advice on building a pc

Hi all,

This is my first ever go at building a PC and I'm after some advice.

I want something like a AMD Athlon 1.2Ghz with 256mb ram, 20gb hard drive kinda thing. With Graphics/LAN/Sound card, CD and Floppy.

I have a monitor, keyboard and mouse...

I am not really sure which motherboard/case to go for to use these sorts of components.

Anyone help me choose a motherboard type/model and suitable case.

Thanks,
comp

Choose your motherboard first and then the case, that way you can save yourself the mistake of buying a motherboard that doesn't fit in the case you just bought

just look in the description of the boards, they tell you normally what CPU's they support.... like this one

http://www.motherboards.com/catalog...ducts_id=17489&

what about getting something like http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...oduct_uid=49017

it has a AMD Duron 1800 processor already, no?

So how do i find a matching case?

Computer,

What will you be doing with the PC? Games or Work? (or both?)

Silky's right - The motherboard is probably the single most crucial element. You want something that's highly expandable but won't shrink your wallet! I SAID WALLET! Gaaaaaaaaaad damn it...

Also, I'd go for a larger HDD - there are some very good offers around for 40/60Gb hard-disks ($ to MB ratio) from people like Western Digital and even IBM's DeskStar range (very good drives!)

So, what's it for?

its a development machine. looking to run linux and/or win XP on it. i already have a 250Gb server PC running Win 2000 so i hope to be able to hook it up to that.

computer, read the description of the board



That one comes with a CPU already... so you will have a space cpu kicking around since you said you are getting the Athlon XP. This one http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...oduct_uid=44569 is without CPU and looks more like the type you are after.

You will find most boards are ATX form factor, which is the standard for most cases these days. Generally you can buy your normal buget case and the board will fit.

me not really fussed if its a duron or athlon


sorry

Ahhhhh okay then, the board looks like a good one

I've got a 360GB server so mwwww...

I couldn't find any reviews on line for the K7SOM+. To me that says the board is either not 'review worthy', or ECS didn't market it as aggresively as it's other boards (K7SEM for example).

Either way, it looks like a good all-in-one package. If you're ABSOLUTELY sure you won't want to play games on it, then go for it... but be forewarned, it's got an onboard SIS GPU - argh!

£56? BUY IT NOW!

nao

i came up with this base list from EBuyer...

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...oduct_uid=44569

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...oduct_uid=23232

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...oduct_uid=26560

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...oduct_uid=20929

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...oduct_uid=33767

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...oduct_uid=47896

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...oduct_uid=36835

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...oduct_uid=40238

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...oduct_uid=33823

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...oduct_uid=47101


Total: £178.80 Inc. VAT

Ok, well the list looks ok, some points though.

I personally would go for a more powerful CPU Fan.

DO NOT buy that case until you have checked the dimensions of the board, search on google because I couldn't find the dimensions on ebuyer.

I also wouldn't bother with the Air Con thing, the system won't generate that much heat. You would be fine with PSU fan and CPU fan only, but if you want an extra fan I would go with a case cooling fan, most cases have a spare slot for them but are not always listed in the specs.

And finally, note that the case you are intending to buy does not come with a power cable, so if you don't have any spare, add one to the list, they are cheap enough.

Man, Silky - you don't miss anything do you!

The only thing I would add is that fans are LOUD. As Silky said, you won't need the AirCon - and I would hold back on the case cooling fan until you need one. The Hardware Monitor (BIOS) should tell you if you need one or not.

My Athelon XP 1800+ runs at a cool 42 degrees celcius and I don't have anything other than a CPU fan and the fan in the PSU. Of course, I litterally DIPED the CPU in that lubricant stuff that comes with the CPU fan.

But seriously, don't put too much lubricant on the CPU when you stick the fan/heatsink on!

WORD.

Nao