Hey, im building a custom pc and im wondering what i'd specifcly need, so could anyone post a list?
or help me find some good but cheap hardware from scan.co.uk

I dont need you to find -
DVD-RW http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo...roductID=444709
Floppy Drive http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo...ProductID=83316
Hard Drive http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo...roductID=345219
Keyboard and Mouse http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo...roductID=166002
Case http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo...roductID=221902

Also could you help with finding a CPU which works with a motherboard, i seen a intel celeron D but i duno wot motherboard it works with, so if you could ind atleast a 3ghz cpu that would be good thanx

CHEAP BUT GOOD

It is better for you to buy a OEM computer since you seem to have no clue about computer hardware.
If you don't know what components are needed for a computer, then building one isn't for you.
You also seem to believe that a computer with higher clock frequency (GHz) means that it will perform better than one with slower frequency.

If you want a cheap computer, then AMD has really low prices on their processors nowadays.
Personally, I would go with an Intel Core Due (Conroe) due to that it is a very good processor.

Don't go with an Intel Celeron D as it uses the Netburst architecture which sucks, it uses huge amount of power, produces huge amounts of heat and performs horrible.

You can say cheap but good, but how much are you willing to spend and what do you intend to use it for?

Nobody sane would buy a Celeron D, Pentium 4 or anything based on the Netburst architecture, except fools who don't know anything about a computer, see its 3 GHz go ZOMG! then buy a inferior processor that produces much heat, is difficult to cool, has sucky performance and drains power.

AMD Sempron is cheap and decent. But AMD Athlon and Intel Core Duo are both better even though more expensive. But the Core Duo has performance. A Core Duo at 1,8 GHz will outperform any Celerion 3 GHz any day, anytime, anyplace while still being cool enough to overclock it to 3 GHz on air, and still use much less power and generate much less heat.

Eldmannen its obvious that they are trying to learn. Would you rather they go to dell and get a piece of crap?
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Parox,
First you need to tell us how much your willing to spend.(US dollars)
What you want to do with this computer.(high end gaming?)

Well, this guy probably wouldn't be able to build one anyways.

If he wish to build a computer, he needs to know what he wants and what he needs and which parts are good. He should read up some on computer hardware, so he knows what is L1/L2/L3 cache, a core, a bus, PCI/PCI-Express/AGP, DDR/DDR2, a socket, FSB, etc.

I build my own computer. I found a site and it's good for those who don't know how to build one. You can add-on here and get a good PC cheap.

Link

You can go to Tigerdirect or Newegg to buy the Moniter.

Wikibooks has information on how to build a computer and select parts and assemble it.
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/How_To_Assemble_A_Desktop_PC
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Computer_Hardware

For some... that takes time that some don't have... But good link and resourse though

Well to build a computer you need knowledge, if you don't have knowledge then you don't know how to build a computer, and therefor cant. So you either have to get that knowledge which does indeed take some time, or buy a pre-built computer.

See it wasn't so hard to be nice and give out some good info.


But I think this person it wanting to build a pc from scratch, which is why they are asking for parts information.


Wow.... I actually agree with something you said....
(I must be getting sick. )

Anyway par0x you need to answer those questions from my first post and then we can recommend you some parts.

I would be happy to do some searching on TigerDiect or Newegg. For the PC you want. Just give me detailed specs. on what you want. Either a gamer, Home user or a business user. Give me the specs. and I'll search.

This is actually the best deal I have seen so far. It's my opinion but hey... its good!

Wow!

You can get the same deal at the compaq site($10 cheaper actually)
http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping...e_components.do

Compaq
<shivers>

1. Eldmannen you don't need to take the mick 3 ghz omgz'. You wouldn't like to be talked to like that would you.

Ok, well my step dad does know alot about computer hardware and building custom pcs but i want to find out what i need myself, like using a program such as adobe photoshop like me whcih i use, i had no clue about it and i ended up knowning how to use it completely. i know adobe and programs isnt the same as bulding a pc but im trying to say somthing firmiliar as such as leaning how to do and use things.

Ok, I will mainly use a pc for gaming and photoshopping (adobe photoshop) with the budget of £300 / £350.
Somthing like 2.5ghz is good,but i can only get from www.scan.co.uk which is a bit of a disappointment as my mum dont let me buy online, i could maybe talk her into it.

I will build it with help but while i get help, i will learn, like reading tutorials, they help you learn.

+ I'll be install Vista when it's released.

Well gaming and budget don't go hand-in-hand. Often games (especially the latest) needs expensive hardware. Example for 3D games, a good graphics card might be needed and those cost.

£300-350 is cheap, you wont get no performance monster with that, and you wont be able to play the latest games, especially not in high resolution, high details or with anti aliasing.

