Topic: building new pc help

[sally77]

Hi all, looking for bit of friendly advice

My sis has asked me to build her a pc, which in itself is not a problem, i have built my own, but then i didnt have as many specific needs.

she has particular needs for it as follows....

She wants a 'mid range' pc, not the most expensive, but does the job for as much value for money as possible, but not on a budget scale.
she wants it easily upgradable in the future.

she wants to manipulate photos etc from digital camera, and she wants the best quality sound to listen to music without it being tinny! (this is a major priority for her!!!)

And lastly to play her dvd movies on it....

Now, bearing all that in mind, i'm unsure as to which spec is ideal to cope with her needs
Looking around with all the specs of graphics/sound cards etc available, i'm stuck as to what would suit her needs without going under or too much over what would be sufficient! can anyone point me in the right direction?

Can someone also tell me if its worth getting the xp media edition as opposed to xp home, bearing in mind what she wants to do, or is there better third party software out there somewhere that doesn't cost the earth!?

thanks in advance....  

[Simon]

Hi Sally, it's a long time since I built a PC (well, about a year, which is a long time in PC terms!), but generally, on the point about sound, one crucial component is the speakers.  Does she want a surround sound set up, or would a good set of stereo desktop speakers suffice?  I would recommend Creative for both speakers and sound card, and get a set with a separate sub-woofer, even if only 2 speaker stereo.  I'll come back to you later, if no one else has picked up this thread.  

[sally77]

Hi simon, I think the desktop speakers would be fine... its getting the right ones and the right spec soundcard that is the problem...?  I dont think she's expecting crystal clear sound but she wants better than your basic sounds you would expect from a pc if you know what i mean. But she doesn't want to pay megabucks for something over the top!

She would actually prefer to be able to connect her pc to her stereo speakers to listen through her sound system? is this possible anyone???

[Simon]

Well, as I said, I have always been very happy with Creative speakers.  The model I have is no longer available, but something like this looks quite cool, and, according to the write up, is supposed to sound good.  Of course, I don't know what your friend calls 'mid priced', but you can get cheaper then these, and certainly more expensive!  I think you can probably use her sound system speakers, by connecting the sound card to her hi-fi amp, but if the hi-fi isn't placed near the PC, this may not be practical, and if playing games, etc, you really need the speakers either side of the PC monitor.

As far as sound cards go, again there is a vast price range, from £5 to over £200.  
There don't seem to be many about which don't offer 7.1 surround sound, but these should work just as well with only 2.1 speakers (the .1 is the sub woofer), and it does give the option of upgrading to a bigger speaker system later, if desired.  This one seems to be a fairly mid-priced example, again, you could go up or down in price.

I have just chosen what I might pick for myself, from one retailer.  There are obviously other retailers to choose from, which might offer better choices or prices, but Komplett seem to be reputable and on the level.  I have just bought a new digital camera from them, and the price was very good, without outrageous shipping costs.

I'm a bit out of touch with general PC specs of today, so hopefully Sandra, or someone who has recently built a PC, can offer you any further advice you need, but I hope this has helped a bit.

[sally77]

Thanks Simon, yes you have helped me a bit on that side of it, thank you...think thats the sound problem more or less clearer in my mind....
just the graphics and the other stuff i really need advice on now....

[Simon]

Well, again, Graphics Cards vary vastly in price, and it depends on what use she wants to put her PC to.  If she's going to be a big gamer, she may want to spend a bit more on the graphics card.  I would advise going for AGP, but first make sure you choose a motherboard which supports AGP.  Again, from Komplett (for convenience), this looks like a reasonable mid range card, which should be able to handle most games, and they also suggest a couple of compatible motherboards, which, incidentally, have onboard sound, so you might not need a separate sound card.  Of the two Motherboard suggestions, personally I would go for the Asus, but only because I have used them on two builds, and they haven't given any problems.

Before you start shopping for bits, I would advise you to have a look round at pre-built machines, as these now come with extremely capable specs, for not bad prices.  Do you have an Aldi store near you?  Sandra recently, if I am correct, bought a Medion PC from them, with very high specs, for around £700.  The days of building your own PC to save money, are all but gone, but, of course, there is the advantage of knowing exactly what has gone into the machine, and choosing your own quality components, along with the pleasure (and pain!) of carrying out the project, with the ultimate satisfaction of completing something that is all of your own hand.  That can't be bought.  

[sally77]

lol, that is very true....

