donut
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| posted on 24/10/06 at 12:46 PM |
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My 1st PC was a 486 with 512meg of HDD and 4 meg of ram. Sad eh!!
Incidently i built myself a PC which was dead easy untill it came to loading on the software. It took 2 days to sort out and that was with a microsoft
certified engineer and i swore NEVER AGAIN!!!
Andy
When I die, I want to go peacefully like my Grandfather did, in his sleep -- not screaming, like the passengers in his car.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andywest1/
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ecosse
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| posted on 24/10/06 at 12:49 PM |
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All recomendations given will end up with a good PC for sure, but please take static precautions, without doing so you can cause motherboard and
memory problems that can haunt you for the life of the PC, seriously!
Cheers
Alex
PS
You can buy a proper static strap for a couple of pounds, don't take the chance.
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Catpuss
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| posted on 24/10/06 at 12:52 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by donut
My 1st PC was a 486 with 512meg of HDD and 4 meg of ram. Sad eh!!
Heh, I can eve beat that, 8086, 640K and 20 meg HDD. It even needed the HDD reformatting every couple of weeks when it failed.
I even had plenty of space left. In those days it was quite the luxury to have a 50 meg drive on a 286 PC.
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Macbeast
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| posted on 24/10/06 at 01:23 PM |
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Got my bits from ebuyer and they went together no problem. Wish I had bought the OEM XP at the time though.
Building your own means you don't pay extra for bits you will never use and I transferred drives etc from the old computer.
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DaveFJ
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| posted on 24/10/06 at 01:40 PM |
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just been on to Eclipse computers site
link
I have recommended this company to others in the past.
They have a 'computer configurator' on their site. I just ran through a config for an 'ultimate' PC and came in with a price
of a little over £1000...... worth a look!
Dave
"In Support of Help the Heroes" - Always
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flak monkey
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| posted on 24/10/06 at 02:00 PM |
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I buy all my parts from eclipse computers. they are only down the road from me at uni.
Do check they have stuff in stock before you order though!
David
Sera
http://www.motosera.com
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Jasper
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| posted on 24/10/06 at 02:08 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by DaveFJ
just been on to Eclipse computers site
link
I have recommended this company to others in the past.
They have a 'computer configurator' on their site. I just ran through a config for an 'ultimate' PC and came in with a price
of a little over £1000...... worth a look!
Been hunting on their site for the configure bit and can't find it..... any pointers?
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iank
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| posted on 24/10/06 at 02:13 PM |
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click 'computers' section on the top right.
Pick a series and then configure and buy.
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bimbleuk
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| posted on 24/10/06 at 02:15 PM |
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quote:
Use AMD CPUs as for the money you will not beat them for performance, Intel CPUs are horribly overpriced IMO.
Using tomshardware.com as a reference then the Core 2 Duo out performs the AMD X2 processors and looking at the overclockers.co.uk than you can buy
the Intel CPUs cheaper if you avoid the stupidly priced Extreme editions. So that s what I went with.
£115 for an E6300 Core 2 duo which with a mild overclock outperforms the £700 quid Extreme edition!
[Edited on 24/10/06 by bimbleuk]
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Jasper
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| posted on 24/10/06 at 02:37 PM |
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Ahh yes, got it now, did the same thing and came out at £1009. Is that ready built for that price?
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Peteff
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| posted on 24/10/06 at 03:04 PM |
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First computer build
Mine was a 1k ZX80, I wish I still had it 
[Edited on 24/10/06 by Peteff]
yours, Pete
I went into the RSPCA office the other day. It was so small you could hardly swing a cat in there.
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splitrivet
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| posted on 24/10/06 at 04:03 PM |
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When buying your Processor go for the retail package rather than OEM that way you'll get the correct fan and heatsink plus a guarantee.As for
overclockers personally I wouldnt give em elbow room re thier returns policy, Aria are a better bet.
Cheers,
Bob
I used to be a Werewolf but I'm alright nowwoooooooooooooo
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bigandy
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| posted on 24/10/06 at 04:18 PM |
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Most of the goodpoints about building your own PC have already been mentioned. I built my home PC three years ago, and it is still going strong.
The only things I will add are get a decent power supply! And be wary of Overclockers. I bought most of my components from them, and most worked
fine and I had no issue with them. When they sent me a duff flatscreen monitor out though, it took me 9 weeks and over 20 emails and around 4 hours
on the phone to get a replacement sorted. Their customer service when it comes to returns is a complete and utter farce.
Oh, and the other thing thta might be worth mentioning, if you are planning to use the PC as a home entertainment centre, then be aware of the noise
level that is produced by the various components. It's the one thing that annoys me, a fan buzzing away in the background.
I'm going to be building a new pc next year, and I'm planning to look into "Silent" components, and reduce the noise to next
to nothing....
