Building my First PC

[DemonicGoldfish]

Hey guys. I am currently considering building a PC. I have a budget of around £600 (that's $1,150 in USD) although I could probably stretch it a bit. I will mostly use it for gaming. So could anyone suggest a good setup? For now, I will probably stick with my current peripherals.

For now, I am looking for a fast CPU (2-3 GHz) and quite a bit of RAM. Decent GFX and sound would be nice as well.

So can anyone suggest any good setups? Please state the compatibility, any known issues, etc.

Cheers, DG :cheesy:

P.S. Is it worth looking at dual cores? I hear that not all programs can take advantage of the fact that it's a dual core. Does that mean they'll only run on one of the processors or something?

And what do you guys think of this?

Oh yeah, and just checking - if the motherboard has intergrated GFX, I can still use a non-intergrated GFX card with that motherboard, right?

[DemonicGoldfish]

And what about this GFX card?

[DemonicGoldfish]

Sorry, wrong link. Here's what I meant.

And does anyone know anything about this soundcard?

[DemonicGoldfish]

Sorry about the multiple posts, it won't let me edit anymore lol.

Sorry, wrong link. Here's what I meant.

But now I'm more interested in a 6800 or 7800. See below lol.

And does anyone know anything about this soundcard?

I've been looking at various GFX cards, and I was thinking of a Gainward BLISS GeForce 6800 or 7800 (512mb). Which one of these cards is better, in you opinions? Or do you think that I should get a completely different card? I want to be spending a maximum of about £150 on the GFX card ($290).

If you know of a good card that's a bit expensive, post it anyway. It can't hurt lol :P. Same goes for other components. And can someone give me a brief rundown on hard drives, i.e. do I need a specific kind to work with the PC, what difference does the RPM or diameter make, etc.

Soundcards seem to be harder to research, any recommendations/help would be most welcome!

Cheers, DG :D

[UrbanKhoja]

geez mate going all the way - nice one, www.ebuyer.co.uk do some really competivly priced stuff, i would also suggest maplin but i think you've already found them, crucial have some nice offers on ddr2 ram, 512 would do really 1024 for gaming depending on totally cost and your motherboard you could go higher, its always best to go for the best processor that you can, as this is often the most expensive part to upgrade, whereas some ram isnt, if your budget cant stretch to a serious processor and lots of ram, get the processor and as much ram as you can, as ram is much cheaper and easier to fit once its all up and running.

[John A]

If you're a US resident, buy all your stuff on www.newegg.com ... it has really good prices.

For a graphics card, I would recommend what you suggested, the GeForce 6200 w/ 512 Mb. I think you will like this card (I have the GeForce 5200 on my iMac).

This is just my opinion, but I think you shouldn't get a Pentium processor. The AMD equivalents are priced lower, and run faster. Here's my recommendations:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103739
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813138247

I will mostly use it for gaming.

P.S. Is it worth looking at dual cores? I hear that not all programs can take advantage of the fact that it's a dual core. Does that mean they'll only run on one of the processors or something?

Yes! Go dual-core. When you're gaming, you will find that dual-core increases the speed dramatically. Programs that don't take advantage of dual-core generally haven't been written for this, but games usually are because gamers tend to go dual-core more than the average user.

[srhalfwaythere]

I will agree with joe on the dual core issue. When you get it, the problem isn't having to worry about incompatibility. The pentium core duos are off the charts on performance. I would highly recommend going with one of them. If programs somehow don't take advantage of the two cores, they won't slow down any more. That processor will work with anything you have pretty much. So don't be worrying about things not working with the processor.

You seem to want a good graphics card. The best of the best are currently PCI-express cards. So find a motherboard with PCI-e capabilities. the 7800 nvidia's are really great... pretty much the 7XXX series is fantastic. BFG overclocks their cards and comes with a lifetime warranty which is a huge plus.

RAM, I would recommend at least a gig ( 1GB) to start out with. It's looks as though it's the standard for current on-the-shelf pcs. You can't go wrong with one gig.

The sound card that you posted seems reasonably good. Personally I've only had experience with creative audigy. None of the cards I've purchases have ever let me down (audigy 2 value, and x-fi). So my recommendation goes for those, but only get what you think you'll need. Any other questions just let me know, hopefully there aren't too many spelling errors.

