Building own PC - Help with Parts!

wolfman

Yeah I'm the same. For me I spend more on the PSU for stability and silence.

With regards to case, it doesn't have to be a fashion statement. A decent case will keep things cool and run silently. For me having a nice quite case and psu is quite important. The Antec's mentioned do exactly that, while having good build quality.

And I usually spend a little more on the mouse, keyboard and monitor and these are the three things you interact with most. Apple's USB keyboards are very nice (£20), and one of the Logitech mice (I've got an MX1000). And if you've got £250 to spare, you should be able to pick one of the better 19" tft's about.

Using decent equipment for me does make a difference. Just look at any Mac, not only do they look nice, but they function very well too. Just makes using it more enjoyable. If I had the money I wouldn't mind one of the new MacBooks.

tewboss

Most cheap PSU's overestimate their power output, and if you have a lot of peripherals then its like trying to run a Ferrari on the same amount of fuel a Fiesta would use. Much better to spend a little more money then get better performance. A good PSU is more of an issue since PC's became more power hungry, after all your expensive parts won't run properly without enough power.

albertross_2

Hehe.. Guys/gals.. I know I'm outnumbered, but life would be boring if we all thought and bought the same. The marketing departments in the far east have obviously done their job well (winding you up again..). Don't see many people ripping their power supply out of the telly, and saying that they must get a Hyperthreadedsupercooled model, because those Panasonic ones just can't cope with Channel5. It is a transformer with a fan, basic electronics, nothing fancy.. Quiet is good though.

niceguyrichy

wolfman wrote:

And if you've got £250 to spare, you should be able to pick one of the better 19" tft's about.

Novatech have 17" Sony's 12ms for £149 this week.
black or silver. steal for sony tft

tewboss

albertross wrote:

The marketing departments in the far east have obviously done their job well

mine's German and is nice and quiet

jpe20

robert_harper_2000 wrote:

Hello I've actually copied this list from someone on this Techie somewhere but since have lost where.

Basically I thought this guy knew his stuff so what does everyone else think?

My needs will be not too bothered about gaming but may use it a bit. Main use will be multiple tasks at once with fair bit of storage needed for photos and documents etc - more work PC so security important.

His list is as follows
-Case - Antec P180B - £96
-Power Supply - Hiper 4M580 580Watt - £52
-HDD - SATA Maxtor Diamondmax 10 2x300GB - £134
-DVD RW - Pioneer 111 DVD Writer - £30
-Motherboard - ASUS A8n-32 SLI deluxe - £135
-Processor - AMD 64x2 dual Core 4400+ - £305
-Graphics card - ?
-RAM - Orsair 2GB DDR XMS 3500LL Pro Twin X - £206

Now, he gave these rough prices but I'm sure I'll find them cheaper( I'll check that out ) but I want to know if I could change the Power Supply without making a difference? etc Technical changes I don't understand...

Any help would be appreciated; thank you all:beer:

Hey that was me!!!! I still have not completed the system yet .... just the memory (Corsair XMS2 PC6400 4cas), cpu (AM2 x2 4000) and tv card (terratec) to buy. Went a bit crazy on the gfx cards bought 2 ASUS 7900GTXs for 600quid.

Hang on I will take a 2nd look at the posts and tell you what I think. Bear in mind my system is a expensive one which I can justify because I use my main computer alot and I am a bit of a power user. I would not use my specs for your more modest requirements.

Jules

jpe20

Heres what I would be looking at possibly to start me off (my specs are too high for what you need!!)

Antec Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Case - incl. 450W Smart Power PSU 67quid overclockers

Asus P5LD2-SE Intel 945P (Socket LGA775) PCI-Express Motherboard 83quid (maybe not be best p5 mobo but its a start!)
I am sure there is a decent 50quid board out there.

Intel D805 processor ... 80quid bargain dual core cpu ... needs ddr2 mem

2 Hard discs Maxtor x2 300GB 134quid ... WD and Seagate are better ... see what u can find (go for ide 7200rpm 16mb cache as a min) Get what space you think you need and double it!!!!

Graphics card for the occassional gamer 7600GT around 130quid. [if On a budget get a 7600GS (100quid)] (If you are thinking thats not enough then I would take a look at the Gainward 512mb 7900GT golden sample .... ideal for HD gaming but 270quid)

Memory DDR2 533 should be ok I think for stock speeds on intel D805
Corsair 1GB DDR2 Value Select PC4200 Dual Channel Kit (2x512MB) 70quid

Pioneer DVD 111 ... 30quid

Win XP OEM SP2 ..... 52quid

Monitor one mentioned above sounded good 150quid

Keyboard and mouse ..... spend money on this if you are using it for work ... Logitech all the way for me!!!! Say 80quid should buy u a killer k/b and mouse.

Thats around 850quid incl. the monitor.

Compares ok with the Dell. The cheaoer Dell systems are well priced ... but the upgrades tend to be dear.

HTH
Jules

The D805 processor can be overclocked easily (at your own risk) to 3.6GHz or so. At this level you are in the domain of cpus costing many hundreds!!!!
If you plan on overclocking then you need to buy some faster memory ideally PC6400 / PC5300(?).
Hang on I am being thick ... its a work machine .... yeah should not really overclock your work machine. Or at the very most do a very "modest" overclock ie 10% or so.

robert_harper_2000

wow quite a few replies! lol just reading through all these I'm glad for all your help.

Think I'll cut back on the specs although I like the case... and the processor! lol

Rob

jpe20

Do not cut back on the memory ... u need ddr2 for the processor.

Mobo sure you can get 1 for 50quid .... try Foxconn they do cheap boards.

Go for 7600GS gfx 100quid

Lose a hard drive

cheaper k/b and mouse .... still buy something reasonable for 25-35quid I would expect

That should bring u down to around 600quid.
Jules

wolfman

You'll only need DDR2 if using the AM2 platform.

I'd go for:

Dual Core 4200 - (£245)
1gb DDR PC3200 Ram - (£65)
You should be able to get a more than adequate Motherboard for £90

The maybe look at the Antec Sonata II for £80. It comes with quite a decent 450W psu. That should save you around £200.

Pick up a nice monitor. Maybe one of the nice S-PVA tft's. The Belinea 10 19 20 is a great 19" tft, gets some excellent reviews. I was considering it before picking up a Samsung 970P (for £200! bargain). The Belinea costs around £250 and you won't find many better all-round tft's.

As mentioned before I find the apple USB keyboards great. Small, good touch and quite solid. £22. And I've got a Logitech MX1000, brilliant mouse, costs quite a bit though, £36. If that's too much look at one of the Logitech MX500 range.