on it. I have one of those extra fan units you put underneath (and plug into the USB) which helps, but basically if I try to use my Processor, Ram, or graphics card at full capacity, it overheats everything.

i had this problem with my old laptop, i fixed it by removing the bottom cover entirely and propping a cylindrical fan behind it so it blew through the motherboard

http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalog?q=tower+fan&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=11904439292179332581&sa=X&ei=UtAeTqmGKsWJhQfj5_jNAw&ved=0CH4Q8wIwAg
something like that.

it's completely safe if you have the right laptop chassis, but the designs do vary and some wont open that way safely i don't recommend trashing your warranty over it if you aren't 100% sure how to open your laptop without damaging it
you can get utterly amazing results if you're willing to risk it though, laptops are their own worst nightmare for retaining heat in the case so removing it makes them unbelievably cool

i gave up with laptops in the end, i used mine at home 90% of the time anyway so i build my own pc's now

 

[Floggo]

My Power Supply is a piece of shit, I cannot play Minecraft, World of Warcraft, Mass Effect 2 and Crysis at all, the computer dies after 15 minutes of gameplay.

 

[Turing '88]

how does it screw you over more then if your current drive fails? at least they last more write cycles then an SSD.

Because if either fail you lose everything not backed up! With two separate drives you don't have that problem. I've got 4 identical drives, and two other identical ones, but I decided to choose reliability and simplicity over speed. Easy to pop in or out a HDD for backups and upgrades too without messing about.

OT: Deffo my motherboard, I fried my orig one so had to get a cheap replacement.

 

[Evilcarrot]

My video card. Everything else is fine and up to date, but my video card is absolute crap. I can't play any games released past maybe 2006 because of it...

 

[D0WNT0WN]

It overheats, alot.

Highest recorded tempreture while playing a game is 95C.

 

[Zipa]

The weakest link for me right now which I plan on fixing tonight is my CPU stock fan , it can't shift the heat fast enough. Got my new akasa CPU cooler today though so problem should be solved