Building a Rig from scratch

[Viper190]

After a few years of having a computer, buying already built computers I am now looking to go away and build my own. So i want the help of the Escapist memebrs to give me a ground on which to build. By this I mean what's the best hardware to get, I already know a bit, but would like to hear what others have to say.

 

[Nimbus]

PA: Paging Dr. Eggo to the computer room. Paging Dr. Eggo.

 

[oliveira8]

I know very little about PC hardware. I know enough to not get tricked into buying some crap, but I know little when it comes to know what is best.

The first thing you should plan is how much you willing to spend. And work from there.

If not I say get a Octo-core(Do they exist alread?), 12 gB Ram and a Graphics card that is capable to do time travel! And a motherboard capable to support all that.

 

[odBilal]

I know very little about PC hardware. I know enough to not get tricked into buying some crap, but I know little when it comes to know what is best.

The first thing you should plan is how much you willing to spend. And work from there.

If not I say get a Octo-core(Do they exist alread?), 12 gB Ram and a Graphics card that is capable to do space travel!

And a physX Card that would make Newton jealous

 

[Nivag the Owl]

Were you not listening in college last year? Haha. Anyways, you just need the following components (my recommendations are in brackets) this is a set up for a close to top-of-the-range PC.
- Processor (get a quad core)
- Graphics Card (nVidia 8800s are still the best in my opinion)
- Sound Card (at least 2.1 compatability)
- Hard Drive (at least 500gb)
- Power Supply (at least 600W)
- RAM (at least 4gb)
- Processor heat sink with and an extra fan for it
- DVD Drives (at least 20x)
- Case (full tower)
- Motherboard

Important things to remember:
- Motherboard chipset must match Processor chipset
- Motherboard must have the right sockets for all components
- Power Supply must have the right cables for all components
- You should pick your motherboard and power supply last

 

[jake557]

Were you not listening in college last year? Haha. Anyways, you just need the following components (my recommendations are in brackets) this is a set up for a close to top-of-the-range PC.
- Processor (get a quad core)
- Graphics Card (nVidia 8800s are still the best in my opinion)
- Sound Card (at least 2.1 compatability)
- Hard Drive (at least 500gb)
- Power Supply (at least 600W)
- RAM (at least 4gb)
- Processor heat sink with and an extra fan for it
- DVD Drives (at least 20x)
- Case (full tower)
- Motherboard

Important things to remember:
- Motherboard chipset must match Processor chipset
- Motherboard must have the right sockets for all components
- Power Supply must have the right cables for all components
- You should pick your motherboard and power supply last

Pretty much this.
Except I'd recommend a 4850 over an 8800, it's only a little more expensive for a much more powerful card. I'd also advise against Quad cores unless you really have your heart set on one. The actual building is faily easy, each component comes with it's own guide and there are plenty of youtube guides if you get stuck. The hardest part of sytems building (in my opinion) is installing all the drivers and stuff afterwards, setting up the hardware is fairly easy so long as you have compatible parts.

 

[Steelfists]

After a few years of having a computer, buying already built computers I am now looking to go away and build my own. So i want the help of the Escapist memebrs to give me a ground on which to build. By this I mean what's the best hardware to get, I already know a bit, but would like to hear what others have to say.

DO get a quad core. Anyone who tells you otherwise is a fool. If you want a top of the range one, get one of the Intel i7s. The Intel Q6600 is the more affordable option.

Make sure you get a motherboard with the right CPU socket, thats 1366 for the i7 and 775 for the Q6600.

DO NOT get a 8800. They are old and a waste of cash. If you're going for top of the range get a GeForce 200 series card, i'm not sure which out of them are best.

 

[Ophiuchus]

On a selfish note (and also on behalf of the OP who is a fellow countryman), does anyone know of a decent British equivalent of this Newegg site that everyone goes on about?

I'm thinking it's time to abandon my current PC, salvage the new graphics card I just put in a few weeks ago [http://tinyurl.com/av2jco] and build a new machine from scratch. If I can find the money to do it out of my student loan.

