Advice for first time PC builder

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

Hi,

I've made what I think is quite a bold decision and decided to try to build
my own PC for first time. I've worked out what I think I need but I would
appreciate it if anyone could take a look through my list and let me know
what they think.

Have I forgotten anything? Is all the stuff compatible? Is anything just
total rip off?

I want it to be good enough that I can play the latest games on it with
decent performance. I'm in the UK. For convenience, I'm planning to order
everything from dabs.com.

Motherboard - Asustek A8V-E/Deluxe Socket 939 VIA K8T890 PCI-E ATX
£80.73
Processor - AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Socket 939 512Kb Inc Fan
£151.75
Memory - Corsair Memory VS1GBKIT333 PC2700 2x512MB CAS2.5
£72.84
Video card - Asustek GeForce 6800 128MB AGP DVI-I VO
£171.03
Sound Card - Creative Audigy 2 ZS PCI
£50.56
Case - Antec ATX Anodized Aluminium SuperMid TowerCase-P160
£68.94
Power Supply - Antec NEO480GB
£74.38
Hard Drive - Hitachi Deskstar 7K250 160GB SATA150
£49.36
DVD Writer - Asustek DVD+-R/RW 16x IDE Black
£41.44
Floppy Drive - Sony 1.44MB Internal 3.5
£5.10
Kboard/mouse - Logitech Cordless Desktop MX
£62.48

SUBTOTAL
£828.51
Value Added Tax
£144.93
TOTAL
£973.44

I also intend to transfer my monitor, Ethernet card, and firewire card from
old PC.

Many Thanks

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

"Gareth Lee" <nospam@nospam.com> wrote in message news:d0l6uf$ngv$1$8302bc10@news.demon.co.uk...
> Hi,
>
> I've made what I think is quite a bold decision and decided to try to build
> my own PC for first time. I've worked out what I think I need but I would
> appreciate it if anyone could take a look through my list and let me know
> what they think.
>
> Have I forgotten anything?

Yes: A good book. For example,
How to Build Your Own PC: Save a Buck and Learn a Lot,
by Charlie Palmer.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0967162475/qid=1110319042/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/002-9584209-1189638?v=glance&s=books

-- Bob Day
http://bobday.vze.com

 

[Clob]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

"Gareth Lee" <nospam@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:d0l6uf$ngv$1$8302bc10@news.demon.co.uk...
> Hi,
>
> I've made what I think is quite a bold decision and decided to try to
> build
> my own PC for first time. I've worked out what I think I need but I would
> appreciate it if anyone could take a look through my list and let me know
> what they think.
>
> Have I forgotten anything? Is all the stuff compatible? Is anything just
> total rip off?
>
> I want it to be good enough that I can play the latest games on it with
> decent performance. I'm in the UK. For convenience, I'm planning to order
> everything from dabs.com.
>
> Motherboard - Asustek A8V-E/Deluxe Socket 939 VIA K8T890 PCI-E ATX
> £80.73
> Processor - AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Socket 939 512Kb Inc Fan
> £151.75
> Memory - Corsair Memory VS1GBKIT333 PC2700 2x512MB CAS2.5
> £72.84
> Video card - Asustek GeForce 6800 128MB AGP DVI-I VO
> £171.03
> Sound Card - Creative Audigy 2 ZS PCI
> £50.56
> Case - Antec ATX Anodized Aluminium SuperMid TowerCase-P160
> £68.94
> Power Supply - Antec NEO480GB
> £74.38
> Hard Drive - Hitachi Deskstar 7K250 160GB SATA150
> £49.36
> DVD Writer - Asustek DVD+-R/RW 16x IDE Black
> £41.44
> Floppy Drive - Sony 1.44MB Internal 3.5
> £5.10
> Kboard/mouse - Logitech Cordless Desktop MX
> £62.48
>
> SUBTOTAL
> £828.51
> Value Added Tax
> £144.93
> TOTAL
> £973.44
>
> I also intend to transfer my monitor, Ethernet card, and firewire card
> from
> old PC.
>
> Many Thanks
>
>

Ok. Two things wrong with this, and one thing you can consider.

1) The memory you listed is the wrong speed for your CPU. You need 3200
(400mhz) DDR-SDRAM

2) The videocard you listed will not fit the motherboard you listen. You
need a PCI-Express videocard for it to work (fit)

Consider going with a 939 A54 3400+. The performance between the 3400 and
the 3500 is not knoticeable. If the different ram and videocard is going to
cost you more, you could even drop to a 3200+ and still have a CPU worth of
all games.

