PC Tips for Beginners Thread

[Blodulv]

Originally Posted by Sykopaf

Fancy writing a little how to guide on it then?

The idea of this thread was to make guides for people who don't know their way around a PC. Never used newsgroups myself but I'm assuming it's all IRC and I don't fancy trying to explain that to someone who's unsure what to do with a computer in the first place!

here's a nice guide that should explain everything:
http://www.slyck.com/ng.php

[IV_Tear116]

Great job Syko, I just bookmarked this and will refer back to it often... It sounds like putting a computer together isn't all that hard, but shouldn't be started without knowledge of everything... This kinda gave me a little kick to want to get back into learning some of this stuff... Awesome man, thanks.

[Sykopaf]

Originally Posted by IV_Tear116

Great job Syko, I just bookmarked this and will refer back to it often... It sounds like putting a computer together isn't all that hard, but shouldn't be started without knowledge of everything... This kinda gave me a little kick to want to get back into learning some of this stuff... Awesome man, thanks.

Cool, it's good to be of use! If you do try it out yourself and get stuck I'll try and help you out if I can. Just drop me a PM. I've built fuck knows how many systems for myself and others over the years so chances are any problems you run into I'll have come across before.

[Aneko]

here is a bit of advice for people who are considering getting a "new" pc

never ever get an Thoshiba Equium 2000....
dont by it, scream and run the other way if someone wants to give ya one....

http://www.toshiba-europe.com/comput...ps/equium2000/

it is one of the most horrid pc'c ever made

[IV_Tear116]

Hey Syko, I have a question...

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...&Sku=A455-2112

Is that motherboard any good?? I know you said Asus are good, but is that one too cheap? I've seen ranges all the way up to like $800, and would that be like top top top of the line, or would that one above be a pretty good one?

Oh yeah, and I forgot, if I could every find my XP disk, could I install that on a new computer, or should I just... Obtain it by other means...

[Sykopaf]

Originally Posted by IV_Tear116

Hey Syko, I have a question...

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...&Sku=A455-2112

Is that motherboard any good?? I know you said Asus are good, but is that one too cheap? I've seen ranges all the way up to like $800, and would that be like top top top of the line, or would that one above be a pretty good one?

Oh yeah, and I forgot, if I could every find my XP disk, could I install that on a new computer, or should I just... Obtain it by other means...

That looks like an excellent board to me mate. Room for some heavy duty expansion on there with the RAID controller and Serial ATA in addition to the standard IDE channels. Lots of nice extra features.

You can't fall off with ASUS boards anyway, they are the Rolls Royce of motherboards.

As for your XP disc, it depends. Is it a standard Windows XP disc or did it come in with a PC? If it came with a PC, the chances are it will only install on that model of PC. On the other hand if it's a standard disc not afilliated with any PC brands it should be fine. The way to check if you're not sure is to stick it in your disc drive and reboot your PC. You should get a message saying Press any key to boot from CD... and then it'll take you into a blue and white text (DOS) screen - you can do this safely without worry of wiping your PC, just take the CD out and reboot before it asks to where to install windows or asks about disc partitioning. If it does something different to this you'll need to get your mits on another copy. And make sure you get the CD Key to go with it. It's happened to me before where you get half way through installing Windows and it asks you for a CD Key and you either don't have one or the one you have is wrong!

[IV_Tear116]

Originally Posted by Sykopaf

That looks like an excellent board to me mate. Room for some heavy duty expansion on there with the RAID controller and Serial ATA in addition to the standard IDE channels. Lots of nice extra features.

You can't fall off with ASUS boards anyway, they are the Rolls Royce of motherboards.

As for your XP disc, it depends. Is it a standard Windows XP disc or did it come in with a PC? If it came with a PC, the chances are it will only install on that model of PC. On the other hand if it's a standard disc not afilliated with any PC brands it should be fine. The way to check if you're not sure is to stick it in your disc drive and reboot your PC. You should get a message saying Press any key to boot from CD... and then it'll take you into a blue and white text (DOS) screen - you can do this safely without worry of wiping your PC, just take the CD out and reboot before it asks to where to install windows or asks about disc partitioning. If it does something different to this you'll need to get your mits on another copy. And make sure you get the CD Key to go with it. It's happened to me before where you get half way through installing Windows and it asks you for a CD Key and you either don't have one or the one you have is wrong!

Hah, thanks.. I am not really sure about the XP disk... I have no clue where it went, but it came with our dell (I know I know... But we needed one a few years ago...) So if I can find it, I'll check it out. Thanks for all the help though bro, I probably will have a few more questions, but none as of now. Thanks again Syko, this is a great thread.

[Sykopaf]

Originally Posted by IV_Tear116

Hah, thanks.. I am not really sure about the XP disk... I have no clue where it went, but it came with our dell (I know I know... But we needed one a few years ago...) So if I can find it, I'll check it out. Thanks for all the help though bro, I probably will have a few more questions, but none as of now. Thanks again Syko, this is a great thread.

No problem. I can pretty much garuntee if the XP disc came with a Dell though, that it'll only work on a Dell PC. All the ones I've come across at work have worked that way.

