Page 1 of Building a PC

OK, I`m currently running a P2 500 with 6gb hard drive (whoopee). As a minimum I need a new hard drive but I was wondering whether it also made sense to upgrade the complete computer. The main requirement is to be able to `backup` my dvd collection and to play around a bit with digital photography (not video).

Anyone got any advise they can give me?

Also if going for the complete computer option, does it make sense for me to build my own or am I better off just buyong it complete?

I`m too old for this sh*t!

This item was edited on Wednesday, 26th May 2004, 14:40

Riggs,

tbh, i would buy one complete, or at the very least, buy a new base unit (you will
probably be able to use your current monitor, keyboard etc.)
this way at least you have peace of mind if something goes wrong...just take
the thing back to the shop.

look at these prices for example.. here
there`s a great deal of satisfaction in building your own, as long as you`re prepared
to carry out all troubleshooting activities yourself.

at the end of the day the decision is your obviously, but to save time and hassle
i`d buy a new base unit or a complete system....plus, the cost of building your own
will normally be more expensive than a shop putting the same peices together.

hth

Ste.

...is that gasoline I smell?

cheers Ste. I fancy the idea of building my own so I can say I have done it but I reckon I don`t know as much about computers as I think I know which will inevitably lead to problems.

Also looking at some of the prices on the site you mentioned it`s not going to be as expensive as I thought.

Any thoughts on which processor to go for? Also how much RAM would be advisable?

I`m too old for this sh*t!

Btw Boing Boing!! you`re another Baggie boy are`nt you?

Re: CPU, depends what you can afford, i run a fairly lowly AMD AthlonXp 1800+
which has a clock speed of 1.53Ghz, this coupled with 512Mb of DDR Ram is
quite sufficient for my needs, and i also....erm "back-up" my DVD`s :D
However if you`re into image manipulation etc, i`d go for something like a
2.8Ghz CPU with as much Ram as you can afford maybe 1Gb? this should
be plenty. Also, try and specify a decent speed Hard Drive 7200Rpm and
133ATA with a large buffer (8Mb) as this will speed up data transfer no-end.

One point to remember is that the systems on the UCS site that i linked to
are not supplied with an Operating System, add £117 for XP Pro or £70+ for
XP home.

hth Riggs

Ste.

...is that gasoline I smell?

This item was edited on Wednesday, 26th May 2004, 19:50

Yep I`m a Baggie boy :D . Was a season ticket holder until a few years ago when I moved south, and since coming out to Austria I don`t get to see them - have to rely on the BBC web site. Do you get down to see them at all?

Anyway now I show you just how much I don`t know about computers.

1) Why is the clock speed of the AMD AthlonXp 1800+ only 1.53GHz - I thought the 1800 related to the clock speed :/
2) What difference does the type of RAM make?
3) What does 133ATA mean - and I assume the 8mb buffer is on the hard drive itself? Is 80Gb big enough you reckon?
4) What about dvd burner - is there a specific make to get/avoid?

Hopefully I won`t need to worry about software ;)

Boing Boing
Riggs

I`m too old for this sh*t!

This item was edited on Thursday, 27th May 2004, 08:23

The "1800+" is a "performance rating" - supposedly indicating the CPU`s capabilities relative to older (non-XP) Athlon processors. (not Pentium processors, as many people think.)

It`s largely marketing hype, but there is more to a processor`s performance than raw clock speed. Current Intel Celeron processors, for example, run at high clock speeds - but perform very poorly. Check sites like Tom`s and Anandtech, as they often do comparative tests of processors at different speeds.

As for hard drive size, you can never have enough space! 80GB sounds like a lot, but once you start playing around with video files and making your own DVDs, you`ll quickly fill it up and wish you`d gone for a 160GB drive. :D

Mike

This item was edited on Thursday, 27th May 2004, 10:35

Hi Riggs,

1. the 1800+ refers to the equivalent pentium speed. i.e. an athlon 1.53Ghz
CPU runs at and equivalent speed to a 1.8Ghz P4.
2. most motherboards support multiple configurations of RAM, these vary
with athlon boards i.e. DDR2100, 2700 etc. If your CPU & M/Board support
the fastest Ram, buy the fastest Ram!!
3. ATA133 refers to the thoretical address speed, there are various speeds
available ATA66, ATA100, UltraATA etc. once again if you can afford it
go for the fastest you can afford.
4. DVD burners...people on here reckon the NEC & Pioneer drives are best.
i have a Pioneer 106 (4 speed ±R/RW). If you can wait a short while, the new
dual layer burners will be available for less than £100, this means they can
write to the larger 9Gb disks, eliminating the need to compress your "backups" :D

if you need any more info..post :)

Ste.

...is that gasoline I smell?

This is what Crucial recommend: "Word processing and e-mail, photo editing, font packages and multimedia software, CAD software, CAM software 256MB-512MB" More info here. True Crucial are a memory manufacturer but it seems to be in line with what I`ve read else where. They also have some useful FAQs on that site.

This item was edited on Thursday, 27th May 2004, 19:12

Before you decided to buy or build a new system, it might be worth considering the fact that in the next few months AGP is going to be dumped in favour of PCI Express. Apparently the PCIE compatible motherboards will be BTX which will mean a new case as well, the motherboards definitely won`t accept AGP cards as it has been decided it is too epensive to have dual systems.

Here is some stuff from Asus

You could (quite rightly) say that there are always new things coming along, and you have to bite the bullet at some point, but this is quite a radical technological leap and I personally think it would make more sense to hang fire a few months.

But it aint my money... :D

It doesn`t look like PCI will be dumped any time soon.

Here is the conclusion from Tom`s Hardware about PCI Express:
"In consideration of our theoretical forecasts and all the question marks we`ve raised, it`s hard to reach a conclusion. On the one hand, the new bus opens the door for many new possibilities in the world of graphics cards. On the other hand, it will take some time before the casual user will see any advantages in the form of improved performance" link

This item was edited on Thursday, 27th May 2004, 20:53