Advice for first time PC builder

[Gareth Lee]

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

 

[Bob Day]

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/t...f=sr_1_3/002-9584209-1189638?v=glance&s=books

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

 

[Clob]

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]

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!

 

[Dave C.]

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

 

[John Doe]

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.

 

[Gareth Lee]

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