PDA

View Full Version : New to modding.



genesis2563
10-29-2005, 02:55 PM
Hi, I'm brand new to all this but I really want to custom build my own pc so I'm gonna give it a shot.

I was wondering if anyone has a couple of minutes just to check through my list of components to see if:
a)it will work
b)it will be good

If anyone could do this I would appreciate it so very much, I dont want to go buying things that arn't compatible as my budget is far from unlimited.

Processer
AMD Sempron 3000+ (http://www.mcscom.co.uk/product.php?xProd=1538&xSec=6)
Motherboard
Biostar (http://www.gladiatorcomputers.com/ProductDetail.aspx?StockCode=MOBBIOK8VGAMA01&Link=SearchResults)
Hard Drive
160GB SATA Hard Disk 7200 (http://www.mcscom.co.uk/product.php?xProd=896&xSec=3)
PSU
Hiper 480W (http://www.gladiatorcomputers.com/ProductDetail.aspx?StockCode=PSUHIP4M480&Link=SearchResults)
RAM
512MB PC 400 DDR (http://www.mcscom.co.uk/product.php?xProd=108&xSec=21)
Graphics Card
Nvidia GForce Mx4000 (http://www.mcscom.co.uk/product.php?xProd=688&xSec=8)
CPU Cooler
Thermaltake A2144 (http://www.techfever.co.uk/products.asp?recnumber=271)
Case
Thermaltake Soprano (http://www.specialtech.co.uk/spshop/customer/product.php?productid=1199&cat=24&page=1#tabs)


Thank you very much, I await your response.

snefan
10-29-2005, 04:38 PM
dont need that good PSU for those components
but all seem to work together
what are you going to use the comp for?
you wont be able to play many games on that :/
and a tip to save money is to buy everything from the same place

http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/kl.asp?bn=10643
on the link you got some choices on AMD systems in different prize ranges.

genesis2563
10-29-2005, 05:47 PM
Thanks for the comment, which parts in particular should i upgrade to make the Sempron 3000+ a worthwhile purchase?

[DGN]Nexus
10-29-2005, 07:51 PM
Get a better graphics card on that list. I would suggest a nVidia GeForce FX 5600 for starters. If you have more money to spend than maybe a little bit more extensive card would be better, but that would be the best for a starter system builder.

Also, that motherborard should be upgraded to be compatible with that processor, if it is one you truly want.

There are actually quite a few incompatibility problems with this setup, so it might be best if you give us a budget and recommend a custom layout tailored to you.

snefan
10-29-2005, 08:07 PM
Nexus']it might be best if you give us a budget and recommend a custom layout tailored to you.
agree

genesis2563
10-30-2005, 12:45 PM
I dont want to sound ungrateful but thank you for your offer, however I would really like to do it my on my own, but again thank you. I just need your educated opinions.

I want to upgrade the motherboard to something better, I understand that since my CPU is socket 754 i have to get a compatible board, I thought maybe this one:
EPoX EP-8NPAJ (http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=308521&view=detailed)
As it has the 754 slot, and PCI express ports to fit a better graphics card and also the part for my Hiper 480W PSU, on the page about it, it says it needs a PCI express port. So for that it is ok.

Graphics card wise I thought something around £30-£50, does anyone have any recommendations?
Bear in mind I am not a gamer to the extent that i need amazing graphics, but i would like good graphics.
Sapphire Radeon X550 (http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=312068&view=detailed) seems nice, as I edit video and am a amateur photographer.

Also, some brilliant news, I calculated the cost of my setup above and it came to £315 and i told my mum what i was going to do, she said it would be interesting to see me make it all, then she said shed pay for it all as my Xmas gift. How awesome is that? Very, id say.

So my new tops budget is around £350 without me spending anything. So i dont mind forking out that extra bit if the component is really worth it.

Sorry for the long post.

Aristo
10-30-2005, 08:08 PM
I would really consider the full scope of what you intend to do with the computer, and like you said, you do want some graphics, but you don't need to be on the bleeding edge. I think what you should really focus on is making sure all the parts you buy will be compatible. Make sure the memory is something that's a tested and trusted brand and if there are currect bios updates to the board you're looking for. All these will play a small part in overall stability. Once that's been set the other stuff is trivial and you should be able to put your budget into all the customizing and eye candy you want.

genesis2563
10-31-2005, 04:17 PM
Awesome, thanks for all your help guys, Il go over all my stuff to check compatibility, then il probably ask if its all correct, because as aforementioned, im new to all this and im fairly uninformed.

slaveofconvention
11-01-2005, 01:32 AM
If you do have a little extra money floating around, I'd certainly consider going with 1024MB of ram, especially if you plan to do video editing - can make a huge difference. Having said that I think there's something that's going to put a little dent in your budget anyway :( I don't see an optical (CD/DVD etc) drive in your list and as you seem to be looking at a whole new system, you're going to need one. If you want a recommendation, I'd suggest the NEC 3540 DVD burner - its a consistent award winner with several magazine reviews, and its also one of the cheaper DVD writers out there - it isn't really worth looking at DVD/CDRW combo drives any more as the price difference is so small. You could also save a couple of pounds (or get 200gig for the same price) if you get a IDE hard disk instead of a SATA one. Yes SATA is better in theory, but for the kinds of things you say you plan to do I don't think you'd really benefit from it.

