Bet no-one's ever posted this before - help me buld a new computer :)

[Sam_The_Man]

My computer is completely frazzled and crashes due to overheating within about 20 minutes of starting a game (any game). I'm surviving on emulators pretty well but I want to get myself a new one so I can play Oblivion.

I've decided to try and build this one myself, which is the first time I've done something like this, but after fiddling with this one putting in new fans (which didn't work), reconnecting frazzled power cables etc. I'm reasonably confident I can stick one together from scratch. I'm happy with the old one's specs at the moment so I'm going to keep my old graphics card, hard drives etc. So what I need at the moment is some advice on the basics - the case, the motherboard, and the processor.

Basically: does anyone have a particular case they can recommend? They all look the same to me. And are Athlons still the way to go for the processor? I'm not hugely worried about which motherboard to go for because the site I'm going to buy from: here helpfully has bundles of motherboards, processors and memory that are guaranteed compatible.

Thanks for any help.

 

[ZenPirate]

You should the Ars Technica January system guide, especially the "hot rod" configuration:
http://arstechnica.com/guides/buyer/system-guide-200601.ars/3

Question 1) What is your pc budget?

 

[Crowze]

Be a bit wary of the 'guranteed compatibility' bundles. You're pretty much guranteed a socket 939 processor will work in a socket 939 motherboard, and the bundles usually use cheap brands to make them look like a good deal.

 

[hal]

The problem you're going to run into is that newer motherboards use PCIe instead of the AGP slot you probably use for your graphics card now. You could go AGP, but just be aware that you'll have to switch at some point.

The HDDs shouldn't be a problem to bring over... most boards have SATA as well as IDE interfaces.

AMD is still the way to go now, imo. The x2 processors are terrific performers and are reasonably priced. There's going to be a new socket coming soon, but I wouldn't worry about that much as you don't appear to be someone who feels compelled to fanatically upgrade his PC.

 

[ZenPirate]

The AMD 3700+ San Diego single core and 3800 X2 dual core are the best bang for your buck processors. 1gb of ram is a good minimum, if budget allows get 2gb (2x1gb sticks). Any nforce 4 mobo will be OK, the ASrock model has an APG and PCIe, making it a very good choice if you want to save your video card upgrade until later. It's also inexpensive and gets really good reviews.

 

[Sam_The_Man]

Last time I spent about £800 on my computer, which included everything except the monitor, and I'm not looking to spend much more than I did last time. Of course the fact that I'm not buying everything I did last time makes it more difficult to set a budget.

So the thing about my graphics card is that a new motherboard won't take my old one? Doesn't matter too much, I'm happy to replace it; I currently have a Radeon 9800 PRO. For the processor I'll probably go with the dual core 3800+ X2, which is £185, so what's a similarly good 'bang for your buck' graphics card?

Slightly disheartening to find out that the bundles aren't necessarily a good idea, because now I have to figure out what motherboard to get. This is the list of motherboards Overclockers has in that range and of the brand I had last time (Abit): I assume I don't want either the £37 one at the bottom or the £130 one at the top. I have two 80GB hard drives which are stuck together as a single drive in a SATA RAID array (hope I remembered that right) at the moment, so I do need something that can support that.

Can anyone recommend a case? All I need is for someone to look at the brands they've got and say "Yeah, that's a good one, get that" . I don't want any neon flashy stuff, if it has an on button that'll do.

I've got 1GB of memory already, and they're pretty easy to upgrade (right?) so I'll leave it at that for the moment.

Thanks everyone.

 

[ZenPirate]

from that site:



Abit KN8 Ultra nForce4 Ultra £64.95



Antec Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Case - 450W Smart Power PSU (CA-040-AN) £67.95


BFG GeForce 7800 GT OC 256MB GDDR3 VIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-010-BG) £194.95


As long as your ram is ddr400 pc3200 you're all set

 

[Sam_The_Man]

Well, turns out the problem with my current computer was that the CPU fan was clogged with dust behind the blades. The fan was still spinning, which was why I didn't notice until I got the case into the light, but I'm guessing that airflow was nil. I poked at the dust repeatedly with a variety of pointy objects and the problem seems to be solved, so I'm putting the upgrade off for a few months. But thanks to everyone for their help anyway

 

[ZenPirate]

I believe this thread is now "useless without pics"

 

[Sam_The_Man]

I believe this thread is now "useless without pics"

Well since I cleaned out the dust, I will have to convey the fiasco through the medium of kittens.

BEFORE

FAN --> <-- CPU

AFTER

FAN --> <-- CPU

 

[daloonie]

Brilliant

Sweet and loving kitties!