View Full Version : New PC, Part 2. Finalising the details.
Firstly, thanks a lot to "mlb07165" for his advice.
So, with some tinkering and some advice my final build is THIS:
-MSI P35 NEO2-FR Socket 775 Motherboard --(28015)--
-Patriot 2GB PC2-6400 C4 Extreme Performance (2x1GB) --(26802)--
-320GB Hitachi Deskstar SATA2 16MB --(24793)--
-LG GH20NS10 20x DVDRW SATA black bare inc SecurDisc --(30468)--
-Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64 OEM --(25906)--
-Antec Sonata III Quiet Super Mini Tower --(28369)
-nVidia GeForce 8800GT 512MB PCI-E --(29148)--
-Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHz (Retail 775) --(30243)--
-BenQ 22" Display --(31037)--
-TP-LINK Wireless 54MB PCI Card --(30513)--
This adds up to a LOT of money, going out of my budget standing at ~£570, but I have been told it is a pretty mean machine and would quite happily run any game I throw at it.
I've chosen those parts on the condition that I can upgrade to 4GB RAM when I get more funds and I feel the upgrade is needed.
And that the CPU is NOT Quad as I probably wouldn't notice the difference seeing's as I'm just going to run a few games and do some light Photoshopping/possibly video editing, and with the latter I can be a patient guy.
The case looked nicer and has a PSU inbuilt, and I was told to go for 64bit Vista, since for some reason I just should, especially if I go for 4GB RAM in the near future.
I have a Keyboard/Mouse/Headset good to go.
Now, before I hit that 'order' button, I would like to check with you guys a few things.
* Is this good enough to run most games I can throw at it at a high-ish setting. And also is there any way to output HD video through some Component cables or something so it can connect to my Samsung LCD HDTV?
* Is there anything I have left out, would be annoying if I couldn't connect to the internet, or I was missing a power cord, or I had no method of installing an OS -_-
* Lastly, comparing this to product (31335), which I was initially going to buy...that has a bigger HD, the same specs except the CPU (of which I'm not sure what it does/if I would notice a difference in any case) and has the OS built in, so it's good to go, but for a MUCH cheaper price.
What's better about my system than that one (since I was told to build my own as I get more bang for my buck).
Some people spoke of the fact that the PSU was low, but isn't there a way for me to get Aria to use the case which included a PSU which I listed above? Even if I had to pay the FULL PRICE of the case it still works out cheaper!
It's the OS that took so much money from my hands! Haha.
Lastly, when it comes to monitors, I'd like one with a good 3ms or so to prevent screen-tear, but relatively cheap..if it could output HD images that would be good too but it's mainly just for when I want to game and use my TV for football matches or other stuff that might be going on.
Thanks a LOT, all comments appreciated. It's either get those components and -try- to build it myself/pay a nearby shop to do it for me or just buy the prebuilt computer and ask if Aria can use the other case/even use the better CPU.
Thanks.
Nice rig indeed.
Is this good enough to run most games I can throw at it at a high-ish setting. And also is there any way to output HD video through some Component cables or something so it can connect to my Samsung LCD HDTV?
You shouldn't need anything in particular at all. The GeForce 8800GT does support HD and depending on the version of the XpertVision 8800GT Aria sends you, it'll either be a Dual DVI card (I have one of these) with a DVI -> HDMI adapter or one with an inbuilt HDMI connection and a DVI connection next to it. So yeah, nothing specials required on that front.
Is there anything I have left out, would be annoying if I couldn't connect to the internet, or I was missing a power cord, or I had no method of installing an OS -_-
Nothing crucial is being left out no. The case should come with a kettle lead for the PSU. Although at a silence and cooling point of view I'd suggest an aftermarket CPU cooler like the Artic Freezer 7 Pro.
Lastly, comparing this to product (31335), which I was initially going to buy...that has a bigger HD, the same specs except the CPU (of which I'm not sure what it does/if I would notice a difference in any case) and has the OS built in, so it's good to go, but for a MUCH cheaper price.
