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Building a home PC on the cheap

ibz100

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Posted November 30, 2012 at 10:57PM

Hi there, I'll thank everyone beforehand. I'm looking to build a new PC for home use vary cheaply i.e. (£250 -£350) The very cheap bit means that I want it to be gradually upgradeable so that means no graphics card at the beginning but more than enough power supply to fit anything i put in etc.

This post will be filled with many a n00by question.

For starters, what is the heatsink on a processor and is it seperate from the fan?

How many fans does your average home PC and average mid-level gaming PC have?

Are all fans in constant use i.e. distribution of work or does one fan do the job and then call upon the other fan when the load is high?

If you buy a high wattage powere supply, does it constantly use that much power or is it just a measure of capacity?

What is the main performance boost between dual core and quad core. (I understand that multi-threaded applications will take advantage of the extra cores but...) is quad core really necessary?

Can you take a loud processor and fit on an aftermarket fan to replace the original for quieter performance?

What temperature should you aim to keep a PC at

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mole1944

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Posted December 1, 2012 at 6:48AM

Sounds like your knowledge of pc's is minimal.i suggest yo go to pc world/crrys e.t.c. to purchase a machine as if you mess up a component and damage it costs will soon mount up.You also get a guarantee from a shop, i just biught an Advent (No sniggering in the back he he)and was only £319,it works like a dream (Stop sniggering at the back)noo problems at all and it rund my Microsoft FSX flight simulator on full graphics without a hitch,hope that helps

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morddwyd

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Posted December 1, 2012 at 9:12AM

Building your own on the cheap is a contradiction in terms.

Unless you are a games freak wanting to pick every component, and set every parameter yourself it is far cheaper to buy.

I built my own last time, purely for the satisfaction, but I am under no illusions that I could have got more bang for my buck if I'd bought.

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nickf

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Posted December 1, 2012 at 9:28AM

Good advice from the two previous posters . There are lots of custom pc builders out there who sell reasonably priced Pc`s off the shelf e.g. PC Specialist , Chillblast . I can only give an opiniom on 1 , Scan , as they built my system . This is an example of what you can get for your money . http://3xs.scan.co.uk/ConfigureSystem.asp?SystemID=1495

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mole1944

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Posted December 2, 2012 at 5:29AM

my spelling was very bad sorry to all.

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rdave13

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Posted December 2, 2012 at 7:38PM

A barebones system here. Variations on the same mobo when you scroll down. No OS, hdd, gpu etc., but you must have most of the hardware you can fit. Just something to think about. They also have the top end i7 CPU. Prices are eye watering.

Novatech supply similar. Just trying to give you some ideas on cost cutting rather than buying separate mobo and CPU. Good luck.

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