Anytime man. I don't prefess to know everything but a lot of people in IT treat their knowledge like a closely guarded secret, gives them a sense of security I suppose. I prefer to to help people do things for themselves, I respect people with the initiative to want to learn rather than have other people do stuff for them all the time.

[IV_Tear116]

Originally Posted by Sykopaf

No problem. I can pretty much garuntee if the XP disc came with a Dell though, that it'll only work on a Dell PC. All the ones I've come across at work have worked that way.

Anytime man. I don't prefess to know everything but a lot of people in IT treat their knowledge like a closely guarded secret, gives them a sense of security I suppose. I prefer to to help people do things for themselves, I respect people with the initiative to want to learn rather than have other people do stuff for them all the time.

You've gotten me interested in doing this, so I thank you for being willing to share your knowledge on computers. I am really set on doing this actually, I am looking at different brands and models for everything... Do you prefer ATI or Nvidia? I was looking at an ATI video card, and you have more knowledge on this subject than I do, so I was hoping to get your opinion... And also, for each part (RAM, Motherboard, graphics card, etc.) could you give an estimate for how much each would cost.. What I am getting at is (Hopefully you can do $, but if you do pounds, that is fine as well).

To kind of give an idea of what I mean:

Graphics cards:
Higher end: $___-$____
Middle: $___-$____

Something like that? Just so I have an idea of how much I'd have to spend if I do start getting money soon to invest on this. Thanks again bro, this is all helping out loads!

[Sykopaf]

Originally Posted by IV_Tear116

You've gotten me interested in doing this, so I thank you for being willing to share your knowledge on computers. I am really set on doing this actually, I am looking at different brands and models for everything... Do you prefer ATI or Nvidia? I was looking at an ATI video card, and you have more knowledge on this subject than I do, so I was hoping to get your opinion... And also, for each part (RAM, Motherboard, graphics card, etc.) could you give an estimate for how much each would cost.. What I am getting at is (Hopefully you can do $, but if you do pounds, that is fine as well).

To kind of give an idea of what I mean:

Graphics cards:
Higher end: $___-$____
Middle: $___-$____

Something like that? Just so I have an idea of how much I'd have to spend if I do start getting money soon to invest on this. Thanks again bro, this is all helping out loads!

First up I'd highly recommend if this is your first PC to find a little PC shop where the staff know what they're talking about (rather than just want to get a sale) and buy your parts from there as they'll know if there's any compatibility problems between the different parts your getting. It will cost you a little more than buying on line but it's a bit extra peace of mind, and a lot easier to take things back if you have a problem with anything.

I've only ever had one ATI card and that was a loooong time ago so I couldn't fairly compare the two. I usually stick to nVidia purely because most games you play recommend nVidia.

This is a shop near me where I buy most of my parts (I know the staff and they give me a discount because of the amount of business I send their way): http://www.ad-computers.co.uk

If you go into the design a system link it has three systems and lists the parts in each. Thats a good reference for what you want to aim for depending on what you want to use the end PC for. Obviously the High End PC is the best but the most expensive too.

I'm trying to find American sites that sell PC parts but they all list the products they sell and tell you to call for prices!! I've never seen anything like it, what's the point in having a catalogue on the web if they don't have prices?! Check www.ebuyer.com for prices, they're an english based company but have a store in the US too.

RAM - you want to buy DDR RAM. At least 512Mb but ideally 1Gb or more (I have 1Gb in mine and it runs even the most demanding games smoothly).

Motherboard - I'd stick with the ASUS board you have there. If you're going to start getting into building, you'll probably find that once you have your PC built you want to see what else it can do, and that motherboard has a load of extra features you can play with. You may find ASRock are cheaper though if it ends up getting too pricey for you.

Processor - basing it on the above motherboard you need an AMD Athalon processor. I have the Athalon 3200 64Bit and it's the bollocks.

Hard drive - You can spend as little or as much as you want on this depending on brand and size (for your main hard drive you want an internal IDE drive, but your board will also support SATA as additional drives). This is one I'd highly recommend:
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...uct_uid=220225

Video card - the above board supports PCI Express gfx cards, so you don't have a lot of choice but to buy a good one. If you wanted to save a bit of money and go for an AGP card (which will be out of date very soon remember) you'll need to buy a board that supports AGP. Here's and example of a good PCI Express gfx card:
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...uct_uid=155376

Sound card - you don't have to worry about, there's sound on the motherboard.

DVD/CD drives - they don't vary much in price. If you're going for a DVD writer I can recommend from experience Pioneer drivers and I have a Lite On drive in at the moment that's good too.

Monitor - probably the most expensive single part of your PC, you don't have to worry about compatibility so shop around on the net and find a good price for one. If you're not bothered about size and shape go for a CRT monitor (the big boxy type) as they'll be significantly cheaper and I think a better quality picture too. TFT are all the rage at the moment though simply because they're slim and look good on your desk.

The rest of the stuff like case, speakers, keyboard and mouse, it all depends what you want. You can pay pennies for them if you're not bothered how they look or daft amounts of money for all singing all dancing ones. Again just shop around to see what's available. I wouldn't pay a fortune for a keyboard and mouse that have a load of extra features though as you'll probably never use them!

Hope that helps.