Cheers
Andy
Dammit! Too many decisions....
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mcerd1
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| posted on 24/10/06 at 04:45 PM |
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I say go for it - I've built & re-built my own for 7 years (and the rest of the family's for the last 5 years or so = 20 to 30
PC's of varing spec and component ages - I even got my old +3 spectrum to work again ! ) - If you want to get started quickly, get a good book
or read some of the guides online
www.motherboards.org - lots of info, reviews and guides
online.stak.com - wholesaler with a good range of stuff (based in rugby)
ASUS stuff has always worked well for me (lots of updates and support on there site) I have 4 of there motherboards, 4 optical drives, 4 graphics
cards and a Laptop and no problems yet [touch wood] - the laptops 4 years old and nothings broken (which is more than I can say for my mates who got
HP's and Fujitsu-Siemens ones at the same time)
I'd always spend a bit extra to get a good motherboard (£130 last time, when I could have got one for £30), one thats reliable, fast, has lots
of features and leaves room for a bit of upgrading (something that package PC's never do anymore)
ASUS do some motherboards that are designed to be 'silent' that don't have fans (other than what ever you use for the CPU, Graphics
and Power supply)
Seagate hard discs have lasted much longer than others I've had (IBM are good too) - don't get a fujitsu one (and I had alot of problems
with old western digital ones in the past but they are supposed to be better now)
I'm running 2 Segate 120Gb SATA discs together as a RAID 0 array (two discs acting like 1 twce the size and twice the speed) it makes a big
difference to loading times (but if 1 disc dies you loose all your data) - RAID 1 would give you normal speed but with a backup copy of everything and
RAID 10 does both at the same time (but needs 4 identical discs)
I'd go with Nvidia graphics too - I've had 2 ATi cards and both died within 2 years, but my ASUS Nvidia cards are all still going strong
[touch wood] and some are 6 years old
For a high end machine I'd get a G7600, G7800, G7900 or G7950 - these will be avalible in a few different specs (GT, GTX.... some slightly
faster than others)
again ASUS do some 'silent' ones to reduce the total noise emissions
If you wan't to run demanding apps. - such as games or DVD's and high quality music - then get a good sound card
it will not only improve the quality of your sound (if your speakers are upto it) but will reduce the load on the CPU, speeding up the whole PC
(remeber to turn off the onboard sound in the BIOS to get this advantage)
Power supplies (PSU) are very important for a high end machine - my PC kept crashing despite the 650w PSU - I changed to a better 500w one and its
hardly ever done it since - P4's don't like cheep PSU's (they need a very stable power source)
Just my p2's worth
-Robert
[Edited on 24/10/06 by mcerd1]
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JackNco
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| posted on 24/10/06 at 06:15 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by DaveFJ
just been on to Eclipse computers site
link
I have recommended this company to others in the past.
They have a 'computer configurator' on their site. I just ran through a config for an 'ultimate' PC and came in with a price
of a little over £1000...... worth a look!
lol i used 2 work for them
not sure how highly ide recommend them for first time builders but the prices are right
John
Some people are worried about the difference between right and wrong. I'm worried about the difference between wrong and fun.
O'Rourke, P.J. (1989), Holidays in hell. London (Picador)
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Jasper
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| posted on 26/10/06 at 12:06 PM |
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Think I shall go with an Eclipse ready built system - fantastic value (no more than a self build) and a warranty 
Thanks for all your input chaps, really helped to get things clear in my head.
