Building My Own Computer

[Calza]

This computer really needs replacing and was I was going to either buy a pc now with the Vista deal or wait till the 30th next month. But i've seen quite a few times that building your own pc is cheaper.

I'm not really sure if I would be able to save money when I'm only going to spend a max of £500 but i'm willing to try it out. Is there any point to do it? and I know a bit about computers but not that much about the hardware so is it pretty easy to do?

[Bogbas]

It's fun Well maybe not to all people, but I like it. Just as long as you follow the instructions and do not use too much force it's fine. It's like building a lego house. The one thing that can go wrong is installing the heatsink/fan to the processor.

 

Some tips: Install the memory(RAM) and the processor when the motherboard is out of the case.

You need to keep yourself grounded while installing so that you won't break anything because of static electricity. You can ground yourself by touching the metal case (I usually plug in the power cord but set the switch on the power supply off, but not all PSUs have that switch.)

[Shino]

I like building PCs, knowing every thing about them (specially my own :P), and its fairly easy to do it. But if I have the option of someone else doing it and take the responsibility, I prefer it. If there's some mistake, or worse, the pieces already come broken, the seller will ALWAYS say: "People shouldn't be messing with what they don't know".

[Ramar]

I enjoyed building my pc, until the mobo company failed to tell me that the Pentium D and my motherboard weeren't compatible although the box and their website said otherwise. I spent three months trying to sort overheating issues, and it boiled down to the processor not working properly. Core Duo 2 fixed the problem.

 

My tips are check everything is compatible first, secondly make sure you can get the drivers for the hardware on the internet, my graphics card disc refuses to work, and the motherboard drivers were well out of date.

[Calza]

So is it worth it than buying a pre built? Just wondering how did you guys learn how do build them? I was looking at Scan and Overclockers and i'm getting really confused about the processors and what kind of hard drives there is. The latest PC Zone has a few stuff that would suit my budget but I have no idea what I really need to get. I might pop into Asda tommorow and see what PC magazines there is but at the moment the idea of buying all the individual parts is quite daunting.

[Shino]

You'll always get the better deal if you make it you're self. I learned to do it, during the years, I changed a part today, another tomorrow, friends gave me tips etc...

 

And if you need reviews or opinions, go to http://www.tomshardware.com

[Ramar]

The way to do it is to find a motherboard you want, because you're on a tight budget it might be wise to get a good motherboard, then buy parts that aren't top spec, leaving the option of upgrading it possible.

 

Once you've got the motherboard you'll be able to check what hardware is compatible by checking the specification of the motherboard.

[Calza]

Thanks for that website Shino, i've looked through a few of guides and its starting to make more sense!

 

I've kinda got an idea know of what I want.

 

Motherboard : ASRock Conroexfire-Esata2 £54.63

Processor : Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 £113.96

Memory : Corsair 1Gb £69.96

Graphics Card : Gigabyte 7600GS £71.56

HDD : Western Digital 1200JS Sata £36.25

CD/DVD Drive : Samsung SH-S182DB £19.38

Case : I've seen quite a few that i've liked but not quite sure what I need

 

The bits i've missed out i'm not really that sure about but I think at the moment its a pretty good set up. I've heard that the Intel is easily overclocked which will be pretty good. What do you guys think? Hopefully I havn't said anything stupid

[Shino]

So far so good, but I wouldn't buy a Sound card unless you're an audiophile, the motherboard already has 7.1 Out. Any DVD writer should serve, and they're really cheap now, and as for the cases as long as its ATX (like the Motherboard), you shouldn't have any problem.

 

Go here http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/12/12/the_best_gaming_graphics_cards_for_the_money/ for graphic cards.

[Calza]

The Geforce 7600GS seems what I need but i'm a bit confused on how there is over 20 variations of it.

 

I missed out the PSU but I've seen some cases with them intergrated into them. Is that a good idea or is it better to have them seperate?

 

I was wondering on what online retailer you use? I've been looking around and Scan seems the cheapest all around.

 

And Thanks for all the help so far

[Shino]

The Geforce 7600GS seems what I need but i'm a bit confused on how there is over 20 variations of it.

 

It's just different brands, some of them are more expensive but have more features, or different versions of the same card, same brand, but more or less ram.

 

I missed out the PSU but I've seen some cases with them intergrated into them. Is that a good idea or is it better to have them seperate?

 

Depends on the price, I would say you need an 350W PSU but google for PSU calculators and you can see what wattage you need (but remember if it says 250W its still better to buy one with higher capacity).

 

I was wondering on what online retailer you use? I've been looking around and Scan seems the cheapest all around.

