Help me complete my ambition

[kingnathski88]

Hi, i am new to the forum and stuff on here, and have spent a few hours looking through all the posts, and i must say it seems friendly and full of advice. Basically this is going to sound a bit cheeky, but i am wanting to build a pc, a 'decent' one if i can, with a budget of about 500 pounds.

A few things to remember when giving me advice, if you do that is.

I am not very good at the inside of a case, and the workings, i know very little.
I want to make this my profession, as i am a young A-level student studying I.T and Business
(ALL THE PARTS I HAVE LISTED ARE OF OF EBUYER.CO.UK, THE QUICKFIND CODE IS IN BRACKETS
)

Ok, i will start by telling you what i have found with advice from people, i will start with the processor and motherboard, i want to stick with a Pentium 4 processor, preferably a 3.2GHZ, and a gigabyte motherboard,

Intel Pentium 4 3.2GHz (Prescott) Socket 478 FSB800 1MB Cache Retail Boxed CPU (58515) around 150pounds

Gigabyte GA-8IPE1000g S478 I865PE ATX Sound GIG LAN USB 2.0 FSB800 SATA100 Retail Box (62518) around 55 pounds

Hopefully, if i explain what i want if someone would kindly look at the motherboard, they can tell me if it is ok, i want that processor to fit, also i would ideally like a dvd-rom drive, then a re-writer drive, along with a hard drive, and a media/floppy media drive bay, i have no idea what connections these use, which is why i would like the advice, the re-write drive i was looking at is:

LG GSA-4167BAL 16x DVD±RW Dual Layer Internal IDE (Black) - OEM (97237) around 33 pounds

The hard drive i was looking at is:

Western Digital Caviar SE 250GB UIDE 100 7200rpm 8mb Cache- OEM (47656) around 73 pounds

Then i come onto the ram subject, i would ideally like 1gb, this is listed below, and ideally like to know how many slots there are in plain terms that i can understand:

Kingston 1GB DDR PC3200 400MHz Non-ECC CL3 (3-3-3) 184pin DIMM's (Kit of 2 x 512mb) (49296) around 70 pounds

Now i move into one of my most important issues, is that i want to 'pimp' or mod the case, with fans and lights, the works, i was looking at the following case, and i think it fits the desired motherboard above:

Ebuyer Extra Value 0314TL-BB ATX Gaming Case in Black with USB/Audio/1394 Side window and 350w PSU(no power cord) (91831) around 40 pounds

Obviously i will be removing the PSU and replacing it with this one i found below:

Ebuyer 600w Power Supply Blue With Tri Colour Dual Fans (61300) around 13 pounds




So there i think i have just covered the basics, here is a spec i want:

Pentium 4 3.2GHZ processor
Decent motherboard with expansion (LOL, sorry to sound sill and un-technical)
Preferably 120gb-250gb hard drive
1gb ram, preferably more
Re-writer drive
Case + P.S.U


I was also wanting to know about sound and graphics cards, i hear some have built in one's and just wandering whether this does? if not what one's should i buy that fit, i will be grateful for any responses i get, feel free to e-mail me (mucks edit: email removed for your protection)

Thanks very much

 

[Me__2001]

first thing, i'd remove your email unless you want to be spammed to death

AMD will give you the best performance for the money you want to spend, what you have listed is fine but you havent got a graphics card ?

also dont even bother wasting your time with that £13 PSU, get a Tagan, Enermax or Antec 450W one, it will be expensive but with what you want to add to your case your going to need a decent PSU

 

[floppybootstomp]

Gigabyte boards vary in quality.
AMD processors better value/performance than Intel, imo.
That '600W' PSU is a piece of crap, you're probably better off keeping the one in the case.
The NEC 3540 DVDRW is way better than the LG drive.
If you're on a budget you don't really need an extra DVD ROM drive.
Which grafix card?
Monitor?
SATA hard drive preferable to PATA drive.
The memory is fine.

And you're going to use E-Buyer.

Hmm.

Ok, take a look around the forum, esecially at what people have listed for their systems, or maybe ask here for somebody to spec you a machine to suit your budget.

Please don't go down the path you've chosen at the moment, it'll end in tears.

And if you do insist on an Intel processor, consider using an Asus motherboard with it.

Finally, with that budget, there isn't going to be a lot left to pay for modding your machine.

 

[kingnathski88]

ok, thanks for the critiscm.

Well if anyonw would like to spec me a machine then?, the reason i got that p.s.u is because it was like all blue and l.e.d so nit wud go with my case, so anyone like to do me a spec?

 

[Me__2001]

ok, this is just a rough estimate using prices at www.overclockers.co.uk

Asus A8N-E £75
AMD Athlon64 3000 £105
1GB Geil Value £75
Samsung 120GB SATA-II HD £60
Leadtek Winfast 6600GT (PCI-E)£105
Plextor PX-740A DVD-RW £50
Tagan 420W I-XEYE PSU £60

thats £530

or for an Intel system using the other bits above and

Asus P4P800-E Deluxe £80
Intel 3Ghz prescott £120
Leadtek Winfast 6600GT (AGP) £110

thats £555

obviously you'll need a case and OS, plus all the other peripherals if you havent got them so your looking at about £600+ for either system depending where you get it all from

 

[floppybootstomp]

ok, thanks for the critiscm.

