Build Advice Complete newbie taking the plunge building a gaming PC

Hey there, Long Time Reader First Time Poster, I've been a laptop user all my life, been playing on average speeced laptops for nearly 10 years, so my knowledge with computers is pretty much average to above average. But... my knowledge with PC hardware is really really bad, i know what the components are, or how they look like or where they should be, but building a PC first hand is something i have not done before. I am a complete newbie with all of this..

I'm a PC gamer, I play WoW a lot and some FPS TF from time to time but mostly RTS ones, my girlfriend has an acer predator *yeh i know* and compared to my laptop, i have nothing.. due to this, i want to build my own pc, it doesnt need to be god like, just an above average quality one that can be upgraded if a component gets phased out or needs upgrading.
Would love it to be as quiet as possible
Budget: Between £650-£800


Main uses of intended build: Gaming **Playing WoW mostly, Starcraft 2, FPS games, MW2, TF, and FF XIV in the future.** Surfing the net, watching films. In other words, I play a lot on my PC.


Parts required: almost everything, OS, monitor, i think i can look for a keyboard myself.only thing i that i can use which i have is a mouse...


Previous build information (list details of parts):


Monitor resolution: Not sure about this, but my laptop has a 17 inch screen, im hoping for a
22"+ if my budget can handle it, Im willing to pu sh it as long as i can get more than 22"


Storage requirements: not that much is needed, i have 500gb on my laptop and i've only used 200gb or something.


will you be overclocking: From what i've read here, Overclocking is good, free speed is good, But its not something i will do initially upon building my unit.

Any motherboard requirements (no. of USB, Xfire/SLI, fan headers): Doesnt matter


Extra information about desired system: Wireless connection would be nice, My Girlfriend gets all bitchy when there's a lot of cables lying around... would want a system which i can upgrade after 3-5 years or something.

Thanks a lot for your time.


PS.. Been reading about buyers guide and all that. I know i should've went with the all rounder, but i have a feeling im between all rounder and gaming workhorse so im hoping there's something in between if i ask the community for help ^_^

I'm coming from London, UK btw.

 

hey dude, first off i ll say welcome! dont be scared i built my first rig last year and its a lot less scary after you get stuck in. my pc handles practically everything easily and cost me around £800
id recommend my hardware to anyone, i want to change my cpu fan to a corsair so i ll recommend that..

my hardware is
cpu: intel core 2 quad q9550 cost me £170 at the time. should be cheaper now
motherboard: foxconn blackops (if you get a quad core chip look for motherboards with an lga775 chipset)
ram: corsair 2x2gb dominator gt
gpu: ati 4870 1gb
psu: bequiet 650w
hsf: (cpu fan) corsair h50 (water cooled unit that requires no maintenance. should be around £60)

have a good look at cases too, theres many to choose from id recommend coolermaster, antec or silverstone

best sites imho for prices are www.overclockers.co.uk - www.scan.co.uk

add me on here as a friend and inbox me for details etc.

 

A ha, good one, any more suggestions? I'm trying to compare this to my girlfriends pc, ain't 2gb memory not enough for todays games? I went out checking the components you've written down and had a lot of reviews for the gpu... But hey, who am I to say anything I'm just starting this pc building thing....

 

Sorry, but this is one of the worst hardware recommendations I've read on Bit... You would've been right on around a year and a half ago, but everything really important in your build has been replaced significantly since then.



Please take a look at the buyer's guide for this month:

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/buyers-guide/2010/07/13/pc-hardware-buyer-s-guide-july-2010/1

He recommended 4GB, 2x2gb means that he has two 2GB sticks in the PC.

 

i think for your budget if you have to include everything your looking at the all-rounder on buyers guide espceially if you have to factor in monitor and OS etc.

OS would be around £70-80 for windows 7 home premium

20-22" monitor id be looking at a 1680x1050 or 1600x900 as your budget doesnt really allow for 1920x1080/1920x1200 gaming and it would date very quickly if you opted for the higher res.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/158373

samsung SM2033SW - £114

20" is where its at after a quick look as most 22" are 1920x1080 now ! and you have to pay a premium for the lower res which doesnt make sense.

so with the all rounder plus the monitor and OS your looking at £660ish.

if your budget can go higher you could opt for a better GPU such as a 1GB 460 or a better cpu such as a Phenom II 955/965 maybe.

your budget doesnt quite allow for a i5 750 build which would be around the £900 mark including box, monitor and OS etc

 

I have recent just spent about £750 on my new build.

https://secure.scan.co.uk/aspnet/Shop/SavedBasket/Show.aspx?Id=42778d1dd7c149d68827add3642c1d2b

Take away the mouse/keyboard/wifi card you might be looking at about £700.