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Jasper
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| posted on 28/10/06 at 11:30 AM |
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Eclipse are 4-5 weeks delivery, so I'm goona build it myself, here's the spec, comments and suggestions gratefully received:
QTY Price (ea) Ex VAT Total Inc VAT Remove
1 x LN15048 Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 775, 2.13 GHz, 1066MHz FSB, Allendale Core, 2MB Cache, Retail £129.89 £152.62
1 x LN15170 ASUS P5B Deluxe/WiFi-AP iP965, S775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 533/667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX £110.96 £130.38
1 x LN12201 2Gb (2X1Gb) Corsair Value Select, DDR2 PC5300 (667), 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5-5-5-15 £119.53 £140.45
2 x LN14162 320 Gb Seagate ST3320620AS Barracuda 7200.10, SATA300, 7200 rpm, 16MB Cache, 8.5 ms, NCQ £57.92 £136.11
1 x LN16065 512MB ASUS 7950GT, PCI-E (x16), Mem 1400MHz, GPU 550MHz, 24 Pipes, Dual DVI/HDTV £170.65 £200.51
1 x LN13372 Pioneer DVR-111DBK Black 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer DVD Writer (Reduced Length) OEM £18.71 £21.98
1 x LN5889 Sony Black 16x DVD-ROM + 48x CD-ROM IDE £9.99 £11.74
1 x LN13435 Coolermaster Centurion RC-532 Black+Silver Trim Case w/o PSU £33.99 £39.94
1 x LN13695 500W Xclio X12S4P2 SLI Goodpower 12cm Fan Dual 12v EPS SATA PCI-E with Anti-Vibration 24x7 Use Ready £28.95 £34.02
LN5487 Scan 3.5" Black Internal 52 in 1 Card Reader (SM/MMC/SD/mSD/CF/Mdrive/MS/ MSPro/MSDuo/MSDuoP) £4.49 £5.28
1 x LN16381 Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition SP2b OEM - 1 pack £49.59 £58.27
All from Scan Computers
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JackNco
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| posted on 28/10/06 at 05:22 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Jasper
Eclipse are 4-5 weeks delivery, so I'm goona build it myself, here's the spec, comments and suggestions gratefully received:
QTY Price (ea) Ex VAT Total Inc VAT Remove
1 x LN15048 Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 775, 2.13 GHz, 1066MHz FSB, Allendale Core, 2MB Cache, Retail £129.89 £152.62
Might consider a third party Cooler for this but that depends on what the one that comes with it is like quote:
1 x LN15170 ASUS P5B Deluxe/WiFi-AP iP965, S775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 533/667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX £110.96 £130.38
Personaly would have gone Gigabyte but asus are a very close secondquote:
1 x LN12201 2Gb (2X1Gb) Corsair Value Select, DDR2 PC5300 (667), 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5-5-5-15 £119.53 £140.45
2 x LN14162 320 Gb Seagate ST3320620AS Barracuda 7200.10, SATA300, 7200 rpm, 16MB Cache, 8.5 ms, NCQ £57.92 £136.11
LOL The drive ive got my eye on atm, spot on with this quote:
1 x LN16065 512MB ASUS 7950GT, PCI-E (x16), Mem 1400MHz, GPU 550MHz, 24 Pipes, Dual DVI/HDTV £170.65 £200.51
I woudlnt bother with asus get a generic version they have the same chip from ATI and are printed from the same board map, ude just be paying
for the brand. i dont recognice the card but if its ATI change it and get Nvidia. much better drier support and as far as im concerned much better
cardsquote:
1 x LN13372 Pioneer DVR-111DBK Black 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer DVD Writer (Reduced Length) OEM £18.71 £21.98
Spot on quote:
1 x LN5889 Sony Black 16x DVD-ROM + 48x CD-ROM IDE £9.99 £11.74
Unless ur doing alot of straight opying ide just skip this its just more
things to make it nosierquote:
1 x LN13435 Coolermaster Centurion RC-532 Black+Silver Trim Case w/o PSU £33.99 £39.94
1 x LN13695 500W Xclio X12S4P2 SLI Goodpower 12cm Fan Dual 12v EPS SATA PCI-E with Anti-Vibration 24x7 Use Ready £28.95 £34.02
thats
gonan be loud as hell get a silent/stealth PSU quote:
LN5487 Scan 3.5" Black Internal 52 in 1 Card Reader (SM/MMC/SD/mSD/CF/Mdrive/MS/ MSPro/MSDuo/MSDuoP) £4.49 £5.28
1 x LN16381 Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition SP2b OEM - 1 pack £49.59 £58.27
you already have a PC i assume ur on XP unless ur last
upgrade was more than 5 years ago. if you own a serial number you own the product. have a look here www.thepiratebay.com and get a backup if uve
lost or broken the CD just be sure you download the right version
looks like ure gonna have a kick ass system there. ide have gone for AMD myself but thats just because i always have and Intel are meant to be as
good if not better these days anywayquote:
All from Scan Computers
Some people are worried about the difference between right and wrong. I'm worried about the difference between wrong and fun.
O'Rourke, P.J. (1989), Holidays in hell. London (Picador)
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Jasper
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| posted on 28/10/06 at 05:43 PM |
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Thanks mate - that's very useful
Couple of questions:
Third party cooler for the processor - no idea what this is or why I need it 
Gigabyte for a motherboard - can't find any on Scans web site for this processor, seems to be more for AMD. I would have gone AMD but from what
I've read of the Intel they've finally got their poo together with these.... if you can find a good one let me know
With the graphics card I'm confused (easily done I know). Are you saying get a genuine Nvidia one, or get a generic Nvidia one? I thought the
Asus was Nvidia based? I clearly don't know what I'm talking about here, but I recon I want a 512Mb card, so any specific
recommendations?
As for the DVD reader, I do quite a lot of 'backing up' of DVD's that I have 'bought' - so it's quite useful
Any recommendations on a good quiet PSU?
