Building my own PC

September 20, 2007, 6:46 PM

Pretty much what it says on the tin.

So after... 3 or 4 years owning my (fantastically crap) second hand PC, I've finally decided to scrape together enough money to build my own PC from scratch.

But, since this is pretty much the first time I've attempted this sort of thing I have no idea where to buy the components, whether it's honestly worth paying extra for a Dual Core Processor, to go for Intel or AMD, Nvidia or ATI, blah blah.

===> Jargon warning. =P

All I know is I have a budget on anywhere between £300 and maybe £400 or so (depending on how much my Wii fetches, how much I work in the coming weeks, how much i can pilfer off my parents etc.) and want a 64-bit processor with a clockspeed upwards of (at the very least) 2ghz so that when I bother with a 64-bit OS it should (hopefully) double in efficiency. 2gig DDR RAM, (clockspeed upwards of 600mhz or so) at least a 256mb Graphics card, though 512 if I can afford it, a motherboard with space for RAM expansion and preferably CrossFire/SLI support for multiple graphics cards. Not too bothered about the HDD, upwards of 80gig I suppose. Oh, and a fancy glowy case of course.

Also, I have no idea what to do about a sound card. Worth spending dough on? I'm hoping to play half-decent PC Games on the thing when I'm finished with it, and to be able to upgrade it at some point (ie. add more RAM, another GFX card etc.) without having to do the whole fandango like this.

I've looked about a bit but a fair few of these online component sites don't look too trustworthy. I found one that does the system described above (roughly, anyway) for about.. £350 or so. But they build it for you so that obviously adds to the cost and takes away the fun a bit =p so of course, with the slightly huge user base you guys've got, I'm hoping someone here knows their stuff?

Know any decent sites to buy these components? (preferrably UK sites) bother with dual core or not? invest in an NVidia or ATI graphics card, Intel or AMD CPU?

Anyone?

September 20, 2007, 7:31 PM

Try to aim for 'near' top of the line. I actually have the crossfire mother board. It supports two ATI 1950s. If your going to get crossfire then get ATI card(s). Also yeah, get the two gigs of ram. Two gigs of ram isn't much now a days. :/ Make you sure you have extra slots of open for adding more ram in the future.

Both Nvidia and ATI are good. It's just your preference there.

AMD and Intel. Well, they're both good but AMD is more specific. Such as do you want more ram but it's a slower processor. It runs games fast but slows everything down.

As for sound card....get get a decent one. You don't really need a near top of the line card. Just as long it supports most games, needs to be compatible with Direct X9.0c.

http://www.newegg.com/ Sells parts for a decent price. Also try ebay to get cheaper parts.

September 20, 2007, 7:36 PM

I'd say places like PC World, Comet and Currys would be best. You probably won't have a wide range to pick from, but there should be enough. Amazon and eBay will most likely have what you need too.
A sound card is always worth the money for obvious reasons.
I'd recommend an NVidia graphics card and an Intel processor, Dual Core is possible but I doubt it with your budget. Intel is slightly pricier, but they're second-to-none when it comes to processors imo.