Need help building PC

[Chillalex]

so my last pc today decided to die. Wont load anything, windows files are corrupted and the cd drive doesnt even work (cant load shit through it)

I've looked around and theres nowhere I want to buy a PC from really, thats under a grand for what Im going to need. Considered alienware, looks a bit gimmicky and cheesy despite I know theyre good. And I know dell can just suck on my cock.

I want to try building my own. I have some things I can reuse - a good monitor for one, some memory, and a decent graphics card, so I can cut back a bit on price here.

I want to make a cube pc. Before anything else, can someone tell me any downfalls with cube PCs? It strikes me that they should be more popular than they are, unless theyve got a power deficiency or something.

Anyway, reading sites they say theyre just as good as normal desktops. One recommends keeping processors below 2.8ghz which is fine, my last was 2ghz and served me fine until i shat on it.

So my first - of many - questions

if i get a cube case, are normal sized HDDs and optical drives, and, well, everything, going to fit in that cunt? Id assume so?

EDIT: DEFINITELY gonna need advice on processors. Last time I inadvertedly got a celeron. Fuck me I should kill myself. Recommend me some!

Oh and what I use PC's for is work. Not gaming; graphics stuff, alot of 3D stuff. I've got the graphics card sorted for that just need some processor advice to go with it.

Edited August 19, 2007 by Chillalex

[Legendeath]

Well. I believe that it's all the same just a lot less room if not i think Newegg tells you what the cases can hold and such. I think there are cheap Core 2 Duo's for like 200 they are amazing my friend has one, otherwise anything that isn't core 2 duo or quad is probably going to be phased out due to various things. Oh and if you haven't decided on a motherboard yet take a look at the EVGA LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard. If you tell us what specifically what cube your getting then that will help.

Edited August 19, 2007 by Legendeath

[Chillalex]

thinking of

http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/product/Chas...e/vf6000bns.asp

dno though. A common theme seems to be they need microATX motherboards - downsides to these?

edit: if anyone can find me an ipod white case id love them forever

Edited August 19, 2007 by Chillalex

[Legendeath]

White Ipod Cases

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16811133045

Go to the specifics. I still think Newegg is the best site.

[Chillalex]

ah thats cool

nah bro i meant shiny white cube cases lol its nothin though

if i absolutely want one like that ill spray one

[Joe =/]

Cube PC? Is that another word for shuttles ? I assume that's what you're talking about..

Try here; http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/Kustom...TX_Cases_4.html

Processor, i'd go for an intel core2duo.

P.S. don't use smacktalks for advice on building a new PC, ask the real geeks; http://forums.kustompcs.co.uk/

[Joe =/]

btw, i think they are just not as popular because stores don't really sell them do they, also I imagine the product range for micro atx motherboards is a bit more limited than that of regular ATX. You've also got to consider the fact that because all the components are going to be jammed inside this quite small 'cube' temperatures will be quite high so you'll have to keep the case as 'tidy' as possible (cables, etc), an efficient cooling setup (fans) will be important too i guess.

Here's a guide on building one btw; http://forums.kustompcs.co.uk/showthread.php?t=32253

[Chillalex]

cheers joe

yeah normally i wouldnt have asked on here but there are one or two people (yourself included) who id hoped would see it and help a bit.

Cheers for processor recommendation. I'd been looking at one today actually and think ill go with that.

I think ive got most of what I want in mind, (case,PSU , motherboard, processor) and im just looking around for HDDs and CD/DVD drives.

n00b question (as im scared of geek forums, despite the fact i could outrhyme them all) are DVD drives nowadays, also CD drives? stupid question but when I last bought a PC there was none of this DVD lark.

[scoot]

a standard DVD-ROM or DVD-RW will work fine with CD's

now what kind of RAM and what type slot is the graphics card? if there more than about 2 years your going to be looking at buying either an old board, a combo board, or new graphics card and RAM, as DDR2 is now used on almost all new boards rather than DDR and AGP has been replaced by PCI-E for quite a while now.

personally, if your not going to be gaming, id go AMD, they are cheaper and although they may perform a worse benchmark wise, they will still run vista like a dream

little advice on motherboards, dont get and ASUS, they did have a good reputation at one point, but for the past 3-6 months that has been tarnished by countless boards that have required numerous BIOS updates out of the box in order to simply work. i cant remember the board model, but it was the first ASUS board id seen with on board DVI output, anyway to even load windows it needed a BIOS flash, otherwise during an installation BSOD were flying left right and centre

[Chillalex]

thanks scut

helpful for once I will try and steer out from ASUS mobos

ignoring you about AMD. I'm not running vista - it sounds like a crock of shit tbh and I dont even like XP but ill stick with that. Probably get XP 64bit edition. I'm not gaming but I sort of am; I use the engines required so its pretty much the same, graphically. Joe has advised against AMD... and I'd be inclined to agree.

He also helped with RAM... yeah unfortunately its DDR ive got, and there doesnt seem to be a point buying a mobo that takes that nowadays. I'll have to buy some more, but thats not that much of an issue. Ill stick something low in for a bit until I can afford more.

edit; I also seem to have started a discussion on AMD vs Intel on that site joe linked to, lol.

Im still thinking intel C2D.

Edited August 20, 2007 by Chillalex

[scoot]

oh yea certainly intel are the way to go in terms of good quallity CPU's my only reason for running AMD is for a budget system that will still perform very well. in any case a C2D will carry more cache and better performance, using a far better FSB. when you do look into your CPU you might see a few with the same actual clock speed of say 2.3GHz, you wanna check the cache size, often for putting a little more out of your pocket and into the machine you can double your cache size