Noob needs help... Buying prebuilt or building own?

WARHURYEAH

WARHURYEAH

WARHURYEAH

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Joined
11 Feb 2009
Posts
653
Location
Barnsley, South Yorkshire
Okay, so for my birthday I wish to buy a PC, now how I go about it is an issue.

Many people say building a pc is easy and it's just like Lego etc. However as I'm putting some serious dosh into this and my knowledge on PC's is minimal I'm not over confident.

So my options are; building a PC from scratch and just go for it.
Buying a prebuilt PC from overclockers and ask them to slap in a network card then upgrade that when required in the future, also there's an option of getting one of those overclocked bundles, that way the part that I'm most sketchy about is kinda done for me.

As i am looking to overclock the prebuilt and bundles do appeal to me more as overclocking for a noob that doesn't want to risk anything is great.

I will update this with more information when im back home, typing this on an iPod is annoying. Opinions and suggestions would greatly be appreciated.

Thank you.
 
I have around £700-800 to spend, I need a monitor, network card and an OS to be included.

Mainly using it for TF2 and Brink when it comes out, I do some video editing also with Sony Vegas and after effects/premier.

The OC bundle appeals to me a bit as it's already OC'd etc.

Pre built is nice hut more expensive and building it from scratch is naturally a daunting task but I'm willing to give it a go.
 
The most I've done to a PC is pretty much cleaned it all out and replaced a GPU, I'd want to OC which is why a bundle seems appealing because it's already done, as well as a prebuilt one.

I'd also prefer to have an Intel core as well, not sure why, maybe just a bias.

It is just mainly the fact that a prebuilt one is already OC'd and pretty much ready to go, as well as the bundles, building it myself will mean I have to spend a day pooping my whitey tighties and harrassing everyone I know about if I have done it right.
 
Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Argon Intel Core i3 540 3.06GHz @ 4.00GHz Overclocked Bundle - MSI £239.99
(£199.99) £239.99
(£199.99)
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 6850 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £149.99
(£124.99) £149.99
(£124.99)
BenQ G2222HDL 21.5" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £107.99
(£89.99) £107.99
(£89.99)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-00599) £81.98
(£68.32) £81.98
(£68.32)
Corsair TX 650W ATX SLi Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-650TXUK) £64.99
(£54.16) £64.99
(£54.16)
Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black £52.99
(£44.16) £52.99
(£44.16)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS) £30.98
(£25.82) £30.98
(£25.82)
Pioneer 24x Internal S19LBK DVD Rewriter including Labelflash SATA Retail £19.99
(£16.66) £19.99
(£16.66)
* Sub Total : £624.09
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £19.10
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £128.64
* Total : £771.83

Something that I have come up with, forgot a sound card, but would I really need one?
 
Well naturally I have no idea on what's better :)

I just assume the bigger the number the better.

But I'd prefer to have a better GPU than a monitor, I'll be sitting to close to it so a 21"' is fine.

But I guess the GPU I chose is no better than the one you selected?
 
I'd go for Shadows spec but I am then doing the whole mobo/processor/RAM shizzle which I am not to confident with.

The bundles just require me to do some of the easier stuff, barring the PSU (dunno if they're hard to do).

Not sure if I'm just being overly cautious either but all I have done so far is installed a GPU and hilariously unplugged a hard drive which took me about an hour to realise what I had done.

Even then I was pooping my pants over the whole thing.

There's also a list of questions I have before I order this shizzle (some of these will be hilariously retarded but I must put my mind at ease with this before I order anything):

