The Official PC building thread!

hi sam,what other card would you suggest thats pretty good?I have a 17 in. monitor,internet keyboard and optical mouse.I will look into the processors you mentioned as well as the 2 to 3 512 sticks you were talking about.THanks.

 

Well, the top dogs are the 7800GTX 512 and the X1800XT 512. Below this are the 7800GT and X1800XL.
The best value high-end option comes in the form of the recently price-crashed X850XT, available at a weeny fraction of the price of the 7800GTX 512, and still quite potent.

 

Hi all.
I have £500 (thats British Pounds) and thats about $885 US, i can spend under but not substantially over that amount.
I want to build the best PC that money can buy. - meaning good Graphics so i can play my beloved games at a good Frame rate.
I have looked on ebay for some deals, also looked at www.overclockers.co.uk at there price's.

Please be kind as i dont have experience of building a system, nor do I no what the sizes of mobo are (ex. ATX... WTF!) nor do i have a clue about mobo compatabilities with CPU's.

The PC will need to be abile to play HL2 comfortably (or better!) and will be used to handle large files like DVD images and have a DVD Burner (Dual layer is good!).

At the moment I have came up with the following System:
CPU = Intel P4 LGA775 640 3.2GHz
RAM = 1GB Corsair XMS5400 DDR2
MOBO = Abit AL8
AS A BUNDLE FROM OC THE ABOVE IS £328.82
----------------------------------------
GPU = Sapphire ATI X1300 256MB DDR2 AVIVO TV-Out/DVI (PCI)
PSU = Q-Tec 450W Dual Fan Gold PSU
HDD = Maxtor DiamondMax 10 160GB SATA
DVD DRIVE = Samsung DVD TS-H552B Dual 16x
Case = PC Case Mod AVR003-1 - from ebay.

Now all that comes in neatly at £521. (slightly more than my budget, but i can scrape through with that).

Now, all i need now is for the expert system builders to tell me if anything is either incompatible, complete crap, or if i can gt more for my money,and if so what, were and for how much?!

Cheers in advance.

************EDIT***********
Forgot to mention, the above covers me for DDR2 and for a 64bit future! (keep that in mind please)

And, i dont have enough for a monitor, so i will need to somehow connect it to my 15" LCD TV? (Somehow...)

 

HEY THANKS ALOT SAM.I think I'll go with Geforce 7800GT,over half the price $299,its not 512mb but 256 should do just fine.Also found CORSAIR ValueSelect 512MB ram for $40,just ordered 2 from newegg.Took your advice with the athlon64 3800 too, $655.I have also ordered a power supply(Logisys 500 watt)and tower.Is there anything else that I need or you suggest?

 

Wow, tell me if this card sound like a good deal to you guys:
Nvidia 512MB Geforce 6600 PCI-E for £80. - That sound good to me, and with compatibility with a High Def telly with res up to 2048x1536. Now if i get that, i wouldnt be able to wait to get my hands on a HD Ready TV!

 

Right, the basic rules about getting value from cheap graphics cards:

If it uses Turbocache or Hypermemory, avoid it
if it's an X1300, avoid it
If you're using a 6600, you can't game at aything above 1280x1024 75% of the time
Since that card is 512MB, and barely midrange it will likely use hypermemory. If you can stretch to an X700 pro, or failing that a normal 6600GT (128MB) you'll do better, but the latter is still bounded by the 1280x1024 issue.Oh and HDTVs don't do 2048x1536, or 1920x1440, or for that matter 1920x1200, 1800x1440 or 1792x1344. My point is that that amazingly high resolution is designed purely for 19" CRTs.
The ONLY high definition image a TV will do is 1920x1080, and that's NOT available in most games, not that you'd be gaming at that res anyway with a budget card.
Hate to stem your enthusiasm, but you can forget about ultra high definition gaming unless you have a bigger budget.
Sorry!

To 4thmebcob, I think you've got everything.

 

Try an Xbox 360 or PS3 if you want bang for your buck. The Xbox 360 has hands down the best CPU and the only CPU like it you can get these days, three core. And the ATI GPU contends with all of the latest $500-$600 cards.

In a few motnhs PS3 will top top that, and is really worth waiting for if you like Linux or in the rare case you migh tbe a UNIX programmer.

 

? I thought we were on about building PC's in this thread?
I can get an xbox360 if i want, or a PS3 when it comes out. Basically, what i want is a PC. So i can actually play games, use a word proccessor, multi task.

Im on a tight budget. I havent reached my £500 that i want to spend yet. I suppose i will get a different graphics card, like the one of the ones you mentioned.

I can get my hands on a nice CRT 19" for under £50 and with specs around Max. 90Hz and max res of 1600x1200. That will be a defo buy.

I looked at the X700, its the ATI X700 PRO GDDR3 256MB right?
Seems like a very decent card, but is as expensive at around £80. Is it right that its DDR3? I will only have a DDR2 compatible Mobo?

