Can i build myself a computer?

**SniperSmurf** · 02-12-2006, 02:22 PM

Sounds to me like the Dell customer support didn't really help you out at all. What a shocker!!!

Why they couldn't walk you through disabling the integrated graphics and installing your new card is beyond me.

Give us some more details on that and maybe we can help you with that before you go trying to build a new one. IMHO, if you had trouble getting a new card to work in your current computer, building one from scratch will be a nightmare for you. I'm certainly not telling you not to do it (heck, that's what I'd do), but do some research and know what you're getting into before you start.

As for components, well, that's like asking "what's the best marker out there". Lots of different opinions are gonna fly at you. My suggestion, if you go this route, would be to use what you can from your current computer as a base. Give us some details on what you already have, and we'll go from there. Nowdays, you may find a "pre-built" computer is going to be cheaper than buying all the parts separately. Go to newegg.com and put everything you think you'll need in a shopping cart. You may be suprised at the cost. Good luck!

**slade** · 02-12-2006, 02:26 PM

/waits for mango/foo to post

first you could see if on your dell's motherboard there is a way to disable the integrated graphics, some mobos require you to do so before installing a videocard, although my old dell was just fine with dropping a videocard in.

building a computer wont be too hard. i was going to but unfortunately ended up not

. i doubt youll have to solder at all... if you have to, i think you really messed something up

ive always used pentiums, but AMD is whats always recommended for gaming.

go to www.newegg.com for most (or all) of your parts, find out about what you want and post here for confirmation.

installing win xp should be fairly easy once you have the computer assembled... you probably just power up the computer and drop in the cd.

**FreakBaller12** · 02-12-2006, 03:13 PM

computers are very easy to build. I built one myself last summer and knew nothing about computers when I started. I learned everything and built it without a real problem.
As far as what to buy goes

1 gig of ram (3x512) corsair, this stuff is dirt cheap.
hard drive-western digital or seagate
You can contact NJpaint here on AO as well. He should be more than happy to help you out. He helped me out a ton when I got my computer tower started. You can also search my old threads here in the friendly for some computer advice. I had a bunch and NJpaint made a couple of long informing posts that help a bunch.

**Timmee** · 02-12-2006, 03:42 PM

Originally posted by Brak

Well yesterday i tried to get some more use out of this stupid Dell. I got a graphics card, but it ended up trying to fight the integrated graphics card and my whole computer got screwed up. I got customer service on the line and took the card out and now this computer is fine, but still unable to play any games i want to play. So i've decided that i might want to give a shot to building a computer tower. I have a whole lot of questions.

-First and foremost, would i be able to build a computer? I'm no computer genius, but i know my way around computers decently well. I'd have no problem working with a few (not super-complicated) wire harnesses, but im not confident on any soldering (is that even needed?)

-Any other advice on parts would be welcomed. Such as RAM, motherboard, power supply, case, etc.

-If i do this and get all of the above sorted out, how would i go about building the computer? and also, how would i get it started off and install windows XP?

thanks in advance for the help, i dunno if i can do this but ive got an urge and a measly budget that can't afford a pre-built computer, so i figure i might give it a shot

EDIT:
to answer sniper's questions:

Dell refused to help me with the graphics card problem because i didnt buy it from them and it was "out of scope" with their customer service policy.... i actually did disable the integrated card, but from what ive heard (i looked up trying to do it before it did) one can never FULLY disable the integrated card and it will cause trouble no mattter what. The reason for that is that one can only turn off the integrated card in the system preferences, there is no way to do it completely via something on the hardware itself. The guy told me it would keep conflicting and all that junk, so i decided not to waste time.

i just found a bunch of guides and can see that its tough, but in these guides it doesnt look like there is anything super-complicated. I think that i can do it, but ill be going from scratch. I'm going to keep this computer intact, but i figure ill make a pentium computer because however little experience i have with computer has been with pentiums.

If you can follow directions, you shouldn't have major problems building a system. You also need to take your time when building. Even though I'd built computers before, I took my time and read the manual every step of the way. Pick good brands for parts (the power supply quality is often overlooked). Check here for more info on power supplies: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=792566

If you do decide to build a system, and if you do have problems with it, post here (there's a bunch of people that just recently went through building a system, that can help).

**Brak** · 02-12-2006, 04:41 PM

Alright, I've been looking and have a general idea of what im going to get. But i have a question:

what about a cooling device? im totally in the dark here. i have no idea what to get here, any direction would be appreciated.

**Timmee** · 02-12-2006, 05:00 PM

Originally posted by Brak

Alright, I've been looking and have a general idea of what im going to get. But i have a question:

what about a cooling device? im totally in the dark here. i have no idea what to get here, any direction would be appreciated.

Right now, I'm still using the stock HSF from my Athlon 64. Hopefully soon though, I'll be running a water cooled setup. If this is your first system, I'd recommend using air cooling. If you want more cpu cooling performance than the stock HSF, you might try something like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835118115

**FooTemps** · 02-12-2006, 06:30 PM

The long awaited Foo post!

So someone was waiting for me or mango to post... lol (I really was just going to leave this thread alone too, but I guess you're lucky today)

Alright. Lets start things off by answering each of your questions Brak.

- "I'm no computer genius, would I be able to build a computer?"
Yes, if you have the patience to read and take precautions, anyone can build a computer. Building a computer is actually really basic. It is a "part b goes with slot b" process. The only difficult part would be worrying about cooling, which I will address later.

- "What parts should I get?"
It looks like you are going for an all around rig that is good for gaming...

