Give my Boss a Spec

OK, my boss wants to build his own PC for the first time. I've built 3-4 in the past, but can't be arsed researching the best flavour of components out there at the moment. Which is where you lot come into it :D

Suggestions, please, for the best:

1. AMD Motherboard - Chipspeed probably around 2000+
2. Heatsink - quietest please
3. Graphics Card - 64Mb is fine, very little gaming, TV/Video in might be useful (like the All-in-wonder Radeon)
4. HDD - 80-120Gb?
5. Soundcard (Value over performance)

Cheers :)

How much are you looking to spend & what's the pc going to be used for?

It's going to be a general purpose all rounder really - no high-end gaming nor massive spreadsheets, so clock speed not a major issue.
Cost? I'd say no more than £130 for the Graphics card, £70 Sound Card, 1800+ AMD XP probably. Motherboard setup - would be nice if it was nice and easy. Good Price/Size ratio for the HDD, proabably the bigger the better.

First off, I always choose the good old creativve labs soundblaster, you can pick one up for less than £30 - around £5-£10 if you go to a computer fair & though their old, the drivers are picked up with any game & it plays music fine, you won't need to spend anywhere near £70 for that one.

64mb graphics is becoming the standard now, I've still got a 32mb geforce2 which plays any new games which come out so I think if you can get a cheap geforce or radeon one, a 32mb card will suit you fine for what you're after. The best makes at the moment are ATI or NVidia for graphics.

Check out mohterboard kits - far easier & cheaper way of getting your memory, processor & motherboard all at once & watford electronics is one of the cheapest places in the uk - http://www.savastore.com/templates/t...=1&celsceech=1

If you're not doing a lot with the pc, a 1700 chip would probably be a cheaper choice, though if you do go for this one I'd bump up the memory, 256mb is what you're after really, 512 or above if you can afford it as it'll speed up the performance of your pc.

80-120gb hard drive?!?!?! I'm still using a 40gb disk with loads of mp3s on & it's got plenty of room! That's one helluv a lot of porn movies your boss collects if he needs that much space. :D 60gb you can pick up all over the place which is medium sized for most computers & won't set you back that much. Take a look either at watford again or at scan for a cheap hard drive - http://www.scan.co.uk/products/

Now that lot shouldn't set you back that much but if it's a medium sized pc you're after, it'd probably be a lot cheaper to buy a ready made one which comes with software for less money

Btw, if your boss has any spare cash after that, might I suggest a nice case ...

http://www.pccasegear.com/

maybe with a small design added to it ...

http://www.pccasegear.com/category10_1.htm

:D

Hi Gaffer.

I certainly would spend any extra money for a case which 'looks nice'. Only spend what you have to! :)

Firstly...

Motherboard: Gigabyte 7VAX or 7VAXP. They are v.high quality and stability is their main aim. You may spend slightly more, but remember... the motherboard is the foundation for any system, so picking the right one is VITAL!

GFX: You won't need to spend £130 on a GFX card, as new Geforce 4 MX460's are only £50 Inc VAT.

Sound: I strongly agree with Alex_Read. Creative ARE sound cards, nothing else comes close! The 5.1 digital PCI is £30 new anyway, so i wouldn't buy second hand!

Processor (CPU): Amd Athlon XP Palomino 1700+ (1.4Ghz) should be fine. The new Gigabyte MB's can take upto a 2800XP so upgrading won't be a problem. AMD have vowed to keep the same socket throughout the processor range, so you won't need to change your Motherboard everytime you change your CPU.

Memory: 256mb DDR PC3200 Kingston will do fine. Kingston are well known for the quality of their hardware. Don't buy unbranded memory... it's not worth the hassle.

Hard Disk: 80gb-120Gb ??? Why ??? :D If you need a decent hard drive, you would do better with a Nice 60Gb 7200RPM Seagate or Western Digital.

Heatsink: I would recommend a Volcano variable Socket A heatsink, as the DB is low and it can be adjusted via a dial at the rear of the PC. It's around £10 Inc VAT though, which is quite expensive compared to the cheaper ThermalTake one's! :)

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If you're not happy the speed of your system, DON'T UPGRADE THE CPU! You will see a bigger (and cheaper) benefit by upgrading the memory to 512 or higher. Buy the best you can afford!

