Custom built system builder - recommendations

[undertheweather]

I'm looking to replace my aging system (700MHz seemed fast at the time - only 3 years ago!) with a custom-built outfit rather than go back to Dell.

I want a machine that will cope with most of the higher-end PC games on the market as well as serve as a internet and office platform.

Now the question. Has anyone had experience of, and can recommend, a custom-build supplier in the UK?

I live in London and would ideally prefer someone relatively local for any warrranty maintenance issues, but will shop anywhere for a machine thats well put together and always works as I want when I switch it on.

[undertheweather]

TCS,
Thanks for the interesting thought. I'm not a complete technophobe, but the idea scares me a bit.

First of all, is it cost efficient for me to do it this way, buying all the components individually? And is there a book/manual I can get hold of that would lead me through the process?

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

undertheweather,

It is truly a rewarding experience building your first computer. It seems like a complicated job, but it is not as hard as it sounds. 10 years ago it was quite a task putting a computer together, but now there has been so much attention put to making computers easy to work on, that it is pretty easy to put a very high performance computer together.

When you build your first computer, figure it will take you 3 to 4 hours to assemble it. If you were doing it for a living or as a hobby, the build time drops to about 30 minutes.

If you would like to try building your own computer, let us know what you want to do with it. We can give you a list of hardware that will fill your needs and not break your wallet.

Take Care,

Richard

[25F]

Why not replace the motherboard, CPU and graphics card of your existing system?

[Mac the Knife]

The most difficult thing about building is fixing the mobo into the case and figuring out where all those little wires for the lights go. If you can wire a plug you can probably do it. It's pretty obvious if you RTFM and it's always a kick when it boots for the first time.

I wouldn't pull the mobo from the old box - these things hate being moved and grumble and groan. Keep the old box until the new one is up and going and then use it as a router, keep it as a spare Winbox and install a good Linux distro (Suze 9.0 is nice) and start tinkering with a REAL operating system. You can do all three without losing your Windows installation.

Ah the joys of smb.conf........:}

[Flybywyre]

Hi UTW..........

Building your own is very rewarding and the great thing about it is there is always someone around on one of the many computer forums who can help you with the odd problem that you might come up with.

Couple of links to sites I used when pondering my first build:

http://www.buildfromscratch.com/frame4.htm

http://www.pcguide.com/proc/gen.htm

Well worth having a go at

Good luck

FBW

[spannersatcx]

I bought a pc from Carrera (http://www.carrerassc.co.uk/) as at the time the deal that had for the spec I wanted beat the likes of Dell etc. I was a bit wary of ordering from the net, but I have to say (touch wood) that I haven't had any problems to date (had it 6 months now). It comes with a 5 year warranty, 3 years on-site 2 rtb.

I had been down the building/upgrading your own path, which has been fun and you certainly learn a lot. But there comes a time when it's more cost effective to buy from new again.

[undertheweather]

I'm afraid I ignored all of your advice and took the wimpish option of ordering a new Dell Dimension 8300 system - a much more expensive option! Hopefully it arrives over the next couple of days.

Now what to do with my redundant older (700MHz and 15 Gb) system. I thought I might give it to my godson (aged 10) who can surf the net and play games on it.

However, I want to give him a clean machine, with all my files deleted and just Windows XP loaded. How can I do this properly? I was thinking of copying to CD all my personal files (which I want to transfer to the new PC), deleting all the programs and XP and just reload XP. Is this the way to create an "as new" system?

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

undertheweather,

Congratz on your new Dell.

For your Godson:

With the WinXP CD, you can do a fresh install of WinXP and during the install you have the option to delete a Partition. If you delete the partition and then create a new one, that will be enough to keep your 10 year old Godson from accessing any of your old files.

(I do not expect him to try any hacking of the old hard drive with data recovery tools to see what he might be able to find.)

Take Care,

Richard

[Memetic]

(I do not expect him to try any hacking of the old hard drive with data recovery tools to see what he might be able to find.)

Nah, not for the first 20 minutes...:}