Conrad Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 I'm finally getting my own place in the summer and when I do I want to get a new PC. I currently have a half decent laptop but I'd like a powerful PC to run everything through or along side; internet, TV, DVD, Stereo etc.... I've been looking on ebay and there's some relatively cheap high powered base units for less than £500. Thing is come moving in time I wont have that kind of money spare. So thought I'd build my own piece by piece as and when I can afford it. So how hard exactly is it? Everyone says it's piece of cake and with the internet as a resource of knowledge I can't see it being that difficult. I'm fairly tech minded but as far as building PC's goes I've only ever swapped a CD drive and memory stick.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Nowadays its an absolute piece of cake. The trouble is not putting a PC together its fault finding when it doesn't work. If you go and buy all the bits and put them together and everything works then the jobs a goodun but if it doesn't work it makes things a little more difficult. Guides on the internet are usually ok. Scott =op Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustGav Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Honestly? No, it isn't that difficult, the hardest part is choosing the bits to go inside. Once you have all the bits, it is like lego Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Epic Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 im building my own now, the problem is knowing where to stop buying lol, and what parts you want. how fast you want it, etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShamelessTT Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 As above, just make sure you buy compatible parts (i.e right mother board with the correct socket for the CPU / CPU brand etc etc). Rest of it is EZ. If in doubt, get a Mother board, CPU, Memory, Package deal......then choose a case etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Epic Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Iv just got eVGA 780i SLi Mobo Q6600 OEM CPU OCZ 2GB 1066Mhz Ram with 5-5-5 timing still have about £600 to spend to get this system going!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DamanC Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 JustGav said: Honestly? No, it isn't that difficult, the hardest part is choosing the bits to go inside. Once you have all the bits, it is like lego Pick a motherboard, and then read the reveiws. Find out if thats what you want and make a note of the cirtain parts that are not compatable. Most are but its that small percent that will catch you out. You have to choose hardware that is all relative to each part. You dont want to spend hundreds on memory and graphics cards only to find that your CPU is causing a massive bottle neck. If you are only wanting to spend a few hundred quidd then a pre build PC is for you. Give it a go, I mean, what can go wrong? Apart from shorting out your new £100 CPU Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Epic Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 iv been on a forum at overclock.net, tell them your budget and there more than happy to put a spec together for you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conrad Posted February 5, 2008 Author Share Posted February 5, 2008 Hmm, it sounds easy enough in regards to the actual building of the PC. Just as already said, choosing the correct parts. I'll have a look about on the net and see what kind of price things are. Any websites like Epic suggested or guides would be appreciated. To be honest the kind of spec I was looking at was this kind of thing on Ebay: advert Will I save much money building something like this myself or could I build something better for around that price? Also, is that spec going to struggle doing certain things?? Again, any advice greatly appreciated... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheefa Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Conrad, look at overclockers.co.uk and the cpu, mobo and memory bundles they have there and either get it or buy each part separately, that way you'll know they're all compatible. I live in Solihull area mate so more than happy to lend a hand if you want building it, no charge of course. Built quite a few and it's pretty straightforward as others have suggested. Greg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomgeer Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 I would get one ready built mate, I built mine myself and ended up paying far more than I would have if I got a similar spec one from dell or somewhere like that, having said that it hasn't given me any problems in the two years I've had it and you know it's built with quality components Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daston Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Its a lot like going single bud. You need a good manifold and fuel system before waking a massive turbo on. No point in getting a little power supply and a massive gfx card that takes more power. I have been building PC's for my family for quite some time it normaly saves a vast amount of £££ over ready built systems. If I were to get mine from Dell it would be around £4k! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conrad Posted February 5, 2008 Author Share Posted February 5, 2008 Great analogy Daston! Thanks for the comments guys, I'll check out the bundles on overclockers and see what's available. Compatability was my only concern really so a bundle is probably the way forward. Greg, thanks for the offer dude - much appreciated. I think I'm going to have a crack at it myself but reassuring to know you're there to offer advice. Cheers bud Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creative Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 as others have said..... its a doddle. built my first one recently and clocked it at the sametime. Did my research and hunting around on the net and built it for a fair bit less than what it would have cost had I bought it built. worst part is just like turning the key after a rebuild.... pressing the power button! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fifty Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 give it a try man Im a pensioner and I can build one in 45 mins in fact Im using it now:p Rich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevie_b Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Like the others have said. I've never built a PC myself, but I'm pretty sure I know what to do (I've changed CPUs, hard disks, RAM, expansion cards). It's quite rewarding doing it yourself, and the bits just plug together. Don't forget to use a wafer-thin layer of thermal compound between the CPU surface and its heatsink! I'll add this: 1) I recommend choosing the motherboard carefully, which probably translates to "buy the best motherboard you can". A given motherboard will support a certain range of CPU and RAM. For example, I've got a (old) PC, which I've changed the processor recently from 800MHz to 1.3GHz. The motherboard only supports Athlon CPUs up to 1.3GHz, no matter how much I wanted to fit a 2.5GHz one (or whatever the cutting edge is right now). 2) Factor in the cost of buying a copy of Windows Media Center, Vista or whatever you want to run on it. The OEMs buy these in job lots and can get them cheaper than retail customers like you or me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorin Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Motherboard and Power supply are the two main things you should not skimp on in my experience. I've had no end of trouble with cheap versions of both. And while you're at it why not install a proper operating system on it too Linux FTW!! \o/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DamanC Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Conrad - Pick a spec and PM it over or post here, Ill happilly, and im sure others will, advise you what to do and not to do Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conrad Posted February 6, 2008 Author Share Posted February 6, 2008 DamanC said: Conrad - Pick a spec and PM it over or post here, Ill happilly, and im sure others will, advise you what to do and not to do Thanks all for your advice and offers of help. Daman, when it comes to spec I really haven't a clue. It's too easy to get the best of everything instead of what you actually need. Any chance you or anyone else in the know can take a look at what I want and advise what kind of cpu/memory etc I should be looking at? Basically I must have the following: Blu Ray DVD drive HDMI output as my screen will be my plasma TV A 320GB HD A media centre style case such as the one below case That's pretty much it! I don't play games and I will only really use the PC for surfing, downloading, burning DVD's, watching movies on net, wirless connectivity, and Photoshop as I'm into photography. Obviously I want the most powerful processor and the most memory that my £400 - £500 budget will allow. Also, the following items are stuff I'd like but not essential - all depends on cost: Lightscribe drive 500GB HD Decent graphics card (Only game I would ever play is Fifa 08 so whatever can run that) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorin Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 Nvidia 8800GT 256MB is the best gfx card around for the money IMO, but given your price range you might have to opt for a lesser card. 2GB of memory would be fine, more would probably be overkill for your usage, and I wouldn't have anything less than that. As for processor, Intel Core2 Duo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conrad Posted February 6, 2008 Author Share Posted February 6, 2008 Thorin said: Nvidia 8800GT 256MB is the best gfx card around for the money IMO, but given your price range you might have to opt for a lesser card. 2GB of memory would be fine, more would probably be overkill for your usage, and I wouldn't have anything less than that. As for processor, Intel Core2 Duo Cheers dude Perhaps a bundle like this then? The AMD Athlon 64 bundles are cheaper - am I right in thinking these are more geared up for gaming? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorin Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 Conrad said: Cheers dude Perhaps a bundle like this then? The AMD Athlon 64 bundles are cheaper - am I right in thinking these are more geared up for gaming? That Intel bundle looks like an excellent choice to me. I've always been an Intel man so not really up on AMD processors. AMD always used to be "better" for gaming allegedly, but I understand AMD's dual core processors are a way behind Intel's Core2 Duo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Epic Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 the eVGA 780i SLi is one of the best boards you can get right now! abit more than XFX's 780i but you get much better support and the reviews on it speak for them self! the 8800GT 512MB is what im going to get my self, best all round and better clock speeds than the GTS that cost more! Then in the future when you want to upgrade you can get a 2nd 8800, then a 3rd! the eVGA 780i also has the new CPU Technology as well so thats as future proof as you can get right now. you will prob not need more than 200GB unless your a downloader like my self, then you should get 1TB to keep safe, but make sure your operating system is on a seperate drive. even consider RAID 0 if you want that extra performance Stick with the on board 7.1 sound to be honist, its hi-def and usualy pritty good. will save you money and prob wont make much of a difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 See your going to have a bit of a problem there. The case you have chosen is Micro ATX whereas the motherboard you have chosen isn't and won't fit. Your going to have to make a bit of compromise between the case and the spec of the PC you want if i'm honest. I built an Elonex system from a barebones mediacenter case i got from ebay. It looks like this.... http://www.shopuk.co.uk/media/images/product_detail/ArtisanLX.jpg it has a 3.4 P4 Prescott Processor, 2gb of ram, a 320gb HDD and a DVD-RW. I could add a Blueray player but i don't know if you can get blueray players that are DVD-RW and litescribe. If you have more than one PC you should make the new PC solely a mediacenter. If you don't then you have a choice to make, real PC with tower and all or Mediacenter that can do half of what you want well. Scott =op Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 I stand corrected, you can get one with Lightscribe. Just did a search. Scott =op Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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