If you need any further help, or need details regarding any parts listed, please feel free to call me.

Regards,

Paul.

Purrrfect! Thanks chaps :) The 80Gb was down to my recommendation - I've 2x SMatrox 40Gb at home and both are nearly full - digital photography and mp3s are my bag, as space is relatively cheap now I thought I'd recommend a big boy.

anyways, he's a happy bunny now, and I think he is going for the self-built method :)

Another question: I have an Asus A7v266e mobo with an AMD 1800+ XP CPU - if AMD stick with Socket A, can I just stick a quicker CPU in there without compatibility issues?

Check what the maximum multipliers are in the BIOS. If it uses the same socket, it will usually work with that motherboard, but not necessarily at it's quoted performance level (ex. it may be 16 x 133, while your bios only supports up to 14....)

Quote:

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Originally posted by Sastraxi
Check what the maximum multipliers are in the BIOS. If it uses the same socket, it will usually work with that motherboard, but not necessarily at it's quoted performance level (ex. it may be 16 x 133, while your bios only supports up to 14....)

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I'll check that - thanks :)

Any of the Palaminos should be okay...spend as much as you feel you should. The XP2000s are probably the best buy though.

Get a quiet CPU Cooler, variable speed. Volcano 9 (shut up Justin :p) or CoolerMaster HAV-1 (something like that).

512MB PC2700 RAM would be good.

Motherboard...on the cheaper end you could get a Soltek DRV5 w/Lan + Audio. Go up a little bit and you can get a Gigabyte GA-7VAX, VAXP, or VAXP Ultra. The VAX has USB2.0, 6ch Audio, while the VAXP adds Raid and Firewire, and the Ultra adds SATA Raid (i believe) and some more multimedia features.

Video card...All in Wonder Radeon 7500 64MB DDR? It has enough speed for games and has all the video features you would want, but it is pricey (being an AIW, naturally so). Other than that just get a 64MB Radeon 8500 LE, GF4 MX 440, or something like that. Not like he games.

HD...80GB WD 8MB buffers. Office apps are about disk performance. If you get the VAXP/Ultra then get a pair of those babies and set up RAID. :) I'm sure he'll appreciate the speed / security.

Sound is built in. Most motherboards are at least AC97 2.1 compliant now. Its not a bad sound setup...probably beats pre-SB Live cards and at least approaches the original Live cards. Good value.

Order a nice PS. I believe Enermax or Vantec make extremely quiet and high quality ones.

Also you can consider a Zalman flower cooler. Essentially you can run a XP 1800 (I believe) WITHOUT ACTIVE COOLING. Case fan only. Pretty darn impressive, and even on active mode it is pretty quiet thanks to the large, low RPM fan and massive heatsink.

wait i appear to be late... oh well.

Quick note for Siyan:

7VAXP does NOT have SATA 150 (Serial ATA @ 150M), it's the 7VAXPU (Ultra) which does.

I use the 7VAXP Ultra and it's beyond words! :D Magnificent board, feature rich & very, very high quality.

Previous MB's I have used...

GA-7IXE (Slt 1)
GA-7IXE4 (Skt A)
GA-60MM7 (Skt 370)
GA-7DXR (Skt A)
GA-VRX (Skt A)
GA-VRXP (Skt A)
GA-7VA (Skt A)
GA-7VAX (Skt A)
GA-7VAXP (Skt A & AGP 8x)
and of course... the GA-7VAXPU

As you can tell... I don't use any other brand! :) Gigabyte ARE motherboards... everything else is not worth buying!

ECS / ASUS / ABIT / SHUTTLE / JETWAY : roflmao

I'm not having a go Siyan, just thought i'de let you know! :)

Regards,

Paul.

Quote:

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Originally posted by VisionIT
Quick note for Siyan:

7VAXP does NOT have SATA 150 (Serial ATA @ 150M), it's the 7VAXPU (Ultra) which does.

I'm not having a go Siyan, just thought i'de let you know! :)

Regards,

Paul.

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:) never said they did....

Ignore me... I can't read obviously ! :D

Sorry.

Regards,

Paul.