New to building custom pcs

[californiadream]

Hi, I'm at uni at the moment and only have around 600-700 for the whole lot including monitor, speakers, keyboard, mouse, operating system (which I can get for around £30) etc. There is some leniency if this is unrealistic.Can anyone give me suggestions on a suitable set up at this price.

My requirements are basically something that will be quick, reliable and run fairly quietly. All it needs to do is be able to deal with a large number of open windows/tabs in terms of word, pdfs, and internet pages without lagging and also being able to play old games like half life 2 and counter strike would be nice. It'd be nice if the whole lot was easily upgradable for future use.

Sorry about the long post but I'm a complete novice at this and have no idea where to start.

 

[californiadream]

something like the titan pyro would fit your bill
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-192-OK&groupid=43&catid=1445&subcat=

would leave you more than enough for a 24" inch monitor such as the benq
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-032-BQ

and the mouse keyboard and speakers of your choice


EDIT beaten by elfmeister but great minds think alike

Ok so there seems to be a consensus about getting a pre built one rather than building from scratch. Is the spec on the titan pyro considered good then, I always thought pre built models were pretty rubbish with cheap parts. Also I heard that AMD was not very good compared to intel (is this just random intel fanboy propaganda? What would be the intel equivalent of this processor?)

 

[californiadream]

The pre built from here are good for the money, if your confident of building yourself then maybe this?

Ok this is going to seem like an endless list of noob questions so please forgive my ineptness:

- Is it easy to self build- does it all just slot in or do I need to buy stuff i.e screws/ screwdrivers?
- Would you say that the self built one you're suggesting is better than the prebuilt in terms of performance and future upgradability?
- When upgrading is it possible to detach the processor from the motherboard and attach a new one or do I need to get new everything?
- When looking at motherboards and cases what features specifically should I look for to make sure it will still be useful in the future e.g whats ddr2 and ddr3 all about?

 

[californiadream]

Ok I've had a look around and my options are the custom one by elfmeister above or this:

Antec 300 Three Hundred Case- £43.99
BenQ G2420HDB 24" LCD Monitor 16:9 Widescreen Full HD 1920x1080 300cd/m2 40,000:1 (Dynamic) 5ms VGA / DVI-D 2yr Onsite SWAP Warranty - Gloss Black- £140.92
Kingston 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz HyperX Memory Kit CL7 1.7V-£90.00
AMD Athlon II X4 620 2.6GHz AM3 Retail Boxed Processor-£74.17
XFX HD 5670 512MB GDDR5 DVI HDMI Display Port Out PCI-E Graphics Card-£72.54
ASUS M4A77TD PRO/U3S6 AMD 770 Socket AM3 8 Channel Audio 8+1 Phase Power ATX Motherboard £77.83
OCZ Stealth Xtream 500W PSU - 1x PCI-E 6/8pin, 2x SATA 12cm Fan-£47.04
Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB SATAII 7200RPM 16MB Cache - OEM Caviar Blue-£37.39
Logitech MK300 Wireless Desktop Keyboard and Mouse - USB-£25.87
Sony AD-7240S 24x DVD±RW DL & RAM Internal SATA Black Bare Drive - OEM-£16.65
Logitech X-140 Black 2.0 PC multimedia speakers - 5W RMS-£16.65

Total £642.22

Any opinions or tweaks to make either one better? What would you go for?

 

[californiadream]

Bump- anyone at all?? I'm dying to get started and order something!

 

[californiadream]

Hey,
That setup looks fine

That motherboard its £77 ! you can get the http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-210-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1481 for £74.98 or the http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-355-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1481 for £72.99 and they have a better northbridge.

Will

Would you say thats too expensive then? I was told that something around this price would ensure that it could be used with any future processor upgrades in case I wanted to replace the old processor later. Would it be better off sticking with this or your suggestions or just going for a really cheap board and replacing that and the processor when the time comes rather than keeping the board and just changing the processor?

 

[californiadream]

Both companies produce some amazing products but IMO the Intel stuff is quite expensive ££ for what it is . . . (please read 4p for more info)

The Athlon II X620 you have selected is great value for money, pretty much overkill for the needs you have stated but could come in handy in the future? there is cheaper dual core options like the Athlon II x2 240 @ £45 which will easiily cover your requirments should you need to slash the budget a bit more . . .

Other than that the problem with keeping the price of your system low is the memory (RAM), since Windows 7 came out the prices have more than doubled!

There is scope to save you quite a bit of money if you are able to source a *used* branded set of memory, DDR2 or DDR3 . . . . the AMD platform can be built using either. If your penny pinching then I am wondering can you manage with 2GB or are you really needing the full 4GB?

