diy- building a computer

i'm seriously thinking about building a computer, nothing fancy, just something to get my feet wet. i'm leaning toward the budget box in this article. http://***********.com/hardware/guides/2008/03/guide-200803.ars. this article is from "08" and i was hoping to get some advice on the current equivalents to this hardware.tia

 

That link doesn't work.

Best to tell us what you will use the computer for and what your budget will be.
And if you are in the US or somewhere else.

Sam

 

sorry, the url didn't paste write or something. anyway the components mentioned are motherboard-asus m2a-vm hdmi, processor-amd athlon 64 x2 4200+ retail, ram 2gb ddr2-800, video-pny geforce 9600gt, sound- onboard, communications- onboard, hard drive-western digital caviar se16 320gb sata, optical drive- dvd-rw/cd-rw samsung sh s203b, case-in-win c589. tia

 

what will the pc be used for?

 

this computer will be used for basic web browsing, downloading and listening to some music, some photo editing, just everyday stuff. the article i tried to post suggests the price can come in under $800.

 

You can buy a pre-built computer from any major manufacturer that will do that all tenfold, for about $400 -- $800 would be overkill for that sort of usage.

DIY builds were very economical a few years back, but now that manufacturers have dropped their prices so much in response to cheaper hardware and market competition it's almost worth the $50 or so you'd save "DIY" to just buy pre-built and not deal with assembly, especially as a beginner.

If you're interested in it as a learning experience, you can build something that does everything you want for under $400 by starting from here: TigerDirect.com Barebone Kits

And then grabbing other things like Hard Drive and Optical Drives as needed, as some don't have all those things included. That way you could get your learning experience without risk of buying incompatible parts.

I personally would recommend this one if you're on a tight budget:

TigerDirect.com Barebone Kits - Intel Dual-Core 1TB Barebone Kit - Biostar G31M7TE Intel Mobo, Intel Pentium Dual Core E5300 CPU, Ultra 2GB PC5400 DDR2 RAM, Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB HD, Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case W/ 450w

1TB hard drive, dual-core processor, 2GB of RAM, power supply included... Only $229 for everything you need except OS and DVD/CD drive. And you could always upgrade these things later on.

Barebone kits are the way to go for first-time builders. Don't forget to buy your OS.