What would I need in a PC?

dido2

I have an almost 9 year old Packard bell computer that I've added the max memory to and put a new hard drive into aswell... it still works very well but I think it's getting too old now, so I've been toying with building my own PC at some stage depending on costs..

So the main thing I use it for is music and pictures, but as I've got 3 kids the oldest being 6 1/2, i've no idea what we'll need it for in the next few years, possibly watching live TV, but other than that I can't see what else we'd use it for so it's hard to know what the basics should be in it..

I've been googling and googling and have seen intel i3 processor, would this be ok, motherboards I don't actually know what to look for in it..

Any help in deciding what I'll need would be appreciated, I'll probably buy the different bits and pieces over the next year then finally assemble it once I have it all...

tman

dido2 wrote: »

Any help in deciding what I'll need would be appreciated, I'll probably buy the different bits and pieces over the next year then finally assemble it once I have it all...

Kind of a waste buying components now if you're not even going to build the thing any time soon... You'll most likely get the same components much cheaper, or a newer model for the same price 6 months from now. Do you really want them to just be sat there gathering dust?

Sounds like the i3 would do nicely for your needs for starters, might help if you gave a rough budget as well though...

dido2

I didn't think of them lying around waiting to be used, might be better to get the money together so first to do the basics and then add anything else we might need as we go along...

I've no idea on budget because as I originally planned was to buy something every few weeks if I had a bit of extra money...

I did have a look at dells website last week, almost bought one, but everything kept getting messed up and I took it as an omen to not go ahead with it, but it was coming in at just over €900 and to be honest looking tonight on various websites I don't think the components would add up to the same amount if I bought them myself...

Solitaire

If you can get a really good deal on a regular budget PC with an Athlon X3 or Intel i3 CPU go ahead - self-builds are actually a bit pricey in the ultrabudget sector owing to the ol' Windows Tax :rolleyes::o

And forget about Dell - a PC that would cost €500 to build or buy from PC World can cost €900 there :rolleyes:

dido2

Going to have to ask but whats a windows tax!!!

As I say this all snowballed from coming across the dell website and a pc that got on my nerves but I've cleaned that up now and it's doing grand again, I just can't anything more to it, it's done it's time for me but plenty of time left in it for someone who only wants internet access, but I can see me still using it for another while yet!

Unregistered.

dido2 wrote: »

Going to have to ask but whats a windows tax!!!

As I say this all snowballed from coming across the dell website and a pc that got on my nerves but I've cleaned that up now and it's doing grand again, I just can't anything more to it, it's done it's time for me but plenty of time left in it for someone who only wants internet access, but I can see me still using it for another while yet!

If you use Microsoft Windows, which most people do, then you need to pay for a licence key so that you can install it.

dido2

Does that just mean you buy the windows operating software or is it paid on top of it??

Unregistered.

dido2 wrote: »

Does that just mean you buy the windows operating software or is it paid on top of it??

Yes. You buy a copy of Windows.

dido2

Thats grand so, I had factored that in!!! I would say it will take me a good while to work my way through everything but I like PC stuff anyway so it's something to do...

Nothingbetter2d

dido2 wrote: »

Going to have to ask but whats a windows tax!!!

it was a tax introduced during victorian times in uk and ireland on the size and number of windows a house had...hence why irish cottages tended to have only a few tiny windows .... it led to the "term daylight robbery"

in modern times microsoft still enforce this practice of day light robbery by forcing alot of people to use their buggy operating systems.

Unregistered.

Nothingbetter2d wrote: »

in modern times microsoft still enforce this practice of day light robbery by forcing alot of people to use their buggy operating systems.

They do?

wildefalcon

Unregistered. wrote: »

They do?

I've never been forced to buy windows.

I use Linux Mint, Windows 7 and Mac os.

Of the three, windows 7 is by far the best - a superb piece of software, fast, very slick and intuitive.

Mint is second and MAC os x 10.5.8 is a poor third.

If you get a student licence (you have kids at school, don't you) it is very cheap. Don't get the basic version.

To be honest all you need is a basic spec. machine - unless you are doing lots of intense 3D gaming or CAD, a basic graphics cards will work for you.

I've a 10 year old and an 8 year old and the inbuilt graphics adapter on my machine, an Intel graphics card, is more than adequate to play their games.

As for music and playing videos, then anything made recently will do fine.

As for processor then anything from a core 2 duo upwards would be entirely adequate.

Where you should not skimp is on Memory. Minimum 2gb or ideally 3 gb.

If you are going down the DIY route, which is fun, I'd suggest you watch out on adverts.ie - there are often older motherboards and processors offered for sale at little money.

