Building computers.....

[Jay Pace]

Does anyone know any resource places I can look to find out about building/updgrading my PC?

I want a new motherboad, new silent psu & a new processor and I have no idea how to go about it all.

The fan is really noisy, I have no firewire and I could do with a few extra hertz....

Thanks matey peeps

[TechMouse]

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=building+a+pc&btnG=Google+Search&me ta=

http://tomshardware.co.uk/2002/09/04/building_your_own_pc/index.html

[Jay Pace]

legend, cheers pal

[TechnoNRGKid]

If you need any other help post here and i can help.
I also recommend AMD cause of more bang for the price with great performance just as Intel.
You can build a nice AMD 64 (That's upgradeable to X2 and FX), with PCI Express, firewire, and all that good stuff for much cheaper than a Intel PC that might not even have 64bit support.

I also recommend www.newegg.com
Best prices on the net and very fast shipping from Cali.
I think if out of us they do International orders. Not to certian but think i've seen that.

[dan the acid man]

some more shops i use

www.ebuyer.co.uk
www.overclockers.co.uk
www.microdirect.co.uk

[Jay Pace]

Was thinking of getting water cooling - any thoughts? My workstation is pretty noisy....

[TechMouse]

Was thinking of getting water cooling - any thoughts? My workstation is pretty noisy....
Zalman cooling stuff is pretty solid.

More info: http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/home

[dan the acid man]

watercooling is good, but can be difficult to fit, plus you really have to trust what you're doing, but having said that, there's alot of pre made kits now you can buy which is what i'd do.

there are some really quiet heatsinks and fans out there now though, like techmouse said, zalman are really good, i know somebody else who's just bought a really quiet new one for his pc, i'll find out what it is

[Jay Pace]

Arghhhh......

This is confusing the hell out of me.

What do I need to buy?

New processor (which? there are a billion and I haven't got a clue what the difference is)
New motherboard (does it matter which one?)
New cooling things - Case cooler? Memory cooler? PSU fan?
What are the noisy things in my PC that need to be quietened?

If anyone could give me a sort of shopping list I would be really grateful.

[TechMouse]

New processor (which? there are a billion and I haven't got a clue what the difference is)
I'd get an AMD. You get more bang for your buck.


New motherboard (does it matter which one?)
The motherboard has to match the kind of processor you're getting. e.g. Socket 939 or whatever.

You can buy packs which come with motherboard and processor.

Asus are quite popular. One of my workmates just got an AS Rock board which was a bit cheaper, but seems fine.


New cooling things - Case cooler? Memory cooler? PSU fan?
You will need a fan for the CPU - normally included, a fan for the case, and possibly a fan for the Graphics card. You can often get away with a good heatsink.


What are the noisy things in my PC that need to be quietened?
Generally just the fans.

Hard Disks can sometimes be noisy.

[Jay Pace]

Thanks mate....

Any recommendations in terms of which AMD to go for or which motherboard?

[TechMouse]

Well, Athlon 64 are the ones to look at really.

As for specifics, it really depends how much cash you want to throw at it.

Normally with things like CPUs, the very best are expensive, then there is a steep drop off in price and the value (i.e. speed against price) gets very good very quickly. If you can find this point and buy something around there you're laughing.

There's an overview here: http://www.scan.co.uk/tekspek/view.asp?a=30&p=3

Really it's a case of "get the best you can afford".

You'll probably most likely end up with a CPU which is socket 939 (S939) so that's the kind of motherboard you need.

You'll need to choose which motherboard chipset you want. I hear the nForce ones are pretty good, but ATI should be fine too. As I say, I've had AS Rock recommended to me as "cheaper than Asus, but still quite good".

Realistically, you need to think about how many expansion slots you want, what kind (do you want AGP, PCI Express etc.)...

Also think about the type of memory you want.

If all else fails, buy a barebones PC.

[TechMouse]

e.g. We just bought two of these: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=282303

You just drop in the components you want (CPU, drives etc.) and you're ready to rock.

