Buildin' one of them there computers...

[edd8990]

My mate wants me to build him a computer. (Yes, hes a fool)

I've never done this before so I thought I'd ask you for advice.

these are the specs I've put together so far, all I want to now is, are all these compatable, and is anything there a plile of horsesh*t? thanks

[LLamaBoy]

Not being an expert on the hardware, I can't tell you if there'll be any incompatibilities between the bits, but I reckon it's a decent middle to top end system. Only one suggestion from me: get a USB optical mouse.

[edit]Expect?! I meant expert...[/edit]

[sweaty bob]

Same here to be ohnest. just check the motherboard supports the type of ram you are going to have and the CPU etc.

looks ok but before buying i would confirm 100%


EDIT: Why you putting a soundcard in when the mobo has onboard sound? (just if ya want to save a bit;))

Dont use that hdd use a ata 133 or a sata drive.

and the 350w psu is too small go for a 400 or a 500.

[Long Shoota]

Everything looks compatable to me. Would be a great gaming machine if there was a better graphics card.

[Stewsburntmonkey]

A 350-400 Watt supply should be more than sufficient. 500 watts is overkill for almost anything short of a substancial server. Everything looks pretty good, but as Long Shoota says you are putting a rather poor graphics card into a rather good system which doesn't make a lot of sense. A better mouse as LLamaBoy mentioned would be good if you plan on much gaming as cheap mice can jump around if you move too fast. For 6 more pounds you can get the same hard drive in its SATA version which would be good. Other than that it looks pretty good.

[Angry Armadillo]

perhaps use the mobo soundcard and spend the savings on a graphics card?

[edd8990]

For what he wants the computer for, a 128mb gfx card will be fine.

[sweaty bob]

you going for a SATA drive then you might aswell seeming you've bought a sata motheboard...


and what about the soundcard?

[Long Shoota]

The final revisions I'd make:

Go for an optical USB mouse, cordless if the user isn't on the computer every waking moment of the day.

Go for the SATA HDD. You can't go wrong with that.

Upgrade the graphics card to something decent, and consequently go for a 400W PSU just to be sure. Otherwise, don't bother. A Radeon 9600XT should do some damage. Or you could go all the way.

If the guy likes to hear some noise, it'd be good if he could hear it. There really isn't any point at all in buying a soundcard if you're gonna go for this shit, might aswell stick with the onboard.

Credit to all those that suggested these, I'm just putting it all together.

[edd8990]

OK, Ive updated the mouse and HD. Unfourtunatly, upping the gfx card takes me over his £500 budget, so it will have to stay with the cheap one.

New spec list http://www.trashthesystem.co.uk/renegades/specs3.htm

[AgentX 24]

The final revisions I'd make:

Go for an optical USB mouse, cordless if the user isn't on the computer every waking moment of the day.

Go for the SATA HDD. You can't go wrong with that.

Upgrade the graphics card to something decent, and consequently go for a 400W PSU just to be sure. Otherwise, don't bother. A Radeon 9600XT should do some damage. Or you could go all the way.

If the guy likes to hear some noise, it'd be good if he could hear it. There really isn't any point at all in buying a soundcard if you're gonna go for this shit, might aswell stick with the onboard.

Credit to all those that suggested these, I'm just putting it all together.

I wouldn't go for a cordless mouse - they run out of battery too quickly and when are you that far away from the computer that you can't use a mouse with wires. If you are getting a better graphics card then a Radeon 9800 pro is the way to go as theya re only £140 - 150 at the moment and they are pretty high quality (I bought mine for £300 :cry:)

[Long Shoota]

Hence I said "if the user isn't on the computer every waking moment of the day."

[LLamaBoy]

I wouldn't go for a cordless mouse - they run out of battery too quickly

I beg to differ. I've had a Trust AMI Mouse 250S Wireless Optical for around a year and a half. The batteries last me a full day of computer time, around 16 hours, and they're still the same rechargables that came with the mouse. They charge up to full again in around 7 hours, i.e. while I sleep

[Stewsburntmonkey]

Just having to recharge a mouse is too much of an inconvenience for me. Especially when I would get nothing in return for the hastle. My view is that unless there is some real reason to go wireless, you should use wired products.

[Long Shoota]

How about two mice? Switch over when one runs out.