[madandbad]

Hi there, this is my first build that I shall be attempting to make as I get the money, so it will start off fairly simple and then start to get higher specs, I am hoping to run windows 7 on it and shall use it as an average pc for facebook, listening to music, photos and the occaisonal game. I am hoping that it will be fairly future proof and last me a good couple of years, and would value any help you could give me.
thanks, fred



pcu, http://www.microdirect.co.uk/Home/Product/16130 £48.29 1

RAM http://www.microdirect.co.uk/Home/Product/18242 £75.03

SSD http://www.microdirect.co.uk/Home/Pr...USB-2-5--Flash

Case http://www.microdirect.co.uk/Home/Pr...se-Black---Red £167.76


2* HDD http://www.microdirect.co.uk/Home/Pr...-Caviar-1000GB £99.2 each, £198.4 total


Mother Board http://www.microdirect.co.uk/Home/Pr...ource=googleps £54


Sound card http://www.microdirect.co.uk/Home/Pr...-X-Fi-Titanium £ 89.77


DVD RW http://www.microdirect.co.uk/Home/Pr...Plus-black-22x £16.5

BLU RAY http://www.microdirect.co.uk/Home/Product/38019 £132.25

Graphics http://www.microdirect.co.uk/Home/Pr...PCI-E--DVI--TV £115


Monitor http://www.microdirect.co.uk/Home/Pr...09HDS-Wide-2ms £184


Speakers http://www.microdirect.co.uk/Home/Pr...0-5-1-speakers £171.24



PSU http://www.microdirect.co.uk/Home/Pr...U-12cmfan-SATA £26.48

Total


£1,379.89

[floppybootstomp]

First off, I have to say I wouldn't touch Microdirect with a ten foot pole, they are, in my opinion, untrustworthy.

Consider Scan; Kustom PC's; Chillblast; E-Buyer; Aria and OCUK.

The first item you have listed is marked as a PSU and links to a CPU - which is it?

If it's a PSU you are not going to get one to compliment your proposed system for £48.00.

If it is the CPU, is this the one you already have? If it isn't, if you're spending £1400.00 on a system I'd consider something better.

The memory is good.

The SSD is good, I assume you'll be putting the OS on that?

A case is a personal choice but I wouldn't spend that much on a case myself.

The 2 x 1Tb HDD's are overpriced. You can get better value on those elsewhere. HDD's are much a muchness, WD is ok, but I'd go for Hitachi or Samsung myself, but not a biggie.

Let me get this right. You're shelling out all that money and you're spending around £100.00 on the two most influential components for your system - the motherboard and the CPU? I think you have your priorities wrong but maybe that's just me.

Sound card is good.

DVDRW is good.

I have no experience of Blu Ray optical drives in computers so will refrain from commenting.

Graphics card is fair but you could do better.Again, pricing in the budget is out of proportion.

Samsung, LG & Dell knock spots off of Iiyama LCD monitors and they're cheaper too.

You don't need to spend that much on a speaker system. A logitech system priced between £70.00 & £120.00 is fine, just fine. Every bit as good, possibly better.

Oh, there's the PSU - That is complete and utter crap. After the motherboard the PSU is the most critical component in a system. Look at the Corsair range between 500 & 650 Watts at least and reckon on paying between 75 and 100 pounds.

I think you need to prioritise your componets. First, cloose quality motherboard, CPU, memory, PSU and graphics card.

Then look at what's left of your budget and allocate funds apropiately.

And welcome to the forum by the way

[madandbad]

Yeah, looking back I did mess up my priorities, and the first thing is a cpu, not a psu and yeah, I am going to change it. As for the motherboard, could you suggest one that would work well with the system and maybe a cpu? Also, would you suggest I use Raid for this system? I already have a nas that I backup too but am not entirely sure, how hard is it to set up? Also, the PSU, what is it that I am looking for in a good PSU? I have no experience with these as my previous builds came with the cases.
And finally, the place i buy them means nothing to me really, thats just the first site I was on. My budjet is pretty much 1500 so I may need to shift this round a fair bit.
P.S Thanks for the quick informative reply and nice welcome to the forum.
PPS, I have ammended the first post, thanks
fred

[Abarbarian]

http://www.pcreview.co.uk/forums/thread-3650583-1.php

I'd read up on SSD drives before I threw that much money away.The last few posts have some information in them that sellers would not like you to read.

"In spite of a deluge of offerings, SSD growth has been hindered due to confusion and concerns regarding endurance, reliability, performance and prices", said Joseph Unsworth, Research Director at Gartner, Inc."

[floppybootstomp]

2 x WD Raptor drives in a RAID 0 is worth doing, using ordinary 7200rpm drives in a RAID 0 gives little advantage but is still desirable.

Ok, I'll make some suggestions but first - choose a case you definitely want. Try not to make it cost more than £120.00.

And we'll take it from there.

Abarbarian has given links to some interesting information about SSD's, it's worth reading the thread he's linked to above.

Myself, I'd wait a while, it's a technology that's in it's infancy.

[V_R]

Madandbad, whats your budget, what parts you wanna keep and what do you need. Then we go spend your £££

[floppybootstomp]

Originally Posted by V_R

Madandbad, whats your budget, what parts you wanna keep and what do you need. Then we go spend your £££

Budget is £1500.00 as mentioned above; not sure which parts the guy already has, may be just the CPU, not sure, budget to include all peripherals and not sure whether OS required.

[V_R]

Ah ya i missed that, cheers Flops.

Well, for 1500 how about something like this, tailor it to suite....

Sorry if i forgot anything its late and i did it in a rush, Also no OS as you said your gonna use win7. Add £90ish for Vista 64bit if you want. you got £250 to play with too.

[V_R]

Better still heres an I7 rig, that will last you a few years easy.

Still look at changing it to suite your tastes.

By the way, both those systems will eat that AMD spec for breakfast.

[floppybootstomp]

Almost absolutely pukka my Vanilla colleague

Apart from:

I think he want 8Gb memory to take advantage of Win 7 (in which case add another 40 quid I suppose)

He want a 5.1 speaker system.

Our man's taste in cases may not be the same as ours, he originally specified this rather flash red themed thingie, and the Antec 300 may be too plain.

Myself, I think it's great, but...

We shall see.

EDIT: Didn't see your 2nd post, with that money i7 is the way to go, it would be for me anyway.