From an investment point of view any money spent on DDR2 should hold its value while the DDR3 will most likely lose value over the next 12 months, apart from that I don't think you will notice the difference in use.

Ok but can I still use that processor with the motherboard I've chosen and is DDR2 ram compatible with it. The board says it holds DDR3 but does this just mean it can hold both and that I can replace the 2 with the newer 3 when prices fall? I don't need any extra fans either do I?

 

[californiadream]

Hey californiadream,

the AM3 processor can be used in *either* a DDR2 motherboard or a DDR3 motherboard, the board you have choosen is for DDR3 but you can get an almost identical board (same chipset, features etc) that uses DDR2 instead!

AMD Boards that run with DDR2 memory here (£45.99 - £85.99)
AMD Boards that run with DDR3 memory here (£57.99 - £143.98)

Most people in the General Hardware forum are quite uninformed, some are very informed and knowledgeable . . . . the problem for you my friend is knowing which is which!

I would like to help you if I can and my contribution would be helping you choose the hardware that will give you *maximum* value for money while at the same time giving you an impressively fast system.

I think your budget is very realistic and not OTT like a lot of these other threads, this tells me your a real person who doesn't have a personal money tree growing in the garden!

If "half life 2 and counter strike" are the most demanding tasks your gonna be running then your needs are *very* modest!

Ok I've managed to cut it down a bit to this:

BenQ G2420HDB 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor - £142.99
Corsair 4GB (2X2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMV4GX3M2A1333C9) - £74.58
XFX ATI Radeon HD 5670 512MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card - £72.99
Asus M4A78LT-M LE AMD 760G (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard - £57.99
AMD Athlon II X2 Dual Core 245 2.90GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail - £49.98
Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black - £42.99
OCZ StealthXStream 500w Silent Power Supply - £39.99
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS) - £39.99
Sony Optiarc AD-7240S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM - £17.99
Logitech X-140 2.0 Speaker System (970264-0120) - £17.99
Saitek Eclipse K140 Slimline Multimedia Backlit Keyboard - £11.23
Logitech S96 PS/2 Optical Wheel Mouse Black - OEM (953688-1600) - £5.99

Total- £574.69

Sorry to be a pain again but is this hardware all still compatible with each other and also able to run windows 7. I decided to keep a DDR3 RAM and board, just the lower spec ones, because there doesn't seem to be much of a price difference between these and DDR 2 anyway.
I also changed the processor to an x2. Is this still fast and able to deal with what I want or would keeping the x4 be better?
Do I need extra fans, cooling stuff? Someone said I have to squirt something on the processor before attaching to the board (thermal paste? )- what is this and do i need it?

I'm also curious as to what hardware you would use for a similar price as you seem to know heaps about pcs.
I just hope to God that I don't screw this up and total all this stuff.

 

[californiadream]

..

 

[californiadream]

AMD Athlon II X3 435 2.9GHz Socket AM3 1.5MB L2 Cache Retail Box Processor - £64.37
Asus M4A78LT-M LE AMD 760G (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard- £57.99
BenQ G2411HDA 24" TFT Monitor 1920x1080 300cd/m2 40000:1 (dynamic) 2ms 16:9 VGA Glossy Black - £134.99
Sony AD-7240S 24x DVD±RW DL & RAM Internal SATA Black Bare Drive - OEM - £16.65
Logitech X-140 Black 2.0 PC multimedia speakers - 5W RMS- £15.82
Logitech Black Ultra-Flat Keyboard - USB/PS2 - £13.61
Geil Value 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C7 1333MHz Dual Channel (GV34GB1333C7DC) - £88.99
Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black - £42.99
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS)- £39.99
OCZ StealthXStream 500w Silent Power Supply - £39.99
Logitech U96 USB Optical Wheel Black Mouse - OEM (931646-0000) - £6.99

Total: £522.38

Final questions I promise

I've made the changes is this all ok
- Is this still compatitble with the ram and other components etc
- Do I need a CPU fan or another heatsink?
- What 120 fan do I need to get, is there a specific type?
- Also someone has said the motherboard is micro atx and won't take graphics cards + is limited in connections. Is this true and is there another good motherboard I should get instead of this that will allow this upgrading of graphic/components in future.
- Is a 500w power supply enough for what I'm getting now as well as future upgrades in graphics etc or would I have to get a more powerful one. What do you recommend?

 

[californiadream]

It's got spare PCI slots, PCI-E x1 slot, is there anything you have to plug in? apart from a grapics card?

