Building My own PC

[pies]

Been thinking about this for a while now,and have finally decided it would be a nice project over the darker months

So im thinking first thing it to get a case (one with built in power supply) then a motherboard

No this is where im lost as there are so many out there.Any ideas ?

[gopher]

Pies

How much are you willing to spend and what are you going to use it for?

Cheers

Paul

[pies]

Home use,internet,photoshop and graphics,I want a high spec.So the budget will be whats required(does £100 for a motherboard sound enough as thats what i was aiming at) to get it,i also want a bit of "future proof"

[simpo two]

This looks fun:
www.kustompcs.co.uk/?page=about

[pies]

simpo two said:

This looks fun: www.kustompcs.co.uk/?page=about

Im like a kid in a sweet shop,no idea which one to get

[gopher]

pies said:

Home use,internet,photoshop and graphics,I want a high spec.So the budget will be whats required(does £100 for a motherboard sound enough as thats what i was aiming at) to get it,i also want a bit of "future proof"

As far as future proofing goes then look at boards with SATA connections for hard drives and perhaps PCI express for graphics, although AGP will be around for quite a while, and the number of PCI-E cards is small ATM.

For graphics you may be using a lot of space so 2*250 gb SATA hard drives should keep you going for a while, if striped this will give you nearly 1/2 TB space - but if 1 drive goes you loose the lot - 4 drives would give the same space but back it all up as well - again down to requirements and expenditure.

Can't offer any advice on graphics cards, however, it does tend to be true in this area that you get what you pay for.

You also need to make a choice on processor AMD or Intel and on memory - in both cases the faster the better, in terms of bang for buck then AMD will do you ok, if you want a 355 over a Tuscan choose intel.

Memory - buy as good as you can - IMO Crucial memory is good and buy as fast as you can, but no faster than your motherboard can handle or you will be wasting money.

IMO the board, the graphics the memory are key in your case, the storage important, and the other stuff secondary - Oh yes if you are spending money on a good graphics card then don't mither on the screen otherwise it will be wasted.

Cheers

Paul

[FrenchTVR]

I do design work on CAD and decided to build my own PC last year as there seemed to be little that fitted the spec i wanted.
I opted for a twin Xeon processor motherboard from Supermicro with matching tower case and twin 2.4Ghz chips.
I then added a Matrox Parhelia 256Mb graphics card and 2Gb ram. I found that SATA drives are now quite cheap and went for a 160Gb drive (should have bought two). Beware that you need the PCI card and cables on top! Silly mistake but a real pain in the arse when your 800 miles away trying to put hte m/c together.

Added other basic bits such as sound and CD writer etc. So far it's been really reliable and fast. Runs Windows XP and cost me just under £2.5k. Should be man enough for a good few years yet.

The graphics card is expensive but runs two 21" flat screens at 1600 x 1200 resolution with no problems.

When choosing the components just be careful they all match as I had probs with the memory sticks I was supplied not being compatible with the motherboard (X5AG....I think)

Hope this helps,

Mick

[RobDickinson]

pies said:

Been thinking about this for a while now,and have finally decided it would be a nice project over the darker months So im thinking first thing it to get a case (one with built in power supply) then a motherboard No this is where im lost as there are so many out there.Any ideas ?

Over the darker months? it akes about 30min to screw a PC together, and your much better off buying all the parts together, as any older parts will be cheaper or outdated by the time you build it!


Future proofing doesnt exist , but apart from heavy use stuff like games and heavy graphics/audio work it takes a long time for a computer to age. I'm a PC/gamer and this is an old wreck of a pc which still works ok.

Sounds like your into your graphics, photoshop can take a lot of memory, so aim for at least 1GB of ram, any decent modern processor will be good, but AMD's Athlon 64's are a cracking choice atm, and will run windows 64(bit). I'd say go for one of the new socket 939 Athlon64's (3000 to 3500). Parr that up with an nvidia chipset based motherboard (doesnt have to be expensive, the best should be under £100). Then get 2* 512mb mem for it (probably PC3200) , or more.

(AMD socker 939 over 754 because 754 will end at 3800 or so and 939 has dual memory controllers for more bandwidth and will take dual core CPU's giving twice the power - ish)

Graphics card wise, if your not into 3d gaming then dont go bleeding edge, £100-£150 tops. I'd recoment an ATI card for image quality, prehaps an ATI 9700/9800. If games are a consideration then I'd go for an nvidia 6800 based card.

Make sure you get a case with decent airflow, and a high wattage power supply (350+ real watts) also try to get one with quiet fans/PSU, well worth it.

As for storage, get a DVD writer to archive, and at least 250gb drive, there cheap as chips anyhow. Watch out if you get SATA as the drivers will be on CD, and you'll need them on floppy to install windows, major pain, need another PC to sort it out.