Read the reviews of the board and then take a punt!

dido2

Thanks for the replies!

As for paying for windows, it's just another part of a computer so why wouldn't we have to pay for it??

I have found memory to be the most important thing so far, have added it to my own PC, but max is 1 gb, my laptop can take up to 4gb and has 1gb in it at the moment so I hope to add to that too..

I'll keep my eyes open for both ones for sale and ones to be assembled...

Would there be any advantage to me just using my current PC and change the mother board etc, looking at the price of the case's its not too much more to pay to still have 2 functioning PC's but just wondering if I'm missing anything else that might keep costs down...

Skerries

Nothingbetter2d wrote: »

it was a tax introduced during victorian times in uk and ireland on the size and number of windows a house had...hence why irish cottages tended to have only a few tiny windows .... it led to the "term daylight robbery"

that's also why they had half-doors as it acted as an unofficial window as well

dido2

I've just seen the software4students website, I've got Xp on both the PC and laptop, am I right in thinking that I could upgrade one of them for about €45 with an upgrade from this website using my oldest daughters name???

game4it70

dido2 wrote: »

I've just seen the software4students website, I've got Xp on both the PC and laptop, am I right in thinking that I could upgrade one of them for about €45 with an upgrade from this website using my oldest daughters name???

Yes,all you need to do is register and add her name and school info.

dido2

Thats great!!

My other daughter will be starting school in sept, is it then possible to buy another upgrade in her name?

I've got 2 hard drives in the pc, the original is only 4gb's and the other one I added is 120gbs, so I was going to try and move everything from the small one to the big one and then use that as a hard drive in a new computer if I decide to build one but if I could upgrade that from XP to 7 too for €45 it would be even better! Even if I had to leave the 4gb hard drive as is it would be worth it..

marco_polo

dido2 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies!

As for paying for windows, it's just another part of a computer so why wouldn't we have to pay for it??

I have found memory to be the most important thing so far, have added it to my own PC, but max is 1 gb, my laptop can take up to 4gb and has 1gb in it at the moment so I hope to add to that too..

I'll keep my eyes open for both ones for sale and ones to be assembled...

Would there be any advantage to me just using my current PC and change the mother board etc, looking at the price of the case's its not too much more to pay to still have 2 functioning PC's but just wondering if I'm missing anything else that might keep costs down...

Not much you could reuse to be honest If you change the motherboard then the RAM (which is probably DDR1) and the CPU (obsolete socket type) would have to go as well as the CD and HDD drives because an new motherboard would not have enough (and possibly not any) IDE connectors. SATA is the standard for drives nowadays.

Also the PSU (aside from the fact that they decline in performance with age) is likely a ATX 1.0 and these have changed quite a bit over the years (current standard is ATX 2.2). Amongst the numerous potential problems would be that it that would lack the SATA power connectors needed for newer HDDs and DVD drives and will only have a 20 pin 12V motherboard power connector, so if the new motherboard uses a 24 pin connector, the PSU would be no good. Also from ATX 2.0 onward the emphasis changed so that most power is now provided on 12 V rails, so an ATX 1.0 PSU may struggle to provide enough 12v power for even a modest modern build anyway. While it may be possible it is not reccomended to use an ATX 1.0 PSU on ATX 2.0+ systems. That leaves you with the case and for the price of a modest new case you might as well keep the old PC.

dido2 wrote: »

I've just seen the software4students website, I've got Xp on both the PC and laptop, am I right in thinking that I could upgrade one of them for about €45 with an upgrade from this website using my oldest daughters name???

I think you are thinking right, a family member whom is a student is all that they require to the best of my knowledge.

marco_polo

dido2 wrote: »

Thats great!!

My other daughter will be starting school in sept, is it then possible to buy another upgrade in her name?

I've got 2 hard drives in the pc, the original is only 4gb's and the other one I added is 120gbs, so I was going to try and move everything from the small one to the big one and then use that as a hard drive in a new computer if I decide to build one but if I could upgrade that from XP to 7 too for €45 it would be even better! Even if I had to leave the 4gb hard drive as is it would be worth it..

Make sure that the motherboard you choose has at least one IDE connector if you plan to use the old hard drive (Some motherboards still have at least one, other have dropped IDE altogether).

If you are changing everything else I'd nearly just get a new one to be honest as a modern SATA drive will perform much better, and 500 Gb ones can be got for as little as 30-35 quid.

dido2

Thanks Marco Polo, thats why I think I was going for building from scratch..

