New PC

bert

I would like to get a new pc, but I can't seem to find any places that allow you to customise much and are of reasonable value. I have decided that I might try and put together one myself (unless anyone on here would like to make me one!) Would just like to know the best/cheapest place to buy the parts. ebuyer have a good selection but I've heard bad things about them. I take it it's best to try and get all the parts from one place as it makes things easier for returning stuff and keeps any delivery costs low. I have a few parts from my current PC I would like to re-use aswell. Any suggestions on the whole for this sort of venture? I want something that is stable, quiet-ish, and most importantly can run Quake 4. Can't really spend more than £500 but have my eyes on something along the lines of 6600gt gfx card, 250gb sata 16mb cache hdd, 1gb ram (can i mix pc3200 with pc2700?) and maybe 3200 64 amd processer (is that about the price/performance sweetspot?) Thanks in advance :j

Browntoa

www.novatech.co.uk offer some good barebones systems you can swap your bits into

wolfman

I think the AMD3500 is generally the best cpu for your money at the moment in terms of price/performance.

The 6600GT is a good card, although I'm not sure how it'd cope with Quake 4. A 6800 or a 6800GT might be worth considering. Have a look around, I got lucky and got my 6800GT for £150 on a misprice

With regards to the memory, I don't think there would be a problem, although it'd run at the slower of the two. Ie the PC3200 would run at PC2700 speeds, I think, correct me if I'm wrong.

A good starting point is the Antec Sonata II case. It is a well built silent case, with very good cooling. It also has a decent Antec 450W psu. It costs £80 which is great for what you get.

The Antec Sonata II and AMD3500+ would be a good starting point.

bert

Great, thanks for the pointers so far.
I had the Coolermaster Wavemaster in mind, but it might be a bit to pricey - not sure I like the usb/mic ports on the top too.

gizmoleeds

Dell allow customization. Just find a nice base system and click "customise and buy" and you can alter the bits and pieces all day long until you are happy with the spec and price.

Nelly.t

Antec sonata is a very good case for your new build. I built a couple of boxes with them and the finish is excellent and the airflow is very good thanks to the large cooling fans front and back. Just build your own pc, its very straight forward with a little knowledge. Just dont turn it on without securing the heatsink and fan on top of your processor and plugging in the cooling fan too. Dont put the sides on the case until its working properly. I say this because I always look at the cpu cooling fan when I first turn the power on to make sure its spinning up or I might fry my cpu before I start. Have the motherboard manual handy to see what the post beeps mean. Also I always go straight into the bios and check how the temps are so I know I have screwed it together correctly. Anyway, good luck and happy building.

bert

gizmoleeds wrote:

Dell allow customization. Just find a nice base system and click "customise and buy" and you can alter the bits and pieces all day long until you are happy with the spec and price.

Thanks, but I still think it's very limited. Intel only, one choice of case. Not any brand of hdd I want. They have a nice customisation page though.

bert

Nelly.t wrote:

Antec sonata is a very good case for your new build. I built a couple of boxes with them and the finish is excellent and the airflow is very good thanks to the large cooling fans front and back. Just build your own pc, its very straight forward with a little knowledge. Just dont turn it on without securing the heatsink and fan on top of your processor and plugging in the cooling fan too. Dont put the sides on the case until its working properly. I say this because I always look at the cpu cooling fan when I first turn the power on to make sure its spinning up or I might fry my cpu before I start. Have the motherboard manual handy to see what the post beeps mean. Also I always go straight into the bios and check how the temps are so I know I have screwed it together correctly. Anyway, good luck and happy building.

You don't live near Worcester by any chance do you? ;-)