Self Build PC

Starting from next month July 15th I will be starting to build my own PC. At the moment it's in the planning stage but so far it's spec is

Intel Pentium4 540 LGA775 3.2GHz 800MHz (1MB Cache) Socket-775 Processor- Retail Boxed

Gigabyte GA-8IPE775G LGA775 Motherboard

Samsung 160GB 7200RPM Serial-ATA Hard Drive with 8MB Buffer

Sapphire Radeon 9600 Atlantis 256MB DDR AGP Graphics Card with TV-Out & DVI

Zorro Black ATX Midi Tower Case with 400W PSU

2 x Kingston 512MB DDR333MHz PC2700 184-pin DIMM

Samsung 73V 17" TFT Monitor (Silver)

This will be mainly for surfing the net and FS9 as there is no other games that I like.
I do have 1 question tho do I go for Intel P4 or the AMD Athlon64 processers?

I won't be going for the duel core processers just yet as there to expensive at the monent.

Any comments welcome

Either way you won't go far wrong but the AMD will give you an edge in FS9 and future games if you find any of interest. It will probably be a good move to go the 64 in prep for FS10 though.

Get 1 (1 gig) stick of memory so you can add more later and a bigger power supply. Don't forget a good (Zalman) CPU cooling fan, not the aluminum ones that come with the CPU chip.

AMD have always given you more bang per buck
I would do some research on a AMD64 chip

Thanks for the comments guys. I'm reworking all the prices out and seeing how far the £'s will go. At the moment AMD 64+ is looking good a 1Gig is also looking good as well.

I'll keep you posted

As you are going to build a "new" PC I would dump the AGP slot mobo for a newer PCIe mobo.That way you are future proofing your PC

Also some mobos have 2 PCIe GFX slots so that you can run 2 GFX cards
A word of warning though,if you go the 2 card route, the GFX cards must be identical ie the same same make and model number
So if you only buy one GFX card now,with the view of buying another 6 months down the line,ask yourself,will I still be able to buy the same card?
Hopefully yes,but you never know

TTT Good point I was considering the AGP mobo over the new PCI Express mobo but changed my mind after a few people point out that the PCI Express is the way to go.

I'm going to rethink the spec and go for the AMD choice as so many people have said it's better for gaming than the P4

Here is what I would do:

AMD 64 3200+ with Venice Core
ASUS A8N-E
Corsair 1gb (512x2)
XFX Geforce 6600GT

Also go to this site:

forum.pcmech.com

There are many, many smart people there who know a lot about building computers. Post what you are thinking of doing, and they will help you out.

Thanks for the link Guest

After choosing which to go AMD or P4 here it is so far

Gigabyte GA-K8VT890-9 Athlon64 Socket 939 Motherboard £64.57

AMD Athlon 64bit 3500 Socket-939 Processor £193.82

2x 1024MB DDR400MHz PC3200 184-pin DIMM £140.88

Q-Tec 550W Dual Fan ATX Power Supply £19.92

Ferrari Enzo ATX Midi Tower Case with 450W PSU- Red £41.07

Gigabyte GeForce PCX6600GT 128Mb PCI-Express x16 with £117.44
TV/DVI (SLI Compliant)

Akasa AK-827BL Copper Based CPU Cooler Blue LED Fan £11.75

Benq 52x32x52x IDE CD Rewriter £19.92

LiteOn Retail 16x DVD -/+ R/RW Dual Layer Rewriter £36.37

Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS 7.1 PCI Sound Card £51.64

Trust 4000P 5.1 Surround Sound Speaker System £35.19

Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition with Service £58.15
Pack 2- OE

McAfee VirusScan 2005 v9.0 £28.49

Saitek X52 USB Flight Control System £73.97

Mentor Wireless Optical Office Keyboard & Mouse- PS2 £21.09

Seagate 160GB 7200RPM Serial-ATA Hard Drive £65.33
with 8MB Buffer

Acer AL1711 17" LCD Monitor (White) £151.58

This is more than likely going to be my step after it's going to take a few months as the £'s are a bit tight but going to do it