Building My First Computer

Hi,

This will be my first PC I've ever build. I do ICT at school and have a basic knowledge of how a computer works and what goes where into which slot on a Mobo.

I've got a PC I've 'built' from components I've found and AFAIK all fit together and should work. Just thought it might be a good idea to come here and ask for some more help.

Casecom Black Mid Tower Case - Front Blue LED 120mm Fan - With Side Window
Intel Core 2 Duo E8200 Socket 775 (2.66GHz) FSB1333 6MB Cache Retail Boxed
Asustek S775 Nvidia 650i ATX GLAN
Asustek GeForce 8800GT 1GB DDR3 PCIE Dual DVI 600/1.8Ghz
Hiper 580W HPU-4M580 SLi Certified ATX2.2 PSU
Western Digital Caviar SE 320GB S300 8MB
Edimax 802.11g 54Mbps PCI card
OcUK 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C5 800MHz DDR2 Dual Channel Kit
Sony DVD+-R/RW/DL SATA blk/beige
Dabs Value Standard Keyboard USB
Blk/Silv Gigabyte GM-M5100 Optical Silver Mouse
USB Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition w/SP2b
Hannspree XM New York 19" TFT Monitor

It's going to be mainly a 'fun' PC for playing games on and browsing the net and music and the alike.

Bearing in mind this includes OS and Display this whole lot should cost £665.14 I'm happy, I don't want to go much higher but I might be able to stretch abit more.

What opinions on this are out there, either things that wont work or things that can be improved upon.

Cheers

Dave

After a quick look through that it all looks like it should work, however I have to have a shower now, and will have a better look when I get back.

Yeah, looks fine. Good luck.

My system was a similar spec to that (maybe a little higher in areas), and cost me an extra £400 when built about 6 months ago. It's amazing how things drop. My GFX card has already shed £40 of it's price!

Cheers guys, the only thing I'm slightly worried about is that the PSU isn't going to be powerful enough. I've been warned of that by a few people.

Dave

it should be enough, unless you are wanting to go SLI in the future, then I would recomend a higher wattage PSU.

except, thats illegal, so I wouldn't be surprised if your banned now.

Cheers, I'll keep the PSU then. And I really dont wanna go illegal. If I wanted a free OS I'd use Linux but I need a Windows OS, basically XP for a couple of the things I want to work properly, i.e. they dont work in Linux at all and have to be botched into Vista.

Dave

Hi Dave.

Yup, all looks good except the 8800GT; a 1gb version on a 1280x1024 tft is massive overkill. Unless you're getting this at a good price a 256mb version will more than suffice, heck, an oc'd 9600GT will be more than enough.

Also, a stock-clocked or even oc'd 8800GT doesn't have the guts to make use of that amount of ram. 1gb of ram is only required at insane resolutions and there isn't a single card out there that can game on these resolutions.

The Hiper is noisy when running at peak. If staying with the 8800GT (which needs around 16a on the 12v rail) you'll be fine. But it's always nice to build some overhead into your available wattage so the psu isn't stressed as much because this promotes longevity. Thingie also makes a pertinent point regarding having an SLI board should you go dual-card in the future.

I realise the Hiper goes for around £40 but I'd prefer to see this in the build for the reasons mentioned. Still, it's your money so it's your choice.

OK....

Would this be a better choice: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...)%20-%20Retail

Sorry dont know how to get the tidy link

Dave

Much. It's a vanilla (not factory oc'd) so you may be able to overlclock it yourself and squeeze out a few more fps if you need to down the line.

Also, because it's a vanilla, it's cheaper.

But, there's also this one that is just under a quid more with a 100mhz increase on the gpu speed.

The cooler is based upon the Zalman flower which is an awesome gpu hsf.

Alex, I'm afraid I'm going to have to disagree with you on the graphics card. I'm gonna keep the 1GB as I'd rather pay the extra £50 for three times the memory and hopefully plenty of time before it needs replacing.

The PSU I'm undecided, I'd say it would be unlikly I'm going SLI at any time in the (near) future so I might or might not get your recommendation.

Cheers anyway

Dave

You would probably be better ploughing that £50 into another component, like a better PSU. But it is your choice.

The 1GB is not really future proofing, unless you intend to get a monstrous monitor in the future. And even then, the card is not really powerful enough to use all of that 1GB.

But, we can only make recommendations, and it is your choice.

I can think of nothing worse than a noisy PSU.

Dave,

It is better to have that extra power there if needed. My computer is powered by a 750W PSU - I'm never going to draw close to that, but it is nice knowing that the power is there if required.

Also, the PSU you have may be enough to RUN the card, but will it be enough to run it at it's optimal performance? If that extra power is there it can supply that extra juice needed to get the best out of your card.

Tom

Alex is correct. There is no reason to have 1GB on your graphics card - unless you're running 2560 x 1600, 512 is just fine.

The money could easily go into PSU, a 8400, or a 680i or P35 mobo.