Well if anyonw would like to spec me a machine then?, the reason i got that p.s.u is because it was like all blue and l.e.d so nit wud go with my case, so anyone like to do me a spec?

Hey, that wasn't criticism, that was advice

Both of the systems Me__2001 has specced are excellent for your budget.

The Plextor DVDRW is a fine burner, but if you want to stay a little more within budget, go NEC or Pioneer as both are good burners and proven.

If you went for either of those, and went AMD, your price would be £510.00. Plus postage

Might be good to wait for a little more feedback off the other guys here as well.

 

[Quadophile]

What about other items like the monitor, keyboard, mouse etc, if you do not have them you will be over budget anyway. Could you clarify that?

 

[kingnathski88]

ok, thanks.

Could i have like a list of sites or links where you get your stuff from, once i have, if i do manage to build this succesfully, i will be making sveral more.

Also i want to keep the ase i said about, unless i find a better one, also i want to keep the Intel Pentium 4 3.2 GHZ processor,

Also it is just the base unit i want, i have other arrangements for the periphals and monitor,

cheers...

 

[floppybootstomp]

Here’s a few to be going on with…

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/

http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/

http://www.chillblast.com/home.php

http://www.overclock.co.uk/customer/home.php

http://www.scan.co.uk/

http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/k.asp

http://www.tekheads.co.uk/s/index

http://www.crucial.com/uk/

 

[Me__2001]

i was using prices from www.overclockers.co.uk, some of the others on here use www.overclock.co.uk, www.ebuyer.com, www.techfever.co.uk and www.aria.co.uk

if your going to go the intel route, what are your thoughts on future upgrades ? the system i specced was using the old 478pin boards, if you want to go faster later then youll need to spend more now on the new LGA775 boards as the 478 maxes out at 3.2Ghz

 

[muckshifter]

yes, you can call this critisum ... ;-)

Hmmm, you are looking at this from the wrong angle and have your priorities backwards ... "pimping" a rig is not a priority, no point in making a heap of junk look pretty, if it won't do what you want it to.

I don't offer up sec's anymore so don't ask, but you have two of our most experenced members offer sane and pratical advice ... read their advice again, they both say the same thing I would.

You want to stick with Intel & Gigabyte ... this is the heart of the system, get it wrong here and you can only blame yourself.

Me__2001 spec'ed an AMD & an Intel alternative ... nobody here will dispute his choice of either systems MB or CPU ... and Floppybootstomp (we call him Floppy) gave you an alternative to the excelent Plextor in recomending an NEC, it will perfome as good as, and is cheaper ... me, I quite like Lite-on.

Both these members recomended an AMD based system, why? because you WILL get a better PC for less money. Again, both strongly sugest you get a "proper" decent power supply, no it won't have pretty do-da flashing anything, but it WILL afford plenty of power to run anything you may wish to add. No power, no PC. DOH!

You won't get many more replies, unless its to point out a different graphics card or differnt choice of case, or some other minor preference ... as the above members have really done the major donkey work.

Who to buy from ... well, that's really up to you, if you are confident with E-Buyer fine, buying everything at once from the same supplier is a good idea, make sure they have a good returns policy if the need arises.


Remember, building a GOOD PC is not cheap ... build a cheap PC will usually be crap. You can cut corners, a cheaper DVDRW drive as an example, but major components are not worth skimping on.

Enjoy!
Mucks

 

[kingnathski88]

ok, thanks, well i would ideally like yo stay with a pentium. I would also in the future, say within the next two years be wanting to upgrade, so i might need a new processor, hence your mentioning of a motherboard. i would like to stick with my case off ebuyer, so if anyone wants to help me create a final parts list based around the case, i will be more than willing to listen and accept your ideas, as you are more experienced,
thanks

 

[Me__2001]

ok i've come up with the following

Asus P5GPL
Intel Pentium 4 640 (3.2Ghz)
1GB Geil Value RAM
Leadtek WinFast 6600GT
Samsung 160GB SATA-II HD
Plextor PX-740A DVD±RW
Tagan 420W I-XEYE PSU

from overclockers.co.uk that comes to £575.99

that should all fit in your case nicely

 

[kingnathski88]

excuse for being plain stupid, is that the graphics card 2?

 

[Ian]

excuse for being plain stupid, is that the graphics card 2?

Yup: Leadtek WinFast 6600GT

 

[muckshifter]

excuse for being plain stupid, is that the graphics card 2?

Nope!, nobody deserves to be called 'stupid' ... and asking questions is how we learn.

 

[kingnathski88]

ok, cheers, is the hard drive a sata? and what sort of ram, its only because i will see if i can get them cheaper elsewhere based off your advice?

 

[floppybootstomp]

ok, cheers, is the hard drive a sata? and what sort of ram, its only because i will see if i can get them cheaper elsewhere based off your advice?

Yes, the hard drive is SATA. SATA-II, says it right there in the list.

And this is the type of RAM you need.

 

[kingnathski88]

thanks, suppose i should start buying the parts