[dan the acid man]

good tips from techmouse, also, you're best with setting yourself a budget, and trying to work to that.

what have you got now that you can use in the new pc ?
things like what harddrives have you got ?

cd, dvd drives/writers etc

the minimum you will need is a cpu, motherboard, psu and probably memory (RAM) depending on what memory is in your current pc.

whats noisy in a pc ?

well the main noise is from fans, powerful graphics cards have noisy fans on (but you wont need a powerful card if you're not going to be playing games)
case fans can be noisy, psu can be noisy and so can cpu fans.

If i was building a new pc now, i'd buy an asus motherboard, socket 939 for the latest amd 64 bit processors.
i wouldnt bother buying an sli one (this is for gaming, it means you can run two graphics cards as one powerful one)
so if you don't get an sli motherboard, you will save yourself a little money.

i'd probably go for this one
http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=3&l2=15&l3=207&model=596&modelme nu=1

or maybe go for the ultra version which will allow you to use dual core processors in the future.

other manufacturers worth looking out for are gigabyte (i use them, and so do lots of people i know, good solid boards for cheapish prices too)
and asrock, as techmouse said are ok, allthough reliabilty maybe an issue with these.

as for cpu, this depends on your budget.

i'd choose either and amd 64bit 3200 venice or an amd 64bit 3700 sandiego processor.


(if you buy retail, they come with heatsink and fan, which are quite quiet)

or if you buy an oem version, it comes without a heatsink and fan, but will be cheaper to buy, plus you can buy an even quieter one (just make sure it will fit you cpu and will work with the speed of your processor)


now for the psu, i wouldn't go too much lower than 500w,
seasonic make silent ones,
tagan make silent ones,
antec make silent ones ( i use an antec psu, fantastic so far, and much quieter than my old one),
so do enermax

just make sure any psu you buy, says atx 2.0 compliant and not the new atx2.01, unless your motherboard is going to be atx v2.01, which i doubt it will be

also, get a modular psu, which means you can attach and take off any cables you're not using.

other things you may need,

well, you will need a new graphics card, as most new motherboards use pci express now for graphics cards, so you will need a pci express card.

if you're not going to be playing games, then id buy an ati radeon x300 se or maybe an nvidia geeforce 6200, both these cards should come with no fan installed, as they're not powerful enough to need one, so this will cut down noise.

or buy any other low end card with a fan installed, as it wont be too noisy anyway, like i say, just make sure its pci-express.

you may need some memory (RAM), depending on what you have at the minute.

i'd personally get 2Gb if you can afford it, corsair is good, 2Gb ddr xms3200c2pt is around £146 .

geil are also a good make, as are g skill, crucial and ocz

just make sure you get cas 2.5 or cas 2 as its faster than cas3 memory.

it may also be worth you buying a new hard drive,

get a sata 2 one, i'd go for a samsung spinpoint one too, im just about to order one, as they're the quietest around, and pretty fast.

if you need any help, just shout, i can also look around more for you if you want, and price up the parts and tell you what goes with what.

[Jay Pace]

Mate you are an absolute legend

:toast:

[dan the acid man]

no problem

[dan the acid man]

also, the arctic cooling freezer 64 pro is supposed to be a good silent heatsink and fan for processors, they're around £17

[djshiva]

barebones deals are probably a good bet if you are not super familiar with putting a puter together. or if you have a mate who can help you, that is a good idea...

i found some great barebones setups with really nice cases on EBAY for about 300 bucks (athlon 64 3700), just drop in hd, memory, optical drive and video/audio cards.

[xfive]

Barebones are fine as long as they are using quality motherboards.
If you get a shitty branded motherboard, it doesn't matter how good the rest of your components are... the thing will be unstable as hell.

Stick with Asus, MSI, Gigabyte or Aopen, in that order. Intel branded ones are fine too if you are going the P4 route.

[djshiva]

yeah these were all asus motherboards and good quality stuff...