New PC - what specs should I go for

[sharky_ob]

That all looks ok Matt.
The whole system with that GFX card should draw a max of 228W (under load, playing Oblivion or suchlike) according to hothardware. The 250W PSU in the Shuttle you've chosen will be there or thereabouts.

Good stuff - will order this on Friday. I'd imagine that a more powerful gfx card like that new ATI 4850 would push the system beyond the power capacity, so I'll stick with this spec.

How easy is putting this together? Is it all just plug in and go for it, or is there any soldering involved?

[Ian(not Ian)]

No soldering.
With your Shuttle will be a pictorial guide to assembly. Have a jolly good look at it before you start and familiarise with the parts. The CPU your getting will come with a fan, you wont need that fan as the Shuttle has it's own heatsink.
More later, I'm off to lunch

[sharky_ob]

No soldering.
With your Shuttle will be a pictorial guide to assembly. Have a jolly good look at it before you start and familiarise with the parts. The CPU your getting will come with a fan, you wont need that fan as the Shuttle has it's own heatsink.
More later, I'm off to lunch

What are you having?

Enough bloody questions!!

[Ian(not Ian)]

Bag o' crisps, and a couple of 'Fairtrade' ginger biscuits...Fairtrade my a**e, cost £1.10 for 2 wee biscuits, what's fair about that?

Anyhoo. In general you'll be doing it this way......

1st in will be CPU, which has a notch at one corner, so cant be put in the wrong way. the instructions will show you how to remove the heatsink to gain access to the socket. With your Shuttle will be a small bag of Silicon Grease which you lightly spread on the top of the CPU before replacing the heatsink. Job done.

Next insert the RAM sticks, They will only fit one way, so you can't go wrong.

The HDD and Optical Drive will be next, Shuttles have removable trays for these. The tray will already be out, you'd have done that to access the CPU earlier.
Fir the drives with the brackets provided, these can vary for different models. RTFM.
Plug in the drives' power and data leads. Again the manual shows how this is done.

Once that lot's done in essence you now have a working PC. I suggest you power the rascal up at this point and install your OS. Tell you why....

Some Shuttles do not auto-detect the graphics cards at boot and have to have a jumper for them to do this. Bonkers. Check the manual for info on adding a graphics card.

To install the OS stick the CD in the drive and switch on. You should see a message asking you to press any key to boot from CD, bang a key.
Follow the onscreen prompts to install the OS.

Once Windows is running ok, insert the utility CD which comes with the Shuttle, install the drivers for sound, on-board gfx, USB, network card etc.

When all that's done shutdown, change the jumper if needed, and plug in your GFX card, connect it to the screen and switch on. If all's well install the radeon drivers from the card's CD. Update them from the web later on.

[sharky_ob]

Ace, even I should be able to cope with all that - I'm looking forward to it actually!

One last thing (I hope), what would you recommend as far as security and anti-virus software goes. Should I buy something from Overclockers or is free stuff going to do the job?

Thanks again mate.

[Ian(not Ian)]

I'm keeping out of the virus checker debate. I'm using Vista with Onecare.
Much is said about virus scanners and firewall SW. fyi when I did use XP i used Zonealarm, but that's as flaky as the rest of them.

[Hohum]

Ok guys, thanks for all the help you've already given me, these are the components I'm looking at:

The case - a shuttle which can take C2D:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-094-SH

Processor:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-190-IN

Memory:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-024-GS

Graphics (may still wait for that better card mentioned on last page):

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-162-AS

HDD:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-023-HI

Optical Drive:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CD-099-SA

That lot with windows comes in at £441.72 inc. VAT. I've tried to find power requirements for these components, but drew a blank to be honest.

Does anyone have any feedback on this?

Cheers

Matt

I'll do top to bottom as it's a bit easier for me.

Shuttle barebones enclosure: fine

Processor: fine

Memory: nope, it's rated for 1066mhz; you don't need that kinda speed unless you're doing some serious overclocking, plus the motherboard in that shuttle barebones case you've picked only supports upto 800mhz. I'd recommend: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=MY-010-OK

Graphics: Unsure, as it's a dual slot solution with a rather hefty heatsink (to allow for passive cooling). Therefore, it may not fit in the enclosure... hence my doubts. You may want to play it safe by choosing something a bit smaller, such as http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=GX-151-AS

HDD: fine

Optical drive: should be fine too

As for security software, there are quite a few decent free alternatives. If you're connected to the internet via a router then the standard Windows firewall is fine, as you'll already have a hardware firewall in place. For antivirus/spyware I use Avast (www.avast.com), free and does the job seemingly very well.

