Home built PC's

[WLeg]

Might put one together for the eldest ( you know, xmas thing....)

Advice needed on what are the best components (boards, BIOS, Video, power supplies, cases, fish, pink lights, etc) around these days.

One of her main requiments will be SIMs 2 / MSN / some other game......

Space is not an issue, but will go with a TFT

 

[machasm]

I have used a lot of shuttles and found them to be very neat, compact, quiet and yet still very powerful machines which put some desktop and mini towers to shame.
Try this link.
You can still put in a high end graphics card in these but be careful that the card you choose should only occupy a single slot.
Mac.

 

[PJH]

The Sims2 requires a T&L graphics card. Lots of PCs won't run Sims2.
See Sims2 requirements here http://sims2.servopro.com/sysreq.htm

 

[Plodd]

I have built a few of my own now but to be honest I am wondering if it is worth it.

Some of the deals you can get these days are very good value for money and you will struggle to build a system for the same price. The only problems I have had with bought systems is no space inside the case to do any future upgrades.

It is a nice feeling though the first time you boot a home made system.

 

[mercmanuk]

Ive been building pc's and upgrading for about 5 years now and to be honest the prices the likes of dell are selling for cant be beaten.i go and buy 2 processors,2 motherboards etc etc.dell buy 250,000 processors ,250,000 motherboards from the manufacturers and dictate what price they want to pay....how can i compete

 

[Ashley]

I have to agree PCs are not costly now, but like Plodd said a lot of enjoyment comes out of building your own.

This is our order list for our gaming PC that I built in September (and we have Sims II, works just fine).

Tower
Sonata II UK Piano Black Quiet Midi Tower

OS
Windows XP Home Edition with Service Pack 2

dvd drive
DVD+-R/RW 16x DL OEMBlackH

Floppy
1.44MB Internal 3.5" Black


Motherboard
Asus A8N SLI PREMIUM


CPU
Athlon 64 3000+ Socket 939 512KB Inc Fan


Graphics Card
GeForce 7800GT 256MB PCI-E Dual DVI-I
2 x

Memory
Corsair 2GB DDR XMS3200C2PT TwinX (2x1GB) CAS2 (MY-079-CS)
2 x

Hard drive
Caviar 160GB SATA150 8MB 7200rpm

 

[fuzzer]

ive stopped building pc's for people . I agree the deals from dell / hp are amasing . as easy as it is , its still more hassle with a self build unless your doing something special

 

[Thmsshaun]

ive stopped building pc's for people . I agree the deals from dell / hp are amasing . as easy as it is , its still more hassle with a self build unless your doing something special

I will build and upgrade for family but thats it and dont offer. I am about due to replace mine and dont think it worth building your own for some of the prices out there.

If its your first build though. I would do it just for the satisfaction of doing it yourself.

 

[WLeg]

I've built them before - agree that Dell etc can do it cheaper (and probably better), however, she is after someting different......pink lights, fish, etc not a dull black box !!

 

[Sp!ke]

Its still cheaper to build your own PC if you have access to your own software - depending on what you are building .... For instance Dell dont actually make a really high end gaming PC. Mid range stuff for surfing and browsing you can build something yourself for under £200 besides, you can build something rather different.

I bought a bargain case the other day fom maplins... neon lighting, Perspex panels etc and only £30 :bannana:

 

[W210 Fan]

I always build my own, but I design complicated 3d stuff on my PC, latest 1 is water cooled and geared for CAD not games. Dell and HP make very competeitive machines on price but they are absolute Pony, I used to fix PC`s for my mates until I got cheesed off with constantly going round burning my own fuel and not getting my own stuff done because Dells are just that bad. They put on a lot of emulating software rather than building the proper hardware so although the specs match up in the real world a proper PC willl thrash the pants off it as there is more CPU run time available, try running a test using something like 3D mark on a Dell and then on a self-build which on paper is the same spec. When you do a self build you will also load less software on which will load less shite in the tray (beside the clock) and leave more CPU available again. Now I just build specials for like minded CAD people that need the power.

update before I even post the post, went to dells website and looked at their cheapest PC, went to my online supplier ( www.ebuyer.co.uk ) and added up at their costs and it was £26 cheaper, OK so you don`t get the software with mine but I have a cakebox full of it and Dell and all the others will virtually not pay for software at all, and Intel will sell them CPU`s 75% cheaper than they will sell it to me, and at the end of the day, its not a Dell.

