Ater having a look around or a while, I've decided Im gonna build my next Pc. Is there an idiots guide to building one?? also whats the diferences in cases, they seem to range upto £150, just or an empty case whats so special about them??

try looking on here mate.

 

http://www.buildyourown.org.uk/

Cases vary with quality and design. Cheap cases are normally flimsy affairs whcih are often badly built and have sharp edges etc. They will also be fronted with cheap plastic. Okay for alot of people if were honest but they dont look very nice. Often cases will come with power units as well sometimes these are fine for the job, sometimes these are as cheap as the case. Depends what the total price is and of course the spec of the powerunit.

 

Sizing also plays a bit part in cost perhaps classed as "midi atx" which is okay for most machines. If you see full atx, or full tower, its more designed for a serious machine or server these will tend to be expensive. (The difference being a midi atx wont take a full atx mainboard, very few about of these so its unlikely to be an issue!) The other end of the scale is microatx and other such tiny cases, they do require expensive smaller components and often you severly limit the upgrade potential and also the performance of the machine.

 

A good case can be a good investment I have a Lian Li PC-70 which is an old case now, cost £150 or so a few years ago but its contained 3 machines in its time, as hardware has moved on the case has stayed the same

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/X-Cruiser-ATX-Gaming-PC-Case-with-Ezcool-800W-PSU-Inc_W0QQitemZ110364013138QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Computing_DesktopComponents_RL?hash=item19b2353252

would this be ok? would the psu be ok or will I be better off getting that seperately??

as previously said there are alot of variants. for parts try overclockers.co.uk

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/X-Cruiser-ATX-Gaming-PC-Case-with-Ezcool-800W-PSU-Inc_W0QQitemZ110364013138QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Computing_DesktopComponents_RL?hash=item19b2353252

would this be ok? would the psu be ok or will I be better off getting that seperately??

 

The PSU in that case will be crap. You would be looking at spending that at least on just a good quality PSU.

as previously said there are alot of variants. for parts try overclockers.co.uk

 

as long as you don't need technical support from them cause there isn't any!

scan.co.uk seem to be cheaper than overclockers, plus like daveb said, overclockers suck for support.

All dependes on your budget m8 to be honest. YOu need to set your budget, decide what you want to build the pc for, Gaming, general browsing, cad, photographic rendering etc etc....Then put a build list together ensuring all is compatibe etc etc.....

 

Do you want to go AMD or Intel

Will you need high end graphics? if so decent graphics card is a must, then you willl need a quality powersupply..

As a guide my ocz 750w psu was £120 to run a hungry card is as said a must think mine has 60A on the 12v rail which is the more important factor as i remember. Some of the quads are power hungry too, I had an nvidia low power to gpu warning pop up as soon as I installed my 1st quad(just a simple cpu change from a core 2 duo ) from which shut the game down that I started playing as a safety thing and that was on a 650w or 600w cheapo psu . I've built a dozen or so units over the past 14 years most fired straight up but occasionally the odd one or two have be a pain in the arse. I have had a faulty board bought from new before now that nearly had me pulling my hair out.

Edited January 3, 201016 yr by 8ace

i did http://www.antec.outervision.com/PSUEngine to find out the kind of power i would be using and i run

AMD Phenom 2 x4cores at 3.2ghz (overclocked a little as stock is 3ghz) and 2HDD, 4Fans, and 2 Nvidia 8800GT GPU's and it totalled me at 400watts IIRC and i got a 500w PSU in case for 60quid, Much like that one you posted up earlier (and as a Hardcore Gamer, 3d Designer and Video Editor) it takes alot of beatings and still works like a charm. See what power with what setup you will be running and buy accordingly!

 

This will help in your decision!

I got all my parts from Ebuyer.com and they were spot on with everything! That setup cost me 400quid with a New Gigabyte Motherboard! but i only had to buy 1HDD with that cash!

 

Have a search! Without Overclocking i put my setup at Future-proof for around 3years and with overclocking to maybe 4/5years!

 

Buy quality parts with a good spec (dont overspend on the Newest one as not always the best) IE the Nvidia 9series GPU are actually recovered 8Series and have little to no change yet charge more! Research is your friend here!!

 

Sorry for Essay!

First of all, i have to disagree, a cheap case can be just as good as a expensive one, just depends if your lucky in finding a brand that will give you good cooling vs cheap looks. i found that the Icute case from maplins did a damn fine job at housing my gaming rig (specs below), just remember to clean it every now and then.

 

But first of all, never go with a power supply that comes bundled with a case, they are usually cheap and nasty and never up to the job.

 

Power supply units.

 

Having been building gaming PC's for the last 15 years, i can tell you now, wattage isn't as important as every one is led to believe, what you should be looking for is amps across the 12v+ and 5v+ rails a good wattage just means its got the juice to push the amps around, low amps can have all kinds of adverse effects on your gaming rig, including random restarts, blue screens of death and even graphics corruption, annoyingly websites tend to miss this information off the description list so you are in the dark unless visiting a place like PC world.

 

So what you should be looking for with out being confusing is a good wattage with high Amps on the rails.

 

So first things first,

 

What are your needs?