[RobDickinson]

FrenchTVR said:

I do design work on CAD and decided to build my own PC last year as there seemed to be little that fitted the spec i wanted. I opted for a twin Xeon processor motherboard from Supermicro with matching tower case and twin 2.4Ghz chips. I then added a Matrox Parhelia 256Mb graphics card and 2Gb ram. I found that SATA drives are now quite cheap and went for a 160Gb drive (should have bought two). Beware that you need the PCI card and cables on top! Silly mistake but a real pain in the arse when your 800 miles away trying to put hte m/c together. Added other basic bits such as sound and CD writer etc. So far it's been really reliable and fast. Runs Windows XP and cost me just under £2.5k. Should be man enough for a good few years yet. The graphics card is expensive but runs two 21" flat screens at 1600 x 1200 resolution with no problems. When choosing the components just be careful they all match as I had probs with the memory sticks I was supplied not being compatible with the motherboard (X5AG....I think) Hope this helps, Mick

Matrox cards are great for image quality still, a little better than ATI, but are well behind for 3d stuff.

Dual CPU is probaly overkill but always nice, socket 939 gives that upgrade route in the future.Likewise twin monitors are great but expensive, can always add another later.

"Beware that you need the PCI card and cables on top!"

Most new motherbaords should have SATA onboard, power supply should have SATA power connectors now too, cables may be needed, one should be included tho(?) worth checking.

REmember you can always add memory and drive space, shange the graphics card etc at a later date.


As fot PCIe (express) its only available for intel chips , until December/January when AMD boards will come out. Doesnt realy give much of a perfomance increase and the selection of graphics cards is very small atm, AGP cards will be a round fow a while longer. Saying that I'll upgrade soon and go for PCIe, but I'm more of a gamer.

[posty]

hi pies

where do you live?

there are some great computer fairs around, spending a few hours there (do not take money to your first one) chatting to the sales guys, wading through the sales talk and getting the real info is always a valuable way

besides, they typcaly only bring the "in" technology (i'll leave it to each individual case to judge whether "in" is best

try british computer fairs, there cool, all sellers are legit businesses, none of this back of the lorry malarkey!

[viper_larry]

Hi All,

Interesting reading the posts as I am thinking of building mine. However, I can't decide whether to go for Intel or AMD. Ideally I would like the AMD 64 bit Socket 939 Winchester 90nm edition and like AMD, but, AMD motherboards don't currently support PCI Express graphics cards. I know AGP still has a way to go, but think the PCI Express is the future. I see in this months PC Pro they have a first engineering sample, so they're not far off.

So, should I wait a couple of months for the PCI Express AMD motherboards to start coming out, or go for AGP and figure that in the future, I just upgrade the motherboard as well as the graphics card?

My current selection is:

Super LANboy case
Evermax quiet power supply
Motherboard - TBA - probably PC Pro A List
AMD 64 bit Socket 939 Winchester 90nm
1 x 120GB SATA System Drive (Samsung or Seagate)
1 x 250GB SATA Data Drive (Seagate?)
1Gb PC3200 RAM or PC4000?
ATI Radeon 9800XT 256Mb RAM
CD, DVD, etc..

Any comments?

[Plotloss]

Wait for PCI X dont bother with Athlon 64bit.

Have you seen the price of 64 bit XP?

Its eye watering...

[pdV6]

Plotloss said:

Have you seen the price of 64 bit XP? Its eye watering...

...and what applications will you be running that will require a 64bit processor?

[viper_larry]

TBH, none, but Socket 939 is my preferred route for future upgrades and I thought the price - £180 + VAT for a 3500+ 64bit was OK??? The old XP seems to be fading out.

Think you're right for PCI X, just itching to play my copy of HL2 and will have to wait a couple of months for the AMD PCI X boards...

[Plotloss]

Socket 939 could be replaced as a standard tommorow.

They've done it before, they'll do it again.

The original Clawhammer socket, which hit the market was different to the one thats there today.

Dont get hung up on sockets, the swines will pull the rug out from under you however you try to future proof yourself.

[Podie]

Pies, come to the Mid-Essex meet and we can have a if you like...

[Pies]

Podie said:

Pies, come to the Mid-Essex meet and we can have a if you like...

so long as there is no snow

[squirrelz]

Plotloss said:

Wait for PCI X dont bother with Athlon 64bit. Have you seen the price of 64 bit XP? Its eye watering...

Presume you mean PCI Express? PCI-X is a completely different standard, getting the 2 mixed up could be a costly mistake.

64bit XP? It's a free download (the beta version) at the moment. You can't actually buy it.

[squirrelz]

pdV6 said:

...and what applications will you be running that will require a 64bit processor?

Don't get hung up on this 64 bit malarky. The Athlon 64 is an x86 processor with 64bit extensions, unlike the Itanium which was designed ground up for 64bit processing.
It's a fast processor just running in 32bit mode, and I'd be surprised if running 64bit Windows XP made much of a difference.

[viper_larry]

posty said:

hi pies where do you live? there are some great computer fairs around, spending a few hours there (do not take money to your first one) chatting to the sales guys, wading through the sales talk and getting the real info is always a valuable way besides, they typcaly only bring the "in" technology (i'll leave it to each individual case to judge whether "in" is best try british computer fairs, there cool, all sellers are legit businesses, none of this back of the lorry malarkey!

Are these worth going to then? Seen lots of these advertised around my area (South Beds/North Herts) but always presumed they were like computer jumble sales