XP - your right there, I do have a few copies I'll probably upgrade to Vista anyway
Gonna get a smart ali case with lots of fans to house it all in to - with some Max Power blue lights
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JackNco
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| posted on 28/10/06 at 06:03 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Jasper
Thanks mate - that's very useful
Couple of questions:
Third party cooler for the processor - no idea what this is or why I need it
OK on top of the CPU you will have a heatsink and a fan. sometimes the ones that come with the CPU are a bit poo. or loud (as you can tell
im a little obsesed with getting my PC to SHUT THE HELL UP, but thats cuz it lives in my room and is on 24/7)
just try the ones it comes with and change it if you not happy with itquote:
Gigabyte for a motherboard - can't find any on Scans web site for this processor, seems to be more for AMD. I would have gone AMD but from what
I've read of the Intel they've finally got their poo together with these.... if you can find a good one let me know
Could well be the case, as i say i only really work with AMD. ASUS are fine, if that board does what you want go for itquote:
With the graphics card I'm confused (easily done I know). Are you saying get a genuine Nvidia one, or get a generic Nvidia one? I thought the
Asus was Nvidia based? I clearly don't know what I'm talking about here, but I recon I want a 512Mb card, so any specific
recommendations?
Yep just looked it up that is Nvidia, i personally always find the card i want and get a generic version of it. you see nvidia produce the
GPU that goes on the graphics card (thats the brain of it) and then flog them to other companies tha make a circuit board and mount the GPU on.
http://www.eclipse-computers.com/product.aspx?code=GC-XN795GT512 <<<< Generic 7950GT for less, but its the same card
quote:
As for the DVD reader, I do quite a lot of 'backing up' of DVD's that I have 'bought' - so it's quite useful
Any recommendations on a good quiet PSU?
http://www.eclipse-computers.com/product.aspx?code=PS-X600M-BK £35.19 @ 21Dba (so about the same as the cooler on your CPU or less
21Dba is about as quiet as ur gonna get. thats also a 600W so you shouldn't go blowing that up any time soon. looks about the same as what im
running
quote:
XP - your right there, I do have a few copies I'll probably upgrade to Vista anyway
Gonna get a smart ali case with lots of fans to house it all in to - with some Max Power blue lights
Remember, Computers AND cars all run on 12V, so if u find some nice cheap lights on ebay for cars you can stick them in your PC and vice versa 
As for operating systems i asume that CPU is 64bit so check and see if it was windows XP 64 that you had on your old system otherwise you system
will only run at have the speed of its potential
John
Some people are worried about the difference between right and wrong. I'm worried about the difference between wrong and fun.
O'Rourke, P.J. (1989), Holidays in hell. London (Picador)
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mcerd1
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| posted on 31/10/06 at 09:26 AM |
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ASUS Nvidia cards do normaly have a few extra features, I've gone with them in the past purely because they are well built and reliable (but
others are cheeper and will probibly work fine)
The GF7950 is basicaly two GF7900's stuck together (ie ~SLI on a single card = about the most powerfull card you could buy for this
motherboard)
If your motherboard was up to it you can get another of these and go to 'quad' SLI later (needs to be identical cards and there
arn't that may boards that can do this yet)
put XP pro on if you can get it (gives you more network options)
the board your looking at dosen't do SLI, but with that type of graphics card (regardless of brand) and the rest of your spec your heading for a
nice machine
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JackNco
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| posted on 31/10/06 at 08:02 PM |
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Quad SLI is basicaly just bragging rights so far..... i think theres only about 3 games that support it, the drivers from Nvidia are still in Beta
stages last i herd and they are saying the third party drivers are better for it
John
Some people are worried about the difference between right and wrong. I'm worried about the difference between wrong and fun.
O'Rourke, P.J. (1989), Holidays in hell. London (Picador)
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Jasper
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| posted on 1/11/06 at 09:57 AM |
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Did go with the Asus Nvidia 7950GT in the end, it was only 10 quid more than the generic card.
And I bought proper OEM XP Media centre software. I was going to get it from another source if you know what I mean, but after spending over a grand
on the hardware it seemed stupid not to spend the extra 70 quid on proper software that I know will load properly and not give me any grief.
Got the whole package from Scan in the end, just waiting for the XP to come into stock, then I can get playing!
Thanks again for all the input, really useful.
And no, Linux was never an option - I need to keep life simple.......
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JackNco
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| posted on 1/11/06 at 10:00 AM |
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no problem..... give us a bell if u have any problems hammering it all together !
John
Some people are worried about the difference between right and wrong. I'm worried about the difference between wrong and fun.
O'Rourke, P.J. (1989), Holidays in hell. London (Picador)
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Jasper
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| posted on 1/11/06 at 10:02 AM |
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Thanks John, will do..
Here's a question for you. I'll have two 320Gb HDD, can I get them to run so that they are perfect mirrors of each other? This way if one
goes down, I'll have it all on the other drive. (I do also intend to back-up to DVD as well)
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