Coming Soon (Hopefully) - New Rig

[EirePlane]

I Have finally decided that my currennt PC Is just not up to the job for what I want to do with it anymore. I've had it since 2001 now and up until now it has been just fine for what I need it for. Since it died on me completely at least twice a few months ago it just hasn't worked the same. While I will no doubt keep it, I am looking for a PC that will work better and be more compatible with newer advancing technologies.

I'm looking to get this new PC around February next year once Vista is out here in the UK. By then my budget will be around

[cheesegrater]

I think you should definately build your own. All of the computers on the shelf that I've seen are terrible or at inflated prices. Also when you build your own you get exactly what you want.

It is definately a better idea to buy everything at once because prices keep falling and new hardware is constantly released. For example people who bought an AMD 3800 X2 CPU a month ago could have saved around $150 if they waited.

1000 pounds will be more than enough for a killer system.

While you wait you should read hardware reviews to get familiar with everything and learn what hardware is good and what hardware sucks.

[ctjoyce]

Two words. Conroe / ASUS.

However feb is too late to build. Build more like in May when DX10 cards are out.

Cheers
Cameron

[EirePlane]

Thanks for the advice guys but now that I know I am going to build my own, can anyone recommend any brands to go for on things like video cards or anything? Or could anyone enlighten me on what processor to get? Intel or AMD?

I will need the PC not only for playing FS but also for things like photoshop and website design

EDIT: Since some of this is new ground to me. Is there anythign I should watch out for. I already know about "remember to use the spacers" and "beware of static" but is there anything else I need to be careful of?

[ctjoyce]

Well go check out my YouTube vids (found in sig) to find out how to build it. Sorry for being a tad dark, I will be remaking them soon enough.

Brands

Intel Core 2 Duo Conre processer. Best on the market, gaming or media tasks. You just can't buy better than a Conroe, not even a FX64

nVidia GPU made by eVGA. The best cards for under $300 are currently the 7900GTs and eVGA is the best company that makes nVidia.

ASUS motherboards. Gigabyte are good too, but ASUS has the BIOS options to beat out the Gigabyte when clocking.

Western Digital Hard Drives. Best on the market.

OCZ Platnum / Gold Edition RAM. Corsair XMS is also good. Depends on what your setup is.

Hiper Type R PSU.

ThermalTake, SilverStone, Lian-Li for the case. Three of the greatest cases out there.

That should help you out.

Cheers
Cameron

[cheesegrater]

I found a pretty cool list of power supply brands from Abit USA forums.

ATX Power Supplies - Brands from A to Z

*** RATED BY QUALITY ***

Key
H = High Quality (Good Solid Reliable Brand)
L = Low Quality (Cheap Generic)
M = Medium Quality (In-between)
U = Unknown

A-Power................L
A-Top..................L
A+GPB..................L
AcBel..................L
AC Ryan (Ryanpower)....L
Aerocool...............U
AG.....................L
Ahanix.................L
Akasa..................L
Allied.................L
Antec..................M/H
AOpen..................L
APC....................L
Apex Allied............L
Aspire.................L/M
Astec..................L
Athena.................L
BFG....................L
Broadway Gaming........U
Channel Well...........L
CHAS...................L
Chenbro................U
Chieftec...............L
Coba...................L
Codegen................L
Conrad.................M
CoolerMaster...........H
CoolMax................M
Crystal................L
Dell...................L
Delta..................L
Diablo.................L
Eagle..................L
Echo Star..............L
Enermax................H
Engleking..............M
Enlight................M
Epson..................L
FDK....................L
Fortron (FSP)..........H
Gateway................L
Gazelle Multimedia.....L
Global Marketing.......L
GPower.................L
Guardian...............L
Herolchi...............M
Hipro..................L
HP/Compaq..............L
HPC International......L
Huntkey................L
I-Star.................L
IBM Redundant..........U (expensive)
Intel Redundant........U (expensive)
In Win.................L
Jaguar.................U
Kensington.............L
Kingwin................L
L&C....................L
Leadman................L
Levicom................L
LiteOn.................U
Logisys................U
Mad Dog................L/M
Maxtron................L
MGE....................L
MGE Vortec.............M
MorningStar............L
NEC....................L
Newton.................L
Nexus..................L
Noise Magic............L
NorthQ.................M
Nspire.................L
OCZ....................H
Omega..................L
Packard Bell...........L
PC Power & Cooling.....H
PC-World (PCW).........L
PCMCIS.................U
Power..................L
PowerStream............L
PowerTek...............L
PowerUp................L
PowMax.................L
PowMax XPower..........L
Premium................L
Pyramid................L
Q-Tec..................L
Q-Technology...........L
RaidMax................U
Real Power.............L
Rosewill...............L
SCS....................L
SeaSonic...............H
Shuttle................L
Silent Purepower.......U
SilenX.................L
Silverstone............H
Sky Hawk (Eagle Tech)..L
Sparkle................H
Star Micronics.........L
StarTech...............L
Sun....................L
SuperFlower............L
Supermicro.............L
Tagan..................H
Task...................L
ThermalTake............M
Topower................L
Tri-Mag................L
TSP....................L
Tyan Tiger.............L
TTGI...................L
Ultra-Power Computer...L
Ultra..................M
Ultra X-Connect........L
Vantec.................H
Verax..................H
Vigor..................U
Xion...................L
xPCgear................L
Zalman.................H
Zippy..................L

[EirePlane]

Well, so far I have worked everything out to about

[Saitek]

Eireplane the very best place you can go is http://www.overclockers.co.uk/. Not only do they do good bits and good prices, with a good weekly discount section, but if you want to cheat and not look up all the bits go to the forum there and the EXPERTS there will spec you a computer which matches both your needs and price.
Seriously you MUST do this as it is the best way of ensuring you get the best.

Join up and say for post title "Spec me a

[EirePlane]

thanks for the advice people

just tried to register on OCUK but apparently my email address has been banned so I will have to sort it out with the admin first  ::)
looks like someone has been pretending to be me

edit: oopsie, I didnt see that they banned all gmail addresses

[cheesegrater]

That web site, malpin, looks like it totally blows.

If you're already spending 730 pounds on a new computer spend 50 pounds on a quality power supply.

http://shsc.info/PowerSupplyGuide

Generic brand PSU create a gigantic AC ripple.

http://techreport.com/reviews/2004q4/psus/index.x?pg=20

I found this neat PSU calculator that estimates you how much wattage you need.

http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculator.jsp