My spec if anybody is interested, just finished building a water cooled nightmare by the way,

ThermalTake Tsunami Case (no lights or anything),
3GHz P4 overclocked to 4.5, 800FSB means I have 2 CPU`s,
2GB GEil RAM,
2X 74GB raptors in RAID 1 system disk,
400Gb lazy disk for films etc,
LG DVD RW,
Nvidia 6800 GT that thinks its a Quadro 3500,
ABIT Motherboard,
Lots of copper blocks I made at work, 6 Litre resovior, tubing etc.

temps Idle

CPU 27
System 24
Raptors 29

temps under FULL load
CPU 34
System 27
Raptors 37

silence and power, bit like merc really

 

[blicky_1]

I have used a lot of shuttles and found them to be very neat, compact, quiet and yet still very powerful machines which put some desktop and mini towers to shame.
Try this link.
You can still put in a high end graphics card in these but be careful that the card you choose should only occupy a single slot.
Mac.

I use one as my server at home, great machines and very quiet

Same as this http://www.casetech.co.uk/Shuttle-SK43G-AMD-Skt-A-KM400-SATA-p-16870.html

 

[lil.smartie]

Take a look on CPC, aria and e-buyer for bits and pieces. My PC is a Dell server with upgraded graphics card, soundcard and the old HD added to save losing music, photos etc.

Kate

 

[W210 Fan]

I use,

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/home/
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/
http://www.overclock.co.uk/customer/home.php

Ebuyer is very cheap but their returns procedure is a bit silly, Overclockers have lots of nice products and are slightly more expensive and overclock is very good and in Slough which is about 10 miles away from me if I need something in a hurry.

http://www.tomshardware.com/index.html

is very good for reviews, information and upcoming products, If anybody needs a hand building a new PC gimmi a shout and I can give you a hand

 

[glojo]

because Dells are just that bad. They put on a lot of emulating software rather than building the proper hardware so although the specs match up in the real world a proper PC willl thrash the pants off it as there is more CPU run time available,

I'm in the minority here and agree with W210. When I specced my latest computer with like for like bits, a self build was the cheapest option?

Incidentally, although not really relevant to a simple game machine, I would always recommend two hard drives. I once came unstuck big time when I simply partitionea a large single drive.

Solely for gaming then perhaps AMD, although I am a dyed in the wool INTEL person.

Good luck with the choice,
John

 

[Mambo]

My main machine was built around this case around 2 months ago, although it was on special offer when I got it (£90) :bannana:

Used as a web box and a media centre and does me just fine! IIRC cost me about £350 all in, P4 3GHz, 1GB PC2700 RAM and a 300GB disk. Gonna stick in another disc this weekend as I am running out of space

Although I agree that Dell normally offer cheap PCs, thats exactly what they are, cheap. If you want something a little different I would still suggest building your own

 

[W210 Fan]

Mambo, I was wondering why you went for 2700 RAM and not the 3200 that a P4 should take, I assume as its a socket 775 that your CPU will be a 800FSB so our RAM should be 3200 as it will be murduring your 2700 by running it too quick and if you don`t put extra fans in a SSF (I have had a few) there is not enough air to cool the RAM so it may be very hot, although it does depend on what kind of apps your running, did you buy 2 sticks of RAM or 1? I also assume that this PC has dual data memory which means if you have 2 sticks it will send half of its data down 1 and the other half down the other rather than waiting for it all to go down 1 stick which is quicker, its like saying I can get twice the amount of cars down a dual carriage way in comparison to a single carriage way.

 

[Mambo]

Mambo, I was wondering why you went for 2700 RAM and not the 3200 that a P4 should take, I assume as its a socket 775 that your CPU will be a 800FSB so our RAM should be 3200 as it will be murduring your 2700 by running it too quick and if you don`t put extra fans in a SSF (I have had a few) there is not enough air to cool the RAM so it may be very hot, although it does depend on what kind of apps your running, did you buy 2 sticks of RAM or 1? I also assume that this PC has dual data memory which means if you have 2 sticks it will send half of its data down 1 and the other half down the other rather than waiting for it all to go down 1 stick which is quicker, its like saying I can get twice the amount of cars down a dual carriage way in comparison to a single carriage way.

Whoops that was a typo! It is PC3200, two sticks of 512MB DDR...

 

[splang]

I use Ebuyer, dabs and http://www.microdirect.co.uk


I generally just check the prices of all three. They tend to monitor each others' prices also I think.

Steve