what first to look for when building pc

unwashed potato! · 24 Nov 2007 at 18:52

for homework we have to build a pc to run a load of programs and can do a load of stuff. before i go ahead and start any tips i should know of when looking, maybe advice on what i should look for first then work my way from that?

thanks

the shadow · 24 Nov 2007 at 19:02

TUNSTALL_NICK · 24 Nov 2007 at 20:57

money!

z0mbi3 · 24 Nov 2007 at 21:21

Your budget will dictate what you should aim for.

Dual core is the standard these days. You'll more bang for buck with Intel than AMD. Memory is cheap and you'll probably be fine with 2 gb.

If you could list of some things the pc will be used for then it'll be easier to tell you what's especially important.

Trill · 24 Nov 2007 at 21:33

Budget is the most important first stage of a build.

Once you have a budget, you can decide how much money to spend on each component, i try to spilt the budget evenly between the major components, with slightly more being spent on the motherboard in most cases.

Also, look at what the PC will be used for, gaming, general usage, etc. Work the spec around this.

radderfire · 24 Nov 2007 at 21:41

Once you know your budget, first choose the processor (CPU), then the motherboard to go with the processor. The processor is really the heart of the machine, and everything else follows on from that. Go for one that gives you a good performance to cost ratio, which normally means a few models down from the very best currently available.

Rgds

Radderfire

unwashed potato! · 25 Nov 2007 at 00:05

thanks for the reply guys

well the budget is anything we can justify, if we think having the more expensive over the other would be better and can justify it then we can use it. of course bang for buck is something i'd take into consideration as this homework is supposed to be for a real company which would need to consider cost.

the sort of programs it will be running is maya, renderman (is this a plugin for maya) and eyeon fushion 5.

the last post was great help much easier knowing where to start and then what to go to next.

thanks again