Building your own computer


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  rumbleph1sh said:
'fast by today's standards' is open to much interpretation....

Theres tons of tutorials such as THIS out there, and many people here on Neowin would be glad to assist with any questions you might have. ;)

By today's standard, isn't fast about 3.2GHz?

I'm not totally set on building one, but when time comes to replace one of the computers, it'd be nice to know how to do it and how much money you could save

around a 1,000 US is a good ball park. Depending on how good a PC you want. RAM quantity/quality, HD Space/quality, Processor quality, Video quality, and the mobo to support it are the key factors that will determine the final price. But 1,000 should build a very nice PC. But then OCing and cooling will affect the price somewhat too.

there are several types of speed... since i am not a big gamer, i dont have any of these new nvidia/ati mosters... just a ti4400...

but yeah, my computer is considered quite 'fresh'

q-tec 500w psu

asus p4c800-e deluxe mobo

intel 3ghz cpu

1gig samsung ddr400 ram

asus v8440 deluxe 128mb (geforce ti4400)

creative sound blaster audigy 2 zs platinum pro

80gb ibm

60gb maxtor

samsung dvd/cdr combo

asus cdr

+ a lot of case modding

in other words, no, its not top-of-the-line (trust me, there is no such thing) but its great for my needs... thats the whole thing behind building your own... you buy the parts you need after searching the market and then you install/place them the way you want/need... and when done, you'll be happy that 'you made it all work'... makes you feel pretty good!

you could even spend $500-600 and build one that's comparable to pre-made machines.

as for tutorials, there are many online, but experience is the best. find a friend who knows how to build them and have him help you. and of course, neowin is great. :)

Really it depends on what your using your PC for. By you saying you want it to be "fast" your probably wanting to get a gaming machine.

I figure you'll need a good size monitor, Processor, plenty of RAM, some good speakers, a powerful graphics card and a decent expandable MOBO.

In British pounds your probably looking at:

Monitor: ?350

Processor: ?169

RAM: ?120

Speakers: ?180

MOBO ?120

Total: ?939

This of course is only a rough figure, you need to add a little more for all the leads and bits and pieces aswell as a case. Roughly about ?1200 would suite you, or about $1600 I thi:D lol :D

  psgamer0921 said:
What are recommend online retailers that I could look at to see how much everything would cost together? Where would I buy a single processor?

Newegg.com is by far the best place to buy if you are in the USA. They have great prices and most of the time free 3 day fedex shipping. Can't beat that! :yes: Starting at about 750 with out a monitor you can build a pretty good system.

Ok, could someone tell me about how much this would cost if it were pre-made? (I know I don't have all the parts...)

From Newegg

  Quote

-Sky Hawk/Eagle Tech Jupiter Mid Tower Case with No Power Supply, Model "PSR4609" -59.99

-PIONEER Black DVD?RW Drive, Model DVR-A08XL, -179.99

-Western Digital 120GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive, Model WD1200JD, OEM Drive Only -92.99

-Logitech diNovo Media Desktop USB/ PS/2 104 keys -189.00

-Crucial 184 Pin 1GB DDR PC-2100 16T - 223.00

-CTX S962A 19" LCD Monitor w/ Speakers -479.00

-ASUS "P4C800-E DELUXE" i875P Chipset Motherboard for Intel Socket 478 CPU -176.00

-ENERMAX Noisetaker Series 420W Power Supply, ATX 12V V1.3 compatible: Support latest P4 and Athlon 64 platforms, Model "EG425P-VE-SFMA"- 74.00

-Intel Pentium 4/ 3.06 GHz 533MHz FSB, 512K Cache, Hyper Threading Technology - 217.00

-Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy ES PCI Sound Card, Model "SB0162" -43.99

-ASUS ATI RADEON 9550 Video Card, 128MB DDR, 64-Bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP, Model "A9550/TD/128" -72.00

TOTAL: $1806.96>

Well for photoshop mostly then youll want a decent video card,im thinking an nvidia 5700, nice monitor maybe a 19 inch flat crt you can get these pretty cheap *cough* pricewatch.com *cough*, a good Processor( this is where it can get tricky a bit if your gonna be taking advice from hardcore geeks, i'd go with AMD 3000+ 512 l2 cache and a decent Harddrive 80Gb wd sata 8mb cache

  psgamer0921 said:
Sky Hawk/Eagle Tech Jupiter Mid Tower Case with No Power Supply, Model "PSR4609" -59.99

-PIONEER Black DVD?RW Drive, Model DVR-A08XL, -179.99

-Western Digital 120GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive, Model WD1200JD, OEM Drive Only -92.99

-Logitech diNovo Media Desktop USB/ PS/2 104 keys -189.00

-Crucial 184 Pin 1GB DDR PC-2100 16T - 223.00

-CTX S962A 19" LCD Monitor w/ Speakers -479.00

-ASUS "P4C800-E DELUXE" i875P Chipset Motherboard for Intel Socket 478 CPU -176.00

-ENERMAX Noisetaker Series 420W Power Supply, ATX 12V V1.3 compatible: Support latest P4 and Athlon 64 platforms, Model "EG425P-VE-SFMA"- 74.00

-Intel Pentium 4/ 3.06 GHz 533MHz FSB, 512K Cache, Hyper Threading Technology - 217.00

-Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy ES PCI Sound Card, Model "SB0162" -43.99

-ASUS ATI RADEON 9550 Video Card, 128MB DDR, 64-Bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP, Model "A9550/TD/128" -72.00

TOTAL: $1806.96

your looking in the range of 2000-2400 imo. But, if it is premade, youll get a warranty and with a custom built, youll have a shorter warranty(say from newegg) or the option of RMA'ing it.

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