Hi all,
Been thinking of posting something like this since building my first rig in December 2010 - why I'm doing it now after midnight when I'm fairly tipsy is anyone's guess.
Anyway, after upgrading pre-builts with graphics cards and ram for years, I decided on a whim to make a first build after buying an original NZXT Hush case on a deal for £50.
My only real requirements were that it be quiet and stylish and fairly low budget, (as have been saving for travelling for ages), but still able to play Crysis, etc.
Have always been into computers or consoles, but hadn't changed my PC in years which was a Dell with P4 3.06ghz with a 9800 pro, though I also had a Wii and 360 for gaming.
I kept my existing monitor which is a pretty low end 19" Philips; only 1440 by 900, but good enough for me for now.
I did research my parts but didn't ask for any specs, wanting to do it my own way despite being totally out of the loop, though I ended up buying some things on weekly special and made a few errors with the graphics card, power supply and especially ram.
Anyway, the build went fine except for a few hitches - it later turned out my £80 copy of Windows Professional from the rainforest was counterfeit (wanted full copy not OEM so didn't buy from Overclockers). Luckily I got a new version through Windows Get Genuine online kit at about half price of retail (£120) and got refunded by the rainforest.
However the PC still initially ran beautifully, pretty much maxing any game at 1400 by 900 with low temps and almost inaudible too.
Unfortunately the OCZ ram also caused infrequent and very hard to diagnose blue screens, particularly as the ram passed memtest with overnight passes 4 times before finally failing. I knew it was that damn ram all along but trusted memtest, but it was months later until it finally failed causing me a load of hassle.
I finally got that terrible ram out and replaced it with Corsair XMS3 1600 and it's been 100% stable since.
The positive is I learned a hell of a lot about bluescreens and bios settings from being a novice trying to diagnose the problem, so it was good in the end.
Lacking a side window I decided to make a very basic perspex window case mod in the front drivebays complete with pointless and flashy led lights, but I think the end result is pretty cool, even if it is only a viewing window that is covered 99% of the time.
Here are the current specs with photos to follow; I must emphasise that this is strictly mid range, nothing here to impress but I like it and think it's a solid little build overall:
NZXT Hush Case £50
Gigabyte H55M UD2H motherboard £69
OCZ 850w power supply £60
i5 760 £145
Freezer Pro Rev 2 heatsink £20
Asus GTX 460 768 OC £120
4Gb Corsair XMS3 1600 £35
Spinpoint F3 1 gb £35
Creative SB X-fi Extreme HD soundcard £38
Razer Lachesis mouse £60
Generic Genuis keyboard (but slimline with spaced keys only, £14 and great for gaming)
The only overclock is a tiny bit to allow the ram to run at 1600, so the i5 760 is only at 2.9ghz - stability is key for me but I'll definitely overclock to 3.5ghz + in the future.
Upgrades wise I've done so far is to change the ram as explained, add a soundcard and get a Lachesis mouse which is the best mouse for me as a lefty - even better than left handed Deathadder - I needed more than 2 extra buttons.
Pics will follow:
Edit: Cheers DJMartin, images work now but up close can see that they're not great quality, should still do the job though.
.
Been thinking of posting something like this since building my first rig in December 2010 - why I'm doing it now after midnight when I'm fairly tipsy is anyone's guess.
Anyway, after upgrading pre-builts with graphics cards and ram for years, I decided on a whim to make a first build after buying an original NZXT Hush case on a deal for £50.
My only real requirements were that it be quiet and stylish and fairly low budget, (as have been saving for travelling for ages), but still able to play Crysis, etc.
Have always been into computers or consoles, but hadn't changed my PC in years which was a Dell with P4 3.06ghz with a 9800 pro, though I also had a Wii and 360 for gaming.
I kept my existing monitor which is a pretty low end 19" Philips; only 1440 by 900, but good enough for me for now.
I did research my parts but didn't ask for any specs, wanting to do it my own way despite being totally out of the loop, though I ended up buying some things on weekly special and made a few errors with the graphics card, power supply and especially ram.
Anyway, the build went fine except for a few hitches - it later turned out my £80 copy of Windows Professional from the rainforest was counterfeit (wanted full copy not OEM so didn't buy from Overclockers). Luckily I got a new version through Windows Get Genuine online kit at about half price of retail (£120) and got refunded by the rainforest.
However the PC still initially ran beautifully, pretty much maxing any game at 1400 by 900 with low temps and almost inaudible too.
Unfortunately the OCZ ram also caused infrequent and very hard to diagnose blue screens, particularly as the ram passed memtest with overnight passes 4 times before finally failing. I knew it was that damn ram all along but trusted memtest, but it was months later until it finally failed causing me a load of hassle.
I finally got that terrible ram out and replaced it with Corsair XMS3 1600 and it's been 100% stable since.
The positive is I learned a hell of a lot about bluescreens and bios settings from being a novice trying to diagnose the problem, so it was good in the end.
Lacking a side window I decided to make a very basic perspex window case mod in the front drivebays complete with pointless and flashy led lights, but I think the end result is pretty cool, even if it is only a viewing window that is covered 99% of the time.
Here are the current specs with photos to follow; I must emphasise that this is strictly mid range, nothing here to impress but I like it and think it's a solid little build overall:
NZXT Hush Case £50
Gigabyte H55M UD2H motherboard £69
OCZ 850w power supply £60
i5 760 £145
Freezer Pro Rev 2 heatsink £20
Asus GTX 460 768 OC £120
4Gb Corsair XMS3 1600 £35
Spinpoint F3 1 gb £35
Creative SB X-fi Extreme HD soundcard £38
Razer Lachesis mouse £60
Generic Genuis keyboard (but slimline with spaced keys only, £14 and great for gaming)
The only overclock is a tiny bit to allow the ram to run at 1600, so the i5 760 is only at 2.9ghz - stability is key for me but I'll definitely overclock to 3.5ghz + in the future.
Upgrades wise I've done so far is to change the ram as explained, add a soundcard and get a Lachesis mouse which is the best mouse for me as a lefty - even better than left handed Deathadder - I needed more than 2 extra buttons.
Pics will follow:
Edit: Cheers DJMartin, images work now but up close can see that they're not great quality, should still do the job though.
.
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