Home build p.c's - any views?

T4i

I've been asked to build 2 new systems for a family member.

I've drifted quite far from the IT scene now as I got bored......but still get asked to try build cheap machines using good components.

I've come up with the following (home p.c's for net and office mainly)

Nokia Style Case /w 400w PSU £30
Asus A8V-X (939) /w LAN,Audio,AGP,PCI-E,ATA,SATA,USB2.0*8 £37
AMD 3000 939 £50
3500+ Cooler £6
1GB Value Corsair 400Mhz £65
SATA Western Digital Caviar 80GB £32
Nvidia 6200 PCI-E £29
Microsoft Optical mouse/keyboard bundle £15
NEC DVD Writer £23
17" Hyundai 8ms TFT £117

£408.00 Inc VAT (give or take £10's due to price fluctuations)

any views? Anything in that list that could be a problem or is there anything that could be replaced by something better?

Not sure what OS yet, so will corss that bridge later. Because of the simplicity of software to be installed I may opt for Linux.

Thx for the read and time....

jpe20

At ur end of the market I would simply buy a dell system. Then at least you are guaranted a working system for a good price. In the sub 400quid arena u gain very little by building your own.

I would only do this self build if you definitely know of someone else having built the same system (all components) as you are intending to build. Self build can include many pitfalls and lead to the pulling out of hair and the throwing out of the window of things that do not work!!!!

If time is valuable to you then don't get involved (even if it is for family) the Dell system at sub 400quid are hard to beat in terms of value.

Otherwise if you simply want to "catch up" on the current tech. then go ahead and treat it as a technical exercise. Though bear in mind for the amateur builder one faulty card/component especially motherboard can be very hard to diagnoise and sort out in terms of the hassle of sorting returns etc.

At the end of the day the basic PC (ie internet, word proc etc NOT GAMES OR VIDEO EDITING/GRAPHICS) has become a comodity item, if you do end up buying a Dell system then try and avoid the extras as they are not good value.

Best to talk to your family members and find out exactly what they want to do with the computer.

HTH
Jules

wolfman

I'd have to agree. These days I won't self build unless I have at least £500 just for the base unit.

Dell systems aren't too bad. You obviously won't get the quality that you could with a self build, but for the money you get great value.

jpe20

The crux of the matter is how much is your time worth???

I have spent 100hrs probably building my PC and still not yet finished!!!!! Reading of manuals, sorting out RMA requests and internet reading. OK I understand my hardware well now and am quite happy to dismantle/reassemble my system reinstall windows etc but it takes up lots of time.
Jules

bigglesinc

Ebuyer do some nice prebuilt systems.

For example:

quickfind code:114017

Maxdata AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 1024MB 250GB SATA 16x DVD RW XP Home 3 Years Warranty

£399.96 inc VAT

Features


AMD Athlon64 3200+ Processor (Socket 939pin)
1024MB DDR400 Memory
250GB SATA II Hard Drive 7200RPM
DVD-RW 16x Dual Layer Optical Drive
VGA/DVI Onboard
Dimension:180 (W) x 360 (H) x 420 (D) mm
Microsoft Windows XP Home
Nero Express 6
Norton Anti-Virus 2006 (90 day trial)
Power DVD 6
On Board 10/100 LAN
Warranty: 3yrs On-site NBD

Ports

1 x PATA Ports
4 x SATA Ports
PCI Slots: 2 x PCI, 1 x PCI-E
nVidia GeForce6100 with nForce 430
256MB Maximum Onboard VGA Memory
10/100 Onboard LAN
1 x Serial Ports
1 x Parallel Ports
2 x USB2 Ports Front
6 x USB2 Ports Rear
2 x PS2 Ports
1 x FireWire (IEEE1394)
USB Keyboard
Optical Mouse
Dimension: 190 (W) x 360 (H) x 375 (D
Average Weight: 12KG

ollyshaw

Yeah maybe go with Dell.

I did built mine myself, only took 2hrs, very easy.

As for a linux OS https://www.ubuntu.com would make a great choice!

The ony other thing is your TFT. I am sure I have seen 17" for less than £100, dont have any handy link now tho, sorty!

Olly

jpe20

olly .... 2hrs yeah provided everything works out the box!!! and there are no incompatibility issues/etc. However my new system was incorporating a new AM2 mobo with a new chipset to match 590..... first adoptors experience most of the problems I guess!!

Oh on a self build remember delivery costs add up especially on a sub 500quid system.

Dell have offers frequently and also remember to get 5% cashback via quidco (I think they are still doing this??). They do have some exceptional offers from time to time.

Jules

Skiduck

I used to build all my own pc's - I don't bother now, there are good systems out their for as much as I would buy the components now. I just get a decent barebones system and put what I want to upgrade in.

wolfman

jpe20 wrote:

olly .... 2hrs yeah provided everything works out the box!!! and there are no incompatibility issues/etc. However my new system was incorporating a new AM2 mobo with a new chipset to match 590..... first adoptors experience most of the problems I guess!!

Lol, you should try the new Intel Core architecture.

Hardest part was picking memory that would actually work. The board I bought by default needs 1.8v memory, so if you buy anything higher it won't post. In which case you won't be able to get into the BIOS to up the voltage.

I probably spent around 2 days getting it stable. And I'm still playing around with it every so often (overclocking). Mature platforms (such as my old Athlon64) are generally a lot easier to setup, or at least a lot more forgiving as the relevant updates/fixes are available, and the early adopters will have posted about any problems that may occur.

T4i

hmmmmm, wasn't the type of reply I expected.

I've looked at dells but they don't seem to be that cracking, for a sub £400 machine your looking at a better CPU than offered with my build but thats it, the RAM they offer at sub £400 is 256 or 512MB, the TFT is a 15" (YUK!) and if anything goes wrong with it I have to go through the whole hastle of sending the whole unit back, and am I correct by saying dells are harder to upgrade because they need dell parts?

I've built many many systems before and had very minor problems, yes I agree you can expect hair pulling situations if you don't know what you are doing but I would say this is not my case.

I have plenty spare parts and my own machine to use to diagnose any problems, also CCL is just round the corner from me and I know the tech department staff which will bench any components that I ask.

Thats the reason I went for big names such as Asus, Corsair, Western Digital, NEC was to reduce the risk of bad components but like I said before I've built many systems and some of my m8's still do and I can't remember the last time they got a dodgy component.

I still think that system is quite a good one at a tad above £400, very upgradeable and I know I'm using quality components.

What components do Dell use? Motherboard? Writers? RAM?

Thx very much for the replies, even though I'm suprised at the number of people recommending Dell.

:beer:

wolfman

Ok. Well looking at your spec, I'd maybe spend a fraction more.

For £12 more you should be able to get an Athlon 3500+. A bit of a jump in performance given it's only £12.

If you want a top motherboard I'd try to go for one with an nVidia chipset. Something like the MSI K8N Neo4, which costs around £45.

For RAM I bought Geil (PC3200). It's about the same price and you get the heatspreaders which help keep it a little cooler.

Also with the hard drive, you may want to consider an extra £5 or so and get a 160gb drive.

And the biggest increase of all. Case. I've always liked the Antec Sonata II. It's around £80, but you get a 450W psu (quite a good one) and the case its built very well. Keeps things cool and very quiet, near silent infact.