Building a computer

[Lemsol]

Anybody got any good links on comprehensive articles about building pc's? I'm good at replacing parts in my own and fixing things when they go wrong but never built one from scratch before. I have in mind an extreme setup with an Intel Quad Core processor but I really have no idea about doing it from scratch so am looking for some pretty all-encompassing information.

[MADMAX666]

you could try here for a step by step with video link at the bottom of the page
http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Computer




2.5 to 3.5 phone, mp3 player adapter only £1.49 and 99p shipping

[pcbuilder123]

i can help you out and save you some money in the process.
as i have building computers since 1989 stay away from the intel quad cores they are not true quad cores and they are overpriced the amd phenom2 is far superior and it is around 219 dollars start with the processor then pick a motherboard that suits your needs make sure the motherboard is compatable with your cpu then pick out your ram then comes the fun part do you want to go all sata or ide connections i would recomend going 3.0 gb/s sata as it is way faster than ide then pick your dvd or cd drive and any other things like video card and make sure you video card is compatable with the motherboard i have had that problem befor then pick your case and power supply if you use a quad core make sure your power supply is 700 watts or more or you will get poor performance.
hope this helps.

[Lemsol]

Thanks for the info guys I purchased a couple of books on the subject during the week and a Maplins catalogue so gonna get studying. I've always purchased computers already built from places like PC World but really am wanting to build one myself now ebcause I love gaming and want an extreme set up.

It was only last week that I decided to do this after I got Empire: Total War and that forced me into buying a new graphics card. Never seen a game with such high demands of a pc before ( great game though ). Am ordering my gaming case this week as have spotted one I really like the look of and will go from there. Should have everything I need by the end of the spring and be all built.

[phanmale]

Thanks for the info guys I purchased a couple of books on the subject during the week and a Maplins catalogue so gonna get studying. I've always purchased computers already built from places like PC World but really am wanting to build one myself now ebcause I love gaming and want an extreme set up.

It was only last week that I decided to do this after I got Empire: Total War and that forced me into buying a new graphics card. Never seen a game with such high demands of a pc before ( great game though ). Am ordering my gaming case this week as have spotted one I really like the look of and will go from there. Should have everything I need by the end of the spring and be all built.

Make sure youre gaming tower has plenty of vents, and dont skimp on the fans or PSU. If you try to cut corners to get the cost down too much initially, you will end up burning your system out prematurely. Dont forget ultimately that you will need a motherboard and a good processor. Skimp anywhere on a gaming machine and you will let the other components down, so go the best you can afford. Games are upgrading with technology and my brother in law cant play some of the new games on his 2yo machine.

My brother helped with my very first home build years ago, and his advice to me was to choose a ready built machine that I would go for as spec, set a budget (dont forget if you already have basics like kb, monitor etc, it will save, but when I built my sons for him, we ended up buying a new gaming mouse, and an hd monitor and apparently it sped his gaming up to an extreme advantage (hes a COD freak)

Once you have your spec and budget, follow the specs or try to better it where you can. Read plenty of reviews when you are purchasing, you will get to learn what will be the better components for your needs.

A graphics card for his gaming machine is far superior to what I need for my online business for example.

Good luck with your build - I know when I first turned my "new" machine on and it "went" that I was so pleased with myself

[phanmale]

oh and buy your components online where you can, you will get better value ultimately

[universal]

you could try here for a step by step with video link at the bottom of the page
http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Computer

Above website info is quite good, don't forget to have an antistatic wrist band and an antistatic mat. These are essential and good investment for DIY PC builders as we tend to open pc case and upgrade parts frequently.

[GrabYou]

Anybody got any good links on comprehensive articles about building pc's? I'm good at replacing parts in my own and fixing things when they go wrong but never built one from scratch before. I have in mind an extreme setup with an Intel Quad Core processor but I really have no idea about doing it from scratch so am looking for some pretty all-encompassing information.

1. Decide on a budget.
2. What will be the main use for this PC.
3. Read reviews and compare different parts.
4. Select your parts.
5. Double check parts compatibility with each other QVL list.
6. Go online use many different prices search engine to find the best prices and best warranty/returns/ etc...
7. Time to Order.
8. Build your system.

