School me: building a custom PC

[scabzzzz]

Something just doesnt feel right about water near my computer. Just sayin...

Good fans provide more than enough cooling for any computer now a days.

[scabzzzz]

And for simplicity, just go to Tigerdirect and pick up a kit. After that you can pick and choose what components you like best.

[equate975]

And for simplicity, just go to Tigerdirect and pick up a kit. After that you can pick and choose what components you like best.

Barebones are generally garbage.

Don't use them for a good computer

[LEANE30]

I just finished building mine.
Most of the info (reviews, tests etc) I gatherred from these two sites:

http://Tomshardware.com

http://motherboards.org

Most of parts are from http://newegg.com some are from http://mwave.com and some are from http://provantage.com

It is definitely worth checking the prices before you buy as the spread can be significant. And, most importantly, you can never have the fastest PC out there, the moment you buy something it is improved upon the new and better version....

Here's my setup:
Cooler Master Cosmos 1000 RC case
Cooler Master 1000W PSU
ASUS P5E3 Deluxe/Wifi
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
ASUS ATI Radeon 3870 512Mb
3xSamsung Spinpoint F1 750GB SATAII 7200K Raid 5
2Gb DDR3 memory
Dell 24" 2407WFP
Plus 7.1 speakers, wireless keyboard/mouse, DVD burner.

To do list:
Second video card for CrossFire setup.
HD DVD/Blu-Ray combo drive.

Pics:
http://e30.us/pc/cosmos-build

I myself had never built a PC till just 2 weeks ago actually....

your setup is similar to mine, just a shit ton better, ...i was keeping to a $1500 budget, what did all of that run you?!? that is a gnarly sink you have on your processor, shit, i thought the $15 one i got was cool lookin, but damn. - i'll edit my post and add some pics later this weekend maybe

you really have to pick a budget and work from there... you can go spend $800 on a prebuilt machine or use that same $800 and make a pretty decent runner that'll smoke the prebuilt, off-the-shelf unit with ease

the main differences from alex's setup and mine:

• Rosewill R5601-BK RT case (all screw-less and rubber mounts - no metal-to-metal drive mounting - it's really quiet, large fans, and cheap too!)
• ASUS P5E
• 22" LCD wide
• 4gig memory (2gX2)
• 8600GT nvid Gcard
• WD 320Gb harddrive SATA (3.0/gbps!!)

right now i'm running XP pro (w/future Vista upgrade - when the software catches up) and it only uses a little over 3gigs of the memory, but i got the memory for a steal so who cares. ...and the damn thing runs sooooo cool, it's crazy. the P5E motherboard is straight up wicked. so many heat sinks it's not even funny. the operating temps are surprisingly so extremely low i guess, atleast that's what my brother in law said

i bought everything off of newegg... probably should have shopped around...but as i said, it was my first time building one... not like an e30, but if you can do most everything to and e30, you can build a PC, the motherboard comes with practically step-by-step directions... just be wary of static electricity as your building and you'll be fine (steel case, cough, cough)

so far i've just been wasting my life away with Bioshock instead of doing digital works like i intended to, but i'll stop playing games and get to work soon enough , really. ...i swear i will :p

[(:Jordan:)]

Go here and they will help you http://forums.techpowerup.com/

But personally I would build one, and it all depends on how much you want to spend on how good you want it.

Here I put some ideas up for you..


Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131182

CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115029

Hard Drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822152054

Memory: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227178

Cd/DVD Burner: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827135157

Video Card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814143117
(You can use a a 8600GTS or something.)

Psu: http://www.newegg.com/Shopping/Shopp...82E16817341010

Windows: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16832116202

Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119137

CPU Fan and Heatsink: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835186134

Subtotal: $1,179.91

Something like this, Hope it helps.

[Q5Quint]

I've built a few custom computers for friends in the past~ its really simple and you get wayyyyyy more for your money if you put it together yourself.

Like mentioned before, http://www.tomshardware.com/ has great reviews of video cards and processor performance graphed together.... so when you come to the 'intel vs amd' question you can just look at the chart and see which one worked better on what programs, then check out its price. Same for graphics cards.

People will say one is better than another... but it depends on exactly which chip/card/etc and exactly which program. If you say intel is best and then go out and buy a old pentium 4 you just screwed yourself. Price vs what you get is important. The pcs I usually build are around 500-600 bucks because once the component prices get that low it will stick that way for a few years, which is different from a 1500$ computer that will cost 900 to build in 6 months lol. I am still using a 400$ pc I built when I was a senior in highschool~ 4 years ago. It is important to leave room for expansion in the memory and graphics card department~ I recently built a 500$ pc for a friend that is literally 4-5 times as fast as the one I have now... these things change so much so fast I cant see it as smart to spend too much money on them when they hit the bargain bin in just a few years.

Dont buy it, build it. If you wonder what the difference is just run some of the 'package' deals through the hardware reviews on http://www.tomshardware.com/ and realize what crap you are getting.

