[chalkywhyte]

Ok everyone i've decided its time to get a new pc. With xmas coming up and money being a bit tight i'm deciding to build it myself. I've never built a pc but i have changed some parts over before. I'm no expert but i do have a little knowledge about pc's.

The new pc will be mainly used for Internet, Music, Watching films, Office work, Encoding and Decoding. Gaming is not a priority but i would like to be able to play games without them looking like a megadrive. I have a massive dvd collection so i would like to be able to start putting them onto this gradually. I will eventually look at adding a blu ray drive to this also so it needs to be able to handle 1080p no problems. And possibly in the future also adding a TV tuner so i could record and watch tv. Also i would like it to be wireless aswell so i can connect it to my network and maybe stream to my PS3.

I will be using this through a sony 32" Lcd so would also like to output video either by HDMI or dvi to hdmi, with good results.

My budget for this is £600. I only need the tower as i already have everything else. (Keyboard, Mouse, Printer, Scanner)

I have spent quite a bit of time scouring the net and have come up with the following parts:

Case: Antec 300 £34
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3R £90
CPU: Intel C2D E7300 £92
CPU Cooler: Arctic Freezer Pro 7 £15
Graphics: HIS HD4830 512Mb £92
PSU: Coolermaster 520W Realpower £52
HDD: Samsung F1 Spinpoint 500gb £42
Optical Drive: LG GH22NS30 22x DVDRW £14
Memory: 4 GB Corsair XMS2 DDR 6400 800mhz 2x2 GB £38
OS: Windows Vista Home Premium 64 Bit OEM £83

TOTAL £552.

Is this system good enough for what i'm asking?

Now i know its a low processor but i will be looking at overclocking this too around 3-3.2 Ghz. Thats once i've got it all sorted and i know how to LOL.

I will be looking at adding maybe another 1TB hard drive once this one starts getting full.
And the Blu Ray drive in the future to.

Now on that spec that leaves me £48 ish (need to factor in delivery)

Can anyone out there see anything i should maybe revise or even add to this system?

I'm looking at getting this in the next few weeks so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Sorry for the long post.

Chalky.

[robod]

Hi Chalky,

I think the PC should be able to handle pretty much anything you can throw at it apart from the latest games running at the highest resolution.
One thing I would change/add is another disk. You want to spend loads of time putting your precious DVD collection on it, but if the disk dies ...
I would either add one more disk and put both disks in a RAID1 array (the MB can do it) or invest into an external USB/e-sata storage AND perform regular backups.

Also it seems that the MB doesn't have Wi-Fi built-in, so you may need to get a PCI Wi-Fi card as well.

Rob

[chalkywhyte]

I was looking at adding another HDD in the future anyway. I think i might also get an external hard drive aswell to to back up everything too. So thanks Rob.

I was wondering if just a usb wifi dongle would be as good as a PCI card?

The router is downstairs and this will be going upstairs. So would it be worth getting Draft n wireless? To make sure i get a good signal strength from the router. (which is only B/g)

Anymore opinions on the Spec above?
Is it maybe overkill? or a system that will last me a few years?

One more thing, Whats with all the prices i'm sure they're going up.

[Oggie]

Originally Posted by chalkywhyte

I was looking at adding another HDD in the future anyway. I think i might also get an external hard drive aswell to to back up everything too. So thanks Rob.

I was wondering if just a usb wifi dongle would be as good as a PCI card?

The router is downstairs and this will be going upstairs. So would it be worth getting Draft n wireless? To make sure i get a good signal strength from the router. (which is only B/g)

Anymore opinions on the Spec above?
Is it maybe overkill? or a system that will last me a few years?

One more thing, Whats with all the prices i'm sure they're going up.

Regarding internet upstairs, if i was you i would look into getting homepluggs

[chalkywhyte]

Never thought about that are they any good? And easy to work?

[Oggie]

Originally Posted by chalkywhyte

Never thought about that are they any good? And easy to work?

Yeah mate they are very easy to use. You basically plug router into homeplug which goes into your electrucity plug then upstairs you have another homeplug which you use to connect to your pc.
ZyXEL PLA401 200Mbps Powerline Integrated Homeplug Adapter **EXCLUSIVE PRICE** - Ebuyer

here is little more: Explained: Powerline networking | News | TechRadar UK

[chalkywhyte]

Originally Posted by Oggie

Yeah mate they are very easy to use. You basically plug router into homeplug which goes into your electrucity plug then upstairs you have another homeplug which you use to connect to your pc.

Thanks very much for that i'll have a good look into that.

Any opinions on my spec list? Can you see anything conflicting?

I just want a few experienced heads to give me there opinions.
I would love to save money.So have i gone to overboard or will it all be fine?

[chalkywhyte]

Well i've had to bring the budget down to £500 max.

So back to square one i think.

I'm looking at cutting some corners on the sytem now.

Was thinking HD4670 graphics card now. Are they any good?

[chalkywhyte]

Well got my xmas money early. So i decided to get the titan accelerator off overclockers. It was on this week only deal so got it with vista home premium 64 installed for £720.

I sourced all the parts seperate too see if i would save but its actually dearer.
So very happy with the system. Great service there too i rang them up and the guy gave me free delivery too. Should be with me on wed or thurs.
It comes pre overclocked with a Q6600 running at least 3.0 but the guy said they get some up to 3.5 so fingers crossed he can get mine up there.

Anyway that deal ends on the 17th i think. So if your interested in the system be quick.

Thanks everyone for all your help.

Chalky