New computer build

[BGonaSTICK]

It's that time again.

PC clearly in need of a major hop-up, and I'll document my build here just for a laugh. No doubt the posts towards the end of this thread will contain a few expletives and reflect my dark and menacing mood as my nearest and dearest take cover in a local safe-house :roflmao:

Any advice you can give will be gratefully accepted and given due consideration, so please feel free to chip in.

I want to spend around £600 - £800 and will try to use top-quality new components, budget allowing, that I can buy off t'Internet in the next week or two.

I'll recycle some of the better bits from my existing box(es) into a new build to keep the price down a bit too.

This is what I'm currently planning on keeping:

My beloved Aopen full-tower case
Serial ATA-100 160GB HDD
Pioneer 112D DVD burner
Sony DVD-reader/CD-writer
5.25" internal multi-card reader
Skystar 2
5.1 speaker system
400 Gig Seagate External USB drive
Canon LIDE scanner

Here's what I'll definitely need new:

Motherboard
Processor/fan/sink
Memory
Video card
Power supply

I have a fairly good Idea of what sort of hardware I'm going for, and it looks like for once I'll be buying Intel silicon - probably the Core 2 Duo E6750.

I'll leave it there for now, but if anyone would like to point me in the direction of their favourite PC hardware suppliers, that would be useful as I start my design and pricing phase!

A few places already on my list are:

Overclockers.co.uk
PCNextday.co.uk
Misco.co.uk
Microdirect.co.uk

And one on my 'never buy from those b'stards again' list:

DABS.com

STICK

BTW I see that Microdirect are selling my Seagate 400GB USB drive for £52.86 inc VAT!

[andysly]

intel why oh why would you want to go intel in this game we need a lot of floating point calcs to be done ,AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/129540/rb/0

added with this mobo
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/113844

and a few strips of this
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/113844

with an added nvidea card an ss2 ectect this would fly and cost you a lot less.

and its 100% linux ready

andy

[nanochickin]

I've used NovaTech before and had no problems with them

And one on my 'never buy from those b'stards again' list:- DABS.com

I take it Dabs fu**ed you over as well then Stick

The Philips DVD writer i had from Dabs has never worked properly since I've had it. Its been back twice and the tray still doesn't open without a bit of persuasion >

It records ok which is the main thing, and its in my spare pc now anyway as i replaced it with a HP DVD1040i 20x Multiformat thingy which is a lot better

I use SVP.co.uk now for anything related to DVD writers and media, i've never had any problems with this company in the 3 years i've been using them. Not once have they made a mistake or sent me an item that didn't work

Their prices are very good too and most importantly they take Paypal so i can spend my ebay money



Nano

[Gav]

All prices are quick quotes from Overclockers UK

Processor
The new Core 2 Quad Q6600 ~ £178.59
4x 2.4GHZ Cores - Intel Recently reduced their prices on the Quad Series.

Motherboard
Not sure what to reccomend here, because its really up to you - although I'd recommend something based on the new Intel P35 chipset.

Memory
4GB DDR2 PC2-8500 1066MHz - £156
This may seem like a lot of money for memory, but this is 1066MHz stuff ~ you'll get much better performance with this, than with more 'slower' memory.
Alternatively, you could go for more expensive DDR3 memory, (1333Mhz, 1600Mhz & 1800Mhz) - but with prices starting at £240 for 2GB - you may not want to :P

Video Card
Not sure what you intend on doing with your Video ~ but the NVIDIA 8800 GTX/Ultra Series & ATI HD 2900 series are currently the best things on the market
One of the best budget buys (£50-£60) would be the NVidia 7600GT

Power Supply
Depends how much you like/dislike the environment... ~ the Q6600 does consume a lot, but for £5 more you can get the 'Energy Efficient' edition.

& as for CPU cooling - the Zalman range are normally pretty darned good

Hope this helps =]

Gav

Also, regarding the AMD thing ~ Intel still out perform, but the AMD X2 6000+ is a mean beast, especially for the price!

[BGonaSTICK]

I'm leaning towards the nVidia 8800 GTS 320MB, and if I went AMD it would be the 6000+ for sure. The AMD doesn't stack up very well in the reviews I've read so far, but I'm just getting stuck in.

The PC will be used for everything from everyday stuff to the latest games and HD satellite.

Too many choices, and only a week to decide

Thanks for all your input so far. All interesting stuff! Man, I've got so much to read!

[Gav]

Originally Posted by BGonaSTICK

I'm leaning towards the nVidia 8800 GTS 320MB
The PC will be used for everything from everyday stuff to the latest games and HD satellite.

Good choice of Graphics. If your going to be doing gaming a lot, might I also suggest the PhysX card because they sound good =]

The Q6600 will munch through HD rendering, but despite that, you may want to get a graphics card/mobo with onboard decoding (H.264) e.t.c. - just for added performance

Also, the X-Fi range of sound cards is the best thing since the Sound Blaster - no really, it is!!!

[BGonaSTICK]

I'm going to save my pennies on sound and just go for a decent motherboard with onboard doings.

What do I need to look for in a motherboard in terms of optimising HD decoding?

I'm looking at the P35 boards at the moment, so I can go high-end Core 2 Duo and leave the Quad as an upgrade path - and also have DDR3 as a future option. I think the Quads are overpriced ATM.

Still considering the AMD 6000+. It's stonking value for money - after all, what can AMD do but slash prices?

[madrat]

www.ebuyer.co.uk
www.eclipse-computers.com

are 2 of the best places I have ever found.

AMD over pentium any day.

[RocketMBA]

Originally Posted by BGonaSTICK

What do I need to look for in a motherboard in terms of optimising HD decoding?

One that takes an Intel processor

A more accurate answer would be: One that takes a Conroe or above. I went for an ASUS P5B which you can find for about £60 nowadays, but there's loads out there with a range of memory support and PCI-Express support. There's even boards out there that still support DDR and AGP!

Either way, when a £70 E4300 at 3GHz can decode BBC HD in realtime using VLC (which is far less optimised than CoreAVC) with no video card acceleration... Why on earth would you get any other processor?

[BGonaSTICK]

Originally Posted by madrat

AMD over pentium any day.

12 months ago I would have agreed with you totally. Thanks for the links. More research material!

What's with the nVidia motherboard/video card HD decoding? I remember reading about it a few months back, but it's lost somewhere in my cranium.

I need to get this right - there's no money left in the pot for a second go at this!