building new pc

madmanc

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as title says i havnt built one for a few years now as last one i did lasted me for 6 years no problems, i was looking at an i7 but then i saw the amd hex core....... i dont play to many games but would kike the option too if i wanted, dont need keyboard and other accesories just the tower so to speak, i have around £800 total what do you guys recomend? i would also like to have blu ray burning option but im will ing to sacrifice that for now to up the main pc i can add a burner in a few weeks........... ps i also wanted hd graphics if possible, so what can any one recomend
 
If you want to play games then budget for a high end gfx card, CPU is not so important. Common things that really push CPU are Virtual Machines and video encoding, especially HD video. £800 is a pretty healthy budget, especially if you don't want kbd, mouse, monitor.

You should be able to afford a solid state drive for your operating system within that budget, that will make a big difference to the speed. Then a couple of mirrored HDD for data storage. CPU wise, there is not much difference between 6 core ones, TBH I would go for a high end i5 right now with the option of going i7 later on.

I think blu-ray burners are around £150 mark right now and the discs are not cheap but with HDD space so cheap you really need to have a reason for the burner I would think.
 
thanks mate i think im going i7 root with blu ray later do nt really do video encoding or gaming just want a fast pc for £800 which if i can get5 years out of ill be made up. or maybe i should go the media center route ??? i dont know ewhat to do lol
 
You need to be careful when looking at the i7 CPUs; some fit the LGA1156 socket others fit the LGA1366.

To be honest the only i7 worth the cash are the 920 and 930.

A quick price up on ebuyer of an i7 920, iX58 mobo, 6Gb DDR3 1333MHz RAM, GTX260, OCZ 600W PSU, Samsung 500Gb and 1TB with a retail BD-ROM drive came to £865.

An i5 750, P55, 4Gb DDR3 1333MHz but otherwise the same spec would cost £735. Swapping in a BD-RE brings the cost upto £800.

Whilst an SSD would be nice, I'm having difficulty fitting a decent size (32Gb+) on an £800 pound budget as well as an BD-ROM drive.
 
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So sticking with i7 in a 1366 socket for future upgrades.

CPU i7 920 170
M/B Gigabyte EX58 130
Mem 4GB DDR3 100
GFX Card ATI 5770 115
SSD 60GB 125
HDD 500GB 35
Blu_ray Combi 60
Case Tower 30
PSU OCZ 400W 25

Total 790
 
hmm cheers but i have no knowledge of solid state drive.... ill go do a little research tomorow, the blu ray burner can wate no biggy there, i like the sound of 6gb of memory i take it its a triple set of 2,s . maybe i should future proof and chuck 12gb in there
 
hmm cheers but i have no knowledge of solid state drive.... ill go do a little research tomorow, the blu ray burner can wate no biggy there, i like the sound of 6gb of memory i take it its a triple set of 2,s . maybe i should future proof and chuck 12gb in there

there is not much to research on solid states buddy, except that they are fast (ok not all, but i think the intel x25`s are noramlly recommended but i may have the model wrong)

yeah, have a 60 gig vertex in my system , tiz very fast opening programs up, photoshop opens in about 2 secs where as on normal hdd it could take 7 - 10 seconds.


and make sure you have 64bit OS to clear all that ram!!
 
What I don't understand is you are asking for 'fast' PC but don't do anything heavy duty on it. You can load it with 6 (3 x 2gb modules) or 12GB (3 x 4gb modules) of RAM but you won't see much benefit. For general web browsing, e-mail, watching movies, etc you can easily do very quickly on a i5 based system for 1/2 the price.

But if you are really determined to spend your money then the single biggest difference you will notice is the SSD. As cheekymonkey mentioned boot times and application load will be VERY quick compared to HDD.

After that a gfx card with HD support as more software (like flash) will be using hardware HD acceleration in future.

I know you are trying to future proof for 5 years. Main items that you are likely to upgrade are,
Hard Drive - Go for a motherboard with SATAIII support.
CPU - Intel are quick good about changing sockets less frequently. I expect socket 1158 and 1366 to be around awhile. They will continue to release high end stuff on 1366 and mainstream on 1158. The only thing that might catch you out is if they bump up FSB speeds.
Memory - I expect DDR3 to be around a while the higher end motherboard that 6 modules giving you some options if you go with 3 x 2GB modules.
Graphics card. PCI-E is going to be around for a while. most of the top boards are now supporting two 16x slots leaving plenty of options for the future.
 
What I don't understand is you are asking for 'fast' PC but don't do anything heavy duty on it. You can load it with 6 (3 x 2gb modules) or 12GB (3 x 4gb modules) of RAM but you won't see much benefit. For general web browsing, e-mail, watching movies, etc you can easily do very quickly on a i5 based system for 1/2 the price.

But if you are really determined to spend your money then the single biggest difference you will notice is the SSD. As cheekymonkey mentioned boot times and application load will be VERY quick compared to HDD.

