Rab Posted August 25, 2006 Share Posted August 25, 2006 I'm considering building a PC, something i've never done before. I have started researching some componenents, and stores, but there is too much choice! I am not a hardcore gamer, running CS Source well is a must - but perhaps Doom 3 or Call Of Duty 2 are not really required. I want to use Windows Vista Beta. Main emphasis is on multi tasking and fast processing. Please post suggestions of components or entire systems. Or give any useful advice! Thanks in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparda Posted August 25, 2006 Share Posted August 25, 2006 That is a very open end question... For starters: Do you want AMD or Intel? Do you want ATI or nVidia? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duelus Posted August 25, 2006 Share Posted August 25, 2006 I would definately go with dual core. I went with that on my last build and I'm loving my AMD 3800 x2. I am more of an AMD guy then intel. also, invest in dual channel memory. SATA drivers and a nice sturdy well built case such as a lian li. I really don't need much of a video card, but I am waiting until directx10 compatible ones come out and I willl buy another ATI. but mainly I would suggest: 64 bit capable dual core processor Dual Channel DDR2 Direct x 10 compatible video card (none our out but the x800 is a cheap card that should fit your needs) SATA drivers (so you can set up RAID) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blizz Posted August 25, 2006 Share Posted August 25, 2006 I would buy a Conroe. They're much cheaper than the high end Pentium D's AND they're 30% faster. And btw, I'm a total AMD fanboy, but the new Intels are just damn fast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rab Posted August 25, 2006 Author Share Posted August 25, 2006 I'm leaning more towards Intel and nVidia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duelus Posted August 25, 2006 Share Posted August 25, 2006 ewww do you ever run linux? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jollyrancher82 Posted August 25, 2006 Share Posted August 25, 2006 ewwwdo you ever run linux? Considering he wants to run games, I would assume he doesn't :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blizz Posted August 25, 2006 Share Posted August 25, 2006 I'm leaning more towards Intel and nVidia. Best choice imho. My next CPU will be a Conroe too as long as AMD doesn't come up with something better meanwhile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigbro69 Posted August 25, 2006 Share Posted August 25, 2006 My next PC will have a Conroe too ;) And I'm an AMD fanboy as well... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metatron Posted August 25, 2006 Share Posted August 25, 2006 Gigabyte GA-945GM-S2 Motherboard - $95.99 Intel Pentium D 805 533MHz FSB LGA 775 Dual Core, 2.66GHz - $97.00 2GB of CORSAIR DDR2 - $173.98 ZALMAN CNPS9500 AT 2 Ball CPU Cooling Fan/Heatsink - $62.99 MSI TurboStream 600W Power Supply - $69.99 2 X Western Digital Caviar 250GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drives - $155.98 SAPPHIRE Radeon X1600XT - $111.99 NEC 16X DVD±R DVD Burner - $28.99 ARCTIC COOLING Pro TC 80mm Case Cooling Fan - $3.99 Linkworld 435-10 C2228 Computer Case - $24.99 KWORLD VS-TV7133 3DYC PCI Interface TV Tuner - $25.99 $851.88 This build is capable of running Windows Vista ultimate edition with all the features and all games currently on the market. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaKo Posted August 25, 2006 Share Posted August 25, 2006 I'd go with an intel system, AMD is ment to be faster but all in all, Intel's seem to be rock solid, and have never given me a problem. Meanwhile i'm sat next to 2 dead amd systems and a amd system thats faster on paper, but has no end of problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metatron Posted August 25, 2006 Share Posted August 25, 2006 I’m a fan of whichever is fastest, but Intel chips perform well and are very well priced. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt {Undead} Posted August 27, 2006 Share Posted August 27, 2006 When building a pc the main things you gotta decide on are.. *motherboard *cpu *ram These 3 things gotta be the same, for example a am2 setup would need a am2 mboard, a amd am2 cpu and ddr2 ram. There are different socket types for different chips, thats why you gotta find out what works with what before you decide to buy. The rest of the things are your graphics card, you can get a mid ranged one for desktop applications / the occasional gaming. Then storage, I would suggest some SATA drives 10,000 rpm ones and maybe a RAID card with RAID 1 setup to clone your hdd incase one fails. Case, dvd drive, fans and accessories and thats it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PoyBoy Posted August 27, 2006 Share Posted August 27, 2006 My advice: WAIT!!!!! see what AMD brings to the field with its upcoming AM2 architecture. If it sucks, get a conroe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1337n00b Posted August 28, 2006 Share Posted August 28, 2006 I just put this togethor. This machine fucking owns. If you're going to use Linux, don't use ATI go for Nvidia. Total price is around 3500. AMD Athlon 64 X2 4000+ Windsor 2000MHz HT Socket AM2 Dual Core ASUS M2N32-WS Pro Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI ATX Server Radeon X1900GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 2x Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000KSRTL 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 2x Kingston HyperX 1GB (2 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Unbuffered DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel BFG Technologies (BFGR650PSU) 650-Watt Power Supply Creative SOUND BLASTER X-Fi Platinum 7.