I [posted something similar a while ago, but now ive decided to go ahead and build a descent machine. The advice I would like is for building a pc with a pioneer dvd writer, 1gb ddr ram, nice graphics card, 2 big hard drives. The purpose of the machine is for ripping dvd's and I want to know these things please:
Whats the best mainboard at the mo reasonable price?

What type of ddr ram to buy n where?

Where to by a descent case, fancy one with the temp displayed?

What fans will I need n where to buy?

Advice on graphics card dont want to spend too much on it though?

What type of h/d to buy and where?

Where to buy the pioneer dvd writer?

What dvd rom drive to buy, want to be able to read all forms of protection with it if poss ie safedisk etc?

What processor to get, and where, need a fast reliable 1?

How many fans will I need in the case as I will be knocking out alot of dvd's?

would u reccomend one where u can vary the speed of the fan?

Nice flat screen monitor cheap as possible?

Im based in the uk and want to get all the parts from here please

Sorry about all the questions and Lazza and anyone else that would be so kind as to contribute I would value your opinion if u read in

:tup:
Thanks all

ebuyer have some good offers on their cases at the moment.

For specialist (fan riddled) cases check out overclockers.co.uk

H/D's, I can only comment that the Hitachi (IBM) Deskstar 120 gig disks in my server run 24/7 and have done for over 12 months...very quiet too.

Seems SVP are the cheapest for the Pioneer.

As to CPU/Board/Ram I will leave that to the experts in this forum

I can't offer any help on the "where" as I'm located in the US.

What type of ddr ram to buy n where?

A: Kingston Hyper-X, Corsair XMS or something else similar, reliable with a CAS=2. dual-channel recommended ... 512MB x 2 rather than 1GB x 1

Where to by a descent case, fancy one with the temp displayed?

A: The Aspire X-Dreamer is a nice case with temp display. They run about $50 USD

What fans will I need n where to buy?

A: Fan airflow is more important than sheer number of fans - quality over quantity. Panaflo makes nice fans. Antec makes quality fans as well.

Advice on graphics card dont want to spend too much on it though?

A: #1 choice would be an Asus 9800XT but they go for a bit over $400 USD. An Asus 9600XT goes for about $185 USD. I like those b/c they offer temp monitoring and are great overclockers. Any 9800 Pro card would be ok also but try to stick with a known brand. Sapphires are cheap and known to be amongst the best of the "budget brands."

What type of h/d to buy and where?

A: I have always preferred Maxtor for my experience with them - very reliable. Some people prefer WD, Seagate, etc. Up to you. 7200 RPM w/ 8MB cache is the standard now. 120GB at least I'd say. Personally, I'd like to have at least 500GB. ;)

What dvd rom drive to buy, want to be able to read all forms of protection with it if poss ie safedisk etc?

A: DVD-ROMs are not known for being good with SafeDisc, etc. Last I checked, only the new Plexy CD-R could properly do SD but perhaps by now other CD drives can as well. Really not necessary though anyway as no-cd, erm, "assistance" is readily available on the net. If you simply want a good DVD-ROm for reading your DVDs, LG makes great ones. A lot of people like Lite-On but they're too damn loud for my tastes. They do tend to read it all though.

What processor to get, and where, need a fast reliable 1?

A: You will never get a good answer on this one. lol I prefer Pentium, Celeron, AMD, in that order. I'm running a P4 2.8GHz atm and couldn't be happier but some prefer AMD chips. Honestly, both are reliable. Look for price/performance ratio.

How many fans will I need in the case as I will be knocking out alot of dvd's?

A: Again, fan airflow is more important than sheer number of fans - quality over quantity. That said though, I have every fan slot in my PC loaded. lol 7 case fans, 1 HDD fan and 2 fans built into the PSU.

would u reccomend one where u can vary the speed of the fan?

A: Up to you. This feature is really just so that you can get some peace and quiet from the roar of your new beast. W/o it, they will simply always operate at full speed.

Get your memory from http://www.crucial.com/uk/index.asp and use BBUKWEBPROMO for 5% discount

You can just get your crucial RAM from your supplier e.g. ebuyer - obviously its less hassle / less shipping cost to order everything from one place. In fact, as Dave the-freebie-hunter tells us (http://www.cdrom-guide.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=270228), ebuyer are doing free delivery at the mo.