Clock frequency (GHz) isn't a reliable way to tell how fast a computer is. Architecture and instructions per CPU cycle is important. A 2 GHz processor might very well outperform a 3 GHz processor if they are different type of processors.

Now note that Vista is a very resource hogging operating system, as far as I know it needs a fast computer with huge amounts of RAM, and maybe even a good graphics card. Furthermore it contains many features which are not to the benefit to the user, but actually to restrict the user.

If I were you, with that budget I would probably buy an AMD Sempron, they're cheap and performs better than Intel Celeron. Then try get 1 gb RAM. Don't expect too much gaming on a rig in that price class though.

I would buy AMD Sempron, a cheap motherboard with integrated network chipset and sound chipset.

I've read that Vista will require a high end graphics card as part of its basic requirements because one of the major features MS integrated into Vista is more advanced graphics rendering. If you don't have a compatible graphics card you may not be able to see the graphics as they are meant to be or worse it may slow down performance.

I'm sorry I don't remember where I read that so I don't have a link but if I run into it again I'll post it in this thread.

So it looks like if you want to run advanced games and Vista you will need to spend some money on a good video card.

Thanks, Eld, and the rest, Does cache on the CPU matter? such as i seen a AMD Sempron specificly this one but has no price (gotta call) http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo...roductID=268853
and this one http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo...roductID=250181 is what ill possibly go for. But 1 thing i asked is will this CPU work with any other motherboard.

Yes, cache as everything matters. I am not so sure of the importance though. Some say it is important, some say it is not. Last benchmark I saw, the difference was minimal.

With those CPU's you need a motherboard with a matching socket. They are for Socket754. So you need a motherboard that are for Socket754.

Since you are going for a budget PC, be sure the motherboard has an integrated network chipset, and an integrated sound chipset, that way you don't have to spend money buying sound and network card, and therefor you will save money.

So any motherboard will go with the amd sempron 64 but it must have the socket754?
+ network chipset and sound chipset.

No socket754 has a network chipset/sound shipset..

Yes, when you buy a CPU it will say how fast it is, how much cache it has, and for what socket it is. Then you need a motherboard for the same socket.

If you motherboard dont have network and sound chipset, then you need buy a network and sound card which will cost some more.

Maybe you can goto another store?

Can't go into another store.
This would do the job?
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo...bProductID=1790
and this http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo...roductID=291368 ?

Yes, those would probably be good enough.

Eldamnnen --- be careful... the Intel Core 2 Duo is conroe, while the Intel Core Duo isn't.



Those two things look fine. However, if you can convince your mom to order online, TigerDirect.com, NewEgg.com, ZipZoomFly.com, and others have really good deals, plus have really high customer ratings and are secure.

I'd be wary of a AMD Sempron 64 - they aren't very powerful - almost like the Celeron's - consider them a value processor. I'd highly suggest getting a bigger budge and investing in a Core 2 Duo. MUCH more powerful, very stable, and will last a very long time. Tiger Direct - Core 2 Duo's

My realitve just built a system with a Core 2 Extreme, with either a 7900 or 7950 GX2, and 2GB's of RAM, and it's stable as anything, and oh-so-powerful. His friend though had to spend $3600 on it, but it will last a long time. Anandtech.com has a review, and it proves that the processors destroy any AMD processor out there, including the newest FX-61.

What I'm saying is if you spend a decent amount of money now, you'll have a stable system for the future.

AJ

Yes, you are right about that. That is what I meant. I was aware of the fact though, but seems I wrote wrong on the post.


Yes, the Core 2 processor is the best choice, I would also recommend it. The Sempron is a budget processor, as is the Celeron, the Sempron performs better though. A $3600 computer would be kickass, though its about 10 times this guys budget.

Here's an amazingly through article on the Core 2 Duo's - Anandtech - The Empire Strikes Back

After reading that, and myself wanting to build my own PC, I'm thinking of gettting an E6600, for the fact it can be clocked up to 4 GHz and is still stable.

Oh ya - my case that I got for free - my dad brought it home - Silverstone Tek - I have the silver one with the window - Good pic of silver case with window

A review of it: Anandtech - Silverstone TJ05

AJ

i live in the uk and i ain't allowed to goto another store except scan.
so i am going for this cpu http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo...roductID=250181
and this motherboard http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo...roductID=443251
this is ok?

Yes, that is okay and motherboard has integrated graphics chipset, so if you don't play advanced games much, then you don't need buy a graphics card. But you need to buy a sound card and network card.

would a dvd work aswell or does the motherboard need to support dvd drives..

Yes, a DVD works. Some DVD are SATA (Serial ATA), most are good old fashioned PATA (Parallel ATA).
Both should work.

DVD works on all computers, the motherboard doesn't need support anything special.

DVD burners are cheap nowadays.

