blinkieleblind

hi,
I have become sick of using my laptop for gaming and have decided to build a pc for this and other purposes. I know my way around a pc but i am a complete noob to building. TheMatt suggested some questions i should answer.

Budget:
Around £500 (live in UK) can go above this if necessary

Brands:
None

Multitasking:
will be using it mostly for gaming, but also for net use, music, downloads, and some mathematics apps for my degree

Gaming:
Erm... perhaps a few hours (lol) a day

Calculations:
Will look to run Mathematica and Maple

Overclocking:
once i figure out what and how

Storage:
250+ GB

legacy support:
no

OS:
Vista

Case:
i stupidly bought a cheap case and PSU combo on Ebay which i from what i read on an above post is a mistake. didn't think it was that important http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...MEWN:IT&ih=001

Accesories:
this will be a new build so yes, but am not including these in the budget. i am running my amp which has 4 speaker connects through my laptop and am thinking of continuing this through the PC

Recycle:
No

Monitor:
yes but it does not have to be massive

Stores:
Ebay, ebuyer, erm don't know really. there is a computer fair that is very reliable that my friends have used in the past

Location:
London UK

I have done a bit of research and am thinking of getting the
ASUS P5N32-E SLI socket 775 for a mobo and the E8400 CPU
.Thanks for any help

krisb

this could acually be a long discussion. If you feel you are a noob then just take it slow. I would suggest going to a site like www.memoryexpress.com and using thier system configuator. this doesnt mean you have to buy from them it is just an easy way to layout a new machine. it is the best system configuator i have come across. that price range may be hard to meat if you are using it mostly for gaming and want future overclocking capabilities.especially if you need a monitor. you can buy good OEM machines bundled with monitors and then keep it for a year untill you research biulding a bit more. then when you are ready you have confidence and a good monitor. sell the OEM to offset.

blinkieleblind

Thanks,
Too be honest the monitor wasn't in the budget (should have specified that a bit more), the budget was only for the machine ,ie mobo, cpu, gpu, HDD, memory, and the drive. I agree with you that i should not really jump in head first and spend lots of cash if i don't know what i'm doing but it's only really the BIOS configuration etc that is worrying me. Maybe your right though..... i will look into it. it's just that building is a lot cheaper!!

Peagreen

Got a tip.. when buying the RAM dont go for 4GB of low speed RAM jsut ge 2GB of high speed RAM,

http://www.ocztechnology.com/product...n_dual_channel

Is good ram and has gone down in price by about £120 so id recommend this.. Im on 4GB of this atm, but 2GB is very very fast :)

Do-it

I have been building a computer, and I to am a newbie. I paid around 1200 US dollars for mine and it isn't the most expensive, but it covers a lot of territory. My advice is, if you want to build a computer, get a Blue Card from American Express, they give you some good time to pay it off, based on your credit, and no interest for a while, also a 90 day parts warranty for anything bought with this card, because online computer parts dealers give a very short return warranty, usually 30 days or none for some, and you need plenty of time to build that PC, especially if your new, 30 days isn't enough, especially if your buying parts one at a time, and if your not sure of how to fix a problem, and believe me your gona have plenty of problems with building your first computer. American Express gives you time to pay it off with no interest. And there interest is pretty low compared to other cards. Warranties are covered by the Manufacturer, and after the 30 day warranty runs out with the online retailer you will have to go with the manufacturer, but it isn't that bad, but they will give you the run around, and most problems you have will have to be solved by, YOU, no one is going to be there by your side to help, unless you know someone who knows his stuff, it will take a lot of surfing the internet to get answers. 500 bucks isn't going to get you a great computer, but it might get you a Bare Bones system, that is where you get the case, motherboard and other goodies for a decent price and you get to build it, you have a pick of some good and varied Hardware with a BArebones system. If you can't go that route you can find some deals on new computers at Wal MArt, they are the E machines, but you can find some great prices there, I am talking 300 bucks for a tower and keyboard, but you will have to buy the monitor separate. You won't find these machines at all times of the year, they are available only at certain times, so you will have to call them every so often to find out if they are available, usually two or three times a year they will have them. There like a box edition from the manufacturer, they are usually in a brown box with no fancy advertising on them. You can upgrade these machines, and they have plenty of power for gaming, I know, a friend of mine bought two of these machines for 300 each and they have everything you need, and they work fine. Hope this helps.