Building a PC

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Twazzock

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I'm pretty much a complete newb at building a PC, but as it's so much cheaper than an out-of-the-box one, I thought I'd try my hand at it. I have a budget of around £600 including the monitor, which I haven't chosen yet. I just wanted a PC that was pretty fast, and able to play games fairly well. I'm not a huge PC gamer, but I do play occasionally and I want a PC that will be able to play new games for a while yet. I'm also beginning to get into video editing, and here's what I've selected so far:

Memory: www.ebuyer.com/product/138551


Graphics Card: www.ebuyer.com/product/98710


Processor: www.ebuyer.com/product/130486


Hard Drive: www.ebuyer.com/product/130454


CD/DVD Drive: www.ebuyer.com/product/134531


Case: www.ebuyer.com/product/122764


Motherboard: www.ebuyer.com/product/113965


Fan: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/136637


Please could you let me know if:

a) I've missed anything
b) One of the above is not required
c) I can get the components cheaper elsewhere


Also, could you recommend a decent 19" widescreen monitor for around £120 or less?
 
You've forgotten the processor :D

And the power supply in that case is very likely rubbish, consider a seperate case & power supply.

Also keyboard, mouse & speakers to consider?

Operating system?

Everything else looking good.

And welcome to the forum, btw :)
 
The processor is there...under graphics card.

OS I've got sorted, same with keyboard, mouse. Still need a recommendation for a £120 or less 19" widescreen monitor.

Oh, and could you recommend a case + power supply too?
 
Twazzock said:
The processor is there...under graphics card.
Click to expand...

So it is :o I need a drink...

twazzock said:
OS I've got sorted, same with keyboard, mouse. Still need a recommendation for a £120 or less 19" widescreen monitor.

Oh, and could you recommend a case + power supply too?
Click to expand...

Here's a good system, AMD based, trouble is it's about 50% over budget, going to have to make some compromises here. Total including VAT & shipping is £876.37.

The case, PSU & Monitor listed here are good.

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"Total including VAT & shipping is £876.37."

What? On all the prices it says 'inc VAT'

EDIT: Sorry, thought you meant my system.
 
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The processor you've listed comes with it's own cooler, it does a reasonably good job. If you're being budget concious, use that.
 
Getting there.

attachment.php


I think the only way you'll stay within budget if you want to play games is, considering the system above:

a) Buy a 256Mb version of the graphics card
b) Buy a smaller hard disk, perhaps a 320Gb
c) Maybe go for a 500W PSU

That would probably bring you within budget but if you added more components or upgraded the graphics card at a later date, you'd probably need to get a bigger power supply.

I haven't included loudspeakers either.

The Gigabyte is a good motherboard but there's also a good Asus Nvidia 650 chipset board for about eight pounds more if Asus is your preference.

Right, I'm off to play a little Halo 2 for a while, kick some Covenant butt :)
 

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I've got a higher budget now I've told my parents - they're willing to pay for some of it (I'm 14 and my paper round + washing the dishes provide my income :P). Also, I'm just gonna use my current 19" monitor, so that's £120 freed up.
 
Okay, thanks.

My friend said that it's important to have the correct wattage for your PSU - how I find out what it is?
 
Is this a good case+PSU? http://www.ebuyer.com/product/128045

And could you provide links to the components in the picture? These are the parts I've got down at the moment, couldn't find some of the stuff on your list:

Memory:www.ebuyer.com/product/98710- £35





Graphics Card:www.ebuyer.com/product/134944 - £168





Processor: www.ebuyer.com/product/130486 - £78





Hard Drive: www.ebuyer.com/product/130454 - £61





CD/DVD Drive: www.ebuyer.com/product/132782 - £16





Case: www.ebuyer.com/product/118268 - £70





PSU: www.ebuyer.com/product/115880- £67





Motherboard: www.ebuyer.com/product/113965 - £55


It comes up to £567, which is fine for me, but do they all fit together etc?
 
