Hardware: Building my own!

[CAM]

I've been asked by my brother to put together a PC capable of running newly released games. Currently the pair of us are using the same spec machine (a Dell Dimension 5150 give or take a few numbers) and using Pentium D 3GHz, 2GB RAM and nVidia 8600 graphics. Unfortunately it is starting to lag behind a bit, especially noticeable in newer CPU intensive games such as Champions Online. Odds are if whatever I make for him works, I'll be building a similar spec machine for myself! Can't pass up the opportunity for my brother to be a guinea pig for a big investment.

 

I'm wondering what hardware you'd recommend for putting this together? I've never done a scratch build, only various bits and pieces like PSU's and drive transplants, so I want to make sure I have the right sort of idea of what I am doing like right Motherboard-Processor combo and what the best heatsinks and paste are.

 

Budget is about £8-900.

 

Thanks.

[kmount]

Are you looking to replace the disks/optical drives, etc in this or just the motherboard/cpu/memory and gfx?

[Potato-Peeler]

Intel core i7 and ddr3 ram perhaps? Maybe w7 64 bit when it comes out

[EduTech]

I would look at the i7 and DDR3 Ram if your going to upgrade, my mate recenty brought a new machine custom built by a company (computer planet) and it only cost him just over £1,000 and that was with Hard Disk's, Optical Drives etc so if your only going to be replacing Graphics, Ram, CPU, Mbrd then you should be able to get a nice i7 machine on that budget

 

James.

[CAM]

Was that a local company EduTech?

 

And yeah, got disks. I don't need an Operating System either as I have Win 7 on pre-order and will just install the RC until it arrives. Oh and mnoitor, speakers, peripherals too. A good geek has a nice stash of recyclable bits.

[EduTech]

Not Exactly local mate, they are online -- Custom Built Computers & Custom Gaming PCs - Computer Planet

 

But i would highly recommend them, they always keep in touch with you.. email you at every stage of the build! tell you if they actually have any problems for example when they run there intensive tests on my mates system the cooler was not doing what is expected and therefore they told him this and replaced it. now that is honesty!

 

This is what me likes them even more there testing phase:

 

Once your system has been built, it's taken to a testing bay and for it's first test using QuickTech Pro software from UXD which is the PC diagnostic software preferred by professional technicians world-wide. The software is operating system independent, which allows the program to directly access the hardware, bypassing DOS or Windows, for the fastest and most accurate testing possible. QuickTech PRO solves this problem by quickly & accurately isolating hardware issues. QuickTech PRO will put a system through the most vigorous diagnostics available, performing complete testing on: Motherboard, Processor(s), Memory, Storage Drives, Video Graphics Card, Peripherals and I/O Devices.

 

Every component in the system is fully tested.

 

Hard Drive Tests

- Full Sector Read

- Full Sector Write

- Controller

 

Motherboard

- DMA Controller

- CMOS Settings

- CMOS RAM

- Real-Time Clock

- System Timers

- Serial/PS2/Parallel/USB/Lan

 

Memory

- 6 Different Patterns

- Pseudo-Random

- Xor'ed Address

- Bit Test (Short & Long)

- Grid Test (Short & Long)

 

CPU, Optical Drive, Floppy Drive, Sound & VGA are all tested.

 

 

If the motherboard has a paraellel printer port the results are printed and included with your PC.

 

Stage 2

 

We install the operating system of your choice and install all the drivers for each component in your system. If you have purchased a PC without an operating system we install Windows XP for testing this stage which is then wiped after the testing has finished.

 

Following this we then install PassMark BurnInTest. PassMark BurnInTest™ is a software tool that allows all the major sub-systems of a computer to be simultaneously stress tested for endurance, reliability and stability. BurnInTest does a thorough exercise on the hardware in a PC in a short period of time, in the same way as normal applications use a PC over a long period of time. This takes advantage of the fact that computer hardware tends to fail either very early in its life or after many thousands of hours of use so this program simulates you using the PC for at least 30 days and all this is tested in a 24 hour BurnIn period. Once this has passed the application is removed from the PC.

 

Stage 3

 

The PC is then shutdown and left while the hardware cools down. Which allows step3 testing to be done once the hardware has been started again from cold.

 

Stage 4

 

The PC is then started up and set to automatically startup, load to the desktop, then restart it's self. This is set to reboot 250 times which is to simulate you starting and stopping the PC over 250 times.

 

Stage 5

 

After passing these test the PC is then set to optimised settings such as the correct desktop resolution. Once all this has been done your system is then sent into quality control for final inspection.

 

Do yourself a quote on there site, see where you go

 

They dont just build the machines though, you can buy the parts and do it yourself

 

James.

Edited September 13, 2009 by EduTech

[budgester]

Try overclockers.co.uk for parts

 

Try a SSD Hard drive as well, they make a huge difference.

[t_h]

OcUK are good, but I always check Scan as they can sometimes be a little cheaper.

 

I wouldn't go for a high, high end CPU - I'd save that money and put it towards the best graphics card you can afford if it is going to be a gaming machine. Any modern Intel CPU will be fine.

 

A solid state drive is something to consider, but I wouldn't blow the budget on a large SSD. They're only really going to cut down loading times (are people really that impatient?) and once the data is in memory you're no longer waiting on the hard drive.

 

Speaking of memory, I'd go for 4GB no question as it's really cheap at the moment.

 

Don't spend a lot on a heatsink and fan if you don't plan to overclock. The stock fans are fine and the only reason I'd buy a third party one is they tend to be quieter.

 

Finally, don't skimp on the PSU and case. If you can afford the room buy a large case as they are much easier to work with.