 

[Clob]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

"Clob" <clobercow@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:fpqXd.81772$wc.75984@trnddc07...
>
> "Gareth Lee" <nospam@nospam.com> wrote in message
> news:d0l6uf$ngv$1$8302bc10@news.demon.co.uk...
>> Hi,
>>
>> I've made what I think is quite a bold decision and decided to try to
>> build
>> my own PC for first time. I've worked out what I think I need but I would
>> appreciate it if anyone could take a look through my list and let me know
>> what they think.
>>
>> Have I forgotten anything? Is all the stuff compatible? Is anything just
>> total rip off?
>>
>> I want it to be good enough that I can play the latest games on it with
>> decent performance. I'm in the UK. For convenience, I'm planning to order
>> everything from dabs.com.
>>
>> Motherboard - Asustek A8V-E/Deluxe Socket 939 VIA K8T890 PCI-E ATX
>> £80.73
>> Processor - AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Socket 939 512Kb Inc Fan
>> £151.75
>> Memory - Corsair Memory VS1GBKIT333 PC2700 2x512MB CAS2.5
>> £72.84
>> Video card - Asustek GeForce 6800 128MB AGP DVI-I VO
>> £171.03
>> Sound Card - Creative Audigy 2 ZS PCI
>> £50.56
>> Case - Antec ATX Anodized Aluminium SuperMid
>> TowerCase-P160
>> £68.94
>> Power Supply - Antec NEO480GB
>> £74.38
>> Hard Drive - Hitachi Deskstar 7K250 160GB SATA150
>> £49.36
>> DVD Writer - Asustek DVD+-R/RW 16x IDE Black
>> £41.44
>> Floppy Drive - Sony 1.44MB Internal 3.5
>> £5.10
>> Kboard/mouse - Logitech Cordless Desktop MX
>> £62.48
>>
>> SUBTOTAL
>> £828.51
>> Value Added Tax
>> £144.93
>> TOTAL
>> £973.44
>>
>> I also intend to transfer my monitor, Ethernet card, and firewire card
>> from
>> old PC.
>>
>> Many Thanks
>>
>>
>
> Ok. Two things wrong with this, and one thing you can consider.
>
> 1) The memory you listed is the wrong speed for your CPU. You need 3200
> (400mhz) DDR-SDRAM
>
> 2) The videocard you listed will not fit the motherboard you listen

Listen = listed

You
> need a PCI-Express videocard for it to work (fit)
>
> Consider going with a 939 A54 3400+.

WOOPS!! Thats A64! Im doing good here!

The performance between the 3400 and
> the 3500 is not knoticeable. If the different ram and videocard is going
> to cost you more, you could even drop to a 3200+ and still have a CPU
> worth of all games.

Worth = worthy!

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

"Gareth Lee" <nospam@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:d0l6uf$ngv$1$8302bc10@news.demon.co.uk...
> Hi,
>
> I've made what I think is quite a bold decision and decided to try to
build
> my own PC for first time. I've worked out what I think I need but I would
> appreciate it if anyone could take a look through my list and let me know
> what they think.
>
> Have I forgotten anything? Is all the stuff compatible? Is anything just
> total rip off?
>
> I want it to be good enough that I can play the latest games on it with
> decent performance. I'm in the UK. For convenience, I'm planning to order
> everything from dabs.com.
>
> Motherboard - Asustek A8V-E/Deluxe Socket 939 VIA K8T890 PCI-E ATX
> £80.73
> Processor - AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Socket 939 512Kb Inc Fan
> £151.75
> Memory - Corsair Memory VS1GBKIT333 PC2700 2x512MB CAS2.5
> £72.84
> Video card - Asustek GeForce 6800 128MB AGP DVI-I VO
> £171.03
> Sound Card - Creative Audigy 2 ZS PCI
> £50.56
> Case - Antec ATX Anodized Aluminium SuperMid TowerCase-P160
> £68.94
> Power Supply - Antec NEO480GB
> £74.38
> Hard Drive - Hitachi Deskstar 7K250 160GB SATA150
> £49.36
> DVD Writer - Asustek DVD+-R/RW 16x IDE Black
> £41.44
> Floppy Drive - Sony 1.44MB Internal 3.5
> £5.10
> Kboard/mouse - Logitech Cordless Desktop MX
> £62.48
>
> SUBTOTAL
> £828.51
> Value Added Tax
> £144.93
> TOTAL
> £973.44
>
> I also intend to transfer my monitor, Ethernet card, and firewire card
from
> old PC.
>
> Many Thanks
>
>

When you order the hardware, order a copy of Windows XP home. You should be
able to get quite a discount on it, if you order it with hardware. Other
than that, as someone else pointed out, you need a PCI-Express video card
and PC3200 RAM. Both of those changes should have little effect on the
overall cost. All else looks great. -Dave

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

"Gareth Lee" <nospam@nospam.com> wrote:

>Kboard/mouse - Logitech Cordless Desktop MX

If you touch type, try a split/ergonomic keyboard. I have an early
version Logitech cordless split keyboard/mouse. It is doing well after
lots of use. I think their current version is black.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

Thanks to everyone for all the help. I've put my order in now.

What I've done is :-

gone for a GEForce 6800GT PCI-E graphics card and got the PC3200 RAM.

For some reason, I couldn't find the Athlon 64 3400+ processor Clog
suggested. The only 3400+ chips I could see were for socket 754. Anyway I
decided just to stick with 3500+.

I also went for an ergonomic keyboard, which sounds like a good idea, and I
will have a look for a book at Amazons.

Once again, many thanks to everyone,

Gareth