It's cheap because it uses a pretty mediocre chassis and what seems to be a generic 350W Power Supply Unit. I'd be concerned about running a system like that with a quality 350W unit let alone a no name one. Power Consumption of that system will definitely be approaching 300-320W fully loaded.
Personally I would definitely suggest you at least attempt to build it yourself and if you're unhappy with how it's going get it built for you. You won't cause any damage.
I really wouldn't recommend using the psu that comes with the case. You would regret it in the long run if it eventually blew any of your components.
Seriously, it is the most commonly overlooked component, yet the most important.
Either get the ocz 600w stealthxstream, and a different case, or replace the psu that comes with your preferred case. But that'll cost ya.
Ok then, I edited the new case/PSU in the list.
EDIT: I've decided I am also after a new Monitor.
If it can do HD graphics that would be great, if not, it's no worries, but my budget really is limited to around 150£ TOPS.
Only after a small number, like a 19" would do me perfect, has to be optimised for gaming though, and look a bit nice.
I've seen a few nice ones, and i'd like to go as cheap as possible, but a friend told me I need 3ms or under, otherwise my screen will suck, but reading some reviews of ones with 5ms this isn't exactly the case.
What to do.
The Antec case comes with a 500watt Antec psu so it should be sufficient imho.
I would reccomend a HD 3870 for HDMI output, as it has a built in soundcard, so you get the full experience with UVD which is what your looking for with a PC outputting to TV.
The Asus VW193S is the monitor i have, cheap, good response and amazing contrast, a great buy.
The Antec case comes with a 500watt Antec psu so it should be sufficient imho.
I agree with mac, hence why I didn't mention it in my first post. It's fair enough rolling the same tape about PSU's that come with a case but not with an Antec 80PLUS certified Earthwatts PSU surely? :confused:
If you prefer the look of the Sonata, by all means go back to it but otherwise the Antec 300 / StealthXstream combo is fine.
As for 3ms and under, that sounds quite crazy. There was a time when anything over 25ms was unacceptable (quite rightly so), then anything over 16ms. Now 3? Good grief. Any quality 12ms or less panel should serve fine.
The Antec plus80s are good, they have certified 80% or higher efficiency, thats what they are about, yes stealthXstream are better, but the antec ones are good.
Coolies :)
Well in that case the Sonata really did look the part, but if anyone else thinks there is a problem with it I don't mind having the other case + PSU since it worked out to be a little cheaper I think. Now you've told me I can look for 5ms monitor's that's pretty kickass, expands my range a whole bunch.
But as for those parts, they'd all go together right? This would be the first time I'll have built a PC :)
Thanks a lot
The only real reason I can see why the stealthXstream is better is that it's maximum capacity is 600W vs 500W. Not like it matters as the OCZ is a good unit anyway, the Antec is rated at a higher efficiency and hence is 80PLUS certified while the OCZ isn't.
The Antec case comes with a 500watt Antec psu so it should be sufficient imho.
@ mac124 Okay, I've never had any experience with antec psu's so I just wanted to be on the safe side.:)
@vyper08 forget what I said about the psu, it seems to be good.
As for monitors you could get a decent 22" (Clicky (http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/Other+products/22%22+Blue-H+Designed+by+Hyundai+Italy+LCD+Monitor+?productId =27711))
OR
A really nice 19" (Click (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Displays/Monitors/TFT+19/19’’+Asus+VK191D+Web-Cam+Widescreen+TFT+Monitor+?productId=30894)) it's your call
Note: I don't own either of these monitors so I can't tell you for definite what they are like. You should start a new topic in the monitors section. Also 5ms is fine, you ain't gonna get any quicker for £150.
Who the heck are these friends of yours, lol.
A guy who builds computers for a living and lives, eats and breaths PC gaming.
:D
It's all coming along really nicely, hopefully I can join the PC gamers society and learn to play FPS with a mouse and keyboard ;)
EDIT: Oh lord that 22" is rather big and sexy.