 

Before venturing into building a Gaming PC, first ask your self this simple question, do you want a PS3 / Xbox 360 killer? if so what is your budget.

 

Work out what components you are after, visit a few websites get a list done then visit this website and work out just what power supply your going to need to run it all comfortably.

 

PSU calculator (just realised this is the same website as posted above)

 

That should give you an idea of what to expect, also although PCI-E has been on the market for sometime, it is wise to check the PSU that it supports it as there are still some floating around that do not have the correct connections, its better to have the PCI-E on its own rail than linking it off one of the molex connectors with a adapter.

 

 

Specs of PC using the Icute case linked.

 

Q6600 Core 2 quad Socket 775

p5q3 deluxe wifi-ap @n ASUS motherboard LGA775

4 x 2gig Corsair Dominator 1600mhz ddr3 ram (2x dual channel kits)

Nvidia 8800GTX 768meg

x2 Seagate Barracuda 500GB SATA harddrives @ 7200rpm

samsung 22X dvd-rw

Coolermaster Silent Pro 500W Power Supply

 

I ran that with stock cooling and never had a over heating issue due to the design of the Icute case, the front has removable black mesh panels from top to bottom, a whopping fan on the side that is silent yet draws enough air into the case, a front mounted fan as well, and room for 2 more fans on the rear that i never had to use.

 

Since then i have stripped that PC and sold everything but the motherboard and case. as i have already built my new one, the motherboard is currently sitting around doing bugger all lol. the case is now going to a friend as i have acquired a antec skeleton :D to house my new i7 build.

 

Anyway, if you get stuck drop us a PM ill be glad to help you on your way to a PC gaming rig.

Edited January 3, 201016 yr by vodkashots

Hi Vodkashots some good advice there. aand a very strong setup before you stripped it. I take it you went i5 / i7? oh just noticed you gone i7 ;) If you have the P5q3 lying around i could give it a loving home for you....

I was looking at doing a set-up similar to the perfomance pc build out of this months custom PC mag on page 32 but cutting a few corners to get the price down in places.

different case

motherboard - ga-ex58-ud3r £126.70

CPU - intel core i7-920 £211.80

Corsair - Dominator xm3 pc3-12800 £116

cooling -Titan fenrir ttc-nk85tz £31

Graphics - Asus Radeon hd 5870 £302 (is there one alot cheaper that will give similar output??)

Psu - Be Quiet! dark power pro 650w £102

Hard Disk - Samsung spinpoint 3 1tb £60

Sound card - creative X-fi Xtreme Gamer £66 (would like 7.1 is possible??)

Is this a good set-up?? Ideally I'd only want to spend £100 on each of these components, I think £300 is way over the top or graphics??

Do you plan on clocking?

What size monitor are you gonna be running....

 

Looks good,Graphics wise a 5770 will happily run every game at all resolutions with some settings off or a notch below maximum but you wont get that problem with a 5870....What will the system be for? as a i7 may not be necessary and you could get a i5 or Phenom II 965 along with a 5870....

at the mo I'e got a 19", but I also like using the 50" tv

I'll be getting a new monitor at a later date 22/23"

Ok bud i created a thread on overclockers for a spec check....

 

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18097480&highlight=5870

Thanks for thread

Not sure about overclocking, is it worth it??

All depends on what you want to use the system for, Would you need anyomore power/speed than your basic spec? It would be futreproof for a while as the processor is easily clockable to around 4Ghz on air with the right components installed. If you check the tread out on overclockers and maybe register to continue the thread you will get better advice than i could probably give to be honest. They will spec you using the overclockers shop but you can go elsewhere and buy cheaper.....

 

I know that the choice of Gpu's is overwhelming and there are differcences between the same card from different manufacturers.....

just to throw into the equation HD5850 is proving a very good card for the money @£200

 

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/10/12/review_graphics_amd_ati_radeon_hd_5870/

Edited January 3, 201016 yr by 8ace

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18097255

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/gpu_displays/asus_radeon_hd_5850_1gb_gddr5_graphics_card/1

 

Have a read of this review on the asus 5850 it compares too 5870, this may help you a little...

and another http://www.techspot.com/review/206-his-radeon-hd-5850/ I'm gonna get me one of these I think over the next few weeks after checking my bank bal. Not a lot in it at all between the HD5870 & HD5850 except the huge price difference.

 

Everywhere cheap seems to be sold out of them though at moment except for the lower 512mb ones.

 

Not checked here though http://www.lambda-tek.com/componentshop/index.pl?origin=gbase2.3&prodID=B252253 for availability

Edited January 3, 201016 yr by 8ace

Hi Vodkashots some good advice there. aand a very strong setup before you stripped it. I take it you went i5 / i7? oh just noticed you gone i7 ;) If you have the P5q3 lying around i could give it a loving home for you....

 

I would matey but you would have to be aware that its missing both Wifi aerials and also the I/O shield (lost them when we moved into our new house back in April) the motherboard looks brand new, as im obsessive about dust in PC's lol, oh and it doesnt have a box due to me throwing it out, but the motherboard works flawlessly, i have tried getting a new I/O shield from Asus along with some replacement aerials but they don't seem to do replacements.

 

I think the first thing people should be saying, is what they want to realistically be playing and at what settings.