So i am looking to build my first pc...

I want it to be able to run some moderate games, mainly the sims, gta 4 and fallout (3 and/or new vegas).

I've been looking through some sites and these are the main components that they are saying i will need:

• Motherboard
• Processor
• Memory (ram) x2
• Graphics Card
• Sound Card
• Hard Drive
• CD/DVD ROM
• CD/DVD Writer

So is there anything on this list that i am missing or i dont actually need?

Also what sites should i be looking at to purchase from? (i live in the uk)

I tried E-buyer and was looking at motherboards, which got me confused :?

It said stuff like 'Motherboards Intel' and 'Motherboards AMD', which im assuming are two different brands, so which is better? and what are you looking for in a motherboard? There was also somewhere that said you need an 'ATX' motherboard so that it will fit in most modern 'ATX' cases... what does this mean?

Also what makes a good cpu? Yet again it was saying 'Processor Intel' or 'Processor AMD'. so which brand is better here?

Basically what i am saying is i am totally out of my depth here and could really do with some help, especially as i was reading some place that you can buy certain components that then don't fit to the motherboard meaning you could buy a couple of hundred pounds worth of components which you cant use...

You do need a CD/DVD ROM drive. It's just that you can easily get a cheap one that writes to cd's as well as reads them as they aren't expensive at all. As for motherboards, it isn't as simple as all Intel CPU's will work with all Intel motherboards. It's based on the CPU's "socket" type. That is what determines what motherboard you can use for a given CPU. For example, the Intel i7 930 processor uses a 1366 socket type, so you will need to buy a motherboard with a 1366 socket type. You also can't use a cpu on a motherboard if it doesn't support the cpu's socket type. For example. You can't use an Intel i5 CPU (which has an 1156 socket type) on a motherboard designed for the i7 (which is a 1366 socket type). They are not interchangeable. The biggest socket types for intel you will see today are 1156 for their i5 cpu's and 1366 for their i7's. For your PSU, you just need to make sure you have enough juice to power your machine. After you pick out the rest of your parts, look for PSU to support it. Corsair makes quality ones (I use their HX1000w model). The memory you will need depends on the motherboard and cpu, but normally opt for at least 4gb (for dual channel motherboards) or 6gb (for tri channel motherboards). On the product info page for a motherboard, it should list whether it supports dual or tri channel memory. Then get a set of ram accordingly. A basic combo for CPU/Ram/Memory is i7 930/P6X58D/G.Skill 6gb Tri channel RAM 3x2 (3 sticks holding 2gb of RAM each). You will learn and I keep learning. It's fun to build a computer and ultimately not ridiculously complicated. I hope you find what you need.

[QUOTE="JM_MUFC"]So i don't need a cd/dvd writer? and if i were to purchase an AMD motherboard would i then need to purchase an AMD processor? or would intel still work? Also what makes a good PSU, CPU and Memory Unit? Another thing i forgot to ask about is graphics cards, i was looking at them too but there are hundreds of different models so how do you know which is an improvement on which? for example there are nVidea GTS or GT or GTX or whatever so which ones are better?-Feath-

Thanks for your advice.

If anyone is kind enough to put a list together for me then it is hugely appreciated. I want it to be able to run some fairly recent games but nothing too demanding like Bad company 2 or Mw2. My current budget is £450-£500, this is due to the fact that i am currently a laptop user meaning i'm also going to have to shell out for a monitor, mouse, keyboard and any other peripherals needed.

EDIT: i also need an operating system as i dont have one on disk.

Plz tel ur u budget man! I mean how much ur willing to spend. Cause we can build system ranging form 300$ to 30000$ u name it!

Plz tel ur u budget man! I mean how much ur willing to spend. Cause we can build system ranging form 300$ to 30000$ u name it!

mrwck

[QUOTE="mrwck"]

Plz tel ur u budget man! I mean how much ur willing to spend. Cause we can build system ranging form 300$ to 30000$ u name it!

Xeros606

[QUOTE="mrwck"]

Plz tel ur u budget man! I mean how much ur willing to spend. Cause we can build system ranging form 300$ to 30000$ u name it!

Xeros606

scan.co.uk assume his total AFTER VAT another one is the tigerdirect variant MISCO

[QUOTE="Xeros606"]

[QUOTE="mrwck"]

Plz tel ur u budget man! I mean how much ur willing to spend. Cause we can build system ranging form 300$ to 30000$ u name it!

JM_MUFC

[QUOTE="JM_MUFC"][QUOTE="Xeros606"] He already did - £450-£500. I would help him, but I don't know what the best websites are for people in the UK.

Xeros606

Thats a max budget by the way, other than the games listed in my original post i will just be using it for Word Processing, Powerpoints, Internet and maybe some adobe flash if i can still find the time. Preferably if it were to be a £450-£500 pc i would want the operating system with it, i remembered that i do have an old windows xp pro disk and maybe one of my friends may have a windows 7 disk that is more than usable once. Some monitor advice would be good too... i have no idea where i can get one cheap except maybe eBay but its more than likely that the p&p will be extaustionate. Another thing.... i saw a vid of a guy putting together his pc and it said that i'll need to buy my own screws to put it together, it there a standard size screw or will i just have to wait until i get the parts to find out? And again thanks!

you're not going to get a decent gaming PC that will run GTA4 on that budget, especially if you need a monitor and an OS. ignore the thermal paste, if you buy a retail CPU (rather than OEM) the heatsink/fan that comes with it will have thermal paste already applied. the case should come with screws, you'll need some for the hard drive and the CD-writer, but like i said there should be some in the case. graphics cards will not need screws as those will definitely be with the case.metacritical

Well i saw a monitor, it was acer 16" lcd wide screen for £69.99. But as i said that is seperate so it was going to be the £450-£500 minus the o/s which i may be able to get off of a friend or just use the old xp one until i can save up the extra £100 for windows 7 or £70 for windows vista. To be honest the o/s doesnt bother me too much at the moment. I have a friend with a gaming pc, i have his specs somewhere and you could give me a quote on that or i can research it myself as i have played gta 4, fallout 3, and left 4 dead 2 numerous occasions on his pc.

[QUOTE="metacritical"]you're not going to get a decent gaming PC that will run GTA4 on that budget, especially if you need a monitor and an OS. ignore the thermal paste, if you buy a retail CPU (rather than OEM) the heatsink/fan that comes with it will have thermal paste already applied. the case should come with screws, you'll need some for the hard drive and the CD-writer, but like i said there should be some in the case. graphics cards will not need screws as those will definitely be with the case.JM_MUFC

Well i saw a monitor, it was acer 16" lcd wide screen for £69.99. But as i said that is seperate so it was going to be the £450-£500 minus the o/s which i may be able to get off of a friend or just use the old xp one until i can save up the extra £100 for windows 7 or £70 for windows vista. To be honest the o/s doesnt bother me too much at the moment. I have a friend with a gaming pc, i have his specs somewhere and you could give me a quote on that or i can research it myself as i have played gta 4, fallout 3, and left 4 dead 2 numerous occasions on his pc.

well you won't be able to buy an 8800GTS or a 4800+ as they're both obsolete and are no longer made, the issue is you're going to be buying a two to three year old PC brand new and struggle to play the more demanding games that are just coming out. either way, i buy the majority of my bits from scan.co.uk so look there. their today only page might also save you some money with their daily deals (updated at roughly 1pm every weekday) http://www.scan.co.uk/TodayOnly/Index.aspx if you're in no rush, might want to check it out on friday evening, saturday since they tend to have everything you would need to self-build on offer over the weekend, whereas during the week the deals tend to be pretty random. metacritical