[DemonicGoldfish]

Thanks for the help guys!

I've been looking at other, similar GFX cards, and I reckon I will go for a Geforce 6200, 6800 or 7800 with 512mb (can you get 1024mb GFX cards yet? If so, I will probably grab one of those). Will someone help me decide? I'll probably end up going with the 7800, but if anyone thinks I will be better off with another one, let me know ;)

I'll have a look at Creative Audigy - I hear good things about the ZS Platinum Pro 2 - I'll look into that.

I'll start looking at dual cores. Can anyone provide me with a link to a fast dual core (preferably at least 3GHz)? Just to be sure - a game designed before dual cores will run just as fast on a 3GHz dual core as on a 3GHz non dual core? Just checking :P

And I was looking at that motherboard, and noticed that it only has 2 memory slots. One of my mates suggested at least 4 and I would be more comfortable knowing that I could add more RAM if need be. I will probably start with one or two 2GHz RAM chips, depending on cost. Having lived with a slow CPU and not enough RAM for so long, I really want things to run lightning fast :D So could anyone suggest a good, reliable motherboard with 4 memory slots? Also suggestions of types of RAM chips would be appreciated.

[EDIT]: Lol I just realized that you already did point me towards a fast dual core :). Is it possible to get any dual cores faster than that?

[EDIT]: How does this one look? Anyone had any experience with it? Does anyone know of a lower priced but equal or better quality dual core (at least 3.0GHz)? Thanks again :D

So... yeah! Thanks for the response everyone!

[DemonicGoldfish]

OK, I've been jumping ahead of myself :P. Motherboard first lol.

So does anyone know of any good motherboards with at least 4 memory slots and that will support the above processor?

[UrbanKhoja]

yes check out www.ebuyer.co.uk for the board, then crucial for the ram

[DemonicGoldfish]

OK I've found a motherboard and a seemingly compatible CPU. Does anyone know of any faults with these products or any compatibility issues?

[UrbanKhoja]

looking good mate, your going to have an animal of a pc, perhaps you could use it to take over small countrys or run an empire while your on your coffee break lol :d

[jbennet]

i got a budget novatech barebones pc (basicalyl maeans cpu, mobo, case, psu all rigged up and with that a £60ish xp oem version cd then baught the hdd, graphics card and dvd off of dabs and put them in myself

[UrbanKhoja]

i got a budget novatech barebones pc (basicalyl maeans cpu, mobo, case, psu all rigged up and with that a £60ish xp oem version cd then baught the hdd, graphics card and dvd off of dabs and put them in myself

not bad, how much was the bare bones if you dont mind me asking

darren :cool:

[jbennet]

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/products/a789x1y0z1p0s0n0m0

Cheapest Barebones £151 inc vat for a P4 With 512mb RAM, they assemble the psu, case, cpu,mobo,heatsink and fan ready for you its also only £327 inc vat for a coreduo with 1 gig of ram and a my friend has one of these its good

If you buy a barebones sytem you are eligible for OEM (System builder) versions of things but only if you buy it with the system

XP which is about 1/2 the price of retail on OEM and OEM versions of hard disks (a seagate 120gb is like £40 on OEM)

[jbennet]

if you want your own case/psu you can also get motherboard kits- a 64 bit starter kit with 1gb ram is like £275

[pistolsnipe16]

I just built my first pc. It was quite fun. I used an AMD 4200+, 1gb of Patriot ram, bfg 7600gt oc, western digital caviar 250gb sata drive, some ide drive from an HP, and I used an X-Fi for my sound card.

Hope you find what you want and everything goes well. I can't suggest any stores as it seems you are in Europe and I live in the US so shipping would probably negate any savings achieved at stores here.

[UrbanKhoja]

I just built my first pc. It was quite fun. I used an AMD 4200+, 1gb of Patriot ram, bfg 7600gt oc, western digital caviar 250gb sata drive, some ide drive from an HP, and I used an X-Fi for my sound card.

Hope you find what you want and everything goes well. I can't suggest any stores as it seems you are in Europe and I live in the US so shipping would probably negate any savings achieved at stores here.

not bad for your first build! :cheesy: