Conrad

I usually listen to Radio 1 in the day but haven't had it on for about a month. Then the other day I put it on for a change and Basshunter comes on. Seriously, I was genuinely shocked it was even on the play list. I can't remember the last time a song has such a nauseating effect on me. Then to my horror I discover it's actually been number 1 for 3 weeks! WTF, who is actually buying this record? It's like some nasty euro trash record you hear in Tenerife mixed with some 10 year old Hard House backing track.

Yeah I think you're right, I've looked at a few websites and everything seems too dear. It was worth a try I guess. I'll look into how much cheaper stuff really is in the US and see if it's worthwhile trying to get it delivered to my Hotel.

Hmm, not much choice at Vest Buy but it was that kind of thing I was after really. As Thorin and Daman know I'm building my own PC. I'm going to Vegas and San Diego soon and was thinking about buying some stuff while over there as it's cheaper than here. Just proving more difficult than I thought...

Anyone know if there's something like PC World in America? Or what their leading PC high street stores are?

This is what I was unsure about really, whether it was the processor or a graphics card that did the work. As I don't intend getting a graphics card (yet) I was hoping it was the processor's job!

Totally daft question time! When I'm creating a DVD with Nero and Nero is converting the AVI file into another format to write to disk (encoding?) - it takes almost as long to burn as it does to watch what I'm burning on the laptop! Which components are resposnible for doing this job? ie what should I buy the best of to make Nero burn quicker?

Oh ok, thanks for the info. I won't be overclocking anything so the E6750 is obviously the better choice - thanks dude.

Thanks for the heads up on the power supply! As for the E6750 - that's actually only £104.99! It's faster but cheaper than the E6600. Is there a reason for that? I did look at it but thought there was a reason why it was cheaper...

Well I priced up the Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 and it's only five quid cheaper than the Quad. Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 was £129 and the Q6600 was £134.99, so for the extra £5 I may as well go for the one with 8mb of L2 cache instead of 4mb... Thorin, I'll ask dude but doubt he will!

Ok guys, after much deliberating I think I know what spec system I'm going to build. So if anyone can see anything wrong with it or compatibility issues please do say. My system is as follows: Antec Fusion Black HTPC Case - 430HE Watt PSU Asus P5E-VM HDMI Intel G35 Micro-ATX Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 OcUK 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C5 800MHz Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache Windows Vista Premium Home Edition Netgear WG311 54Mbps Wireless Desktop Samsung 20x DVD±RW Lightscribe ReWriter Now I've had a word with my Dad who's VAT registered and he's agreed to let me buy everything through the business and claim the VAT back! So excluding VAT I can get the above system for £458.73

Osso, you sir are totally right! For some reason I had £150 in my head, think I've looked at so many component prices it's all become a blur!

Slight change of subject.... Apart from the risk of import duty is there any reason why I can't buy components from America? This is less than half the price from the US - ASUS P5E-VM HDMI P&P can't be that much - worth the risk?

Ok So I have a Dell OEM XP disk, can I use this and my same seriel on another system in any way? Or should I be looking at Vista anyway? - got that on our office PC and not really liking it.

Thinking about passing on the Blu-Ray player now until prices come down. Yeah the built systems on overclockers are a little pricey - but at least that gives me more incentive to build my own. Last few questions now! Is the Core Duo 2 really that much better than the AMD Athlon 64 X2? Also, I have an OEM copy of Windows - is there anyway I can use that again? Or will I have to buy another copy?

:d Mine's backed up on my external HDD! Scott - thanks for the info. As I'm a little unsure on what is compatible with what, I've looked at this budget spec system similar to what I want. I've then priced the stuff up individually on the net and can get it all for £298 inc vat. That compared to the £442 overclockers charge for a ready assembled one proves to be quite a saving. This leaves a fair chunk of my budget to buy other things I wanted. Scott, do you buy a new copy of Windows for every system in your house or is there a way around that?

I totally understand the point of a seperate hard drive but I don't see it as a necessity. Only last week did I have to wipe my laptop completely and re-install XP, this was the first time I've had to do that in my 2 years of ownership. And tbh it hasn't been that much of a ball ache as I have all my photo's and music backed up on an external HD. So I don't think I can warrant the expense of a back-up drive. Scott, how much did your Elonex system cost you to biuld?

Thanks for the info Scott Having a standard case is not a huge problem as I can loose it in a cupboard somehow, I just wanted the media case so that it would be on display along with my stereo/DVD surround/Sky Box etc etc. You've listed two hard drives on your spec, is that necessary? Will Windows run a lot better with it's own HD or something?

Cheers dude Perhaps a bundle like this then? The AMD Athlon 64 bundles are cheaper - am I right in thinking these are more geared up for gaming?

Thanks all for your advice and offers of help. Daman, when it comes to spec I really haven't a clue. It's too easy to get the best of everything instead of what you actually need. Any chance you or anyone else in the know can take a look at what I want and advise what kind of cpu/memory etc I should be looking at? Basically I must have the following: Blu Ray DVD drive HDMI output as my screen will be my plasma TV A 320GB HD A media centre style case such as the one below case That's pretty much it! I don't play games and I will only really use the PC for surfing, downloading, burning DVD's, watching movies on net, wirless connectivity, and Photoshop as I'm into photography. Obviously I want the most powerful processor and the most memory that my £400 - £500 budget will allow. Also, the following items are stuff I'd like but not essential - all depends on cost: Lightscribe drive 500GB HD Decent graphics card (Only game I would ever play is Fifa 08 so whatever can run that)

Great analogy Daston! Thanks for the comments guys, I'll check out the bundles on overclockers and see what's available. Compatability was my only concern really so a bundle is probably the way forward. Greg, thanks for the offer dude - much appreciated. I think I'm going to have a crack at it myself but reassuring to know you're there to offer advice. Cheers bud

Hmm, it sounds easy enough in regards to the actual building of the PC. Just as already said, choosing the correct parts. I'll have a look about on the net and see what kind of price things are. Any websites like Epic suggested or guides would be appreciated. To be honest the kind of spec I was looking at was this kind of thing on Ebay: advert Will I save much money building something like this myself or could I build something better for around that price? Also, is that spec going to struggle doing certain things?? Again, any advice greatly appreciated...

I'm finally getting my own place in the summer and when I do I want to get a new PC. I currently have a half decent laptop but I'd like a powerful PC to run everything through or along side; internet, TV, DVD, Stereo etc.... I've been looking on ebay and there's some relatively cheap high powered base units for less than £500. Thing is come moving in time I wont have that kind of money spare. So thought I'd build my own piece by piece as and when I can afford it. So how hard exactly is it? Everyone says it's piece of cake and with the internet as a resource of knowledge I can't see it being that difficult. I'm fairly tech minded but as far as building PC's goes I've only ever swapped a CD drive and memory stick....

I don't know exactly what you can get away with but to be honest you should be doing BPU properly - ie uprated fuel pump, colder spark plugs and as already mentioned remove the cats to lower EGT's. It's a lot cheaper to do these things in the first place than to replace blown turbos at a later date instead. Besides, do all the above and get an exhaust and you're looking at 400bhp! with the FMIC

Ah ha, you're right dude. I'm getting confused with http://www.youre.co.uk/ Perhaps we could do with a http://www.theyre.co.uk too. I too saw the test gzaerjon posted up yesterday and posted it up myself over on a boxing forum I use - the grammar and spelling over there is shocking. One guy admitted to getting the first 4 questions wrong so gave up on doing the test!

Anyone know where the site is that describes the difference between they're, there and their? The one Michael posts up from time to time I can't find it...