Building your own computer

[jtk1519]

Anybody ever done it? jtk is thinking about doing it. jtk knows how and is quite confident in his ability to get the parts and build a system, there is still some trepidation though. jtk has done everything expect build a new system. jtk has upgraded memory, video & sound cards, disk drives as well as upgraded and added additional hard drives. Any recommendations?

jtk is quite sure of everything except the processor. This is what jtk is looking at right now...

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ 2.0GHz
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?sku=CP2-A64-3800A

On this motherboard...

Asus A8S-X SiS Socket 939 ATX Motherboard
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=1696733&sku=A455-2129

jtk uses his PC, but jtk does not consider himself a hardcore user. Obviously, jtk surfs the web on a high speed cable connection. jtk plays a lot of Madden and the GTA games. jtk might be more of a gamer with the right system so something that can handle the top of the line games would be nice. Outside of that, jtk uses Photoshop and basic movie makers, but that's about it. Do the above listed parts sound right or should jtk be setting his sights higher?

The rest of the stuff, hard drives, disk drives, video cards, etc. is gravy. jtk is pretty sure he can get what he wants there with ease.

BTW, jtk will probably be going with Vista with at least 1 GB of ram.

[KT2000]

The AMD processors work great for gaming. That looks like a good one, and reasonably priced at that.

How is your power supply? I've heard you shouldn't need to go above 400w on that. I have a 350.

[jtk1519]

The AMD processors work great for gaming. That looks like a good one, and reasonably priced at that.

How is your power supply? I've heard you shouldn't need to go above 400w on that. I have a 350.

Supposedly, AMD will void the warranty if you go over 2 ghz in speed on less than a 420W power supply. The case jtk is looking at comes with a 450W built in so that should be fine. Frankly, jtk doesn't know what impact that power supply has, but 450 sounds right.

[Redhoss]

If you get a power supply that is undersized, it will not run all of the electronics on the mother board and all of the drives.

You might want to look at a manufactured computer first and get the specs.....then choose what they use.

The biggest problem you might have is having the right software and enough of it. Software is the expensive part of any system.

Sometimes it's best to buy a known brand with all the bundled software.
If your present monitor is ok, you can go and buy just the box with mouse and keyboard at a fairly reasonable price.

[jtk1519]

Any video card recommendations? Again, ability to handle high end gaming would be nice. jtk has had several ATI cards in the past and loved them. jtk also likes to watch/record TV on the computer so that is something to consider. jtk is looking at something like this right now...

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1644509&CatId=1826

jtk has a 22 inch widescreen LCD monitor so that may be a factor.

[jtk1519]

jtk just did some extensive online research and was ticked to find that out of every single component needed to build a PC, the most expensive is the freakin' operating system. Just Windows Vista Home Basic is $200 because you have to install a full version. Does anybody know a way around this? Is there any way you can take XP off an old machine and move it to your new thus allowing you to just buy the Vista upgrade at half the cost? Hell, jtk doesn't mind waiting on Vista since it takes Microsoft forever to work all their bugs out anyway. Is there a way to just put XP on a new system that wont cost an arm and a leg?

[mad_fan]

mad built hundreds since the mid-90's...
mad is an HP reseller now...
mad recommends you look at something in the HP Small Business line witha 3-year waranty on it...
Service and support at HP Small Business is awesome...
mad was a Dell reseller...Dell makes crap...and the service sucks...

[mad_fan]

The AMD processors work great for gaming. That looks like a good one, and reasonably priced at that.

How is your power supply? I've heard you shouldn't need to go above 400w on that. I have a 350.

INTEL only...
400W if you are putting a DVD burner in the box along with a couple of hard drives and plug a couple of USB devices in (in addition to the keyboard and mouse)...

[mad_fan]

Any video card recommendations? Again, ability to handle high end gaming would be nice. jtk has had several ATI cards in the past and loved them. jtk also likes to watch/record TV on the computer so that is something to consider. jtk is looking at something like this right now...

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1644509&CatId=1826

jtk has a 22 inch widescreen LCD monitor so that may be a factor.

:eek: 30 day guarantee...
what's the manufactures warranty...
I hate third party video cards that use name brand video chips and make you think you a buying the real thing...
Video cards were a big part of the reason I stopped building my own...along with the time spent spec'ing things out...and the lack of profit margin...
Spec it, order it, track it, unbox it, assemble it, tweak it, etc...

[jtk1519]

:eek: 30 day guarantee...
what's the manufactures warranty...
I hate third party video cards that use name brand video chips and make you think you a buying the real thing...
Video cards were a big part of the reason I stopped building my own...along with the time spent spec'ing things out...and the lack of profit margin...
Spec it, order it, track it, unbox it, assemble it, tweak it, etc...

May end up going that route after the Vista price shock. F' Microsoft. More than a third of the cost of a self-built system was going to go towards buying f'n Vista. Geez, that sucks. jtk just went price scouting at Best Buy and found an HP on the shelf pretty close to the specs jtk was going to build and it was almost a full $100 less.

BTW, did you ever buy an OEM operating system and if so, what was your experience?

[jtk1519]

jtk has not given up on building one, but he has a middle finger raised at Vista right now. jtk would almost rather go with XP now anyway and upgrade to Vista after Microsoft works out all their little f' ups. Looking at something like this...

https://www.pronetcd.com/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=ZAT-00008

[mad_fan]

May end up going that route after the Vista price shock. F' Microsoft. More than a third of the cost of a self-built system was going to go towards buying f'n Vista. Geez, that sucks. jtk just went price scouting at Best Buy and found an HP on the shelf pretty close to the specs jtk was going to build and it was almost a full $100 less.

BTW, did you ever buy an OEM operating system and if so, what was your experience?

