Building a computer....need help....what do i need?

Discussion in 'General' started by Wykid, Nov 26, 2005.

  1. hey GC blades....im gonna build my own comp pretty soon. i figure ill get more bang for my buck....but i have no fucking clue where to start, i mean, i found this tutorial that tells you how to assemle it but doesn't really tell me what i need to get, like motherboard and what not. this is where i need your help. there seem to be a lot of computer savy pepole on here...if any one could help please tell me what i could get for about $500 buxs...any help greatly apreciated.

    thanks :)
     
  2. Case + Power Supply (will usually come togethor)
    Motherboard (ATX with embedded sound, ethernet and essential ports including a USB)
    Processor (Go for a 64 bit athlon or maybe a sempron if you're on a budget... at least 1600MHz FSB... make sure socket matches motherboard)
    Memory (You will want at the very least 512 megs with a 400MHz FSB)
    Video Card (You're not going to get a magnificent video card if you have a $500 budget for the entire machine but you can get one that does the trick)
    Hard Drive (could probably get a pretty decent 160 gig and stay within the price range)
    DVD/CD-RW (will probably run you about $50)

    So to summarize, for a $500 barebone system you could probably pull off a 2.0 GHz 64 bit processor (1600MHz FSB), 512 megs of RAM, 160 gigs of hard drive space, a middle of the field graphics card and media drive (dvd, cd) and a pretty nice motherboard (I like Asus).
     
  3. Look at Antec for a case & Power supply. Motherboard either ASUS or Gigabyte. Low cost video boards from EVGA. Samsung DVD/CD-R drives work great. Wait till the weekend sales and you should be able to get a 160 to 200GB EIDE hard disk drive for between $29 and $49 dollars. It's going to be hard to stay below $500 when you fator in the OS.
     
  4. If you're starting from scratch you won't get all that much from $500. If you got some spare parts occupying otherwize perfectly usable closetspace however you might get somewhere. Bump it up to $600-$700 though and things are a bit brighter.

    Naturally, given you budget you won't get anything near a "competent" gaming rig or 3D/Video editing usability.

    What you will get though is an ok PC for basic tasks such as browsing the web, doing wordprocessing, watching movies and play back music & play games on an "acceptable" level (allthough that is highly individual. I couldn't imagine playing a current game in anything less than 1280x1024 with at least medium settings and 2xAA, but your demands might be lower)

    Priority number one is getting as much processing power as possible as cheap as possible. I'm assuming you're buying new here. You can make a great bargain buying used, but unless you've got some prior knowledge of building computers and the pitfalls that exist, I would'nt excactly recommend it for the vital parts. Afterall, buying new does give you a warranty, and from personal experience (dead motherboards, faulty memory on graphics cards, corrupt sectors on harddisks etc) that can be *very* practical.

    So, go with a basic mainboard that supports PCIe (for graphics card and future compatibility. AGP might be cheaper, but no new graphics cards are developed for it. You get stuck in a technological dead end so to speak) and a 939 CPU socket (for an AMD processor. Don't go Intel if you're interested in quality and the most bang for the buck. Also, the 939 socket is compatible with heftier dual core AMD processors that rock bigtime).

    The mainboard will set you back approx. $100-120 depending on features. All you need really is the cheapest one that has integrated sound and networking and the above mentioned features.

    Next up is the processor itself. Spend another $100-$150 on an AMD xp3000 (preferably 64bit, allthough that do cost a bit more) or higher (making sure it's on a 939 socket naturally).

    Let's see, that's around $250-$300 total thus far. Another $100 will get you a good 200++ Gig Hard-disk. Next up is memory. You might not afford a Gig as of yet, so go for 512mb. That'll cost you around, well, $70-$100 depending on speed and brand.

