newbie

chrispystix · 10 May 2007 at 20:01

I have never built a pc before but am reasonably confident that I can do it. I do like to know what I am doing before I start though so am starting out on a long journey into enlightenment.

Recognising this is likely to change, how does it look and what do I need to consider;

Case Lion li pc7 plus
Mobo Gigabyte GA 965p DS3P
Core 2 Duo E6600
Ram Crucial Balistic 2GB (2x1) ddr2 PC2 5300C3 667 MHZ
PSU Corsair HX 520W
GPU OCUK 8800GTS 320MB
HDD Seagate Baracuda 250GB SATA 11 16mb cashe
Optical NC AD7170s serial ATA 18x18

We use a laptop with a crappy celeron at the mo for brousing and I want good machine. I use the xbox for games sometimes but would like to be able to play good games on the PC and like cool graphics.

Budget is not really an issue apart from I dont want to waste money. I want to be able to upgrade when SLi is more of an option but dont want to have a hugely overpowered system now.

Oh and what is the best way to go with a monitor? If I am gonna spend a reasonable amount I might as well have a good picture (whats the point otherwise) but am not going to spend too many hundreds.

And any good books to get me going?

Cheers fellas

shine · 10 May 2007 at 20:07

That's a decent spec. I'd recommend you get a cooler rather than rely on the stock intel. I've just got a Noctuna for my new build and have been really impressed. Have a look here.

chrispystix · 10 May 2007 at 20:18

cheers bruv

I see you have the 620 PCU and a kandulf........better???

semi-pro waster · 10 May 2007 at 20:22

Welcome to the forums. A 620w PSU is a bit overkill for your needs at present, the Corsair 520w is more than sufficient.

You can't use SLi with that motherboard, it is Crossfire (ATIs competing solution) only but then there isn't usually much point in a dual graphics card set up unless you have a very large monitor.

What do you mean by a good book to get you going?

chrispystix · 10 May 2007 at 20:58

ok, whats a very large monitor??

And in a book I am looking for something recent about putting a pc together and also a good background to windows.

I got a big blue screen the other day and then a corrupted error report. I would have liked to know more about what was happening. I also want to understand BIOS so that when I install I can deal with anything unexpected.......

waso_dude · 10 May 2007 at 21:01

change the mobo for a 650 or 680 mobo so that you can go SLi as you said you would like to try, and they will prob clock better than the Gigabyte

Jaffa_Cake · 10 May 2007 at 21:03

waso_dude said:
change the mobo for a 650 or 680 mobo so that you can go SLi as you said you would like to try, and they will prob clock better than the Gigabyte

The gigabyte is actually an amazing board (especially for a gigabyte)

It clocks very well indeed and the chipset works very well with the Ballistix.

semi-pro waster · 10 May 2007 at 21:23

Very large monitor by my definition is generally 1600x1200 or above, if the resolution is below that then a single (good) graphics card normally suffices.

I don't know of any books specifically that you might want to read, the forums contain a wealth of information, in fact there is a sticky by Ultra_Extreme at the top of this forum on how to build a PC but there are other guides with pictures available elsewhere on the internet.

waso_dude · 10 May 2007 at 21:53

Jaffa_Cake said:
The gigabyte is actually an amazing board (especially for a gigabyte)

It clocks very well indeed and the chipset works very well with the Ballistix.

never said it wasn't mate,

He just said that he would like SLI ability in the future

The Gigabytes are crossfire (on certain models)

happy_2008 · 10 May 2007 at 22:04

Snap, practically the same spec i ordered last night :cool:

man_from_uncle · 10 May 2007 at 22:06

Semi-pro is right. There probably are some decent books out there, but you'll get more information from the forum.

As for monitors, it's rather subjective. Most heavy gamers these days want at least a 21-22 inchs wide screen LCD monitor. It'll run at 1680x1050 resolution. I think you can pick them up for about £200 and I seem to recall hearing good things about the Belina model in that bracket.

There are a lot of slightly cheaper conventional dimension LCD screens too, but most people who aren't seriously into gaming are happy with 17-19 inch versions. They do 1280x1024 resolution.

Personally I'm happy sticking with CRT (the old big box jobbies). I've got a 22 inch dell trinitron, it does 2048x1536 with pretty much the best quality you can hope for. It does weigh over half what I do (35kg give or take) and it takes up a lot of space, but it only cost £100 from a well known auction site.

shine · 11 May 2007 at 08:13

chrispystix said:
cheers bruv

I see you have the 620 PCU and a kandulf........better???

I only got the 620 as got a good deal on it - the 520 was my original choice. I personally recommend the Kandalf because its a big case - lots of room for expansion and helps with the airflow. Also because its easier to install everything.

chrispystix · 11 May 2007 at 20:25

Thanks guys,,,nice to find a forum where people are so helpful....The spec came from reading several previous recommendations on here.

I am doing a bit of reading around GPUs before I move on. I am not clear on the difference between GTS and GTX but will be soon.

What would be an alternative mobo for SLi? and is there any point looking at sound cards these days..

Thanks for the reccomendation on the case...

Jaffa_Cake · 11 May 2007 at 20:31

chrispystix said:
Thanks guys,,,nice to find a forum where people are so helpful....The spec came from reading several previous recommendations on here.

I am doing a bit of reading around GPUs before I move on. I am not clear on the difference between GTS and GTX but will be soon.

What would be an alternative mobo for SLi? and is there any point looking at sound cards these days..

Thanks for the reccomendation on the case...

GTX

- GeForce 8800 GTX core running at 600MHz
- Shader Clock Speed of 1400MHz
- 768MB GDDR3 Memory running at 1800MHz
- 384-Bit Memory Interface
- 128 Stream Processors
- Shader Model 4.0
- Texture Fill Rate: 36.8 billion/sec
- Memory Bandwidth: 86.4GB/s

GTS

- GeForce 8800 GTS core running at 580MHz
- Shader Clock Speed of 1350MHz
- 320MB GDDR3 Memory running at 1700MHz
- 320-Bit Memory Interface
- 96 Stream Processors
- Shader Model 4.0
- Texture Fill Rate: 24 billion/sec
- Memory Bandwidth: 64GB/s

The asus P5N is a very good SLI board :-)

( http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-221-AS or http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-222-AS )

I think there is a need for a sound card now days, depend what you use it for. Its a (big) noticable sound quality difference between a X-Fi and a Onboard sound card.