Im looking for a computer to obviously do the intrawebs and music, but mainly for photo editing and processing.

Well shit then ~ you don't need to get $$$$ stuff then. Look at that review website and realize that saving a few hundred $$ means your picture will take an extra 60 seconds to process haha. What makes computers expensive is the graphics+video editing stuff.... HUGE files and HUGE amounts of data going back and forth. If you arn't playing those games or editing huge videos then you don't need to spend the big $$. Salespeople like to convince you otherwise since they get a commission sometimes off the sales.

You can get 500gb hard drives for 100 bucks now.... I dont see why they are a big point?

I always compare tigerdirect and newwegg prices with the review from tomshardware.

[ragged325]

Is there something wrong with buying a pre-made computer from a place like tigerdirect.com?

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=3255860&sku=SYXS-DB-989759

Systemax Venture Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 2.2GHz / Genuine Windows® XP Professional / Asus P5GC-MX 945GC Motherboard / 2GB DDR2 / 500GB HDD / DVD±RW DL / 10/100 LAN / Flash Reader/ Midtower Desktop PC - $699

My current computer is 6 years old and works fine (but I think it's about to crap out). I can't imagine reaching the limits of a computer that's 6 years newer.

[LEANE30]

Go here and they will help you http://forums.techpowerup.com/

But personally I would build one, and it all depends on how much you want to spend on how good you want it.

Here I put some ideas up for you..


Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131182

Memory: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227178

Something like this, Hope it helps.

...damn it! that motherboard has alot better external ports plus WiFi.. and it's even cheaper.... AHHHH oh well, that's just how technology goes, i was atleast hoping i could live in my content delusion for atleast a full month till my bubble burst, what can ya do?!

the memory i got: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231145 i think it was a very good deal all things considered

again, you just have to focus on a budget and a purpose and work from there

[equate975]

Wtf would you want wifi on a desktop? Seems stupid to me, wifi blows

The PK5 series from asus seems pretty damn good though. I mentioned the PK5-e to him IIRC, good bang for the buck.


If anyone wants to know a good LCD, get a Samsung 2220WM. So far I have ordered 5 for various computers, it blew me away and everyone that I have sold one to LOVES them. Its an amazing monitor.


Edit:

Also, I am going to spec out a $500 computer for me pretty soon. My bro's just commited suicide finally so I am going to get him a new one. I will list the specs of what I get if anyone wants to tag along.

[KangamangusDriver]

So after great thought Im going to go with a custom build.

What do you guys think about running a RAID setup (mirror).
I was leaning towards this since eventully this computer will be used for a photograpahy business down the road.

Thoughts?

[equate975]

Go with raid, you won't regret it.

Any decent board you get should have it built in anyways. So its more or less the cost of another drive, which isn't very expensive. HDs are the only mechanical parts of a computer (excluding CD drives i guess), so they are most likely to fail, and your HD will fail eventually... its just a matter of time. Decide now, because its more of a bitch to add raid after you install windows. Its not that hard i guess, but some RAID setups suck at labeling the drives. Don't ask me how many times I have raid copied a blank drive onto the one that has data. When you are using the same drive, you have to be super sure you can differentiate between the two lol

[alex]

I myself had never built a PC till just 2 weeks ago actually....

your setup is similar to mine, just a shit ton better, ...i was keeping to a $1500 budget, what did all of that run you?!? that is a gnarly sink you have on your processor, shit, i thought the $15 one i got was cool lookin, but damn. - i'll edit my post and add some pics later this weekend maybe

Mine was probably close to $3k or so.

That ecu cooler fan is loud!

Wifi on desktop? I can bridge wife (from neighboors who don't know how to secure shit and cable modem) for some serious download speeds.

[Van Westervelt]

I built mine, cost me around 3500. Run a raid array, and a mirrored set.

[quan325i]

sorry, but not any time soon - flash drives are still significantly slower, and while the storage densities are getting higher it costs around $5000 for a 64gb flash drive. when you can get 1 terrabyte on a traditional platter based drive for a few hundred it's hard to justify.

I call this f*(King BS because I make my living designing SSD. SSD are at least 4-8x faster than magnetic drives. The best SSD will hit the market by Christmas this year and they will cost somewhere around $8/GB.

QN

[equate975]

Just finished a video server for work.

ABIT IP35 Pro
Core 2 Duo e6750
1tb (2x 1tb drives) in RAID 1
4gb CORSAIR XMS2 DDR 2 800
Corsair 450watt PSU
Cooler Master Centurion 5 Case
GeoVision 1480 video card
Cheapo pcie video card

I was gonna go with the Asus PK5 series, but I thought the abit had better raid. Bang for the buck the PK5 is a better board, but since I wouldn't used 1/2 the crap on it, I figured I would go with a better raid setup.

Here is is after I assembled it





2 TB hiding in there



4gb of ram ftw, xp 32bit ftl!



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