Advise in building PC

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Hi ppl

I need advise in building a new PC. I wanted to which is the best:

Motherboard (type and cost)
Graphic Card (type and cost)
PC Cover (type and cost)
Main Power Supply
Hard Drive (size)

I am looking to build a computer for future. Don't want to build a computer which is not going to be compatitable in future. I only want to spend around £400 to £500.

Where should I get these parts from? I don't do internet shopping and don't have a car.

 

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Your really limiting yourself if you dont "do" internet shopping and don't have a car. So its basicly how far you can walk or go on public transport!

Also, for £400 to £500, you wont be able to get the best of everything and build a computer for the future. A top of the line graphics card alone will set you back around half your budget!

What will the computer be used for?

 

Actually, before you make any decisions, you might want to get your hands on a book called Building the Perfect PC. It might open your eyes as to the possibilities and give you some helpful hints.

 

I want to use to use computer for college studies aswell learning throughout CompTIA A+ course.

 

All computers will have some measure of incompatibility... new standards and new hardware are announced all the time. It all depends on when and how often you upgrade, and how much you're willing to spend. If you upgrade every 3 months, you'll almost certainly be able to upgrade most anything out there. If you upgrade every 5 years, you may not have much luck.

Secondly, if you don't do internet shopping, you will neither be able to afford a decent, upgradeable computer, nor will you be able to get the "best" of everything.

Finally, you don't have much of a budget to work with. I built a computer about a year ago for $1300, but I already had a few components from an old computer, and I already had an operating system.

If you must know what I think is "best" among your categories, here they are, keeping in mind that "best" never equals "cheapest":

Motherboard (type and cost): I prefer Asus, and preferably an Intel-based chipset. I hear Gigabyte makes a good board.
Graphic Card (type and cost): PCI Express is the way to go. I recommend getting the best card you can afford, and when I mean "best", compare statistics on different cards on GPUReview.com.
PC Cover (type and cost): if by "PC Cover" you mean "Case", I prefer Antec, especially the P180B.
Main Power Supply: I recommend Enermax and Seasonic. I've had good luck with Antec PSUs in the past.
Hard Drive (size): Whatever you can afford. I recommend at least a 7200RPM drive. I've had good experiences with Seagate/Maxtor; others have not.

Don't skimp on components. A poor-quality component can cause a failure of your entire computer... and might be difficult to diagnose. If "budget" is your primary motivator, I'd suggest buying a computer from Dell.

 

If that's what you need, you don't need "the best"... just about any components will do. Buy a bunch of used components for cheap and build it.

 

or as Boson said first time round buy a machine from Dell...how can anyone not like internet shopping? its the future...no wrong...its happening now!

 

Im looking to build n sell a PC based on an ASUS PCI Express board and AMD 3000+ 64 bit CPU with 1gb RAM and 2+ hard drives RAIDed with a legit XP or Vista thrown in for around £200 if your interested. Should be more than enough for A+ studies.

 

I'm not being funny but if youre wanting to build a really top spec pc thats gonna be future proof then the graphics card I would recommend to you uses all your budget, also the mobo I would recommend costs £200.

Try upping your budget for a top spec pc to £2000

If your only gonna use it for study then you dont need a good pc just a budget one which would cost £300 or so.

 

The main flaw in that design is the relatively low spec CPU.

Tell me, are you building this purely for the purpose of having experience building, or so you can make some profit? Because unless you have been given parts like that and a legit copy of either version of Windows for free, there's no way you're going to make profit at £200.

 

Yes I agree the CPU isnt the highest spec but it will still be enough to run most modern apps.

I dont need experience in building PCs. I was a senior tech for NEC/Packard Bell (target was 65 a day) and then ran my own online computer shop for years. So I know how build PCs and source parts.

As for the versions of Windows, I am a 2nd year networking student and we get full versions of every version of Windows u can think of.

Im not doing it for profit. I just have the parts here boxed brand new.

 

Careful of those full versions, they are for accademic purposes only not for general distribution (Although, MSDN hasn't taken my license off me yet and I finish over a year ago)

 

This system isn't "Perfect" or "Future Proof" but nice for the price i feel

System Details
* AMD AM2 Athlon 64 5200+ Windsor Core, 2.6Ghz 640KB Cpu
* Asus M2N4-SLI NF4 SLI Motherboard
* Sparkle GeForce 8600 GT 256MB Pci Express Graphics Card
* 1GIG DDR2 Branded Memory (OCZ, Corsair, Kingston, Elixir, A DATA, OEM)
* 80GB Serial ATA 7200RPM Hard Disk Drive
* 18x Dual Layer DVD-ReWriter
* Floppy Disk Drive
* Integrated Sound
* Integrated Network
* AT Deluxe 400w Front USB Case
* Free Keyboard, Wireless Mouse & Nero V7

***UNASSEMBLED***

Price: £278.50 (£327.24 Inc VAT) From Advance Tec

 

I bought a 'Top of the Line' PC. Or close enough for my tastes:

2.13GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (64 bit Processor)
3x160GB HDD's (Raid 3 Configuration)
640MB 8800GTS Graphics Card
2GB RAM
Vista Ultimate x64

Note i bought no Monitor (I previously bought a 19" Widescreen for £200, so didnt need one), keyboard or mouse.

This rig cost me about 1k.

As mentioned before, you either need to raise your budget, or lower your expectations. You are not going to get top of the line with the current budget. Especially if you refuse to buy online.

Bear in mind that, unless you already have a copy of Windows, an OEM version (Which you can buy since you are purchasing componenets) will set you back somewhere close to 100 quid - thats cheap compared to full products, but its going to eat into your budget.

 

Toadeh's right - you can't distribute those academic licenses.

Toadeh, Microsoft won't "take away your license", but if you're not paying the yearly MSDN renewal fee, you're no longer authorized to use the software. Your MSDN agreement states that you agree to remove the software when you stop paying for renewals. The software won't time-bomb on you and stop working... but it's still piracy in Microsoft's eyes unless you either renew your MSDN subscription or buy a full version and transfer the key.

 

...and no operating system, which will set you back a bit if you're running Windows. No monitor, either. For that price, you might as well get a Dell (unless they're much more expensive in the UK than they are in the States), especially when they're offering free monitor upgrades.

 

Yep, I got rid of them now when I built me new machine so I have legal copies of everything on it. There more stable than downloading

 

Yeah, that's certainly a benefit of having the CD/DVD versions around... no downloading from the MSDN website!

 

I agree with BM go for a DELL they are offering free montior upgrades but if you decide to build the comp yourself then I would get a slightly higher PSU for the 8600gt although I think 400w is the minimum the 8600gt says it needs you need to consider all your other components.

I have an 8600gt myself (MSI version) and plan to get a 8800gts at some point I have 700w PSU although a cheap one and I will replace that for a better one like enermax or something.