Building a computer

[Bus429]

It cannot be difficult but there is so much available. Can anyone advise of a publication that covers this topic? What mother-board interfaces with what processor, graphics, sounds, etc?
Best source of parts (in the UK)?

[PPRuNe Towers]

I refer the Honourable Member to the answer I gave some moments ago on another thread. E-mail me for my number and your free PPRuNe phone consultation.

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Regards from the Towers

[email protected]

[TBone]

All good frustrating fun - built five or six myself over the years, but the plain truth now is that even a trip to PC World will net you a PC for a fraction of the cost it would be to build it yourself.

Didn't used to be the case, but buying individual components from scratch isn't economical anymore.

Upgrading makes sense, but not a clean-sheet build, unless you want to do it just for the experience !

Merry Xmas from the wintery North :)

[spannersatcx]

Bus I use mail order such as Dabs, Novatech, Insight and SMC direct. My pc started life as a 486 the only original bit left is the power lead.
It really depends what you want to do. New cpu means new mob and possibly memory. It isn't too difficult, (even an a & c like me can do it) there are various publications out there have a quick scan on the bookshelves ay pcworld. If you want to specify certain things then Novatech and SMC will build to your spec, pcworld won't, check out some magazines PC Advisor is a good one at http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk
mail order http://www.dabs.co.uk free internet delivery http://www.novatech.co.uk
can't remember the others.
Pop across for a chat sometime.

[Bus429]

Thanks, Spanners. See you 'round.

[Ironguts]

BUS429 - One of the best UK mags is PC Answers - Gives informed info on hardware AND in-depth coverage on this Bug-ridden piece of Sh_it they call "Windows"!!!
If you really want to go it alone e'mail me, I've lost count of the number of PC's I've built.

Y2K, YNOT!!!

[Wiggly Amp]

Bus429 - I strongly reccommend building your own PC, that way you will know that only quality products have been fitted.

A friend of a relative bought their machine from a well known outlet, however the pc was running slow and he experienced a few problems. The help line was not so helpful and the telephone calls amounted to one arm and one leg for the pleasure.

He asked if I could possibly help. The processor was of sound quality, unfortunately the motherboard, video card, etc was poor, the assembly was like a birds nest and the pre installed software was obviously installed in a rush by the work experience. (No disrespect to work experience people) There was no documentation for internal components and the system ran very slow.

Building you own allows you to choose the components, (ones with documentation and web site home pages for those much required updated drivers, help and FAQs).

Should you decide to venture down route of the home built PC, feel free to contact me for any help building the pc or advice regarding processor, MOBs and video card combos. Its dead easy to build your own and will work out cheaper if using suppliers like Dabs & Insight.

Regards

Wiggly Amp

[This message has been edited by Wiggly Amp (edited 30 December 1999).]

[This message has been edited by Wiggly Amp (edited 30 December 1999).]

[Bus429]

Wiggly, send us your email address or contact me: [email protected]

Regards etc

[spannersatcx]

Beware of incompatability with the all singing all dancing GeForce256 AGP graphics card and some MOBO particularly Gigabyte ones, just found out to my cost, even after calling tech support prior to ordering who said mine was compatible - b******s.

[Bus429]

Spanners,

When are you back at work?

[Wiggly Amp]

Bus429, I suspect you maybe local, bob over for a chat sometime. The e-mail I have sent you will give you a clue as to my location.

Wiggly Amp

[spannersatcx]

Bus I'm at work today 31st then back in on 5th Jan to 10th.
Happy new millenium to one and all.

[Akwah_Plain]

Can certainly recommend building a PC. Got all the bits near MIA (apparently one of the cheapest areas in the USA) for a Pentium 300 - motherboard, RAM, HDD, processor, case, mega-speed CD-ROM, etc, etc. Worked out at about GBP250, about 12 months ago. Much higher spec than comparable models.

[djmatthews]

Building a computer can be quite simple. But what ever you decide to do, buy a decent Motherboard!!!!! It is the mainframe of the PC and a decent one can make all the difference, the manual that comes with it is the most important manual, once the motherboard is set up the rest is a piece of cake. Most M\Bs are jumperless now, and so are easy to set up.