 

For the wireless option I would suggest this Edimax wireless PCI card.

I bought it about 6-7 weeks ago, and I have found it to be very reliable and very good.

 

unless you have wireless N there is no point getting that card.

The card of choice for G standard is the abit airpace which is an awesome card

http://www.scan.co.uk/search.aspx?q=abit+airpace

cheap, realible and adjustable aerial position.

 

My bad, I should have pointed that out about the card .

 

Just a note, if you are a student (or your gf is) you can get w7 for a nicer price. Type student windows 7 or similar in to Google and have a look. I got my sister to buy it on my behalf for around £34 i believe it was.

 

how about this build? my girlfriend linked me one, she's helping me lok for a nice build ^_^
whatcha lot reckon? I think i can push my budget to £900 really,
Thanks a lot for your time ^_^, been a very big help and im learning a lot ^_^

 

Get a 1GB GTX 460, Corsair TX 650W PSU and don't cheap out on the case, find a good one.

Corsair TX 650W
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-008-CS&utm_source=froogle

 

I'm using my local shop to buy my parts, yoyotech.co.uk, it's based in London, but I can order online as well, no problem ^_^ When you say don't buy a cheap case, what do you mean by that? Cuz most of the expensive cases I see look pretty but I'm not sure if it does the job... I don't mind it looking like just a normal box as long as it does what it's supposed to do ^_^

But what do you lot think of the build above? Anything I should change? Or swap out for something else? I'm writing down everything you lot tell me hihi ^_^

 

My feeling is if an i-750/760 intel build is a bit out of your price range (and it is really, cos I've just gone that route) then turning to AMD is a good plan. Mihijaru's list looks good. But you might want to spend a few quid more and get the 1gb version of the 460, especially as you want a nice, big screen.

The Bit-Tech guide is well worth a careful look (linked in Docodine's post). The Antec 300 would be a good case - and a good case makes a huge difference in building, maintaining and air-flow.

Caroline

 

I'm going to use scan.co.uk or maybe just go to my local computer shop here in London, yoyotech.co.uk, the prices they have there are pretty much the same in scan.

A question, gtx 460, I was just checking them and I found 3-4 types? what does all that mean? I like this for example:
http://www.yoyotech.co.uk/item-detail.php?products_id=4368882 it's called a gainward gtx 460

then

http://www.yoyotech.co.uk/item-detail.php?products_id=4368937 which is a zotac?

Gainward, Palit, Zotac, what's the difference?

 

Gainward/Palit/Zotac, etc. are the manufacturers of the cards. I'll leave it to one of the gfx card gurus to tell you which are the best to go for as I've been out of the loop for ages.

I'd agree with Caroline here, a good case won't rip your hands to pieces when you're putting it all together! I've had Lian-Lis and other quality cases for so long I'd forgotten about this when I had to fix my cousin's old RaidMax crap. All the edges are sharp and it's set out really badly. You might assume this doesn't matter as you'll only be building it and then leaving it closed? It never turns out like that You'll be fiddling away at it for some reason or another, even if it's just upgrading it.

Paying a little more for having a well thought out/designed quality case ends up being totally worth it. Both for cooling and the sake of your hands! We're not necessarily saying you have to buy a case with windows and and fancy schmancy lighting, just a well designed one. I still remember the first case I had where you could slide out the motherboard tray with all the PCI cards still attached to it and the heatsink on. I thought I'd gone to heaven it was so awesome.

 

Ahh always thought that there was something special about those graphics card depending on the name they have.

Speaking of cases, was just looking at Antec 300, and if you lot say that I should invest in a good case, then that's what I'm going to do ^_^. If the Antec 300 can handle the job then that's what I'm going for, but do you have anything in mind?



anyhow, from the build I linked a above, will a gtx 460 1gb compatible with the rest of the build? Or do I need to swap something out? I'm willing to go as far as £900 but I doubt I'll be allowed to spend past that... the missus will kill me...

 

yes my system may be a last year system but it runs perfectly fine. and i also recommended the parts i used as they can probably be picked up a lot cheaper now....

 

i would recommend a 22-24" screen if you arent too fussed on how big the screen is, for gaming i think my 22" is perfect but you may think you want to go a bit bigger

 

The main problem with your parts recommendation is that the CPU can't be upgraded to anything for any decent performance gains, LGA775 isn't being supported by Intel any more, there is no reason to buy a mobo, especially a pricey one like the Black Ops, that has no future.

Also, the 4870 1GB is a good card, but a GTX 460 can fit into OP's budget..

Etc.