Building a PC for the first time

[Wigglyamps]

I am keen to build a pc and wondered if someone could cast their eyes over my shopping list and see what you think. I play a lot of Call of Duty type games so I need something fairly meaty. All the components are from Novatech.

Case - Zalman Z11 - £53.98
Power Supply - 500W Novatech - £44.99
Motherboard - MSI Z87-G45 GAMING Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) Motherboard - £109.98
CPU - 4th Gen Intel 3.2GHz - £151.99
Memory - 2x2GB RAM - £43.98
Video Card - Asus Geforce GTX650 - £89.99
Storage - Seagate Barracuda 500GB - £39.98
Optical Drive - Samsung 224DB - £12.98
Windows 7 Home Premium - £75.98

Any feedback greatly appreciated

Wigglyamps

[mixture]

You don't gain much by building your own PC these days apart from added complexity when troubleshooting.

But if you want to do it as a learning experience... Well, who am I to argue apart from wish you good luck.

First thing that comes to mind is ... Don't forget a decent anti static kit.

Second thing is £89 looks too cheap for a decent graphics card.

Third thing is you don't list manufacturer part numbers, which makes your part descriptions somewhat vague.

Fourth thing is you probably need to check the license terms on that copy of windows 7 OEM you are thinking about. You may find Retail FPP is what you really ought to be budgeting for.

Fifth thing is you might be better off with one 4gb memory chip... Fairly pointless going multi chip for such a small quantity of ram. Also means at a later date, you have a better upgrade path... Ie add another 4gb chip give you 8gb

[Bushfiva]

If your budget is fixed, you might want to get a 3 GHz CPU and put the money towards a GTX650 Ti rather than the GTX650: in many games it gets up to 50% higher frame rate. Perhaps you should re-read a few reviews and see what they say. In my neck of the woods, the Ti is only around 15 quid more.

Stick with two memory sticks rather than one as the motherboard supports dual channel, though the actual benefit may not be noticeable.

[meddwl bender]

get a bigger PSU
750W minimum

[le Pingouin]

You might want to check the RAM again. At the price you've mentioned you're buying DDR2 RAM (Novatech 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C5 800MHz Dual Channel Kit)
for a motherboard that takes DDR3.

If the budget will stretch I'd get 2x4GB to cover eventualities over the next few years. Just make sure you're buying a 64-bit OS (you appear to be given the price mentioned).

[seacue]

Build?? You mean assemble. To me, "build" means from the chip level and I doubt if anyone is doing that these days.

I built a PDP-8 work-alike from scratch a long, long time ago. I used the programmer's manual and instruction set description. I have never seen the detailed PDP-8 block or circuit diagram. But that would be impractical with today's far more complex machines.

Maybe you could compromise and "build" much of the PC from field-programmable gate array(s). A challenge in itself.

[mixture]

Stick with two memory sticks rather than one as the motherboard supports dual channel, though the actual benefit may not be noticeable.

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should or must.

At 2x2gb, dual channel is going to be a largely theoretical endeavour, and also is a waste of slots and will be a pain when it comes to putting in more ram because he'll probably end up having to remove and throw away those two chips.

[jimtherev]

Agree with mix on the last point as I've had to dispose of chips when upgrading. (Actually, come to think of it, I've still got 2 x 1Gb chips in the drawer...)

[Saab Dastard]

I find that onboard sound quality is usually poor, so I always buy a dedicated sound card, and I tend to go for a Sound Blaster with the front panel option also, that takes a 5.25" bay - great for headphones and other connectivity.

Have you already got speakers?

I would recommend more than the minimum fans - several large-diameter fans working slowly are more effective and quieter than one going flat out!

Don't forget a decent CPU cooler as well - Noctua are the best I've come across, but expensive!

At 2x2gb, dual channel is going to be a largely theoretical endeavour, and also is a waste of slots and will be a pain when it comes to putting in more ram because he'll probably end up having to remove and throw away those two chips.

That mobo has 4 RAM sockets, so 2 x 2 can be upgraded to 4 x 2. Best way to go, IMHO. Start with 4, go to 8 if necessary, and get the benefit of the dual-channel.

SD

[cattletruck]

Never noticed the theoretical improvement from using dual channel wotsits.

I've found the best performance improvement comes from using SD disks or platter disks with some built in SD disk.

I think that performance improvement comes about because of so much bad programming out there.

[RedBullGaveMeWings]

What's your budget? Are you planning on overclocking your CPU and GPU in the foreseeable future? What resolution will you be playing at?

