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radiogandy
regular
Reg'd: Tue
Posts: 1020
Loc: East Midlands
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Although still a dedicated laptop user I am, at last, thinking of acquiring a PC. My requirements are quite specific :- - I don't download or listen to music.
- My internet speed should be fast.
- I mess about with my photos a lot and would like accurate colour-rendition and high storage capacity.
- My 'blog' is a daily commitment.
- I am a member of, and post regularly to, three forums only.
An article about assembling one's own PC would be most useful. If it has recently been covered I must have missed it.
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 ........"I'm keeping an eye on you all".......Ha Ha!....Radiogandy -
Radiogandy's Blog
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ronjon
regular
Reg'd: Mon
Posts: 423
Loc: Manchester
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I agree,it must be satisfying to use something you have built.
BTW some great pics in your blog.
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radiogandy
regular
Reg'd: Tue
Posts: 1020
Loc: East Midlands
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Thanks for your 'post' and perhaps they may run a piece in the mag.
Glad you enjoy the 'blog' and please feel free to pop in a 'comment' sometime. I have regulars but a fresh voice is always welcome.
.
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........"I'm keeping an eye on you all".......Ha Ha!....Radiogandy -
Radiogandy's Blog
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BedstorfromAP
Necromancer
Reg'd: Thu
Posts: 4224
Loc: 32 Bus Stops West of Wigan UK
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I am doing such a Project at the Moment(My first attempt) and Yes an article on doing to will Help or a dedicated forum attached to the Computer Hardware section...So long as It does not become too Technical(Plain English)
From what I found out that Biggest issue has been the logistics of assembly (and buying some small Items such as case screws) and I have stayed within budget and got higher quality/performance Items at Discounted prices
Will share my contact details if you like?
Biggest Price (and I think I can get it down?) Has been for an Operating System Disk ...I want Windows XP Pro (OEM) yet its anything from 75 pounds to 150 pounds
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radiogandy
regular
Reg'd: Tue
Posts: 1020
Loc: East Midlands
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Thanks for your support Bedst..... and, when I start, I would welcome your links et al. Perhaps WU will decide to publish a piece in the hard-copy magazine and I agree with you "Not too techie please!"
Dish-of-the-day' computers must necessarily take a common denominator approach, whereas most of us have specific and different requirements from our PCs. Plus, as RonJon says earlier in the thread, it would be very satisfying to use something which one had designed and built.
I feel sure that Claire will be reading !
.
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........"I'm keeping an eye on you all".......Ha Ha!....Radiogandy -
Radiogandy's Blog
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evilmonkeyzz
regular
Reg'd: Sun
Posts: 2164
Loc: Yorkshire
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I have built my last 2 computers myself, and it's not only satisfying, can work out much much cheaper, you also get exactly what you want. The most important thing is to check, double check and triple check compatibility between all your different components.
For me, 90% of the process of building a computer for the first time, was researching and choosing, 10% actually making, or in time at least. 
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Ambition makes you look pretty ugly
Kicking squealing Gucci little piggy
http://www.last.fm/user/evilmonkeyzzz/
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radiogandy
regular
Reg'd: Tue
Posts: 1020
Loc: East Midlands
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Quote:
you also get exactly what you want.
Thanks for your post in its entirety but the bit I have put in quote really appeals. There's lots of things other people want, downloading music, mixed media, etc., that I don't use at all. I just want all my operating strength in PhotoShop, doing my Blog, and surfing - quickly.
Maybe you should write the article. I'm sure Claire would be delighted ! cheers G
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........"I'm keeping an eye on you all".......Ha Ha!....Radiogandy -
Radiogandy's Blog
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alanbrooke
regular
Reg'd: Sat
Posts: 960
Loc: Kent
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At the ripe old age of 4 score
and a bit,I have put together my own,
my wifes, and my daughters PC.Im sure you will
enjoy building one.
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SPEC:Windows Vista Premium, Pentium 4 CPU 3.20Ghz.2G ram Zonealarm,AVG,Spybot,AdAware,CCleaner,Glary Utilities.IE7
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BedstorfromAP
Necromancer
Reg'd: Thu
Posts: 4224
Loc: 32 Bus Stops West of Wigan UK
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Quote:
There's lots of things other people want, downloading music, mixed media, etc., that I don't use at all. I just want all my operating strength in PhotoShop, doing my Blog, and surfing - quickly.
Thata the right way to think about it ...get it to fit "your world" not aim for Fred blogg's Idea of a superduper overclocked machine
Do what I'm doing.Put a mainboard in with future expansion (Several spare connectors) Can opt for Built in Sound (which is quite good so long as you don.t want Multi channel stereo...But as I've posted elsewhere a Stereo Sound card can be purchased very cheaply How cheap? You'll be surprised 
Never going to buy a normal card again (For the same family of circuit boards) they are about 50 pounds average I paid....Look in the Hints and Tips section
This has been but in my Brothers computer which is running World of Warcraft and Its 100% 
Edited by TheFatControlleR (Sun Aug 05 2007 08:40 PM)
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radiogandy
regular
Reg'd: Tue
Posts: 1020
Loc: East Midlands
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Dear Alanbrooke, thanks for the encouragement and, in view of your accomplishments, I feel that at a mere 72 I really have no excuse. With BedstorfromAP's offer of contact addresses and links, and RonJon and evilmonkeyzz saying supportive things, I feel the urge to start straight away.