EDIT: Oh lord that 22" is rather big and sexy. Eugh!, you should really read over your posts before you click submit :lol:
There is a review of your chosen case on xsreviews, it'll let you see more pics etc.
Click Here (http://www.xsreviews.co.uk/reviews/cases/antec-sonata-iii/)
Good luck with the build hope all goes well, don't see why it shouldn't.:mrgreen:
Lol at that post, I'm trying to think whether 22" is 'too' big for my desk or not...otherwise I saw a (31037) BenQ one which tickled my fancy.
Now I can't take my mind of my lovely build! Tomorrow I'll figure out if I can get a local store to build it for me since I still don't feel comfortable enough in doing so, but it's all a distraction from revision I suppose :)
Nice monitor but there is really no reason to but it over another 22" which may have better contrast.
Honestly, build it yourself, every component will have a manual, you have nothing to worry about plus there is tons of stuff online.
Yeah revision sucks, just finished my exams, what you studyin?
firstly I didn't quite get what you were saying about the monitor.
secondly I'll try, if I really am too hopeless I can get people to do it for me bt it's not the assembly that worries me, it's the precautions, like earthing myself or not scraping my feet along the carpet or i'll fry all my hardware and be down £££ :(
thirdly, doing AS exams atm. Maths/Bio/English/French, only got bio left now though, that's on the 3rd so I have a reasonable amount of time to learn :D
Edit: Oh szhit, I forgot to mention I would use a wireless network, what do I need to get it to work on my network? Just a little USB dongle thingy or a specific card or what? :P Would hate to get it and not be able to get on the interwebs!
Would a "TP-LINK Wireless 54MB PCI Card" --(30513)-- work for me on my motherboard or wherever the hell I attach it ^_^
Would it be all I need to connect wirelessly to my 802.11g network, or is it something different to what I thought, 'cuz 10£ is rather cheap :)
If you've got AS' and the last is on the third, you're best ordering the parts in now and building it after the exams. Good luck anyway, I'm doing my last set of A2's at the moment but with 6 AS resits and 2 A2 resits from january. All done by the 19th June. Fun..
As for the internet, anything will do but I'd opt for an internal PCI or PCI-E card as in my experience they tend to be a tad more stable.
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Peripherals/Network+Products/Wireless/Adapter+-+PCI%2FPCI-E+Cards/ABIT+AirPace+Wireless+54+Mbps+PCI-E+Adapter+?productId=26219
Ok well I'm going to order everything tonight, including that Hyundai monitor, and that wireless card, so last minute checks-
1) Thanks for all the advice, to start with.
2) So all of that stuff goes together right? I'm not going to complain that my CPU doesn't fit my mobo or whatever.
3) Not missing anything.
Also if I order it in the afternoon, are Aria working today meaning I could get it shipped by tomorrow, or will it be dispatched tomorrow.
Lol funny how my starting budget was ~400 and now with monitor it's > 700 :(
As it's bank holiday I don't believe Aria will be shipping anything today. Expect it shipped tomorrow and delivered the day after.
Hmph, suppose I may as well wait until tomorrow to order then.
Good luck with those A2's. Know what Uni you're aiming for?
Lol funny how my starting budget was ~400 and now with monitor it's > 700 :(
Yeah that happens, but it'll be worth it. :mrgreen:
Hmph, suppose I may as well wait until tomorrow to order then.
Good luck with those A2's. Know what Uni you're aiming for?
Yep, Conditional at Kings College London. Just need the grades... :mrgreen:
Yep, Conditional at Kings College London. Just need the grades... :mrgreen:
Oh ****, Kings College!
That's bloody awesome mate!
So what did you get in your AS years and what's your offer? I need some advice, I think everyone sort of messes up their AS year, I should've gotten like AABC or so but I think I might be stuck with BBCU :P
I think you'll find that you won't have a huge problem if you happen to stuff up this year. Last year I was expecting either ABBC or AABC but landed up with BBCC. Oops..
