Share Your Knowledge

[Captain Funtime]

now im not being lazy, i have searched teh web tyring to find a nice and easy way of finding compatible components for a new PC that i want to start building in the new year (its my first one).

obviously want to do it properly as the pc i wanted cost £1k on custompc.com and when i go to buy everything individually it comes up at roughly the same price.

basically what im asking is for:

1) your preferred url for buying
2) your spec
3) a site that chows you what is compatible with what.
4) and help when it comes to that fateful day

i know very little about motherboards as well, i dont even know what to look for to get a good one.

cheers

[[SCUM]-Tommee Gunn]

wait for McPhil's answer
he is all knowing

[dadof3]

I would wait for McPhil to help you out. Compatability can sometimes bite you in the butt and only through trial and error on other peoples part can you learn without it getting expensive. I build all my own and have had pretty good luck so far.
My current setup is a mini pc with a quad core intel processor, 9800GT vid card and 1gig of mem. The whole setup with 22in widescreen monitor cost me just under $900. I got COD4 and a $30 mail in rebate with the video card. It runs great and can kick crysis in the butt as long as I run it on windows xp, vista it lags no matter what the graphics settings are.
I can't keep a desktop for long because all my builds are always for sale but I hope this one stays with me awhile.
Avoid the hassle have McPhil send you the kit and you can put it together yourself. You can avoid alot of problems that way.

[Captain Funtime]

this is what i was going to have a look into, its straight off a 'custom pc' site but exspensive as hell. if someone could tell me if any of this is not compatible i would appreciate it greatly. also, this legendary McPhil, if he has some kind of explanation for a good motherboard, i dont even know what any numbers mean or anything, anyway:

PC Specification

AMD Phenom X4

CPU AMD Phenom Quad Core 9850 (4 x 2.5GHz) 2MB Black Edition
Motherboard ASUS M3A32-MVP DELUXE 5200MT/s (AMD 790FX)
Memory 4GB PC-6400 800 MHZ (2 x 2 GB) (DDR2)
Graphics Card NVIDIA GeForce 9600GT - 1 GB - 2xDVI/VGA/HDMI (Palit) - OverClocked
Power Supply 600W PSU
HD 1TB
2nd HD 250gb
Drive LG Blu Ray HD – DVD blah blah blah
CPU Heatsink cooler master v8
Screen 2x 19”
Keyboard Microsoft Media Center Keyboard & Remote Control (USB)
Mouse Microsoft SideWinder 5 Button Laser Gaming Mouse (USB)
Speakers Logitech 5.1 X-530 Black Speaker System

[[SCUM]-Herbs]

he is very busy atm mate but hold tight and McPhil will help you out with what you need at a great price!

[[SCUM] McPhil]

OK, here the long winded answer. Get a cuppa and have a seat.

If you want a PC the runs out of the box. You'll purchase your computer from an OEM Builder. There are so many OEM Builders to choose from the task can be overwhelming. Here's a great way to narrow down your selection:

1). Make sure you trust your OEM Builder.
- Go online read reviews on the builder keeping in mind that only angry people leave feedback. If an online OEM Builder has been in business for 5 years but in the forum circuit and the third party review site circuit has a lot of bad feed back then you need to tread carefully.

2). Make sure you know someone who has done business with your OEM Builder.
- Reading online reviews is only as good as the next joe who is writing them. You don't know if they are an unscrupulous industry competitor or a review writer that has been paid to add great reviews. If you know a person directly who has done business with a company then talk to them. Find out why they would buy from them again or why not.

3). Don't make the reason "cheap" your drive for shopping around.
- Cheap is never the best key to buying a computer. Would you shop around for the cheapest heart surgeon for your open heart surgery? No, you want the best damn heart surgeon money can get you. When you buy a cheap computer, you are buying a computer with refurbished parts, used parts, and it's probably untested with no or an extremely limited warranty. Shop for "Value". Shop for warranty and how easy is it to reach technical support that speaks your language and isn't "Hellu my nime is Bob". Pick up your phone and call a company's tech support line before you buy. See how long you're on hold or if they answer at all. Post a fake support ticket on their open support forum and see how long it takes to get a reply. You're going to pay more for Value but the extra costs goes into infrastructure to help take care of you and keep you happy with your purchase.

The short list of reasons above are only for buying an out-of-the-box PC ready to go. The benefit is the PC is pre-tested and running before you get it and you do not have to worry about compatibility as someone, hopefully skilled someone, has already set up the compatibility parameters as they hopefully are pumping out several hundred PCs of the same type each month.

Now, that being said, if you are hell bent on building a PC yourself, these are a few things to keep in mind:

1). Purchase ONLY components that are easy to set up a return for replacement from the manufacturer directly.
- Many people make the mistake of buying PC parts online and if a part fails or if it's DOA or if you hit any part with static during your construction (knowing or unknowingly) then you try to phone the reseller, you are going to be in for a long wait. Always go directly to the manufacturer in your country or if they have a good international return policy. Take a little time and research the online parts manufacturer's websites and go to the contact us page. See if they provide a phone number or a parts RMA or return center in your country. If you are in the UK and the manufacturer only lists a return center in the USA or Germany, keep in mind you will have to bare the expense of mailing it to the manufacturer. Most manufacturers will bare the expense of mailing it back to you however read the policies as you may be required to pay for traffic both ways. PM me for good part manufacturers in the UK. I will not openly list any as advertising here isn't free. :-)

2). You have to research compatibility.
- Just because you attempt to purchase parts from an online VAR to match a parts list from an online OEM Builder's website doesn't mean you are going to be able to build an issue free PC. Most OEM Builders list parts on their site that goes into a PC; however they don't mention the BIOS hacks and the software driver settings they have written in house to get these PC builds to run trouble free. Now you have a bunch of parts that match this online builder's part list but nothing works. Now you've waisted time, money, and you've got a stack of parts that do not work in your hands.

There are more concerns to list however these are the most important to consider when purchasing any technology component or PC.

Final thoughts, being in the technology industry for a while now has taught me a few thing. Make sure you trust your parts or your PC supplier. Make sure you can reach them easily and make sure you know other people who have purchased goods and services from them.

With all this information, you should be able decide if you're going purchase a ready to go out-of-the-box PC or if you're going to build it yourself.

Cheers and good luck -McPhil

[[SCUM]-Tommee Gunn]

TOLD YA!

[Captain Funtime]

damn that was epic, managed tohave a whole smoke before finishing.

i think i mihgt just buy out of the box. but pay up the arse, it seems it'll only save me time and heartbreak. im still going for that spec though i think it might be my birthday before i get it