Building my first computer. Specs help???

M

minime9891

Joined
Jul 12, 2010
Messages
8
Reaction score
0
I've been toying around with the idea of building a computer from scratch for a while. I finally have the time to do so and have read as much as I can on the subject but without prior experience there's only so much I can know so I was wondering if people can give me some info. Below is a list of all the parts I've decided on but I just want to make sure that all the parts are actually compatible, as far as I'm aware they are but don't want to be spending a bunch of money on something that won't even turn on.

Case:
Luna ATX Case

Motherboard:
Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H / Gigabyte GA-880GM-USB3 (if i can get the latter I will but not found it anywhere in the UK yet)

Processor:
AMD Athlon II X2 250

Memory:
DDR3 SDRAM DIMM 240 pin 1066 MHz (PC3 8500)

Hard Drive:
Western Digital 160G SATAII 7200 rpm HDD (for now just as a starter)

Power Supply:
Artic Power 600w PSU

Optical Drives:
LiteOn iHOS104 Blu-Ray player

My question really is will all these components work together or are they incompatible? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
Hi

Not sure what you budget is? The system you have listed is quite low spec in my opinion. You could look for something like I have put together below if you can afford it. It would make a nice build. :) If you dont want to spend that much then I'll put another one together which is cheaper.

http://img69.imageshack.us/f/buildes.png/
 
I'm not wanting to spend a lot because its the first computer I'm building and I can't afford to be buying top of the range stuff right now. My question is more whether the list of components will run together. And if any are subpar then I'd be greatful for better suggestions.
 
minime9891 said:
I'm not wanting to spend a lot because its the first computer I'm building and I can't afford to be buying top of the range stuff right now. My question is more whether the list of components will run together. And if any are subpar then I'd be greatful for better suggestions.
Click to expand...

Okay

All the parts listed should work ok together. I checked the Gigabyte GA-880GM-USB3 motherboard. I would change the HDD, and the PSU to the one I listed in my last reply. What make of memory are you going to get and also what GFX card?


Edit - I would also change the motherboard to something like this http://www.ebuyer.com/product/185913
 
Last edited:
I'm not using any graphics card at the minute. I want to see how the motherboard runs itself before I can gauge how high end a graphics card I'll need. And its been suggested to me to upgrade the hard drive by several people. The RAM I'm looking into is just a cheap set from amazon called Kingston for the time being until I can afford some high end RAM. Thanks for the suggestion of changing the PSU from what I've heard it's definitly worth investing in it.
 
minime9891 said:
I'm not using any graphics card at the minute. I want to see how the motherboard runs itself before I can gauge how high end a graphics card I'll need. And its been suggested to me to upgrade the hard drive by several people. The RAM I'm looking into is just a cheap set from amazon called Kingston for the time being until I can afford some high end RAM. Thanks for the suggestion of changing the PSU from what I've heard it's definitly worth investing in it.
Click to expand...


Okay just to let you know that on board graphic chips are not designed for gaming just thought I'd let you know just in case you were going to be using it for any games. I would also say that the onboard chip might also struggle with running blue ray films.

Also the motherboard I listed in my last reply does not have onboard graphics.


Would you be able to post a link to the memory? Kingston are a well known make of RAM I have used them before.
 
Last edited:
minime9891 said:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kingston-Va...?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1278887756&sr=1-18

Heres the link for the memory. I've never been good with memory on what brands to buy or how much to pay.
Click to expand...


Okay on second thoughts take a look at the below system its better suited for your needs and you would be able to install a better graphics card in the future. At the moment I see no point in getting the Blue Ray disk drive with an onboard graphics card. I would wait until you get a better graphics card first.

Do you also need an OS or do you have one already that you can install on it?

http://img693.imageshack.us/f/build2l.png/


Hope this is of help
 
Last edited:
With reference to the original post:

Yes they will all work together.

The power supply is rubbish.

Onboard graphics are not good and are only supplied with low end motherboards. Having said that, I use a setup with onboard grafix (an Asus board) for my media computer, it's fine but I wouldn't attempt to play any newish games on it.

Aria are actually doing an AM2 dual core 2.16Ghz CPU for just 35 quid atm, ideal for a starter system.

Decent ATI grafix cards can also be had for 50-80 quid, for a starter system.
 
Back
Top