Viewing Thread:
"PC Building"

I'm completely new to this, so any help or advice will be greatly appreciated. I've selected the components I want, they are as follows:

Motherboard:
Abit IC7 [URL]http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=63548[/URL]

CPU:
Intel Pentium 4 2.8GHz 800FSB 1MB [URL]http://uk.special.reserve.co.uk/q_GG4583_cpu_intel_pentium_.html[/URL]

CPU Cooler:
ThermalRight SP-94 [URL]http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Thermalright_120.html[/URL]

Memory:
2x Crucial PC3200 Non-Parity 256MB [URL]http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=116451&cks=PRL[/URL]

Hard Drive:
Seagate Barracuda 160GB SATA 8MB 7200RPM [URL]http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=117681&cks=PRL[/URL]

Graphics Card:
Gainward GeForce 6800 GT 256MB DDR3 AGP [URL]http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=300440&cks=PRL[/URL]

CD-ROM:
ASUS 52x IDE Black [URL]http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?ASU-CDROMB[/URL]

Floppy Disk Drive:
Sony Internal 3.5" 1.44MB Black [URL]http://www.savastore.com/category.asp?catalog%5Fname=Savastore&category%5Fname=Disk+Drive+%2D+Floppy&Page=1&pid=1[/URL]

Power Supply:
Antec TrueControl 550W [URL]http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000YPXS0/qid=1092309466/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/202-1774486-7299823[/URL]

Case:
Chieftec Dragon Black [URL]http://uk.special.reserve.co.uk/q_GG2930_chieftec_dragon_bl.html[/URL]

Monitor:
Relisys TE988B 19" [URL]http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=62136[/URL]

Nice, eh? I reckon it's all ok, but if any of you guys could tell me whether there are compatability issues or key components that I've missed, I'd appreciate it. Also, if you know of anywhere to get any of these cheaper, then please say (unless the product is stocked by Special Reserve, in which case, keep it shtun).

Also - for cooling, aside from a CPU cooler, how do I know what size fans I should get and how many? I'm not sure whether the specification on the case tells me this or not, and I don't know how many I would need for a cool case.

Thanks a lot.

Pff... biggest Thermalright you can afford really. You'll need a fan to go with it, biggest you can. Bigger = less noise for more cooling. You'll find all fans come with a dBA rating, I think 25-30dB is fine.

I can't find any Thermalrights.

Are you sure you didn't mean Termal Tec?

http://www.extremecooling.co.uk and http://www.overclockers.co.uk both stock them.

[URL]http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Thermalright_120.html[/URL]

How about the top one?

When clicking on full specification, it says 3.06GHz and above. Considering I'm getting a 2.8GHz, is this ok?

Yeah it will work fine. It was just their way of saying that it would work with future processors as well because when they released it the 3.06 GHz P4 was the fastest.

Kind of pricey though. The SLK 947/948/900/800 all perform within a degree or so of it so if you see one of them considerably cheaper it would be worth saving the money. I went for an SLK 900 this time as it was £15 less, meaning I could spend more on a decent fan.

Couple of comments.

First one is order as much as possible from one place. You linked to a bunch of places and it might be that they are the cheapest. But a pound of a difference here and there will be eroded by the shipping costs.

Also, give the system more RAM if you can afford it. Windows XP likes memory, lots of it. If you like video editting, more RAM will certainly speed things up as it is a hell of a lot faster than hard drives.

Also for the same money you could get an Athlon 64 setup which would be faster. Again, up to you but it would certainly be my preference.

Other than that, pretty decent spec. Although, no DVD drive?

If you buy from extremecooling.co.uk there's no postage to be paid.

And if you buy from Amazon, Scan, Overclockers, Savastore and Komplett there is lots to be paid.

Just out of interest, what are the best sites for buying PC components?