[Darkseth]

Although I have got more life out of my laptop(many thanks for advice) I am looking at building a desktop. Would get a pre built system but I don't need half the stuff you get so I reckon it would be cheaper to do it myself. Basically, I was just wanting some advice on it being a newbie. Any advice telling me a newbie should probs not be building one I will ignore as I am 21 so therefore know everything ;-)

Anyway, it's not not a gaming machine in the slightest however may need to run engineering programs in the future so thats why the spec might seem excessive for media player, internet and word.

Anyway, it is a budget pc(as such) and i'm going through cclonline but really don't know what to look for.

I know I need

case/power supply/cooling
Motherboard
CPU
RAM
Hard disk
Graphics card
Sound card??
connectivity usb thing(i'm very technical)
DVD drive

Have I missed anything?

For CPU I had in mind splashing out a little
http://www.cclonline.com/product-inf...d=bx80562q6600
so any advice on that would be great. I'm not sure if I need it, as dual core I can pick up for £60.

I have an external Philips 250 Gb hard drive which I think I will be able to convert to an internal one? Was also wanting a 15-20Gb second hard drive to run programs on. Less searching time I guess.

Also have an external DVD writer which I should be able to convert to internal so that should save me money.

I was looking at 1-2Gb RAM and poss 64-128 Mb graphics card. I know I should look for a well known name but i'm sure you have more experience on which work well, and which work well together with motherboards etc.

I just want a very stable system that will run fast and I won't have to many problems with it.

Also, I wouldn't mind keeping it as cheap as poss.

So does anyone have any ideas, sorry for it being such an open question but I don't know much about things nowerdays. Last time I knew vaguely what I was talking about 32mb graphics cards started from £120 and 64mb ones were £600+ so i've been out of it for a while.

Cheers,

Dave

[Spencer2004]

it all seems a bit too much for an engineering program unless if its 3d then its ok.

any graphics card that has 256mb or more should be ok.

to avoid any motherboard compatibility problems i would sugest getting a motherboard bundle that includes the mobo, cpu and ram. you could get a 10ghz quad core with 4gb of ram and the mother board for just over £300 from ebay.

instead of converting your external hard drive i would just buy a new internal since they are very cheap these days. go for a high speed sata hdd if possible as it will increase performance and loading times of windows and your programs.

good luck with your new computer!!

[Thunderer]

From what I could see you are also going to build a pc that is for engineering and some editing. In my opinion, you should get the quad core Q6600 (the one you have a link to), about the motherboard you should get one that supports DDR3 memory and thus buy 2GB of DDR3 memory of 1066MHz so that they would be compatible with the CPU (with regards to the speed). So you would get the optimized speed. About the VGA an 8800GTX would be the top card to buy but since you are on a budget, an 8600GTS should be ok. With regards to the case try and buy one that has good ventilation (but you have to choose it since it is a personal taste) but ThermalTake do have nice and good cases to choose from. With regards to the power supply you should go for an Enermax one the 850W galaxy one. Lastly, about the HD, the one you have is ok but you should buy a 500GB extra one so that you would have more space (in which you really need it).

Hope it helped.

[alex]

Originally Posted by Thunderer From what I could see you are also going to build a pc that is for engineering and some editing. In my opinion, you should get the quad core Q6600 (the one you have a link to), about the motherboard you should get one that supports DDR3 memory and thus buy 2GB of DDR3 memory of 1066MHz so that they would be compatible with the CPU (with regards to the speed). So you would get the optimized speed. About the VGA an 8800GTX would be the top card to buy but since you are on a budget, an 8600GTS should be ok. With regards to the case try and buy one that has good ventilation (but you have to choose it since it is a personal taste) but ThermalTake do have nice and good cases to choose from. With regards to the power supply you should go for an Enermax one the 850W galaxy one. Lastly, about the HD, the one you have is ok but you should buy a 500GB extra one so that you would have more space (in which you really need it). Hope it helped.

I disagree, the components quoted (above) are massive overkill.

I assume you're talking about Autocad and such? If so, a decent cpu with a decent cache is going to be the order of the day. DDR3 is still prohibitively expensive, although bandwidth is a box that needs to be ticked so the 1066mhz (pc8500) is looking like an option. BUT. A dual-core cpu (which is what i'm going to spec you) doesn't have such a need as a quad core of bandwidth so DDR2 800mhz (pc6400) is your best bet.

The psu quoted is primarily aimed at dual card gamers and overclockers. It's also very expensive and wasted on a build for the usage you're quoting.

Both those cards are overkill and they're also configured for game's. Nvidia also do some (superb) cards, Quadro's, optimised architecturally for applications such as Autocad. They are expensive for what they are (when compared to a gaming card) but that is an unfair comparison as the structure of them is, again, optimised for a different use.

I'd be looking at:

cpu: Intel E6750.
Motherboard: Asus P5K-E
Hard drive: 500gb, Samsung or Hitachi.
Graphics card: Quadro FX1500
psu: 600w Enermax, any model.
Ram: Corsair XMS2 CL5, 2x1gb dimms.

You've got pretty much bang upto date technology there without being screwed on early adoption, pricewise, of another.

I realise this is over your budget but if you're going to do something it may as well be right and stability and speed come at a price.

CCL are a decent place to buy from (they're local to me) but can be a tad overpriced. So don't narrow your search to them.

Have a look at these also:

www.scan.co.uk
www.ebuyer.com
www.dabs.com
www.komplett.co.uk
www.aria.co.uk

[Cew27]

case/power supply/cooling
Motherboard
CPU
RAM
Hard disk
Graphics card
Sound card??
connectivity usb thing(i'm very technical)
DVD drive
network card
sound card

[Darkseth]

Thanks guys. I think I may just be too ambitious as I really do have to keep to a budget. I may make a cheap one using a dual core and forget about running anything power hungry then if I need to get another one, i will when necessary.

I mean, if I don't have to run engineering programs, then the most I would be running would be media player and internet.

Anyway, cheers,

Dave