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Sorry no links but I took the component listings from http://www.overclockers.co.uk/

There are a couple of Power Supply wattage estimators online but the best one is currently down, being rebuilt.

Other than that, ask us ;)

A true 600 watts is ample for the system you have in mind, 500 watts will cope, just.

The Antec Sonata case with Power Supply is an excellent choice :thumb:

I have the Mk One, it's a very good case for cooling and looks very nice indeed.

I'd still go for the Antec 900 with seperate PSU over it though, but only just. Just choose whichever one you prefer the look of.

The Sonata has odd hard drive mounts, they slot in at ninety degrees to the normal way, but it's ok, quite easy to fiit the hard drives in there.

I also have an Antec 900 case (see my signature) and I will say that it's quite easily the best case I've ever owned, even better than some Lian Li's I've used.

Whatever, either of those choices are good, if you go for Sonata you will save a few pennies though.

Your graphics card link doesn't work but if it's the same one as in your first post, it's good to go.

All other parts you've listed are also good.
 
Twazzock said:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/134944 is the working link.

When you say 500W is only just enough, what do you mean? What affect will it have on the computer if it's just about got enough power, compared to if I had 600W?
Click to expand...
Forget about wattage ... it ain't what to look for ... there is a lot to take into consideration these days when buyin a PSU. ;)

Trust Floppy's suggestions. :thumb:
 
Ok, I'll stick with the 900 and separate PSU.

Guess that's my PC sorted. Any tips for actually putting it together? Common mistakes/things I should avoid? Or even a guide on how to do it...
 
Twazzock said:
Ok, I'll stick with the 900 and separate PSU.

Guess that's my PC sorted. Any tips for actually putting it together? Common mistakes/things I should avoid? Or even a guide on how to do it...
Click to expand...

Blimey :confused:

You must have some idea, surely?

Briefly:

Take your time, look at all the parts, get familiar with them.

The case will come with a bag of screws, you will use these to mount everything.

1) Mount the PSU in the case using 4 screws, if you're using the Antec 900, the PSU will be 'upside down' and mounted at the bottom of the case.

2) Get the motherboard plate that covers all the rear motherboard connectors and pop it into place in the case.

Read all the instructions in the motherboard manual and the processor manual first and get familiar with the parts.

3) Mount the processor (see manuals)

4) Fit heatsink/fan to processor. The supplied heatsink/fan will probably have a thermal pad already fitted to it, if so, just clip it in place. If it hasn't spread a thin layer (very thin) of thermal compound (it will be supplied with CPU if no thermal pad fitted) to the entire surface of the CPU and then fit the heatsink/fan.

5) Fit the memory (see motherboard manual).

6) Mount the motherboard in the case using (usually) 9 screws. Connect all cables from front of case to motherboard.

7) Fit all the power supply connectors (Again, see manual).

8) Fit DVDRW Drive, connect cable to motherboard. Connect power cable to drive.

9) Fit hard drive, connect cable to motherboard. Fit power cable to drive. The Antec 900 has an odd way of mounting the hard drives, the screws go through these plastic tubes and into the side of the hard drive. Take your time and figure it out before you fit the hard drive, it certainly flummoxed me when I first encountered it.

10) Fit graphics card, connect power cable to graphics card.

11) Look at everything, satisfy yourself everything's fitted correctly.

12) Repeat step 11

13) Connect Monitor, keyboard, mouse, plug in mains cable, plug computer in to mains.

14) Turn it on. Observe monitor. If you gettiing something hit DEL or whatever key you hit to enter bios,

15) Set up bios. Make default boot drive your DVD drive. Insert Operating System disk, boot and install OS.

I know I've missed stuff, like connect all case fans to PSU and stuff and if I've missed anything glaringly obvious please correct me (it's fairly late) but that, basically, is about it.

Any questions, any problems, ask here.

Number one rule: Take your time and double check everything.

Did I really type all that? Must have caught me in a good mood tonight.......
 
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