[twopointoh]

I'm looking to build my own PC soon with a budget of around £1500 (but that's the absolute limit).

I'm not looking for the best of everything, as that will go over the £1500 limit, but what sort of hardware is going to hold up for the next 3-5 years?

I'm looking at the Intel Pentium4 Dual Core 3.4Ghz as the heart, it's powerful and it's not too pricey, but at the same time alot of people prefer AMD (why?)

Should I be going for 1 or 2Ghz of RAM? is there a noticeable difference or can I go for 1Gig and save some money?

also, if anyone can reccomend sites other than Aria (The only one I know of) I'd be greatful.

[mcbee]

I would base it around a Core2Duo processor rather than Dual Core. You can check out Ebuyer, Microdirect, Dabs, Savastore when it opens under new ownership, Scan Computers. £1500 should build a very decent system.

[alex]

Firstly, glad to see another home builder.

As you've quoted a Pentium dual core at 3.4ghz can i assume its the 9** series cpu?

I wouldn't bother with any Intel chip other than the core2 duo series because:

The older architecture Intel used had more pipeline stages (16 i think).
They worked using the rather lousy netburst way.
They can also kick out a tremendous amount of heat due to their high megahertz rating because this needs a lot of power to run it.

As an example, the p4 965 extreme ran at 3.73ghz, had a fsb of 1066mhz and 2 cores each with 2mb cache. It also cost in the region of 600.00.

The Core2 duo E6400 runs at 1.83ghz, has a fsb of 1066mhz, and 2 cores each with 2mb cache. It cost's around 110.00. It also, when running at peak, puts out less than half the heat of the 965 above. (Core 2 duo's have 12 pipeline stages i believe, they have their roots in the old P2 and P3's).

And the best thing? In everyday situations (DVD encoding, multitasking, gaming etc) the E6400 is faster than the p965.

You will need a decent mobo and ram to get the best out of the core2, but then this is the same for any cpu whether Intel or AMD. The C2D boards at release were rather pricey but you can purchase a decent one now for around 90.00 as manufacturers of such items are producing more and more pushing prices down.

I would suggest the 965 or 975 chipset, 680 if you're going dual graphics.

A lot of people prefer AMD simply because up until Intel released the C2D cpu's AMD chips were the ones to have, and have created a terrific fan base. But its very telling that now AMD are selling their previous top end chip the FX-62 at 300.00. It was closer to 700.00 prior to C2D release.

Granted part of this is due to the fact AMD have now moved to 65nm manufacturing for their chips (smaller gap between the cpu 'wafers' meaning more transistors, less heat, less power needed) and these new EE (Energy Efficient) cpu's also, in some models, run faster than the FX-62.

But a drop in price of that percentage on their top end chip and 20-30% drops across the board on AMD chips suggests more than just due to a new line up.

Also every, and i mean every review you read on line or in the mags will tell you the C2D cpu is the chip to get, and they can't all be wrong can they.

If you're using XP (you may as well to be frank Vista is suffering a lot of bugs and if you buy xp now you automatically get a free upgrade voucher anyway, which i believe has had its deadline extended to the end of April). 1gb will be sufficient but you can never have too many resources at your disposal in a pc. Also, some new games (oblivion etc) run much faster with 2gb. Simplified view there but it will make sense as my post goes on.

Its very important to get a balanced system with no obvious bottlenecks between components.

Eg: If you're running a top end card (8800 series) and are running a low-end chip you're not going to get the best from the gpu because whilst games are more gpu-dependent nowadays they cpu does help!

Also, top end cards are only going to come into their own when gaming at high resolutions, if you're a 'standard' gamer running at 1280x1024 you're going to be better with a mid range card. BUT as you stated you wanted it to last 3-5yrs i'd definately get a DX10 capable card.

So to sum up if you're gaming at 1280x1024 i'd get a 320mb 8800gts.
If gaming at 1680x1050 i'd get a 640mb 8800gts/or non-oc'd 8800gtx
If gaming at 1900x1200 i'd get an oc'd 768mb 8800gtx.

DO NOT scrimp on the psu though, you need a stable, efficient power supply. It is quite simply the most important component to any pc.


