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Ok, building my first PC around christmas, could do woth some help on the parts. Budget of around £1000. Will be used for pretty much everything, mostly music and internet, some gaming. I want it to be quiet though as my current comp sounds like a foghorn (not too sure on water cooling though). So, that's what I want, please give me an idea of what i'm looking for. Thanks people.
Oh, and is there any new technology likely to be coming out soon that would be useful? Cheers.
Oh, and is there any new technology likely to be coming out soon that would be useful? Cheers.
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Memory (aka RAM) might be useful too. As might a soundcard if onboard sound isn't available. Then how about a network card?
Nimco wrote:
> Memory (aka RAM) might be useful too. As might a soundcard if onboard
> sound isn't available. Then how about a network card?
99% of motherboards have at least 10/100 ethernet onboard these days, and most have Gigabit ethernet.
> Memory (aka RAM) might be useful too. As might a soundcard if onboard
> sound isn't available. Then how about a network card?
99% of motherboards have at least 10/100 ethernet onboard these days, and most have Gigabit ethernet.
Ok thanks a lot guys you've been really helpful. Think i've got the general gist of what to get, only 3 things still really unsure of:
Sound: I'm getting some fairly decent creative 2.1 speakers but not sure about the soundcard to get, not fussed by amazing quality but needs to be fairly good. Dont want/need surround sound.
Hard drive: Mainly the size to get, i got a 120GB at the moment but only use around 30GB, do you think i could get away with one western digital raptor 74GB (is it really worth the extra money as well?)
Graphics card: This is the main problem. I play a few games (Half Life 2, Counterstrike and Farcry mostly), but i'm not that serious about it really, would it be worth saving a few quid and improving in other areas?
One last thing, I'm not intersested in over-clocking so dont worry about that side of things.
Thanks people.
Sound: I'm getting some fairly decent creative 2.1 speakers but not sure about the soundcard to get, not fussed by amazing quality but needs to be fairly good. Dont want/need surround sound.
Hard drive: Mainly the size to get, i got a 120GB at the moment but only use around 30GB, do you think i could get away with one western digital raptor 74GB (is it really worth the extra money as well?)
Graphics card: This is the main problem. I play a few games (Half Life 2, Counterstrike and Farcry mostly), but i'm not that serious about it really, would it be worth saving a few quid and improving in other areas?
One last thing, I'm not intersested in over-clocking so dont worry about that side of things.
Thanks people.
Nitram wrote:
> Sound: I'm getting some fairly decent creative 2.1 speakers but not
> sure about the soundcard to get, not fussed by amazing quality but
> needs to be fairly good. Dont want/need surround sound.
Stick with onboard sound for now. Plenty good enough for 2.1.
> Hard drive: Mainly the size to get, i got a 120GB at the moment but
> only use around 30GB, do you think i could get away with one western
> digital raptor 74GB (is it really worth the extra money as well?)
Is your 120 Sata? If so, I'd suggest a 2nd 120Gb Sata and run the in Raid 0, just as effective as a Raptor and cheaper (or 2x80GB).
> Graphics card: This is the main problem. I play a few games (Half
> Life 2, Counterstrike and Farcry mostly), but i'm not that serious
> about it really, would it be worth saving a few quid and improving in
> other areas?
You'd quite happily get by with an X700Pro @ £115. Very good cards indeed for the price and fully capable of running all of those you mentioned well.
Note: If your going Sata without a floppy, you'll need to either create a hybrid Windows CD with SP2 or buy a new version of XP with SP2 or you'll need a floppy with the drivers for the Sata drives.
> Sound: I'm getting some fairly decent creative 2.1 speakers but not
> sure about the soundcard to get, not fussed by amazing quality but
> needs to be fairly good. Dont want/need surround sound.
Stick with onboard sound for now. Plenty good enough for 2.1.
> Hard drive: Mainly the size to get, i got a 120GB at the moment but
> only use around 30GB, do you think i could get away with one western
> digital raptor 74GB (is it really worth the extra money as well?)
Is your 120 Sata? If so, I'd suggest a 2nd 120Gb Sata and run the in Raid 0, just as effective as a Raptor and cheaper (or 2x80GB).
