The ULTIMATE guide to building a computer (Selecting components + building)

I have noticed an awful lot of threads asking for advice on what to buy. So welcome to my ultimate cataloging of components. Basically, I am going to try and maintain this thread, keeping it up to date as new products are released or price drops are introduced. So I am going to have the best choices for those on a budget, a gamers budget, a hardcore gamers budget and the extreme end systems.

As far as possible, I will try and keep this consistent. When I say this, I mean that if you were to go out and buy EVERY budget product that I list, they *should* work together.

Through my cataloging of the best components I will be suggesting components in 3 categories of every kind.

INTEL/NVIDIA

• Budget option (~£470 / ~$760*)
• Gamer option (~£790 / ~$1305*)
• Hardcore Gamer option (~£1220 / ~$1995*)
• RB option (AKA Rich Bastard) (~£5770 / ~$10,150*)

AMD/ATi

• Budget option (~£520 / ~$840*) - This accounted for Crossfire HD 3850s
• Gamer option (~£695 / ~$1015*)
• Hardcore Gamer option (~£1025 / ~$1510*)
• RB option (AKA Rich Bastard) (~£3555 / ~$6500*)

*Not including cases, OS, keyboard, monitor or mouse.
Add an extra £70 or $200 for Vista Home Premium 64Bit.
Allow an extra £50 / $100 minimum for a case.

In places where I couldn't find an American counterpart retailing the same product, I have simply converted £ to $ and added it on.


Where to buy
Personally, I prefer www.overclockers.co.uk for their speedy deliveries, however many people complain that they are a little pricey. Other UK e-tailers include:

• www.dabs.com
• www.scan.co.uk
• www.ebuyer.com
• www.misco.co.uk
• www.microdirect.co.uk
• www.aria.co.uk
• www.komplett.co.uk

American? Use newegg (As a general rule (From my understanding) it's the cheapest). Also note that you may be able to buy better stuff than my guide for the same money. I will not include rebates in my prices.

So here we go.

*Note indented products are from the AMD / ATi choice range, and if you choose one, you must choose the rest of the corresponding choices. For example, you can't go with an AM2 socket motherboard (Budget AMD system) and choose a Core 2 Duo (Budget Intel System). There's probably a way of re-organizing this, but it's the best I can do for the moment.


CPU
This will easily be the most important decision of your build – as everything else will mould around it.

Intel / nVidia

• Budget- Intel Core 2 E4600 (2 cores @ 2.4GHz, 2MB cache ~£80 / ~$120)
• Gamer- Intel Core 2 E8400 (2 cores @ 3.0GHz, 6MB cache ~£130 / ~$190)
• Hardcore Gamer- Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 (4 core @ 2.66GHz, 12MB cache (~£230 / ~$340)
• Rich Bastard- Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9775 (4 cores @ 3.2GHz, 12MB cache ~£990 / ~$1550 (You’ll need two of these bad boys))

AMD / ATi

• Budget- AMD Athlon X2 5600+ (2 cores @ 2.8GHz, 2MB cache ~£80 / ~$110)
• Gamer- AMD Athlon X2 6400+ Black Edition (2 cores @ 3.2GHz, 2MB cache ~£100 / ~$145)
• Hardcore Gamer- AMD Phenom 9850 (4 cores @ 2.5GHz, 4MB cache Unlocked Multiplier! (~£160 / ~$235)
• Rich Bastard- AMD Phenom 9850 (4 cores @ 2.5GHz, 4MB cache Unlocked Multiplier! (~£160 / ~$235)

Motherboard
This is also a vital part of your decision. But you will also be restricted in your choice depending on what CPU you have decided on. Again, as Intel are dominating at the minute, I will stick with Intel sockets (don’t have much choice considering my line up of CPUs, but anyway)

Intel / nVidia

• Budget- Asus P5N-D 750i (Sockett 775, ATX, SLI, DDR2 800MHz max, ~£90 / ~$140)
• Gamer- XFX 780i(Socket 775, ATX, TRI-SLI, DDR2 800MHz max, ~£170 / ~$250)
• Hardcore Gamer- XFX 790i(Socket 775, ATX, TRI-SLI, DDR3 2000MHz max, ~£235 / ~$330)
• Rich Bastard- Intel D5400XS "Skulltrail" (2x Socket 771, E-ATX, SLI and CrossfireX, DDR2 800MHz max, ~£390 / ~$660)

