Want to build a computer

[savethekeywork]

Hey everyone-

So, after reading a number of different threads, it seems to be the concensus that to build a gaming PC is better than buying one from alienware, dell, etc. I have very little experience building computers, so I have a few questions.

First, what kinda of setup do you guys reccomend? I do not need a computer with everything top of the line, I want a PC that will run the new games and not lag.

Also, what specific parts should I get? I will be building it over the next few months (collecting parts that is) and have a decent amount of money to spend (about 2500).

If you guys could let me know what I need for a setup and which parts your reccommend, that would be great.

Thanks.

[DCDAOmega]

Usually building your own computer is cheaper to much cheaper then buying one such as dell. First of all, do you know how to build a computer? If so how much are you willing to spend.

btw Welcome to techIMO

[savethekeywork]

No, I have little knowledge on how to build a computer, but from the posts on here it seems rather like putting a puzzle together. Everyone says you can just follow the threads about how to install certain parts and go from there.

As for budget, I would like to keep it below 2500. But if I can build a sick computer for less than that, thats cool too, 2500 max. I have an apple laptop that I use for school, so this is for gaming only.

I want to learn how to build them though, part of the process. I am mostly concerned with internals...monitor/keyboard/mouse/speakers I can take care of.

Thanks for the welcome by the way.

[carl33p]

Its a great learning experience. I just learned not long ago. And yes, nothng is very difficult.
I would advise buying from www.newegg.com
With 2500$ you can build top of line. Thats alot of money


The main parts you will need are:
Case- Only you can decide. Lian Li's are known to be very nice. But if you want a glowing machine, go for it.

Power Supply- make sure to get a quality one.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817104014 - you dont have to spend this much here.

Processor - Go AMD, dual-core X2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103544
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103546

Motherboard - With pci-e slots / SLI (Most of the wires will come withur mobo)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131540

Memory - 2 gigs
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227210
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145574

Graphics Card - Make sure its PCI-e
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150142
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130281

Hard Drives- 250gb sata are best deal 7200rpm . With ur budget tho, you could get a 10,000rpm also.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822144701
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822144160

Dvd burner - get 2 if you want to copy.

Case Fans. You could watercool with ur budget...but ive heard its not easy.

Optional components:

Sound Card: Audigy2 is good. X-fi is supposed to be great, but depends if ur an audiophyle(extremely into music).

Heatsink/Fan- 1 comes with your processor, but a 3rd party one will be quieter and better.

13-in-1/9-in-1.....A card reader. Useful to some people.

I will give u some suggestions, but take suggestions from others with higher post counts more.

[DCDAOmega]

Well here is a guide to building a computer: http://www.pcmech.com/byopc/index.htm
With $2500(US dollars right?) you can build a VERY nice machine(prolly one of the best here infact ), first things first, your processor: The two big cpu superpowers are AMD and Intel. Personally I like AMD better and they are the ones to go with when your building a gaming pc. Intel, is more on the video editing side. With $2500 I would go with an AMD X2 4800+ dual core. In other words it has 2 cores on one die (this means it can easily multitask).Secondly there is the motherboard: this is the board that connects to everything in your computer(processor, vid card, ram, I/O connectors..etc). Again $2500 is a lot so I would go with dual vid cards in either SLI(scalable link interface, made by nvidia) or Crossfire(ATI). Right now SLI is doing better(fewer bugs and such), but Ati's is getting better. These connect with PCI-Express slots that will be on your mobo(motherboard) and you MUST have a motherboard compatible with these systems to run them. wow, this a long post... Anyway, the ram takes care of all temporary information like a hard drive, but A LOT faster, I would go with 2-4 gigs in your situation. Ram now days comes in 2 flavors, ddr or ddr2. Right now AMD systems run ddr, while intel systems can run ddr2(depends on the mobo). You want to watch out for timings these are the amount of times it takes for the ram to read a specific memmory address, CAS latency is the most important of the 4(example: 2-2-2-5) Im not at all the most knolledgeable in all of this:P. Ok, so now you should have all of the "hard core" components, now all you would need is the hard drive, cd/dvd drive(s) and other expansion devices/periferals. WHEW, that is a long post. Hope that helped.

Also best place to shop is newegg.com

PS Ill leave it to the other guys to fill in the gaps

EDIT: oh yeah forgot a couple of important parts the case and the power supply. The case just has to fit the ATX standered system and the powersupply should be SLI ready (even if you are getting crossfire).

[towlies high]

are u gonna need speakers, monitor, kyboard+mouse and such?

[savethekeywork]

So here's what I got so far for internals, please give your opinion/advice. If there is any way to get the cost down, let me know that too.

I. AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Dual Core -- $630
II. BIOSTAR TForce6100-939 Socket 939 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 Micro ATX AMD -- $69
III. Two (2) ASUS EN6800GT/2DT/256MB Geforce 6800GT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card -- $470
IV. OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Platinum System Memory -- $190
V. Western Digital Raptor WD740GD 74GB 10,000 RPM 8MB Cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive -- $150
VI. COOLER MASTER Centurion 532 RC-532-SKN1 Black Aluminum bezel, SECC chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case -- $75
VII. COOLMAX CW-650T EPS12V 650W Aluminum ATX v2.01 APFC Power Supply w/ "SLI" -- $140
VIII. PLEXTOR Black 16X DVD+R 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM 2M Cache IDE 16X DVD±R DVD Burner -- $80
IX. COOLER MASTER CoolDrive Lite LHD-V07-US 44mm blower fan HDD Cooler -- $20
X. Creative SOUND BLASTER X-Fi Platinum 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card -- $185

Like I said earlier, I am new into computers and gaming, so this seems like a little bit of an overkill.


I will be buying monitor etc stuff later, just was initially concerned with internals.

[YottaHertz]

A couple of suggestions....
1. Get an nicer MoBo especially if you plan to OC... look @ ASUS or DFI
2. Drop the 6800GT's and get either a 7900GTX or X1900XTX - the X1900XTX will perform simillar to the 2 6800GT's.... They're cheaper - at least the X1900XTX is - than the 6800GT's....
3. Drop the Raptor(s).... get a SATA or SATA II HDD with 16MB of cache... The performance difference that you'd get from a Raptor does not justify the money....
4. Get a 'nicer' PSU.... Antec, OCZ, Thermaltake and FSP all make nice PSU's.... It's not only the Watts that count it's the quality of the components that counts more...

EDIT: If you wanna save some money... look at the 4400+ instead of the 4800+.... It's also got 1MB L2 cache per core... but it's clocked 200MHz lower than the 4800+... And definately get a better MoBo....

[EXreaction]

Definatly don't get 2 6800 GT's...SLI is a waste of money...and you don't even have an SLI mobo up there.
Instead get a 7900 GT...its about $300 and is much better than 2 6800 GT's.

Personally, I wouldn't get a raptor...they are too expensive...

Instead of that power supply...get this one(its much better and cheaper)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817104155

[YottaHertz]

Quote:

Instead get a 7900 GT...its about $300 and is much better than 2 6800 GT's.

*Ooops.... * I stand corrected it is better than 2 6800GT's.... was looking at the wrong benchie....