Building a PC.

Binomate

I'm planning on building my own PC during the summer to try and cut down on the cost of buing a pre built one. I desperatly need my own one because when you try to play games that require a lot of time (i.e. World of Warcraft) on a PC shared with a whole family it's not very nice. I don't want to spend too much on it either, because I'm broke. I'm thinking about €1500 max. I did a rough draft of what I plan to get. I've never built a PC like this before, so would anyone be able to give me a few pointers about what kind of stuff to go for. I made a rough draft of something that would be ideal. Please tell me what you think.

Naikon

I built a pc last summer. I got an immense feeling of satisfaction when building was finished. It took myself one day to build it which i thought isnt bad for somebody who hadent built before. It is the way to go in terms of cost and reliability. Make sure however that you buy branded matched RAM for reliability purposes. I bought a Nforce4 motherboard with a 6600gt graphics card and a 3200+ processor. I also included a third-party akasa c.p.u cooler and thery are well worth it because they are more efficient than stock coolers. defo go for AMD as the architecture and intagrated memory controller are big push factors for games. You would get a very good setup with that money just dont waste it on super expensive processors that might only give an exta 5 frames. Spend the most on your processor/motherboard/RAM setup as it will pay off for games.
I was a little intimidated first but once you get into building its not very hard just allow yourself plenty of time and also(as you prob know)earth yourself and dont wear nylon ect. I couldent read your link as its .xls and i dont have a program for reading these files.....yet. remember that you wont have a comprehensive overall warrenty for the system.....each component WILL be backed by a warrenty.Just dont overclock the beyjasus out of your system:)
I would go with an nvidia 6600gt or 6800gs as they are great cards and an AMD processor is cheaper and better in terms of framerates than an equivilent INTEL processor even though the amd pro. has less L2cache
Best of look with the project:)

conzy

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh:mad:

Why does everyone go for Intel????

They are crap compared to the current AMD proccessers.

And athlon 64 3000 would be a much better gaming chip and costs €115

I would get a Athlon 64 3200 for €150 and put they money you save towards a better GFX card such as the X1800GTO

Have a look in the computers technology section theres a few other threads like this and I made some recommendations about a S939 motherboard, I can be bothered typing it again:D

Naikon

Tell me about it:rolleyes:
I really dont know why people automatically assume intel is better.
it proves to me that they probably dont know much about computers had they,ed been reading up on new tech.
People must have been brainwashed by the intel inside campaign:D

L31mr0d

Binomate wrote:

I did a rough draft of what I plan to get. I've never built a PC like this before, so would anyone be able to give me a few pointers about what kind of stuff to go for.

He said it himself, its only a draft and he's looking for pointers, its not like he IS going ahead with Intel. Intel have a proven history for stability, but for performance go with AMD. For a gaming rig you might want to go with what conzy said and beef up that gfx card. Otherwise its a pretty sound build just switch the CPU and get the equivalent DFI s939 for it.

Before buying ANYTHING for a build, read at least one review online somewhere from some reputable source. I'd look into what PSU exactly comes with that case as well, looks dodgy that there is so little info about it other than its wattage. Try and go for an ATX2 PSU if possible.

Post your new specs if you update

Alkers

That seems dear enough for what it is.
How far away is AMD's new socket, might be worth holding out for. From what I hear it's not going to be much if any of a performance gain but at least you won't be hit so hard be depreciation.

Binomate

Thanks for the advice guys. I've updated the list and replaced the Pentium 4 with an ADM 64 4000+. Changed the motherboard. I've kept the same graphics card which I think is grand for the moment. I might upgrade the card towards the end of the year and use the 7600gt in the PC I have at the minute (currently using an Nvidia Geforce fx 5200 ),when ever I do replace it. I've also changed the case to a midi tower and stuck in a PSU on the list too. I'm not too far over budget either. Please tell me what you think of the second draft.

gline

would it not be better going for an intel 805 (dual core) and overclock it to bits (or an opty 165)

mac_leinn

I believe AMD new socket AM2 is being release on the 23rd May (next Tuesday) according to this.

Im in the same boat as yourself. I want to build an amd based system but Im holding out to see what am2 is like (even it just affects the price of socket 939 stuff)

Also with regards to the sound card you picked, you could spend an extra €40 and get one of these for a €100 from PCWorld. Just a thought...

layke

It's cheaper to buy a prebuilt PC without software.

However if you are looking at spreading the cost building it over a few months works out well.

All in all a lot of games won't use an AMD64 to it's full potential. Heck, i'm running a 3ghz p4 with a 9800XT and it runs everything perfect.

For cheapness sake I would go with the AMD and a not so cutting edge graphics card. Think about what games you play and do you really need a top card, or the 2 month old model. Personally i play a HL mod NS and WoW... it's all I need.

po0k

Why hasn't this thread been moved to Computers?
It simply doesn't belong here.

mac_leinn

SyxPak wrote:

Why hasn't this thread been moved to Computers?
It simply doesn't belong here.

