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System Build Question

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System Build Question

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garlicbread22

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Hi
I have set myself the project of building a desktop PC. I have zero experience of computer hardware, never even looked inside a desktop before so I'm a complete noob! I have bought this book to help me http://www.amazon.co.uk/Build-Better-2010-David-Ludlow/dp/1907232087/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262880150&sr=1-2

I would like the PC to be fairly quick and be able to run multiple programs at once. I will use it for media but not for gaming, apart from the odd strategy game (i.e. age of empires).Windows 7 operating system and budget of around £450

I'm sure ill have my questions along the way so I will post them in here to save starting a new thread every time. I know quite a few people know about these sort of things so id be grateful for any help you can give me, but please remember I'm completely new to this when you reply!
thank you
 
Last edited:
First question! Good place to buy components from, i know ebay and misco but thats pretty much it
 
ccl, ebuyer
next option Pentium or athlon
nvidia or ati
small profile or large?

what you want to do with it?
as said but whats the budget
200 or 600? or somewhere in between?
operating system?
 
Last edited:
I buy from a variety of places - eBuyer, Novatech, CCL, Scan, etc - it pays to shop around, but when doing a large order, also look at shipping costs.

What budget do you have? It is easy to go mad...

Will you also be needing an new monitor? Is size important to you?
 
The Unknown said:
ccl, ebuyer
next option Pentium or athlon
nvidia or ati
small profile or large?

what you want to do with it?
as said but whats the budget
200 or 600? or somewhere in between?
operating system?
Click to expand...

think of going for Inter Core 2 Quad Q9400 if i can afford it
nvidia or ati, not sure what that means
small or large, is that to do with motherboard or case?

Thinking in the ball park of £450, im going to total it up and have a think
Operating system will be windows 7, which I will be able to get a student copy of

Stu DemonD said:
I buy from a variety of places - eBuyer, Novatech, CCL, Scan, etc - it pays to shop around, but when doing a large order, also look at shipping costs.

What budget do you have? It is easy to go mad...

Will you also be needing an new monitor? Is size important to you?
Click to expand...

I have two spare LCD monitors at the moment so i dont need to budget for that
 
so start making a list
32 quid windows 7
?? quid case
?? psu (if not in case) 500 - 750 watts i think is norm now
?? graphics card 10 year old knowledge ATI Graphic Programs Nvidia for games i like Nvidia
£160 Q9400
£50 for ok mother board (normal size for case)
£50 for 2gig £70 for 4gig Ram ddr800mhz 2 gig i run on and it runs OK just

422 (rough)
may end up spending last 30 on a heat sync
 
Yeah thats what im working on now, just trying to make decisions where to spend the money and if its sometimes worth spending a bit more

One new question i have is about the PSU. Im going for 650w, have been recommended dark power pro 650w which is like £104 but then you can get a micso 650w for about £35. whats the difference and would it be worth it?
 
Brand i had a ozc one what broke now its an unknown one cool masters maybee
just quality of internal parts i wouldnt spend muchcash on a psu others say its most important part
 
 
dave said:
AMD is for cool people, you cant have one
Click to expand...
AMD is more for budget machines.

I run an intel i920, nicely overclocked as well.

As for PSU, I am slightly on overkill, running a 1500W Thermaltake :eek: - although I monitor the load via my APC UPS. I do intend to stick another high end gfx card in my case.

Good choice of Asus as a motherboard manufacturer (y)

I tend to stick to Pioneer for DVD writers, I have two 216Ds.

What about graphics options though - this will affect your choice of motherboard.

What OS are you going for? Windows 7 64 bit?
 
Yeah i went for intel as i heard AMD was the more budget option

The Unknown said:
64bit is still a little buggy
no point not going for pci E is theire stu?
concidering apg is almost dead

also do you want to watch tv on the pc?
Click to expand...

Im not sure if im going for 32 or 64 bit yet. Will be running 4gb or ram so im not sure if it will really matter

Im thinking about using TV but if i do it wont be through an ariel plugged into the wall so will most likely be external. therefore i think ill leave that till later

As for the graphics card, would the one built into the motherboard not be adequate?
 
The Unknown said:
64bit is still a little buggy
no point not going for pci E is theire stu?
concidering apg is almost dead
Click to expand...
I don't have issues with 64 bit, most drivers are available for it now. Plus of course the memory limit is removed, you won't even see all that 4GB on a 32 bit system, more like 3.5GB [although you can do some tweaking].

As for motherboard, why are you on about AGP? I meant more for if you want to do SLi or Crossfire. Again, depends if high end graphics is important.

I wouldn't go with onboard GFX though.
 
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