Building a completely new PC

KStolen

Ok, I'd like to build myself a new PC. It's my first time building one and while I've been looking around this board for a little while, it seems to me that it's pretty hard to learn everything you need to know without some practical experience here, so hopefully some of you nice people will help me.

At the moment I'm running a Dell Dimension (cant check number right now, 2000 range I think) but it's something like this (IIRC).

-1GB DDR RAM
-Intel 2.8Ghz Processor
-140GB 7200rpm HD
-5200rpm DVD reader/writer drive
-Intel integrated graphics
-17" CRT Monitor (yes it's huge, and not in a good way)
-Windows XP SP2

At the moment I use it for
-Browsing the web
-Some coding
-Music playback
-Watching movies
-Light gaming (Quake III, Warcraft III)
-Minor artwork (PS CS, 3dsmax7)

The actual hardware is about 3 years old (wasn't an expensive PC, obviously)

Still, it copes with most of the above adequately, can be slow at times (rendering models, disassembly, etc) but it's fairly good considering its age.

I have a budget of about €750. (not including new monitor)

I'd like my new PC to have

-large storage capacity for music/movie library (750GB+)
-fast enough to cope with latest games (Fallout 3,etc) on a 22" monitor
^this may be wishful thinking in my budget range, dunno.

-multitasking abilities (say unRARing while burning a CD,playing music and running Quake III)
-Windows XP, im not fond of Vista. I may dual-boot Linux on it, but for the moment I will probably stick with cygwin or similar for my Linux needs.

I'm good at putting stuff together, so I'm not too worried about assembly, but the sheer choice out there is overwhelming.

So, what would you guys recommend? What all does a computer consist of?
I'm going with case, motherboard, processor, RAM, graphics card, hard disk, DVD/CD drive and powersupply. Anything else?

Would I be wiser to go dual-core or quad-core on this? How well does a dual-core multitask?

Is getting Windows XP 64-bit really worth it to utilise 4GB of RAM, or should I just stick with the 3GB or so I'll get with 32-bit XP?

What about hard disks? Would my best option be to go for a small drive (say 60 GB 7200rpm) for the OS and various programs and get a seperate big HD (750GB) for storage, or is partioning the large drive just as effective?

Opinions on SLI/RAID also welcome; I barely know what they are. I've never overclocked anything. I may run dual monitors at some point in the future and I'd like to be able to upgrade bits in the future as required.

So recommended builds/parts are very welcome, as well as answers to my other questions.

Thanks

PaddyTheNth

I'm going with case, motherboard, processor, RAM, graphics card, hard disk, DVD/CD drive and powersupply. Anything else?

That's the essentials. You may want to look at adding custom heatsinks for the processor/graphics card if you get into overclocking or find them too noisy, but what you list will make the machine work fine.

Would I be wiser to go dual-core or quad-core on this? How well does a dual-core multitask?

I've got an e8400 (@ stock 3.0Ghz) and it multitasks very well. I can code in a VM while having a browser open plus music playing/chat windows open just fine. Video encoding is the only thing I've found to take up almost all of both CPUs, and even with that it was still usable to multitask, if not quite as responsive. Gaming-wise my HD4850 graphics card is the bottleneck.

Intel CPUs deliver more bang for buck IMO.

Is getting Windows XP 64-bit really worth it to utilise 4GB of RAM, or should I just stick with the 3GB or so I'll get with 32-bit XP?

For the tasks that you listed I'd say that 3GB will be fine. If you do decide to go for a 64 bit OS, it seems that Vista 64 has way better driver support than XP 64.

What about hard disks? Would my best option be to go for a small drive (say 60 GB 7200rpm) for the OS and various programs and get a seperate big HD (750GB) for storage, or is partioning the large drive just as effective?

I've got a couple of Samsung F1s and they're lightning fast and very quiet.

I'd say definitely go for more than 1 drive if you can, and separate the data from the OS/Programs that way. For the money you mentioned you're probably not going to be buying a Raptor or a SSD for the OS, so I'd go with one 250/350GB for the C drive and one 1TB for storage, which I reckon you could just about squeeze in the budget.

On the more budget end of the graphics card scale which it seems you're aiming for, I'd say an ATI HD 4830 would be up your street - http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055450525

I don't SLI or RAID so can't comment on that.

KStolen

Ok, I've put together a build, hopefully someone will tell me what's good/bad about it.

Here's most stuff from hardwareversand



And my graphics card from komplett (hardwversand only had 512version)



How's that for a build?

Seeing as this is literally all looking to be my new PC (apart from mouse/keyboard/speakers), where do back USB ports/audio in-out/ethernet ports come into this? Am I gonna have to buy new ones of those too or can i probably take them from my old PC?
What about extra fans/heatsinks? The ones with the case should be fine, right? And the intel CPU cooler isnt too bad, i think.

Anyway, any recommendations are v welcome, better bang for my buck suggestions etc. What would you do with this build if you had 200 more euro to spend?

TerrorFirmer

All those ports you've mentioned are part of the motherboard.

Don't bother getting the 1gb 4850 from Komplett, all the extra postage involved makes it a waste. The 512mb 4850 is enough for 22", if you want a 1gb card and seeing as you have the cash to spare, go for a 1gb 4870 or 896mb GTX260 from HWV as well.

Otherwise build seems fine, no extra fans or heatsink needed really unless it's a personal preference. Not needed from a purely functional POV.