Bought nothing but OEM OS's...
That's what comes on an HP, Dell, or whatever...
READ THE LICENSE...the software is cheaper but is married to the hardware...FOREVER...end of story...

If Mr Gates pisses you off so much you could go LINUX...

[jtk1519]

Bought nothing but OEM OS's...
That's what comes on an HP, Dell, or whatever...
READ THE LICENSE...the software is cheaper but is married to the hardware...FOREVER...end of story...

If Mr Gates pisses you off so much you could go LINUX...

LINUX sucks. jtk would love nothing more than to go Mac since Macs are far superior, but jtk doesn't have that kind of wallet.

Isn't the OS married to just the motherboard? For instance, if jtk were to install XP Media Center Edition on an ASUS board, jtk could still upgrade memory, video cards, etc. along the way but not the motherboard, right?

BTW, why do you prefer Intel to AMD and if your were going to build a decent system now, which Intel processor would you go with? jtk knows a guy that builds computers for a living and he uses nothing but AMDs. Curious to know if there is any major difference.

[mad_fan]

LINUX sucks. jtk would love nothing more than to go Mac since Macs are far superior, but jtk doesn't have that kind of wallet.

Isn't the OS married to just the motherboard? For instance, if jtk were to install XP Media Center Edition on an ASUS board, jtk could still upgrade memory, video cards, etc. along the way but not the motherboard, right?

BTW, why do you prefer Intel to AMD and if your were going to build a decent system now, which Intel processor would you go with? jtk knows a guy that builds computers for a living and he uses nothing but AMDs. Curious to know if there is any major difference.

LINUX rocks...the support sucks...you ARE on your own...

M$ OSes are married to all the hardware...you can do some swapping around of parts...at some point you may swap out to much and have to call M$ to reactive XP or VISTA...at that point they tell you if you basically switched the OS to a new computer...

Intel processors always work with the software designed to run on the platform...

[jtk1519]

Thanks for the info. jtk is stubborn as hell and after owning 4 or 5 PCs over the last 7 or 8 years (f' Dell :mad: ), jtk is probably going to build the next one himself. GTA 4 and Madden 08 will be out in a little while and jtk has to be prepared.

[mad_fan]

Thanks for the info. jtk is stubborn as hell and after owning 4 or 5 PCs over the last 7 or 8 years (f' Dell :mad: ), jtk is probably going to build the next one himself. GTA 4 and Madden 08 will be out in a little while and jtk has to be prepared.

haha...the number of times I heard that...
I sold 'em for about a year in the early 2000s and lost my @@@ on fixing 'em...
Good luck...and just remember...you can't do worse than Dell...

[Redhoss]

Any video card recommendations? Again, ability to handle high end gaming would be nice. jtk has had several ATI cards in the past and loved them. jtk also likes to watch/record TV on the computer so that is something to consider. jtk is looking at something like this right now...

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1644509&CatId=1826

jtk has a 22 inch widescreen LCD monitor so that may be a factor.

ATI makes a good card in general. You should do an online search for reviews. There is plenty of info. on these for you.

As for the monitor, just make sure your video card matches the plug and monitor resolution.

Seriously though, Mad is on target. You are really much better off buying a name brand. HP is one of the better ones and they give good support.

If you build, you will be matching a lot of different pieces and hoping they run all your software. :eek:

[Favpack]

I'll never purchase another Dell - never. Horrific support and the product is over-rated. And their rebates are a hoax. I got so p**ed off - I called the Austin Better Business Bureau. They actually have a division for Dell - no joke. They encouraged me to file a complaint on the rebate issue - I just got tired of it and quit.

[jtk1519]

Dell is the worst of the worst. jtk has owned 2 eMachines that are supposed to be about the cheapest PCs out there, but they were both far superior to the Dell which cost twice as much. jtk will NEVER buy another Dell or anything from them again.

[t-long20]

im too lazy to build any kind of computer anytime soon

[jtk1519]

I've been looking at dual-core processors. Found this comparison of the AMD and Intel dual-cores to be very interesting. Basically, AMD pwn3d the hell out of Intel...

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-10442_7-6389077-1.html?tag=lnav

[Dds115]

They also now have quad core processors...

[jtk1519]

They also now have quad core processors...

I only have a handful of brain cells left to blow. I can barely wrap my mind around a dual-core. Double that and I'm lost for good.

BTW, for grins and giggles, I configured the Mac I want online... it had two 3.0 GHz quad-core processors (what is that, like 8 processors), 16GB worth of RAM, 3 terabytes (yeah, you read that right) worth of hard drive space and a 512MB graphics card. Only would have set me back $10,000 and that doesn't even include a monitor.

[Dds115]

I only have a handful of brain cells left to blow. I can barely wrap my mind around a dual-core. Double that and I'm lost for good.

BTW, for grins and giggles, I configured the Mac I want online... it had two 3.0 GHz quad-core processors (what is that, like 8 processors), 16GB worth of RAM, 3 terabytes (yeah, you read that right) worth of hard drive space and a 512MB graphics card. Only would have set me back $10,000 and that doesn't even include a monitor.

Wow... That is crazy, is that the most maxed out computer Mac that is made?

[#1DawgFan]

Here is my 2 cents. I have an HP media center desktop with a AMD 64 Live 5000+ dual core processor and its amazing. I have had very good luck with HP and this computer has 2 gig of RAM 300 gig hard drive and I installed a invidia gforce 7300gt video card and an sound blaster audigy sound card. If you already have the monitor I would look at buying just the CPU and not fool with piecing it together. I don't think it will cost that much more and it will already have windows vista premium on it. I have had no problems with vista and I love it. Nowadays you can get 12 months no interest financing on theses units and I think you could get one like mine for around $900