Help with PCmaking

[mr0161]

yeah, i know, but like the guy said, one mess up and thats it, waste of money, thats what i have been most worried about, if i was getting it all for free, i wouldn't care.

[MovedGoalPosts]

You really have to try hard to ruin all the components you buy. If you take simple precautions (antistatic straps), read the manuals supplied wtiht he products before you start, and take your time, it's just like assembling a meccanno set with a few wires. The difficulty is in troubleshooting if you were supplied with a faulty component - but that is a rare event.

The only system I built came with very detailed assembly instructions for the motherboard, in terms of what plugged in where. In fact it was the case connections, especially the front USB / sound connectors that gave me the biggest headache, as those were labelled differently to the motherboard explaination.

Realistically the PC is designed to be modular in it's components with things swapped out, replaced, or whatever. That makes home building easy.

The hard part is working out what you actually want to go in the PC, and that starts from what you actually want the PC to do, and how you much you have to spend.

Once assembled, you may need to check some settings in the BIOS and from then on it's a case of loading the Operating System, and any specific drivers for your system, follwed by other software.

[Halcyon]

As Rob says, as long as you are careful and dont make it a "rush" job, you will be fine.
For a first time builder, you should give yourself atleast a full weekend.
And the weekend before that, you should be reading all the manuals that you will get...... the motherboard manual will be your PC bible as that will oversee how everything interconnects.

Start off buying all the external bits like the box, monitor, power supply, and the drives.....DVD, floppy, Hard drive, etc.
Oh and remember to check your motherboard manual to see where you need to place your stand off screws where the motherboard will sit on.
Fitting these things in the case is simple screwing work and it means the big things are in the case and out of the way once you get onto the more complex parts.

The moment where you have to be the most careful is when sorting out the motherboard. Its best to put it out on the anti static bag it came in and make sure you, yourself are wearing your anti static strap. (These straps cost about £4 from Maplins. Then hook the other end to an earthed source such as a radiator or your system case if it is plugged in and OFF).

Putting in the RAM and CPU whilst outside the box will be easier.
Just set things in slowly. They should pop in to place quite easily. you will notice that most things will only go in one way too so you cant go wrong.

Just make sure you observe how to align your processor with the correct pins in the correct corner......this will all be in the documentation you will get.

As long as you have done your research, you shouldnt have any problems with compatibility issues.

If your building a 939 based machine be bloody careful with the cpu as the pins bend very easily

[mr0161]

whats a "939 based machine" remember i am new to this.

And how cheap do you think i can make a good computer(gaming/online play/mostly online gaming and just games)?

that will play the latest stuff.

£600/£800
939 is the number of pin connections on the processor.

Originally Posted by mr0161

whats a "939 based machine" remember i am new to this.

And how cheap do you think i can make a good computer(gaming/online play/mostly online gaming and just games)?

that will play the latest stuff.

All CPU types have a specfic socket type number. 939 refers to a 939 type socket. "Based" means it's a computer / system board based around the 939 socket.

Click here for a list of socket types!

MD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3800BVBOX) (CP-134-AM) 1
£188.9
Asus A8N-E nForce4 Ultra (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-088-AS) 1
£61.95
Corsair 2GB DDR Value Select PC3200 CAS3.0 Kit (2x1GB) (VS2GBKIT400C3) (MY-080-CS) 1
£99.95
XFX GeForce PCX6600 GT 256MB DDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (PVT43GUDF6) (GX-045-XF) 1
£109.95
NEC ND4550 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Silver) - OEM (CD-025-NE) 1
£25.50
Lian-Li PC-7 PLUS Silver Aluminium Midi-Tower Case (No PSU) (CA-038-LL) 1
£49.50
Hiper HPU-4B580 Type R 580W Modular ATX2.2 PSU - Blue (CA-006-HP) 1
£54.95
Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 NCQ 300GB 6V300F0 SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-089-MD) 1
£74.95
Subtotal £665.70
VAT £116.50
Total £782.20


Prices taken from overclockers

[basa]

Originally Posted by zinglebarb

MD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3800BVBOX) (CP-134-AM) 1
£188.9
Asus A8N-E nForce4 Ultra (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-088-AS) 1
£61.95
Corsair 2GB DDR Value Select PC3200 CAS3.0 Kit (2x1GB) (VS2GBKIT400C3) (MY-080-CS) 1
£99.95
XFX GeForce PCX6600 GT 256MB DDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (PVT43GUDF6) (GX-045-XF) 1
£109.95
NEC ND4550 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Silver) - OEM (CD-025-NE) 1
£25.50
Lian-Li PC-7 PLUS Silver Aluminium Midi-Tower Case (No PSU) (CA-038-LL) 1
£49.50
Hiper HPU-4B580 Type R 580W Modular ATX2.2 PSU - Blue (CA-006-HP) 1
£54.95
Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 NCQ 300GB 6V300F0 SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-089-MD) 1
£74.95
Subtotal £665.70
VAT £116.50
Total £782.20


Prices taken from overclockers

It don't come much better than that !!

[mr0161]

Yeah, i may get all them parts, will they all fit right into place, and if you can, show me a good case, i play on the computer alot, so i don't want it overheating, i dunno if that mini tower will over heat

---------- Post added at 17:57 ---------- Previous post was at 17:43 ----------

Question - I have been looking at overclockers site, and i keep seeing a big "SLI" thing on some of the stuff, what does this "SLI" mean?

[MovedGoalPosts]

Dunno exactly what SLI stands for but it's to do with graphics cards that use the Nvidia chips. It's a means of having two cards in one PC linked together for enhanced performance.

you dont need SLI and on my list is a very nice case in brushed alu

[mr0161]

Yeah, ok, do you know where and which is best for a monitor.

Back in the day people said the flat monitor was crap for gaming, is that still the same today?

Where do you live Ill build you a top spec pc with a real cool monitor for a grand (not spamming only joking ) Aria do a 19 inch tft with dvi for about £170 (estimate cba to look) Bill_c had one at the lan party in august and it looked pretty smart

[mr0161]

yeah, i may get that, and i'm in manchester =P