Planning to build a computer, I would love some thoughts.

Hey everyone, Its CoRn. I like popping in and out between life in Tennessee and life in this electronic transfer on the internet.

I am planning to make a computer from scratch over the summer and was wanting to grab some advice before I jumped into it. Knowing that some of you have built your own, I thought it would be helpful to see how you all did it.

What store did you shop at to grab the parts and why?

What is the price you got to build yours?

Crucial advice when making your own computer.

Crucial things not to do when making your own computer.



Thanks for the help.

newegg.com

thank you. I have checked out that site before.

I also know of a recent website I have been checking out. Tigerdirect.com

Both of those are good websites and they are pretty similar.

Here is a system a friend of mine put together on newegg.com:

I checked everything and they're still available, I think the MB is out of stock though so you would have to wait till it becomes available again.
The only other thing you would need is an OS plus peripherals (mouse, keyboard, monitor, etc).

This guy is a computer geek (don't tell him i said that) so he knows what he's doing.

However, there are a lot of factors that come into play when building a computer, so if you don't know what you're doing you could easily mess things up and/or waste a lot of money.

Let me know if this helped, or if you have any more questions.

Here is an alternative to the MB in the above pic:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130559

They're almost identical, but I would still recommend the one in the picture.

Of course, if you wait till summer to buy all this stuff, there is no guarantee they will all still be available..

Ah newegg.com. That is an awesome place to buy computer stuff. I have used them for a long time and also DTM out of Huntsville but still I like newegg better. Really good prices and service. Good luck Corn on your build.

God bless.

It did help. Thanks Smoke. Gave me some ideas on what I should buy or not. I have some computer parts that I may or may not need. Also goes with Operating System.

Your very right about the sensitivity of building your own PC. I have been looking up a lot of information just because I dont want to mess this up. It is an investment. It should be a concern. But also shouldnt be a consuming and relentless concern.

Here is a website I have been looking up for building one.

http://static.highspeedbackbone.net/html/PCbuildingTips.html

Creating a good cooling system for the PC.

http://static.highspeedbackbone.net/html/guide_Basic_PC_Cooling.html

Thanks Pun, lets hope I dont cause a surprising explosion in my house. lol

I built my last one and always order from tiger direct.Make sure your All depends on what your wanting to spend to how good of a machine you build.power supply is at least 500 or 750 watts.When your building you need to look at what it takes to run what your putting in it.Processor is very important also.I like 3.0 or better.Motherboard and video card means a lot .keeping it cool is something to think about also.You can get a 120 mm fan fairly cheap to cool the CPU,and try to get a video card with an awsome cooling system .If your playing games,try to get a good audio card.It will help more than you can imagine.remember an OS if you don't have one already.God Bless build it Strong

Marn

Would it be better to get an XP OS or Windows 7?

If my computer would focus on Graphic Design, Music, and Games.

I dont see the trade offs that well. Obviously XP uses less memory, but Windows 7 is more updated.

xp can only use 4 gigs of ram i think,so if ya want better go to 7.the more ram the better.

Go for Windows 7 64-bit. I use Windows 7 Professional 64-bit and it is wonderful. Easy to use, simple, highly customizable, etc. Runs like a champ.

Going with Windows 7 will let you use more RAM and 64-bit processors use RAM more efficiently than 32-bit processors. Make sure to check the motherboard compatibility and max RAM specs.

And what Marn said..the more RAM, the better.

Oh I didnt know that. I would prob have to then. I was planning to get 8 GB of DDR3 RAM, so I would have to get it then.

Corn wrote:Oh I didnt know that. I would prob have to then. I was planning to get 8 GB of DDR3 RAM, so I would have to get it then.

Hi Corn, If you do go with DDR3 RAM you will need to make sure the MB is compatible with DDR3. Then you can find a suitable processor.

My first step when I built mine, was to select a good case. One with plenty of room and fans to cool everything inside would be ideal.