AMD / ATi

• Budget- Gigabyte GA-MA790X-DS4 (Socket AM2, ATX, CrossfireX, DDR2 1066MHz Max, ~£80 / ~$135)
• Gamer + Hardcore Gamer + Rich Bastard- Gigabyte GA-MA790FX-DQ6 (Socket AM2, ATX, CrossfireX, DDR2 1066MHz Max ~£135 / ~$190)

RAM
The RAM choice isn’t vital to the build, but there are a few things to look for. For example, if you plan to overclock, then 2 DIMMs (sticks) are preferred over 4 (as it puts more stress on the Memory Controller). As a general rule, you want to be looking for at least 2GB nowadays. All this RAM is interchangeable between tiers + brands. However note that the Hardcore Gamer option is DDR3 RAM and will only work with the Hardcore Gamers DDR3 motherboard.

Intel / nVidia

• Budget- No real preference of brand, DDR2 memory is dirt cheap. Just make sure that it is at least 2GB (2 x 1GB DIMMs), and preferably 800MHz. (~£30 / ~$40)
• Gamer- Same as above, nothing really distinguishes ‘A’ class RAM. May want to consider a 4GB kit. (~£30 / ~$40)
• Hardcore Gamer- Probably a Corsair 1333DHX 2GB kit (1333MHz, ~£82 / ~$150)
• Rich Bastard- Same as gamer / bugdget. But you may want to go for a 4/8GB kit since You’re a Rich Bastard (up to £100 / up to ~$200)

AMD / ATi

• Budget + Gamer + Hardcore Gamer- Same as above, nothing really distinguishes ‘A’ class RAM. May want to consider a 4GB kit. Also look out for a 1066MHz kit. (~£30 / ~$40)
• Rich Bastard- Same as above. But you may want to go for a 4/8GB kit since You’re a Rich Bastard. Look out for a 1066MHz kit. (up to £100 / up to ~$200)

Graphics cards
This is what will make or break your gaming rig. Can’t tell the difference between your GeForce 9800 and your Radeon 9800? Then take a little stroll down graphics lane. All my motherboards currently support SLI, and that was my intention, as nVidia (as with Intel) are market leaders at the minute. I recommend getting EVGA/BFG cards if your budget allows, as their ‘Step-Up’ programs are excellent.

Note: 1 nVidia Stream Processor =/= 1 ATi Stream processor in terms of power

Intel / nVidia

• Budget- 9600GT (64 stream processors, 512MB, 1800MHz memory clock, ~£90 / ~$140)
• Gamer- 9800GTX *consider SLI / TRI-SLI (112 stream processors, 512MB, 2200MHz memory clock, ~£190 / ~$260)
• Hardcore Gamer- 9800GX2(256 stream processors, DUAL 512MB, 2000MHz memory clock, ~£290 / ~$470)
• Rich Bastard- 2x 9800GX2(256 stream processors, DUAL 512MB, 2000MHz memory clock, from £290 for one / ~$470)

AMD / ATi

• Budget- HD 3850 OR CROSSFIRE (320 stream processors, 256MB, 1655MHz memory clock, ~£75 / ~$120)
• Gamer- HD 3870 (320 stream processors, 512MB, 2250MHz memory clock, ~£100 / ~$150)
• Hardcore Gamer- HD 3870X2 (640 stream processors, DUAL 512MB, 1800MHz memory clock, ~£250 / ~$314)
• Rich Bastard- 2x HD 3870X2 (640 stream processors, DUAL 512MB, 1800MHz memory clock, from £220 for one / ~$314)

I’ll explain nVidia choices.