1. Can someone link to me a really really simple PC building guide for the mentally challenged?

2. This is gonna sound stupid, but I guess the PSU comes with a power lead as well? :S

3. When installing a new Hard Drive, is there anything special I need to do or will it just read one?

4. How do you install Network Cards? Is there a slot for one on the Mobo? I'd assume there is.

5. Should I get cable tidy's so then my PC looks really neat?

6. Is this even a wise investment?

7. Does the case (Antec 100) give good air flow and will everything fit in it?

9. Is the PSU powerful enough?

10. Have I forgotten anything?

11. Did you notice I missed out 8?
 
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Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Argon Intel Core i3 540 3.06GHz @ 4.00GHz Overclocked Bundle - Gigabyte £229.98
(£191.65) £229.98
(£191.65)
MSI ATI Radeon HD 5850 Twin FrozR II 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £134.99
(£112.49) £134.99
(£112.49)
BenQ G2222HDL 21.5" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £107.99
(£89.99) £107.99
(£89.99)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-00599) £81.98
(£68.32) £81.98
(£68.32)
Corsair TX 650W ATX SLi Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-650TXUK) £64.99
(£54.16) £64.99
(£54.16)
Antec 100 One Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black £44.99
(£37.49) £44.99
(£37.49)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS) £30.98
(£25.82) £30.98
(£25.82)
Pioneer 24x Internal S19LBK DVD Rewriter including Labelflash SATA Retail £19.99
(£16.66) £19.99
(£16.66)
OcUK Value 300Mbps Wireless-N PCI Adapter £12.98
(£10.82) £12.98
(£10.82)
Sub Total : £607.40
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £13.75
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £124.23
Total : £745.38

I could, in theory push it up a bit as I got more money, but the missus was a bit annoyed/stern/womanish about this and I received a "that's not that bad" when I told her the price. :D
 
No idea, apparently they're better, + it's in a bundle and OC'd so I don't have to do some of the work that I'm not confident with.
 
I hate you guys, coming in with your convincingly better builds -_-

I might go for the SandBridge one, I would also build it very cautiously and make sure I have someone holding my hand on Steam, Skype and the forums here, I might as well go for the build Cookeh said, and yes cookeh, I do play TF2 and I did play with you :P


Also, some of the deals are this week only, if I don't have enough money in my bank account tomorrow (pending on cheques clearing), then I won't really.

Cookeh, add me on steam: WARHURYEAH
 
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Can buy this right now:

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Anyone have any quarrels with this?
 
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Aah, good shout, but that will take me over budget :/

cheapest dvd drive ocuk has? :D

And what;s the difference between OEM and Retail?
 
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Is it better to get the one with or without the heatsink for now? Not sure if I'd be OC'ing it straight away but not sure if it's just better to do it now or what.
 
I am in no rush anyway, the money I looked at on my online banking hasn't been cleared completely by the bank which is why I got so excited and decided to buy it :P

It will just give me more time to familiarise myself with the build process, might be able to put some more money into it as well.

I got the money as a gift from my 21st, I wasn't expecting a large sum so I was planning to take some money out of my savings that I have been sitting on for a while.

Only problem is convincing the missus :D But the only reason why it's so expensive in the first place is because I'm buying a OS + Screen and everything else for the first time.
Might be able to get some more deals over the coming days anyway.
 
Question, would it be wise to buy the "This week only" offers now and buy the rest later? Also the CPU that was mentioned being on offer today, does it go back to it's original price when they're all sold then?

Might be waiting for a bit more cash to get a bigger HDD or a better PSU

Afaik, the monitor and GPU are the only things on offer. Although the other issue is that I don't know what days I have off for delivery until Monday.
 
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starting to question me getting the OEM version of the CPU, I'd prefer to spend the extra money and OC and fit a new cooler at a later date, or am I just being rational?

A. I don't feel confident enough installing a new cooler.
B. It only has 1 year warranty compared to 3 years with the other.
C. I won't be overclocking it straight away anyway, especially from my first build.

What ya'll think?
 
Sup' might be ordering the GPU and monitor tomorrow, but should I go with the CPU with stock cooler and get rid of the other one?

Won't overclock until I feel more confident with the workings of a PC, sorry for the bumps, just want to make sure :/

31469481.jpg
 
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The main reason behind it is that I don't want to give myself to much to do with my first build, money isn't the problem as it only makes about a £2 difference to the price anyway.

Having seen a video of a cooler being installed I think I could do it, but it's just a really really tough choice!

I mean, what's the hardest part of building one anyway?
 
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With the stock cooler, do you pretty much have to do everything that you would do with an after market cooler?

Because if so I'd go for the after market one, because if it's the same in term of difficulty then there's no problem.

But I assume that the stock cooler is easier to fit. Because that's how I roll.
 
Hmmm, and is it a really complicated process to take it out and fit a cooler? although if I'm honest, I'm on a 2.00ghz laptop, I might not have the need to OC, in the future I might decide to.

Apologies for the 20 questions of course.

Screw it, I will go with the stock cooler for now, going to buy this on Tuesday at the latest if my money hasn't gone in tomorrow, if it's not in on Tuesday I have to get the deal only stuff for now and cry to my bank as to why it's not gone through yet.
 
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