Help needed building a new PC.

[mattyc]

So I need a new PC...

A friend of mine said he can build me a PC easily enough if I provide him with the specs, but I'm not sure what I need.

Primary use would be for internet browsing, usual music and photo type stuff, a bit of gaming (sport games) and a bit of word processing (work and other commitees).

Firstly, is this a better option than buying one retail? Obviously I don't get a warranty and all that, but he can sort me out.

Whilst I don't want to go overboard, I do want something that will last me a considerable amount of time.

Cheers,

[Jmoney]

I'm in the process of building mine and ordering my parts. If you got questions I'll be more than happy to answer what I can. The first things you want to look at are if your gaming. Do you want something that blows it out of the water now and able to run games for the next few years. Or do you want something that gets the job now but might not hold up later on? Do you want room to grow?

[Jmoney]

Couple of differences from buying retail. I imagine if your friend can build it then it's not his first time and as such knows what works with what the best, who has the best prices, and knows what won't work together. Warranties are usually a big factor. When you buy retail and buy a brand its under one warranty something breaks you call them. When your friend builds it. Most parts have a warranty of some sort. So it's a matter of finding out what is broke or not working correctly and then contacting that vendor. So more leg work on your end. The other thing is when you buy retail 9/10 most retail computers use absolute crap components on small things that can actually make a difference. I.E you get base model fans you get crappy on board graphics/sound/network/cables/ram/power supply etc. So while you may get this nice big hard drive and nice big cd/dvd rw and this nice processor everything else blows.

[Steve Perry]

There are killer PCs selling for what a good video card cost these days.

http://www.pcusa.com/?gclid=CI_I0sij25gCFRWbnAodJSjjcg

[Jmoney]

I like how that site says motherboard sli ready crossfire ready. PSU 400W....I wonder if some poor guy tries to hook up 2 9800 gt's into that PSU.

[TDMVPDPOY]

whirlpool.net.au

matty u clown....alot of nerds on that site with aussie prices and can help you out.

[Steve Perry]

If you live in san antonio there is a guy named Stan at Bulldog computers he has a juiced up gamer for 425.00

I would buy a generic Dell/HP 2.6 ghz for 185.00 and spend the other 200.00 on a good video card.

http://www.nvnews.net/images/news/200202/unika128_s.jpg

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/images/msi-280-gtx-video-card.jpg


http://www.legitreviews.com/images/reviews/378/ati_radeon_x1950.jpg

http://runrightpc.com/images/videocard.jpg

[mouse]

http://www.3dnews.ru/documents/12881/Sapphire-X1900XTX-TOXIC-stend-big.jpg

[mattyc]

Guy suggested. Bear in mind we are talking Australian $.

I was thinking maybe more RAM?

Dual Core processor Intel E5200
2Gb Transcend Pc6400 DDR2 RAM
160Gb sata2 hard drive
DVD burner
512mb gigabyte 4350 graphics card
(this system comes with a brand new keyboard and mouse i believe)
coolermaster elite 333 case
19" LCD moitor

windows XP / Vista home - roughly $130

so in total bout be bout $840.

[Jmoney]

Don't bother with xp on that card. The drivers for the xp version don't work so well and with playing games you'll run into all kinds of (fun stuff). Upgrade the ram while it's dirt cheap to do so. If your going with the intel why the amd card? Whynot just get the 8800 series geo about 50 bucks more than the 4350 and for the cost one of the best cards you can get. Other than decent deal for 550 American. I suggest you make sure the monitor has the dvi-input as alot of companies will sell 17-21inch monitors for cheap cause they only have VGA.

[Jmoney]

Is that the card with the liquid metal cooling system?

[TDMVPDPOY]

Guy suggested. Bear in mind we are talking Australian $.

I was thinking maybe more RAM?

Dual Core processor Intel E5200
2Gb Transcend Pc6400 DDR2 RAM
160Gb sata2 hard drive
DVD burner
512mb gigabyte 4350 graphics card
(this system comes with a brand new keyboard and mouse i believe)
coolermaster elite 333 case
19" LCD moitor

windows XP / Vista home - roughly $130

so in total bout be bout $840.

i say you see what the prices at a clone store like www.msy.com.au and see if you can build it yourself cheaper.....

ihey if your building by components only, i say you grab that price list and goto your local officeworks store...and see if they will price match or beat the prices......