[Ian(not Ian)]

Fair point on the memory Hohum, myself I left that option purely and simply that the M/B supports 1066, so there will be a benefit there, and in a wee while Sharky could upgrade the CPU should he wish, and wouldn't need to upgrade the RAM also. No real loss on the 1066 RAM imo.

Good point on the GFX card though, dual width may or may not make it into the wee Shuttle case. There is 2 slots in the case you're after, maybe not both the full-length you'll need for the original GFX card you mentioned.
Hohum's recommendation will certainly fit as it's a single width card, therefore I reckon better to go with that, or a similar single width card.

[Hohum]

It doesn't support 1066mhz RAM though, unless you've seen something elsewhere that I'm unaware of?

2 x 240 pin slots, supports Dual Channel supports DDR2-533/667/800 SDRAM memory up to a total size of 4 GB, max. 2 GB per DIMM Integrated LED to display Single/Dual channel status

He wouldn't need to upgrade it should he upgrade his CPU anyway, as DDR800 in dual channel configuration will provide enough bandwidth suitable for processors with a FSB upto 1600mhz. To make the best use of DDR1066, he would need to overclock his processor's FSB to 2132 to make full use of it... hence why I think it's not worth the bother. Besides which, the 1066 sticks are rated for 2.0v, and as I'm unsure if the Shuttle will have any voltage controls for RAM he would be better off buying a kit that will run at the default DDR2 voltage (1.8v). It'll just avoid potential headaches down the line.

Little update regarding the graphics card I linked to earlier: It may still take up two slots due to the cooler size. If you only want a single slot taken up (so that you can make use of the slot below for something else should you so wish) then go for something such as http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=GX-097-HT

[sharky_ob]

It doesn't support 1066mhz RAM though, unless you've seen something elsewhere that I'm unaware of?

He wouldn't need to upgrade it should he upgrade his CPU anyway, as DDR800 in dual channel configuration will provide enough bandwidth suitable for processors with a FSB upto 1600mhz. To make the best use of DDR1066, he would need to overclock his processor's FSB to 2132 to make full use of it... hence why I think it's not worth the bother. Besides which, the 1066 sticks are rated for 2.0v, and as I'm unsure if the Shuttle will have any voltage controls for RAM he would be better off buying a kit that will run at the default DDR2 voltage (1.8v). It'll just avoid potential headaches down the line.

Little update regarding the graphics card I linked to earlier: It may still take up two slots due to the cooler size. If you only want a single slot taken up (so that you can make use of the slot below for something else should you so wish) then go for something such as http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=GX-097-HT

Excellent advice again guys

I've had a look and changed some of my components:

Memory (as per hohum, does appear the mb doesn't support 1066mhz):

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-010-OK

Graphics (also as per hohum as I need the other slot for a wireless network card):

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-097-HT

Network card:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=NW-007-BE

I think this should now be ok?

Regarding the virus software, I was thinking of getting this:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SW-002-BD&groupid=33&catid=164&subcat=&name=BitDefender%20Total%20Security%202008%20-%20Retail

I think I'm going to leave it though, and download the free stuff!

Edit - Another thought - what additional cables will I need to buy to connect all this up internally. Also, what video connection should I get for the best? I think I'm going to need a vga lead at first, and then hdmi once the graphics card is in - my tv takes either of these, but not dvi.

[Hohum]

Should all be fine. You won't notice any quality difference between HDMI and VGA in my opinion (assuming your tv does both equally good). I'd try the free antivirus software alternatives out there before buying one, as in my experience most are perfectly good for day to day use.

[sharky_ob]

Just wanted to say thanks again to eveyone for the help . Components arrived on Saturday and I was up and running within a few hours. Really happy with the PC and it looks great on my tv too. Ended up using hdmi with a dvi to hdmi converter, as it has the bonus of sound in one connection.

Only problem I was having was the pc dropping the connection to the router constantly. May have fixed this but could be starting a new thread soon!!