Be Excellent To Each Other

There comes a time when I'm sitting here watching a stuttering YouTube clip, hearing my system fan going batshit mental at the sheer effort of it, when I realise I need a new PC. It's been 5 years since I built this one and it can't even load javascript on a webpage without having a strop about it.

Now, I'm going to get the bits and build it mesel', but I'm 5 years removed from the knowledge required of what's "in" at the moment. I'm not extremely interested with playing games on it, apart from MAME and WinUAE of course. So, given a budget of 400 notes, what could I get? I want an Intel chip, not a Celery, and a decent make MB like Gigabyte or someone.

Help me BETEO, you are my only hope.

Dimmers. Fear not my PC loving brethren.

Whilst I totally understand your motives for wanting to build your own I would advise against it.

/cue shudders from the back...

Why do I speak such evil? well, because a good PC can be had for 400 pounds or less fully built with a good warranty.

As an example please see this

http://www.yoyotech.co.uk/yoyotech-inte ... 57653.html

PC CASE SILVERSTONE PS02 ATX CASE - Silverstone are the RR of PC cases.
POWER SUPPLY OCZ 500W ATX - A good psu.
MOTHERBOARD P43 ATX MOTHERBOARD - great for overclocking
PROCESSOR INTEL E5200 - DAUL CORE - the real deal. A genuine core 2 duo.
CPU COOLER VANQUISHER CPU COOLER - not the bog standard shit.
MEMORY 4 GB DDR2 MEMORY - as much as you will need.
HARD DRIVE 320GB SATAII - big enough.
CARD READER NOT INCLUDED - not wanted.
OPTICAL DRIVER DVD REWRITER - does what it says on the tin.
GRAPHICS CARD RADEON 4650 - 512MB DDR - good enough.
GRAPHICS MODE SINGLE CARD
SOUND 5.1 CHANNEL
OPERATING SYSTEM NONE - CAN BY ADDED AT TIME OF PURCHASE - you should have one.

And the price?

£378.96 inc.

Not worth even getting your hands dirty over.

I prefer the hands on approach. I wouldn't need a case or PSU, I forgot to add, so just MB, mem, processor and GFX CRD.. possibly a new HD too considering everything's SATA now instead of IDE *shakes cane at young SATA whippersnappers*

so your psu is 24 pin with an 8 pin cpu 12v line?

And has the connectors needed to run current video cards?

I doubt it man. I had a 500w antec psu from 2003 and it would not fire up my core 2 duo, even with the 24 pin extender.

Things have changed mate. Be careful.

I had to buy a new 750w PSU last year when my previous one went Fizzy Spark Funtime, so I'm pretty sure it's a currentish Micro-ATX standard.

That does look like a nice decent PC on that Yoyo page though.... hnngh

Oh I am so torn.

Splendid. OK check 2. does your case accomodate full length cards?

90% of videocards on the market today need a roomy case..

Do you want an add in video card? or would onboard suffice?

Once I know what you're looking to do with it (a brief description would be awesome) then I can better advise you.

Also I *totally* advise buying an aftermarket cooler for any core 2 CPU. For the simple reason that the stock one is an absolute fucker to install and is shaky at best. It uses push pins that require some serious brute force. And, usually one of them snaps.

If you don't mind going AMD of course (the phenom x3 and x4 are pretty darn good but not as good as the intels) then you can easily get away with the stock AMD cooler.

Just noted your latest reply..

In my more youthful years I was absolutely dead set against ever buying a built pc. You paid well over the odds.

However, since a lot of hardware failures and finding out the hard way that OEM parts are covered for 90 days tops I have learned some expensive lessons. I had a IBM drive go a couple of years ago, it was covered for 30 days. CPUs (if not installed by a company) are covered for 14 days. ETC ETC.

The one saving grace about paying that little bit extra (and it really is a little bit in this day and age) is peace of mind. I had a Advent fail on me and the hard drive was replaced 9 months in. I was impressed (though not with the computer itself, it was awful)

Yoytech as with Chillblast are a very reputable company and I have heard nothing but good spoken of them. Even better with their built rigs is that they are warrantied for overclocking (should you decide to play) and they don't force you into buying Vista.

If you want Vista? LMK ! I have 2 licenses here that are perfectly legal that I don't use. If you have a copy of XP? try that first.

(the licenses are for home premium and home basic.. take your pick !).

If you can stand the searching, try looking up a deal like the one John found, and then searching for the best price of all the individual components, and seeing the difference. Then if you want to save/spend more, you can up- or downgrade individual components as necessary.

The only drawback from buying the thing ready made, is that I really want IDE ports onboard to allow me to use my old 500gb and 300gb HDs on there as well.

I'm covered with licenses for Vista and XP from my previous work (perks of the job), but ta veh much.

Dim, you can always get an IDE caddy and use them externally I did that.

That's an extremely good point.

Case - £38.50

http://www.advancetec.co.uk/acatalog/si ... cases.html

PSU - £43.64

http://www.awd-it.com/scripts/prodview. ... oduct=3848

Motherboard (p43 chipset, cheapest one I found) - £65.34

http://www.oyyy.co.uk/product.php/69227 ... =243007023

Intel E5200 CPU - £52.90

http://www.tekheads.co.uk/s/product?product=609474

4GB DDR2 800mhz (kingston value, the cheap shit) - £37.72

http://www.lambda-tek.com/componentshop ... ID=1490932

320gb SATA 2 hdd (seagate) - £34.68

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/spec ... ?sg-79s256

16X DVDRW £21.84

http://www.advancetec.co.uk/acatalog/INTE_WRS.html

Radeon 4650 512mb - £58.26

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/Home/Produ ... e=googleps



Making a total of...