Ha, 7950 gx2, it will last a while.... yeah maybe until DX10 comes out.

Wow, I just got done figuring out my total my mt PC that I'll be putting together. A total of $982.85! Not bad but here are my parts... (That's good right?)

Case

Motherboard

CPU

Hard Drive

Combo Drive

LCD Moniter

IDE Cable

Wireless PCI Adpater

Graphics Card

Speaker system

RAM

Sound Card

CPU Cooler

New_Age, the Pentium 4 sucks. It is built on the crappy Netburst architecture. It provides poor performance, generates massive amount of heat, and needs hell of a cooling, which often results in a noisy computer.

You choose a PATA harddisk and PATA IDE cable, instead of go with SATA (Serial ATA). PATA is getting phased out in favor for SATA which provides higher performance and got slimmer cables which reduces clutter and is good for the airflow.

Your motherboard is old tech, it doesn't have PCI-Express which pretty much all of todays motherboards got. Your graphics card is AGP.

The motherboard NIC is only 10/100, most nowadays are gigabit.

The LCD monitor qualifies to TCO '99, latest is TCO '03. It's response time is 8 ms, it is good enough for use application software, but if you do games, you might want to check into one that can handle 2 ms.

Pretty cool that the soundcard comes with Audacity, which is open source, go Diamond!

Ok, I'll go back and look at the CPU's and the Motherboard. Plus for a Graphics card.

Ok, changed mostly everything. I'm not into games all that much so...

It's total is $807.74

Case

Motherboard

CPU

RAM

Sound Card

Graphics Card

LCD Monitor

Hard Drive

CD/DVD Drive

New_Age
Why do buy a new computer?
The computer you have in signature is good enough, and by the components you choose, I wouldn't consider it worth to buy a new one, if you're looking to replace your computer. But maybe you just want an additional computer for some reason?

The monitor is 8ms, this shouldn't be any problem unless you play games (esp first-person shooters).

The motherboard is 100/100 ethernet, this shouldn't be a problem, worth to note is that most motherboards nowadays come with gigabit ethernet.

The harddisk is SATA-300, but this one is 8 mb cache, the one you picked before was 16 mb.

Also, the link to the CPU points to the motherboard.

Well, with my PC now I'm abit upset. My Case is good but when I put my Motherboard in side it did go in but the Wireless Adpater, Graphics Card didn't seem to go down all the way into the slots which really pissed me off. I just wanna start fresh and all. I'm be giving this computer to my GF so... yeah.

Note: I had to cut off the ends of the metal for the Video Card and Wireless adpater to fit in.


2nd note: I went to Newegg and setted up a good deal better then what I got with TigerDirect. I'll post the stuff I'm going to buy soon.

Ok, heres what I got out of Newegg.

Case

Motherboard

CPU

RAM

Sound Card

Graphics Card

Hard Drive

Speaker System

LCD Monitor

CD/DVD Combo Drive

Some things to note. Just pointing out stuff.

The socket for the motherboard and CPU is socket 939. The latest is socket AM2, however I think DDR2 memory is needed for that.

The memory is DDR, the latest is DDR2, though it might be more expensive, don't know.

The soundcard is an SB Audigy, it is 2 generations old or so, I think. There was Audigy then Audigy 2 then X-Fi. None the less, it probably is a good card.

As for the graphics card, I would personally go with a nVidia, because ATI are powerhungry monsters and big heat generators, I think. nVidia probably is too, heh.
The graphics card you selected has a fan, most graphics cards today unfortunately have a fan, not all though. Nvidia has better graphics drivers for Linux than ATI.

As for the monitor, it is 8ms, shouldn't be a problem though unless you play FPS games. The review on the site you mentioned, said the quality wasn't all that great using an analog connection, so be sure to connect it to the graphics card via DVI.

The hard disk has 8 mb cache, WD has models with 16 mb cache too. I am not sure of the price difference or performance difference, just pointing that out. Also Western Digital SE disk is the disk that produces the least noise on the market, and is also one of the best in terms of power consumption.

As for the DVD, Lite-On have a good reputation of having cheap drives that are of quality up to par with Plextor. Good choice.

Thx for the comment on the CD/DVD Combo Drive

I'm just looking into updating my computer to run Vista at a good state. I should be good but I might buy more RAM after I see how Vista runs when I get ahold of it

Ok, so I changed my Hard Drive. Not bad price...

HDD change!

I would like to know if all will work out as far as... will my motherboard fit into my case. Will the CPU and Motherboard work together.

The motherboard is a mini-ATX with socket 939.
The processor is a socket 939 so it fits into the motherboard.
The case is an ATX case, so mini-ATX fits into it.

The HDD is a Seagate. Seagate is the only harddisk manufacturer with a warranty of 5 years, the other have less, usually 2-3.

Thx, I needed the advice.