Desktop computer Build help?

[EP3sAreFun]

So, i'm looking to build a desktop soon but ive enver actualy dealt much with computer hardware

can someone suggest where and how much? i think those small cases are cheaper or something? barebox or something...

I think i want at least..

-AMD 64bit 3.0 ghz processor
-1g DDR ram
-256mb Vid card.

i'm really not to picky on anything else, from what ive gathered.... i can buy one of those small square boxes bare and get all the parts is that right? suggestions would be great.

oh, and this wuold pretty much be for gaiming only.

[Wurm]

no u want a AMD X2 3200 lol dual core 64 bit

[EP3sAreFun]

no u want a AMD X2 3200 lol dual core 64 bit
how bout instead of making a comment that i dont get, you explain it. I clearly stated that i dont know much about computer hardware.

explanations would be appreciated.

[chrisdavis]

You can go to CompUSA or Fry's or another computer store and they will help you pick out what you need. They will also put it together for you if you need them too. Just make sure you don't skimp on the power supply.

[EP3sAreFun]

You can go to CompUSA or Fry's or another computer store and they will help you pick out what you need. They will also put it together for you if you need them too. Just make sure you don't skimp on the power supply.
so you think the best bet would be to just go over there and start getting a price list?

i would of thought i could buy stuff online for cheaper.

do they work comission?

[v3rd1g0]

go get a list of stuff, then get it online ;-)

[v3rd1g0]

since you are in gwinnett, if you go to fry's i can meet you up there sometime and help you pick stuff out

[CALIWEST]

it all depends on wat you want to use the comp for...if ur a big gaming fan...u wanna get a amd 64 fx...and a pci express video card...(depends on how big of a gamer u are)...if u just want to use a comp for basic use...go get urself something cheaper...

stick with asus motherboards..becuz they have a 3 year warranty on the boards itself...and on top of that...i've never really had any problems with asus boards...

how much money are u willing to spend???

[wantboost]

newegg.com dont buy at frys overpriced. DFI, abit make better boards than asus. ive had problems with the bios on 3 asus boards (be4 you jump on me i know asus doesnt make the bios) and 2 of them fried for no reason after 3 months. abit makes great boards. ive built 25 computers with them and havent had a problem, very stable. If you are planning on overclocking or gaming i would go with the DFI.

[EP3sAreFun]

thanks for all the info, i might buy a box from someone and replace a few things from there. thanks

[SampaGuy]

tigerdirect.com is probably cheaper than new egg

[Chris Mazda]

tigerdirect.com is probably cheaper than new egg


tiger direct rarely is

[chrisdavis]

so you think the best bet would be to just go over there and start getting a price list?

i would of thought i could buy stuff online for cheaper.

do they work comission?


Shopping online can be cheaper, but you have to factor in shipping.

What I was saying is to go to a store and talk to someone. They can figure out what you are trying to achieve (gaming, video editing, or just using it for email and the internet), then they can find out your budget and tell you what would work out best for you. You are not obligated to buy from the store but you will have a much better idea of what you need, and can then search for the best price on the parts.

My personal preference is to buy locally from a store rather than online, that way if I have a problem with an item I can immediately return it. I am also impatient so I may pay a little more for an item but I get it faster.

[Negrodamus]

Kyle just hit me and Mike up if you have any computer questions.

[EP3sAreFun]

Kyle just hit me and Mike up if you have any computer questions.
alright man thanks. i should be buying a box today, so i'll let ya know

[Danny]

You can go to CompUSA or Fry's or another computer store and they will help you pick out what you need. They will also put it together for you if you need them too. Just make sure you don't skimp on the power supply.

Bad idea #1.. inless u like spending intirely tooooo much money... :D



newegg.com is where i get most of my build components.

whats ur price limit.... and a 3ghz AMD64?? hmmmm.... not sure if i have heard of that one.. let me check real quick..

I am with the person a few posts up... AMD X2 :D for processor, they rock and decently priced.

[v3rd1g0]

dual core aren't good for gaming tho. only good for multiple games at once....