Firemaster I would suggest you be very careful about choosing a "cheap" LCD screen - most of them are cheap because they are crap to look at.

420 thanks for taking the time to go into so much detail, thats helped alot
:tup: from me m8.
Thankyou to the rest of u for your valuable comments, anyone else want to add anything here, feel free!

For motherboards, Asus and Abit are my two recommendations (not sure if Abit is in the UK). Like 420 I prefer a Pentium processor but I would DEFINITELY take an AMD setup over a Celeron. The P4 and the latest AMD setups are much better at multitasking. With a Celeron Processor, even the tiniest function that you are running at the same time makes an impact on what you are doing. I am a little confused on something though, you mention the purpose of this machine is for ripping DVDs, and if that is the case then there is no need to get a fancy graphics card as a Mother Board with onboard video will work just fine for your purposes. Are you also planning on using this as a gaming machine? The only reason why I ask is that if you aren't planning on using this PC for some serious gaming, then you could save yourself 100 pounds or so by just going with a Motherboard with decent onboard graphics.

thnx for that though but the reason I dont want a onboard card is that I dont want it sharing the ram really. I dont suppose though at these specs it will make much difference really. Any suggestions on the mobo, That would be the main function of it but I suppose I will probabally like to get back into gaming as well, just dont want to pay a kings ransome ffor the graphics card if not necessary m8

Originally posted by The Firemaster
Any suggestions on the mobo, That would be the main function of it but I suppose I will probabally like to get back into gaming as well, just dont want to pay a kings ransome ffor the graphics card if not necessary m8


what CPU and RAM have you chosen m8? I always choose the CPU, RAM, etc. first, then find a mobo that can support what I want. also, is this your first time building a system or do you have experience with it?

As for your vid card ... what's your desired price range?

i am building a computer too, and here are the stuff that i am choosing hope this can give u an idea.

case: http://www.compgeeks.com/details.asp?invtid=215-4HL-S
i DO NOT recommand this case, i should have went with a better one, but oh well.

motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-127-156&depa=1&section=2

CPU: i am going to get the new prescott intel pentium 4 2.8GHz with 800 fsb.

ram: http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-144-305&depa=0&section=3

video card: http://www.gameve.com/gve/Store/ProductDetails.aspx?sku=VC-CHAIN-015

hard drive: western digital 160 GB with 8MB cache.

sound/LAN: onboard.

decided on a p4 2.8 ghz probabally, 1gb ddr ram
hth

Originally posted by The Firemaster
decided on a p4 2.8 ghz probabally, 1gb ddr ram
hth


AOpen AX45-4D Max mobo

supports ...

- 3.0GHz+ w/ Hyper Threading
- DDR400 (up to 4gb I think?)
- Dr. LED/Voice ... mobo verbally tells you where the hardware problem is if there is one
- Onboard sound
- ATA133
- 8x AGP

... and so on and so forth. Great mobo anyway imho ... been using it for about a year. :D

Thanks for that sorry about the long wait for reply, due to virus and bill gates incredible software, how could he let this happen! lol
thnx again your a star:tup:

Originally posted by 420
AOpen AX45-4D Max mobo

supports ...

- 3.0GHz+ w/ Hyper Threading
- DDR400 (up to 4gb I think?)
- Dr. LED/Voice ... mobo verbally tells you where the hardware problem is if there is one
- Onboard sound
- ATA133
- 8x AGP

... and so on and so forth. Great mobo anyway imho ... been using it for about a year. :D

Any ideas as to where I can get this from please m8, what make is it?
tried to find it here, can u help please m8:confused:
http://www.microdirect.co.uk/ProductLister.aspx?GroupID=4

The make is A Open and most suppliers should be able to get it in for you.

Also, most other decent brands have those specifications. They are just about standard on most boards.

Check out THIS (http://tw.giga-byte.com/MotherBoard/Products/Products_GA-8IPE1000%20Pro2.htm) board from Gigabyte.

It has heaps of features and a great price.