 

A Portuguese one :p

 

And Thanks for all the help so far

 

No problem, and if anyone notices any brain fart of mine please say ( I do it a lot).

[Ramar]

I recommend ebuyer, very good very quick. Although I've used dabs.com, I had some difficulty on a refund for my processor, yet I had a speedy refund on my motherboard, so its hit and miss. But ebuyer.co.uk are the dogs bollocks. Could also try savastore.com rlsupplies.co.uk and overclockers.co.uk.

[Calza]

The RAM should be DDR2 right? I've had a look but don't really understand the different Mhz speeds. I'm guessing that they all should work and the speeds are to do with their performance. I did find this which I hope works.

 

About the DVD drive does just any one work? I've seen IDE and SATA versions , whats the difference?

 

Would this graphics card work?

 

I know i'm asking alot of questions just it all seems a bit too confusing at the moment

[Bogbas]

Check the motherboard manufacturers website for compatible RAM. I usually have gotten kingston as I haven't had any problems with them yet. The higher Mhz memories are for overclockers. If you are not planning to do that anytime soon just get the cheapest option. I have 2 gigs of 533Mhz DDR 2 on my system and just found out it had been running on 400Mhz. Changed it to run at 533 and 3dmark06 got 2 point higher score. So I wouldn't worry about the speeds of the memories.

 

IDE drives have different connectors than sata drives. And I think that you need to install a driver for sata optical drives in windows. For IDE drives that's not really needed. Installing windows from a sata optical drive can be a problem. But some motherboards allows sata drives to be configured as standard ide so no drivers are needed. Otherwise you'd need a floppy drive to install a driver for the sata drives during the installation of windows.

 

The graphics card will work.

[Calza]

The ASRock website said this

Supports Dual Channel DDRII667/533 x 4 DIMM slots, with max. capacity up to 4GB

 

And I found Corsair memory that had 667 beside the speed so that means it should work?

 

What else do I need?

 

I've updated my post aswell with what I've sorted out so far.

[Bogbas]

Now I think only things that are missing are the OS and the case. Corsair should work fine. Some motherboards have a specific list of memories that are compatible with the motherboard.

[Caris]

Calza, get the E6600 cpu it has a bigger 4mb chace instead of a 2mb like the E6300 and a slight fast clock speed.

[Bogbas]

Yeah if you can afford (seems to be +84£) it and think that you need the processing power you could go for the E6600.

[Calza]

I'm not sure if I can stretch that much, I know it might not seem alot but i'm not paying for it all. What performance difference would it really make?

 

I've tried the PSU calculators and I couldn't really seem to get the hang of them. I know i've asked a lot of questions but does anybody know what PSU I would need?

[Bogbas]

I'm not sure if I can stretch that much, I know it might not seem alot but i'm not paying for it all. What performance difference would it really make?

 

I've tried the PSU calculators and I couldn't really seem to get the hang of them. I know i've asked a lot of questions but does anybody know what PSU I would need?

 

Depends on what you're going to do with the pc. I have the E6300 and so far it has proven to be fast enough for my needs.

 

400W-500W would be a safe option for the PSU.

[christophicus]

First off, What is the main use going to be for this pc? i it for games ?

 

Secondly If you get a good PSU that means you can keep that if you decide to upgrade your pc ,or you can use it in a completely new build in the future.THere is nothing worse then having a killer pc and then finding out it doesnt run properly, if at all because the PSU is not up to it.

 

This PSU is supposed to be very good.

 

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=256340

 

there is a modular version, which means you onl;y have to have the wires that you need in the pc.

 

I too would suggest trying hard to stretch to the 6600 if you can.

[Bogbas]

I think that for changing to E6600 won't make a huge difference to gaming performance as the GPU will drag the gaming performance down (it isn't a bad card for gaming, but there are faster ones) And I have a feeling that the core 2 duo prices will come down as the quad core cpus will be released.

 

And that PSU looks good, a bit expensive but it's likely to be the only component that you can reuse for the next upgrade.

[christophicus]

Yeah I know there wont be much os a prefomance differnence now with the 6600, but for looking to the future,when calza may choose to get a new card( 8800gtX, or better!) that cpu will have been a better choice.

[Pyxis]

Building a PC is quite fun. There should be instructions on how to put it together in with the motherboard that you buy. There was with my Gigabyte motherboard. It's just a matter of following the instructions:)

 

I put my first pc together in 1 hour and it took 4 times that to installer Windows.

 

http://www.dabs.com is cheap for components. People always say that overclockers is a good site, but places like dabs and micro direct are cheaper on every single product.

 

Saving money means that you have spare money to spend on better components. Buying from as few places as possible cuts down on postage.