Building Your Own PC ?

I am thinking of building my own PC with the help of someone who has done it before. He will email a list of components to buy, mainly from Newegg and Tigerdirect.

He says the biggest thing is get compatible components. I was wondering how complex it would be to do it myself. I am looking for something that has speed, can watch movies on, surf the web, and learn to play some games, (though I am almost too old for that!). I don't need a great deal of space.

Would it be easier to just buy a tower ? (I would like to use the computer with a new TV 32" screen).

Any advice on the subject is appreciated.

 

Ya, budget is #1 as Halo says and at least you have fairly good idea of what you'll use it for. The main operative word here is 'gaming' as you could treble your costs depending how far you want to go.:eek

Yes, show us what your friend thinks and your budget, minus the 32" screen.

 

Thank you for your replies.

I am emailing my Geek friend tonight. I was planning on less than $800.

As for games, I would just like to try something new. The last thing I did was the final Myst installment, (played them all). I have no idea what the new games are like. I remember playing Descent on floppy disks.

Once I have his list, I will post it here for your recommendations.

Thanks again, will get back to this post soon. :wave

melissa

 

I have some recommendations as to the components. The list so far is:

AMD Athlon II X4 620 Propus 2.6GHz 4X512KB L2 Cache Socket AM3
- 95W Quad-Core Processor

ASRock M3A785GXH/128M AM3 AMD 785G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard

Crucial 4GB (2X2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Dual
- Channel Kit Desktop Memory (He suggested two of these).

Cisco R200-D250GCSATA=250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.5" Internal Hard Drive

ASUS CuCore series EAH4850 CUCORE TOP/2DI/1GB3 Radeon HD 4850
- 1GB 256-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0x18 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video
- Card

CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V/EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready - 80 Plus Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply

A standard size ATX Case, not a micro ATX Case

He told me to look around for CD/DVD Drives with a good DVD burner.


That is all I have so far. I welcome all feedback on these components.
I am willing to go up in quality and price if it will be better in the long run.
My friend suggested these parts because he is familiar with them. He has no opposition to Intel, but does not have experience with building an Intel-based computer.

:confused

 

I forgot to add that I think I should go bigger on the hard drive, as you suggested Halo. Also, these components may not be the latest in technology available ???

Melissa

 

I have been looking at newer components.

Does anyone have advice/feedback on these components ?

:confused

 

As a personal view i would take a different route.

http://www.google.com/products/cata...og_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CDkQ8wIwBA#

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...le-_-Processors+-+Desktops-_-Intel-_-19115059

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220142

http://www.google.com/products/cata..._qDpXV-QbGkN2qCQ&sa=title&ved=0CAcQ8wIwADgA#p

http://www.google.com/products?hl=&...esult_group&ct=title&resnum=3&ved=0CDAQrQQwAg

http://www.google.com/products/cata...TLIoSE-Qa9-vilCQ&sa=title&ved=0CGEQ8wIwBjgA#p

Use a full tower and that gives you room to expand at a later date.

Unless you are going to put a 64 bit OS in you do not need more than 4gb of ram

I suggested DDR2 ram because you say you are not a serious gamer so the more expensive DDR3 is not needed also you could put an intel Quad in the rig but it will push up you budget.

 

Thank you so much for the information and the time you put into your reply. I will be going over this slowly as this is my first time building a computer.

I will most likely need to ask questions as I am doing this, and will post here if my computer friend can't help me.

Thank you again for the information ! :wave

Melissa

 

You are welcome, we are always here if you run into any problems.

 

And, just a few tips that have helped me: relax, breathe deep, use common sense, don't get frustrated, etc...remember: building a computer is fun!

:dood

 

I was full of trepidation the first time I built a computer. In the end I discovered it's nothing but a box with parts in it. I took my time, followed directions and went one step at at time. In the end, it was easier than I thought and worked fine. I never looked back and would never purchase one from a store again. You never get as good a computer for the price and often discover shortcomings after the fact. Good luck.

 

Well said revdarkwing, the actual building of it takes a far back seat compared to the choice of components, basically, put tab A into slot B. :-D

 

Thank you for your replies and encouragement.

I am looking into the components closely. Also, trying to research the quality and compatibility.

Thanks again,

melissa

:wave