kelvin

Having seen another thread describing building a PC as "technical lego" (), and having wanted to try it for some time, i've decided to take the plunge, and have a dabble at speccing/building a home PC for myself

I'm fully aware of most of the basics, but one area I know nothing about, is motherboards - can someone decipher some of the gibberish that i'm likely to encounter. Do I need to decide whether i'm going down the AMD/Pentium route prior to purchasing one, or can I decide later (I notice that most state AMD or Pentium )

Also, if someone could post a rough list of all of the parts i'm likely to need it would be a great help - I think i'm there, but would like to see a complete list to ensure I haven't missed anything

Many thanks in advance,

Kelvin.

Dr Nick

Hi Everybody,

The motherboard is the most important bit, the most complicated bit to connect and you do have to choose AMD or Pentium, you can't get one that does both.

Minimum other parts to get it going are:

PSU & power lead
CPU and fan
Memory
Hard drive & cable
Keyboard or mouse
Display & cable

You will almost certainly want a case
Keyboard AND mouse
Maybe a sound card if not built into the motherboard
Maybe a graphics card if not built onto the motherboard
Maybe a floppy drive or DVC/CD drive (more cables required)
Network or Modem connector card if not built onto the motherboard.

For me, installing the motherboard in the case is the hardest bit. Thre are a bunchy of weedy little cables that go from the case to a corner of the motherboard to do with power lights, power switch, reset switch, HDD activity light, Power light, internal speaker connector (and maybe some more, I forget). These are a bit of a pain to connect because some can be connected the wrong way round and you cant tell. But dont worry so far my PC has never gone pop as a result you just have to try again. The manual that comes with your motherboard is not usually much good at telling you which way round the connectors go. This is because they did not make the case presumably. Being colour blind probably doesn't help much either.

Make sure you buy the right memory for your mobo.

In your position, I would not spend too much money on your first project just in case you make some mistakes.

The most likely cause of damage is carelessness and static I would think. I have made many PCs and never knowingly broken a component by static but you should still be careful. Don't touch any metal connectors or pins if you can avoid it!

If you want advice on a mobo, I recently got an Asus PS800 or something like that. It was only about 40 quid and goes very nicely.

Oh and finally, I would buy quite a big case if its your first go. Ask if motherboard mounting bracket is detatchable. If it is this makes installation much easier.

Oh and finally finally make sure you get a powerfull enough PSU I would recommend 400w and dont scrimp here. I recently had one blow and it cost me a fortune because it took out several other components.

Hope that helps some!

Up_North

Kelvin,

Yeah before you decide on a motherboard you need to decide on AMD (Socket A) or Intel (socket 478).

You gonna need:

Motherboard
Processor
Lots of memory (not leass than 512mb)
Graphics card (motherboard may have something on board which will be Okish providing you're not seriosuly into gaming)
Sound card (will almost definitely be onboard)
Hard disk(s) (if you want super fast Serial ATA make sure motherboard supports it)
Optical drives (CD/DVD) - I'd suggest you geta DVD ROM and a separate DVD Rewriter - look for one that does both +r and -r for best compatibility
Floppy drive (not really necessary nowadays)
Card reader (for digital cameras, etc)
Firewire card (if you gonna do video editing, etc)
Case!!!! Make sure its the same form factor as motherboard (ATX/Micro ATX)
Power supply (probably included in case)
Keyboard
Mouse
Speakers
Er, operating system!!!

Cheapest place is proabably still computer fairs, that is if you can see the computer stuff past the mobile phone unlockers, and blank CD/knocky off CD people!!!!

Ian

Up_North

Beaten to it by Dr Nick!

Ian

_Meridian_

iTrader: (1)

Er actually:

AMD: Socket A (32-bit), or Socket 754 (64-bit) or Socket 939 (64-bit) or Socket 940 (64-bit). All 64-bit CPUs also run 32-bit code, unlike the Intel equivalents.

Intel: Socket 478 or Socket 775


Remember to fit the CPU, cooler and RAM to the motherboard before installing it in the case.

Most modern motherboards will have: 5.1 sound (but not necessarily any good!), Ethernet (may be Gigabit, but again, not certain), Firewire, USB2.0 all on board. It will probably have SATA as well, but as advised above, check.

Note: there is no connecter which will cause damage if fitted the wrong way around as long as you haven't modded it by removing a "key". It just means something won't work. The two motherboard connectors Dr Nick refers to are the ones for the HDD and Power LEDs. Get it wrong and they won't light up - that's it. Pretty much every other connector has a key so it will only fit one way around. With IDE cables, blue goes on the motherboard. If you use the jumpers to select master and slave then the drives can go either way around. If you use Cable Select then master goes on black and slave on grey.


M

kelvin

Fantastic - parts wise I was pretty spot on, but the advice on motherboards was just the sort of thing I needed - thanks so much guys

Probably a bit of a chicken/egg question, but what is likely to be the best option - AMD or Intel??

K.

scoobyjimbo

Hi

Building a PC although in some parts is quite straigtforward if you are organised it can also be tricky in places.. I have built in excess of 20 PC's and some can be easy and some not so good.. Rule of thumb is dont skimp on componenents, take your time and buy the best bits as you can afford them. Dont skimp on processor, motherboard and ram. AMD are cheaper than intel generally but as others have said you need to make this decision first as this dicates which motherboard you have to go for. I personally have always gone for intel but that is my preference.. I have built PCs for clients whos budget dicated they went for an AMD and that is fine.. Motherboard wise i would go for an MSI, Abit, Gibabyte - you generally cant go wrong with these.. In terms of cost you shoudl budget for £75-120 for this.. depending on what you want and how upgradeable you want it to be. Ram wide go for as much as you can afford... i.e with apps today i would not spec a machine with anything less than 512MB but 1gb would be my min spec. Also if you are goiing to play games you will want a decent graphics card, a good choice is the ati 9800 pro as they have come down in price just recently, you can pick an OEM one of these up for around £110 but is is worth it..