> Graphics card: This is the main problem. I play a few games (Half
> Life 2, Counterstrike and Farcry mostly), but i'm not that serious
> about it really, would it be worth saving a few quid and improving in
> other areas?
You'd quite happily get by with an X700Pro @ £115. Very good cards indeed for the price and fully capable of running all of those you mentioned well.
Note: If your going Sata without a floppy, you'll need to either create a hybrid Windows CD with SP2 or buy a new version of XP with SP2 or you'll need a floppy with the drivers for the Sata drives.
Tyla wrote:
> Nitram wrote:
> Sound: I'm getting some fairly decent creative 2.1 speakers but not
> sure about the soundcard to get, not fussed by amazing quality but
> needs to be fairly good. Dont want/need surround sound.
>
> Stick with onboard sound for now. Plenty good enough for 2.1.
Didn't we decide a while ago that onboard sound is fairly intensive on the CPU?
> Nitram wrote:
> Sound: I'm getting some fairly decent creative 2.1 speakers but not
> sure about the soundcard to get, not fussed by amazing quality but
> needs to be fairly good. Dont want/need surround sound.
>
> Stick with onboard sound for now. Plenty good enough for 2.1.
Didn't we decide a while ago that onboard sound is fairly intensive on the CPU?
Nimco wrote:
> Didn't we decide a while ago that onboard sound is fairly intensive
> on the CPU?
Nope, I've been using Soundstorm onboard (NF2) for the last 4 years and never had an issue. Most mobo's either use the NB or have a dedicated chip now for on board sound diverting the over head from the CPU.
It does use the CPU, but its minimal.
> Didn't we decide a while ago that onboard sound is fairly intensive
> on the CPU?
Nope, I've been using Soundstorm onboard (NF2) for the last 4 years and never had an issue. Most mobo's either use the NB or have a dedicated chip now for on board sound diverting the over head from the CPU.
It does use the CPU, but its minimal.
Nimco wrote:
> Memory (aka RAM) might be useful too. As might a soundcard if onboard
> sound isn't available. Then how about a network card?
Oh yeah - forgot the RAM. Edited my last post to include it.
As for soundcard, I think I mentioned that, and you don't need a soundcard for a computer to work, as I said.
As for ethernet, does he want that?
> Memory (aka RAM) might be useful too. As might a soundcard if onboard
> sound isn't available. Then how about a network card?
Oh yeah - forgot the RAM. Edited my last post to include it.
As for soundcard, I think I mentioned that, and you don't need a soundcard for a computer to work, as I said.
As for ethernet, does he want that?
Twain wrote:
> a soundcard for a computer to work, as I said.
>
> As for ethernet, does he want that?
Again, a majority of mobo's these days come with gigabit ports onboard At minimum, he'll have a 10/100 RJ45 onboard, so no need for a network card.
> a soundcard for a computer to work, as I said.
>
> As for ethernet, does he want that?
Again, a majority of mobo's these days come with gigabit ports onboard At minimum, he'll have a 10/100 RJ45 onboard, so no need for a network card.
No my old hard drive is an IDE Tyla, but it doesn't matter cos i'm flogging my old setup to my brothers to cover some of the cost :-)
Think i might just get another 120GB Sata drive just to be safe.
What about motherboards, There seems to be loads of them that aren't that much different. I'll probably want one that allows SLI or crossfire for the dual graphics cards. I will only get one GFX card to start with but thats the only thing i'm likely to upgrade, i.e buy another and link them together.
As for a PSU i'm heading for an Antec (are these any good?) but dont know whether to shed out for the phantom version i've just seen. Any opinions?
Think i might just get another 120GB Sata drive just to be safe.
What about motherboards, There seems to be loads of them that aren't that much different. I'll probably want one that allows SLI or crossfire for the dual graphics cards. I will only get one GFX card to start with but thats the only thing i'm likely to upgrade, i.e buy another and link them together.
As for a PSU i'm heading for an Antec (are these any good?) but dont know whether to shed out for the phantom version i've just seen. Any opinions?
Been looking at some mobo's and some have this AI pipe for cooling, does this mean you dont need a fan/heatsink on top of the CPU? Sounds good if not a little unsafe!
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