Hi guys i am going to start building a new comp in about a month or so, ive never built one before the most ive done is install dvd drives and graphics cards but i am feeling pretty confident as i have been doing a good bit of research and as you guys are the experts i was hopeing for your help. The system will be for video encodeing, burning dvd's, torrents, some emulation upto N64 and maby some stratagy games but not hardcore pc games. I dont need a monitor or keyboard speakers ect as i will be using my old ones for now. I would like to spend around £400-£500 for now as i am a student and am still saving actually thats why it will have to be in about a month before i can build it. The main problem i have is trying to sort through all the diffrent choices of mobos and cpu's, i would like a dual core amd as they are probley better off in my price range and i think quad would be an overkill for what i need it for. I have been looking at clickis this a good site? Plus when i start shifting threw all the cpu's then it comes to finding the right mobo and understanding all the features and getting my head around that. Sorry for rambling on i just thought i would try to give you guys some info to help, so all your comments and suggestions would be most appreciated Thank you camp8ell
Scan.co.uk is a very good PC hardware site, I use them quite often. For a budget of £500, you can get a very powerful PC these days if you don't need any peripherals. There's no need to get a crummy Athlon X2 on that sort of budget. Here's what I would go with for that budget: Intel Pentium E2160 (don't worry, these are miles better than the Pentium Ds of old, they're basically Core 2 Duos with less cache, a difference I hardly notice in real life) http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=600158 £43 Gigabyte P35-DS3L Motherboard http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=661326 £59 2GB Corsair XMS2 PC6400 C4 RAM http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=402849 £35 Pioneer 20x DVD RW http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=755649 £17 Samsung DVD-ROM http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=55346 £11 Western Digital 500GB Hard Drive http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=530765 £57 Corsair 550W Power supply http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=664337 £55 HIS Radeon HD3850 256MB http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=719127 £98 Coolermaster Dominator RC-690 Case http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=644041 £52 Then grab a couple of these when they're available http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=756697 £10 Add around £20 for delivery, and that lot totals about £460.
Hey thanks for the quick reply glad to hear thats enough money as i thought id need about a grand for a decent system. Ive been looking over your choices and thanks but im not gona jump straight in and buy something without looking over all my options because this is a big puchase for me but dont think im being ungreatfull i appreciate your time and oppinioins. So why do you think that going with amd would be a bad choice? I just thought that you might get more for youre money with amd. Do you think if i put more money into the cpu and mobo and bought other parts at a later date that could help in the long run? Also as im putting this together myself do you think it would be easier for me to understand what parts to upgrade in the future and diagnose any problems that could arise. Thanks camp8ell
That used to be the case but fortunately PC parts are much cheaper now than they used to be. The reason why I have steered you away from AMD is because the CPU I have outlined is faster than an AMD at the same price. Intel CPUs also overclock superbly well and easily, you don't need to know the mechanics of overclocking to get a free 40%+ performance boost, this isn't something you can pull off with an AMD. Those parts are all high quality stuff, paying more only gains you extra performance.
Thanks mate ive never overclocked be4 but thats definatly something i would like to look into in the future. Also do u think vista would run ok on that spec of system and would it even be worth getting or would i be better of sticking with xp.
Vista would work on that system but unless there's a specific program that you have to use Vista for, I'd recommend going with XP, it's a much nicer OS.