Also, to confirm what snefan said, it'll save you a LOT of money in postage if you get as much as possible from one place - www.ebuyer.com is pretty good on prices and delivery isn't very expensive - the only negative I can say about them is that delivery usually takes 4-5 days whereas in the UK a lot of places can do it quite a bit faster. I've spent literally thousands with them, for myself and for other people and never had a problem yet that wasn't easily solved.

One final point, and this is as much about personal preference as anything else so feel free to ignore it if you like, but when it comes to the hard disk, don't be tempted to buy a maxtor just because it's cheaper. I've seen too many fail. Think about the longer term - Maxtor offer a 1 year guarantee, while Seagate (always my first choice) and Western Digital (another brand I'm happy with) offer at least 3 and often 5 year guarantees - if it was my money, I'd prefer to spend it with a company who shows more faith in it's products, if you know what I mean.

snefan
11-01-2005, 12:19 PM
dude... what the heck are you going to do with that computer?!?!
play games? what games?

please tell us what you want to do with it...

and btw "do it yourself" thing...
READ UP! please... read more carefully
ON THIS LINK YOU WILL FIND PACKAGES THAT IS NOT BUILD TOGETHER!! YOU GET EVERYTHING YOU NEED FOR A WORKING COMPUTER! AND EVERY PART WORKS TOGETHER! YOU ALSO GET TO INSTALL EVERY HARDWARE PART INTO YOUR CASE YOURSELF! (http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/kl.asp?bn=10643) nuff said :omg:

you are getting on my nerves...

genesis2563
11-01-2005, 05:00 PM
Im sorry, I didnt read it properly.

What im going to do with this computer...hmmm...not play games, il do video editing and Photoshop etc... I want decent graphics but not neseccerily amazing. I just want a generally fairly high performance pc.

Rankenphile
11-01-2005, 05:54 PM
In that case, up the ram to MINIMUM of 1 gig. I do this sort of thing daily, and have a full gig and still run out.

Also, consider a second hard drive, even if it is a small 8gb or something, to use entirely as a scratch disk for photoshop and Premiere and such.

genesis2563
11-01-2005, 05:57 PM
Thats a good idea, Il try and get the extra RAM, I have a spare small hard drive that i could fit up.

Rankenphile
11-01-2005, 06:29 PM
One thing I find usefull, too, is an external hard drive. I bought a 250gb Fantom Drive a few months ago, and I use it all the time for extra storage. Video work eats storage like crazy, and having a portable storage device to transport projects from place to place, especially since I do a lot of freelance work, is a huge boon. It is one of those things you can down the road, but I can't live without it. It serves as my back-up drive and houses all my big projects, and allows me the versatility to take my work home with me, or my home music to work. :)

genesis2563
11-02-2005, 05:32 PM
Ok, so Ive been trying to get my components from only a few stores to save on shipping costs.(which i originally forgot about, stupid me)

Got it down to four stores, now i know that might seem too many to start with but with shipping and all added to the fact that my mother is paying £315 towards it, i will only be spending about £70ish.

I have checked all i can to make sure everything is compatibible and all, but id like someone to doublecheck if they would be so kind.

CPU: AMD Sempron 3000+ (http://www.mcscom.co.uk/product.php?xProd=1538&xSec=6)
CPU Fan: Zalman 120mm flower fan (http://www.vadim.co.uk/Components/Bargain+Bin/Zalman+CNPS7700-ALCU+120mm+Super+Flower+Cooler+AMD+and+P4)
Motherboard: EPoX EP-8NPAJ (http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=308521&view=detailed)
RAM: TwinMOS PC3200 512mb (http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=113518&cks=PRL) (later i will buy some more to make it up to 1gig min)
PSU: Akasa PSU ATX 400W (http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=314644&view=detailed)
Case: Thermaltake Sviking (http://www.itcomputer.co.uk/product.php?ID=02046) (this case is said to be out of stock in most stores, however i think this store has it in as i cant see anywhere that says it isnt on the page, if not then i will phone other stores to check on stock as the website is not always fully updated)
Hard Drive: SATA 160GB (http://www.mcscom.co.uk/product.php?xProd=896&xSec=3)
Graphics card: Xpertvision 256mb Geforce 6600LE (http://www.techfever.co.uk/products.asp?recnumber=2395)

Ok, so some of you might be wary about the hard drive as it does not come with a well known name such as Seagate and whatnot and so (as was commented on before) it may fail and be generally not great.
However, the place i am getting it from (amongst other things) is MCS and their store is just up the road from my house, this means i wont have to pay postage or anything and it will be easy to return anything if faulty. Also, i know the people who own MCS and they would not sell the hard drive if it was in any way unstable or possibly faulty. So im going to continue to buy my HDD from them. But thanks for the concern slaveofconvention.

Thank you to everyone for replying and helping me out with this, i really appreciate it.

genesis2563
11-11-2005, 01:19 PM
It dosnt matter anymore, Ive just ordered all my kit.

Thank you to everyone that helped me.