Building your own PC - Page 2

[jitterson]

I wouldn't build new PC it cost less money but gives you more troble
I would go and by assembled PC in stores

[SnowDog]

Just to put this into perspective, I've built numerous PCs for myself and others and none of them have ever had problems (yet), and many are older than most bought desktops out there..

It depends on the components and how well you put it together, closely followed by how you install the OS on it later and all the necessary drivers. Too many people start installing their games (the reason many get involved in this) as soon as they see the Welcome screen and that's where things can go wrong.

Mass produced PCs often use cheaper components to keep the price down, or have other limitations (no expandibility). They also have custom BIOSes and other bloated applications that make it difficult for the owner to do much with them without a lot of hassle, and features that the owner doesn't actually need.

The advantage of building your own PC is that if anything DOES go wrong you can fix it easily.

If that happens to a branded or mass-produced PC, unless you're in warranty it is likely to need a lot of messing about, quite possibly a third party's (the manufacturer's) involvement, and shedloads of cash to get their custom parts.

Each to their own. If you can, why not build one? If you can't, then of course: buy one.

[Crindle]

Hi all,
I want to make a new desktop with these in mind.

Moderatley big case for airflow, expansion, and room of course.
Be designed for games, homework, fireworks editing of images lightly though, online gaming, music playing a bit, but not really any downloading. MAinly online gaming.

For about 1,000us dollars or less.

What can I get, or what parts would u suggest.
Integrated audio is fine with me.
I already have a geforce4 7600gt card that is a few months old I can swap in.
Would like it to have good heat dissepation, quiet fans, cool cpu, cool harddrive. No liquid cooling. NOT intended for overclocking.

SATA hard drives, AMD processor in it 64X2 or the 3400+ forget which one anandtech was talking about.

Integrated audio is fine to start with, no speakers needed, only using heaphones for now.

Any thoughts or ideas?

Thanks,
Chris

[Chaky]

$1000 + VGA... hmm...
Your biggest concern would be MOTHERBOARD. ($150) I suggest that you go for the latest NVIDIA chipset, vista-ready and SLI-ready if you VGA is. Avoid ASUS. Their download site wasn't updated since forever.

Memory... If you won't overclock, than go for the cheap ones (<$100). I suggest that you go for the 2* 512 Megs stick, and, by all means, CONSULT THE MOBO MANUAL!! Trust me, if the brand/model is not on the "compatible" list than it means that it won't work as it should even if the declared timings of the sticks matched the timings supported by the mobo. Took me ~ a year to figure out the right settings for my memory sticks (yes, I didn't read the manual and, yes, avoid GEIL - no customer support whatsoever)

On-board audio... can't really avoid it. Make sure it is 7.1 output.

PSU... don't go under 500 Watts ($50)

CPU... I say AMD 64X2 - the more the merrier(not sure about the price, at least $300)

I suggest you go for AMD in any case if you plan on gaming. Intel is not the gamer's first choice. Just can't beat the 3d-now! routines that AMD has.
Off course, mind the socket (AM2, 939, 940...)

HD... optimal price/capacity ratio would be $100 worth. (new stuff)

For the cooling solution, go for the Thermaltake. It's a cheaper copy of Zalman. (CPU and VGA cooling). Rough est. for the whole cooling solution ~$50

Pioneer 110D DVD burner - $50

CRT monitor - $150 (Samsung, belinea...)

The rest of the deal you would have to balance as you go. I you don't mind the look of it, you can get the keyboard, mouse and the casing for $50. Just keep in mind that casing should have the mounting holes for the 12 cm fan on the side. Or you can cut them yourself (like I did).

Last but not least, avoid shopping on-line, for you'll never know if the paperworks (warranty and stuff) are bogus. Although, you can use internet to find out the rough prices of the components.

Edit: $1000 straight!

[tglems]

Just a quick comment about online shopping.
Newegg.com or TigerDirect.com offer really excellent prices and really excellent customer service. You will save tons over some horrible brick and mortar place such as circuit city...
I've now built 3 pc's buying only from them, they are always good.