Budget - The 9600GT is a decent card, but there are better for a little more cash, so why didn’t you choose them? Basically, nVidia (by some miracle) have greatly improved their SLI technologies with the 9 series cards. For comparison sake, let’s take the example of the 8800GT. The 9600GT is basically a 8800GT, but with less stream processors. However, the two cards are pretty equally matched. Until you stick a second card in. SLI 9600GTs provide a MASSIVE advantage over a single card (up to 100%) whereas SLI 8800GTs only yield a 30-40% increase at best. So this is why I went with the 9600GT.
Gamer – The 9800GTX may not be as good as everyone expects, but for someone just entering the market, it is a brilliant card. It is currently cheaper than 8800GTXs and provides a slightly better performance. Where this card comes into its own is TRI-SLI. Yep – 3 graphics cards in one computer. And the same with the 9600GT SLI, this provides a HUGE increase in performance over a single card.
Rich Bastard – It may not live up to your expectations, but this is undoubtedly the only card for enthusiasts. And for enthusiasts with ++ cash, SLIing them is an obvious choice.


PSUs
Fairly important part of the build. How much power do you need?

• Budget- Corsair HX (620W, ~£90 / ~$170)
• Gamer- Enermax Galaxy (850W, ~£140 / ~$310)
• Hardcore Gamer- Antec Quattro (850W, ~£120 / ~$250)
• Rich Bastard- Way overkill, for an overkill kind of guy - Thermaltake ToughPower (1500W, a lot of connectors (4 of the latest 8pin plugs (2 required for the dual 9800GX2s) ~£200 / ~$UNABLE TO FIND)

Optical Drives
Everyone should be aiming for SATA DVD-RWs now (~£20 / ~$24). Except you Rich Bastards, you want the latest and greatest, so I present to you; Blu Ray. Starting at £90 / $130 for a drive, and trailing into £180 / $360 for a combo Blu Ray / HD DVD (in case you adopted early, like me).


Hard Drives
This is really down to choice again. How much memory do you need? I’ll try and base it off the standard .

• Budget- Hitachi Deskstar T7K500 (320GB, 16MB cache, 7200RPM, 8.6ms average seek time, ~£50 / ~$90)
• Gamer- 2x Samsung SpinPoint (500GB, 16MB cache, 7200RPM, 8.9ms average seek time, ~£60 each / ~$100 each)
• Hardcore Gamer- Samsung SpinPoint AND 1x WD VelociRaptor 300GB (Spinpoint - 500GB, 16MB cache, 7200RPM, 8.9ms average seek time, ~£60 / ~$100) (VelociRaptor - 300GB, 16MB cache, 10,000RPM, 4.5ms average seek time, ~£200 / ~$300)
• Rich Bastard- 4x Samsung SSD (No spin or seek time, ~£540 EACH / ~$UNABLE TO FIND)

CPU coolers
Not really necessary for anyone, but I recommend if you ever intend to overclock.

• Budget- Arctic Cooler Freeze Pro 7 (/64 for the AMD option)(~£20 / ~$35)
• Gamer- Zalman CNPS9700 (~£50 / ~$55)
• Hardcore Gamer- Zalman CNPS9700 (~£50 / ~$55)
• Rich Bastard- Probably something like the Zalman Reserator XT water cooler (~£270 / ~$400)

OS
I recommended everyone to get Vista at this point, and probably 64bit.

That’s pretty much all the necessary components apart from one (often big) one. The case. But really, I am not going to force anything down your throats, as there is a case to suit everyone’s taste. Just make sure you are picking the right size of case, and make sure there is plenty of room for working with. Also check all dimensions to make sure any massive heatsinks / graphics cards will fit in. However, the Antec Peformance 1 series is awesome, and come with my recommendation.


Don’t forget to pick up a soundcard, speakers, keyboard, mouse and monitor though!

Also, see first reply for Zorlok's "How to build your computer". (he has posted it)

Note: all UK prices taken from www.overclockers.co.uk, and US prices from www.newegg.com for consistency

Updates:
-Added Hardcore Gamer Option
-Changed RB option's HDDs to 4 x 64GB SSDs
-Fixed some crap formatting
-Added American pricing
-Added AMD / ATi rigs

 

Quite a detailed guide, good use of picture's and words, well detailed..

EDIT: I will be thoroughly checking this guide, too see that it has not been ripped.

 

Eh there are no specifics here... It's just what name brands are. But the thing is, people should be able to find their OWN computer parts. Some of these things arent even going to be compatable. I guess it's good for people who don't care/already know about that, but then again people that know that much about computers can pick out their own parts. Plus I dont see anything about building here...

 

this is a guide on how to pick out parts... which was very well done...
but its not a guide on how to BUILD a computer.