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The Official PC building thread!
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Member
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17. January 2006 @ 12:20 |
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LOL. Well, if my PC case was see-though, i honestly wouldnt get any work done!
I would be staring at whatevers moving in there!
:o Fans!
:o Shiney spinning Fans!
LoL
3.2Ghz P4 775, ATi X700 Pro 256mb, 1GB DDR2,Asrock 775Twins-HDTV S/L, Maxtor 10 160GB SATA, NEC 4571 DVD±RW DL/RAM, Pioneer 110 DL/RAM, Hiper Type R 480W.
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Satin Silver Ltd. Ed. PS2, 200GB Maxtor HDD, Swap Magic 3.3, Slide Card, HD Advance 3
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Member
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19. January 2006 @ 04:46 |
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Hey people. I'm investing in a new PC for gaming/entertainment purposes.
I was thinking of building it myself, as I have been through two PC's and I'm about confident enough to try it!
If I buy a pre-built one at the moment I can get:-
CASE - Midi Tower Case
MAINBOARD - ASROCK K8 UPG VM800, P4V800 ON P4
MEMORY - 1024Mb Branded DDR400
HARD DRIVE - 160Gb Fast Serial ATA
OPTICAL DRIVE - 16x32x52 Dual Layer DVD-Writer
GRAPHICS - 256Mb GEFORCE 8 x AGP Video Card
SOUND CARD - AC 97' 5.1 Channel 3D
LAN - 10/100Mbps Ethernet Card
USB PORTS - 6 x USB2 Ports, 4 Rear and 2 Front Loading
KEYBOARD - Matching PS2 Soft Touch
MOUSE - Matching PS2 Wheel Mouse
SPEAKERS - 240w Mains Powered
FLOPPY - Not Included
DOESN'T COME WITH ANY SOFTWARE
All in this will be £339 (remember it is prebuilt)
I have two questions if anyone can find time to answer.
1. How much (roughly) am I expected to save, building a similar spec system myself.
2. How difficult is it to build a system?
I've had a PC for years,and I'm a CADD engineer by trade. However, I'm fairly inexperienced when it comes to working with components.
There are 10 kinds of people in the world, those who know binary, and those who don't
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Member
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19. January 2006 @ 05:00 |
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I have also been offered:-
Tower Casing
AMD ATHLON 64 3800+ CPU
ASROCK 939S56-M Motherboards
1024Mb Branded DDR400 Memory
200Gb SATA Hard Disk Drive
16 Speed Pioneer DVDRW
256Mb Ati Radeon X700 Video Card
PS2 Multimedia Keyboard
PS2 Optical Mouse
Mains Powered Speakers
for £599
There are 10 kinds of people in the world, those who know binary, and those who don't
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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19. January 2006 @ 07:15 |
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It's not that hard to build a system yourself as long as you know what you're doing, but strangely enough a lot of people come here with offers on prebuilt systems that are very cheap, and I think that one's no exception.
That lot you quoted there (including a power supply and case which you'll need) will come to just over £500 on ebuyer, probs about £510. Don't forget to try other places such as savastore, aria, dabs and misco though.
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Member
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19. January 2006 @ 08:45 |
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I appreciate the info!
I'll check 'em out.
There are 10 kinds of people in the world, those who know binary, and those who don't
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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19. January 2006 @ 08:58 |
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Also try www.shopgenie.co.uk - it's a kind of metasearch shopping feature like kelkoo for computer stuff.
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Member
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23. January 2006 @ 09:50 |
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Woops. Can some one help me.
I got my power supply in, and my mother board.
My motherboard doesnt seem to have 24 pin connector? or is it just me?
My power supply has a 24 pin connector.
What do i need to do, this is my motherboards power supply section...
***EDIT***
I found out how to connect it now.
I just slightly prised the last 4 pins over, not even 1mm and its snug fit. Perfect!
3.2Ghz P4 775, ATi X700 Pro 256mb, 1GB DDR2,Asrock 775Twins-HDTV S/L, Maxtor 10 160GB SATA, NEC 4571 DVD±RW DL/RAM, Pioneer 110 DL/RAM, Hiper Type R 480W.
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Satin Silver Ltd. Ed. PS2, 200GB Maxtor HDD, Swap Magic 3.3, Slide Card, HD Advance 3
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 23. January 2006 @ 12:25
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Senior Member
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23. January 2006 @ 14:02 |
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you can buy an adapter for about £4 i had to for mine
i7 3770 12GB ram terrabyte sata drive 1 750Gb sata drive 285GTX graphics Sony dvdwriter same NZXT Nemesis case
Still playing Black Hawk Down why did I upgrade?
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ddp
Moderator
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23. January 2006 @ 14:46 |
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is possible the extra 4 pinconnector on the 24 pin comes off main body to make a 20 & 4 pin connectors. some psu's have that feature.
