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  #21  
11-28-2007, 02:19 AM
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lordsmurf lordsmurf is online now
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That's a huge case, you could probably have a smaller one if you wanted. But it's a good one, yes.
The other stuff looks great. It'll make a system nicer than what I'm using.


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  #22  
11-28-2007, 02:26 AM
allaboutduncan allaboutduncan is offline
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Only advice I would offer, once you get the system, Partition your Hard drive into 2 separate drives. This even applies if you have 2 drives in the machine.

Make the C: drive (your boot drive) about 20-30GB and set the rest as a second drive.

Install WinXP and all your apps on the C: drive. Do a drive image and a backup.

Store all your video on the secondary internal drives. Later on, add an external drive for file storage and backup.
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  #23  
11-28-2007, 02:29 AM
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I usually advise against partitions, but it can have advantages (easier to make a c: backup, for example). Just remember a lot of newer software is a pig on space. Adobe CS3 Master Collection alone gobbles up 17GB of hard drive.


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  #24  
11-28-2007, 03:27 AM
manthing manthing is offline
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smythy... you still haven't said whether you want your rig to play games or not.
this can make a big difference which graphic card to go for.

though with £200 left, you will come in at the mid range.
so you're looking at the nvidia 8600 series.
between £50 and £100.

the 8800 series will set you back between £150 and £300!

a compromise might be a ATI Radeon X1950 pro coming in at around £140.
the x1950 xt is better but will cost about £190.
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  #25  
11-28-2007, 05:59 AM
cp32 cp32 is offline
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I have this


http://www.directron.com/bx80552356.html

and a

a 160 gig western digital sata drive w/ cables

http://www.directron.com/wd1600aajs.html

I need funds for Christmas. I was going to upgrade. My daughter 's christmas list needs filled.
So I m selling them. They are both new.
I opened the bx on the Chip to make sure everything was there. Never installed it.

Or just order from there directly. I ve had no problems with directron.
They do international shipping too.
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  #26  
11-28-2007, 07:23 AM
d.smyth d.smyth is offline
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i dont play any games on my pc, just watching movies and some editing.
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  #27  
11-28-2007, 08:38 AM
manthing manthing is offline
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okay so you're getting 4GB of ram running at 533 MHz
also known as PC2-4200 or sometimes 4300
(4200 / 8 = 525MHz, 4300 / 8 = 537.5 MHz)

lookup say intel's or asus' website
and narrow down a list of mobos that support:
core 2 duo cpu
533MHz ram
s/ata hard drive

say like the Asustek S775 Intel P965 ATX.
i'm NOT saying this is the one to buy
rather this is something like the one you want to consider
there are many that will fit your criteria
get one for about £50 or £60 range

graphics card
okay, go for the cheapest one from the last generation
like nvidia 8600 series
then depending on the mobo you get, you'll have to choose between a pcie type or a agp type
the grap card should also be in the £50 or £70 range

in your case, it really doesn't matter which mobo + grap card you get.
so base it on stability and brand name.
so asus for mobo and either nvidia or ati for graphics will do fine.

points...

1) you're getting 533MHz ram which may or may not be best bang for your buck
there is already 800MHz and faster but is more expensive
and since you're not going to splash out on an expensive grap card, you might have the dosh to get a 800MHz ram?

2) though you're getting a 600W power supply, it may not be up to the task.
PSU by WinPower?
never heard of them.

Seasonic S12 has had good reviews
but costs £70 or so!

you have to be a tad wary of PSUs
simply stating it is rated at 600W is not enough
can it actually deliver power to all parts when everything is going 100%

in the end, you will just have to suck it and see!
in the best case, your pc won't function properly - you'll get all sorts of weird erros, blue screen of death etc. and this will mean your power supply isn't up to the mark.
doddle to take out the one in the case and bung in a new "good quality" one.