[rtjackson4@yaho]

changing to new hard drive recieved error
Intel Base Code, PXE-2.1 (build 083)
Copyright (C) 1997-2001, Intel Corporation
PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable
PXE-MDF: Exiting Intel PXE ROM
what now

[Chaky]

(This hould've been new thread)

Your new HD needs to be partitioned and partitions needs to be formatted in order to be bootable. Put in a windows setup disk and boot with CD first boot sequence. Partition and format from there.

[mike092103]

I wanted to play this PC game that my PC couldn't handle. To buy it at Dell, it would cost about 2,200 for one that could handle it. Honestly, I bought the book, Building a PC For Dummies no lie, i read the book and went to newegg.com and ordered everything. thats a great site because it makes it simple to find the parts that are compatible with each other. I selected the motherboard and it tells you what socket the possessor is so you can view at only those possessors and decide what you want. It tells you exactly the type of memory you need than you can look at only that type and decide what you want. I took the book out again and followed the steps. It was awesome

[mike092103]

P.S. $625 is what i spent

[C6H12O6]

Let me quote Nike, "Just Do It". No.......really. Dont be afraid to venture into the world of hardware. Its all a puzzle............you good at puzzles......right? Just make sure everything is compatible and you'll be fine. And.......you'll save money doing it yourself :-)

[carloramon1]

jaja !! i do have a lot of troubles, and i do have to buy new part to fix them jaja but everything it s ok right know !! bye :)

And I learn from mistakes: dropping magnetic screwdrivers on bios chips and having to buy a new motherboard :)

Bulldog UK - <snip> supplier

[abetageek]

A recent question requested advice about building your own PC.

The website style is a little amateurish, perhaps, and some of the discussion of components is certainly getting a bit 'dated', but one of the most comprehensive system building guides I've yet come across is Rob Williams' My Super PC website.

http://www.mysuperpc.com/

In particular, the actual assembly instructions are quite detailed indeed, and the principles underlying PC assembly are pretty consistent no matter what system you're putting together.

http://www.mysuperpc.com/build/pc_parts_list.shtml

Another quite good (and a little more professional looking) guide can be found at TomsHardware

http://www6.tomshardware.com/howto/20020904/index.html
http://www6.tomshardware.com/howto/20020918/index.html

I've built over 100 computers, smarter is better

[Chaky]

John, please start a new thread in Appropriate forum. Here in this thread you won't get much help.

(quick tip: if you know which piece of software is slowing your machine down, you can always uninstall it)

[abetageek]

Robin Williams: "Reality! What a Concept!!!"

[forumdude123]

I recently built a new pc with the following:

Ultra aluminus midtower case
Ultra X-Pro 600watt psu APFC 80 PLUS
Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3L Motherboard
IntelCore 2 Duo E7200 @2.53ghz
PNY 2gb ddr2-800 ram
DVD/CD-RW Drive
120gb hdd (soon to be 750gb)
HIS Radeon HD2600Pro ICE-Q Video Card

It was fun, but kinda hard at first. I actually wanted to quit at first, because i thought i bent the cpu pins, but it wasn't, so i stopped, and continued at night. It worked fine at first boot, and i installed vista home premium 32bit. It took 5 hours since i was a first timer, half the time spent on trying to get the motherboard tray back in. If you are building a PC for the first, here is what you should expect:

1. It will take time. It is better to do it slow and get it working fine, rather than fast and have something accidentally placed incorrectly, and have to do it again. It may get depressing at times, so if you get tired, immediately stop working, and if possible, leave the work area the same and continue later. You don't have to get it done the same day. Remember, you are not an expert as a first time builder.

2. You will have the most trouble when installing the cpu, intel cpu stock cooler or really fancy cooler, and the mother board tray. The rest of it is really easy.

3. The cpu is very tricky, especially intel. The intel cpu needs you to carefully examine the exact position of the notches. If you mess up on them, you may bend a pin on either the cpu or the mobo. One bent pin, and the whole thing is screwed. Take your time, and read the manuals on the cpu installation several times before beginning.