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adamryer
Suspended due to non-functional email address
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23. January 2006 @ 17:45 |
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My Next Build:
AMD Opteron 175 Dual Core @2.2Ghz
Azus A8N SLI Premium
OCZ 2GB DDR 400 Dual Channel Platinum kit
2x XFX 7800GT 256mb DDR3 (factory OC)
2x WD Raptor 74gb 10,000rpm SATA
Enermax Noisemaker 600w PS
Thermaltake Armor VA8000 case black w/clear side panel
19" Viewsonic LCD
$400 custom liquid cooling system: High performance Swiftech pump w/ Swiftech "Storm" CPU waterblock, 2x Swiftech GPU waterblocks, Black Ice Xtreme III 3x120mm Radiator
Im going to use the Logitech MX 5000 keyboard and MX 1000 lazer mouse I already own, plus the logitech 5.1ch 280w surround sound i have. Case will have all blue led fans, all cables will either be UV blue reactive, or i will over them with UV cable sleeving, Liquid cooling system will have UV blue reactive dye added to the coolant. Opteron will OC to equivilant of an Athlon 4800 X2 but will cost about $200 less! I also plan to OC the Sh!t out of those 7800s since they will be water cooled. Tell me what you think.
ASRock 890GX PRO 3, AMD Phenom II X2 555 BE, 8GB GSkill Sniper DDR3 1333,
Main HDD: WD Raptor 74GB 10,000rpm, Storage HDD: 1TB WD Caviar Black,
Lite-On iHAS124-04 --> LT Burner Max FW,
Samsung BX2331 23" LED Widescreen LCD,
Xbox 360 Premium 20GB --> Hitachi v0078fk --> LT+2.0
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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24. January 2006 @ 03:01 |
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I'm drooling everywhere! Enough enough! I can't take any more!
That is some serious proverbial there adam. Good CPU, good RAM, good GPU setup, good motherboard, good monitor, good power supply, good hard disks, good everything! If I had more money than I do now (a lot more I hasten to add) That is pretty much what I'd get to the tee.
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Member
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24. January 2006 @ 10:59 |
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All i did was press the last 4 pins over with my thumb, not enough to break or actually permanently bend anything, but enough to clip the power supply in and have the remaining 4 overhang. I have read that some motherboards can do this, but some will actually need to have the last 4 pins removed from the main part (not actually taking it off, but breaking the plastic).
For the eagle eyed among you, YES there is NO RAM!
I'm still waiting for that, and YES i havent got my X700 Pro in there either! I was going to wait untill its all booted and running before installing that!
Sorry about quality of the photo's - dont have a good still image camera, was taken with a mini-dv cam-corder.
What do you think of the cables? Make it more neat?
3.2Ghz P4 775, ATi X700 Pro 256mb, 1GB DDR2,Asrock 775Twins-HDTV S/L, Maxtor 10 160GB SATA, NEC 4571 DVD±RW DL/RAM, Pioneer 110 DL/RAM, Hiper Type R 480W.
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Satin Silver Ltd. Ed. PS2, 200GB Maxtor HDD, Swap Magic 3.3, Slide Card, HD Advance 3
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 24. January 2006 @ 11:15
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ddp
Moderator
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24. January 2006 @ 12:53 |
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get the 24 to 20 pin adapter as you might have that connector on the wrong pins & could fry the board & more!!!
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flboomer
Newbie
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24. January 2006 @ 21:24 |
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I used to do my own upgrades all the time, but it seems that its harder now to save much money over pre-built systems. Especially for general usage. Is it just me?
A Gateway with AMD 3500+, 1 gb system ram, DVD burner, GEForce 6100, 200GB hard drive, Windows Media Center is under $600 now at CompUSA.
To build a better system on my own would cost more.
Now I know this isn't a supercharged system...but fine for the average home user.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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24. January 2006 @ 23:05 |
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I know, I'm looking at a maximum of £150 saving on a computer that costs over £1000. It will be miles cheaper than places like Dell or Alienware, but when compared to places like pcspecialist I do wonder whether it's worth it.
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Member
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25. January 2006 @ 07:21 |
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I really doubt they are in the wrong place, there keyed so they can only fit in one way.
3.2Ghz P4 775, ATi X700 Pro 256mb, 1GB DDR2,Asrock 775Twins-HDTV S/L, Maxtor 10 160GB SATA, NEC 4571 DVD±RW DL/RAM, Pioneer 110 DL/RAM, Hiper Type R 480W.
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Satin Silver Ltd. Ed. PS2, 200GB Maxtor HDD, Swap Magic 3.3, Slide Card, HD Advance 3
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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25. January 2006 @ 11:25 |
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As is everything these days. Modern connectors are all designed to be foolproof. The only connector I can think of that you can put in the wrong way round is a floppy disk cable, and they're ANCIENT!
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Member
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27. January 2006 @ 09:25 |
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HELP!
I tried to boot my PC for the first time, and all i got was SMOKE!
Everything plugged in, power connected properly.
I turned the power supply on, my mouse lit up, and then slowley faded, then i smelt smoke!
What do i do now?
3.2Ghz P4 775, ATi X700 Pro 256mb, 1GB DDR2,Asrock 775Twins-HDTV S/L, Maxtor 10 160GB SATA, NEC 4571 DVD±RW DL/RAM, Pioneer 110 DL/RAM, Hiper Type R 480W.
