Please help with build...

[dan7777]

Hi guys,

I'm building a new system, but am feeling pretty overwhelmed by all that there is to choose from.

Could somebody suggest a setup?

I have a budget of £450 ($900). I want an AMD system preferably. I have already chosen a case, an 'NZXT hush', which shaves off about £70 leaving £380 or something left over.

I would like two gigs of RAM, and two harddrives around 250gigs each set up in RAID, and a graphics card.

I do a bit of gaming, mainly half life 2 etc. On a daily basis I will be downloading, running iTunes, a browser, Word etc.

So, yeah. Could somebody help me? I have experience with building computers, I just feel like I don't know where to start with such a huge choice of brands and specs.

Any help would be really appreciated.

Cheers.

 

[Juice1]

Erm. Since you are in the UK I can't really link you to anything.

Get an asus M2N-SLi motherboard.

Ram, basically user prefrence. Get PC2-6400, something with heat spreaders. OCZ, Patriot, Kingston, Corsair, Crucial, and G.Skill are great brands. Stay away from stuff like PQI and A-Data. Just look for the lowest price, since they do vary.

Now if you want to get two 250GB hard drives, it's going to cost more then getting one 500GB. In the US, 2x250GB costs about $140 USD, and a 500GB costs $100 USD. Same brand, same speed. I'd go with one 500GB if I were you. Western Digital is one of the best brands out there right now. Stay away from toshiba, although it is cheaper, do not buy toshiba.

Graphics. Since you play HL2, You don't need the best. But you may want to try new games. I'd suggest a nVidia 8600GTS, or a 8800GT.

Get an AM2 socket CPU. I'd suggest a 5000+ Black Edition (which is an amazing overclocker) Get a nice HSF too, i'd suggest a zalman 9500.

You'll want to get a power supply too. Get a thermaltake powersupply. 600 watt's at least.

That's about everything you need, besides DVD drives, case fans, et cetera.

And have fun building

 

[dan7777]

Ok, cheers! Thanks for your help! Any other points or suggestions?

 

[Juice1]

How about posting exactly what you plan on getting, then I can check that everything works together.

Sorry I couldn't link because IDK what site you guys use over in the UK.

 

[worshipme]

a graphics card set up in RAID.

? Do you mean SLI/Crossfire?
Will you be OC'ing as this would have a major influence on the components selection.
Anyway for that budget, you'd be best with an Athlon 64 X2, like this:http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135207
Mobo:http://www.ebuyer.com/product/121169
SLI compatible. And for the GPU: ATI have just released this, it's 8800GTS 320MB performance for less than half the price and would run Half - Life 2 like a dream. http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135760
PSU: Just get anything from OCZ, Corsair, Hiper, Antec, Seasonic etc that's 450W+. And for the RAM: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/130415
For the HDDs, just get anything you like from Hitachi, Samsung, Seagate or WD as they all make quality drives.

Sorry I couldn't link because IDK what site you guys use over in the UK.

We use Ebuyer.com/Overclocker.co.uk/Scan.co.uk/or microdirect, but Ebuyer is probably the best.

 

[Juice1]

Oh thanks. I was looking up pcbuyer.co.uk... and ebuyer.co.uk

 

[dan7777]

oops. Bad post. I meant I want the harddrives in RAID. I cant remember which RAID setup, the one where everything saved onto my harddrive is copied onto a second one. Like a backup.

I wouldn't mind SLI. Is it better to get two lower spec gpu's instead for the same price as one higher spec?

ummm, I'd like to try overclocking in the future, but if it's going to increase my budget by much...


Thanks for your help guys! Seriously, thanks!

ps. I'm hungover and can't think straight, so sorry if I keep sounding like an idiot.

 

[worshipme]

RAID 1. SLI is best for high-end cards where there is no other single card that would equal the performance of those two cards in SLI. But for you, a midrange card like the one I recommended would be best, but don't whatever you do, get the 8600GTS, the ATI 3850 beats it hands down. Parts that are good for OC'ing aren't alot more expensive and the extra performance you will get out of them is worth it.

 

[dan7777]

I've just found a Nvidia 6800 256mb gpu that my mate gave me a few months back. So that could do me for a while, until I have more money to get a better card. So, would that be compatible with many mobo's? Or would I need to make sure that I get an Nvidia chipset mobo.

So, now that I don't need a brand new graphics card (yet) that leaves me some extra cash. Should I get better RAM or PSU or something?

 

[worshipme]

The 6800 will be compatible as long as it is the PCI-EX16 version. And with the extra cash, let's change the platform and go with Intel and their C2Ds. I'd get this CPU: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/133386
And this mobo: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/136363
A great OC'ing combination. Any RAM you buy will still be compatible as long as it's DDR2 and 800Mhz or less, higher RAM speeds would be a waste of money.