Hello everyone im new, can you help me build my first pc please?

working class

working class

working class

Associate
Joined
22 Jun 2010
Posts
68
Location
Birmingham
Hello everyone, I have been directed to your forum by many people, I just hope i dont annoy you because I am new and not very computer savvy at the moment!

Ok, so my 6 year old packard bell is on its last legs, it has served me well, but I need something better and more reliable being as though I am starting college in september.


All I use it for is surfing the net watching vids on youtube etc, listening to music via itunes, (occasionally downloading some) and as from september, word processing my assignments.
Budget is £400.

So ive come up with this for just over £400;

AMD Athlon II X2 240E Dual Core CPU
2GB 800MHz DDR2 Memory Stick
BioStar MCP6PB M2+ Motherboard
30GB Kingston SSD
LG GH22NS50 22x DVDRW
CoolerMaster Elite 330 with 350W PSU
Windows 7 home premium 64 bit
Artic cpu cooler

This is the first time I have done this so please tear me to bits as you see fit. I am confused over which processor to go for, and if a 30gb hard drive is suitable.
Since ive decided to build my own im really starting to get into computers so plan to stay around for a long time and pick your brains!


Would £600 get me something ok to play games on? Reason is ive got rsi on my left wrist from playing call of duty on the xbox, so im now thinking of selling that and playing it on the pc instead.

Thanks in advance!
 
The SSD is pretty small for everything... After it's formatted and the OS is installed, you might need more storage, but say you use Spotify for your music needs and then just save docs to the PC it should be fine.

Also, the magazine called Custom PC have a big section about building a future-proof PC for £400, worth a look :)

EDIT: I'd also recommend an Intel mobo and processor over AMD :)
 
this would play modern games at modest resolutions

Untitledr-1.png


or

this, which wont play games as it has a onboard graphics chip which is slower

Untitledrr.png
 
Last edited:
Camelpaw said:
The SSD is pretty small for everything... After it's formatted and the OS is installed, you might need more storage, but say you use Spotify for your music needs and then just save docs to the PC it should be fine.

Also, the magazine called Custom PC have a big section about building a future-proof PC for £400, worth a look :)

EDIT: I'd also recommend an Intel mobo and processor over AMD :)
Click to expand...

Brilliant, cheers for the quick reply.

Ok, so what is spotify? And is that magazine out now? And "mobo"?
 
Hi and welcome to the forums!

This is a faster build that will be more upgradable.

Patriot G Series 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel (PGS34G1333ELK) £88.99

Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H AMD 880G (Socket AM3) microATX DDR3 Motherboard £72.99

XFX ATI Radeon HD 5670 512MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card + S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat Game £69.99

AMD Phenom II X2 Dual Core 545 3.00GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail AMD Phenom II X2 Dual Core 545 3.00GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail
£69.99

Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black
£41.99

Corsair CX 400W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-400CXUK) Corsair CX 400W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-400CXUK)
£38.99

Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.C 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.C 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM
£33.98

Some of this isn't in stock so you'll have to wait or find the equivilent. £600 would be better off perhaps this as an upgrade:

Club 3D ATI Radeon HD 5770 512MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
£112.99

and

AMD Phenom II X2 Dual Core 555 3.20GHz Black Edition (Socket AM3) - Retail £84.99

instead of the GFX and CPU in the spec above.

You still gotta get an OS tho but will take you over so you choose!
 
Thanks geowal19, the first spec looks good, but what do i know! I really wanted a SSD though, a lad at work has recently fitted one and said the performance over a normal HD is staggering!
 
if you are going to college in september can you get the student deal on windows 7? also drop the ssd and add a 'normal' hdd.

or simply go with stulids build. does all the basics you've asked for and would certainly give you the ability to do a bit of gaming as long as you're not lookng to game at daft resolutions with hi settings-should have no problem with call of duty

oh also-welcome and enjoy your stay :cool:
 
Hi there, and welcome to the world of yesterday/today/tomorrow ;p

hmm you say £400/£600, does that include the peripherals or just the case? you'll need monitor/keyboard/mouse/speakers at least right? and that might cost you about I dunno £200 on its own :p

but as for the HDD, I'm running Win7 and the folder on its own is 16gb, and consider each game these days is on average 8-10gb... I would say a Sata is a MUCH better choice on your budget as u can pick up a 320gb for around £40 on OcUk.

personally I made only 2 Intel PCs in my life. So I think I best shush on the more technical things and leave it for pros here but don't forget some CPUs come with Heatsink & Fan which might save you a few quid ;)


*Woah took me a few min to browse around on OcUK and write a reply and so many posts :o*
 
Last edited:
geowal19 said:
Hi and welcome to the forums!

This is a faster build that will be more upgradable.

Patriot G Series 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel (PGS34G1333ELK) £88.99

Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H AMD 880G (Socket AM3) microATX DDR3 Motherboard £72.99

XFX ATI Radeon HD 5670 512MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card + S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat Game £69.99

AMD Phenom II X2 Dual Core 545 3.00GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail AMD Phenom II X2 Dual Core 545 3.00GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail
£69.99



Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black
£41.99

Corsair CX 400W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-400CXUK) Corsair CX 400W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-400CXUK)
£38.99

Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.C 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.C 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM
£33.98

Some of this isn't in stock so you'll have to wait or find the equivilent. £600 would be better off perhaps this as an upgrade:

Club 3D ATI Radeon HD 5770 512MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
£112.99

and

AMD Phenom II X2 Dual Core 555 3.20GHz Black Edition (Socket AM3) - Retail £84.99

instead of the GFX and CPU in the spec above.

You still gotta get an OS tho but will take you over so you choose!
Click to expand...

no optical drive? how does he install windows?

5670 is slower than a 4850- http://ixbtlabs.com/articles3/i3dspeed/0510/i0510-video-p2.html

and is so slow it would never be any good at DirectX11.

CPU comparision between the Phenom II 555 vs Athlon X4 635- http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/120?vs=122
 
yea the res is 1280x1024 i believe. as said before i'd give stulids first build serious consideration, over your initial £400 budget but nicely under your £600 budget for a pc to do a bit of gaming on and if you can get windows 7 with the student discount it'd save you a few ££'s. or with the sale of your xbox and the windows 7 student discount you could invest in a better gpu, tho if you're only doing a bit of light gaming there's no need
 
Thekwango said:
yea the res is 1280x1024 i believe. as said before i'd give stulids first build serious consideration, over your initial £400 budget but nicely under your £600 budget for a pc to do a bit of gaming on and if you can get windows 7 with the student discount it'd save you a few ££'s. or with the sale of your xbox and the windows 7 student discount you could invest in a better gpu, tho if you're only doing a bit of light gaming there's no need
Click to expand...


Sorry "gpu"?......Graphics card?
 
think maybe iNPut maybe thought you were looking for the monitor size-dunno why tho :p

but yea it is a 19 inch monitor with a resolution of 1280x1024 pixels
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom