Hi, I'm fairly new to PC Hardware so I was wondering if someone could help me out with building a computer, which I'm interested in for both saving money as well as education. It would be a PC for home use (Internet, Office use,etc.) What are a couple quality sites for hardware? What are all the components I would need? (A case, a hard drive, Motherboard w/ processor, modem, sound card, video card??) What are hardware compatability issues I should keep in mind? What about processor slots and sockets? I'm not sure I understand the difference, or how to avoid buying the wrong thing. Sorry, lot of questions, but any help would be much appreciated. Basically, I want to order all the parts online that I would need, and don't have much of a clue what I need or where to begin. Thanks again!
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Question about building a PC
- Thread starter yardape13
- Start date
HI
YOu have to decide what you want.
1. An AMD processor or an Intel processor.
2. What speed you wanna go.
3. What capacity harddisk you want to choose.
4. What RAM capacity you want.
Think about what you want to do. Are you needing heavy graphics or game oriented, data processing oriented..
If it is data processing... AMD processors are very good. If it games, though AMD claims a lot with 3Dnow, Intel is the key, since most of the games know intel more.
If you are in a lower end.. say a 1Ghz.. then AMD is ok. If you are planning 1.5 Ghz and above INTEL P4 type (budget is the key..) could be taken.
If it is games.. GAforce Video .. down the level.. TNTnvidia AGP 4x VGA cards can be considered. Probably you can consider a card with TV out.
If P4 go for.. RD RAM. If AMD over 1 Ghz go for DDR RAM.
If 1Ghz Athlon/Duron SDRAMs will do.
Harddisk.. if budget permits go for 7200RPM harddisks. The access speed will be good. Otherwise stay with 5400RPM harddisk. For higher ends.. SCSI harddisks can be considered as against IDE HDs said above.
Dont compromise on the good powersupply cases and CPU coolers. They are essentials.
Think of DVD drives. Internet keyboards, Spekers with woofer system .. a few dollars extra spent will get you good output. A 4D optical mouse. Options such as remote keyboards and remote mouse systems are available. A floppy drive and ZIP drives can be considered.
Plan for the internet connection.. DSL modem or ISDN whatever.. the local srvice provider can be consulted.
If you need Camera or scanner or CD writers.. you can plan suitably and avoid duplications of a CD and a DVD and a CD writer etc...
Hope this helps
ramani :-9
(Subramanian.G),FoxAcc, ramani_g@yahoo.com
YOu have to decide what you want.
1. An AMD processor or an Intel processor.
2. What speed you wanna go.
3. What capacity harddisk you want to choose.
4. What RAM capacity you want.
Think about what you want to do. Are you needing heavy graphics or game oriented, data processing oriented..
If it is data processing... AMD processors are very good. If it games, though AMD claims a lot with 3Dnow, Intel is the key, since most of the games know intel more.
If you are in a lower end.. say a 1Ghz.. then AMD is ok. If you are planning 1.5 Ghz and above INTEL P4 type (budget is the key..) could be taken.
If it is games.. GAforce Video .. down the level.. TNTnvidia AGP 4x VGA cards can be considered. Probably you can consider a card with TV out.
If P4 go for.. RD RAM. If AMD over 1 Ghz go for DDR RAM.
If 1Ghz Athlon/Duron SDRAMs will do.
Harddisk.. if budget permits go for 7200RPM harddisks. The access speed will be good. Otherwise stay with 5400RPM harddisk. For higher ends.. SCSI harddisks can be considered as against IDE HDs said above.
Dont compromise on the good powersupply cases and CPU coolers. They are essentials.
Think of DVD drives. Internet keyboards, Spekers with woofer system .. a few dollars extra spent will get you good output. A 4D optical mouse. Options such as remote keyboards and remote mouse systems are available. A floppy drive and ZIP drives can be considered.
Plan for the internet connection.. DSL modem or ISDN whatever.. the local srvice provider can be consulted.
If you need Camera or scanner or CD writers.. you can plan suitably and avoid duplications of a CD and a DVD and a CD writer etc...
Hope this helps
ramani :-9
(Subramanian.G),FoxAcc, ramani_g@yahoo.com
Well a couple of my favorite sites are tigerdirect.com, neocomputers.com, krex.com, and computerpartsusa.com
if you goto neocomputers and click on custom system you can select each piece for your custom system. neocomputers isn't the cheapest ,but it will get you started.(I use neocomputers as a parts checklist ) I think the main thing you will need to make sure is that you get the correct mobo (motherboard) and processor combinaton.
You can't use a socket A processor on a Slot A motherboard. Tigerdirect has all kinds of mobo+cpu combo kits which combine a motherboard and processor for a low price. Like I just ordered a 1.3 ghz AMD chip with a soyo motherboard for around $279.99 at tigerdirect. But for my cheaper computer I ordered a 800mhz duron with FIC micro motherboard for $119.99. Basically depends on what you are going to do with this computer.
Main pieces you need though are
computer case,memory(ram),mobo &cpu, cooling fan that goes on your actual CPU,a: drive(floppy),hard drive, cd-rom? ,then any extra parts like 56kmodem?, sound card?,graphics card?, operating system,mouse,keyboard etc.
Hope that helps a lil
if you goto neocomputers and click on custom system you can select each piece for your custom system. neocomputers isn't the cheapest ,but it will get you started.(I use neocomputers as a parts checklist
) I think the main thing you will need to make sure is that you get the correct mobo (motherboard) and processor combinaton.You can't use a socket A processor on a Slot A motherboard. Tigerdirect has all kinds of mobo+cpu combo kits which combine a motherboard and processor for a low price. Like I just ordered a 1.3 ghz AMD chip with a soyo motherboard for around $279.99 at tigerdirect. But for my cheaper computer I ordered a 800mhz duron with FIC micro motherboard for $119.99. Basically depends on what you are going to do with this computer.
Main pieces you need though are
computer case,memory(ram),mobo &cpu, cooling fan that goes on your actual CPU,a: drive(floppy),hard drive, cd-rom? ,then any extra parts like 56kmodem?, sound card?,graphics card?, operating system,mouse,keyboard etc.
Hope that helps a lil
- Thread starter
- #4
Sorry, should have been more specific. That is all a big help though. I'm basically going to use the computer for Internet and downloading music and what not. I'm not into games or anything like that. I have a laptop that I want to network with the one I build just for the experience. I'm on a fairly low budget as well, so I'm looking for, not necessarily the bare essentials, but certainly not any crazy, high-end components either. Just something functional, but not real slow. thanks again.
Best Bang for buck on a budget has to be the AMD Duron processor, so lets put you a cheap medium performance system together shall we!!
Socket A Duron 900 £52
Socket A Motherboard with onboard sound (onboard Graphics) if you are not going to play games. Lots out there to choose from, £60 up
nVIDIA G/force 2 MX 200 32mb Graphics (fair gaming on a budget).£44
PC133 SDram memory (128mb should do it) £12
20 Gigabyte 5,400rpm hard drive £69
3.5inch floppy £9
52 speed CDrom £26
300watt Midi Tower case £28
Heatsink and fan for processor £6
101 key, keyboard £4.50
2 button mouse £2.50
56K hardware modem £14
TOTAL: £315 with seperate graphics
£271 onboard graphics, Carn't be bad!!!!!
Martin, Nottingham, England
Oh! and £95 for a 15inch monitor if you havn't already got1
Socket A Duron 900 £52
Socket A Motherboard with onboard sound (onboard Graphics) if you are not going to play games. Lots out there to choose from, £60 up
nVIDIA G/force 2 MX 200 32mb Graphics (fair gaming on a budget).£44
PC133 SDram memory (128mb should do it) £12
20 Gigabyte 5,400rpm hard drive £69
3.5inch floppy £9
52 speed CDrom £26
300watt Midi Tower case £28
Heatsink and fan for processor £6
101 key, keyboard £4.50
2 button mouse £2.50
56K hardware modem £14
TOTAL: £315 with seperate graphics
£271 onboard graphics, Carn't be bad!!!!!