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCI Interface Sound Card Antec TITAN550 Metallic Gray AMG color 1.0mm SECC Server Case 2x NEC Display Solutions LCD2170NX-BK Black 21.3" 8ms LCD Monitor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rab Posted August 29, 2006 Author Share Posted August 29, 2006 OK so my old mobo is fried, time for new everything! This is where my plan is right now, questions and comments much appreciated, gonna start ordering things at the weekend. ASUS P5W DH Deluxe : http://ebuyer.com/UK/product/113951/rb/21331856605 Core 2 Duo E6300 1.86ghz : http://ebuyer.com/UK/product/112704/rb/21331863134 BFG GeForce 7900 GT : http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/7900_Series.html Ebuyer 1GB DDR2 667MHz : http://ebuyer.com/UK/product/115961/rb/21331912063 Seagate ST3120813AS 120GB SATA II 7200rpm 8MB Cache : http://ebuyer.com/UK/product/99772/rb/21332468990 LG GSA-H10NBAL 16x16DVD±RW 12x RAM Dual Layer Writer Black : http://ebuyer.com/UK/product/112582/rb/21332500192 LG GDR-8164BL 16x52 DVD-ROM Internal IDE (Black) : http://ebuyer.com/UK/product/98199/rb/21332499713 Thermaltake VC3000BNS Armour Jr SuperMidi Tower - Black : http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/The...take_Cases.html Antec NEO HE500GB 500W Modular PSU With 80mm Low Speed/noise Fan 18db : http://ebuyer.com/UK/product/99137/rb/21332532557 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rFayjW98ciLoNQLDZmFRKD Posted August 29, 2006 Share Posted August 29, 2006 upgrade to a larger hard drive! Trust me, I get a 160 giger, and I said to myself "this is enough," and I had it filled in weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gbjazzman Posted August 29, 2006 Share Posted August 29, 2006 upgrade to a larger hard drive! Trust me, I get a 160 giger, and I said to myself "this is enough," and I had it filled in weeks. I say that everytime I buy a new harddrive. I can remember forking over big bucks for a 6 gig back in High School and I said to myself, this will never get filled. That being said, you can never have enough ram or harddrive space Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rab Posted August 29, 2006 Author Share Posted August 29, 2006 i have an external drive for movies n shit. i had a 80gig in my old pc, and never filled it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rab Posted August 30, 2006 Author Share Posted August 30, 2006 any tips for the actual building process? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparda Posted August 30, 2006 Share Posted August 30, 2006 Don't brake any thing ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emilml Posted August 30, 2006 Share Posted August 30, 2006 Dont connect your molex in backwards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt {Undead} Posted August 30, 2006 Share Posted August 30, 2006 Case First step is to open your case and place it on its side with the panel open. In the past the next step has wasted time for me because I didnt check the power socket length and had to remove hdd's and re sit them once I had installed the motherboard. So once we got our nice new shiny case on its side we can now start putting parts in. *Note* Before we proceed with touching any electrical equipment I would advise yo to get a wrist strap to reduce ESD damage, clip the wrist strap to something metal thats plugged in (example: back of another pc at the vga socket) Input Devices First thing we do is decide what slot our dvd drive is going in and then remove the plastic cover. Now we can seat our dvd drive in its bay and screw this firmly in from both sides. Next step is putting the floppy disk drive and hdd in, remove the floppy disk drive front cover and put your drive in, do same with the hdd aswell. Motherboard Installation Now we got them installed we can go head and install the motherboard, but remember, before we do this we need to install he screw mountings that go underneath the motherboard. We also need to remove the old I/O panel from the case and put the new one in (one from the motherboard) and then we can place the motherboard in the case. Make sure the holes align up then screw the board into the mountings. CPU Installation Depending on the socket type you will prob have to lift a leaver so the ZIF socket (thing with holes in) moves. Now place the CPU into the socket and make sure it firmly seats into place, if it doesnt then take it out and re sit, DO NOT attempt to force the CPU into its socket if it wont go in, this is because the pins could be bent and in the process you bend the pins even more. This can damage the CPU and theres a good chance it could be broken. Once your CPU is in place and the leaver is closed the next step is installing the heatsink and paste. The heatsink comes with a standard pad that has thermal paste on it so we dont have to apply any to the CPU at this point. Only when taking the CPU off again we need to clean the heatsinks bottom and re apply thermal paste on the CPU. Depending on the socket type there is different installations to fit the heatsink ontop of the CPU, if you dont know howto install this then i will post so videos on howto install it. It is very important you install it correctly or when you turn the pc on it can fry your chip in like a matter of seconds. Ram Installing ram is simple, just push down on the 2 white things at the end and hold your ram on the edges and place the ram into the slot making sure its in the correct way. Push down untill the 2 white bits have sprung back up into place and the ram should be installed. Graphics Card Graphics card is abit like the ram to install but theres no things on the end, just push the card into place and make sure its firmly in its slot then screw it in at the end. Cables Connect all the cables to each device and look in your motherboard manual for the pin locations for the hdd light, power light, power on switch and so on. It shouldnt take long to build, if you got any problems just post on here and someone should be able to help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PoyBoy Posted August 31, 2006 Share Posted August 31, 2006 thats a pretty darn good guide. Make sure not to zap anything with static electricity!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technologique Posted August 31, 2006 Share Posted August 31, 2006 Yeah, wearing an ESD wristband could help when building.. as well as an ESD mat. 'cause there's nothing worse than being £30 out of pocket because of static electricity... bloody sisters wanting to install bloody videocards in their bloody computers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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