Advice on building a new PC

nickmack

lee1234987-123 wrote:

i have a 300w power supply shud that be enough to handle this?

No!!

The power supply is often overlooked in system building. You should consider a decent 400W MINIMUM that provides good power on all rails. If you use a cheapy 300W, you are asking for trouble, if it works at all!

CAT-THE-FIFTH

Check the Silver Power SP-400P1B out:

http://www.custompc.co.uk/custompc/labs/79289/hiper-hpu4k580.html

http://www.trustedreviews.com/peripherals/review/2005/10/12/Power-Supply-Group-Test-2005/p8

It is only 30 quid and has got good reviews.

However it is only 400W.

CAT-THE-FIFTH

Why don't you consider a Core2Duo based system. They offer very good performance.The E6300 should be competitive with a X2 4200.

Here are some components for such a system:

LN15070
Gigabyte GA 965P-DS3 iP965, S775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 533/667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX £76.99 £90.46
LN7593
2Gb (2X1Gb) Corsair Value Select, DDR2 PC4200 (533), 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12 £115.42 £135.62
LN15102
Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 OEM, Socket 775, 1.86 GHz, 1066MHz FSB, Allendale Core, 2MB Cache, OEM £93.89 £110.32
LN13080
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro - P4 up to 4.4GHz - S775 Dual Core / Core2Duo Ready £14.49 £17.03
LN11608
400w Silverpower SP-400P1B thermal controlled cooling fans £20.79 £24.43

Net Total £321.58

Carriage £11.75

V.A.T. £58.33

TOTAL £391.66

Norman-B

CAT-THE-FIFTH wrote:

Why don't you consider a Core2Duo based system. They offer very good performance.The E6300 should be competitive with a X2 4200.

Here are some components for such a system:

LN15070
Gigabyte GA 965P-DS3 iP965, S775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 533/667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX £76.99 £90.46
LN7593
2Gb (2X1Gb) Corsair Value Select, DDR2 PC4200 (533), 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12 £115.42 £135.62
LN15102
Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 OEM, Socket 775, 1.86 GHz, 1066MHz FSB, Allendale Core, 2MB Cache, OEM £93.89 £110.32
LN13080
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro - P4 up to 4.4GHz - S775 Dual Core / Core2Duo Ready £14.49 £17.03
LN11608
400w Silverpower SP-400P1B thermal controlled cooling fans £20.79 £24.43

Net Total £321.58

Carriage £11.75

V.A.T. £58.33

TOTAL £391.66

Retailer's name? (please)

CAT-THE-FIFTH

Oh sorry!!! The retailer is Scan Computers!!

lee1234987-123

if i did buy the amd processor would i have to buy any cooling fans to go with it?

CAT-THE-FIFTH

If the CPU is part of the retail package then no,but if it says OEM this means the processor ownly.However I always would go with a better fan made by another company as these will cool better and are also usually less noisy!

lee1234987-123

rite i looked at the site ebuyer.co.uk and i found the same system basically for less, cud anyone tell me if all the components will fit?


Sumvision 550W 20+4pin SATA 2x 80mm Fan PSU - Retail Box [quick find-120676] £14.45

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ 2.2 GHz Socket AM2 L2 1 MB (2x512KB) Retail Box [quick find-118226] £96.48

Ebuyer 1GB DDR2 800MHz PC2-6400 240pin Extra Value Ram [quick find-120640] £56.16 (two of these at - £112.32)

Abit KN9 nForce4 skt AM2 7.1channel audio SATA ATX [quick find-120312] £44.31

Subtotal:£269.90
VAT:£47.25
Total:£317.15

i think this is better as its cheaper and plus i got a power supply as well

CAT-THE-FIFTH

Is there any specific reason why you need an AMD processor out of interest??

I would spend decent money on a power supply.The Sumvision is Ok but it is unlikely it will even supply 450w reliably!! Skimping on the PSU is not worth it as it could possibly damage the rest of the computer!

Unless you want to spend around 45-50 quid or more the Silverpower seems a good PSU.

The component list I made includes a matched memory kit ,a much better CPU cooler and much better PSU too.The E6300 will be faster than a 4200 for gaming purposes also.

If you are buying memory buy it as a 2GB kit.Since you are buying value memory two individual memory sticks may come from different manufacterers. These wil have slight differences as a result! Since the board will try to run the memory in dual channel mode(which is faster) two different memory modules could cause system instability!!

Athlon 64 systems benefit more from faster memory than Core2Duo systems though.

hibees1875_2

siren13577 wrote:

Hi There,

We'd like to build a new computer, to keep costs down, we already have a decent printer and tft monitor but need advice on all the other stuff. We are happy with the mouse and keyboard but would like something with integrated speakers, if such a thing is possible. This is the first time we will do something as major as this, we have rejigged our computer with a few upgrades but nothing like building from scratch.

:beer:

I would really recommend waiting until sale season round the corner... and also keep a watch out in the pc world clearout corner of ex display and damaged packaging stock etc.

i've built several computers and find it far cheaper this way contrary to what some others have found. I tend to steer away from the larger companies websites and go for smaller independent retailers that are keeping prices rock bottom. They often do motherboard and cpu bundles which are ideal for the novice builder as you can then be sure you have the right motherboard for the processer you want. I generally prefer AMD cpu's as they tend to be a fraction faster than intel.

Also, dont load your pc with too much ram as this can actually slow your pc down!! typicaly on an amb 3800 sempron 1gb ram is more than adequate - even for heavy gaming. personally i wouldnt go over 80 gb for your hard drive for several reasons 1> it gets cluttered with crap that you forget about 2> disk defrag becomes a nightmare 3> have you ever tried backing up a 320gb hard drive????!!!! 4> archive things on dvd so you dont lose them in case of a crash and if you need to reformat the hard drive. plus it's just vanity.

also if your making the effort to build your own pc, think about wireless broadband in the back of your box... that way you dont have unsightly cables and you dont need to have pc slap bang next to phone socket.

when you put together the components think about air circulation inside the box when its on... let the components breath without being wrapped in cables or too close to one another and you will also get better performance as everything will be cool along side perhaps an internal water cooler?

also, who says you need to use a standard pc case... take a look at those media centres.. they're just hifi's with computer bits. get down the car boot get an old hifi and replace the bits with pc components (dremel saw a must!) and you can mod your case and maybe save a few quid as well.

good luck