 

[searanox]

If you are serious about building a computer, you can't go wrong with one of bit-tech's buyer's guides. You don't have to follow them to the letter at all, but they have prices listed and several configurations that should meet most needs. Note that I don't recommend going with their minimum-spec machines as they're not targeted towards contemporary gaming and are better for home theatre use.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2009/03/03/what-hardware-should-i-buy-march-2009/1

On a selfish note (and also on behalf of the OP who is a fellow countryman), does anyone know of a decent British equivalent of this Newegg site that everyone goes on about?

Overclockers.co.uk, but supposedly the store is run by a racist guy so some people don't like buying from them. Good service from what I have heard, though.

 

[Ophiuchus]

On a selfish note (and also on behalf of the OP who is a fellow countryman), does anyone know of a decent British equivalent of this Newegg site that everyone goes on about?

Overclockers.co.uk, but supposedly the store is run by a racist guy so some people don't like buying from them. Good service from what I have heard, though.

Heh, fair 'nuff. That was where I got my graphics card from but I'll have a look into the racist thing before I think about using 'em again. For what it's worth, I got my stuff quickly and with no hassle but I'm not one to judge a company on one transaction. Now you mention it though, I do remember thinking their logo was a bit BNP-ish...

 

[JokerGrin]

May I suggest eBuyer as a great place for PC parts? Amazing service, quick delivery and after years of buying from them I've never had any problems with quality.

 

[Bluntknife]

Without a price range I can't realy recomend hardware.

But as far as companies go...ASUS!

By far the best customer support I've ever dealt with and the highest quality products.
You'll pay alittle more for them but you get what you pay for.

I got my e8400 to 4ghz on a p5k se (a lower end board)

Ram, go with OCZ. Some of the Corsair sticks don't like to be over volted.

As for the quad core vs dual core debate it all depends on what type of cooling you plan on getting, and what your budget is.
Personaly I'm a fan of the dual cores, most apps aren't optimized for quads, they run cooler, over clock better.
But then again, it all depends what you're doing.

Video editing and 3d animation go for a quad,
For gaming go for a dual.

but there are going to be people who disagree with me...

 

[lameofdog]

On a selfish note (and also on behalf of the OP who is a fellow countryman), does anyone know of a decent British equivalent of this Newegg site that everyone goes on about?

I'm thinking it's time to abandon my current PC, salvage the new graphics card I just put in a few weeks ago [http://tinyurl.com/av2jco] and build a new machine from scratch. If I can find the money to do it out of my student loan.

I was reading an article the other day about some company in U.K. being bought by NewEgg. I think it was called dabs or something.

 

[Horticulture]

Do you have a budget in mind? I'll chime in that, regardless of how much you're spending, make sure not to cheap out on the power supply. A crappy one can cause instability, heat problems, and even take out other components if it fails. Invest in a good brand (SeaSonic, PC Power and Cooling, Antec, Corsair, BFG Tech, Thermaltake) A few minutes researching can save you a lot of headache down the line.

Unrelated, why'd Eggo get banned?

 

[cyber_andyy]

Haven't got much to contribute apart from this: http://www.pricewatch.com/public/

Rig?

 

[ElArabDeMagnifico]

Well, you can compose parts from newegg for a baseline price, and since you are building from scratch, I say keep looking at newegg's "shell shockers" and Fry's weekend deals.

 

[DigitalSushi]

PA: Paging Dr. Eggo to the computer room. Paging Dr. Eggo.

he's banned, he wont be on these forums diagnosing "dysfunction PC" any time soon.

we need 20 CC's of dynamic proxy, STAT!

 

[Horticulture]

Why did Eggo get banned?

He responded by typing "lol wut" in a forum post. Someone must of reported him and the mods decided to ban him.

lol wut

 

[ElArabDeMagnifico]

Why did Eggo get banned?

He responded by typing "lol wut" in a forum post. Someone must of reported him and the mods decided to ban him.

Permanent?

 

[Nimbus]

Why did Eggo get banned?

He responded by typing "lol wut" in a forum post. Someone must of reported him and the mods decided to ban him.

Permanent?

Yes.

Frankly, I'm dissapointed with the way the mods handled that, and to such a respected member of the forums, over something so trivial... Truth be told, I'm surprised. Far lesser punishments are doled out for similar offences to not-so-respected members (See: the first two comments of every ZP video in the last two months) while a permanent ban happens for this little thing...

I always knew The Escapist was stricter with the rules but this seems both overboard and hypocritical. That's my two cents, at any rate.