Building a PC - Checklist Help Please.

Zillah

Hello.

Its been a while since I've had to think about hardware but a friend wants my help ordering/assembling a new PC. Just thought I'd confirm my checklist of equipment to make sure I wasn't leaving anything out.

My own PC came from Komplett.ie and I've had nothing but good times so I was planning on ordering from them again. So, the list:

Motherboard
CPU
RAM
Hard drive
Graphics Card
Sound Card
Network card
CD/DVD drive/burner.
Floppy drive (sigh...)
Case
Monitor
Mouse/keyboard

He has speakers and will be getting a BB modem elsewhere.

A couple of quick questions:

I assume all the extra bits and pieces (fans, heatsinks, cables etc) will all come with their respective parts?

Whats the deal with dual cores? I assume its not a x2 multiplier to their effective speed; how do you calculate their actual performance?

Are there any compatibility issues between hardware and cases or is it safe to assume any hardware I order will fit a decent case? (EDIT: Well, Komplett list "supported main boards" for the cases so I think thats settled.)

When I got mine a couple years ago it came preassembled for me, can this be expected again, do they automatically do this if you order a full PC's worth of equipment?

(I might edit some more questions in here as they come to me )

Thanks.

Overheal

tbh all I know about Dual-core is that software to date isn't really programmed to use it effectively: prime example being game apps: they will usually tend to default to one core.
At least thats what I've been taught in my Computer architecture classes :?

Zillah

My googling and wiki-ing tell me that dual cores work best on multi-threaded software, ie, designed for multi-core systems. Apparently games can hit stuttery moments when single-thread games are run on the dual core.

None of that has told me how to guage their overall output though


Newest questions: Do cases come with a power supply or do I need to get that seperately?

plonk

The newest dual-cores are still much better than say the old single cored cpus, it depends on the case it will tell you if it comes with it.


Edit: No you have to specifically order a pre built pc

TerrorFirmer

Most games right now only utilise one core although several have dual core patches which definately increase performance. It's the only way forward for current and future titles though so it'd make very little sense to get anything other then a dual core based machine.

A very, very small amount of games suffer problems when running on Dual core systems but all have either patches or workarounds so again, it's practically a non-issue. I have a dual core and as a fairly lively games player I've never even encountered such problems, with any titles.

Games aside it's much better for general use as well, particular when you're running stuff that would normally bog down a single core machine, like for example running anti-virus and playing a game at the same time, or burning a DVD, that type of thing.

Some cases come with a power supply but most don't. It'll say in the description fairly clearly anyway.

They will build it for you. You'll get all the fans and heatsinks you need etc with the necessary parts too.

ps - plonk that p4 is running great thanks

Zillah

Hmm. Well, if I'm looking at a dual core that says its 1.7mhz, how does that compare to say, a single core 3.2?

plonk

Go here and you can compare cpus

http://tomshardware.co.uk/cpu/charts.html

I used to have a P4 640 3.2 then i updated tp a P4 D950 dual core 3.4, there is a big difference when it comes to almost everything, but the newer dual cores eg core 2 duo are much better again