McPhee

These videos give you a good idea of what the actual build entails: http://computershopper.com/video/build-a-multimedia-pc-step-by-step-200707 When it comes down to the actual build though you'll be using the motherboard manual. That thing is the best step-by-step guide around tbh. You might want to invest in an anti-static wrist strap. Alternatively install the power supply first and plug it in to the mains but DO NOT TURN IT ON. The case will then act as you're ground, and any static will flow off down the earth wire!

Yup, it was just coming :p Intel E2160 CPU Gigabyte GA P31-DS3L Motherboard 2GB (2x1GB) Corsair DDR2 PC2-6400 RAM PowerColor HD 3850 Graphics Card 250 GB Western Digital WD2500AAKS Hard Drive Samsung SATA DVD-RW Antec Sonata III Case (inc. 500W PSU) 19" ASUS Widescreen Monitor Total: £474.54 That leaves you with £25.46 for a keyboard, mouse and speakers. Personally i'd spend a little more to get reasonable quality ones, but thats up to you. On power supplies: NEVER buy cheap ones. Power supplies can break, and when they break they can kill everything else in the computer. The cheaper the power supply the more likely it is to break. Cheap supplies also aren't too good at providing stable power, the current is up and down like a yoyo, meaning you're computers speed is also up and down like a yoyo Cases: It's pretty much down to cosmetics, but the more expensive cases also tend to be easier to use and have had their edges tapered to stop you cutting yourself. Graphics Card: The ATi 3850 is a significant step up from the 8600GT CPU: I've dropped it down to save you £10, the reduction in power is minimal and the better graphics card more than makes up for it. Hard Drives: I've never seen the point in buying 500GB drives for the sake of it. They represent great buys if you have over 250GB of data (Hard Drive preformance decreases the further over 50% full you go) but with drives being so cheap and easy to install it's better to buy them as you need them. Postage: I cheated a bit. I used eBuyer's Super Saver Delivery (i.e. free) and a special offer that lets you get free delivery at Scan. I've written about the Scan offer a few times in PC threads, just do a search to find out how to get it

The case and power supply are shite. The DVD drive is over priced. Overall it's reasonable, but you could get better for the money

you have to pay the line rental, or go cable

Hopefully they've reformed to actually do something, rather that just cash in on the current fad. I'll hold judgement until they release another album and do something brilliant yet stupid, like when they forced the US stock exchange to close its doors.

Halo Wars, Too Human, Gears 2 and Fable 2 will be the big 360 Xmas exclusives this year, im sure of it. Can't see any of those 3 arriving before September

As long as sticky nades are still in i'll be happy :p

I think im gonna go buy me a HD-DVD player, in light of this news people are now giving them away! They still do a better good job of upscaling DVDs that a similarly priced DVD player and there's a reasonable selection of "Full-HD" titles available to tide me over until Blu becomes this affordable

I'll b on Gears after i have a shower, if i can get a decent 'net connection

Im away all weekend, but you guys carry on without me. Looks like Rob has some good ideas for this league thing so i'll leave him to sort it out (if he wants to)

The Corsair PSUs work fine with the 900, i've got one installed. But anyway, the 900: 1. You can't turn the case lights off. Can be a pain in the arse if the PC is in you're room and you like to leave it on overnight. Solved by replacing the fans with ones that have switchable LEDs. 2. No dust filters. The whole thing can get a little dusty, i've done 2 cleans in 6 months! 3. Nowhere to stash cables, so it's all a bit messy (even after tying everything up to the case walls). 4. The cables for the front headers (headphone, USB etc) are a little short, they only just reach the correct places in my motherboard. 5. Fan speed controls are inside the case. Not a big deal, but i'd rather have had dials on the back of the case like on the P182. All in all the case is fantastic, im being really quite picky coming up with this stuff.

XNA is the thing that people pay Microsoft $100 for so they can spend they're time making games that are then given to us for free. Are these people gods or what? :p EDIT: Forgot to add. GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLDENEYE!!!!!!!

Theres not a lot to say really, it's a pretty complete system! I've popped down a few notes, nothing needs changing though.

I went with Hybrid, basically because i don't fit anywhere else. I was thinking Online until i read Iun's description. I like my online multiplayer, but my room ain't no "command centre" I'm not obsessed enough to be Hardco', the only videos i watch at 5am are porno

Hell yeah! Not played gears since July or something stupid like that!

There is such a thing as sweet Cider you know? And Pear Cider, thats pretty sweet stuff.

I thought you were refering to downloading for "back-up" purposes. Never mind...

Ignore what Emasher said. Just do what Shorty suggested. Enable the iPod for disk use, drag + drop everything on to iPod. Then connect to new computer and drag + drop off again. To re-authorise stuff bought off the iTunes store just wait until you try to play the track/sync with you're iPod. It will ask you for you're username and password. Enter them and the tracks are authorised for that computer!

Using McAfee Virus Scanner is a bigger sin than using IE, believe me. To avoid the porblem in future buy this: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=668400 Using Firefox with the NoScript plug-in wouldn't hurt either. That stops 99% of problems because it disables Javascript (it also stops most web pages from working properly, but you can set exceptions)

FPS, RTS would be good too. MMO games would be pointless with the current hardware, you can't communicate with other players. They'd have to release a headset (or keyboard, but why? really?)

Im gutted, my mates were all like "it won't sell out, we'll get tickets nearer the time." They never listen, every year it sells out within an hour Ah well, i'll just have to hope i can swing some tickets nearer the time. If not i'll go to Reading/Leeds and just see REM on tour.

I've been wondering, where do you think DMC5 will go from here? Another Dante/Nero pair-up? Co-Op? Dante on his own? Nero with his own series? Basically it was so good i want more lol

Got this today (well, technically yesterday) and i've just completed it in a single sitting. Im impressed, was my first DMC game. The last boss is a bit shit though (the very, very last one)

I think the solution is to assign the Xbox's static IP addresses. Basically you log in to you're router and tell it to call one Xbox 192.168.0.5 and the other 192.168.0.6 It's all down to the router getting confused about which system is which

Bulmers I kid not, after trying loads of Ciders i've come to the conclusion that this is my favourite