New PC spec some tips!?

[Kati_v123]

Ah i have them for my BT vision box.. they're cool, thats helpful.. thanks, so i dont need anything there? any advice on the other things?

 

[keynes]

Ah i have them for my BT vision box.. they're cool, thats helpful.. thanks, so i dont need anything there? any advice on the other things?

Apart from a very understanding "other half"? nope, mine didn't like the idea of me spending so much in a computer.

 

[Wolvo7]

I'd go with the onboard sound first, see if you like it, and then decide if you want to add a soundcard. If your speakers are traditional PC speakers you won't really notice a difference tbh, it's more if you have a good 5.1 or 7.1 setup.

Then it's all about deciding if you want a headset that has a built-in soundcard or one that can plug in to your PC sound card. You could also look at headsets that have a separate USB sound card so that you can either plug in your headset in your PC soundcard if you have one or into the external one to get better audio. This guy explains it better than me, at 4:40 of the vid http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMRHza0VWiU

That's 2 more PCs than what I've built ^^ I'm sure you'll be fine it's just a matter of inserting the card into the slot. If you really don't feel confident then you can either buy a card from PCS, send one to them to be fitted in or ask a friend

For your network facilities refer to Ruben's comment ^

For the external HDD I'd go for a USB 3.0 one, I'm not too familiar with firewire ones

 

[Kati_v123]

Yeah my other half doesn't understand computers that much, he doesn't even know what GB means.. he says as long as it means he can go buy ghost recon for his xbox and get peace to play it he's happy


Still flustering over the sound card lol... Your probably right about using the onboard ones,it won't make that much of a difference really, and my speakers atm are fine enough, i can hear it over the xbox and kids
and i actually didnt know about the headsets coming with their own built in.. shows how much i actually read even after googling them.. (oo its pretty, i want it! kind of mind set.. don't read the reviews much, just look at the pictures haha.. actually i'm not THAT bad, i don't think.. :/ )

Building the PC wasn't that bad, i had a quick google but i have a decent logical brain which figured it out mostly..

Ok so i have......

Case
NZXT PHANTOM WHITE GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-3770 (3.4GHz) 8MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® SABERTOOTH Z77: USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, THERMAL ARMOR
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 670 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB INTEL® 520 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX850 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£99)
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE INTEL CPU COOLER (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,388.00 including VAT and delivery.


I think that's it....

 

[Wolvo7]

Looks ace Wish my parents were into video games or tech in general, wouldn't mind playing with my dad on the ps3

 

[Kati_v123]

Ah.. my mum is getting my "old" pc she used to play runescape haha! She loves the PS2 and i'm trying to get her into an xbox so she can play online with and my fiancé lol
My little girl plays mario atm (she's almost 5) so this is deffo a gaming household

Again Thanks to you both so so much for the help in regards to picking the stuff and the additional info that i didn't know Aaaaaaaand for the mega quick replies, usually im left waiting days on a forum with only views and no replies.. It's been fantastic sorting it all out within a day

Just waiting for my soon-to-be mother in law to do the finance as i'm already at my max atm with my car and trying to get some sort of credit score so i can finally do this myself

I want it nooooow

again thank you thank you thank you!! (+ rep for you both ) will keep you updated with how it goes

 

[Wolvo7]

No worries, sounds like a great household ^^ With regards to the quick replies I'm studying for exams atm so I spend a bit more time than I would like to in front of my laptop ^^ Consider each of my answers as a break from looking at dissection pictures

 

[Kati_v123]

Ah well good luck in the exams
Just tried fiddling with my profile.. how on earth do you upload a photo... i click on it and nothing happens.. do i need to post x amount of posts first or...?!
*wanders hopelessly around waiting for mother-in-law to finance computer* (She won't be home for a few days, typical)

 

[Wolvo7]

Thanks Click on settings at the top right of the page and then edit avatar or profile pic.

 

[Kati_v123]

A-HA! finally, thanks once again..
(i've realised i use 1 too many smilies and have said thanks about a million times in this thread)
THANK YOU!!!!

