Need help building a computer?

[bsusigep18]

Somebody out there has to have some tips to do this. Im not a retard, just uninformed. I'd like to do this as some kind of project, and i guess like anything else, i need to do research. I tried, looked all over the place, nobody wants to share any knowledge. So, somebody let me know all the components and stuff i need...from head to toe. I know what kind i want, amd athlon xp chip, just not sure what else, also if somebody could suggest a good video card around 150-200 i'd appreciate it. thanks!

[Chris]

Start with a good Mother board, I would recomend an asus, abit or gigabyte.

Abit kg7-raid
Gigabyte GA-7DXR

Would be my recomendations for a start. The processor, go with an AMD XP, the faster the better. Get the best you can afford.

As for ram, 256 of DDR is a great start, but with ram being as cheap as it is now, go with more if you can afford it.

Get two hard drives, one for your OS and main programs, and another for storing all your crap. Western Digital makes good drives, I also have had no problems with maxtor. Get 7200 RPM drives at least, and the bigger the better.

Video cards, try a G-force. I have heard good things about them. For sound cards, I would stick with a sound blaster, pretty much anything from them works well.

-Chris

[bsusigep18]

Thanks man, thats exactly the kind of info im lookin for. i've heard that its good to find a motherboard with a sound card built in..or is that just to save money? If i piece this thing together, do i need extra cables or anything, man would i be pissed if i didn't have the right cables...also, any good webpages in particular, or should i just keep searching?

[Chris]

try www.bzboyz.com you can find everything you need there. I would stay away from motherboards with built in video especially. If it has built in audio, you can disable it in bios. Typically, the audio that is built into the MB is not nearly as good as even a cheap sound card. Go with a seperate card and you will be happier. All the cables you need should come in the boxes. Make sure you order everything, like a cd-drive, floppy drive etc, etc.

CD-drive: get a combo drive if you can, the dvd reader and cd-rw built into one. If not, get a 12x or faster cd-r.

You may also want to check out www.pricewatch.com they will give you the best prices, try to order everything from one place to save on shipping. You may also want to look into "bare bones" systems, its a MB, cpu, case, powersupply in one package. You add the rest as you want.

-Chris

[bsusigep18]

Awesome...thank you so much, i'll let you know if i have any questions...drivers are included i take it? powersupply, i never thought of that, i just assumed it would come with something, guess not? not even with the case?

[bsusigep18]

I think im just going to let bzboyz build me a computer, i'll build myself a computer when i've got the money, its cheaper for me to just have them build it for me, i am in dire need of a computer that will actually work, unlike my current one, and putting one together isn't going to give me reliability guarunteed. thanks anyways!

[Miscue]

Originally posted by bsusigep18
Awesome...thank you so much, i'll let you know if i have any questions...drivers are included i take it? powersupply, i never thought of that, i just assumed it would come with something, guess not? not even with the case?

Cases normally come with power supplies - some specialty cases do not. However, the PSs that come with cases are usually garbage - prone to failure and can take out your parts along with it when they go out. This is one component you do not want to skimp on. A good PS may run you around $50-60 or so. Enermax is one of my favorites, I've sold/installed/used many of these w/o problems... there are several other good brands.

HDDs: Go with Maxtor. When you get it, you can go to Maxtor's website and turn off the low acoustics mode, and error checking stuff to make it run faster than outta the box. WD's are flaky more often, usually aren't any cheaper, and on average do not perform better than a Maxtor. *Miscue hears a voice in the background* "No they're not, you're wrong!" I've installed and sold several hundreds of them, RMA'd palettes... (I am not exaggerating). Most of them work fine, but statistically break a lot more often than Maxtors. WDD does have a really good 3-year warranty though.

Drivers - The parts you buy will come with all drivers, although they are usually older than the ones available on the net.

If you find a shop with good prices... selling around a 15-18 point profit margin or so, yes... you'll probably get it cheaper than if you built it yourself and didn't order individual parts online. Or at least you'll save yourself the trouble of lengthy price hunting and such, and since you got everything from them it should have some form of warranty parts/labor along with it. It's a good idea to have a good local shop do it for you.

Like Chris said... Asus boards are very good, I'm partial to them. MSI's work well. ABITs are alright usually... An AMD is a smarter buy. Get whatever generation of G-Force that floats your boat. Memory is cheap now, load up on it.

[bsusigep18]

I was looking around my local shops and i swear the best computer store around here is best buy...all of the other ones are really really dinky and have absolutly no selection and even worse customer service, i asked the guy if he'd be able to make a computer by my specs for me, and he said it would cost me 100 to make, 100 for a 'required' warranty (1 year), and another 200!! to test it...so thats pretty crazy. who knows, maybe i can get my dad to just buy me a computer, he'd never agree to me pieceing one together, but if he's willing to purchase one, then by all means. either way, thanks for the input miscue.

[Tbone]

If you're really picky about memory, I recommend going with some DDR from Nanya, they have the fastest speed in terms of CAS rate and they're also overclockable as anything (snicker, snicker) :D

Oh yeah, and http://www.pricewatch.com rocks

[Failure]

My setup is as follows:
AMD XP1800
EPoX 8KHA+ motherboard(has built in sound)
512meg Crucial 2100 ddr ram(it runs @cas2)
Gainward Geforce 3(love it to bits!)
Sound Blaster Audigy
IBM Deskstar 75GXP hardrive(quiet and fast)
Enermax 431 watt powersupply

Can't really say that Nanya has the fastest Cas2 speed when Mushkin runs 2-2-2 GAURANTEED! Crucial and Corsair will as well. I have crucial at 2-2-2 right now. The AMD XP kicks, runs cooler than a t-bird and faster w/ less power consumption. Motherboards, I love my EPoX board(rock Stable and fast) but the nForce looks good too. Has audio, built in geforce2 MX video card and a NIC(ethernet card). Hardrives, I say get an IBM 60gxp. Don't really need 2 unless you are running raid(just get a large amount of gig's and make 3 partitions...boot-games-porn). Ok, the enermax powersupply is the best I've ever used . I have the whisper version. I chose 431 watts because I have 2 cd roms, zip drive, floppy, and a few case fans that use power. The 300 watt just wasn't doing it. You guys will probably hang me for this one but I suggest winXP for an operating system. Most people don't like it but I do. I used to run Win98 and I grew sick of reinstalling it every 3 months. I'm a hardcore gamer so I'm picky about performance. Do yourself a favor and build a computer yourself, and DON'T buy from bestbuy. Go to www.newegg.com , they have excellent prices and better customer service. Also, if you have any questions about your computer go to www.anandtech.com Their forums are packed with helpful people. Just like here but for computer related info.

[Restola]

sharkyextreme.com

they do very good "high end" and "low end" gaming pc configs every month with updated prices and why they chose the pieces. check it out.