Hey, Here is my first guide to building a PC. Features help for choosing the hardware to build your pc with explanations on the available technology. Hope you like. First off when building a pc you have to establish the following - What am I going to use the PC for? (Gaming, Design, etc) How much can I spend? Will I be Overclocking? How long should it last for before I get a new one? In all cases wether you are planing to play hardcore games or using it for Photoshop you always get an AMD processor (Sorry for the AMD bias but they are much better than the latest P4’s). They are the market leader in processor technology at the present time and feature different models for the different types of PC users. When you have a budget try to get the best products you can for the cheapest price, but if you can’t get the best at least try and settle for second best. Your budget has to be more than say $700 if you are planning a new build to fit all the stuff in but if it’s an upgrade $400-$500 should suffice. If you are going to overclock it doesn’t really matter how much money you spend because you can overclock any processor. But if you intend to do hardcore overclocking some money will have to be forked out for the good motherboard and the awesome overclocking range, the Fx series (more on that further down the page). When building a PC if you want your pc to last for a year, fine you don’t have to spend too much but if your wanting it to last for 3 or 4 years you will have to fork out the big bucks for it to run smoothly on new applications and OS’s in the future. The only range of processor types you should look at are the AMD 939 pin series as they are the latest and greatest. Featured in the 939 pin series are the A64, Fx and X2 range. All feature 64 bit compatibility however there is a large difference between the three types. The A64 is the cheapest solution (Not including the Sempron range) it features one core and should be adequate for most users. The latest series of processor’s from AMD is the X2, dual core processors. These processors contain two processors both having their own L2 Cache, they pack a lot of punch and “They are the future” of computer systems. Finally we have the Fx Series these are the same as the A64 range however they have higher clock speeds and come with an unlocked multiplier (good for overclocking). These are the ultimate processors for hardcore gamers and heavy overclockers however they bare a high price. If you are planning to game the AMD Fx Series is your best bet, however if your not made of money an AMD 64 will suit you just fine. The standard graphic designer or a user of business applications will find that the A64 will suit them fine however for an extra performance boost an X2 would improve performance a lot. For the 3D modeller they require the extra grunt and with multi-core utilising 3D applications being released an X2 would be a great investment for that department. After choosing the type of processor you require you will need to pick a motherboard. The latest and greatest in the Motherboard scene at the moment are DFI and MSI. DFI motherboards feature great overclocking abilities for the advanced user and MSI features great features for the beginner to intermediate overclockers as well as general users. When it comes to selecting a motherboard make sure it supports your processor but checking out the socket type. Motherboards that I would recommend are the MSI K8N Neo4/SLI for normal users and beginner overclockers and the DFI Lanparty for advanced overclockers. Your computer systems efficiency depends a lot on the RAM used. If you use the wrong RAM for your system it will run slow and possibly not at all so be sure to check you are using the correct RAM for your motherboard by reading the manual. For this department I recommend the use of OCZ or Mushkin. If you can try not to just settle for Value RAM as they have poor timings and will effect pc performance. Graphics cards are generally the most expensive part of the PC and the quickest to be outdated so be careful when selecting a card, make sure that its not a card that’s good this month but will be completely outdated the next, however it is hard to tell. The safe bet of this department at the current time is Nvidia as they are completely outclassing the rival ATI. If you are a hardcore gamer and can spare the money go for a 7800GTX or GT as they are clear market leaders at the moment. But if you can’t afford that you can easily settle for a 6600GT or a 6800GT. If you must go for ATI I would recommend the x800XT and the x850XT as they are good market performers as well. When buying an Nvidia card if you wanted to you could purchase two and connect the two in SLI mode which allows you to run two graphics cards on the same pc. In SLI mode you can see increases of around 30% in games however above 60fps you will be hard pushed to see a difference. As a note you can only SLI Nvidia cards, these being the 6600, 6800 and 7800 ranges. ATI will be releasing a feature similar to SLI in the coming months. When looking to buy your graphics cards the best companies are BFG, XFX and eVGA as you can purchase factory overclocked cards so you don’t have to overclock them yourself thus voiding the warranty. The PSU is an important part when it comes to getting your pc up and running with reliability. Don’t get cheap PSU’s that come as a bonus with that fancy case you saw as chances are it’s cheap and nasty which means you won’t benefit by it in the long run. With today’s PC’s you will need at least 400Watts to get your PC running with at least 450Watts for SLI, also don’t get a PSU with a 20pin motherboard adapter get one with a 24pin adapter as most motherboards now a days require 24pin adapters. I recommend getting PSU’s from good reputable companies such as Epower, OCZ or Antec. Recommendations are Epower Puma II (budget) and the Epower Tagan TG-480-U22. For cases get a good reliable case that suits your needs. If you want a cool looking case go for it but do not buy an acrylic case (see through ones) as they heat up easily. I would recommend getting a Steel case over an aluminium case as it will last longer as they are more durable. Make sure when you purchase your case you have at least one case fan or you intend to put one in to keep it cool unless you decide to go for the water cooling solution. Hard drives must admit I am not too good in this department but I suggest getting a Hitachi or a Western Digital as they are the faster drives on the market and run smoothly. I would stay away from Seagate as I have heard them to be unreliable. If you have cash to burn I recommend the Raptor 73 GB as that is the best you can get at the current time. Monitors time, this is crucial for all of you gamers out there. For the best gaming experience stick with an old fashioned CRT monitor, low response times and they have better quality picture. If you are a gamer and you must have a LCD monitor make sure the monitor you get has a response time of less than 12ms so you don’t have lag in your games. Well that about covers it all except for extra CD Drives etc but they are all the same and it doesn’t really matter. Overall the best solution for most users is just a plain old A64 which will keep you going for at least another year and a half. However if you want to stick with the future get an X2 if you got the dough as it will keep much longer than an A64. The best places to get your pc hardware is at www.newegg.com and www.zipzoomfly.com (lol I’m not paid to advertise), they got the cheapest prices around. If you still need help with your build please don’t hesitate to ask me and I will be glad to help. If I have missed anything please tell me and I will add it in. If you found this useful please credit or +rep as this took me over an hour to write. Soari
Nice guide mang. Thanks for the help. Some pretty wise words of advice that would have been great to see a day or so ago when I was actually buying my comp. :lol: But, you did help there too... much appreciated. :wub:
a decent guide, but the way you explain things are in a sense biased. I like Nvidia, they make good cards, but ATi still does make good cards, if you aren't planning on getting a SLi set upi, you may want to look into ATI as they produce less heat and consume less energy so you can OC them a bit more. Also you mentioned a very limited selection of mobos, ASUS, ABIT, GIGABYTE etc. all make fairly good boards.(also as far as I can tell I was the first proponent of MSI here, they aren't perfect you know) for the most part, your guide is good for people with big $$$. Good job though.
They are good companies, but the latest generation of their mobos are not the greatest. I must admit that Abit has a good selection for users who have very limited money but IMO they do not perform near as well as the MSI and DFI brands. 1 more thing if you were to get a P4 I would recommend a gigabyte.