    Forget floppy drive, won't need it. A DVD drive though is gold. But these are dirt cheap. If you do have some money leftover, do go for a DVD burner. It won't cost much more, but in practical terms, its invaluable. A chassis though, you will need no matter what. Since you're on a budget, style is out and "the price is right" is in :) you should get an acceptable cheap cabinet for less than $80. And that is including a 250W++ power supply. You won't need more power as you cannot afford the biggest money (and power) grabber, the highend graphics card (my graphics card alone cost more than your entire budget, and it does eat more than 100W of power...). Do some searching around, and I'm confident you can pick up a second hand chassis for less than 10 bucks. Just make sure its ATX (the motherboard standard) compatible. *DO*NOT* buy a secondhand Dell or other PC manufacturer brand cabinet though, as they have their own little quirky standards that is not exactly industry standard if you get my drift. This is especially important with regards to the power supply and frontend buttons (power-on, reset) and LEDs connectivity to the motherboard. You might though have to buy a 20 to 24 pin motherboard power adapter depending on the motherboard you decide to buy, seeing as most older PSUs use 20 pin, whilst most newer motherboards use 24 pin, but that's no big expense.

    As for graphics, go cheap here too. Allthough, *do*not*go*to*cheap* as that would seriously cripple your PC with regards to gaming and all the fun stuff. The PC world is pretty much divided down the middle on what brand to get. I'm an nVidia fanatic, whilst others would sacrifice their firstborne to get the latest ATI. Whatever you choose, on the budget you're on, it won't make much difference what brand you choose. ATI might even give you some more value in the low/middle end, allthough I hate to admit it :p

    Go for either a nvidia fx5900 or ATI 9800xp (or near priced PCIe equivalents, I can't really remember the designation for these boards, as I'm more updated on the high end market, low/middle end is too much of a changing market for me to keep up with). No need to have more than 128mb of graphics card memory. They should be pretty cheap these days, and will run all current games, including hogs like BF2 and CoD2. It'll set you back some $100-$150 though.

    Then naturally you'll need a screen. And speakers. And keyboard, and mouse. If you go for a bulky CRT screen, you'll get it dirt cheap these days as the world is moving towards flat panel LCDs and a lot of manufacturers and vendors are just itching to get rid of their stockpile of CRT monitors. Stuff like speakers, keyboard and mouse are typical peripherals you can get for next to nothing secondhand. Hell, for free even.

    As for operating system, WinXP is not quite free, but for some odd reason I don't really know anyone who's actually paid for it :smoke:
     
  5. Get a friend who's a computer nerd and pay him like $100 (plus cost of parts) to build one for you. It's not that computers are hard to assemble per se, but it's very easy to order incompatible parts if you don't know what you're doing. I usually charge between $100 and $200 for assembly, but I've been able to build 64-bit systems with all the latest stuff like PCI Express, SATA II, etc etc for about $600 in parts. So it's very do-able with your budget.

    But I would like to reiterate that you should find someone to help you at least order the right parts (not someone over the internet, someone who can sit next to you on a computer and while your browsing for parts on newegg.com or somewhere who can say "Not not part... yes that part will work... that one will work... not that one" and so on.
     
  6. Yo def check out newegg.com
     
  7. i can build u one if u tell me what u want for 500.. like if its a non gaming comp mostly dllin music i can do it cheap as ballsbut if high gaming ggpx card gonan cost u :\ pm me if u want
     
  8. i built my own pc. bought most of the parts off of newegg.com, they are amazing when it comes to prices, shipping, and everything else. Pricegrabber.com is good too for finding the lowest prices. PC Gamer magazine has some issues directly focused on how to build your own pc. You might be able to find them at a local library.
     
  9. newegg.com is good
    tigerdirect.com is very good too
     
  10. hey guys thanks for the help. my friend knows a guy that can build one for me....imma start getting all the parts ASAP. haha.
     
  11. ive never been a fan of budget PC's, id suggest however trying to put more like $800 into a pc, youd probably be much more pleased with results
     

  12. lol, i paid for my xp pro and microsoft office 2003, but they were each $10 and $15 due to my dad teaching at pepperdine and getting his teacher/student price on them :D

    but nah, i could never see myself spending a few hundred on the things, would just use linux if it came down to it, haha
     
  13. my OS(winxp) came on a dell early when XP had just been out for a little bit and there was no type of protection on it that wouldnt allow me to intall it on any pc, for an OS id suggest trying to grab one from friends and what not its such an expensive need for a pc, $100+ for software is rediculos i mean id understand $50 mabey even $75 but i cant justify it costing so much
     

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