I thought building your own was cheaper

[Desmo]

I was under the impression that buying the individual components and then building the comp yourself was meant to be cheaper than buying a ready made system.

I can't spend less than £1000 when I add up my components.

OK, I've got some nifty Video card and Sound card on my list but everything else is pretty run of the mill.

[5477653]

where r u getting ur prices from? PC World? If so I suggest you try mail order like http://www.dabs.com or ur local puter fair! What spec did u add up? Another small but good retailer is @ http://www.btinternet.com/~terryjacobs !

[5477653]

where r u getting ur prices from? PC World? If so I suggest you try mail order like http://www.dabs.com or ur local puter fair! What spec did u add up? Another small but good retailer is @ http://www.btinternet.com/~terryjacobs !

[Desmo]

Yeah, I've been checking prices at Dabs, Scan and a few others (I steer well clear of PC World, don't you worry)

Spec wise (this is where I'm going wrong)

Athalon 800mhz
10Gb Hard Drive
128 Mb RAM
Top Bollox Video Card (Don't know which one yet)
SB Live Platinum Sound Card
17" Monitor

plus: Case, Mobo, CD, PSU etc.

[This message has been edited by Desmo (edited 03-06-2000).]

[5477653]

initial quick guess im thinking that would set you back <800 squid probably much less. Then again i dunno how much u wanna spend on ur graphics card

[Fragchild]

do you really need a Sb live plat, when you could get sb live 1024 which is pretty much the same card but doesn't have the live drive? :)

[Desmo]

Mmmmmmmmmm, that's what I was thinking myself. The SB Live 1024 will probably do.

Graphics card wise, I'm heading for the 3D Prophet II at the top of this screen.

32 or 64 meg though? Arrrrrggggggghhhhhhh, decisions, decisions.

[madmax jersey ci]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by 5477653:
initial quick guess im thinking that would set you back &lt;800 squid probably much less. Then again i dunno how much u wanna spend on ur graphics card<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


right bollocks comon then give us the techno and the place's and the total £800 machine details, and i bet it's not wot any of us gamers would buy!!
not realy mad, just that i'm in the market for a home made machine as well, and it seems i can't get my prices below about £900,of coss i what athlon 750/300watts psu/ 256 pc133 sdram/64mb graphics card/10000 speed HHD/no monitor/no sound card as there's one on the mobo(asus k7v)/good mouse and kboard/diamond supra 56epro modem/i can't think of any thing else but believe me it's dam hard to get it down to my budget of £500ish.
infackto impossibilo
so comon give us the specifactions already
and of coss where to buy it.
not mad just crazy
madmax

[Desmo]

Do I really need a 300w PSU for an Athalon or is a 250w adequate?

[madmax jersey ci]

OPPS sorry

[This message has been edited by madmax jersey ci (edited 03-06-2000).]

[madmax jersey ci]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Desmo:
Do I really need a 300w PSU for an Athalon or is a 250w adequate?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


if like u with an 800 athlon/and a big graphics card, umm yeah i'd say so.
but there are those who'll rip me for saying so.

[Fragchild]

Madmax of course you cant get down to your budget if you want a 10,000 rpm HD as they only come in scsi models and cost about £500

[Desmo]

K, this is what I've got listed so far.

AMD Athalon 800 = £267 - Dabs
K7V Mobo = £130 - Dabs
Coolmaster CPU Fan = £10 - Dabs
Scan Clio ATX Case = £38 - Scan
300w PSU - Athalon Approved = £34 - Scan
Non Approved = £20 - Dabs
Seagate Barracuda 10Gb HDD = £87 - Dabs
128mb RAM PC133 = £81 - Crucial
CD Writer = Nicked from current comp
3D Prophet 64mb Graph. Card = £300 - Gameplay
SB Live 1024 Sound Card = £40 - M2
17" Llyama SJ700 = £158 - Scan
TOTAL = £1,145

This is my first go at building a PC so have I missed anything out?
Should I replace any of the components with some thing else?
Any other suggestions appreciated.

[This message has been edited by Desmo (edited 03-06-2000).]

[5477653]

How the **** did i know u wanted 2 spend 300 squid on a blomin graphics card? I spend 50 squid on mine and i fink its fine. But well what ever takes your fancy. My prices were from the Scan today only section over the past few months. Although i would wait for the t-bird

[madmax jersey ci]

OPPS

[This message has been edited by madmax jersey ci (edited 03-06-2000).]

[madmax jersey ci]

SORRY AGAIN




[This message has been edited by madmax jersey ci (edited 03-06-2000).]

[madmax jersey ci]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Fragchild:
Madmax of course you cant get down to your budget if you want a 10,000 rpm HD as they only come in scsi models and cost about £500<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

yeah i know, bummer EH!
i'll have to get a 7500 fast seagate from dabs i suppose, there good on price there.
any other constructive help fragchild would honestly be most welcome.

[Fragchild]

Well I think IBM drives are normally faster than any others, even at the same rpm because they can fit the most data onto a single platter :)

[embattle]

To be honest like for like a company can put it together cheaper due to bulk buying etc.

[embattle]

Damn double post :D.

[This message has been edited by embattle (edited 04-06-2000).]

[Nema Natas]

Desmo:try going to www.scan.co.uk (http://www.scan.co.uk) and looking at the today only section.
They often sell athlon/mobo bundles. They are doing the 800 with kx133 mobo today for 333 notes.
Still need a power suplly on top tho.