I would say you want to get a 64bit processor. What I'm saying is that you don't want pentium, you want AMD. Buy an A64 processor and you won't be disappointed.

For motherboards, graphics cards, and other parts, make sure you buy compatible parts. If you buy a pci-express graphics card, you want a pci-express compatible motherboard. I would recommend the combination of an nvidia 7800GT based graphics card and an nforce4 SLI motherboard. This way, if you want to improve your system further, you can add another 7800GT card and run them in SLI. This would improve your graphics performance. For sound, get a creative sound card. You don't really want to run on board unless you absolutely have no room for another card.

For hard drives, if you really want to do hardcore gaming... I'd say get a Raptor... but that's insanely expensive and really not worth it unless you are hardcore. For a good hard drive range, just get a maxtor hd that runs SATA or SATAII. The higher transfer rate will allow your system to run faster and SATA cables are much easier to manage.

Power supplies (like timmee said) can't be overlooked. Get a quality power supply. I'd suggest the Antec Neopower 480. It is a good power supply for the price. It also has modular cables so it will be easier to manage the wires. You could also look at the enermax noisetaker. That is an awesome power supply but it doesn't have modular cables.

Ram is really well priced these days. Either go for a 1 or 2gb kit. Don't go any less these days. If you are under 1gb, many applications will suffer. (I remember the first time I upgraded to 1gb from 512, oh man I was so happy with how fast my photoshop started up) If you pick up performance ram, remember that it requires more voltage but will have better timing so it will run faster.

- "How do I go about building the computer?"
Okay, here's the trick... No static discharge! Get something to keep you grounded. Many people have methods to build their systems. First, plan out what you are going to do. Plan out the fan layout if you have multiple fans. Plan out which slots you are using. Plan how you are going to fit drives. Once you have that all ready, I usually start with installing the processor on the motherboard. Then I attach the heatsink. Make sure you use good thermal paste and apply it correctly. After that, I put the motherboard with proc and heatsink on the motherboard tray or into the case. Once that is in I'd install the other cards such as the graphics and sound cards. After that I put in the power supply. Then I finish up putting the rest of the parts in and start plugging the cables in. Make sure you organize your cables so the inside of the case isn't a huge mess. I'd suggest zip ties or velcro for now since you don't have any experience with computers. Once it's all together, make sure the motherboard doesn't have anything (like jumpers) that will prevent the system from starting. Refer to the motherboard manual for that information. After that, install your operating system!

- "What about cooling?"
Cooling! Since this is your first system, go with aircooling. If you pick up a nice AMD processor, they come with great heatsinks if you buy the retail package. If you want to go aftermarket, I would reccomend the Zalman CNPS9500. The thing looks nice and performs great, Mango uses it in his system. The video card will come with its own cooling so don't worry about that.

If you want to improve cooling, you'll want to have fans in your computer. I'd suggest having at least an intake and exhaust fan. It would be even better if you have more intake than exhaust to lower dust levels. Based upon what you want (silence or performance), you should buy fans accordingly. Low noise fans will have lower airflow and high performance fans will be noisy.

To further improve your air cooling, you could try ducting the intake air to your CPU heatsink. That will help improve your temperatures.

That's just a few basics for you. Remember to plan out your system and it should run smoothly. I wouldn't worry too much about cooling but if you want to go crazy I gave you some ideas.

edit: BTW... try and go to zipzoomfly and newegg for parts. In between the two you'll find great parts. ZZF has free 2day shipping most of the time and has better prices or service on some parts (they are great with hard drives).

**slade** · 02-12-2006, 06:47 PM

Originally posted by FooTemps

For sound, get a creative sound card. You don't really want to run on board unless you absolutely have no room for another card.

why is that? granted im running a 2.1 speaker system with stock dell speakers (harman/kardon) but i cant notice a difference between on board sound and when i had a creative sound card. were you talking about 5.1 systems?

**t33kyboy** · 02-12-2006, 06:58 PM

Originally posted by slade

why is that? granted im running a 2.1 speaker system with stock dell speakers (harman/kardon) but i cant notice a difference between on board sound and when i had a creative sound card. were you talking about 5.1 systems?

onboard sound uses cpu/memory... so a sound card would relieve some stress and gets your better performance in games.

And the sound quality is alot better. Get some better speakers and you'll notice a difference

...and what games are you planning to pay? Because with that rig your planning to get... I dont think that will even play cs 1.6

**Brak** · 02-12-2006, 08:55 PM

basically i want to play an MMORPG called ragnarok online. It uses a lot of 2D sprites, so its not a very strenuous game

**FooTemps** · 02-12-2006, 10:02 PM

Originally posted by slade

why is that? granted im running a 2.1 speaker system with stock dell speakers (harman/kardon) but i cant notice a difference between on board sound and when i had a creative sound card. were you talking about 5.1 systems?

t33kboy already answered the question. Using onboard takes up more memory, I notice the difference in sound quality when I'm using headphones.

**bleachit** · 02-12-2006, 10:14 PM

from the graphic card I had bought, it told me to uninstall the drivers for onboard graphics before installing the new card. Did you try to unistanll the old drivers? that MIGHT work over just disabling...

**Brak** · 02-13-2006, 09:03 AM

yes, i uninstalled the drivers. I made sure that it was not being used in the least, and it still conflicted with the new graphics card. I think it's this way because there should be something on the mobo that would let me disable it, but there isnt

**Timmee** · 02-13-2006, 06:30 PM

How old is your Dell? Some old motherboards had jumpers that needed to be enabled/disabled. Do you have a manual for your Dell?

Can i build myself a computer?

Can i build myself a computer?

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