[EP3sAreFun]

so what kinda of processor do i need? my budget is... probably about 1500 iuncluing software and everything

[EP3sAreFun]

o yeah, xxxfeelsgoodxxx if ya guys would get me on aim it would be a big help.

if i look at a motherboard say this one, http://www.newegg.com/product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813138268 is it saying that it comes with a NVIDIA card already on it? and is this card PCI express slotted?

is an AMD sempron 64 3400 any good? say this one http://www.newegg.com/product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819104231

[wantboost]

do some research before you do this would be my :2cents:. read about the diff. chipsets and proc. to figure out what you need. if you really have a budget of 1500 the cpu u mentioned is not what your looking for. so go get modiffied computer user. has all the test scores and specs of all the new mobos and cpu. also if this is your first time building a computer i would go with intel because they are not as easy to fry if you do something wrong. the mobo your lookin at is really a budget board. it has a max memory of 2 G's which isnt good if you want to upgrade a year or two from now. again just figure out what you want to do. and i can help you out. ive built over 75 computers (which isnt shit compared to some of the other guys on here) and the only ones that ive had problems on are the ones with the budget mobo.

[EP3sAreFun]

do some research before you do this would be my :2cents:. read about the diff. chipsets and proc. to figure out what you need. if you really have a budget of 1500 the cpu u mentioned is not what your looking for. so go get modiffied computer user. has all the test scores and specs of all the new mobos and cpu. also if this is your first time building a computer i would go with intel because they are not as easy to fry if you do something wrong. the mobo your lookin at is really a budget board. it has a max memory of 2 G's which isnt good if you want to upgrade a year or two from now. again just figure out what you want to do. and i can help you out. ive built over 75 computers (which isnt shit compared to some of the other guys on here) and the only ones that ive had problems on are the ones with the budget mobo.
cool thanks man

[fight club]

tigerdirect.com is cheaper than newegg.com 99% of the time. price it out.
amd does not make a rated 3 ghz highest it goes is 2.8 but remember , its 64bit so truely faster.
and as for 64 bit and gaming, it kicks ass. i run a 3200 64 bit and register a processing frequency of 4.0 ghz, so yea.

[Flip]

A lot of people on here have good points. You can build a pretty good gaming computer with 1500, or even 1000. Since you are aiming torward gaming, your main concern will be a great video card. I generally wouldn't suggest using an onboard video card for gaming. The guy that siad to pay attention to the chipset on the motherboard was very correct. Some motherboards with one chipset won't work well at all with some video card chipsets. You usually want to try to match them up.

For example NFORCE and NVIDIA do not agree with ATI video cards well at all...

You are most likely best off getting a motherboard that has an NVIDIA chipset AND a video card with NVIDIA chipset. They will work flawlessly. Don't fall for the extremely expensive video cards as there are plenty out there that will give the same if not better performance for half the cost. I got the radeon 9600 which is an ati card but it matches the chipset on my motherboard. It is a 256 meg card, cost less than 100$ and plays doom3 flawlessly.

One other thing with the ram you choose, make sure it will work well with the motherboard. Most new motherboards have new things like dual channel. To use that you would have to get ram that would be compatible with it or that feature is pointless.

DFI makes great boards for instance the DFI Lanparty NForce 4 sli-dr. This is a great board for gaming and is only around $200. ASUS also makes great boards but they can be slightly expensive.

Going with a AMD processor is usually a better idea since you get more bang for your buck. A 2.0ghz amd chip vs a 2.0ghz intel chip, the amd will be a decent ammount faster.

The word you were looking for with the case is Barebones. A barebones system will usually come with a case, motherboard, memory and a video card and sometimes a hard drive. You can buy a case either with or without a power supply. Usually you can get a better deal just getting them together. You can get some with lights and stuff to if you want. For the setup you are trying to run you would most likely want a 550wat power supply or something around there. Make sure the power supply is compatible with the type of motherboard/processor you are running. I.E. Intel or AMD.

So heres your list of what you need to concern your self with now:

Case / Power Supply
Motherboard
Processor - don't forget to get heat transfer paste if it doesn't come on the bottom of the heat sync
and don't forget to make sure you get a heat syinc either with or seperate from the processor
Memory
Video Card
Sound Card - usually some kind of sound blaster is good but if the mobo comes with sound it should work just fine
Cd Drive / DVD Drive
floppy drive - they are still usefull...
Lan card - your motherboard will most likely come with one so you probly won't have to worry about this...