Edit:- Didn't realise PCs did homeplugs (after some google research, and forum reading)... i have added 2 of those to my basket it is now one heavy basket hehe

 

[Kati_v123]

We've checked your specification for compatibility. Please consider our advice below before proceeding:
1.You have selected a 850W power supply, but based on our calculations you actually only need a 500W power supply. We have calculated your specification to require around 488W of power including a 20% allowance. Although it is not a mandatory requirement to select a lower wattage power supply, doing so will save you money and the last thing we'd like to do is over charge you!

It didn't say this yesterday.. WTF?! now it's making me paranoid that i've messed up my build (which looks the same..) i'm looking at buying it today..
(also i've upped my memory to 16GB as i'm prob going to be using photoshop and such in college and other programs that i don't know about yet)

 

[keynes]

We've checked your specification for compatibility. Please consider our advice below before proceeding:
1.You have selected a 850W power supply, but based on our calculations you actually only need a 500W power supply. We have calculated your specification to require around 488W of power including a 20% allowance. Although it is not a mandatory requirement to select a lower wattage power supply, doing so will save you money and the last thing we'd like to do is over charge you!

It didn't say this yesterday.. WTF?! now it's making me paranoid that i've messed up my build (which looks the same..) i'm looking at buying it today..
(also i've upped my memory to 16GB as i'm prob going to be using photoshop and such in college and other programs that i don't know about yet)

The suggested spec was for 750w with the idea of adding a second GPU if you needed one. If you are not planning to add any other GPU you could downgrade as suggested by the configurator but I'd stick with at least 750w.

 

[Kati_v123]

so i should downgrade to a 750w then and not stick with a 850w..?
incase i upgrade in the future, i wont downgrade further than 750w

Would it make that much of a difference having 750w than 850w? i mean the price between them both is £13.. i don't mind so much about £13 lol

 

[keynes]

so i should downgrade to a 750w then and not stick with a 850w..?
incase i upgrade in the future, i wont downgrade further than 750w

Would it make that much of a difference having 750w than 850w? i mean the price between them both is £13.. i don't mind so much about £13 lol

If you are planning to add several hard drives, fan controller, additional fans and other components go for the 850w. Are you going with a modular PSU?

 

[Kati_v123]

just going to have my 120 SSD and my 2TB caviar black, possibly add another caviar black in the future.. no fan control as i doubt i need it.. was planning on buying the corsair 850w @ £99 the 750w is only £86

 

[keynes]

just going to have my 120 SSD and my 2TB caviar black, possibly add another caviar black in the future.. no fan control as i doubt i need it.. was planning on buying the corsair 850w @ £99 the 750w is only £86

Looking at your spec on the configurator the 750w is sufficient for the same configuration you have + a GTX 670 however If I add 2 more caviar blacks it recommends 850w. I'd chose the 850w if you are planning in adding an additional hard drive apart from the SSD/caviar black you originally selected.

 

[Kati_v123]

ok thanks for your help will stick with the 850w can't hurt.. then when i add another HDD it won't be due an PSU upgrade aswell

 

[Kati_v123]

Ok so i'm going to add a headset in my basket asell.. one that goes all around the ears, not those horrible in ear things...

So my choices are probably logitech G35 (wires) or logitech G930 (which is wireless)
anyone had any experiences with these headsets? Good?Bad?
Do they use their own soundcard? or run off PCs one? As you know i didn't pick a sound card

Also would these be compatible with an xbox? i have one and would like to be able to use them for both.. (even if i have to buy an adaptor of some sore to make them compatible)

Do you have any other recommendations other than what PCs has to offer?

Thanks

 

[keynes]

Ok so i'm going to add a headset in my basket asell.. one that goes all around the ears, not those horrible in ear things...

So my choices are probably logitech G35 (wires) or logitech G930 (which is wireless)
anyone had any experiences with these headsets? Good?Bad?
Do they use their own soundcard? or run off PCs one? As you know i didn't pick a sound card

Also would these be compatible with an xbox? i have one and would like to be able to use them for both.. (even if i have to buy an adaptor of some sore to make them compatible)

Do you have any other recommendations other than what PCs has to offer?

Thanks

What is your budget for a headset?
I got these:

 

[Kati_v123]

well i was thinking of getting the headset from PCs that way i can stick it all together.. i was looking about the £100 mark no more than £140ish.. looked at the megalodon, (forgotten how it was spelt now lol) but as i said if there is a decent one from PCs i'd rather stick it in the basket with my PC..
No preference to wires or wireless..
Will have a look at those ones you have posted