student budget and first time build

PeakOutput

ok, so i am looking to build a desktop for my return to college in september the trouble is i also need to save to pay for my accomadation in college so over the next 5 months or so im only going to be able to put away say 700MAX to build my gaming/media pc dream

second problem is i have never built one before but im pretty technically minded so i think ill figure it out

ok so my main requirement is that i want to be able to add or upgrade things with NO problem at any time in the future so to me this means that i need a good feature ridden motherboard. such a motherboard would probably already be ok for overclocking as i would like to give that a shot in the future so need to bear that in mind.

i dont care about the case looks as long as its functional again loads of slots and preferably will help me with cooling duties as id like to be able to sleep while the comp is on in the same room downloading as i cant do that now with my beastly noisie basterd alienware laptop.


processor some sort of mid range intel core duo i suppose will be the best option

ram=at least 2gbddr2 with being able to ad in another 2 at some stage

hard drives.........i would like to run windows vista( i am not going to include the price of this in the 700euro budget) and a version of linux so i was thinking getting one 40gb hd and partitioning it and installing each os on the different partitions then having say another hd at least 250gb for storage but preferably 500gb

psu= im sure there are loads of budget quality options out there

so my problem starts here really as i know what spec i want but i have absolutely no idea about parts manufacturers etc etc so while i could go to overclockers and order things that look like what i want i would have no idea if they were compatible etc etc. this is where i am hoping you guys can help me . if i have not explained anything enough please let me know and ill try again

thanks in advance
mark

8T8

CPU - Core 2 Duo E4300 - overclocking article shows it can easily reach speed of the more expensive parts so you get an E6400 or E6600 at half of the price.

Motherboard - MSI P965 Platinum - feature ridden and supports all current & future Core 2's.

RAM - Twinmos DDR-2 800 1GB (Buy two for 2GB)

HD - WD SE16 250GB

Case - Gigabyte black GZ-X1

PSU - Tagan EasyCon - very quiet or budget offering Black Diamond

That hits exactly your budget of 700 or just under with the cheaper PSU.

If you want to save money;

Case with PSU

1GB kit instead of 2GB of RAM, sticking with DDR-2 800 because of overclocking.

I don't know if you can afford within your budget the cost of a truly quiet system it will make some degree of noise probably more so than your laptop.

Anti

You really should just save these type of answers to a .txt file and copy/paste them here.

PeakOutput

8T8 wrote:

I don't know if you can afford within your budget the cost of a truly quiet system it will make some degree of noise probably more so than your laptop.

as long as i have the ability to make it quieter in the future thats fine but my hp desktop downstairs is only half as loud as my laptop so hopefully itll be like that to begin with

You really should just save these type of answers to a .txt file and copy/paste them here.

im sure it does get annoying with noobs like me posting the same questions but i do appreciate the answers anyway

8T8

You really should just save these type of answers to a .txt file and copy/paste them here.

Everyone's budget is different the txt file would be very long to accommodate every possible scenario I'll stick with my fast typing skills

as long as i have the ability to make it quieter in the future thats fine but my hp desktop downstairs is only half as loud as my laptop so hopefully itll be like that to begin with

Well the CPU cooler can be replaced with an even quieter model in the long run like a Scythe Ninja, ideally the PSU you should go for is the Tagan because of it's lower noise output.

Finally a graphics card with passive cooling as well.

TonyM.

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=331973

Go with the Abit Fatal1ty mobo its getting good reviews and you will save enough for an Arctic Cooler Pro.