But no, she is not a gamer in the slightest, she wont be going near any games, its purely for digital photo manipulation, watching dvd's and listening to music... thats why i'm hesitant on which spec graphics/sound i am to go for...
As for buying a pre-built pc, there are certainly alot about, but again, like i say, its a matter of she doesn't want to pay for stuff that shes not going to use which is why she wants it made to her needs, which are as i've said above...
I know I'm not being much help, but she just wants the basics to help her do all the above, without going over the top, so i basically need to know what the minimum requirements would be so i can work up from there?

And thanks for the advice on motherboards, i have already looked at the asus, so nice to hear they are not a bad one to use...

[Sandra]

It would help if you gave some indication of how much she wants to spend.

If shes not  agamer and wants stability and reliability then if she can afford it shed probably be better off with Intel rather than AMD.

That will put the backs up of the AMD supporters now  

If she decides on an Intel based pc then she would have to go for a 775 chip based motherboard as the 478 has reached its development limit.

This one at just under £100 should suit her quite well for now and as faster cheaper chips come out she could upgrade if she found it necessary, which she probably wouldnt do.

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=14774304707&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=101022

Again with upgradability in mind she may be better off going for a motherboard that utilises the newer PCI-E or a mix of PCI and PCI-E, although if shes using completely new parts then she may as well go for all PCI-E if they make any all PCI-E ones yet.

The GFX card that Simon mentioned would be fine but the newer PCI-E ones would be better for a similar price, I should think.
Sometimes newer technology can actually be cheaper once its been out for 12 months for better performance than older stuff.
Look at the price of SDRAM compared to the same size of DDR ram for example  

You would have to decide on a price that you want to pay and then see which cards come in that range then do a search for reviews on them to see which is the best for your needs.

Again I would recommend a motherboard with DDR2 as that doesnt really cost any more than standard DDR and is faster.

I dont envy you, I was in a similar postion a month or two back and copped out in the end as there was too much choice and I bought a ready made one as Simon said, which came with a 3 year guarantee and included XP home and other software  

[sam]

That will put the backs up of the AMD supporters now

yep but we can let that sort of blasphemous comment go occasionally since we know you going to fry in the hell of all those Intel processors! lol  

I do however mostly agree, if you want games go AMD if you dont go Intel.

[sally77]

thanks sandra that helps a lot... now, put together that processor, and this motherboard...

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=98340

i believe that a PCI-E?
and this graphics card....

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=14788219732&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=95818

should they all be ok together? and a 500w power supply should be ok with those too shouldnt it?

well i think thats got me started anyway, now its just time to do the adding up to see if its worth it....!

Many thanks for your help so far, you've both been great...

[sally77]

sorry, i've got one more question... on looking for a HD, obviously with that particular m/board, its using SATA connections... i've only ever worked with IDE. Can someone tell me, 1. do the SATA HD come with connection cables to the m/board, or would i have to order those separately, and if so, what cables do i need as i'm getting little confused here....?

[sally77]

ignore last question... only just spotted it has ultraDMA channels as well...

[Simon]

Well, as I thought, I'm slightly out of touch with the new stuff!  :blush2:  Personally, I would always go for GeForce over ATI graphics cards, purely because I installed an ATI Radeon in one machine, and the text on screen seemed slightly blurry.  Whether it was the card, or something else, I can't be certain, but I have never had any problem with GeForce cards.

I have to comment that the components Sandra found, do seem significantly more expensive than the ones I suggested, but presumably that's because they are newer technology, and perhaps more 'future proof'.  It's OK for your friend to say she doesn't want to pay for stuff she's not going to use, but she may find that as she gets more interested, she may want to upgrade.  As Sandra said, it would help if we had a rough idea of what we are allowed to spend.

I still think my speakers are cool!  

[sally77]

oops, sorry, yes i meant to say... she doesn't really want to spend more than £400-500 tops, but less if she can help it...
But bear in mind that she is not really up on computers to know what her money can buy and that for what she needs, she doesnt' need to spend that amount of money!!

and yes, agreed, already showed her the speakers and shes impressed and wants them... he he

[Simon]

Is she starting from scratch, i.e. no monitor or anything?  If so, you will be hard pressed to put anything half decent together, using the latest technology, so you may need to revert to the route of less up to date (but still perfectly OK) components.  
Whether she wants them or not, you have to have certain things to make the thing work, without being extravagant!  It's quite a difficult commission, building something for someone else, particularly if they are counting the pennies, and like Sandra, I don't envy you.  I wouldn't like to promise anyone a mid-range PC for anything less than £400 + Monitor.  You also have to remember, if she wants XP, a licensed Home version will cost around £60, which is quite a big chunk of your budget.

One tip, you can get one DVD-RW drive, which will do everything, for about £30, as they have dramatically dropped in price over the last year or so.

http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=314089&cks=PLS