After that a gfx card with HD support as more software (like flash) will be using hardware HD acceleration in future.

I know you are trying to future proof for 5 years. Main items that you are likely to upgrade are,
Hard Drive - Go for a motherboard with SATAIII support.
CPU - Intel are quick good about changing sockets less frequently. I expect socket 1158 and 1366 to be around awhile. They will continue to release high end stuff on 1366 and mainstream on 1158. The only thing that might catch you out is if they bump up FSB speeds.
Memory - I expect DDR3 to be around a while the higher end motherboard that 6 modules giving you some options if you go with 3 x 2GB modules.
Graphics card. PCI-E is going to be around for a while. most of the top boards are now supporting two 16x slots leaving plenty of options for the future.

ok im going with your recomendations mate
im going i7 no matter what
6gb memory (can allways upgrade memory)
descent mobo
and solid state drive for win 7 and software
1tb hdd for all me downloads and storage
a hd card for thegraphics

now im going to go find some stuff, i was thinking the i7 do stepping so i can have some fun with t lol

thanks again mate
 
ok im going with your recomendations mate
im going i7 no matter what
6gb memory (can allways upgrade memory)
descent mobo
and solid state drive for win 7 and software
1tb hdd for all me downloads and storage
a hd card for thegraphics

now im going to go find some stuff, i was thinking the i7 do stepping so i can have some fun with t lol

thanks again mate

That looks like a decent setup. Might be pushed to get it for £800, maybe around the £850 mark. I take it you don't need case, psu and optical drive then. If you can stretch to it, the ATI 5830 is a great card though at around £170 is will eat up a lot of your budget.
 
That looks like a decent setup. Might be pushed to get it for £800, maybe around the £850 mark. I take it you don't need case, psu and optical drive then. If you can stretch to it, the ATI 5830 is a great card though at around £170 is will eat up a lot of your budget.

yeah need A case and psu and optical drive and a blu ray burner may have to drop spec a little i feel
 
I really recommend don't skip on the PSU, I have seen plenty of system problems caused by underpowered and overheating PSU. And Watts is not everything, that 400W unit I recommend will give most cheapo 600w units a run for their money.
 
madmanc - any update on your pc m8?

thinking of just building one myself instead of buying.

Any recommended website for building one guys? Found a few but prefer recommendations.

I have a budget of about £1000 and looking for the highest spec poss and as future proof as poss.
Looking to do some video editing - not so much gamin prob.

thanks
 
madmanc - any update on your pc m8?

thinking of just building one myself instead of buying.

Any recommended website for building one guys? Found a few but prefer recommendations.
In the past I've used: Ebuyer.com, Overclockers.co.uk, Scan.co.uk, Aria.co.uk, quietpc.com, cclonline.com and Amazon.co.uk.

When buying a whole system I generally get everything from the one supplier, unless the price difference is enough to cover the postage.
I have a budget of about £1000 and looking for the highest spec poss and as future proof as poss.
Looking to do some video editing - not so much gamin prob.

thanks
If you already have monitor, keyboard and mouse:
Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz Socket 1366 D0 stepping 8MB.. | Ebuyer.com
Asus P6X58D-E X58 Socket 1366 Gigabit Lan Tripple.. | Ebuyer.com
Corsair 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz XMS3 Memory Kit.. | Ebuyer.com
CM Storm Scout + Coolermaster Silent Pro 700W Modular.. | Ebuyer.com
OCZ 60GB Vertex 2E SSD 2.5" SATA-II Read 285MB/s.. | Ebuyer.com
Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3 1TB Hard Drive SATAII.. | Ebuyer.com
PALIT GTX 460 768MB GDDR5 VGA DVI HDMI Out PCI-E.. | Ebuyer.com
Samsung SH-B083L 8x BD-ROM with DVD±RW SATA.. | Ebuyer.com
Total: £966.76

If you do need monitor, keyboard and mouse out of that budget:
Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz Socket 1366 D0 stepping 8MB.. | Ebuyer.com
Asus P6X58D-E X58 Socket 1366 Gigabit Lan Tripple.. | Ebuyer.com
Corsair 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz XMS3 Memory Kit.. | Ebuyer.com
CM Storm Scout + Coolermaster Silent Pro 700W Modular.. | Ebuyer.com
SAMSUNG 3.5 INCH 160GB SATA HDD 7200RPM | Ebuyer.com (As boot drive)
Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3 1TB Hard Drive SATAII.. | Ebuyer.com
PALIT GTX 460 768MB GDDR5 VGA DVI HDMI Out PCI-E.. | Ebuyer.com
Samsung SH-B083L 8x BD-ROM with DVD±RW SATA.. | Ebuyer.com
BenQ G2220HD 22" TFT Monitor 1920x1080 300cd/m2.. | Ebuyer.com
Total: £968.93 + mouse and media keyboard of your choice.
 