Anything else you want to know just email/PM me..

good luck..

try places like scan.co.uk and overclockers.co.uk for prices..

J

kelvin

Thanks again

Am just in the process of looking through prices over at ebuyer at the minute but will also give those links you've suggested a go

K.

_Meridian_

iTrader: (1)

Dr Nick and I will second that...


M

kelvin

Thanks again for all of the replies

In light of the fact that this is my "first build", i've decided to put together a few (cheapish) parts so that I can get to grips with things without running the risk of losing a lot of money in the event that I do something stupid

To that end, I wonder if I could get some opinions on the following essentials before I shell out my hard-earned

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-7S748-L - Details here.
Processor: AMD XP2500 (retail version with heatsink) - Details here.
DVD Writer: Samsung OEM drive - Details here.
DVD Rom Drive: LG OEM Drive - Details here.
7 in 1 Card Reader: Ebuyer's own job - Details here
3 port Firewire Card: Again, Ebuyers own one - Details here.

Plus 1GB of DDR RAM (for now!), a 120GB IDE Hard Drive, a half decent case (i'll decide on fans once i've established what case i'm going to get), and a 400w Power Supply. A modem has been left off of my list intentionally as I don't need one. At some point i'll install a decent graphics card, but i'd like to get a basic system together initially...

As far as the bare essentials are concerned, do any of you see any problems with the above components?

Look forward to your comments,

Kelvin.

Hanslow

One thing to take note of with EBuyer is that (unless they have changed) they will only ship your goods once all of them are in stock. If you are just waiting on your motherboard...they won't ship. If the DVD Rom then goes out of stock, and then the motherboard comes in....they won't ship.

They don't hold items for you, they all have to be in at the time of processing.

Worth remembering in case you are in a hurry to get the bits

Best of luck with it...it's quite enjoyable to do, and it's not a proper build unless you manage to bleed inside the case somehow whilst building it (usually from a sharp edge on the case)

kelvin

Thanks Hanslow - I didn't realise that with Ebuyer.

Does that still apply if you place all orders separately?

K.

Hanslow

No, if you place an order only for individual items then I think you might fool their system. Don't know if you get stung for a P&P charge on each item though?

I fell foul of their system, but they were good about it as I was waiting for a (very cheap) keyboard to complete the system and they emailed me and said do you want us to complete your order and cancel the keyboard....so I did. Just used the keyboard I already had, just fancied trying a different one

Have a close read of their Terms and Conditions to make sure it doesn't say anything about grouping of orders and check the P&P costs.

scoobyjimbo

All looks fine for a first build, i have used that motherboard and dvd writer on builds before along with the xp2500 and they are all great.. so good choices..

good luck with the build anyway, if you need any help let us know.

J

Chris_

Personally I think the most important item in any computer is the case and PSU and ones which are virtually ignored when speccing up a new computer. I am refering to the higher end computers but good airflow and solid reliable voltages on the PSU will prevent issues and early faults appearing on your hard earned.

Soulgirl

The case is not necessarily an issue nor the psu. I have run totally reliable systems unbias to a particular case and psu.

DrEvil

Third'd

DazV

It might be worth pointing out the latest AMD cpu's tend to run a little HOT in comparison with their Intel counterparts.

If buying AMD, avoid using the stock heatsink and fan they come with. Perhaps buy just the chip on its own at reduced cost, then spend some money on a good quality 3rd party heatsink and fan fomr the likes of ThermalRight, etc... all available on overclockers

unfeasablylargegonads

iTrader: (3)

Agree about cases, however avoid the realy cheap PSU's, seen a few of them go quite quick and also occasionaly not having enough omph to get the CPU etc.. up to/over rated clockspeed.

Also do watch out for static, you may not kill the componet straight away but easy to damage it so that it does not perform as well as it should/fail quicker

Nick

I agree with a proevious post about the importance of a good PSU. A blown PSU can kill your motherboard & processor, a dicky PSU can cuse all sorts of other issues which are hard to track down.

Good brands are:
Enermax from http://www.casetech.co.uk/
Qtechnology from http://www.quietpc.com/
Globalwin from http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatal...alwin_psu.html

Bear in mind that Overclockers will hold up your whole order for a back order, but will charge your card immediately.

Here's a site where you can calculate what size PSU you need:
http://www.adecy.com/psu/

Superb cases are from Coolermaster - I have the Praetorian which has a slide-out motherboard tray - makes fitting the motherboard simple. It also has 4 cooling fans.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatal...Cases_126.html
http://www.casetech.co.uk/index.php/cPath/27_49

The main difference with Athlon & Intel chips are that Athlon are cheaper, but a little slower than the equivalent Intel chip. However Athlons are easier to Overclock (make faster by tweaking the settings).

For motherboards, I went for an MSI. The peer support on their forums is the best I've found. http://forum.msi.com.tw

Regards
Nick

DrEvil

Hmm.. thats weird, my Prescott (3.2) runs a good 10 degrees hotter than my AMD (3500 939). Both systems running in a Praetorian case and have Zalman 7000B Cu CPU coolers. Both on ASUS mobos.

DazV

DrEvil - some of the AMD chips have a really bad reputation for running hot. I had 3 Athlon XP2400's last year which all ran mid fifties with stock cooling.

Same happened recently when fitting an XP1900.

DrEvil

Yeah, I heard that, which is why I bought intel initially..
These new 939 chips seem quite good heat wise, mine idles < 40 and prime95 load circa 50-55, that was with a room temp of around 30.