Building a PC from Scratch....

[dysfunction]

I usually buy my PC's ready built from Mesh. They have great products etc etc....

I would really like to build my own. After getting an idea of the system I want I can get a fantastic system from Mesh without the hassle of building one.

I would still like to give it a go but I don't want to spend £800 and then **** it up!

If I bought the following what else would I need? Do I need to buy cables? Do I need to buy cooling equipment? Do I need to buy screws? Buy other stuff?

8800 GT 512MB Graphics card
Antec Nine Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case
620W PSU
Intel Quad Q6600 chip
PC2-8500C5 2GB Ram
500GB HD
Card Reader
Asus P5N32-E PLUS SLi NF C55 motherboard
DVD Writer
Vista Home Premium

I usually replace componants rather than build a system from scratch.
I am quite comfortable doing that but I am a bit worried about building something from scratch.

If I bought everything above would that be enough to build the system or would I need other stuff?

Thanks!

 

[Kryten]

I think you've got the bases covered there.
I would however suggest ditching the nVidia motherboard for a more suited Intel chipset - p35 or if the budget allows, an x38 chipset.
Asus P5K is still the king on P35 boards, gigabyte DS3 and abit ip35 also very popular choices.
Only advantage of the nVidia is SLI support which is a bit "meh" anyway, as it's a rather pointless expense. On top of which, there are still issues with the nvidia chipset boards within Windows which means it's not the most stable of chipsets. You may well never have an issue, but generally you'll get more performance from an intel board.

Make sure you get the "G0" model Q6600 as it's more energy efficient and if it takes your fancy, overclocks a little better.

You'll get all the cables you need with the motherboard. Cooling - the stock cooler if you get a retail processor will be plenty good enough, however if you're pushing it a bit more, than a 3rd party cooler such as an Arctic Freezer 7, Sycthe Mugen or Tuniq Tower would be advisable.

Just take your time doing it and if you get stuck at any point just ask - guessing or rushing will just invite problems and you're obviously looking to steer clear of those

 

[dysfunction]

Thanks very much for that info. Glad to hear I have not missed out on anything.

Is there an order to building a system? Or can you just plonk things in as you go?
I would assume its best to start with adding the chip to the motherboard and then adding that to the case...would I be missing a trick by just adding the rest as I like?

 

[Dark Orb Choir]

build case up
put power supply in case
put cpu into motherboard/put chip fan in
put cpu into case (remembering not to ground the mobo)
put memory in
consult mobo manual
put power leds/power switch/reset switch cables into mobo
consult mobo manual again
put power leds/power switch/reset switch cables into mobo
put hard drive in
put dvdrom/cdrom in
install operating system

download steam
join KEA server
frag RARR (with bacon)

 

[dysfunction]

omg you know about the bacon!

 

[inactionman]

One question, what PSU?

Also get 4Gb of PC-6400 ram instead of the 2Gb, with the 64-bit Vista, you'll see better performance. You might want to get a hard drive with 32Mb of cache as well, if you can.

 

[dysfunction]

At the moment I am just seeing if I would be able to build the system without damaging anything as I am really keen to do this but I don't want to waste £800 odd on stuff that would end up being useless due to me being an idiot.

I have not decided on the exact specs yet. I was going to get to that bit later on.
I need to get some money together first as well.

I was thinking of this PSU though as it happens:
Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-620HXUK)

Much appreciated on the other advice....

 

[Reza]

At the moment I am just seeing if I would be able to build the system without damaging anything as I am really keen to do this but I don't want to waste £800 odd on stuff that would end up being useless due to me being an idiot.

I have not decided on the exact specs yet. I was going to get to that bit later on.
I need to get some money together first as well.

I was thinking of this PSU though as it happens:
Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-620HXUK)

Much appreciated on the other advice....

Thats a pretty decent PSU, but you could get away with less power if you dont plan to SLI or use many drives.

I was initially going to say that you still need to flesh out details on some of the component choices, but it looks like you are still choosing exactly which components. In terms of anything glaring missing out, it looks like you have it all covered.

Like Kryten said though, I would change motherboard and go for a different chipset (P35 would be perfect imo). Also I'd look into any semi decent CPU cooler to replace the stock intel one. If you get a nice low power G0 stepping Q6600, you will very soon want to push a few more MHz out of it to make the most of the bang for buck it offers. And with a self built quality system with nothing letting the side down, there's no reason why you shouldnt happily do so.

Lastly alot of people do their initial testng of their system with the bare essentials outside of the case, just to make troubleshooting easier. I guess it depends on the case you have in mind and how accessable everything would be if you were to try troubleshooting with mobo installed.

Oh and you might need a floppy (or access to one at least) for bios flashing and raid drives.