[ZeD[TOP]]

Sometimes it best to buy a cheap base system from dabs or somewhere stick a decent graphix card in there and you're away, you can then add new bits as you want to as long as your base system is either a P3 or an Athlon you should be ok for years, me I've had the same PC for nearly 4 yrs now and still a happy gamer, It's had a couple of new mobo's 3 differnt sets of memory, four cpu's, new back plate and a new power supply and three graphix cards, but basically it's the same system ;) I sound like Trigger and his brush

[MalePrincess]

Building a PC from scratch is HELL!. I almost topped myself after 4 days of utter hell tinkering and tnikering and ...shudder!* and it cost about £150 more than expected...hmm...

[Rigo]

get rid of that budget Iiyama monitor and get a Hansol 710P for £170.
best 17" monitor at excellent price 1600*1200 @ 75Hz !!!!!!! and at that price!!

don't get that £300 graphics card, i still have banshee and still pleased with it!

don't get athlon 800 either, go for much cheaper 700 or if you need speed try an overclocked 700 from www.overclockers.co.uk (http://www.overclockers.co.uk) for same price (£170) instead of £280 or whatever.

get a 20-30Gb HDD for few squid more than 10Gb one, you'll be needing it! it soon goes!

also try www.insight.com/uk (http://www.insight.com/uk)

use the money you save on processor for RAM etc. maybe keep the 32Mb Geforce 2 but don't have athlon 800, you don't need it.

now compare what you've got with a highstreet model, or mail order. should be pretty good.

hope this helps your decision

------------------
Rigo

[embattle]

My m8 has an athlon that is overclocked and is having loads of trouble :(.

[-[Hades]-]

I built me own pute and here's what i got.

Athlon K7 850 = £187
GlobalWin VOS32 for CPU = £40
Asus K7V mobo = £120
128MB PC133 RAM = £94
IBM 15GB UDMA-100 7,500rpm = £133
Pioneer 10* Region Free CD\DVD Drive = £134
Case Fans bla bla

All prices above are inc VAT
Total £708

so i got £300 to spend on a graphic card before i get to me limit, but i doubt i'll be getting one for £300, as much as id love too. :)

[Rigo]

where you get that 850 from for that price?? taht is a very good price, and for the rest :)
you know scan.co.uk do a 16x DVD for £128? okay not region free but is faster


embattle...has your m8s athlon been overclocked by him? www.overclockers.co.uk (http://www.overclockers.co.uk) sell them pre-clocked and i've heard good reports about them.


------------------
Rigo

[-[Hades]-]

Same place you keep bangng on about. The 1 the only, ocuk.

best place I ever seen.
On the dvd thing, true its quicker, but i get alot of dif region DVD's so region free is important. Although usually there are cr4cks about so Ill concider it. thnx.

[DizMatt]

300 notes for a gfx card is OTT.
geforce 1 DDR you can get for 165 inc Vat.
be warned though that some people have problems with GeForce and Athlon don't they?
ASUS version will have work okay though with their mobo..???

[JGJones]

Building your own PC does cost more than a pre-built PC (due to bulk buying)

However, with building your own PC, you know that EVERY compenents in it are of the quality that you demand and can be made up of what you want exactly, so I really think it cost less over all. A OEM pc often ship with some rubbish mobo, or cheap CAS 3 SDRAM, or TNT M64 or some thing else to cut cost. They would go for a 5,400rpm HD instead of a 7,200rpm HD (although you can specify a 7,200rpm, they cost lot more)

For those reasons, I tend to favour building your own PC. Once you have build your own, providing you get a decent large case and PSU, you then find it easy to upgrade it over the time. For example, I highly recommend people buy a very high quality monitor - yes it cost a lot, but 5 years ago I bought a Sony 15" monitor...it's still one of the best 15" monitor around (even though it's not made anymore) and I still use it (though as a dual monitor setup with a iiyama 17")

Your HD will last you a long time too...I still use some of my 4yrs old 2Gb HD (as backup in a removeable caddy).

For the dual monitor setup I mentioned above I still use a Matrox Millieium PCI card (whose quality still put newer cards to shame...it still can go up to 1600x1200 with a nice high refresh rate) and a newer Guillemont TNT2U for the 3D work.)

Also cos I have a full tower case I have plenty of room...I use two HD removeable caddy, 1 CD-ROM (from old PC, for UT only http://forums.gameplay.com/ubb/teeth.gif), 1 DVD-ROM (new upgrade) hooked up to Promise UDMA66 card (mobo is also UDMA66 so 1 IBM 7,200rpm 15Gb as primary and 1 Western Digital 5,400rpm 15Gb as secondary)

So basically, at first when you build it will cost quite a lot, but future-wise it's the best thing for you!. I only need most of the time to change the mobo and CPU, everything else will still work just fine (unless someone does a BIG breakthru in HD speed, the IBM'll gonna have a long life before being "retired" to backup in removeable caddy http://forums.gameplay.com/ubb/teeth.gif)

My 0.000002 penny



------------------
There can only be one JGJones
------------------------------------
MD (http://www.cvr-uk.com/mdut/) - Many try
But only a few chosen achieve perfection.

[Rigo]

-[hades]- ah but that is an overlocked 700, i thought you were on about a true 850, now at that price it would be good :)

so you have an overclocked one then? reliable?

------------------
Rigo