Wisdom tells me though that the task favours the winter months when the garden is less demading ! Ideally we could have an article in the magazine in September - I could tap into BedstorfromAP's contacts/links and then get mi' screwdriver out in October.
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BedstorfromAP
Necromancer
Reg'd: Thu
Posts: 4224
Loc: 32 Bus Stops West of Wigan UK
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I am the other side of 50 and Yet I still Play many of the Latest computer games /Sims or am aware of what type they are . I can actually Keep pace with my Nephews and Nieces On games
And I was in my Mid 20's when The Computer games (as we know them now) started to appear and yes I did buy the magazines with the type in Lists(in Basic) The older generation will remember those Plus the "super fast" loading cassette tapes worth an Article in itself
PS Before that my first experience with it was a Casio watch with a built in "Simon" Number Game
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evilmonkeyzz
regular
Reg'd: Sun
Posts: 2164
Loc: Yorkshire
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Quote:
Maybe you should write the article. I'm sure Claire would be delighted ! cheers G
Haha don't think I could do that, only ever built 2!!
From first deciding to build to finally having my first one took 2 months. The thing to do is, choose your processor and motherboard first, then just slowly choose your: harddrive(s), ram, graphics card, cd drives case/power supply (350-400w for a normal system), any other drives needed like floppy or flash reader and your os, if you need it. Just making sure that each bit is compatible with your motherboard as you choose them.
Although, I saved my cd drives from my last pc to put in this one.
I knew nothing about building computers when I first started, I just used Google and took my time, and managed to do it all myself.
The only reason I actually did it, was I just started my first proper job, so had my first real money to spend, and I always wanted my own, decent, computer. And pricing up the kind of specs that I wanted, was coming to about £500 higher using Dell or similar for the same build as doing it myself, so I took the plunge and did it!! Another plus of doing it yourself, is if in the future you ever need to upgrade, you know exactly what specs you have so doing so is easy.
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Ambition makes you look pretty ugly
Kicking squealing Gucci little piggy
http://www.last.fm/user/evilmonkeyzzz/
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radiogandy
regular
Reg'd: Tue
Posts: 1020
Loc: East Midlands
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Thanks Josh for some very sound advice. I have reached the 'research and note-taking' stage already. Some things are quite interesting i.e. for a slightly higher price one can obtain a dramaticaly higher spec component. Also, as I'm not a music buff and download very little, there are things in an off-the-shelf PC that I just don't need.
Bulletins will follow ! 
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........"I'm keeping an eye on you all".......Ha Ha!....Radiogandy -
Radiogandy's Blog
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BedstorfromAP
Necromancer
Reg'd: Thu
Posts: 4224
Loc: 32 Bus Stops West of Wigan UK
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Can Jump Up a few Steps with what they Call "Bare bone Bundles" which are semi preassembled and Tested or B) You get all the Components in 1 delivery To fit youself
Dells site has a good shopping list trick facility to add the Bits and Pieces To complete the Build up
NOTE Dell build it all up themselves then send it out the customer
Though it doe indicates what does Fit on that model (specs wise)
I was on a site earlier and they had a Pc Mainboard For Just 24 pounds ! A bargain?...Well to somebody its of use So long as you have NO or a single Expansion slot available and I'd imagine a 250 Watt PSU!
Only good as an emergency Spare ..Play nothing Basic graphics On board sound maybe?