I have no idea what even goes in them so basically youre saying I'm sorted with the board I've already picked.
I think these are the specs:
CPU AMD Socket AM3 ;Phenom™II /Athlon™II /Sempron™ 100 Series Processors
Support 45nm CPU
AMD Cool 'n' Quiet™ 2.0 Technology (by CPU type)
Support CPU up to 95W
*Refer to www.asus.com for the AMD CPU support list
Chipset AMD 760G/SB710
(AMD 780L/SB710)
System Bus Up to 5200 MT/s ; HyperTransport™ 3.0
Memory 2 x DIMM, Max. 8 GB, DDR3 1800(O.C.)/1600(O.C.)/1333/1066 ECC,Non-ECC,Un-buffered Memory
Dual Channel memory architecture
*Due to OS limitation, when installing total memory of 4GB capacity or more, Windows® 32-bit operation system may only recognize less than 3GB. Install a 64-bit WindowsWindows® OS when you want to install 4GB or more memory on the motherboard.
*Refer to www.asus.com for the memory QVL (Qualified Vendors List)
Expansion Slots 1 x PCIe 2.0 x16
1 x PCIe x1
2 x PCI
VGA Integrated ATI Radeon 3000
Maximum shared memory of 1 G
Supports DVI-D with HDCP compliant with max. resolution 2560x1600(@ 60Hz )
Supports RGB with max. resolution 2048 x 1536(@75Hz)
Hybrid CrossFireX™ Support (For Windows Vista or later versions)
*Refer to www.amd.com for the Hybrid CrossFireX selected GPUs.
Storage Chipset
1 xUltraDMA 133/100/66
6 xSATA 3 Gb/s ports Support RAID 0,1,10,JBOD
LAN PCIe Gigabit LAN
Audio VIA VT1708S Support 8-Channel High Definition Audio
*Please update audio driver to the latest version
*Choose the chassis with HD audio module in front panel to support 8-Channel audio output

- Support Multi-streaming,Single SPDIF Out,Anti-pop Function
- Support S/PDIF out interface
USB 10 USB 2.0/1.1 ports (6 ports at mid-board, 4 ports at back panel)
ASUS AI Lifestyle Features Express Gate
EPU-4 Engine
Turbo Key
Anti Surge
ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3
ASUS EZ Flash 2
ASUS MyLogo 2
ASUS Q-Fan
ASUS AI NET2
Overclocking Features Intelligent overclocking tools
- ASUS Turbo Key
SFS (Stepless Frequency Selection)
- FSB tuning from 200MHz up to 550MHz at 1MHz increment
Overclocking Protection
- ASUS C.P.R.(CPU Parameter Recall)
- Adjustable DRAM Voltage
Back Panel I/O Ports 1 x DVI
1 x D-Sub
1 x PS/2 Keyboard
1 x PS/2 Mouse
1 x LAN(RJ45) port
4 x USB 2.0/1.1
3 x Audio jacks
Internal I/O Connectors 3 x USB connectors supports additional 6 USB 2.0 ports
1 x IDE connector
6 x SATA connectors
1 x CPU /Chassis Fan connector
1 x S/PDIF Out connector
1 x High Definition Front panel audio connector
1 x COM connector
1 x Printer port
1 x System Panel connector
1 x Internal speaker connector
1 x 24-pin ATX Power connector
1 x 4-pin ATX 12V Power connector
BIOS 8 Mb Flash ROM , AMI BIOS, PnP, DMI v2.0, WfM2.0, SM BIOS V2.5, ACPI V2.0a
Form Factor uATX Form Factor
9.6 inch x 8.2 inch ( 24.4 cm x 20.8 cm )

WHat graphics card are you using? . . . are you starting with the IGP then waiting for the new radeons?

I was either going to wait for the price of this to fall: XFX ATI Radeon HD 5670 512MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card - £72.99

Or wait for new ones like the suggestion was but I have no idea how to tell which ones will be supported by the board and if the psu is powerful enough to run everything properly

Also how long is this likely to take me to put together? I guess I can just follow the instructions on the forum sticky but I was just wondering if I had to bung everything in at once and just turn the system on or do I have to do more intricate stuff to get it all to work- what's the process, do I need to do something when its all in and turned on or will it all work straight away and just let me load windows 7?

I don't need the graphics card yet do I + does it have anything to do with the monitor + ability to display hd??

 

[californiadream]

Thanks a lot everyone for your help its been much appreciated. I think I'll order all this tommorrow evening and then get whatever graphics card is suggested at a later date.

 

[californiadream]

Well the HD5830 is coming out in the first week of Feburary and after it the suspected HD5890 will come out when Fermi is released.

Ok thank you. Can you tell me what I do about drivers for my hardware? Once I stick everything together and power it up will I need to get drivers for stuff and change bios? Will I need to keep updating throughout the time I have the unit or is a one off update ok?