Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: FlameBoy on June 03, 2003, 02:16:32 PM
-
Ive decided i want to build my own PC, im not super technical about computers, but i know a limited amount, so for the PC guru's, how hard do you think it would be for me to build one? or how hard IS it to build a PC, thx in advance :)
-
My magic 8 ball fore sees a future name in the long list of Darwin Awards :)
Actually, building a PC isn't bad. TigerDirect has some nice kits, complete with case, motherboard, etc http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Category/category_tlc.asp?Id=31
-
OK, thx, but im in the UK
<---------just added on the profile
-
my sons build there own after I banned them from messing with mine. One built hsi first when he was 17, now he has built three the other is 15 and building his first.
They both swear by Pricewatch.com to buy components.
After watching them, and rebulding a few myself, the basic contruction is very simple but you have to be well briefed on compatibility issues. i.e. what floppy controller works best with what drives, and has fewest conflicts, what video card works best with what MOBO, what sound card won't conflict etc. There is a wealth of info out there. Google "building my own pc" and you can get started!
Good luck!
-
Cool, im gonna do alotta reading before i get into anything serious, thx for the reply :)
-
....a good person to ask those questions is Bloom25. He frequents the Hardware section here a lot.
-
Yep, bloom25 is a good guy. Very knowledgable.
-
it's easy - if we can do it - anyone can
just watch the static electricity
-
Be warned that while you will get exactly what you want, it's actually cheaper to buy a complete system, especially once you factor in the cost of the software.
Building a PC is very simple these days as most of the connectors are unique, so the difficult part is matching everything.
Do remember that the only stupid question is the one you don't ask.
-
Ok,..the hardest part of building a PC is matching up all the components. Making sure all your stuff works well together.
You will also need to decide on the level of performance you want and match the performance levels (where possible) to get the most bang for the buck.
In other words, it is silly to buy an ATI 9800Pro and put a 1Ghz CPU. Conversely, it is silly to buy a 3Ghz CPU and stuff a MV NVidia card in it.
Some tips
1) Get all your components layed out where you can see them.
2) It is generally better to completely mount the motherboard first, then peripherals next.
3) Make sure all cables in the computer are clear of the fans. Try to move them to the fans and make sure none will reach.
4) Do no overtighten the screws when mounting the motherboard. They need to be snug, but taking a torque wrench after them can damage the motherboard.
5) Keep all your power cables bundled away from other cables where possible. Reduces the chance of EMI interference.
6) Do not skimp on the power supply. Antec or Enermax are both excellent choices. I prefer the Antec TruPower line.
7) You have a choice between AMD and Intel on the CPU. Intel will generally cost more, but is easier to assemble due to the protective can on the CPU.
8) Do not skimp on the ram. Cheap ram will buy lots of problems. People have all kinds of recommendations for this. Crucial is good and they back it well. Not the most expensive, but not the cheapest either.
9) Carefully read through the motherboard manual and make sure you use PCI slots that are not sharing interrupts. Generally, you have three to use, but some motherboards will only have two available. Don't be fooled by ads for 6 PCI slots. You cannot use them all without incurring performance and/or stability problems.
10) On sound cards, SBLive cards are cheap, but incur high CPU utilization, while the Audigy2 is expensive but with a significant reduction in CPU overhead, which allows more CPU cycles to be used for games.
11) Hard drives are a can of worms. The IDE drives available today are pretty much commodity products that will die in about 2 years time. It's a crap shoot. Some will swear by every brand, others will curse every brand.
12) CD/DVD: Well, if you want to be able to burn DVD movies, only one choice, in my opinion, and that is the Sony DRU-500. Will burn about every type of CD/DVD media available.
13) If you are not into burning CD/DVD, then any 52x CD-ROM will be fine.
I have more, but this should be digested slowly.
-
Originally posted by qts
Be warned that while you will get exactly what you want, it's actually cheaper to buy a complete system, especially once you factor in the cost of the software.
Building a PC is very simple these days as most of the connectors are unique, so the difficult part is matching everything.
Do remember that the only stupid question is the one you don't ask.
Excluding labor, it's cheaper to build it yourself, unless you are looking at an extremely low end clearance sale machine.