This definitely did freak me out because all of the universities I had in mind have a standard offer of around ABB or higher. However, I was assured that this isn't a huge problem as due to the nature of the UCAS and A Level process, Universities will have to go by predicted grades. So long as you drop your worst subject (hope damn hard it's not the subject you like the most) and are predicted a grade higher in every subject you take you should be able to keep your options fairly open :)
That being said, I would highly advise you to get a grip and do the best you can for your last few exams as it's never nice having to do a pile of resits in the final year. I had to sit 7 modules in January and I'm sitting 14 this summer (have done 6, 5 of which were crammed into 2/3 days). It's a lot of unnecessary stress and while I'm beginning to catch up with the grades I need now, I really regret not putting in the same amount of effort last year!
Also, from what I've heard in the next few years, the Universities will want to be able to access information such as the UMS points a candidate got in an individual module (more of an Oxbridge thing) and how many times they've resat a given module.
PeterStoba
26-05-08, 18:04
The only real reason I can see why the stealthXstream is better is that it's maximum capacity is 600W vs 500W. Not like it matters as the OCZ is a good unit anyway, the Antec is rated at a higher efficiency and hence is 80PLUS certified while the OCZ isn't.
I am sure they are, just not actually rated as it costs money, and they keep costs down
I'm sure it does have an efficiency of around 80% but that wasn't really my point. I was simply pointing out that the Antec PSU wasn't a poor unit.
Going to order, but before I do last minute check, everything is fine yeah? ;)
Ordered! Woohoo.
1 x MSI P35 NEO2-FR Socket 775 Motherboard @ 67.84GBP
1 x Patriot 2GB PC2-6400 C4 Extreme Performance (2x1GB) @ 30.49GBP
1 x 320GB Hitachi Deskstar SATA2 16MB @ 39.36GBP
1 x LG GH20NS10 20x DVDRW SATA black bare inc SecurDisc @ 16.29GBP
1 x Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64 OEM @ 61.04GBP
1 x Antec Sonata III Quiet Super Mini Tower @ 80.60GBP
1 x nVidia GeForce 8800GT 512MB PCI-E @ 125.20GBP
1 x Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHz (Retail 775) @ 126.25GBP
1 x 22" BenQ TFT FP222Wa Widescreen Monitor - 5ms @ 140.94GBP
1 x TP-LINK Wireless 54MB PCI Card @ 8.93GBP
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Order Total (inc.VAT inc. Shipping): 714.22GBP (OUCH LOL this better be worth it)
Right whilst I wait for it to come (probably Thursday since I ordered >4pm), I kinda...need to know...how to build it.
Any tips so I don't fry my hardware? Since that's the main thing I'm worried about (I'm so clumsy when it comes to forgetting about metal touching each other or w.e), and any websites that show an easy way to put it together? Thanks loads!
PeterStoba
27-05-08, 20:39
http://www.buildyourown.org.uk/pc-building/
http://techreport.com/articles.x/13671/1
They should help!
wonderlust
27-05-08, 20:46
Hope you have many hours of fun building and running it!
Hope you have many hours of fun building and running it!
hopefully 1 hour of building and then many, many hours running it! :D
Woo, it's set to be delivered tomorrow, I just have my fingers crossed, said a prayer and have performed every other superstitious ritual to give me the advantage over ESD or any other hiccups that may leave my a £715 paperweight!
On that note, got any tips of what NOT to do :P
dont clean it in the bath :D
tbh just dont rush, take your time and if it winds you up go and have a drink or a smoke.
Don't force anything, if it seems a little tight check its the right way round, especially for memory and cpu.
All here! Just invited my mate round who has knowledge about all this for a few beers and a bit of gaming should it be a successful build *fingers crossed*
Sigh I should get some revision done later :)
Wish me luck!