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Satin Silver Ltd. Ed. PS2, 200GB Maxtor HDD, Swap Magic 3.3, Slide Card, HD Advance 3
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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27. January 2006 @ 10:25 |
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Right, generally with smoke it isn't a case of dumb connecting, it's usually faulty components. Firstly, what make is your power supply? Second, where did the smoke come from? Third, what noises did you hear? Generally, in this instance, unless you know a damn lot about whats in that hardware and have your own test gear, I'd get a repair job. Ironic for a new PC, but I'm afraid it's necessary. Whatever's diagnosed to be faulty you can send back, and if one component has fried another, you should be able to claim something back of them too.
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Member
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27. January 2006 @ 10:42 |
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There was no sounds. The power supply fan didnt even move when turned on!?
I didnt see where the smoke came from, but i did have a smell around (not really good for you really is it) and still couldnt locate where it was coming from.
I'm using the Hiper Type R 480W.
Connections to:
HDD: Maxtor Diamond 160GB SATA
3 Case fans: Molex 4 pin.
Using Onboard ATI Radoen Xpress
A DVD -/+ RW Dual Layer.
I have most of my components out, and have not smelt metling / burning on them.
I had the CPU out and the Heatsink! - I'm glad that has no hint of smoke or smelling of anything!
There was no noise when i turned on the PSU.
I did recieve the PSU with NO power lead, so i used a power lead from my other PC, a 5 amp one.
Where do you suggest i take my PC then?
3.2Ghz P4 775, ATi X700 Pro 256mb, 1GB DDR2,Asrock 775Twins-HDTV S/L, Maxtor 10 160GB SATA, NEC 4571 DVD±RW DL/RAM, Pioneer 110 DL/RAM, Hiper Type R 480W.
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Satin Silver Ltd. Ed. PS2, 200GB Maxtor HDD, Swap Magic 3.3, Slide Card, HD Advance 3
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Senior Member
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27. January 2006 @ 11:07 |
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last time when that happens to me my mobo and cpu and rams were toasted.
since u said your cpu and heatsink are out maybe it's your mobo.
take it to a local computer shop to do a dianogstic test
it's around 30-50 dollar.
stop hoping, start loving.
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Member
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27. January 2006 @ 11:11 |
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I said i took my components out after the smoke, so it still could be my CPU Ram and mobo. I really hope it isnt.
I will take it to the local PC shop tomorro, see what they say.
3.2Ghz P4 775, ATi X700 Pro 256mb, 1GB DDR2,Asrock 775Twins-HDTV S/L, Maxtor 10 160GB SATA, NEC 4571 DVD±RW DL/RAM, Pioneer 110 DL/RAM, Hiper Type R 480W.
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Satin Silver Ltd. Ed. PS2, 200GB Maxtor HDD, Swap Magic 3.3, Slide Card, HD Advance 3
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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27. January 2006 @ 13:03 |
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Any local computer repair shop will do. You won't distinguish where the smell is coming from with all the stuff in situ. If you can get a clean flat surface to put them on then remove each component in turn and give it a good old sniff. If something made smoke, it will smell, significantly. The likely areas are the motherboard and the disk drives (hard and floppy but not usually optical). A surefire way of telling if the motherboard is a problem is if any capacitors have domed (the shiny metal bit on the top bulging out rather than sitting flat) They may be OK, but if they arent then thats quite possibly the problem.
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Member
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28. January 2006 @ 03:08 |
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Ok, i have had everything out of my PC. Put them all out onto a table, and checked each part.
I couldnt smell smoke / burning of most parts, but did on the motherboard!
Here is where:
And here:
Thats where the sockets are for the case's Power LED, Switches and reset buttons. The cables for them smell like matches...
The things on the motherboard was not domed, but they did smell like smoke, although the PSU is close to these.
The PSU did smell slightly of melted plastic. Only Slightly.
I will still have to have the PC checked out, because im not sure if anything still works.
3.2Ghz P4 775, ATi X700 Pro 256mb, 1GB DDR2,Asrock 775Twins-HDTV S/L, Maxtor 10 160GB SATA, NEC 4571 DVD±RW DL/RAM, Pioneer 110 DL/RAM, Hiper Type R 480W.
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Satin Silver Ltd. Ed. PS2, 200GB Maxtor HDD, Swap Magic 3.3, Slide Card, HD Advance 3
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 28. January 2006 @ 03:20
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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28. January 2006 @ 13:23 |
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If the PSU is new, it will smell slightly, a kind of plastic-y rubbery smell, that's fine. However, burning smell from the motherboard suggests problems. The components youve circled are, funnily enough all capacitors. The plug you showed me is a header, so there are no components inside it. However, if it smells then it suggests an overcurrent has passed through it, causing it to heat up and melt, hence the smell. This means that the circuit that runs your front panel is shorting, and all this points to a faulty motherboard. I suspect this will be the outcome, but get them to thoroughly check each component, in case that has damaged anything else. Something can still be broken and not smell. My 200GB hard disk that was destroyed by a Qtec PSU didn't smell much, but it is indeed very broken.
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