Gaming desktop...

johng_uk

tonyhague wrote: »

honestly, John, the hardest part is getting together a shopping list. the components are a bit like lego, if it doesn't fit there, it doesn't go there. The PC in my kitchen took about 20 minutes to build, and another 2 or 3 hours to load with vista64 and all the software, cost £552 without keyboard, screen, software or mouse, and will play any new games, though the owner only wants to play civ 4 on it for now, the pc is going to Malta, so it has to be 'futureproof' for a few years.

Sounds simple! :rotfl:

What exactly would you need:

Motherboard
Processor
RAM
Graphics card
Sound card
Wireless network card
Operating System
Case

Petentially:

Speakers
Monitor
Keyboard
Mouse

Anything I've missed?

And what about things such as dual-graphics (is that sli??)

What sort of saving would you be looking at by not purchasing from a mainstream seller. I know this would depend on parts etc, but for a decent gaming machine would the saving be worth the hassle?

johng_uk

Oh and where's the best sites to get the relevant parts for the best price?

superscaper

johng_uk wrote: »

Oh and where's the best sites to get the relevant parts for the best price?

I personally use www.scan.co.uk a lot and especially watch out for the www.todayonly.co.uk offers on their site (always had really good customer service when I've needed it as well). If you're a member of the hexus.net forums and post there you can get free postage from scan which can be a deciding factor in some cases. There's also overclockers.co.uk but I haven't used them myself in years.

banger9365

SLI and X-fire are a waste of money unless you us the very top end graphic card and the new x2 cards are better than a single put cost more than a single topend card put are cheaper than SLI and x-fire
and ho you for got hard drive
prices have started going up for xmas too,and the credit crunch is helping the prices to go up to know (theres been a £50 jump in price on some topend cards $<£,old stock is going

johng_uk

Cheers for the input folks.

Anyone else can feel free to jump on the thread and pose any related questions.

It's an interesting topic and there seems to be some knowledgeable people around!

superscaper

johng_uk wrote: »

It's an interesting topic and there seems to be some knowledgeable people around!

Well we bluff really well.

bumpydog

superscaper wrote: »

Actually that is a bit condescending (not to mention presumptuous).

I certainly didn't mean to be condescending, so apologies if I offended you.
I did indeed make a assumption that people on a forum dedicated to building computers would be best placed to answer any questions on say ... building computers.

I second scan.co.uk btw - cheap prices and great customer service IMO.

johng_uk

superscaper wrote: »

Well we bluff really well.

:rotfl: That'll do for me!

johng_uk

I got a question fella's! Another question would be more precise lol.

How do you know which parts are compatible with which? Is there a website that will tell you, or do you just ask in forums etc?

bumpydog

johng_uk wrote: »

I got a question fella's! Another question would be more precise lol.

How do you know which parts are compatible with which? Is there a website that will tell you, or do you just ask in forums etc?

My advise would be to have a trawl through people's proposed build specs here:

http://www.buildyourown.org.uk/forums/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=33

People usually say how much they have to spend, and then get advise on whether components are compatable or whether something can be swapped out for something which is better value.

Go on mate - Build It !

/EDIT : There's also a sticky on what you'll need and general compatability:
http://www.buildyourown.org.uk/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=16317