Next I looked for a decent motherbord that would fit the case and would be compatible with the RAM and processor that I was looking for. I would stick with AMD as I think Intel is way overpriced as far as price/performance goes. Here is a great motherboard/cpu combo that uses DDR3 and won't break the bank: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=165182&CatId=4297

Here is 6GB of 1333MHz triple channel DDR3 RAM at a decent price: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4282847&CatId=4327

Next, and most important for gaming, is the video card. There are soooooo many choices out there but I have stayed with NVIDIA due to having major issues with ATI cards (drivers). A nice all around card is this one - http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6701582&CatId=2513 - it only has 768MB of Vram but if you're not playing Crysis on max settings at 1920 X 1080 then you will be just fine with it

Optical drives will be easy just make sure they are compatible with your motherboard connectors (sata vs ide although most new are sata).
Hard drives - see above regarding optical drives.

The most important item is last (power supply). You will want to choose this last since you now know exactly what you need to power up. Here is a power supply calculator from Newegg that will give you the approximate power needed to run everything you are getting:
http://educations.newegg.com/tool/psucalc/index.html

One important thing to remember when building is don't do what I did on my first build and forget your case standoffs before installing the motherboard (I almost fried my entire system but luckily my motherboard had a fail safe to immediately power down if a noobie like me forgets to install them). Good luck!

Thanks Squid. This is helpful. Is there a huge difference with DDR2 and DD3 Ram?

On your last statement. Forgetting your case standoffs. What are you referring to?

I built a computer 1 or 2 years ago. It was alot easier than I expected. The hardest part is buying parts that go together, and I had a super-geek friend of mine help me out there (he was like 13 and he built a computer...).

Deffinately shop at Newegg.com ! I get all my electronics there, because they always have some special deal and you end up saving a bit of money. Also, they have everything.

DDR2 ram is slower than DDR3 ram. Overall, despite what I think most ppl think (and I thought 2) Ram is not the most important thing for your computer: the video card is. Ram will help it run faster, but you won't be able to do serious gaming without a good graphics card. Nowadays you should be able to get a decent one pretty cheap (and I like nVidia better than AMD)

One final suggestion. Before you buy everything, think about if you could possibly want to upgrade your computer in the future. I know I just got what I needed, but now I wish I had gotten a better mobo so I could upgrade 1 part at a time as I had money that I got from gifts and stuff.

~Fiddler.~ wrote:DDR2 ram is slower than DDR3 ram. Overall, despite what I think most ppl think (and I thought 2) Ram is not the most important thing for your computer: the video card is. Ram will help it run faster, but you won't be able to do serious gaming without a good graphics card. Nowadays you should be able to get a decent one pretty cheap (and I like nVidia better than AMD)

Depends on the use of the computer; for straight up gaming, yes, video card is vital. But for multitasking/editing type things, extra RAM helps immensely. For a typical user (not hardcore gamer) RAM is more critical a component than a video card.

Also, I agree on the mobo thing.. that is one critical thing that's probably the hardest to upgrade in the future (due to compatibility). Picking high quality, diverse core components will help

Yeah video card is for gaming mostly. RAM helps the computer run faster overall but 4gb (which costs about $50 on newegg) is definitely plenty.

Corn wrote:Thanks Squid. This is helpful. Is there a huge difference with DDR2 and DD3 Ram?

On your last statement. Forgetting your case standoffs. What are you referring to?

DDR3 is faster than DDR2 and uses less power so for me it was a no brainer getting DDR3. Also, pricing for DDR3 has dropped considerably in the last year so it is about the same as DDR2.

The case standoff screws are installed in the case holes where the motherboard is to be installed. They create a buffer between the case and motherboard. This is because the case is metal and if the motherboard touched this metal case it could cause a short circuit and possibly damage components installed in the motherboard including the motherboard itself.

When I put my first build together, a small bag of them came with the new case and I had no idea what they were so I tossed the bag aside. When I put everything together and pushed the power button it powered up and immediately powered down. Scratching my head for an hour I thought to myself "now where are those bag of "thingies" and maybe they are important" I had to take EVERYTHING back out, install the standoffs, put everything back in and boom it took right off.

No matter what type of system you are building, the motherboard is the most critical component. The mobo determines what other components will go into the system, not the other way around. Don't be afraid to spend a little more on a good motherboard, you won't regret it. RAM and video cards can be upgraded, but to upgrade a mobo later on is often difficult and costly. So make sure you don't go cheap on your motherboard purchase; buy one that has plenty of options for expansion.

And I agree with Fiddler, 4GB of RAM is enough for a basic gaming system. 512MB of graphics memory is also enough to run almost any game, even newer ones (just not on max graphics settings).