-
I bought my 1st and last Factory Built PC in 1993. I built every one since and have had 0 computer training. It's ALMOST idiotproof. All your connections are made so you can't hook up them up wrong. You get exactly what you want in your machine without paying thru the nose. You can also rob anything you don't want to upgrade (hard drive, floppy, ram, monitor, case, ect) from your old machine. My current system is an Athlon 1.3 Ghz, 512 pc133DDR, GeForce 3 ti500, 40x CD burner, DVD. I have less than $500 in the whole system. TigerDirect.com is a good place to find bargains. PC's are like the hot rod out in the garage....they are fun to tinker with and always need MORE POWER, rrr, rrr, rrr.
-
Originally posted by funkedup
Excluding labor, it's cheaper to build it yourself, unless you are looking at an extremely low end clearance sale machine.
I have not found this to be the case. It gets worse when you add in the cost of software. A license for XP will cost a lot of money, but the cost to Dell & co is minimal.
-
Wow, thx for all the replies guys
im am about to get down to some reading to familiarise (sp?) myself with some of the stuff, and thx Skuzzy, its slowly going down ;)
-
And that is the key. Take your time. The upfront time you spend will show in the level of fun you will have after it is done.
Get in a hurry and you will know nothing but frustration.
READ EVERY PIECE OF DOCUMENTATION FOR EVERY COMPONENT!
It saves so much time up front.
-
Yes, read em all
Building a custom PC is like a NASCAR race car. Sure they all LOOK alike, but inside, its top quality parts and components that in the end, make a souped up racer.
Also, and I'll catch some flack for this....avoid the urge to overclock.
-
http://www6.tomshardware.com/
has been very useful in helping me. Theres guides which compare various componants as well as a fairly detailed guide on how to install hardware within your system and a very useful forum where you can search for keywords containing any issues you might come accross.
-
I'd heed caution to beleiving anything on Tom's Hardware. I was an ardent fan of that site, and bought a few things on their rave reviews and was really disappointed. The Gigabyte motherboard they praised highly was an item I bought, turned out to be a lemon, and a well known one at that :mad:
-
good luck reading some of the documentation you receive with computer parts
best bet is to research your parts purchase decisions on goggle groups first b4 you buy them..checking for compatibility issues
-
Originally posted by qts
I have not found this to be the case. It gets worse when you add in the cost of software. A license for XP will cost a lot of money, but the cost to Dell & co is minimal.
Ahh this is where the power of KazzaLite or MIRC come in to play, pretty easy to find ANY piece of M$ software free for download :)
-
Originally posted by Pfunk
Ahh this is where the power of KazzaLite or MIRC come in to play, pretty easy to find ANY piece of M$ software free for download :)
:rolleyes:
-
I had zero computer skills, and I built my own just fine. There is a ton of online documentation you can google search for, as well as support forums.
Regardless what people say, building your own is a much better and cheaper option. People have shown me great sales, and I've always been able to show them the exact same system specs cheaper through wholesalers. Additionally, you can upgrade as you go, which saves you money. When CPU prices come down, you buy a new one rather than a whole system at once.
-
Here is my proposed computer.....Please tell me if i have got it all WRONG....
Processor (http://www.autdirect.co.uk/acatalog/Intel_P4_478_Pin.html) (Very First one)
Memory (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_TwinMOS_147.html) (4th one down)
MotherBoard (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Abit2.html#amb_2d031_2dab) (Very first one)
Hard Disk (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Samsung_Hard_Drives.html) (2nd one down)
Graphics Card (http://www.autdirect.co.uk/acatalog/AGP_Video_Cards.html) (3rd one down)
Power (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Antec_103.html) (2nd down)
CD-RW (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/CD_RW_Drives.html) (8th down)
Case (http://www.autdirect.co.uk/acatalog/Modified_PC_Cases.html) (1st one)
Please tell me what you think........... there are few things that i have left out.
-
Oooh a case with bubbles....then my cats would ALWAYS be walking on the $%@@*& keyboard :p
-
mobo and memory are my only concerns but im partial to Asus and Corsair but definatly go fot the bubbly case :D