Build From Scratch - Where To Start

jordan_ellipsis

New Member
Hey, im planning to build a PC from scratch and was wondering what the best way to go about it is? Should i start with a motherboard and go for there - or choose all the parts i want and then pick a motherboard to fit - then pick a case to fit all of that.

So far i know i want to use a Intel Core 2 Duo chipset, and have 2 WD SATA 150gb 10k rpm hard drives, possibly setup in RAID 0. And thats it so far.

Can anyone help, please?
 
well you always want to make sure evertying your getting is compatible with your mobo.... im sure everyone does it differently but i always pick the mobo i want and the procesor and work from there
if i were to get a mobo, i would make sure its got sata ports for the HDS, its got multi threading, is gonna support ddr2 ram preffereable at about 667mhz
just little things liek that
 
sorry but i had to type a pointless message jsut to see the previous message..... it makes no sense i cant see your messages on forums i posted on unless i post again



sorry
 
Last edited:
well.. looks like you picked a CPU. the HD's shouldnt be a problem, since about all motherboards wupport raid 0.

now look weither you want to get a crossfire/SLI motherboard, or that just 1 (pci-e) grafic's card is enough. if you have deciuded on that, chose a motherboard, and after that you chose the RAM that fit's it ( like dark said, that would be ddr2 ram)
then you look for a nice PSU ( mainly dependant on the grafic's card you get, but if you have a good branded 500W PSU, you'll be fine anyway :o )
and ofcourse a nice case where everything fit's in :)
 
Jordan_ellipsis,

The first place to start is with your budget. How much do you want/need/can spend? The next item is your intended use. What are your plans for this computer?

KW
 
Hi, sorry iv taken so long to reply.

The computer is intendted to be used for digital recording, Pro Tools etc. But also it'd be great to have a computer that could handle anything (well not like godzilla in a fight, but a lot of things) likes games, general intensive tasks like video editing or image editing (not sure how much power the later requires)

As for budget, maybe around the £2500 mark, so roughly $5000, but that is very rough. My Dad set me the task of upgrading the dell he is using, its a Dell dimension 4400 MT 1.7GHz P4. He used to work heavily with computers, in TANDEM systems, but now he runs a computer business and so isn't as hands-on anymore. We've been talking lots about music computers and whats needed to make a good one etc. and he said i could take his dell and upgrade it. I know that upgrading is no longer an option, as Dells are fidgety, so im starting from scratch. Because neither of us are particulalry in-tune with the computer world right now, and dont know how much money is expected for a quality system, budget is pretty flexible.

Archangel what is a crossfire/SLI motherboard? Graphics-wise, it'd be nice to have a semi-decent graphics/video card so that i could do video-editing or gaming, but that is something i know very little about.
 
Archangel what is a crossfire/SLI motherboard? Graphics-wise, it'd be nice to have a semi-decent graphics/video card so that i could do video-editing or gaming, but that is something i know very little about.

According to what you say there, an SLI/Crossfire motherboard would be a complete waste, just get a nice single graphics card, like the 7900GTX or a X1900XTX.

You serious about the $5000 budget?
 
$5000 budget will get you a computer that will handle basically whatever you want. I doubt you will even need to spend that much. 3-4k is what Id expect.
 
Well obviously cheapest is best, and as i said, we weren't really sure about prices. I guess top-of-the-line machines (from like Dell etc) are sold for between £1000-£2000 - but i know id probably want mine to be a little better than theres :cool:

I take it most motherboards will have room for a graphics card. Does it go into a PCI slot?

Also, i was speaking to someone about PCI-X - understood that it is basically better than PCI. What exactly are PCI slots used for?
 
Back
Top