 

I found this CPU
Intel Pentium® 4 640 3.2GHz 800FSB LGA 775 CPU EM64T +2MB
But in the description i found on a website it said "Needs Intel 915 chipset or newer".
I dont have a clue what that means... but will it work with this Mobo..
Gigabyte GA-8I945PG, i945P FSB1066 s775, DDR2, PCI-E, SATA, Gbit LAN, 8ch. Audio, ATX

Please tell me, i would like to order these because they are looking quite good for there price.

 

Well, the motherboard may be DDr2 compatible, but with graphics cards, the memory will be GDDR3. The supported memory types statistic for the motherboard is for system RAM, not grapics memory. The circuitry on the graphics board is what deals with the memory type of the card. All that is required is the appropriate port (i.e. PCI Express 16x). The card may seem expensive at £80 but will perform admirably compared to top end cards, and it's a quarter of the price. The X700 is capable of running a few games at the aforementioned 1600x1200 ratio, and will certainly impress on a low budget.
That CPU will work with that motherboard as i945 stands for intel chipset 945, which is later than 915, and will therefore work. The monitor sounds fantastic, go for it.

 

Cheers for the help. I will be getting that motherboard and the graphics card.
Im going to a computer fair at the weekend and will hopefully get some good deals on the HDD and Case and PSU.

Another thing that i need to ask.
Is when you have set up the PC, what do you do for the first stitch on?
How do you suggest to build it?
I know that they will all fit together, but font i need to do stuff like install the driver before fitting the GPU?

 

graphics cards run in a basic adapter mode that will see you through installing windows. All you need to do is install the driver before you play big games, or performance is reduced. Once everything's been plugged in, check it powers on okay without any nasty POST errors (i.e. beeping and/or messages on the screen). If all is good, then open the CD tray, bung windows in and reset. Off you go.
Assuming you're not using RAID, install windows and enter in your details and you're in. Install the graphics drivers, and any other software (mouse, keyboard, monitor etc.) and then you should be good to go.
But please, make sure your Power supply is set to the correct voltage before you turn it on. ;-)

if you want a build order, then:
get the case, prepare it (remove packaging, and take out slots that you'll be putting drives in, and untape any attached screws etc.
If your setup is like mine, you'll have risers to attach to the bottom of the motherboard, small metal things that are basically screw holes that you put the screws for the motherboard into, that allow the board to sit above the back panel of the case (when its on its side, obviously it pushes it to the left when it's upright)
Then you want to screw the board in. Bung the CPU in its socket (gently of course), and attach the heatsink if that hasn't been done for you. After you've done that, work on the other devices, ensuring everything fits nicely. Then add the power supply and connect everything up. Don't forget the front connector panels!

 

Ok, cheers.
I will be getting the Motherbaord, RAM and HDD first. Hopefully i can pick them up at the week end. Hopefully i get enough cash flow to support the rest of the purchases.

Thanks for all your help, i will let you know how i got on with it when its all done and running!

 

Hay people. I have found this card at a deal!
I just want to make sure its good before i buy it, thats why im asking your guys!

512MB Radeon X700 SUPER PCI-Express for under £80. New!

Does it sound good to you?

 

Where's this from, ebay?
Well an X700 for under £80 can't be argued with, but I suspect the Super edition is an SI-only card, meaning it was only ever shipeed to PC builders rather than for retail separately. These cards usually underperform their full-scale counterparts, as they're main purpose is actually to mislead customers. Call me cynica\l, but many cards have done it. A new PC offering 512MB Radeon X700 Graphics sounds awesome, but the card may only perform as well as a normal 128MB X600XT. For a start, 512MB of graphics memory is totally unnecessary at that performance level and does indeed raise eyebrows. I couldn't help but notice it used DDR2 memory as well, inferior to GDDR3.
This is probably a better buy I would think:
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=99364

 

Well, yes its from ebay, but its in its retail box. It hasnt been open or used either. I was looking for a PCI-E X700 256mb, but found the X700 PCI-E Super 512mb instead.

I dont no, my Mobo is DDr2 compatible, so sounds good, and i know that the DDr3 is backwards compatable. I'm not sure which card to go for.

 

No no no, let me get this straight.
The graphics memory (DDR2 or DDR3) is irrelevant and totally unrelated to system RAM. It doesn't need to support DDR2 or 3 to have a DDR2/3 Graphics card. The card itself and PCI express bus deals with that, not the motherboard. Second, the best X700s to go for are the Pro and XT versions. Super sounds like a cut down one to me, despite the name. More expensive cards are more expensove for a reason.

 

Ohh, ok.
I get you know.

Im looking at the X700 Pro 256mb cards now.

Cheers

 

No problem. Although the Pro 256 may have less memory, the clock speed is higher (and so will the memory speed probably), and you'll probably find that with a card in the sub £100 range, the speed ratings are what cap performance, not memory size.

 

Ok. I think i have have everything.
But, i need to know, before i buy my RAM...
Does my motherboard need 2x 512mb, or just a 1024mb ?

Does it need both RAM spaces filled? Or can it use just the one?