[Cry Havoc]

Is that the card with the liquid metal cooling system?

That's a very cheap card, so I doubt it.

Mattyc, you should be aware that if you're buying a PC your ability to play sports games are basically limited to EA Sports, which is a real shame.

You would be MUCH better off building a $500 PC or buying a solid used computer, and investing the rest in a 360 or a Ps3. It will allow you to play sports games with the best possible range of options.

[TDMVPDPOY]

Oi Mattyc

you still at school?, if you work on teh side

you can claim upto 750-1500 on rebates on education/computer shit

so look at spending 1500 yo if ur in high school/tertiary

if ur parents work, get them to claim it....

[baseline bum]

That's a very cheap card, so I doubt it.

Mattyc, you should be aware that if you're buying a PC your ability to play sports games are basically limited to EA Sports, which is a real shame.

You would be MUCH better off building a $500 PC or buying a solid used computer, and investing the rest in a 360 or a Ps3. It will allow you to play sports games with the best possible range of options.

That's the conclusion I came to when the X360 came out. It's too expensive buying new video cards every couple of years to support games that are ported from the consoles anyways.

[Bloodstone]

Build one of these..............................


http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p55/RackTheMouse/RTM-3/IMAG0916.jpg

[mattyc]

Oi Mattyc

you still at school?, if you work on teh side

you can claim upto 750-1500 on rebates on education/computer shit

so look at spending 1500 yo if ur in high school/tertiary

if ur parents work, get them to claim it....

Nah mate, full time worker here!

Still deciding what way to go. It's a good point about the gaming systems. Last one I have is actually a N64 I think! I think I could handle being stuck with NBA Live. I know it's not NBA 2k, but it's not too bad...

[Cry Havoc]

That's the conclusion I came to when the X360 came out. It's too expensive buying new video cards every couple of years to support games that are ported from the consoles anyways.

It depends on how you look at it.

I just paid $170 for a Radeon 4870, and it's far and away more powerful than any console on the market.

You might pay slightly more for a PC and the subsequent upgrades, but you are also going to have a HUGE graphical edge over any console. If you just want sports games, the PC is not a viable option, but for almost every other genre, PC is far and away better for graphics, control options, and flexibility.

You can say consoles are cheaper because you don't have to upgrade them, but what do you call buying a new one every 5-6 years? A new console is usually more expensive than a good graphics card, and not as powerful.

[baseline bum]

It depends on how you look at it.

I just paid $170 for a Radeon 4870, and it's far and away more powerful than any console on the market.

You might pay slightly more for a PC and the subsequent upgrades, but you are also going to have a HUGE graphical edge over any console. If you just want sports games, the PC is not a viable option, but for almost every other genre, PC is far and away better for graphics, control options, and flexibility.

You can say consoles are cheaper because you don't have to upgrade them, but what do you call buying a new one every 5-6 years? A new console is usually more expensive than a good graphics card, and not as powerful.

A lot of times games have shit ports to the PC though, if they're even ported at all in the first place. Not to mention that sometimes you have to wait up to a year before the PC port is released. The only PC gaming I can understand is hardcore FPS players and hardcore Warcraft players.... or people who like to get their games off piratebay. :lol

As for the video card, you're not waiting 5-6 years to get a new one. More like every 2 years max if you want to play the newest releases in their full glory.

[FreeMason]

PC gaming blows.

I spent ~2500 building a custom pc only to find out we get shit selection for games compared to consoles.

There are some good fps for pc that you can get into and stick with for years of fun, but you don't need to go all out for a desktop pc. It's not worth it imo.

Don't fall into the trap of thinking you need to get top of the line hardware at the time you begin building it. Get older stuff that has come down in price since launch.

hardforum.com was a great source for me while researching. Building it yourself (or your friend) is for sure the way to go. You save literally hundreds and get to have only the hardware/software you want and not a bunch of b.s. stuff that the companies add to boost the price.

And if you can, get a big widescreen lcd. They are 10000000000x worth it. I was hesitant to make the jump, but one will forever be my first upgrade on any future system.

