Another first build thread....

[kieran]

Sorry guys about posting yet another first build advice thread, but I would really appreciate some input.

So I'm looking to build a good system, for the lowest price possible- absolute maximum would be £450 inc VAT (my student loan is supposed to be for studying afterall!).

I'm definately going to be purchasing the A-top Gladiator gaming case (silver) probably from x-case, which is £49 (£57.58 inc). But does anybody knows if this can be purchased for cheaper from anywhere else?

Is the Psu good enough that comes with this case?

Because I've already picked this case all other components need to be compatible.

The main parts required will be:
Athlon 64 processor- I was thinking of a 3400+. I'm more than happy to go for a socket 754 as I believe they are cheaper and have similar performance, and I'm not looking to upgrade for a couple of years after this build.

1 Gig of Memory
Decent size 7200 rpm hard drive
DVD drive
DVD writer
floppy drive

I'm going to be playing games like Football Manager (which has a big database) And potentially games like GTA or Doom etc, but not heavy gaming where I need crystal clear graphics like many of you do! So I'm not sure about which graphics card to use- if any (on-board graphics???)
I would also like to be able to link my TV/VCR to my computer so that i can record some of my programmes/films onto it, and then onto DVD. So I think that means I'll need a TV tuner? Do these have integrated graphics so that i dont need to buy a seperate graphics card?

I really have no idea about which motherboard to pick as there seems to be so many and it all seems like jargon to me.

I would prefer to buy from the same site (in the UK), such as e-buyer, or one which you would recommend, to keep delivery costs down.

Thanks in advance

[naturbo2000]

Case - not seen before, so no idea as to PSU. You'll probably get a number of responses about how you shouldn't skimp on a PSU, but for 450 I don't think you have much choice. You won't use the full 450W, so it's probably OK.

I personally would cut back on the processor. Looking on ebuyer 939 processors are now around the same price as 754 (if you ignore semprons - though they could seriously cut costs!) and have a nice performance boost. A 3000+ should be fine.
Bear in mind that 754 motherboards are probably cheaper. Go with something Nvidia based.

For hard drive, 120/160GB seems to be the best pricing currently. Not sure that manufacturer really matters these days. For floppy - get a combined memory card reader. It's barely any more expensive and you're bound to use the card reader more than the floppy...

If you want to play FPS games (e.g. doom 3) then you can't really get away with onboard graphics. minimum really wants to be a Geforce 6200/6600 (avoid the 5 series...) or Radeon 9600/X600 or higher.
One possibility is a All-in-wonder 9600, but I think you'll be pushing to make budget.

ebuyer is a good choice for supplier - I get most of my stuff through them - esp when it needs to be cheap!

btw - does the 450 have to include a monitor? if so, you'll have to do some SERIOUS corner cutting.

[kieran]

Thanks for the reply. The budget is only for the base system..... I think I would be definately pushing my budget if it included the monitor aswell!!! lol

By going for the All-in-wonder 9600 does this provide me with the capability of having a TV tuner and a graphics card all in one as the name suggests?

[irishjoe]

I've heard that they are releasing a mobile version of the 754. Should be good for overclocking if you need some extra speed in the future...

[Shameless]

Dont skrimp on the powersupply, its always a sound invstment to get a good quality powersupply. Its often overlooked but a cheap generic powersupply will be nothing but a headache

[naturbo2000]

see - told you

The best option is to go with a cheaper case and something like an antec PSU (380W is ~25quid at ebuyer) for your budget, but as I say I've built a bunch of machines on generic PSUs that come with cases. The one warning I will give is that if you intend to overclock or run high end components (6800s etc) then a lower powered quality PSU is a requirement (more stable voltages etc.).

And yes - the all-in-wonder cards are TV and graphics cards combined.

[Rohan]

If you're not overclocking, and not worried about upgradability, then yes the socket 754 3400+ is still the best bang for buck at stock speeds. At 2.4Ghz the chip is basically a 3800+ without dual channel memory, and yet it is cheaper than the venice 3200+. The lack of dual channel doesn't hurt it much at all.


The choice of motherboard comes down to which graphics card you want. At the moment your best bang for buck is the X800GT, which is only available for PCI-express. There are socket 754 nforce4 motherboards out there which have PCI-e slots, such as the MSI K8N NEO3-F or Gigabyte GA-K8NE (available from ebuyer).