 

[svartalf]

Take a look at the Reviews section on Custom PC's website. Labs Tests | Custom PC

I always buy stuff that's recommended by them, if I can.

A recent article of theirs states, "Entire range of Corsair PSUs is at least 80 per cent efficient at a variety of loads

Custom PC readers’ favourite PSU manufacturer, Corsair, has just announced that its entire range of power supplies has received 80 PLUS certification."

 

[inactionman]

Pretty good PSU.

Brands to go for:

BFG - Graphics cards, their support/warranty is excellent.
Asus - motherboards, else Gigabyte and MSI are ok.
Crucial - Ram is great, plus their support is in scotland, so fast turnaround on RMA's, Corsair are good as well.
Antec - Cases are good, but you could save money getting a P182 instead of the 900.

All other parts are much of a muchness. Although Asus are releasing a new soundcard soon, the Xonar DX, which has everything a SB X-Fi has, with better driver support, and should be about £50-60.

 

[Lethul]

Pretty good PSU.

Brands to go for:

BFG - Graphics cards, their support/warranty is excellent.
Asus - motherboards, else Gigabyte and MSI are ok.
Crucial - Ram is great, plus their support is in scotland, so fast turnaround on RMA's, Corsair are good as well.
Antec - Cases are good, but you could save money getting a P182 instead of the 900.

All other parts are much of a muchness. Although Asus are releasing a new soundcard soon, the Xonar DX, which has everything a SB X-Fi has, with better driver support, and should be about £50-60.

plus the P182 is superior in everything especially looks

 

[Lethul]

Intel Quad Q6600 chip

with that CPU you want proper cooling so you can OC it a lot

I suggest Thermalright Ultra 120 eXtreme or an OCZ Vendetta 2 coupled with a fan of your choice (the vendetta has a fan included and better performance and better price so try that one ). Just make sure these fans fit your mobo first. If you want silent comp go for noctua/nexus/schyte fans.

 

[inactionman]

Lol, seems the 900 is cheaper, but the p182 is a good case, just ask myself or anyone else who has one, sturdy, quiet and lots of space.

 

[Embattle]

I have a P5N32 SLI, be careful with memmory esp should you get 4Gb as like a number of boards it can be rather tetchy.

 

[Jonty]

Hi dysfunction

I know you said you won't be purchasing right now, but post again when you're ready, as you may be able to get a better deal on the components at that time. Personally I would opt for 4GB RAM, Q9300 CPU, and maybe change the graphics card too (depending on how much of your budget is remaining).

As for building, it's not particularly daunting, and the others have listed the order and so on. Have fun

Kind regards

 

[dysfunction]

That P182 case does look good.

Hi Jonty, I will look into that!
I may have to wait a while as I need to spend money on other things first.

Mesh sometimes are quite tempting:
MESH Computers - Award Winning PCs Since 1987 - Elite Q4 FX




Maybe I can buy the stuff over a 6 month period....

 

[inactionman]

The value on their upgrades is terrible! £140+VAT to upgrade to an OEM 8800GT!

 

[Rubber Bullets]

Maybe I can buy the stuff over a 6 month period....

Most of the components that you want will have dropped in price over 6 months. Especially the CPU and graphics. The cases probably won't so much and if you see a good offer on one you like then go for it. Other than that just save for the 6 months and buy everything at the same time.

I think that a home build is the only way to go, there is no other way to ensure that you get exactly what you want and only make the compromises that you choose to.

Also if a klutz like me can successfully home build then so can you.

None of the process is 'difficult' but until you've tried it then some things can be a bit worrying.

I found 2 bits daunting. First the fitting of the chip and heatsink. This is because the chip seems so fragile, and sometimes a bit of force is required to get the heatsink on properly, and unless you've tried it before then oyu don't know what's normal!

Secondly fitting all the little connectors for the case on/off, reset switch, HDD light, front USB etc. can be a bit tricky and fiddly. Added to that the cables never seem to be named quite the same thing as the, mobo instructions tell you they should be!

Overall though I think that the great feeling of building your own and then installing the OS and getting the lot working is out of proportion to the actual difficulty that is involved. And when it does go pear shaped there are always people on here willing to help out, it's always worked for me

RB

 

[inactionman]

The main thing to remember about building it yourself is to get high quality thermal compound, plus you always need to use less of than you think!

 

[chipper]

just a note on the thermal compound putting too much on can actually cause problems and lower the performance of your pc so make sure you dont spread it too thickly

 

[Lethul]

just a note on the thermal compound putting too much on can actually cause problems and lower the performance of your pc so make sure you dont spread it too thickly

I thought the accepted method now was to just put about half a ricegrain compound in the middle and just press the heatsink on (twist it 2-3 degrees if possible). Not much can go wrong