[i LUV da SpURZ]

good luck =]

[TDMVPDPOY]

Nah mate, full time worker here!

Still deciding what way to go. It's a good point about the gaming systems. Last one I have is actually a N64 I think! I think I could handle being stuck with NBA Live. I know it's not NBA 2k, but it's not too bad...

if you got a younger sibling still in school, you can still get ur parents to claim the rebate and buy it through him, even computer upgrades is tax rebate also....

[sabar]

Building a cheap PC and just buying consoles is the way to go.

asus a8n mobo
amd athlon64 3700+
2 gb ram
radeon x1600

That will run anything you need... I still game on that thing and it runs everything at med-high settings. That setup cant be more than $250 usd nowadays. Ignore people that tell you to go quad core dual graphics cards 4 gb memory... total waste unless you are a serious digital artist.

Serious gaming rigs have nothing on econmics in todays market when microsoft and sony can package it together for cheap by buying direct from the manufacturer.

Word processing/email/youtube/blah also doesn't need anything special. I have a laptop from 1999ish, pentium 3 700 mhz 512 mb memory and it does all that fine.

Vendors and other people are all very willing to sell technology that you wont ever utilize to its capacity.

Honestly for your uses I would just get a cheap laptop, its so much easier and gets covered on warranty. Toshiba sells cheap but powerful ones. $300-400 usd will run anything you want very easily in the laptop market these days.

Just find the most powerful thing you need your computer to do and buy accordingly. A system for typing up documents, watching youtube, and playing nba 2k isn't going to need parallel processing, parallel graphics and 4 gb of memory.

[leemajors]

Building a cheap PC and just buying consoles is the way to go.

asus a8n mobo
amd athlon64 3700+
2 gb ram
radeon x1600

That will run anything you need... I still game on that thing and it runs everything at med-high settings. That setup cant be more than $250 usd nowadays. Ignore people that tell you to go quad core dual graphics cards 4 gb memory... total waste unless you are a serious digital artist.

Serious gaming rigs have nothing on econmics in todays market when microsoft and sony can package it together for cheap by buying direct from the manufacturer.

Word processing/email/youtube/blah also doesn't need anything special. I have a laptop from 1999ish, pentium 3 700 mhz 512 mb memory and it does all that fine.

Vendors and other people are all very willing to sell technology that you wont ever utilize to its capacity.

Honestly for your uses I would just get a cheap laptop, its so much easier and gets covered on warranty. Toshiba sells cheap but powerful ones. $300-400 usd will run anything you want very easily in the laptop market these days.

Just find the most powerful thing you need your computer to do and buy accordingly. A system for typing up documents, watching youtube, and playing nba 2k isn't going to need parallel processing, parallel graphics and 4 gb of memory.

RAM is so cheap though!

[Alex Jones]

Any updates?

http://img70.exs.cx/img70/8186/mattycsig2.jpg

[TDMVPDPOY]

dd2 ram is dirt cheap while we are speaking,

while ddr3 ram just started to decrease in prices also....

alex jones where abouts u from? aussie?

[MI21]

Buy a laptop Matty!

[Chief]

hey guy's, how hard or easy is it to build a custom machine that's pretty basic. I'm here in Costa rica and i need to build some computers that are cheap for the people that want them that have low income.

i'm thinking intel celeron 1.8ghz processor
1gb ddr memory
motherboard mini atx with onboard video audio
mini atx case

other then fans for the case, a 56k modem, keyboard mouse, monitor

what else ?

[TDMVPDPOY]

hey guy's, how hard or easy is it to build a custom machine that's pretty basic. I'm here in Costa rica and i need to build some computers that are cheap for the people that want them that have low income.

i'm thinking intel celeron 1.8ghz processor
1gb ddr memory
motherboard mini atx with onboard video audio
mini atx case

other then fans for the case, a 56k modem, keyboard mouse, monitor

what else ?

all u need is

CPU
RAM
MOTHERBOARD
VIDEO CARD
POWER SUPPLY UNIT
OPERATING SYSTEM

PS. u can buya motherboard with on-board video card, sound card is irrevelant these days since they come with the boards these days as standard.

dont forget heaps of poon