 

Hope that helps.

[tmcd35]

I'd say first deside your OS. 32bit or 64bit. 32bit will give better backwards compatibility, 64bit would give better forwards compatibility.

 

Once you've decided this you can then decide Ram. I always go quantity over speed with RAM. If you can afford quantity + speed, better still! If you're sticking with 32bit OS there is little point spending money on more than 3Gb Ram. For 64bit I'd say 6-8Gb would be sweet right now, but alway if you can affor more...

 

Next up would be the processor. I'd go for more cache memory over cores/speed. And at the moment more speed over cores. Again, the more cache/speed/cores the better as budget allows. But given the choice of Dual core with more cache or Quad core with more Speed - I'd probably go dual core. On a budget the AMD Phantom X3's a worth a punt.

 

Once you've decided on processor you can pick a compatible mobo. Here quality is everything. If you have to get a slower cpu to buy a better mobo - it'd be worth it. A Quality motherboard would give you good speed gains and better stability. I tend to stick with Asus and I'd budget around £120 here.

 

For a gaming system the Graphics card is very important (obviously!). Here GPU speed is more important than memory size. 512mb Ram would probably be a good min. on a gaming system this days. Id go faster GPU speed over Ram size, and faster Ram over Ram size. You can consider lowering the speed of your system Ram, number of CPU cores and/or speed of your CPU to get a better graphics card. Just don't comprimise on the CPU cache size or amount of system Ram. And don't comprimise on the quality of the mobo to get a better graphics card. Again I'd spend money improving the system elsewhere rather than spend out on SLI or CrossFire graphics cards. Unless you have the money to burn of course.

 

The PSU. Think quality. Probably don't want less than 600W for a gaming system but alot depends on the exact graphics card and number of hard drives and optical drives. I believe a Misco have a PSU guide that will help you calculate what you need.

 

Personally I wouldn't go SSD. Money can be better spent on the Graphics Card/Ram/CPU for real speed improvements. If you find you have money to spare and want to improve loading times consider two smaller hard drives in RAID-0 rather than one large hard drive. Again for speed increases get hard drives with bigger cache sizes.

 

But that's just my 2c and how I prefer to go about building systems. But most of all enjoy! Building your own PC is fun - and the most fun is the early design stage, picking and researching the right components.

Edited September 13, 2009 by tmcd35

[CAM]

Doesn't Windows 7 come with a 64 and 32 bit installer?

[EduTech]

Doesn't Windows 7 come with a 64 and 32 bit installer?

 

Yes

[tmcd35]

Doesn't Windows 7 come with a 64 and 32 bit installer?

 

But which are you going to install? If you are installing 32bit why pay more money, that can be used to improve other things, for RAM that's not going to be used?

 

As noted elsewhere - RAM is cheap. If you change your mind later on and move to 64bit, you can always buy additional RAM then.

[Fatmas]

I wouldn't go for a high, high end CPU - I'd save that money and put it towards the best graphics card you can afford if it is going to be a gaming machine. Any modern Intel CPU will be fine.

 

A solid state drive is something to consider, but I wouldn't blow the budget on a large SSD. They're only really going to cut down loading times (are people really that impatient?) and once the data is in memory you're no longer waiting on the hard drive.

 

Speaking of memory, I'd go for 4GB no question as it's really cheap at the moment.

 

 

 

I completely agree with you on that. My 2.4Ghz Quad Core only cost £150 and it still runs everything without any problems.

Put the money towards graphics and RAM instead.

[CAM]

One thing that did confuse me was the cores. I know that 4 cores are better then one, but my current prcoessor is 2 cores and 3GHz and most of the reasonable priced quad cores I spotted were about 2.4GHz. A big cut in speed but more cores so it can afford a big cut in speed?

[steveg]

Don't forget that all ghz's aren't equal, so a 2.4ghz i7 may be as quick / quicker than a 3ghz core 2, you will need to look at benchmarks that reflect what you will be doing with it.

 

As for 2 vs 4 cores, in the long term, 4 is always going to be best. At the moment there is still not a huge ammount of multi-threaded software around that can make use of multiple cores, although this is increasing all the time.

 

Steve

[Fatmas]

My quad core 2.4Ghz processor (Intel) runs everything I can throw at it. Running Windows 7 on it and playing games with no problems at all. A very good cpu if you ask me

[tmcd35]

One thing that did confuse me was the cores. I know that 4 cores are better then one, but my current prcoessor is 2 cores and 3GHz and most of the reasonable priced quad cores I spotted were about 2.4GHz. A big cut in speed but more cores so it can afford a big cut in speed?

 

Four cores is better than 2 *IF* you have the programs that take advantage of more cores. If you are running Windows 7 and the very latest of games it may be beneficial. Moving forward it will be a lot better.

 

Comparing a 2.4 Quad with a 3Ghz Dual isn't that straightforward. New archetectures, like i7, will have speed improvements over older architectures. And cache memory plays a huge part in processor speed. I'd sooner a lower processor with more cache than a faster processor with less cache.

 

As for the i7 - on a £900 budget I don't think it's the best choice. The cost of the cheapest i7 part, cheapest motherboard, etc, will blow a large chunk of your budget and effect your choice of other components - expecially the graphics card.

 

For £900 I'd guess that either the E8600 Dual Core or Q9550 Quad Core look good with an iX48 mobo. I recon that and nVidia 275GTX graphics card would make one hell of a flyer easily within the £900 budget.

[budgester]

There may not be that much multithreaded software about, but remember you can set application to processor affinity if you want to and a cecent operating system should migrate even single threaded applications across cores as is required.