If you want a TV tuner, I'd recommend you buy that separately as a PCI card.It'll be around £30 for a Leadtek TV2000 XP

[kieran]

Here's a list of items I've found from scan.co.uk What's everyones opinion on this setup? Does it seem ok?

A-top gladiator gaming case with Psu £68.10

Athlon 64 3400 Socket 754 £117.90

Gigabyte GA-K8NE nf4 PCI-E £49.93

Corsair 1Gb (2 x 512) DDR 400 £69.33

160Gb Maxtor Diamondmax Plus 10 (7200 rpm 8Mb) SATA £53.43

LG 16x DVD Rom £13.50

AOpen DUW 1608 DVD-RW £32.30

Mitsumi floppy drive and 7 in 1 card reader £12.33

Total: £416.82 (plus whatever delivery costs are and a graphics card)

I still need a graphics card but I dont particularly want to pay £100 plus for one, when I'm only really going to playing Football manager- hardly graphics dependent! So what would be advisable to get for about £20- £30?

[herulach]

I can do better than that.

Case: (Know you said you had one but this ones better)
Coolermaster Centurion 5 39.35
DVD Writer: Sony
CPu:
A64 3000+ (Venice) will easily overclock to 3400 speeds.
GPu:
X800GT
HDD:
160GB of your choice ~ 55quid
Ram:
Corsair Value Select 1GB
Mobo:
Epox 9NPA+ (SHould be about 70 quid +shipping cos they dont sell it at scan, but its the best board youll get for the money)
PSU

Tagan 380W

Admittedly ive gone a bit over (comes out around 510) but 60 quid is like 2 nights out, and in the grand scheme of things, 2 nights out is worth a good graphics card.

[kalniel]

Here's a list of items I've found from scan.co.uk What's everyones opinion on this setup? Does it seem ok?

That looks good to me (given you've specified you want that case). I would recommend trawling ebay for a second hand graphics card - you should be able to pick up something playable for that price - look at something like the ati 9600pro or nvidia ti4600. If you can stretch further then a nvidia fx5700 (full version, not le/ve) is a good card. Do NOT go for the fx5200, or anything with an MX in the name

If you can't find those in your budget, then basically pick anything from a gf3 upwards (not the ti200 though). Gf3 and above are the generation of cards that start having pixel shaders which makes a difference in even last generation games (though probably not football manager!) I've even got a gf3ti500 hanging around

Hope that helps,

kalniel

[iranu]

^^ He needs a PCI-e graphics card not AGP

Your case will not make your pc go faster or give you extra hard drive space or give you more ram or give you better graphics.

Budget systems require budget cases and I mean £10-15 from ebuyer. I'd rather have £10 worth of case and £45 worth of PSU. Fancy case can be bought later if it need be.

As for S754 I'd give it a miss - you can pick up a £80 S939 3000+ venice ( here and then buy £10 worth of cooler saving £10-15) and decent mobo for £167 easily. Put a mild overclock on the venice and there you go. You then have a platform that will take a cheap cpu upgrade in the future and go dual core if needed.

It will have plenty of power for 2 years of student use and football manager!.

[kalniel]

^^ He needs a PCI-e graphics card not AGP

oops! So he does!

Then I'd tell him to go for an nforce 3 board as agp cards are cheaper second hand

[crepness]

Have a look at the Aerocool Turbine Power 450W PSU. A bit more expensive than the Tagan but it's modular and delivers more power.

[nez]

Drop the floppy, save yourself a £10

Homer simpson quote: 'I hate them sooooo much'

nez

[Dougal]

I'm getting the same board as you.

Seems to be better then the Asus one and its the only one that supports 3 slots.

[kieran]

see - told you

The best option is to go with a cheaper case and something like an antec PSU (380W is ~25quid at ebuyer) for your budget, but as I say I've built a bunch of machines on generic PSUs that come with cases. The one warning I will give is that if you intend to overclock or run high end components (6800s etc) then a lower powered quality PSU is a requirement (more stable voltages etc.).

And yes - the all-in-wonder cards are TV and graphics cards combined.

Can i ask what i should be looking for when looking for one of these cards? Which features are necessary for being able to record TV programmes onto my computer and to put VHS films onto my hard drive and convert them to DVD's?