So (and as i assume you're going air-cooled) if it was my 1500.00 i'd get:

Core2duo E6600 cpu - 200.00
Asus Commando mobo - 160.00
Antec 900 case - 70.00
2x1gb Corsair 6400 dominator CAS4 ram - 170.00
Berlinea 102035 tft at 1680x1050 - 230.00
Pioneer dvd111 dvd-rw x2 - 45.00
640mb EVGA 8800gts KO graphics card - 290.00
WD raptor 150gb NCQ hdd - 150.00
Samsung spinpoint/Hitachi Deskstar 250gb - 50.00

AC Freezer 7 pro hsf for the cpu - 15.00
Artic silver 5 TIM - 5.00
Zalman heatpipe hdd cooler x2 - 62.00

Just over 1400.00.

Sites:

Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK

Komplett.co.uk

Tekheads.co.uk

ebuyer.com - the UK's largest independent online retailer of computers, components, electronics, MP3 Players,cameras, televisions, DVD Players, car audio, software and more...

Vadim Computers : Custom Built PCs

dabs.com - PC Hardware, Components, Software, Digital Cameras, MP3 Players

[Hybr!d]

Core 2 Duo is a must! Also make sure the motherboard has quad core support.

That way when it gets a bit slow you can just whack in a quad core for a boost.

Alex! Bloody excellent post as always mate!

[twopointoh]

Exceptional reply Alex, thank you very much.

I'm not a big gamer, so I don't think I need to splash out on a top range graphics card, if it can handle DVD's without jumping then I'll be happy. The most graphics intensive game I play is PKR's poker software thats 3D.

I guess thats where alot of my confusion comes in. I don't intend to play high-spec games so is it justified to spend so much building a computer that only needs those sort of specs to run them?

I didn't intend on buying Vista, as you state, it's still got many bugs and the price isn't justified in my opinion. XP has worked for me for years and I'll continue with it until Microsoft stop supporting it (not for a few years yet).

I'll take a look at the hardware and websites you've reccomended and see what I can come up with.

[alex]

Cheers guys, here to help.

Anyway, if you're not a gamer then you're not going to need to spend your whole budget.

This is where pc component cost's dramatically increase because gaming is centred around the graphics cards and the spec needed to enable it to run at its best.

If you're a gamer you've got to spend (at current prices) between 250-450.00 for a good card. Double those figures if you go Nvidia SLI or ATI Crossfire dual-card. Consider that some cards need upwards of 350w from your psu....

You've then got to spec a very powerful psu to enable you to run the card(s) and the rest of your system.

You'll need a beefier cpu as well.

All this means more cost.

Now taking furture-proofing into it:

I would still get 2gb ram though for future-proofing, and still get the C2D E6600 because its the lowest cost 4mb cache version, and the larger cache comes into its own with 'general' pc use other than gaming where it makes no noticable difference.

Forget the raptop hdd, and just go for the spinpoint or deskstar i've quoted. But you might want to think about the 400gb version. Also maybe look at an external hdd. I'm assuming you have lots of documents and pics you want to transfer over. Having an external hdd will enable you to backup your system or keep copies of files on it if you don't do that. A 320gb external will set you back around 80.00. Or if you're not using your current pc when you build you could simply remove the internal hdd from that and buy an enclosure (30.00ish) to slot it into creating an external.

Don't go for the dominator ram, but do go for Corsair xms2 6400 ram. 2GB's worth and you'll save a further 30.00 or so.

Forget the Commando mobo and just go for a Asus P5B (not the deluxe whether wifi edition or non-wifi edition) that'll also save a further 70.00 or so.

The case is still a good one.

And as i neglected to quote you a psu on my first post (slaps hand) despite all my harping on about it i'd go for the enermax liberty series. I'd suggest the 500w at about 80.00

You'll need a graphics card with that setup, (as the mobo has no onboard gpu), but something like at 7900gs or x1900gt will more than suffice and will cost around 100.00.

Also as you're not gaming, the noise of the pc will become more intrusive. The stock fans included in the Antec 900 are rather quiet but if you do go this route and they're louder than you like go here:

Quiet PC UK - Quiet Computer Hardware for a Quiet PC

this is a superb site for purchasing components for quieting your pc.

[Hybr!d]

Wicked! Thats just what ive been looking for.

Ordering fanless cpu and hard drive coolers as i post this.

Cheers alex.

[mcbee]

Would you consider using two monitors with this build? I have used two with my new build since last December and I wouldn't go back to a single monitor. Presently I have one 17" and one 19" but I may end up with two 19".