If you are building a PC from scratch think about future upgrades by this I mean, try and go for an ATX option rather than AT as this is the way forward using P\S2 devices, better still USB.

If you decide to buy a PC from Dixons or an other retailer like that, make sure it can be upgraded and that everything isnt soldered together, I learnt the hard way about that. Dont be drawn in by the £700 wort of free software, its usually c**p like Dr Hilarys Medical Guide and Mystic Megs Fortune Telling Guide.

I have seen manny of my friends happy with home built PCs and with ones from big chain stores.



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Remember, life is not a rehearsal, so live life to the full!

[DB6]

Advice needed on this subject; where are the best places to buy hardware on the internet? Does anyone know of a decent hardware supplier around Dundee? What would be your recommended motherboard/processor choice to upgrade to assuming EIDE hard disc and ATAPI CDROM? Oh, and PCI video card.
Cheers DB6

[This message has been edited by DB6 (edited 03 January 2000).]

[katana.flyer]

Try www.staktrading.com (http://www.staktrading.com) or www.telemart.co.uk (http://www.telemart.co.uk) As for the processor/mobo combination any K6-2 or K6-3 CPU plus FIC VA503+ is a cheap way to upgrade that will allow splitting the memory and cpu bus speeds if you wish to use older memory.

[Akwah_Plain]

Only got a few small items from them, but Software-Warehouse has some good prices: http://www.software-warehouse.co.uk
UK Tel: 0800 0355 355

[spannersatcx]

http://www.dabs.com http://www.novatech.co.uk http://www.choice-peripherals.co.uk http://www.insight.com http://www.smcdirect.co.uk

Dabs give free delivery on internet orders so do insight >£30 have used most no problems

[Wiggly Amp]

DB6
www.insight.com/uk (http://www.insight.com/uk) and www.dabs.co.uk (http://www.dabs.co.uk) provide excellent product range, competative prices and will deliver free within 3 days when spending over £30.

Cpu/Mobo, I can recommend Intel PIII 450 with Abit BE6 motherboard. Be6 great board for overclocking and supports eide ata66, also comes with superb hardcopy manual.

Overclocked my pc to 558mhz with this combo.

[DB6]

Great stuff, thanks. I've ordered some stuff from Dabs; now I just have to learn about installing motherboards etc. What's the computer equivalent of 'I'm going outside and I may be some time' ?
Cheers DB6

[Bus429]

Thanks to all for your valuable advice. I have already started buying bits. For example, I have ordered an ATX Midi tower with a 250watt Athlon PSU - good choice?

[clownfish]

good choice Bus, now spend twice as long researching motherboards...as already suggested.

[PPRuNe Towers]

For particularly good information on motherboards, CPU's and, should you be a speedfreak, their overclocking search on 'Tom's Hardware'.

Been building PC's for a long time here at the Towers and wouldn't be without that resource.

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Regards from the Towers

[email protected]

[Wiggly Amp]

PPRuNe Towers

Another good site full of hardware info and overclocking tips is www.sysopt.com (http://www.sysopt.com) Well worth a visit.

Regards

Wiggly Amp

[hairy_kiwi]

Here's some good sites for price comparisions:

http://www.pcindex.co.uk/

http://www.pricewatch.co.uk/

http://www.micropricecheck.co.uk/

For supplies in USA try:
http://www.necx.com/ Seem to be really good prices. (I've been comparing hard drives recently.)

http://www.ecost.com/ ecost expect to trade to Europe sometime early 2000.

Speaking of comparing hard drives try:
http://www.storagereview.com/

Hope that helps.

Regards,
h_k

[Land Lubber]

There are now shopping services which will go find the very best price for you. It's true, just sign up and tell 'em exactly what you want.

If you know exactly what you are after there is always http://www.egghead.com which features a surplus liquidation at http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/eek.gif amazingly low prices. I always check there first, just to be certain I don't spend un-necessarily. It only takes a sec. to check.

Happy building! ;)