Why 1. This will help you when choosing parts because as you mention you want an Extreme PC but to be honest there is Extreme and Insane. Just an example you can have Laser cut aluminium custom design case side panel!!

Why 2. In my opinion 2 is very important because depending on what this PC will be mainly used for it will affect this or that part of your budget. example you do not need a quad core to browse the web or send emails.
Quads are not so good at gaming as Duocore why because to use the full potential of quads it require the game code to make full use of the multithreading capability of the cpu which is rarely used in gaming. Quads are good for video encoding or any application which use all four cores.

Why 3. Before spending a lot of money on a new system check out what community have to say about this or that mobo etc... Read reviews from online specialized website you'll see quickly that way stuffs to avoid. I give you an example you see the latest socket blablabla with X-amount of features and jump to buy it only to find out the bios is still in a beta stage and so far your £300 mobo is very instable. That's the kind of stuffs you can avoid by reading review from expert.

Why 4. When selecting your part buy what you need and will use for sure if you have no clue about overcloking why spend so much money on that board feature. Do you need a quad sli mobo? Do you ever use lightscribe capabilty of your dvd burner? Do you need a very expansive case with X-amount of fans if you do not overclock your hardware?

Why 5. Typical mistake when buying memory for example the manufacturer list DDR2 1066 compatible(OC) but when you installed it's detected as 800Mhz instead of 1066Mhz that's because (OC) stand for Overclocked. Double check recommanded QVL list on their website. Another example buying an HSF too big ok you got good cooling but can't use the first memory slot because the HSF block it. Buying a huge case but cables end up being too short to reach anything etc...

Why 6. You really have to spend time there comparing comparing again because price is not all it's very important but trust me you'll want good customer service, good rma if needed etc... Check Rma times for the mobo you are interested in for example I corrupted a bios on an asus mobo Asus was asking me £13 pounds for Rma'ing it and the turn around at best 8 weeks. Instead I bought a chip bios replacement myself for £16 and changed it myself my down time 6 days. If I had an evga board I'll have paid £0 for the rma just postage to send it then I would have had my board back within 2 weeks.

Why 7. At some point you'll have to place the order and stop looking because once you start reading up on hardware and new things coming out it gets to a point where placing the order become difficult because this or that new thing is coming out soon.

8. Finally building the system this might sound odd but first build it out of your case. Anyway when you get to actually building your system let us know will help you but if you did all the search I've sugested by then you'll know more than the basic I guess

Hope this help and good luck with your new rig.

PS: I play Total war Empire on my PC on high settings the reason that game require a lot of power is it's full of glitches and leak memory at present. I reach 85fps during battles with big armies with an E6600 OC at 3.19Ghz 100% stable on air and 2 8800gts 320mb OC and 4gb of ddr2 8500 OC at 1150Mhz. Also when the game came out nvidia released new driver who do not work well with Empire I was unable to use Sli until they released another driver recently but even that new driver doesn't include sli settings for Empire yet so I had to use a custom setting using nHancer.

[GrabYou]

i can help you out and save you some money in the process.
as i have building computers since 1989 stay away from the intel quad cores they are not true quad cores and they are overpriced the amd phenom2 is far superior and it is around 219 dollars start with the processor then pick a motherboard that suits your needs make sure the motherboard is compatable with your cpu then pick out your ram then comes the fun part do you want to go all sata or ide connections i would recomend going 3.0 gb/s sata as it is way faster than ide then pick your dvd or cd drive and any other things like video card and make sure you video card is compatable with the motherboard i have had that problem befor then pick your case and power supply if you use a quad core make sure your power supply is 700 watts or more or you will get poor performance.
hope this helps.

I don't want to start a flame war but dude amd cpu don't come near intel's since quite a few years that is why they are so cheap. Lol I'll eat my own word if you post a review of an amd chip coming near it's intel equivalent. Oh and the best chip released by either amd or intel in the last few years was the Intel E6300 do you know any other chip whcih can be OC from 1.86ghz to 3.6ghz on air let me know. (costed just over £100 when just release)

[TiasTreasures]

Take a look at this. My son helped me build my first computer, I got lazy this time and bought one, but I kept this reference just in case.

http://www.worldstart.com/tips/tips.php/3041