Well there is a sticky at the top of the page called PC Specs - a little help!! (Updated) where the moderator of this forum goes through all the parts needed to build a pc and gives advice on what brands/models to use.

So I think the OP is ok to post here and ask what parts to use to build a custom pc.

GrumPy

layke wrote:

All in all a lot of games won't use an AMD64 to it's full potential. Heck, i'm running a 3ghz p4 with a 9800XT and it runs everything perfect.

So your saying intel is better than amd for gaming?

Alkers

No he's almost saying AMD64s are too good for games. Most games out there aren't able to stress the cpu hard enough, hence he is able to get by fine with a 3Ghz P4 and an old GFX.

conzy

Dont get the Athlon 64 4000 although it is a great chip, You can get an x2 3800 for €40 less or a X2 4200 for €20 more.......

The X2 3800 is an amazing chip, its 2 athlon 64 3200s and the 4200 is 2 athlon 64 3500s.....

Komplett dont have the opteron 165 at the minute for some reason

But its around the €350 mark and has a 2mb L2 cache (1mb per core)

The 7600gt is a great card but a X1800GTO would be a much better more future proof option for only €60 more....

*edit*typo...

Alkers

The 3800 is 2 athlon 3200+s

conzy

Woops sorry I have 3700 on my mind:o

edited:D

Baggly

realise ur set on building it, but another thread discovered this manufacturer, who, if on the level, are really really good.

http://www.ankermann-pc.com/en/

build a theoretical pc for myself without windows:

System: AMD Athlon 64 So. 939
Equipment:
- So.939 AMD X2 Athlon 64 3800+ Dual Core: € 167.00
- MSI So.939 K8T Neo2-FIR KT800Pr (AGP 8x): € 37.50
- AGP8x 256MB NVidia GeForce 6200 TV-out -DVI: € 25.90
- IDE 320 GB Western Digital 3200JD (8MB-7200rpm): € 56.90
- 256 MB PC3200 DDR RAM 400 MHz
- upgrade from 256MB to 1024MB INFINEON: € 52.90
- from 1024MB G-Skill to 1024MB INFINEON: € 9.00
- DVD-Drive IDE Toshiba/Samsung 16x/52x TS-H352: € 0.00
- Multi-DVD-RW Samsung 16x/16x/4,0x Double Layer TS-H552U: € 45.00
- Modding Case LC 401 silver & coldlight: € 29.00
- Thermaltake TR2-M6 SE cooler
- 380W Tagan TG380-U01 Black Edition: € 51.00
- 8 Channel AC 97 Audio Codec Sound on Board
- 10/100 MBit Network on Board = DSL ready
- Yes, I want a superquiet PC: € 25

844,20 € incl vat and delivery

might be worth a look

Creamy Goodness

that's AGP graphics, surely he'd want to go for pci-x as AGP is practically dead by now.

Baggly

ok granted, that adds another 100.


however im not sure how much delivery to ireland costs.


weekend away to holland to collect it might be fun

Cuddlesworth

Simona1986 wrote:

No he's almost saying AMD64s are too good for games. Most games out there aren't able to stress the cpu hard enough, hence he is able to get by fine with a 3Ghz P4 and an old GFX.

I cant believe I'm hearing this, the bottle neck is with the cpu rather than the gpu now.

WizZard

krazy_8s wrote:

I cant believe I'm hearing this, the bottle neck is with the cpu rather than the gpu now.

Agreed.

Also, PCI-X(PCI Extended) is not the same as PCI-E (PCI Express).
People, please get this right.

Naikon

I bought most of my equipment from Komplett.ie.
I didnt buy my monitor or case from them though.
Delivery was 10 euro and i ordered quite a few items.
However dont buy off a UK source like Overclockers as the delivery
can be expensive depending on the weight of the products so dont go buying
a 20kg CRT from such sources;)

Note: there is a small difference in games performance in regard to processor but i have found the source engine to be alot more cpu
intensive than the likes of F.E.A.R. This is probably due to the high physics interaction.
Also most games do require a good GPU but a good few titles arernt very cpu dependant.
My friend upgraded a Dell 8200 1.8ghz P4 northwood pc with a gig of ram and a 6600gt and performance is a bit below the framerate
on my system but overall he can play stuff like F.E.A.R at decent resolutions with some AF and mantain a stable framerate.

Creamy Goodness

the max overclockers will charge is £22, and when they say 48 hours they mean it.

komplett are great don't get me wrong but the lack of good looking cases and a not so great selection of psu's would make me look elsewhere for these parts

Also, PCI-X(PCI Extended) is not the same as PCI-E (PCI Express).
People, please get this right.

oopps, you know i meant PCI-E right :V:

Naikon

Your right about the whole delivery issue.
I must have mixed up overclockers with another company:rolleyes:
probably Overclocker and Overclockers:)
You are also right about kompletts selection of cases and power supplies they generally arent great. That is the main reason i bought my case from another company. Those Forton PSU,s look a bit dodgy and i dont know if the voltage rails on them could handle SLI ect.. certainly not the 300watt model:eek:
But i could be wrong they could also be great depending on your needs.:cool: