Some Advice on Building my own computer

[Panda]

So I'm looking at spending about £1000 (1600 USD, 1100 Euro) on a new computer. Yet I'm not to sure what I should be looking at.

There are a few things I want. A DDR3 compatible motherboard, quad core (was looking at the intel i7), decent graphics card (was thinking along the lines of a 9800GT or the 9600GT), was thinking it should be 64 bit, a full tower case to leave room for expansion. I was looking at including Vista (with seven upgrade) and a monitor into the price (just along the lines of a 19 inch monitor).

So any suggestions people?

 

[themadhair]

If you have to ask advice then you probably shouldn’t be building it yourself. As a rule get the best case, monitor and motherboard you can. The rest builds itself from there depending on your budget.

 

[Panda]

If you have to ask advice then you probably shouldn’t be building it yourself. As a rule get the best case, monitor and motherboard you can. The rest builds itself from there depending on your budget.

I know how to build a computer. It has just been a while since I have. I also haven't been keeping up with the latest info, plus I know there are guys here who are experts in this and I want their opinion on specific parts.

 

[Apex]

So I'm looking at spending about £1000 (1600 USD, 1100 Euro) on a new computer. Yet I'm not to sure what I should be looking at.

There are a few things I want. A DDR3 compatible motherboard, quad core (was looking at the intel i7), decent graphics card (was thinking along the lines of a 9800GT or the 9600GT), was thinking it should be 64 bit, a full tower case to leave room for expansion. I was looking at including Vista (with seven upgrade) and a monitor into the price (just along the lines of a 19 inch monitor).

So any suggestions people?

I have quite a bit of experience in this area if you need help. You should be able to build a very nice computer for that amount of money.
A word of caution about DDR3, you will be paying a lot more money for not much more performance. Currently DDR2 is dirt cheap, so cheap that it is normally worth it to just buy higher end DDR2 then fork out the cash for DDR3. But regardless of what you go with I suggest G.Skill or Corsair. I have used RAM from both brands and they have yet to fail me.

Here is a good case if you need suggestions, my friend bought this one and it made me very jealous.
Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER COSMOS 1000 RC-1000-KSN1-GP Black/ Silver Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases

 

[Apex]

Oh, and if you are going to use Windows 7 you may still be able to find the RC version on a torrent site and download it. You can go here to get a legit product key up until Oct. 1. It should last until next March or so. This way you do not have to purchase a copy of Win 7 for several more months if cash happens to be tight. I could have given you a copy but I only downloaded the 32 bit version from MS before they stopped offering it for download.

 

[Panda]

Cheers for the tips Apex. I was finding DDR3 chips only about £5 more than DDR2 for the same size.

Here is the case I was looking at. Originally saw the model up from that but it was double the price and just to big I think.

 

[Apex]

Cheers for the tips Apex. I was finding DDR3 chips only about £5 more than DDR2 for the same size.

Here is the case I was looking at. Originally saw the model up from that but it was double the price and just to big I think.

That case looks good. It is actually a fairly common one among custom built computers. Here is the forum I use for all my computer related questions in case you want to look around it. There are lot of handy guides for building and choosing the correct parts.
Xoxide Forum Network

 

[Panda]

That case looks good. It is actually a fairly common one among custom built computers. Here is the forum I use for all my computer related questions in case you want to look around it. There are lot of handy guides for building and choosing the correct parts.
Xoxide Forum Network

Yea I chose it because it was common and had lots of good stuff said about it. I figured if lots of people seem to use it it is likely to be decent.

Thanks for the links

 

[Danarch]

Yep... I remember my first build.. about 6 years ago. Lots of fun since then. My first box had it's cpu water cooled. I thought it looked cool, but since i never overclocked it was kinda redundant.

A few tips maybe:

• Dont get cheap with the power supply. Good motherboards usually have the PSU specs in it. Get a slightly higher voltage than needed.
• http://www.ocztechnology.com Get high-end memory AND HDD. I would be a shame if you got that nice i7 processor to go with some crappy kingston( or such) memory and a slow IDE hard drive. OCZ is my fav memory btw:yes:
• LOOK BEFORE YOU BUY. I have had a few motherboards that were just crap out of the box. GOOGLE the name of the board followed by "problems" (or such) and see what comes up. I had an ASUS striker extreme that I RMA'd THREE TIMES!
• BE CAREFUL ON EBAY. I know it my be obvious. There are people selling cheap video cards from china. They have nvidia chips, so they try to pass them off as genuine Nvidia cards. But they are just cheap knock-offs with a chip.
• Get a static wristband. Alternately, you could hold both hands on the case to discharge static.
• DVD burners are dirt cheap:clap
• Don't forget USB 3.0 is out now!
• A common mistake for a first timer is installing the heat sink. Read a bit about it and get it right the first time.:shout
• You can combat dust build-up inside the case using positive airflow and fan filters.
• If you go over 3gb memory, use ONLY 64 bit OS.(btw, i've had to take out all but 1stick to install windows, go figure)

Anytime you run into a problem, google it. Chances are someone has had that problem before. Good luck!!

 

[Danarch]

Yea I chose it because it was common and had lots of good stuff said about it. I figured if lots of people seem to use it it is likely to be decent.

Thanks for the links

200mm TOP FAN!!! VICIOUS

 

[Panda]

Ok so I've been doing some reading about processor type, ie Intel or AMD.

I am swaying towards the intel i7 920 over the AMD Phenom X4 965. Both are similar price, around £20 more for Intel but most of the stuff I have read favours Intel. Am I right in the choice to go with Intel?

 

[Apex]

Ok so I've been doing some reading about processor type, ie Intel or AMD.

I am swaying towards the intel i7 920 over the AMD Phenom X4 965. Both are similar price, around £20 more for Intel but most of the stuff I have read favours Intel. Am I right in the choice to go with Intel?

I would go with Intel but that is just my preference.

 

[Panda]

I have quite a bit of experience in this area if you need help. You should be able to build a very nice computer for that amount of money.
A word of caution about DDR3, you will be paying a lot more money for not much more performance. Currently DDR2 is dirt cheap, so cheap that it is normally worth it to just buy higher end DDR2 then fork out the cash for DDR3. But regardless of what you go with I suggest G.Skill or Corsair. I have used RAM from both brands and they have yet to fail me.

Here is a good case if you need suggestions, my friend bought this one and it made me very jealous.
Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER COSMOS 1000 RC-1000-KSN1-GP Black/ Silver Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases

I realise I was comparing extremly cheap DDR3 with good DDR2. Decent DDR3 is much more expensive. So still something I am thinking about.

 

[BucephalusBB]

So I'm looking at spending about £1000 (1600 USD, 1100 Euro) on a new computer. Yet I'm not to sure what I should be looking at.

There are a few things I want. A DDR3 compatible motherboard, quad core (was looking at the intel i7), decent graphics card (was thinking along the lines of a 9800GT or the 9600GT), was thinking it should be 64 bit, a full tower case to leave room for expansion. I was looking at including Vista (with seven upgrade) and a monitor into the price (just along the lines of a 19 inch monitor).

So any suggestions people?

I stuffed my computer with ddr3 and couldn't be happier with it. Deciding on your memory also decides your motherboard. Because you are aiming for the I7, most motherboards will be ddr3 by my guess.
Most ddr 2 you buy now is 800 mhz and the ddr3 standard is still 1333mhz and you will not really notice the difference. However, at your first upgrade you will be pleased with a motherboard that can handle probably 2000 mhz.
I am on 1600mhz now and can notice the difference in benchmarks.

Graphiccard, good choice, I have the 9800gt myself. Wich works perfectly in sli as well, so making your computer upgradable.
See that you find the gtx+ though or else check the 8800 as well for pricecomparison..

I asume you are going for at least 4 Gb Ram, so a 64 bit system will do fine. But as Apex said, wait for windows 7.

About what Danarch said, but that's my thing, I can't stand OCZ. When I first bought my motherboard, ddr3 was brandnew and Nforce wasn't fully compatible with ocz yet. I changed my ocz back then for kingston and had no more problems.

Will you be going for an intelbased motherboard or a nvidiabased motherboard?

 

[Panda]

Here is the graphics card I think I'm going for linky
I've only heard good things about XFX Radeon cards and it is on sale lol.

Yea I was looking at motherboards and for the i7 basically all DDR3 so that is what I will be going for, was looking at an Asus along these sort of line linky

As for the OS I was going to get the Vista with 7 upgrade just because I want to get the comp now

 

[BucephalusBB]

Here is the graphics card I think I'm going for linky
I've only heard good things about XFX Radeon cards and it is on sale lol.

ATi huh? You sure lost all my support now..:slap:

Yea I was looking at motherboards and for the i7 basically all DDR3 so that is what I will be going for, was looking at an Asus along these sort of line linky

My previous motherboards were asus.. Very good brand.
I don't care anymore, you're an ati guy now, lost forever..

As for the OS I was going to get the Vista with 7 upgrade just because I want to get the comp now

Get the rc1 for free and get the real OS when it releases. But that might be me, I would want a full dvd of win7 when it releases, not an upgrade.

 

[Panda]

Why not ATi?

 

[BucephalusBB]

Why not ATi?

Might be preference by now. I started my computerhistory with ati and got only trouble by it. In the beginning the cards wouldn't let me play what they promissed me, the drivers messed up my computer a few times and back then (About 4 years back since I used my last ati on a pc) it was impossible to add a second monitor. Every time I wanted to enable or disable the 2nd monitor I had to surf through millions of pages first. And then I was lucky to even find it!
Nvidia on the contrair never gave me trouble at all. Driverupdate is superb and the toal package feels more stable. But like I said, I have no idea what ati is doing nowadays, I promissed myself not to return so easilly. As long as nvidia provides what I need, wich it is totally doing, I shall not return to ati..

 

[Panda]

Ok so what would you recommend for similar price range? 100 Euro-ish?

BTW thanks for the help all

 

[Panda]

Ok so here how it is looking now

Case: Antec 900 link
CPU: Intel i7 920
Graphics: XFX Radeon HD 4850 link
HDD: 1 TB samsung link
Memory: OCZ 6gb triple channel link
Motherboard: Asus S1366 Intel X58 link
Optic Drive: 2 of these cheapy DVDRW link
Wireless: Edimax n card link
PSU: Corsair 750W link
CPU Cooler: Scythe Samurai ZZ link

What guys think?