£352.88

They're charging, for a fully built system with a full 12 month guarantee £378.96

So you're paying £26.08 for them to build it for you and to get 9 months more on warranty vs buying OEM parts and building it yourself (along with any headaches) that come with.

I know what I would rather do

All new mobos have 1 IDE channel. meaning 2 hard drives.

Then there's PCI add in cards. Theyre about 12 quid.

YOU DEVIL SHOULDER MAN!

Actually, http://www.yoyotech.co.uk/yoyotech-inte ... 75370.html looks nicer for an extra 50 quid, double the HD space and a slightly nicer GFX CRD. Plus chavvy blue flashy case.

Meh. I talk sound words my friend.

I worked building 3rd party computers for 8 years. I built myself every last system I have ever owned.

Now? I'm too fucking old and I really can't be arsed. I used to stand back looking at bloody fingerprints in cases and say "All mye ownz werk" now? I can't be fucking arsed any more.

My Alienware is, without doubt, the finest machine I have ever owned in my entire life. Sure ! I've added a few asses to that swine, but over all the machine came warrantied and all ready to go (I just installed my OS of choice and away I went).

With 26 pounds in it I certainly wouldn't get my hands cut and sore. Leave that to them.

If you want I can take photos of 2 Yoyotech articles? one is from Pc Format (90% on their 500 quid spartan last sept) and one from their latest I7 machine costing 2 grand.

Their inner cable work is absolutely flawless.

I never thought I would live to say this, but that case is revolting

That's probably very hypocritical of me.. The rest of the spec is nice though, but Silverstone cases kick ass (as do the Antecs).

I'll take your word for it. I just wish they would spell "Dual" correctly on their processors.

http://www.yoyotech.co.uk/yoyotech-inte ... 61381.html

Is better. Comes overclocked to a whopping 3.3ghz, 1gb graphics card and 500gb drive.

£449.38

Hmm. Going for gold for a web browsering PC there. I'll need a really powerful PC to read email... At least it'd download porn 1 million times faster.

The cheaper one will completely suffice dood.

It'll run games too. Obs not on max settings but for 20 quid shy of 400 quid it's a snip.

Have you used a C2D yet? if not, prepare for a shock. They really are the biggest quantum leap in processors over anything before them ever.

Yeah, the kiddies at work needed ZOMG ULTRA pcs to run Tizzy's Toolbox and the like. I'm just more looking forward to actually being able to use my PC here without realising how utterly shit it is.

Was just looking at the first yoyo again.

This was nice to see. Usually they charge about 60 quid.

Well that's done. Ordered the first one with an upgraded case and 1tb HD after fiddling like you said. Nice to see they use Corsair memory too.

Thank ee!

Very welcome. I didn't know they used corsair. Good to know

What case did you go for?

The 2nd Coolermaster one. Looks deLIGHTful. Plus the sheer amount of interior bays was super bostin.

Absolutely. They make truly lovely cases (I know the one you've got well too, I'm envious )

Infact Cooler master were responsible for one of the finest looking PC cases ever, the Wave Master.

EDIT - OCZ Gold 4Gb Kit - DDR2 800Mhz PC Memory [YoYoCode: 50591] [ + £0.32 ]

hahahahahaha. Cheapest upgrade of ever

I'm a little late to the party but if it helps I agree with John, the days when building your own for entirely standard jobs was worth doing financially are long gone. UK law gives better protection than those warranties which I assume were from the US though.



You said it, I just moved house and it managed to pull a pin out.

Ditto. Not just financially - as I get older, I find my desire to fiddle with hardware for the fun of it is dwindling; now I just want things to work.

Cheers for this John, as it happens my brother in law phoned up yesterday asking me to recommend a PC for him and these look like just the ticket.

Can I hijack this for my own nefarious deeds now that Unkie Dimdums has got his wicked way?

My dad's looking to get a laptop. He uses it for web browsing, downloading music/videos, DVD burning and a bit of photo editing. I'm guessing it would need a decent processor and RAM, but it doesn't need a super whizzy GFX card or anything. Ideally I think he wants a 17" screen, but I said that they tend to be a bit pricier. I think his budget is somewhere around £500.

I take it you have already had a look on the Dell or HP website?

Dell yes; HP no. You know why.

I was going to say.. PM me if you want a discount on HP.. but hey..

AppleMac

That printer, though. It made me so angry.

There is a difference between printers and laptops.. lol

My father in law has a 17" HP one and it is quite good, I would get one If I could..

This one seems to fit the bill. Thoughts?

My advice re Dell is find one you like and buy it from somewhere other than Dell. They make nice stuff, but their sales department (for individuals, rather than corporate) is shockingly bad. Maybe it's ok if you're not in any kind of hurry and have the patience of a saint.

Your mileage may vary, but twice in the last couple of years I've ordered stuff from Dell and then cancelled it when their sales baboons drove me up the wall.

Looks rather jolly for the price. Hard drive's a bit stingy and the screen resolution could do with being a bit higher at 17", but that might not be relevant for your dad's needs, and both issues are probably nit-picking at that price.

Get an Mac?

For £500?

I have one you can buy for £499

http://store.apple.com/uk_smb_67752/bro ... co=MTE3MzE

?

That's not really a laptop though.

I think you've missed out the bit where I said 'laptop', but cheers.

Yes but not in a fashionable colour.

White is always fashionable, love.

Yeah, there's a range right from "It's hell" to "I enjoy it" and that will indeed modify your decision.

I almost put this earlier but quickly realised people might think I was a cunt.

A mini can be had for 500 quid or cheaper if you can live with second hand.