Don't forget you need an OS, I'd recommend 64-bit Vista.

What you've built even with your standard list without change is a fine gaming machine, which would be thoroughly wasted playing Q3. I know you mentioned Fallout 3 but if the bulk of the work is going to be super-light multi tasking and gaming like you've mentioned of your old machine, then something like this would still be extremely fast and would still tackle the latest games fairly well.

-E7200
-Ati HD4830
-Corsair 450w PSU

And would also save you lots of money that could be put into nice speakers, better/bigger monitor, keyboard/mouse, and so on. Just a thought - you know your own intentions better then anyone.

KStolen

Oh silly me, shoulda checked motherboard specs out a bit more.

I'd be inclined to stick with the choices I've made though, not *too* pushed on new speakers etc..(tho maybe i should get a new keyboard in retrospect )

Any particular reason you'd advise me to go with Vista 64 bit? I'd guess full use of 4GB of RAM (+any more in future) and DirectX 10 support, better driver support than XP 64-bit..

Any reason to think that XP 32-bit won't work as well as Vista 64?

I'm just a bit anti-Vista in general to be honest..any time I've used it it has seemed a bit gimmicky and restrictive for my tastes. Maybe I'm just too comfortable with XP.

Perhaps I'll dual-boot the two, as DirectX 10 seems rather sweet.

slave1

I'd keep to the Samsung F1's, I have some in 3 PC's and no problems to date

PaddyTheNth

Only advantage you'll get with a 64-bit OS is that all your RAM will be usable and you'll have DX10...but from what you've said I don't think you'll actually see much difference in use.

DX10 is nice but I've only seen a difference compared to DX9 in a few games. It does seem to bring a higher level of realism in terms of water/light effects - http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/pcs/directx-9-vs-directx-10-worth-upgrading-to-vista-for-243099.php

XP32-bit will work perfectly well for your needs. That being said, Vista is a pretty smooth OS now, although it was brutal when it was first released, probably even worse than XP was pre-SP1 (and it was very, very bad). Most people's gripes are with regard to UAC, and that can be turned down/off. That being said, I'm still using XP just because I was annoyed with how MS moved things around in Vista. Can't wait for Win7 though.:)

I'd listen to Terrorfirmer - while I'd have probably gone for a CPU in between his and your choices, what you have is miles overboard for what you're describing as your use. Same for the PSU and same for the GPU considering you're only talking about a 22-inch screen...the 512mb 4850 is overkill already for what you need.

TheZenWithin

Like KStolen I'm gonna attempt to build my own machine.
I'm just wondering if my ram etc are compatible. Click names for links. I probably wont buy from Komplett though. Its just a handy site to figure out what u want.

Acer 20" Wide V203Hb

TP-LINK TL-WN551G Wireless PCI adapter

NorthQ Powersupply 4800, 400W, R/C fr

Samsung SpinPoint T166 500GB SATA2

Crucial DDR2 PC8500 2048MB CL7,

MSI P43 NEO-F, 43, Socket-775, DDR2,

Intel Core™ 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHz, Socket

Sapphire Radeon HD 4670 512MB GDDR3,

Sony NEC Optiarc DVD±RW burner AD-7200A,

NZXT ALPHA Black w/Window side panel,


I also have my own keyboard and mouse but will get new ones when I need to.

Please comment on all components

Oh it all costs €650 inc vat but thats with Komplett.

AlmightyCushion

TheZenWithin wrote: »

Like KStolen I'm gonna attempt to build my own machine.
I'm just wondering if my ram etc are compatible. Click names for links. I probably wont buy from Komplett though. Its just a handy site to figure out what u want.

Acer 20" Wide V203Hb

TP-LINK TL-WN551G Wireless PCI adapter

NorthQ Powersupply 4800, 400W, R/C fr

Samsung SpinPoint T166 500GB SATA2

Crucial DDR2 PC8500 2048MB CL7,

MSI P43 NEO-F, 43, Socket-775, DDR2,

Intel Core™ 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHz, Socket

Sapphire Radeon HD 4670 512MB GDDR3,

Sony NEC Optiarc DVD±RW burner AD-7200A,

NZXT ALPHA Black w/Window side panel,


I also have my own keyboard and mouse but will get new ones when I need to.

Please comment on all components

Oh it all costs €650 inc vat but thats with Komplett.

Spend less on the processor and more on the graphics card, this will make more of an improvement in games.

TheZenWithin

Apart from that? and the processor is only €150.

AlmightyCushion

TheZenWithin wrote: »

Apart from that? and the processor is only €150.

I know but your graphics card is only €70 and this is the most important part. If you were to swap the around so you were spending €70 on the cpu (like the e5200 which would overclock nicely) and €150 on the graphics card (like the 4850) then you would notice much better in game performance while spending the exact same amout of money.

Also go with 4GBs ram, it's cheap so why not.

TheZenWithin

okey dokey ur the boss. i shud have the moeny together in a week or 2

slave1

would you consider this 22" at €102 exc. P+P

TheZenWithin

no real difference and im already gonna be paying for fixed rate p+p anyway with the rest of the stuff. thanks though

slave1

an extra 2"
~obligatory office quote~ that's what she said

KStolen

slave1 wrote: »

would you consider this 22" at €102 exc. P+P

Anyone have any experience with unbranded monitors from dabs? I'd kinda be inclined to stick with a brandname myself..I'd be scared of stuck pixels etc