The 2 drives I have are IDE drives, can they be put into this http://www.memoryc.ie/products/description/KingSpec_Mobile_Disk_2_5-PATA_IDE_SSD_Enclosure_w_USB_cable_and_carry_case/index.html to be made into portable hard drives?? Would be very handy if they could!!

marco_polo

dido2 wrote: »

Thanks Marco Polo, thats why I think I was going for building from scratch..

The 2 drives I have are IDE drives, can they be put into this http://www.memoryc.ie/products/description/KingSpec_Mobile_Disk_2_5-PATA_IDE_SSD_Enclosure_w_USB_cable_and_carry_case/index.html to be made into portable hard drives?? Would be very handy if they could!!

You are on the right track but those are for 2.5" IDE drives which are for (older) laptop drives, you want the 3.5" IDE enclosure like this (pretty sure one could be got a bit cheaper elsewhere)

dido2

I spotted that after I posted!! At least they can be used anyway, would be handy for keeping pictures etc on, I have one copy of all the pictures on a DVD and a copy on both laptop and PC but would prefer a copy on an external hard drive!

I think building one is still looking appealling simply because I'd love to it rather than have to do it..

Jonny7

Then go to the building and upgrading sub forum

give us a budget (e.g. 500 euros)

and we'll spec up a PC for what you want (nice and fast) and then you can build it to your hearts content (quite fun actually)


Bare in mind though, that you can get a PC for around 400 euros which will be already built, have an operating system (windows 7) and run perfectly (have lots of ram and harddisk space and a sufficiently fast processor)

Also, lots of people still use XP, I am used to it and like it a lot so I stick with it for now

marco_polo

Jonny7 wrote: »

Then go to the building and upgrading sub forum

Welcome

Jonny7

wh.. haha thought I was browsing computers and technology..

no hardwareversand.de builds up yet.. for shame..

dido2

ok
I've made an attempt to put together a computer, I left out a DVD writer because I have an external one that I could use but I'd have to check it would still work with a newer one...
So what am I missing,

ECE1979523 Antec Sonata Proto - Mid tower - ATX - no power supply - USB/Audio 1 €51.00

ECE1492290 EA650-GB/Earth Watts 80+ certified 650W EPS 12v v2.91 and ATX12v v2.2 PSU €68.00

ECE1883007 Core i3-530/2.93GHz 4MB QPI DDR3 LGA1156 €101.00

ECE1937603 P7H55-M LGA1156 Intel N/A 4DDR3(Dual Channel) DDR3 2200(OC)/1600/1333/1066 MAX 16G Graphics Slot 1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 €68.00

ECE1559008 ValueRam 4GB 1333MHz DDR3 Non-ECC CL9 DIMM (Kit of 2) €35.00

ECE2108167 WD Caviar Black WD5002AALX - Hard drive - 500 GB - internal - 3.5" - SATA-600 - 7200 rpm - buffer: 32 MB €43.00

ECE2118868 G925HDA 18.5" LCD Monitor 16:9 Widescreen 1366x768 Resolution 300cd/m2 Brightness 700:1 Contrast Ratio 40000:1 DCR 5ms Response Time VGA Tilt Stand VESA 100x100mm 2 Years Onsite SWAP Warranty - Gloss Black €79.00

ECE1417471 Labtec Media Wireless Desktop 800 €11.00

ECE1816037 Microsoft Windows Home Premium 7 English ROW DVD €120.00
Total Excl VAT: €576.00
Total VAT: €120.96
Total Incl VAT (21%): €696.96

Unregistered.

PSU is too expensive / over the top. What website is that?

dido2

Elara is where I priced those...

The PSU I went for a higher one just because! I'm slowly working my way through everything to find out how to choose

Unregistered.

OK here's a suggestion:



I've left out the monitor and a case so add in ~100 and 35-60, depending on your personal preference. You could through in a DVD-RW for < €20 and then your keyboard.

I've kept everything much the same, CPU is a bit faster. The 450watt PSU is more than enough for what's there. In fact I'd suggest a 350W one if I knew which ones are stable! It's possible to change the motherboard to a smaller form factor (mATX) if you have no use for the PCI slots down the road. Note that the copy of Windows is a System Builder, or OEM, version. This means you can only use it once and it's tied to the motherboard. If you change the motherboard, you need to buy a new copy. Unless your motherboard happens to breaks *cough cough*.

Total delivered, excluding case, monitor and keyboard is €415. Gives you a fair bit more to play around with

dido2

Thanks Unregistered, this is just what I needed someone point me in the right direction!

Are those from Elara or somewhere else??

Unregistered.

Hardwareversand.