Assembling a PC on your own by choosing each component is the smartest thing possible in my opinion. I'd suggest you give a read to Tom's Hardware, Anandtech and other web magazines and forums that may help you quite a lot.


First of all, you must set a gadget. We already know you want it for gaming purposes.


With only 4GB you may be short of ram in the future. You can get 8GB at reasonable prices.

[Wigglyamps]

Thank you for all the replies, all very useful. My budget will be about 600 pounds which seems to be do-able, the trouble is there is so much choice out there, but I will definitely hit some more forums which will probably throw up even more choices

[Saab Dastard]

Do look for the best price for the components you want - you could easily knock £50 off your build (sorry, assembly ) price by shopping around.

SD

[RedBullGaveMeWings]

You could shop on Amazon, as well. I often buy PC components on Amazon.

[MG23]

Originally Posted by cattletruck

Never noticed the theoretical improvement from using dual channel wotsits.

It's not enormous, because most programs aren't limited by memory bandwidth, but benchmarks I've seen in the past put the difference in the 10-15% range when the CPU is working flat out.

I'd say 2x4GB would be better if affordable, because 8GB seems to be the sweet spot for gaming these days.

[MG23]

Originally Posted by mixture

You don't gain much by building your own PC these days apart from added complexity when troubleshooting.

You get to pick decent (or good, if you have cash to spare) components rather than cheap ones from an OEM. Assembling a PC these days is even easier than it was ten years ago, though the new Intel CPU sockets are pretty scary as you listen to the pins crunching when you close them.

[finncapt]

My twopenneth for the third time.

I would "build" a gaming system myself - having done several, it is not difficult.

Component selection

I always use win7 OEM - as long as you don't change more than one component at a time it is not a problem.

A case with a usb socket at the top front makes life a lot easier.

Buy a brand name power supply (I have used Zalman, Antec, Corsair, Seasonic) with at least two 12v rails.

Some power supplies have difficulty supplying the rated load.

Modular makes cabling easier - you don't use the ones you don't need.

When you have settled on your components, go on a couple of online sites and check how much power you need, add an overhead for upgrading (20%?).

I would use 2*4gb DDR3 (I tend to use Kingston Hyperx or Corsair).

You dont need a sound card - buy it later if you think you do.

Buy the best graphics card you can afford - you'll soon want better elsewise (I tend to go up a model rather than buy an overclocked card).

Pay attention to cooling, gaming machines generate lots of heat - bigger fans, generally, make less noise for a given airflow.

There are several on line retailers (I have used Scan, Overclockers, Dabs, Ebuyer, Novatech without problems).

They all have similar prices but, if one is near you, you can bang on the desk if something goes wrong.

Build tips

Allow plenty of time, software installation takes a long time.

Make sure you use the standoff screws under the Motherboard.

Test the fitting of the MB, then fit the processor and its fan and put the whole lot in together (from experience its easier).

I usually try the build, without hard/ optical discs, with a usb Linux (mint/ubuntu) system to see if there are any problems.

Put the discs in, fire it up and enter the BIOS.

Disable anything you dont need (floppy controller, firewire, bluetooth etc, - you can enable them later if needed).

Write a list of the software, be ruthless about what you need (you dont need mouse/keyboard drivers - unless you want to do fancy things - all those programs that come with printers google/ask toolbars, Mcafee whatever) and decide an order of installation.

The less junk on a gaming machine the better.

Install Win7 - it takes a long time.

Install the MB, from cd, drivers - again only install those you need.

Install an antivirus (I currently use MS essentials).

Install the graphics drivers from either Nvidia or AMD - they have the latest - your cd may have been superceded.

Win7 will probably want updating a lot in the first few days.

Type msconfig in the search box, run it and go to the startup tab.

Untick everything except your antivirus - do this from time to time - it speeds startup.

Lots of tweaks on t'internet for Win7.

Email me if you have problems or need advice.

I get a tremendous sense of satisfaction every time I buid a computer and it works!!!

[Mike-Bracknell]

My turn...

CoD Ghosts requires 6Gb minimum and 8Gb recommended, so you really need to get the 8Gb for gaming (yes, first game i've seen needing this amount, but i'm sure it won't be the last).

Get the fastest graphics card you can get your hands on.

Mike.

[RedBullGaveMeWings]

Same for me, I also hope there will be an improvement in games when they'll start using hyper-threading and its likes. As far I am concerned, there are no games on the market at the moment that use it.

[Thrust Augmentation]

In addition to what's been said, a 10K WD VelociRaptor may be worth looking at rather than the Barracuda.