First time PC build advice please!

IrishMetalhead

aye saw the asgard case myself it's a really good case but i wasn't sure if you were going to like the styling or not

Zascar

Thanks guys I think I'm gonna order this tomorrow, might just have a look to see if there are any others I want to change or upgrade etc. Quick question: I have never built a pc before so do I need to buy anything else in terms of cables, screws etc etc or is everything I need already included?

IrishMetalhead

nope everything comes with the components like the cables come with the motherboard and the screws comes with the case etc

Zascar

I’m fairly amazed how cheap DVD-RW Drives are. I notice the one in the bundle is pretty much the cheapest one at only €15. I do burn a fair new cd’s and dvd’s so I was thinking it might be smarter for me to spend a few pennies more and get a slightly better one? Does it matter which one?

IrishMetalhead

nope not worth spenduling the extra cash at all all dvd-rw's are more than less the same speed and the reason thats the cheapest is because they have them in massiv bulk plus there oem which means it comes by itself without the retail box so your not getting any less quality than the other drives trust me

Zascar

God their website is awful. I've literally been trying to order for the last few minutes but it won't accept my address. I need it delivered to work and its giving me error after error.

Kevinf63

IrishMetalhead wrote: »

nope not worth spenduling the extra cash at all all dvd-rw's are more than less the same speed and the reason thats the cheapest is because they have them in massiv bulk plus there oem which means it comes by itself without the retail box so your not getting any less quality than the other drives trust me

The only difference really between more expensive drives is the sound. I went for a cheap model and mine is pretty loud plus it makes a weird click sound every boot. I hope. Cause if its the hard drive...

Zascar

Ahh ffs this is ridiculous. After at least 15 tries I eventually managed to get it to accept my address - even though it was all over the place. Now I find out they want a bank transfer from me and don't take credit cards. What is this 1985? Pathetic. I refuse to do business with companies who are so backward, I'd prefer to pay extra and deal with a decent company.

Sorry for the angry rant but I've wasted a lot of time on this this morning when I should be working haha - but I just want to get it ordered.

What other sites can I get this stuff from?

marco_polo

I had specced up as close as possible build on Ebuyer to IrishMetalHead, but then I remembered that they are probably even more awkward to pay and get something delivered to Ireland as HWVS are.

Since I did it I may as well post it anyway, comes to just under €350 delivered (£283 + £10) PP.



There aren't too many places where your 400 euro will stretch as far as HWVS, their full build prices are probably the best in Europe and very few other sites have anywhere near as good a selection
of quality low budget budget PSU and cases for example (Ebuyer are limited enough in this respect).

A few alternatives to HWVS and Ebuyer off the top of my head (For a lower budget Scan are probably the next best bet IMO).

Komplett.ie
Dabs.ie
Overclockers.co.uk
Scan.co.uk
Elara.ie

Zascar

Ugh, well if that's the case I think I'm just going to have to do it then. I remember trying to order from ebuyer before, nightmare. Thanks anyway though.

indough

ebuyer are grand i dont see any problems there, just pay by google checkout. scans login/account system is a joke

Zascar

Does anyone know how long delivery takes from HardwareVersande? For €30 it would want to be pretty quick. Have to wait for the funds to get there first though and I bet that will take a good few days. Would love to have it all by the weekend to put it together then.

Just crazy how they don't accept credit cards, what possible reason can they have apart from being useless? Surely if their selection and prices are so fantastic, then if they cleaned up their website and started operating like normal online retailers, they could take a lot of business away from the other big players...

marco_polo

Zascar wrote: »

Does anyone know how long delivery takes from HardwareVersande? For €30 it would want to be pretty quick. Have to wait for the funds to get there first though and I bet that will take a good few days. Would love to have it all by the weekend to put it together then.

Just crazy how they don't accept credit cards, what possible reason can they have apart from being useless? Surely if their selection and prices are so fantastic, then if they cleaned up their website and started operating like normal online retailers, they could take a lot of business away from the other big players...

Simply put Germans don't do credit cards, and like many retailers I presume they are geared primarly to cater for their domestic market (For example to register an Irish address with US or UK retailers sans postcode can be difficult at times).

Unless you are in a touristy spot, it is nearly impossible to use one in Germany day to day (Harsh lesson learnt during Oktoberfest )

http://german-way.com/blog/2009/08/03/german-banking-and-credit-cards-for-beginners/

Delivery will take a little over a week, although going by the some of experiences of others posted here the bulk of that time it is often spent gathering dust in an An Post warehouse somewhere.

Zascar

Pffft! Bloody Germans! So much for their so called efficiency!

marco_polo

indough wrote: »

ebuyer are grand i dont see any problems there, just pay by google checkout. scans login/account system is a joke

Have you tried updating an Irish phone number so couriers can contact you?

Skerries

you could try paying by paypal if you have an account but they charge 3% or something like that
but it will still be cheaper than a lot of sites considering you aren't spending that much

Monotype

Kevinf63 wrote: »

The only difference really between more expensive drives is the sound. I went for a cheap model and mine is pretty loud plus it makes a weird click sound every boot. I hope. Cause if its the hard drive...