If you have any other questions please feel free to ask... I've been building computers for over 10 years and now i work at CNN on everything from hardware, to software, to networking etc...

[EP3sAreFun]

v3rd1g0 helpd me build something a little bit ago. dual vid cards, 300gb hard drive and verything, thanks for all the help guys.

any tips on installation?

don't forget to get heat transfer paste if it doesn't come on the bottom of the heat sync
and don't forget to make sure you get a heat syinc either with or seperate from the processor

like this.

gloves?certain order?

[Flip]

Don't need gloves, just don't roll around on your carpet before you install your stuff. Make sure to get the plugs from the case on the correct pins on the motherboard so the light on your case works and the power and reset buttons. Sometimes if the case has USB built in it can be tricky getting the plugs on correctly. Use the manual that comes with the mobo to find out what is what and the manual with the case or just the labels on the plugs to find out where they should go. Its easier to hook up the cables from the case to the mobo before you screw it down so you can see what is what...

If you are using only one cd drive:
put your hard drive on the primary IDE channel and your single cd player on the secondary. Set the jumpers on both of them to master.

If you are using two cd drives:
put your hard drive on the primary set as MASTER, and one cd player/burner on the master as well using the second plug and set it to slave.
put your second cd drive on the secondary IDE channel. this makes copying from cd to cd faster since it's not sending data up and down the same cable.

I'd suggest putting the cd drive you are going to use the most on the secondary ide seperate from the hard drive so processing from cd to hard drive is faster as well.

Make sure to use the risers that seperate the motherboard from the bottom of the case so you don't short it out. Don't forget any screws underneath it or anything.

Be really careful with the processor when putting it into the slot so that you don't bend any pins. It really sucks to ruin a processor that way...

As for the thermal paste on the top of the processor before you put on the heat sync, you only need as much as a grain of rice usually. Pay attention to the bottom of the heat sync tho because it may already have a patch of goey stuff on it which means you don't need to add any more paste... You can look at it before you leave the store or ask someone...

Again if you come up on any more questions feel free to ask...

[v3rd1g0]

he should be all set.his comp is gonna be pretty sweet. here is what we discussed last night: 3700+ san diego amd 64 processor, gigabyte k8n pro mobo, 2 gigs of pqi ram, 300 gig ata hdd, dual nvidia 6800xt's, dvd+-rw. This should be a pretty good rig. my roommate built one almost like it and it runs oblivion on HIGH settings... that's equivalant to the xbox 360 version.

[v3rd1g0]

oh yeah the thing with thermal paste, sometimes they are ridiulously expensive... like 10 bucks for a tube the size of 5 smarties stacked up. It makes a HUGE HUGE difference. i used to run at 50c constant, then i added different paste and i was then running at 39, no joke it was crazy. i can't remember the brand, something silver...

[EP3sAreFun]

you guys rock, thanks

[Flip]

NP, let us know how it turns out... I'll keep checking back.

[Danny]

6800s in SLI :D schaweett

is SLI improved, as of a year ago it was basically a joke.. but now that cards are cheap, maybe SLI is half way decent..

ATA, why not step it up to SATA for fun :D they are all dirt cheap now anyways..

I use that "somthing silver" thermal paste also, great stuff. that and a XP-120 heatsink and fan, and im set for 30-32c idle :D

[Danny]

ohh yea, whats the specs (MHz, volts, and timing) on that ram.. i havent gotten away from Corsair, but i am always open to other companies :D

[v3rd1g0]

he decided on corsair instead, haha i accidently mis matched the ram XD it was late when i was window building his computer haha

[Danny]

whats the final cost on that rig? i have friends wanting me to build them rigs, that one seems decent..

[v3rd1g0]

that one came out around 900 +\- 50 or so. wasn't too bad for the power

[EP3sAreFun]

like... 1300 even with monitor and case and everything, found a pimp case with a 500w PS and a 19" monito with 8ms refresh for only 200. thanks again to yuy guys. tons o help