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The PC Building Thread

I've got a keyboard and various mice I can use from my current desktop. What about an optical drive? Is a Blu-ray necessary or should I just get a cheap DVD drive? I could even take the one out of my current system I suppose.

Obviously I need an OS too.
 
The thing about spending so much on a PC at first is the cost is pretty huge. BUT the only thing you'll really need to upgrade once you've got the basics is the graphics card. Gaming is nearly all down to the GPU these days.

The CPU and motherboard are expected to last for 3-5 years before they even come close to being too slow. The RAM requirements haven't changed all that much over the last few years and even then, RAM is cheap. The case will last for YEARS if need be.

The graphics card WILL need upgrading, maybe every year or two. You get money back from selling what you already have though. But otherwise, once your PC is built, you're maybe looking at £100-£150 a year to keep your PC to a pretty high spec. And if you're not playing demanding games, you probably wont even need to do your GPU every year.

Optical drive I'm not sure on. I've got an external DVD-RW that I had for my laptop so I use that, but I never use DVD's or Blu-Rays anyway. Windows 7 is £108. Pricey really, I got it through some student discount because I was an Open University student and got a great discount but it's annoying spending over £100 just on the OS. Not sure what the best way around that is.

Also not sure on racing games requirements, I generally don't play racing games (the only one on my system is Dirt 3). But my ATI 6950 GPU runs everything I've thrown at it and it plays all of my games on pretty much full detail, 1080p and at 60 frames per second so very smooth.

Just had a quick look at the recommended specs of some games:

rFactor 2 - a GTX 460 will easily handle it on max detail
Project CARS - Asking for a 450 as a recommended, so a 460 should be fine
 
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The cost of Windows 7 is perhaps the only thing that could put me off a self build as I could probably find an off the shelf rig with the OS included for similar money.
 
In the interest of saving money could I use some of the parts I already have?

Asus P5N7A-VM
500gb Seagate Barricuda 7200. 12
4gb Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800mhz ram
Sony Lightscribe DVD-RW

Or would it be best to sell the PC and start fresh?

Also arent AMD that good anymore? Back when I was building PCs the AMD were making the better processors.

Is it necessary to have Win 7 Jamez? I was hoping to use my Vista disc.
 
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Pretty sure the motherboard and memory won't be worth keeping. You'd want DDR3 memory anyway.

The HDD and DVD-RW are worth keeping a hold of though.

I wouldn't bother with AMD for CPU's nowadays. They do a decent job but generally regarded as being really quite inferior to Intel nowadays.
 
OK thanks dags, thats about 100 quid saved anyway with the HDD and optical drive.

Dont you use water cooling then? I thought it may have been a necessity with gaming PCs.
 
Nah, not many people use water cooling as air cooling is fine unless you're REALLY overclocking or have poor airflow inside your case. My temps are fine really, and nothing that an extra case fan wouldn't fix anyway.
 
My current desktop runs xp and I certainly don't remember having a disc. I think it was pre-installed. Ditto my laptop which runs Vista. I would need a new OS I guess.
 
After a bit of reading I have come up with a spec, I dont know if its any good or even if it will all work together.

Intel Core i5 2500k processor
Asus P8P67-M motherboard
Crucial 8GB DDR3 1600Mhz ram
XFX HD 6950 XXX AMD Radeon 2GB graphics card
Coolermaster Cm 690 II case
Powercool PC650UM 650W psu
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU fan
Seagate Barricuda 500GB 7200.12 HDD
Sony DVD-RW

Total cost £630.79

Is there anything I have forgot?
 
Operating system?

Make sure the memory will work with that board. Is the memory low profile or does it have fans? I had to get low profile as I wouldn't have been able to get my CPU cooler in at the same time.

If you can, get the 6950 second hand. A few people are moving to the new 7000 series ATI cards and are selling their 6950's off so you could get a bargain.

Great spec though. Very similar to mine really, will handle games with ease at 1080p on high/max detail.
 
I've looked into Windows 7 and the OEM version may be the way to go (recommended for self builds). The 64 bit OEM is about £70 on Amazon and eBuyer. I can deal with that sort of price. :))

Also, would bundles such as these be worth considering.......?

http://www.scan.co.uk/value-hardware-bundles

Is a 500gb HDD plenty big enough for gaming? I'm not likely to use it for much else apart from a bit of music.

So much to think about. :CONF:
 
I would be using the Vista OS that I already have, unless there will be issues with it.

This is the memory http://www.ebuyer.com/342352-crucia...ort-memory-kit-cl10-1-5v-bls2cp4g3d1609ds1s00, I dont know if its low profile or not and I didnt check if it would work with the board :COAT:.

I will look out for the card 2nd hand, thanks for the tip :)).

I just seen that the card is PCIe 2.1 (x16) but the board only has PCIe 2.0 (x16). Does that mean it will not work?
 
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Can't see any reason why you wouldn't get the 2500k bundle, does it save any money?

500gb is fine, especially if you're not planning on tons of gaming. I've got about 50 games installed on my 500gb and still tons of space.

ED, that memory is low profile. You need to check if it's good with the board first though.
 
The Scan VB20i bundle looks good. With the i5 2500k, Arctic cooling freezer and 8gb RAM options it comes out at £356.81.......reasonable price do you think? The benefit is the bundle is pre-built and would be better for a novice like me I suppose.
 
The 2500k bundle(same as Jamez mentioned) I priced up was 32.88 more than buying seperate. They do however put it all together for you and I did not take into account thermal paste.
 
Jamezinho said:
The Scan VB20i bundle looks good. With the i5 2500k, Arctic cooling freezer and 8gb RAM options it comes out at £356.81.......reasonable price do you think? The benefit is the bundle is pre-built and would be better for a novice like me I suppose.
Click to expand...