In other words a basic calculator Word processor at most 
Buy and Build something like that Will put you back over 5 years and Its totally worthless to sell on 
The Aim is we have to future proof Forward by the same time Minimum
In 5 years time those 4GB superchips will be Bargain Bin Clearance So aim for somewhere in the High 3GB range as your goal You'll be slightly slower but can keep pace with the Next-gen Processors speed
And Of course what New Operating Systen you may have to Have Installed keep up with the Jones's in 5 years..Vista? Vienna? or something else? Lots Of Questions and No answers yet
(
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radiogandy
regular
Reg'd: Tue
Posts: 1020
Loc: East Midlands
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Quote:
And Of course what New Operating Systen you may have to Have Installed keep up with the Jones's in 5 years..Vista? Vienna? or something else? Lots Of Questions and No answers yet
(
Thanks again ! I think I want to stay with XP because a photo-chum is having serious difficulties with Vista and PhotoShop. I may renege on the whole project because one of my IT savvy sons says "Why not simpply buy a high spec 'ready made' even if there are things n it you won't use? It would be much cheaper"
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........"I'm keeping an eye on you all".......Ha Ha!....Radiogandy -
Radiogandy's Blog
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BedstorfromAP
Necromancer
Reg'd: Thu
Posts: 4224
Loc: 32 Bus Stops West of Wigan UK
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There is another option
If you are going to continue Saving your files and "Favouries" To relieve the strain on your computer I would Recommend a USB Hard drive Can get a decent capacity one from any of the Main Sale points ( TIP go online to buy)
I have a 320 GB "Seagate" which allowing for Setup file Leaves 300 Gb space
Western Digital and Maxtor(made by Seagate) brands are also good value
And all you do is Plug it in, plug the USB lead in and It appears as a New drive folder on your computer either as E or F depending on which computer I'm using ...Many people will see other letters
Windows self allocates the First spare drive/device Letter...Dont worry about it
And to use it is simplicity itself...Pendrives use the same principle
1 rule You cannot run anything from the drive To move something into the Drive you drag and Drop/copy like into the recycle bin or open the Folder and drop it where you want internally?
Getting items out is the reverse open the Drive folder locate the File then Drag or copy it to the New location
Size and weight of the drive are about the size of a bag of sugar
Only con is there is No carry bag
Price is about 70 pounds average for this sized drive some as low as 50 pounds Can get odd clearance bargain at places like Dabs Provided you time it right see what you can find off this link http://tinyurl.com/32ssrg
Maplins have a basic range but they are low priced www.maplin.co.uk
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radiogandy
regular
Reg'd: Tue
Posts: 1020
Loc: East Midlands
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Thanks again Bedst..... I already have a Freecom 400GB Ext. Hard Drive which I am now au fait with. The drag/drop method of using it suits me best because otherwise everything is compressed/encrypted automatically and then I have to reverse the process to look at anything.
When I realised just how much storage it gives me I decided that at 72yrs I didn't need to compress my files, even my photograph RAW files which can be hefty. If I've filled it in 20yrs time I will come back to you !
cheers Graham
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........"I'm keeping an eye on you all".......Ha Ha!....Radiogandy -
Radiogandy's Blog
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surfboy
regular
Reg'd: Sun
Posts: 87
Loc: UK
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Here's some links that might be useful, videos that 'show and tell' about installing hardware.
Install a PC Motherboard
http://video.about.com/pcsupport/motherboard-mov.htm
Install a Central Processing Unit
http://video.about.com/pcsupport/installCPU-mov.htm
Install a PC Power Supply
http://video.about.com/pcsupport/powersupply.htm
Install an IDE Hard Drive
http://video.about.com/pcsupport/IDE-Harddrive.htm
Install a PCI Card
http://video.about.com/pcsupport/PCIcard-mov.htm
Install a Video Card
http://video.about.com/desktopvideo/videocardr3-mov.htm
Install Memory in a PC
http://video.about.com/pcsupport/PCmemory-mov.--7x.htm
Install a DVD or CD Burner
http://video.about.com/pcsupport/dvdburner3-mov.htm
Installing a CPU and Heatsink
http://compreviews.about.com/od/tutorials/ss/DIYCPU.htm
Installing a Desktop PC Motherboard - Tutorial
http://compreviews.about.com/od/tutorials/ss/DIYMB.htm
Install Memory in a Macbook Pro
http://video.about.com/macs/Install-Memory-in-a-Macbook.htm
How to install Windows Vista
http://downloads.pcworld.about.com/video/id,384-page,1-bid,0/video.html
Right then - down to business.
This magazine is aimed at web users and although I appreciate some folk would love to put their own set-up together, there's a plethora of PC build, component type magazines that would be more suitable to help guide you through this task, which is quite daunting for someone whose just in the initial stages of constructing their own computer sytem.
Having said that, my advice would be to give it a go. But get as much advice as possible, understand the multitude of different technical specifications, make sure the parts you need will actualy fit together and function in harmony and perhaps begin by building a relatively low spec computer using used or second hand parts. Mistakes are cheaper that way. Have fun, enjoy learning and good luck!
But please can we keep 'Web User' for the use of the internet, which afterall, is it's Unique Selling Point (USP). Rather than diversify, please specialise in what you're good at.
Thank you.
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radiogandy
regular
Reg'd: Tue
Posts: 1020
Loc: East Midlands
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Thank you very much indeed surfboy. Great links and I have bookmarked your 'post'. The project is temporarily 'on hold' because we are in the process of moving house. But I aim to do it. Apart from the sense of achievement, it would be smashing to have a PC which specifically catered for my needs (and we are all different) I download very little, am not interested in music, or games, but love trawling the world for online radio, messing about with my photographs etc....
 I've done a 'sticky' for a year hence and will update you then. Thanks again for your help.
.
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........"I'm keeping an eye on you all".......Ha Ha!....Radiogandy -
Radiogandy's Blog
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