What's the make? I have a samsung drive and it's a lot louder than previous drives I've had of similar speeds.

Kevinf63

Monotype wrote: »

What's the make? I have a samsung drive and it's a lot louder than previous drives I've had of similar speeds.

Sony optiarc AD-7243S SATA Disk Drive Lightscribe 24x12x12x bought on Komplett.ie

Zascar

Guys I placed the order yesterday and send the payment by bank transfer. However now I have just seen something else I would like to add to the order! They have some great deals on memory keys, especially the one that is shaped like an actual key – way way cheaper than anywhere else. Can I add it to the order? They charge a flat rate of €30 for delivery, a bit much for a €10 order.

If not, can anyone recommend a good place to order a couple of 4gb memory keys with cheap or free delivery?

Monotype

http://www.memoryc.com/usb/flashdrives.html?Capacity=4GB

Zascar

I found a good Irish ebay shop with good deals on soem nice usb keys – reasonable postage and same day dispatch before 4pm too:
http://computers.shop.ebay.ie/PC-Components-/3667/i.html?_catref=1&_fln=1&_ipg=&_ssn=memory2&_trksid=p3911.c0.m282

Zascar

Sweet!I just got a mail from them saying they already received my payment. I only sent it yesterday. I had the option with AIB for a fast payment but they wanted €12 so I did not bother, but still they confirmed receipt in about 24 hours, I'm impressed! Now lets see how long dispatch & delivery takes. Curretly it says:

2011-2-14 at 13:23 Online-Order
2011-2-15 Your payment conclusion via Prepayment was confirmed us.
2011-2-15 at 12:30 The goods are ready for collection or assembling.
2011-2-15 at 14:26 The invoice was made.

Can't wait to get it. Big thanks to all if you for your help - very much appreciated

Kevinf63

Zascar wrote: »

Sweet!I just got a mail from them saying they already received my payment. I only sent it yesterday. I had the option with AIB for a fast payment but they wanted €12 so I did not bother, but still they confirmed receipt in about 24 hours, I'm impressed! Now lets see how long dispatch & delivery takes. Curretly it says:

2011-2-14 at 13:23 Online-Order
2011-2-15 Your payment conclusion via Prepayment was confirmed us.
2011-2-15 at 12:30 The goods are ready for collection or assembling.
2011-2-15 at 14:26 The invoice was made.

Can't wait to get it. Big thanks to all if you for your help - very much appreciated

Glad it worked out. If you really want a fast usb and your new PC supports it. You could go usb 3.0... Nearly 10x faster than average 2.0 flash but its expensive. You've bought it anyway. Good luck with everything else!

Zascar

Grrrr despite being dispatched from HV super quick, the shipping is not moving so fast. Only seemed to go to 'in transit' today. Apparently it gets sent via Deutsche Post and not DHL couriers, so when it gets here it gets delivered to the local carrier (An Post). I was really hoping I'd get it by the weekend, unlikely.

Oh also, I've replaced plenty of hard drives, ram & graphics cards etc, but I have never built a pc from scratch before. I know its not rocket science but are there any very simple guides to building a pc I should be reading? Just to make sure I don't do anything stupid. Thanks

IrishMetalhead

so you assembling it yourself or are you having them or a mate to do that for you?
also out of curiosity what case did you order?
because everyone's taste on that depends on themselves

Zascar

It all arrived yesterday and I put it together last night I got the Asgard case. Built it last night with the help of a friend - all workd great. Only silly thing is I ordered a Keyboard & mouse also and the keyboard is in bloody german! Oh well, not much I can do about that.

I got xp on but I actually wanted to give Windows 7 a shot and see what it is like, but I cannnot get it to install, not sure why, says something about the media not installed, not sure if its the CD/DVD drivers or what, hmm, will try again tonight but pretty annoying

Kevinf63

Zascar wrote: »

It all arrived yesterday and I put it together last night I got the Asgard case. Built it last night with the help of a friend - all workd great. Only silly thing is I ordered a Keyboard & mouse also and the keyboard is in bloody german! Oh well, not much I can do about that.

I got xp on but I actually wanted to give Windows 7 a shot and see what it is like, but I cannnot get it to install, not sure why, says something about the media not installed, not sure if its the CD/DVD drivers or what, hmm, will try again tonight but pretty annoying

I can't remember the last time I reinstalled Windows 7, but check if theres some kind of prompt to hit F6 or something to preload drivers. Could be your problem. And make sure all the wires are in correctly.... ...... I had the bloody PSU LED wire in the wrong way and the whole PC wouldnt turn on! :rolleyes:

Zascar

Found this http://wudt.codeplex.com/ giving it a go

Kevinf63

Zascar wrote: »

Found this http://wudt.codeplex.com/ giving it a go

yeh, should be okay... Any trouble yet trying to get that to work?

Zascar

Would not work either. Just said it cannot complete the process. I've kinda given up, really don't get it. I spent hours last night getting xp working last night so might just stick with that. I’m getting another hard drive in a few days so might try it with that, perhaps that could be the problem?