Hi guys, I have recently decided I am going to try to build a computer, I will be using the money I have saved up to get started (£235) and I should be able to squeeze another £250ish by February. I have been on computers for years now, but mainly playing games, and stuff not to do with the insides. I want to build a PC from scratch, only taking out some RAM from the PC I'm currently on. My only experience with the insides of a PC, is installing RAM, and installing a CD drive, doing this was fairly smooth and easy. Anyways, could you guys give me some good pointers on how to start out? I've been told that one of the main points is to make sure all the hardware mix with each other, so I guess I will need a certain size case to fit a certain size Motherboard etc. I'm looking for a case first of all, I don't really want to spend too much on a case, and I have been looking for one which has a PSU included, if someone could point out a good one for me, I will be very grateful. Thanks
Dude.. Hello and welcome. Few things... do alot of reading, there are tonnes of guides on building pc, it wil take ages just to say it all here. Also you are right that all the parts have to be correct size, but dont forget, correct speed. Example, no point putting a DDR ram, in a old motherboard that dont support it. An exmaple case would be hard to give, depends on what you want, how much you want to spend, midi, tower, full, window, see threw,addtional USB ports etc, It best if you surf around, look at ebuyer or scan.co.uk for example, go through all there compants list, read each one, see what the difference are, then pick which is best for you. Good luck with your build. By the way, its easy to build a pc, once you know the few simple basics.
Actually building it is easy. the hard part is deciding what to buy and making sure it's all compatible.
After you're decided on what to buy, post your config on these forums to see what people think - it's easy to make a big mistake and some suppliers have a restocking fee that can be quite costly. Another thing: once it's all ready to go, Google each part and search them on the forums and so on. See what people think. I've bought lemons because I didn't have time to make a simple search that would have shown me 3000 people complained about a defective product that otherwise had great reviews. Good luck and have fun!
It's going to be mainly for games, I was wondering, how much of my money I should spend on each part, like, what should I spend the most money on?
Spend about an equal amount on your CPU and graphics card, and the rest should be quite a bit cheaper. Graphics card will get you the most increase in performance. Once you have a good graphics card, you can only squeeze like 10-20 fps by spending a lot more money to upgrade the processor (from the same line that is... going AMD -> intel could result in a big increase with little or no money spent). On that note, you should get Intel if you're building right now, because they perform much better. AMD claims it'll release something better, but don't hold your breath cause their newest processors which are coming out some time early next year still don't compete with Intel. Look at the benchmarks on anandtech.com to get an idea of how various cards perform so you can find out what you'll need based on what you play (and what you hope to be able to play in the future). Some cards do better on some games. There may be benchmark reviews here as well. Anandtech also has CPU benchmarks so that should help.
kyledr, I've just heard AMD are much better for my money? Anyways, can someone recommend a case for me? It doesn't really matter about colours, just cheap as possible for an OK case, budget is the main thing about this build
OK - I think this is a good looking, good price case, http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/99371 Will this be sufficient size etc? The case will be the first thing i buy ofc
If you want to make life easier on yourself [i.e., not spending days reading up on specs and compatibility], may I suggest a Shuttle ? In one purchase you could have case, PSU, mobo, sound, network, and video [onboard] sorted, leaving you merely to look at the Shuttle website for the compatible memory, HD, DVDRW and cpu. On a budget I'd recommend the SK22G2, which is amd2, cost is circa £150 the remaing £350 should net the following 2 gig ddr2 [£120] 400gb HD [£60] DVDRW [£20] 7950gt [£160] there is also similarly priced conroe Shuttle SD32G2, so you have the choice of both
I've not heard of shuttle systems before, is there a downside to them? Because that deals sounds quite nice
the only downsides are due to the compactness, 1] it is not the best solution for loads of hard drives , those models will allow 2 drives and a dvdrw iirc 2] if you are into overclocking and using the fastest graphics cards, then the heat build up may be an issue if the noise of the fans dont annoy you first however if you want a small, quiet easily portable system then look no further, I have owned half a dozen Shuttles to date, and currently run 2 of em, one with an e6600, 7900gto and 2 x 400gb HD's and the other with an opteron170 and x1950xtx, hardly low spec I think you'll agree
planet Earth http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=352373 currently on offer 58.74 each http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=413460 £75 ok I was a bit over on this one http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=472130 £20 http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=466117 £155.76 problem is I missed out the cpu d'oh !!!, so OP could use the onboard short term , and get nice cpu
what i am getting Hello i jsut wread ur post and i thought i may share my pc im looking at building to give u an idea, this is without a case. Pentium D 925 138.9 www.zipzoomfly.com 1GB corsair DDR2 675 ram xms series 103 www.zipzoomfly.com gigabyte Ga-8n-SLI mobo 89.99 same website 80Gb hard drive sata 2 43.90 same website 500watt powersupply around 50 dollars and 7900GS around 170-190 dollars depending on speed and manufacture. hopefully that will give u sum idea.