Ah, problem, upon building, the CD drive NOR the HD came with a metal caddy/sleeve thing, and my mate tells me this is causing problems, anyone got any suggestions?
wonderlust
29-05-08, 14:16
Not sure what he means but if you look at this:-
http://www.antec.com/pdf/drawings/SonataIII_manual_mechdrawing.pdf
no 15 is screwed to the bottom of your hard drive
no 7 clips/screws to your DVD/CD etc
Don't really understand what you mean. The cd drives should slide in and click in place, as for the hd, you should just have to attach the drive rails to the side and slide it into place.
Could you go into a bit more detail, some photos if possible.
Ah, problem, upon building, the CD drive NOR the HD came with a metal caddy/sleeve thing, and my mate tells me this is causing problems, anyone got any suggestions?
The side mounted drive cage should include a couple of caddy's for the HDD's yes. They should be detachable from the cage for you to plug them in. The Optical Drive however mount directly from the front with plastic rails included with the case.
interesting...those parts didn't come with my package, I've checked everything...sigh!
wonderlust
29-05-08, 14:36
Are they not clipped in the bottom of the case?
Yeah so we realised what 'detachable' meant, that's sorted but nothing solved for the Cd drive and now we can't find a correct screw for the HD to join the metal sleeve thing!
Somehow £40 to get it built doesn't seem so bad :D
wonderlust
29-05-08, 14:47
on my Antec Atlas the screws are large headed and are a torx, flat head
Thanks, that's sorted now, but go over what the CD drive install should be like? It's still too loose!
wonderlust
29-05-08, 15:00
ok, my atlas is obviously a different case, but... the rails for the 5.25 bays are clipped into the bottom of the case, they just slide out, not sure if yours will be the same or not...
Ok now I just feel retarded we figured out how to solve the CD drive too :D
Starting to plug it all in now, wish me luck on first boot! :D
wonderlust
29-05-08, 15:01
OK hold the presses !!!!
they should be clipped to the back of the bay covers
http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=1109&pageID=3526
OK hold the presses !!!!
they should be clipped to the back of the bay covers
http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=1109&pageID=3526
Same with my Sonata II. Forgot to mention that.... :mrgreen:
BUILT!
:D Really happy with it, all drivers done, no games as of yet as I need to get some more money but only one hitch, I can't get my Wireless to work, I've installed the driver to my Wireless card but it's being a ****head and ruining my experience! Help :)
glad its all up and running, sry but i dont do wireless so cant help you.
Whats actually the issue? if you can explain i may be able to help or if you can post screenies of whats happening.
wonderlust
29-05-08, 21:00
What router/access point you using?
Well, I'm not sure but my product is "TL-WN353G" the full name is on my OP, but after installing drivers my PC still tells me no wireless network adapter is installed and configured.
I have a feeling perhaps it is the fact I'm using 64-bit vista? Not sure, because the software is installed, and appears in the system tray as an icon that can't find any wireless networks, and there are at least 4 networks my laptop can find at any point, mine's not even secured!
I'm using a Netgear router that Sky have provided, since they're my ISP, but it's never caused problems before.
It's the only problem with my beautiful PC, and a PC with no internet just...isn't a PC!
:D
For now I'll try plugging my main router in, if the wire will stretch :(
Any solutions much appreciated, would hate to have to fork out MORE money when I've spent so much already, and when I went to buy Age of Conan last night I ended up losing £20 somehow -__-
I don't have a clue about wireless connections n stuff, but with alot of things it can help to go back to basics.
Try This (http://www.microsoft.com/athome/moredone/wirelesssetup.mspx)
Hopefully it helps, but I use a wired connection, so you've probably already done what it says.
Wish I just got a USB dongle thingy, but with my PCI card, I think it might not be installed properly, once I've finished downloading the masses of sh*t I need from my router being plugged into the PC, I'll have a looksie.
However I think my other computer's USB dongle doesn't work with 64-bit Vista? I installed the drivers and such but to no avail as it still didn't work!
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.1.12 Copyright © 2012 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.