Building a PC ?!?!?

[CarthageWarrior]

ok in the past i hav just bought my PC's, but i have been hearing about building a PC, which i think means gettin all the right components for cheapest price you can get them, whilst the quality remains the same, now i fink the idea is good but i havent got the faintest clue where to start, i dont really understand much about PC's, so could som1 just explain what i would have to do to successfully build my own PC

[Top-Tier-Tech]

Parts you need: A power supply, a motherboard, a processor, random access memory (RAM), a video card, a DVD drive, a hard disc drive (HDD) and a case.

If you can give us an idea what you want the PC to be able to do (run games, do video editing etc.) we can list you some recommended parts that would be compatible for your needs. After you have the parts you pretty much just put them together and install your choice of operating system and your good to go.

[Mar77]

(Don't forget an operating system to go with it)


Before building a PC, you should get an idea of how much you want to spend on it...your budget affects the quality of parts that you can purchase. With $800 (USD) you can build a pretty good gaming PC, for example.

After you have decided what you are looking for in a built PC, and your budget, you can start selecting components from stores. The best place to buy computer parts from is from online vendors. If you live in the US or Canada, Newegg and Tiger Direct are two good places to find parts.

[Top-Tier-Tech]

put them together and install your choice of operating system and your good to go.

(Don't forget an operating system to go with it)

[Tharros]

You may want to look at this article here which provides general information about the whole process. Obviously, not everyone does it this way and their may be disagreements with the authors methods, but it is a start. There are plenty of others around just use your friend Google and also check Youtube as there are many videos on building PCs.

A tech site I would highly recommend is The Tech Report. They bring out a system guide every 3 months or so that I'm sure you will find useful - here is the most recent one.

Building is not hard - almost anyone could do it, so here are some pointers first build:

Generally:
1. Take your time
2. Read lots of articles and reviews ect.
3. Ask us any questions

For building:
1. Take your time (just reiterating )
2. Read the instructions
3. Keep static free - just touch any metal part of the case each time before you pick a component up

[CarthageWarrior]

cheers guys, my budget is £850 and basically i want a gaming PC that can play RTW on high/veryhigh graphics with hardly any lag, is that asking to much???

[Tharros]

cheers guys, my budget is £850 and basically i want a gaming PC that can play RTW on high/veryhigh graphics with hardly any lag, is that asking to much???

For £850 you could build a PC that could max out ETW (and basically every other game)

Do you need a monitor and peripherals (mouse, keyboard ect.) as well?

Wait until Freddie posts as he will probably be of the most help as he is from the UK (I think ).

[Freddie]

cheers guys, my budget is £850 and basically i want a gaming PC that can play RTW on high/veryhigh graphics with hardly any lag, is that asking to much???

Since you already have a PC I doubt your will need a monitor, speakers, keyboard and mouse. As for a PC this is your checklist

- Case
- Power supply (quality one if your building a gaming PC, £50 minimum)
- Motherboard
- CPU + Cooler (retail = stock cooler OEM = 3rd party cooler)
- Ram
- Video Card
- Hard Drive(s)
- Optical Drive (DVD+-RW)
- Windows Vista 64bit Licence

[Top-Tier-Tech]

Since you already have a PC I doubt your will need a monitor, speakers, keyboard and mouse. As for a PC this is your checklist

- Case
- Power supply (quality one if your building a gaming PC, £50 minimum)
- Motherboard
- CPU + Cooler (retail = stock cooler OEM = 3rd party cooler)
- Ram
- Video Card
- Hard Drive(s)
- Optical Drive (DVD+-RW)
- Windows Vista 64bit Licence

This is the 3rd time this exact same list has been posted in this thread... Although you did mention the aftermarket CPU cooler.

[Jaketh]

Since you already have a PC I doubt your will need a monitor, speakers, keyboard and mouse. As for a PC this is your checklist

- Case
- Power supply (quality one if your building a gaming PC, £50 minimum)
- Motherboard
- CPU + Cooler (retail = stock cooler OEM = 3rd party cooler)
- Ram
- Video Card
- Hard Drive(s)
- Optical Drive (DVD+-RW)
- Windows Vista 64bit Licence

why spend the money on Vista when you can get windows 7 64 bit for free?

[Freddie]

why spend the money on Vista when you can get windows 7 64 bit for free?

Even though I like Windows 7 I'm not sure I would want to use it as my primary OS just yet at least with Vista your safe in knowledge that most of your software will work and if it doesn't there are bound to work around for it somewhere on the net. I can't say the same thing for Windows 7, it's to new.

[Wheelchair]

Even though I like Windows 7 I'm not sure I would want to use it as my primary OS just yet at least with Vista your safe in knowledge that most of your software will work and if it doesn't there are bound to work around for it somewhere on the net. I can't say the same thing for Windows 7, it's to new.

Well in most cases, Windows 7 use's alot of the same binaries and other said properties, Making it backwards compatible with anything that really works for Vista, It's like a facelift in general; Most things would work.

[CarthageWarrior]

kk and can any1 recommend any websites that r good for finding parts ??? then i fink im good to go

[wupwup]

in the uk overclockers. im biulding a pc there. these are the parts i like the look of

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=GX-195-AS

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=CP-238-AM

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=MB-168-GI

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=CA-008-CS

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=MY-109-OC
(get two of these if you have a 64 bit OS)

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=CA-101-AN

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=HD-057-SA

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=HS-000-TQ

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=CD-090-LG

thats a full rig capable of playing most games at full resolution. for about £700. enjoy. and get some good case fans too.

such as

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=FG-001-NC (two to go at front)

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=FG-004-NC (one for back)

[Tharros]

That is similar to the build I recommended in another thread. I am happy with most of wupwup's choices but changed a few things to save some cash, and put it into a better hard drive and heat sink. DDR3 really is not necessary IMO - he is much better saving his cash and just getting some DDR2 and buying a monitor or something.

AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition - £120.74
Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4P - £114.99
OCZ Platinum 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 - £103.48 (that is two kits)
Asus ATI Radeon HD 4890 1GB - £164.99 (Could save £20-50 on this and just go back one notch to a 4870 1GB or 512Mb if you want to. The performance difference between the two cards is rather minimal)
Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB - £55.99
Noctua NH-C12P Heatsink with NF-P12 Fan - £56.34 (I checked for mobo compatibility)
Pioneer DVR-216DBK 20x DVD±RW SATA - £16.99
Antec Sonata III w/500W PSU - £114.99
Noctua NF-S12 1200RPM 120mm Silent Case Fan - £13.79 (for the front of the case)

Total: £762.30

With what is left over you may have to buy a 64 bit Vista licence (unless you already have one) or may be you could buy a 22" monitor and just use Windows 7 RC for the moment. And of course then there is games

EDIT: For some reason I thought the MA790X-UD4P could use DDR2 as well. You probably wont be able to get that monitor now but you can always get a new monitor later if you need one.

[eddie291]

For one thing, you should never use a OS that's still in it's testing phase as your primary OS.

Yeah, yeah, I know you're gonna post back and say how Vista is garbage and how W7 is the second coming of christ, but that's how you usually treat OS's in their testing phase.

[Wheelchair]

For one thing, you should never use a OS that's still in it's testing phase as your primary OS.

Yeah, yeah, I know you're gonna post back and say how Vista is garbage and how W7 is the second coming of christ, but that's how you usually treat OS's in their testing phase.

LOL

Second coming of christ.

[Jaketh]

LOL

Second coming of christ.

It is

[Wheelchair]

It is

Lol, <3

[Jaketh]

Lol, <3

dont judge me