Martin, Nottingham, England
Oh! and £95 for a 15inch monitor if you havn't already got1
If this is a First Computers or you need to buy an operating system you may want to buy all OR MOST of the parts from one place to get the operating system at a lower price. Usually to get the operating system cheaper you have to buy a case, Hard drive, memory, motherboard and floppy.
Shop around a bit go look at sites like DELL and use a Custom System Selector and see what the prices are for the specific items.
Compare the prices at places like tigerdirect.com(Chicago I think), and computers4sure.com (California), Try looking at prices at Best Buy; they sell complete computer systems and some peripherals like Video cards, printers, Monitors, ect.
Sometimes a big store has good prices on monitors, printers, and video cards. I wouldn't want to pay the shipping on a monitor!
I bought most of my last computer from (Cincinatti, Ohio). They let you customize a system, or order the Case, Motherboard, and CPU allready assembled; called a bare bones model.
I used an Enlight Case, which seems to be a pretty nice case. You can take the sides off, and the front panel comes off also.
Like other people have said, get a good power supply with the case both Pentium 4 and AMD Athlons have special power requirements. They require a steady rate of sustained power in a specific wattage range.
Cooling is critical. The AMD Athlons tend to run from 90 to 145 degrees F.
A good Video card is a good idea. Unless you never buy games or want to look at graphics, dont skimp too much on a video card. Nvida GFORCE2 is a good middle of the road model. If you are cheap maybe a 8 Meg Video card will do. There will just be some games that wont play on it. I am using a Raedon VE 32 MB DDR made by ATI. The Drivers arent as good as the GFORCE, from what I have been told.
Custom build shops are overworked at Christmas time and that can cause part outages and longer waiting periods for delivery. Look for the specials around Christmas, but make sure you are getting what you want and not what hasn't been selling well!!!
You may want to try some of those new molded Hard Drive cables instead of the flat ones that are about 2 1/2" wide and stop the airflow. Places like sells all kinds of cables.
USB Devices are getting popular too. Stuff like cameras, printers, scanners, CDROM burners. If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.
Shop around a bit go look at sites like DELL and use a Custom System Selector and see what the prices are for the specific items.
Compare the prices at places like tigerdirect.com(Chicago I think), and computers4sure.com (California), Try looking at prices at Best Buy; they sell complete computer systems and some peripherals like Video cards, printers, Monitors, ect.
Sometimes a big store has good prices on monitors, printers, and video cards. I wouldn't want to pay the shipping on a monitor!
I bought most of my last computer from (Cincinatti, Ohio). They let you customize a system, or order the Case, Motherboard, and CPU allready assembled; called a bare bones model.
I used an Enlight Case, which seems to be a pretty nice case. You can take the sides off, and the front panel comes off also.
Like other people have said, get a good power supply with the case both Pentium 4 and AMD Athlons have special power requirements. They require a steady rate of sustained power in a specific wattage range.
Cooling is critical. The AMD Athlons tend to run from 90 to 145 degrees F.
A good Video card is a good idea. Unless you never buy games or want to look at graphics, dont skimp too much on a video card. Nvida GFORCE2 is a good middle of the road model. If you are cheap maybe a 8 Meg Video card will do. There will just be some games that wont play on it. I am using a Raedon VE 32 MB DDR made by ATI. The Drivers arent as good as the GFORCE, from what I have been told.
Custom build shops are overworked at Christmas time and that can cause part outages and longer waiting periods for delivery. Look for the specials around Christmas, but make sure you are getting what you want and not what hasn't been selling well!!!
You may want to try some of those new molded Hard Drive cables instead of the flat ones that are about 2 1/2" wide and stop the airflow. Places like sells all kinds of cables.
USB Devices are getting popular too. Stuff like cameras, printers, scanners, CDROM burners. If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.
Here is a great site with plenty of information about Hardware and building your own system.
I just built my first system about 2 months ago. Indeed, it was both educational and fun.
Good Luck.
I just built my first system about 2 months ago. Indeed, it was both educational and fun.
Good Luck.
You can also check for a listing of online retailers and the list is catagorized for easy use.
Badaboom
Badaboom
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