Good PC wana build it

mclaren_2

I want to build a PC tower, on the cheap. I was wondering what kinda componants i would need (links). I do know that i need certain componants which are compatible with others but i have no idea. I have looked thru ebuyer but im lost. http://www.pcmech.com/byopc/step/1 I have looked here, however they dont show you the products to buy. I dont wana b ripped off with buying from pc world or that.... Can you please tell me how much it would cost, and what kinda specs i would get for my money... Its for the kids for xmas, so they dont have to be super specs, ie the processor......

thanks in advance

Pink.

Hi mclaren,

You may get more replies on the techie board, so I hope that you don't mind if I move your thread over there.

Pink


Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere(please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [email="andrea@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/email].

Mark_LJ

Couple of questions:
Do you already have the peripherals such as monitor, keyboard etc?
What are the budget restrictions?
Are the kids going to want it to be a gaming machine or just homework, photo's, word docs etc?

MrBen_4

If it's just a general PC for the kids I would've thought it was easier to just buy a pre-built mid-spec machine from someone like Dell or Mesh. You get the warranty as well which is a piece of mind especially when the children are going to be bashing it around.

I'm looking for a new PC, and am going to have to go the build it myself route since the specs and type of system I want isn't available anywhere as a pre-built system. Try the forums on anandtech.com for what specs to get, the type of system that is best for you, etc..

pealy

Hi McLaren, I looked at this a while ago and actually found it hard to beat the likes of Dell when it came to the specification for the price. The only way I could see of saving was by buying a *very* cheap motherboard and last season's processor, this provided a cheap combination mainly because PC suppliers no longer offered it as it was somewhat behind the times.

For me the difficult bit was making sure the motherboard, processor, graphics card and memory were all compatible. These things are crucial whereas cases, psu's, hard disks, keyboards, monitors etc are really no problem at all as there are far fewer choices. Some places offer bundles with a motherboard, processor & memory, I liked this idea as I didn't have to worry about compatability. (eg, from komplett.co.uk you can get board/processor and 512MB memory for 120 inc vat)

Another cost saving avenue is b-grade or open-box stock from the likes of dabs, ebuyer, komplett etc. I also liked this idea but struggled a bit with a lack of information about what was included/missing from the box.

pchelpman

I get my bits and pieces for PC building from Computer Fairs. We have one fairly local to us every two weeks. Handy if you know what you want or want to talk it through face to face.

All the sellers are (or should be) genuine folk so you shouldn't have worries on that score.

ITtim

I've stopped building pc's because of Dell. £299 gets you a decent system and flat screen. if you do want to do it then go to https://www.microdirect.co.uk

However there are some potential pitfalls. Bear in mind the differences between SATA SCSI and IDE. Then the differences between the different cpu types and various sockets. Also AGP / PCI and PCI-E . Because technology has moved on be carefull. If you tell me what your budget is i'd be happy to sugest some items for you. still i'd recomend a dell personally.

jakemuk

https://www.overclockers.co.uk
https://www.aria.co.uk
https://www.scan.co.uk
https://www.ebuyer.co.uk
https://www.dabs.com
https://www.watford.com

theres a few i use

mclaren_2

Mark_LJ wrote:

Couple of questions:
Do you already have the peripherals such as monitor, keyboard etc?
What are the budget restrictions?
Are the kids going to want it to be a gaming machine or just homework, photo's, word docs etc?

Hi, i have the monitor, keyboard, mouse printer etc..... as for budget, lookin to av change out of 150. its not really a heavy gaming machine, its mainly for homework and light internet use.....

Dennis99

Two good tutorials:

http://www.buildyourown.org.uk/

http://www.microdiy.co.uk/Hardware/Build_PC.htm

UK computer parts comparison site:

http://www.computerprices.co.uk/uk/

brummybloke

mclaren wrote:

Hi, i have the monitor, keyboard, mouse printer etc..... as for budget, lookin to av change out of 150. its not really a heavy gaming machine, its mainly for homework and light internet use.....

i hope you also have a hard drive and graphics card otherwise you wont get anything out of £150 .

a graphics card ( very basic one, no good for any of the new games out nowdays) will cost £25, something like a fx5200.

a hard drive ( 40 gig) will cost £25

a cpu ( AMD Sempron 2200) will cost £30

a mother board will cost about £25

a case with psu will cost about £25

256 meg of ram will cost about £20

a dvdrw will cost £30

this will cost £155 and that doesnt include cables or delivery and in not exactly going to be upgradable which would meen having to replace pretty much everything again in 6 months or a year when a game comes out you like the look of. also if you are using windows xp you should really have 512 meg of ram which would be an extra £15 or £20, a floppy drive £5 . it all adds up, and that is providing you dont need an operating system for it.