Noob needs help!!

[spitzoid]

Hi guys,

I'm sure you get 100's of these requests per day but I really want & need some advice on building my own system (2 systems actually).

First of all I would like to build a TEST system for as little money as possible that will allow me to practice the key elements of building a system. Ideally it will cost no more than £250. I already have the monitor, keyboard & mouse, and O/S. So if you could suggest some budget components I would be very grateful. Like I said this is going to be a test system that I will either sell on or give away once I'm done with it so no need for anything special.

After that is done, and I am confident with building a system, I would like to spend approx £1000 on a high-end fruture proof GAMING system that will play all the latest games on high/ultra settings (basically I want to be blown away by graphics etc).

Any helpful advice would be welcome.

 

[misterPK]

Personally I'd just go straight into building your high end system, it really is very straight forward and its quite hard to damage anything by doing it wrong, it just won't work and we're always happy to help with that kind of thing on here.

However, if you do want something to practice on, I'd suggest looking at a really cheap second hand system from somewhere. Maybe ask if someone you know has an old computer, or head to your auction site of choice. You can then take apart and rebuild the system to your hearts content, plus it'll give you some clues on what goes where.

I'll leave the spec'ing to the experts. Oh, and welcome to the forums!

PK!

 

[spitzoid]

Thanks for the welcome PK!

OK then, maybe I'm being a bit cautious and should just jump in at the deep end.

New request:

Can someone spec me a high-end future proof gaming system that will blow me away? I really want to do a self build and my budget is approx £1000 (a little bit over is fine).

Cheers

 

[Ethics]

Thanks for the welcome PK!

OK then, maybe I'm being a bit cautious and should just jump in at the deep end.

New request:

Can someone spec me a high-end future proof gaming system that will blow me away? I really want to do a self build and my budget is approx £1000 (a little bit over is fine).

Cheers

Future proofing is a bit of a dilemma really, wit hthe rate that things change and improve somethign speccd today could be obsolete in a year.

My advice would be the best you can get today, so in theory should run the latest games for a while. I don't really like speccing machines, plenty of people will follow up shortly for you though

 

[JoeDredd]

Thanks for the welcome PK!

OK then, maybe I'm being a bit cautious and should just jump in at the deep end.

New request:

Can someone spec me a high-end future proof gaming system that will blow me away? I really want to do a self build and my budget is approx £1000 (a little bit over is fine).

Cheers

Welcome to the forum spitzoid

Do you need everything?? ie monitor,keyboard, mouse etc or do you have some items already !!

 

[hp7909]

future proof

That's impossible especially if a gaming machines. Graphics card are the most notorious with new ones always round the corner. Just build sensibly (budget, etc) with what's currently out/top.

Maybe you can start with some guides:
Tech Report's - How to build a PC
Corsair's - System Build

 

[spitzoid]

I already have the keyboard, mouse & monitor. So it is just everything else! I am interested in SLI or Crossfire. Would an Intel Core 2 Extreme system be too expensive?

 

[spitzoid]

Maybe just future proof for 2 years or so!

 

[Aelred89]

I'd be very tempted to build something like this, leaves you ~£300 for upgrading the RAM/CPU as you desire but I'd personally save the money and wait for DDR3 and 45nm technology to drop in price



I'd possibly even consider downgrading the graphics card and going for the nVidia 10 series when they're released

 

[mp260767]

i'd go with most of Aelred89's spec, but i'd change the mobo to the ddr2 version, realise you want to future proof but by the time ddr3 gets close to ddr2 type prices 775 socket will have been replaced i would think.

get pc6400 memory over the 8500, q6600 will do fine with the pc6400, and go with 2x2gb.

for a little extra the hard drive could be pushed up to a 32mb cache version.

what size monitor do you run ?, under 22" i'd go for an 8800GT, up to 24" i'd go with the GTS, 24" then the 9800GTX.

if you really want to sli/crossfire then you'll need to look at x38 or 7xx series mobos, but i wouldnt bother tbh.

 

[spitzoid]

It is just that I have been watching a few Youtube videos of Crysis and most of the specs say SLI or Crossfirex. The action looks awesome and I just want something like that

 

[spitzoid]

I will be switching between a 19" Philps LCD monitor & 40" Sony LCD TrueHD TV

 

[mp260767]

i'd go for a 8800GTS for the time being, will do for the switch from 19" to the TV.

if you really want to get as much as u can gfx wise on crysis go for a BFG GeForce 9800 GX2 1024MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) £309.99 (£364.24 inc VAT).

 

[spitzoid]

Will that be compatible with everything Aelred89 suggested?

 

[JoeDredd]

Will that be compatible with everything Aelred89 suggested?

Hell yes

 

[PhoenixUK]

I'm not sure about tuniq in this little midi case ;p, but maybe it's just me.

Anyways, ill pick this for gaming:

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-520HXUK) Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-520HXUK) £59.99
(£70.49) £59.99
(£70.49)
OCZ 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400 800MHz Reaper HPC Enhanced Bandwidth Edition Dual Channel DDR2 (OCZ2RPR800EB2GK) OCZ 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400 800MHz Reaper HPC Enhanced Bandwidth Edition Dual Channel DDR2 (OCZ2RPR800EB2GK) £37.99
(£44.64) £37.99
(£44.64)
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 3.00GHz (1333FSB) - Retail Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 3.00GHz (1333FSB) - Retail £139.99
(£164.49) £139.99
(£164.49)
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £64.99
(£76.36) £64.99
(£76.36)
Leadtek GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail Leadtek GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £129.99
(£152.74) £129.99
(£152.74)
Tuniq Tower 120-LFB CPU Cooler (Socket 478/754/939/940/AM2/LGA775) Tuniq Tower 120-LFB CPU Cooler (Socket 478/754/939/940/AM2/LGA775) £29.99
(£35.24) £29.99
(£35.24)
Samsung SpinPoint F1 750GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD753LJ) Samsung SpinPoint F1 750GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD753LJ) £63.99
(£75.19) £63.99
(£75.19)
Samsung SH-S203PRSMN 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer Lightscribe ReWriter (Beige/Black/Silver) - Retail Samsung SH-S203PRSMN 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer Lightscribe ReWriter (Beige/Black/Silver) - Retail £18.99
(£22.31) £18.99
(£22.31)
Sub Total : £545.92
Shipping cost based on delivery to Credit/debit card billing addres, NW102DX with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.95
VAT is being charged at 17.50% VAT : £97.28
Total : £653.15


And choose whatever case you want on top of that.