First time building a machine...

Duke Vandal

Duke Vandal

CAGiversary!
Alright, if you guys tell me I should build this thing myself, I'll give it a go.

I tried to find all of the parts I needed off of Amazon (no tax + amazon prime = financial lifesaver), if I'm missing something or if one of my parts is complete garbage please feel free to tell me. I'm really looking for opinions regarding my case and whether or not I need the sound card or not (the motherboard supposedly has pretty good audio.)

MOBO: Atx Nforce 650I Sli Ieee (really this MSI card, poorly labeled)
VIDEO CARD: eVGA e-GeForce 8800 GT 512MB DDR3 Superclocked Edition PCI-Express Graphics Card (512-P3-N802-AR)
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Quad-Core Processor, 2.40 GHz, 8M L2 Cache, LGA 775
HARD DRIVE: Western Digital 500 GB SATA Hard Drive
SOUND: Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SE
POWER: 600W Power Supply (MSI)
CASE: Ultra X-Blaster ATX Mid-tower Case
DVD DRIVE: Lite-On 20x Super All Write LightScribe Internal DVD/Dual Layer RW Drive (LH20A1L06)
RAM: OCZ 2 GB DDR2 PC2-6400 Platinum Revision 2 Dual Channel
OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit for System Builders [DVD]

Just in case it matters somehow - in the future, I'm planning on putting in another 8800GT.
Thanks very much for looking. I apologize in advance for this blatant display of my technical ineptitude.

Old post:
I was planning on buying a custom-configured machine from CyberPower, but after searching around a bit I've seen a ton of people have had problems with their computers shipping way late and arriving non-functioning. The same kinds of things have been said about iBuyPower.

The thought of actually building a computer myself scares the living fuck out of me. Can anyone recommend a decent place to buy a rig online?

[Edit] Another thought- would it make sense to go completely pre-built? This rig has roughly the specs I was going to go after in the first place (quad core, 8800gt, etc.)
 
If you choose the right parts, building it yourself can be quite easy. Some research is required beforehand, but everything you learn will be useful knowledge for future endeavors, and helpful for diagnosing problems.
 
You shouldn't be so scared at the prospect of building it yourself. A majority of the work is just using a screwdriver, following manuals that tell you where on the motherboard to plug certain things in and then sitting around playing with yourself while Windows installs.

There are a lot of guides out there that will tell what the best values are right now for processors/mobos/video/ram as well as guides that will walk you through building your own PC. PC Gamer just a month or two ago as well had a guide on building your own PC that was pretty easy to follow.

The benefits are:
(1) It's fun.
(2) You can determine EXACTLY what you want in your computer down to the tiniest detail.
(2) You can continue to upgrade the same machine forever without having to ever completely start from scratch and drop $3000 at once. I have been upgrading my same machine to some extent for probably almost 10 years (although the only remaining component from the early years is probably my SB Live! Value).
 
The only problem with building it yourself is if something doesn't work right, it can cause you a lot of headaches.

My build had a bad PS... which caused me a lot of trouble.

It wouldn't turn on when I first finished it so I disconnected/reconnected everything and it worked fine. I didn't think it was anything more than a loose connection. But every month or so, it wouldn't start but with a little disconnecting/reconnecting it worked fine for a month. And about 3 months later it just wouldn't start. I figured it was the PS so I got a replacement and still had the same issue. I never figured I'd get two bad PSes. So I tried and replacing the mobo, memory, and even the case (heard some people say the case I was using had some grounding issues). Nothing seemed to work.

So I ultimately decided to have it professionally looked at (cost me $50, grr). Found out it was the PS all along- I was unlucky enough to have two bad units in a row somehow.

Yeah, that lasted for a whole month and cost me a lot of money shipping those parts back and forth.

But really, the benefits far outweigh the costs. I found that most of the PC component companies (OCZ, Corsair, Crucial, etc.) have much better CS than vendors (Dell, HP, etc.). Plus, you get longer warranties (most of my stuff has 2-3 years warranty). And you don't have to deal with proprietary components that vendors use- so if you want to upgrade, you are free to buy it from any where you want and aren't forced to pay the vendor's ridiculous prices.

You might have some problems but that's rare. Most people put their first build together without any issues. And in the long run, you'll be happier.
 
I would say build it. It's very easy. It's really nothing more than plugging things in. If you'd like any help on how to or what parts to buy just ask.
 
[quote name='Richard Longfellow']If you choose the right parts, building it yourself can be quite easy. Some research is required beforehand, but everything you learn will be useful knowledge for future endeavors, and helpful for diagnosing problems.[/QUOTE]


I couldn't agree more.
 
[quote name='Richard Longfellow']If you choose the right parts, building it yourself can be quite easy. Some research is required beforehand, but everything you learn will be useful knowledge for future endeavors, and helpful for diagnosing problems.[/quote]
+1 as well. I just built my first PC last week and it takes some time but as long as you follow instructions and don't freak out if something doesn't go right...you should be ok. Try to stick to quality name brands for power supply, case, and mobo.
 
Personally I would just go with Windows XP instead of Vista... they aren't going to stop supporting XP anytime soon, it has better driver support and most sources/people seem to imply that they get better in game performance on their games in XP. The only thing you will be missing out on (at least until they officially add it to XP) will be DX10 which isn't a huge deal unless you are planning on playing Crysis all day every day.
 
[quote name='E_G_Man']Hey I found this bundle, but it is not on Amazon so it might not interest you at all, but it does come with 4 gb instead of 2 gb.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=3601833&sku=MCM-680ILT-Q6600B[/QUOTE]

I'm about to order this now unless anyone has anything to warn me about. I don't know much about computer hardware but this looks cheaper then buying the parts individually. I'll probably get the power supply linked in the OP and reuse my graphics card and case.
 
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