3. Speaking of cpu installation, the cpu fan installation for intel stock heatsink can be a PITA. It may warp the mobo, but if it works, you'll be ok. To prevent warping, use a case with a removable mobo tray, remove the tray, and install the cpu on the mobo tray. The cpu cooler may come off when installing sata cables, front panel audio, etc, and if that happens, just push them really hard, even if the mobo is in the case.

3. The mobo tray will take time if it is like the one on the ultra aluminus. It may actually be worth it to leave the tray in the case if it looks hard to install. It took me a while to get the thumb screws and align the mobo tray in the case, but maybe it's just my mistake. :(

4. The rest should be easy. Insert the ram with the notches aligned properly, with the ram holder notches open, and they will automatically closed. Then, insert the hard disk and optical drive, and plug in the sata/ide and power cables. Then, insert the video card if you bought one, and you'll basically be done with a basic setup. I may have missed something though.

4. If push comes to shove, and you seem to have many problems, take the unbuilt pc to a local repair shop, and have them do it, so it doesn't get messed up any worse.

Hope this helps.

[Chaky]

*snif-snif*.. smells like a spam..

[abetageek]

"Reality" is whatever you say it is

[Chaky]

I Agree. I said it, therefor it is so.

[Jen0608]

Hello., im a newbie with regards to PC assembly. May I ask which processor is best to buy and how much is it ?

[abetageek]

Hello., im a newbie with regards to PC assembly. May I ask which processor is best to buy and how much is it ?

Pentium or Athelon both work well, the motherboard must match the brand.
Shop around for prices at google or ebay.
the size depends on how hard you are going to work the computer, size = price.
If you love action games, the bigger the better, plus a big video card, otherwise non importante.
I get parts from M S Y in AU as they are cheapest here and nearby.
Newegg and tigerdirect are in usa.
if you build on xp, 2gig of dual ddr is good.
If you must use vista at least 4 gig.
the ram speed is motherboard limited but the faster, the faster.
to close for now, computers are fun, I started in 86 with a headstart phillips.
and the only dumb question is the one you dont ask.
also goto Windows Secrets where my friends are, lotta info and good attitudes there.

[gamemaniac]

I can not say about other sides but I have visited Tomshardware it is a good site for computer related issues.
Building your Own PC is great because we can build it according to our needs.

[nilanga1]

Hi I'm Nilanga

[gamemaniac]

While building your computer you have to look for following things:

Determine your requirements
Choosing the parts
Assembly
Installing OS

Please check out for these in details, before building your computer.

[micro_komputer]

For me I just learn by going to google and typeing how to do ..

only it i can help to you

[wolflore]

I've looked inside the white box.
I've wondered how hard it can be.
I've swapped out some RAM.
I've binned, swapped, changed drives.
Now I've found two more white boxes.
And I'm going to have a play.
Thanks for pointing out just how simple it really is.

Don't be scared. Go on. Dive in. The water's lovely!

[gamemaniac]

Hi,
I have read Toms hardware guide to build computer its good but you can also get good literature on wikibooks.

Regards

[shansaw]

Yes, building a computer WAS quite easy; making sure the parts were compatible, checking and double checking every detail but now, when I go to turn the thing on... nothing... well, nothing on the monitor at least. Fans run, optimistic humming noises and all but nothing appears on the monitor and it's not booting XP like I expected.

Any ideas?

[Chaky]

Beeper goes a long way when troubleshooting.

P.S. You should start new thread

[micro_komputer]

building a computer WAS quite easy; making sure the parts were compatible, checking and double checking every detail but now, when I go to turn the thing on... nothing... well, nothing on the monitor at least. Fans run, optimistic humming noises and all but nothing appears on the monitor and it's not booting XP like I expected.

thank,best regard

SNIP

[hansen7007]

Good ideas.Thanks for sharing all these sites.Thanks