In the past I've used: Ebuyer.com, Overclockers.co.uk, Scan.co.uk, Aria.co.uk, quietpc.com, cclonline.com and Amazon.co.uk.

When buying a whole system I generally get everything from the one supplier, unless the price difference is enough to cover the postage.

If you already have monitor, keyboard and mouse:
Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz Socket 1366 D0 stepping 8MB.. | Ebuyer.com
Asus P6X58D-E X58 Socket 1366 Gigabit Lan Tripple.. | Ebuyer.com
Corsair 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz XMS3 Memory Kit.. | Ebuyer.com
CM Storm Scout + Coolermaster Silent Pro 700W Modular.. | Ebuyer.com
OCZ 60GB Vertex 2E SSD 2.5" SATA-II Read 285MB/s.. | Ebuyer.com
Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3 1TB Hard Drive SATAII.. | Ebuyer.com
PALIT GTX 460 768MB GDDR5 VGA DVI HDMI Out PCI-E.. | Ebuyer.com
Samsung SH-B083L 8x BD-ROM with DVD±RW SATA.. | Ebuyer.com
Total: £966.76

If you do need monitor, keyboard and mouse out of that budget:
Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz Socket 1366 D0 stepping 8MB.. | Ebuyer.com
Asus P6X58D-E X58 Socket 1366 Gigabit Lan Tripple.. | Ebuyer.com
Corsair 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz XMS3 Memory Kit.. | Ebuyer.com
CM Storm Scout + Coolermaster Silent Pro 700W Modular.. | Ebuyer.com
SAMSUNG 3.5 INCH 160GB SATA HDD 7200RPM | Ebuyer.com (As boot drive)
Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3 1TB Hard Drive SATAII.. | Ebuyer.com
PALIT GTX 460 768MB GDDR5 VGA DVI HDMI Out PCI-E.. | Ebuyer.com
Samsung SH-B083L 8x BD-ROM with DVD±RW SATA.. | Ebuyer.com
BenQ G2220HD 22" TFT Monitor 1920x1080 300cd/m2.. | Ebuyer.com
Total: £968.93 + mouse and media keyboard of your choice.

thnks for this m8...

never bought from ebuyer - their customer service etc good? pity they're not with quidco - would have been nice to have a bit of cashback there.

Going to have a look at the components and then look for a website on how to actually build it but shouldnt be too hard.

One more question - I still have my old desktop and I know I can buy a switcher to switch which pc the keyboard will control but can I also do the same for the speakers?
 
thnks for this m8...

never bought from ebuyer - their customer service etc good?
Much improved from 5 years ago...
pity they're not with quidco - would have been nice to have a bit of cashback there.
Feel free to use it as a guide to price - if dabs, CCL etc have it cheaper or a similar price buy from them. I generally spec up from ebuyer because they are one of the cheapest and offer free delivery on orders over £50.
Going to have a look at the components and then look for a website on how to actually build it but shouldnt be too hard.
Instructions come with everything. If this is your first build read them carefully and post back if you get stuck... remember things go together without needing a lot of force.
One more question - I still have my old desktop and I know I can buy a switcher to switch which pc the keyboard will control but can I also do the same for the speakers?
There are some KVM switches that come with audio options (e.g. Belkin's Switch2), however I've no experience to be qualified to recommend one. It may be worth making a separate thread either in Gen PC or bargain requests to see if anyone else can suggest one.
 
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We use belkin USB KVM at work and to be honest they aren't that good problems with it losing USB on changing between machines and monitor details not being passed back to PC so on a reboot the PC will not display at correct resolution sometimes.

If its PS2 then make sure you get an electronic one. We used 4 port ones from varity of companies, though they all looked the same and they all used Ctrl-Ctrl followed by number as the key combination to to switch PC so I guess same design. No problems with those.

I did buy a cheapo captive cable 2 way KVM a while back for tenner or something. waste of money.

Shame as we probably binned around 100 of them recently as we are switching to USB PC.

Both should run 1600x1200 resolution when using decent cables.
 
We use belkin USB KVM at work and to be honest they aren't that good problems with it losing USB on changing between machines and monitor details not being passed back to PC so on a reboot the PC will not display at correct resolution sometimes.

If its PS2 then make sure you get an electronic one. We used 4 port ones from varity of companies, though they all looked the same and they all used Ctrl-Ctrl followed by number as the key combination to to switch PC so I guess same design. No problems with those.

I did buy a cheapo captive cable 2 way KVM a while back for tenner or something. waste of money.

Shame as we probably binned around 100 of them recently as we are switching to USB PC.

Both should run 1600x1200 resolution when using decent cables.


I saw one at maplins today - one for usb @ £40 and one for ps2 @ £30 and both had output for speakers - i check the brand etc and post

btw- attached a qualified vendors list and the memory doesnt seem to be compatible with the MB.
 
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