How much to buy separately? Putting it together is really simple, I wouldn't worry about that.
 
Ern Dog said:
The 2500k bundle(same as Jamez mentioned) I priced up was 32.88 more than buying seperate. They do however put it all together for you and I did not take into account thermal paste.
Click to expand...

Buy separately then. And you'll likely get paste with the cooler, or at least I did.
 
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Thanks Ern, some good info there. :TU:

Regarding HD audio, it cannot be sent via toslink cable as it hasn't got the bandwidth to handle it. You'll need to send it via HDMI instead. At least that's how it works in the AV world anyway.

Edit - or you can send it using RCA cables, one for each channel (so six cables for 5.1), but I don't know if PC's support this type of connection (or your amp). I've done it with my Blu-ray player in the past before I got an amp with HDMI's.
 
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Shows how much I know :LMAO:, all the gear and no idea!
I will pass on HD audio then, the card with HDMIs was quite alot. Beteer keep the PS3 for Blu Rays.
 
here is my initial draft spec:

firstdrafto.png


A tad over budget i guess but if you already have a hdd then you can shave off £70.

HDD's have almost doubled in price recently though. i grabbed a 1tb hdd for less then 70 just last year!

Other then that. Those components are top notch especially the CPU and PSU. 750w will be fine for one GPU card and a few hdd's.

The case i just slotted in randomly as choosing a case is a personal thing but set aside £50 or so for case you like. Just make sure the GPU can fit inside the case.

i woudl personaly go for a full tower case as it gives you plenty of room to work in. One with cut out motherboard cable holes is great too but can increase the price of a case.

Check out Coolermaster STorm range. the have cut out holes for cable management.

So long as your case fan fit your GPU, your good to go.

Never skimp on the PSU. Out of that list, that is the last thing you should consider dropping.

Let me know what you think. GPU is of decent quality too and cheap!

Mobo is good, has optic out so it can be connected to your AV reciever!

Places to shop are scan and OCUK. Ebuyer are ok too but for me, Scan is my favourite and OCUK can be a bit pricey.

If you become a member on hexus.net forum and post 30+ then you can get free delivery!
 
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Ill tell you guys what i got

Asus P8Z68 - V Pro Motherboard
Core i7 2600K overclocked to 4.6GHZ from Scan 3XS
16GB DDR 3 Ram
Nvidia GTX 580 MSI (I think) 1.5GB of VRAM
500GB Toshiba Hard Drive
120GB Corsair Series 3 Solid State Drive.

Edit: oh and OS is Windows 7 Ultimate Edition.

@Jonney wow Project Cars looks AMAZING!! Cant wait for it to be released like!
 
jonneymendoza said:
here is my initial draft spec:

firstdrafto.png


A tad over budget i guess but if you already have a hdd then you can shave off £70.

HDD's have almost doubled in price recently though. i grabbed a 1tb hdd for less then 70 just last year!

Other then that. Those components are top notch especially the CPU and PSU. 750w will be fine for one GPU card and a few hdd's.

The case i just slotted in randomly as choosing a case is a personal thing but set aside £50 or so for case you like. Just make sure the GPU can fit inside the case.

i woudl personaly go for a full tower case as it gives you plenty of room to work in. One with cut out motherboard cable holes is great too but can increase the price of a case.

Check out Coolermaster STorm range. the have cut out holes for cable management.

So long as your case fan fit your GPU, your good to go.

Never skimp on the PSU. Out of that list, that is the last thing you should consider dropping.

Let me know what you think. GPU is of decent quality too and cheap!

Mobo is good, has optic out so it can be connected to your AV reciever!

Places to shop are scan and OCUK. Ebuyer are ok too but for me, Scan is my favourite and OCUK can be a bit pricey.

If you become a member on hexus.net forum and post 30+ then you can get free delivery!
Click to expand...

I'd chop the PSU down a bit, that's a lot of money and I can't see 750w really being needed for a while unless you run SLI or Crossfire?
 
Like Jonney says Dags dont skimp on PSU. I did and my machine shut itself down everytime a game got real hectic with lots of stuff on the screen like in Saints Row The Third it did it a few times. That was 100% down to the PSU as I bought a better 850W Corsair PSU and it doesnt do that anymore like.
 
m.schumacher said:
Like Jonney says Dags dont skimp on PSU. I did and my machine shut itself down everytime a game got real hectic with lots of stuff on the screen like in Saints Row The Third it did it a few times. That was 100% down to the PSU as I bought a better 850W Corsair PSU and it doesnt do that anymore like.
Click to expand...

True but a 600w Corsair is more than enough for today IMO. I'm running an overclocked i5 2500k and an ATI 6950 and not had a problem. The spec that Jonney gave would require less power and a 600w should be great. Especially considering a 600w is £70 or so and the 750w is double the price.
 
I got a Corsair 850W Enthusiast for about £80 like and so far so good.

Only 1 more thing to complete my madness of a machine and thats a second GTX 580 like :). I love extreme machines!
 
I don't really know why people insist on using Scan. I had a debate with somebody the other day about it too. Aria is cheaper by a few pounds on pretty much everything.

Anyway here's a build i made using the one above by jonnymendoza as a template.

build1.jpg


If it was me then i'd substitute the 6870 for a GTX 560 for like an extra £12-£20 (https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Com...R5+PCI-Express+Graphics+Card+?productId=44564 or https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Com...R5+PCI-Express+Graphics+Card+?productId=47269). You could get a 560ti for like an extra £5-£10 on top of that. Depends on your budget.
 
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I used scan because of the 3XS Overclock mate. I didnt want to do it myself and mess expensive kit up so I thought id pay professionals who know what their doin to do it for me like.
 
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