3) you're getting S/ATA hard drive, though S/ATA II is out
S/ATA transfers at 150Mb/s
S/ATA II at 300Mb/s
i haven't found out whether you're HD is actually a SATA I or II
you can do that for yourself at the seagate website

the biggest bottlenecks in a pc are the hard drive and the ram
cpu has to wait for data to be read from much slower devices
then wait for data to be written back to the much slower devices
so the more you beef these up the better

but the crucial factors are 1) do you just want an okay rig or do you want a bleedin-edge rig and 2) how much time & money you want to invest in getting the best bang for your buck?

only you can answer these questions.

sorry but i'm just a tad busy to really dig up info for a "recommended rig parts"

i leave with this tip...
goto dabs.com
they have a pretty good "refining" search engine
you can select brand name, then size, then speed, then interface, then price etc and keep narrowing until you find something you like / within your range
even if you don't buy from them, you can still use the refining / search engine

dabs are competitive in pricing terms
but are bloody b@st@rds if you have to return goods

best of luck

and remember, if your rig blows up blame LS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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  #28  
11-28-2007, 08:41 AM
manthing manthing is offline
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personally smythy, going by your reply, it might be easier for you to get a mid-range ready made pc from pcworld for about £400.

will save you a hell of a lot of time & effort.

yes, pcworld is a bag of crape.
but they are probably a 5 min drive away and you can easily change your rig.

just a thought
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  #29  
11-28-2007, 02:41 PM
weevil6772 weevil6772 is offline
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I really hope you are using a 64 bit edition of Windows, otherwise half of your 4gb of Ram will be wasted.You can use 2GB of Ram with the 32 bit editions and use the extra dough on your video card.
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  #30  
11-28-2007, 03:04 PM
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Windows XP uses just over 3GB of RAM on XP Pro 32-bit, so 4GB is a good option. There is some waste, yes.


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  #31  
01-21-2008, 02:16 PM
Michael Randazzo Michael Randazzo is offline
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Here is an essay I wrote on computer builds. This may help. Good Luck

Quote:
Essay # 5, Descriptive Essay

This essay will teach you to build a computer from start to finish. I will include the best websites you can visit to, buy the parts you need at a great price. To start with we must determine what kind of computer we want. Is the computer for School, movie editing, work related or my favorite a gaming computer?

For this essay we are going to build a gaming computer. Now that we know what kind of computer we are going to build lets talk about what components we want. We will be looking for the following items; a case with big power supply, motherboard, CPU, heat sink, memory, upgraded video card, hard drive, DVD + or – RW Rom drive, CD Rom, a 3 ½ inch floppy drive, Ethernet card, wireless network card, nice set of speakers and an extra 4 port USB card.

I have found that I get the best prices at Tiger.com, E-bay, and computer shows. Once you get all the components to the computer, you start building. Start by unpacking the components. Check everyone as you unpack to ensure there are no flaws or deficiencies.

First thing we do is take the metal back plate that comes with the motherboard and match it up to the back of the motherboard to see what slots need to be bent back. Should be one USB port and the Keyboard slot; just bend the metal up and out of the way. Now snap that metal plate into place on the back of the case.

Put the case on its side and count the number of stand-offs in the case (stand-offs keep the computer from touching the side of the case), there should be ten total. Take the four stand-offs on the outside out of the case, and the two at the bottom and move them down one hole. Lay the motherboard on top of the stand-off’s, and then snap motherboard to the metal back plate. The six stand-offs should match the six holes on the motherboard. Then put in the six screws and tighten snuggly, but not to tight.

Now we need to put the CPU on the motherboard just unhitch the metal lever on the motherboard, then place the CPU in place. Then hitch the metal lever back down to lock it in place. Put the fan and heat sink on top of the CPU and snap all four corners down. They will lock in place. Undo the power cable from the fan and hook it to the dedicated slot on the motherboard.

Now take the two Gigs of memory and pop them into their slots put them in their holes; and push down on each side until they lock in place. We will then add the Ethernet card, wireless card, extra four slot USB card and the upgraded video card. They all will pop into the proper slot; they either fit or don’t. If they fit it is the right slot; if the don’t fit you know they are in the wrong slot. Make sure after you have everything in place you hook anything that needs power to the motherboard right away.

Now we will put the drives in. Let’s start with the hard drive. Pick a bottom compartment to put it in, slide in put two screws in to lock it in place. Hook the gray IDE cable up right away and the power supply to the back of it. Make sure you set your jumpers to cable select. Now install the DVD and CD drives at the top of case. Punch out the two black covers, insert both drives, and attach the second grey IDE cables to both drives and attach both the power supplies to them. Now for the floppy drive, pick a slot in the middle of the case, place the floppy drive, attach the smaller grey cable to the back of the drive and attach the power supply that is attached to the motherboard to it.

Now stand the case up and turn the power button on. When the power comes on, insert the OS (Operating System) disk. When the first screen appears hit F8 on the key board go into your Bios and change the order of start up to CD Rom as first device, hit Esc and then F10 to save. Reboot the machine.

Michael Randazzo
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