build a new computer

McPeef

McPeef

CAG Veteran
Hello, I'm planning on building a new computer in about two months. Just looking for some tips on what items to buy or wait for. I am willing to spend about $1,200 without a monitor. Hopefully thouhgt, a monitor will be included in that price. My buddy has built three so he might possibly help me. Thanks!
 
Those machines are usually junk and if you plan on gaming on it, I wouldn't go that route.

Suggestions will usually depend on what you're wanting to do with the pc.

If you're looking to shell out $1200, then you can look at laptops as well if you want more mobility. You can get some pretty nice laptops for that price.

I just checked Best Buy and they have a nice laptop on sale for $1050 (200 dollars off normal price).

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7485964&type=product&id=1126591875444

Dell has some pretty nice desktops. Dimension E510 for $750 is a pretty nice deal
 
Uh... he plans to build a computer but you guys are giving him advice on store bought computers.:lol:

I'd just go to Newegg and pick out everything from there. I have my computer in planning and it totals around $1100 w/o monitor. Some specs:
ASUS A8R socket 939 ATI Xpress 200 mobo
Cooler Master Centurion 5 case
Coolmax 550 Watt PSU
AMD X2 3800+ Manchester
1GB DDR Corsair RAM
320GB WD 7200 RPM SATA HDD
Connect3D ATI X800 GTO 256bit 16x PCI-E GPU
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS
Lite-On DVD DL burner w/ lightscribe
Lite-On DVD-ROM Drive
Artic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro (plan to overclock my AMD from 2.0 to 2.4 GHz)

Totals out to $1173 shipped.:) About the only thing I might not get is that graphics card. Since Windows Vista will require a DX10 card and no other cards will be compatible with DX10 (you cannot upgrade to DX10, only DX10 cards can use DX10), I might just get a cheap card until some affordable DX10 cards are made.
 
As a side note, I plan to use this computer for gaming and multimedia use. Burning CDs, DVDs, Downloading Music, etc. :spam: I do plan on purchasing the parts form new egg and building it myself with the help of a buddy who has done it before. He has given me suggestions, but I would just like some more so I can get the best bang for my buck.
 
One suggestion is charting out the different parts and seeing where the sweet spot is as far as power per buck.

For example, you'll be charged an arm and a leg for a new Geforce 7 series but can pick up a nice 256 MB Geforce 6800 for only $100 (after $30 mail in rebate that expires 3/31). By the time games actually require a 7 series card, you can pick one up and still be spending less than if you just spent $300-400 on one now.

Sounds like 2 GB of memory is recommended lately for computers. You can probably find some good deals on this anyway so
 
Actually, you might considering waiting a bit.. Intel is launching a new line of Pentiums which supposedly smoke AMD out of the water. And AMD is coming up with a new series of quad core processors and will finally move on the DDR2 ram but won't be too much more expensive.

But this won't be happening for a while, not sure when though.
 
I can wiat until about July 2006 at the latest because I am absolutely going to need a computer by then. I need it for school besides just gaming. I plan on getting at least a minor in CIS if not a double major with my Accounting major. Obviously, however, the sonner the better. My computer right now is not very good.:cry:

I hear that NVIDIA is coming out with a new card pretty soon, so this should lower the price of the 7800GT and GTX. So I'm somewhat waiting for this to happen.

How long would I have to wait for those new processors you were talking about? Processors right now are already too advanced for games. Games right now don't take advantage of 64-bit arcitecture. So I guess right now I'm kind of looking at:
AMD X2 3800+
7800GT at least
I'm not sure about my power supply, mother board, or case.
I have a lot of options for memory and hard drives. Not to worried about this end. And yes, I will be getting 2GB of memory. Thanks for your replies so far!:D
 
Since Windows Vista will require a DX10 card and no other cards will be compatible with DX10 (you cannot upgrade to DX10, only DX10 cards can use DX10), I might just get a cheap card until some affordable DX10 cards are made.
Click to expand...

I checked in to Windows Vista and it is coming out later this year and sounds pretty sweet. I'm guessing that DX10 cards will probably be expensive just because they're new. What other cards do you need to be compatible with the DX10 video card? If you wanted to upgrade to Windows Vista what would you all have to replace? Sorry for asking so many questions, but this shit interests me. Thanks!
 
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+
BIOSTAR TForce6100-939
SAMSUNG SpinPoint P Series 250GB 3.5" SATA
1 Gig Corsair ram
DVD rom of your choice
CD rom of your choice
floppy drive
Case of your choice
Antec TRUEPOWERII 550w psu
sound card of your choice
use onboard video untill new video cards come out.
SAMSUNG 204T-Black 20.1" 16ms LCD
ARCTIC COOLING heatsink
couple of case fans

This should be around your price range. But you will have time to save for new video card DX10
 
I try to bypass the nerdy stuff. I just know bigger the numbers the better the computer, cept for the price.

If you don't want to deal with building the darn thing, id check out www.ibuypower.com really fair prices, but note that there is no monitor included
 
[quote name='McPeef']
How long would I have to wait for those new processors you were talking about? Processors right now are already too advanced for games. Games right now don't take advantage of 64-bit arcitecture. So I guess right now I'm kind of looking at:
AMD X2 3800+
7800GT at least
I'm not sure about my power supply, mother board, or case.
[/QUOTE]

I'm not sure but I'd guess Intel will be out by the end of this year while AMD will probably make make it a bit after. But I'm not sure.

If you're getting an AMD processor, any ASUS socket 939 mobo (ATX form factor) should do you well. Make sure that you have plenty of memory expansion slots though, most mobos only have 4 and can't support more then 4GB of RAM. So if you get one with 4 slots, then you should try to get 1GB sticks (rather than 2x512MB sticks) so as to not use up your slots.

Be very careful with the PSU... anything under 500 watts will most likey underpower your system especially if you plan to use powerhungry Nvidia GPUs.

The case should be easy, just find something in the ATX form factor. ATX just means the common PC case you see these days, it's so you get the right size mobo.

[quote name='McPeef']I checked in to Windows Vista and it is coming out later this year and sounds pretty sweet. I'm guessing that DX10 cards will probably be expensive just because they're new. What other cards do you need to be compatible with the DX10 video card? If you wanted to upgrade to Windows Vista what would you all have to replace? Sorry for asking so many questions, but this shit interests me. Thanks![/QUOTE]

If you're planning on getting a 7800 card, then you won't be able to upgrade to DX10. Simpley put, DX10 requires new hardware which today's GPUs just do not support. You can still run Vista with a DX9 card but Vista uses a '3D desktop' so you'll need a hefty GPU (like the 7800). But even with that, Vista can only be fully exploited with a DX10. Vista basically requires a GPU with different capabilities than the ones today, which it will actually need to use the GPU for the '3D desktop'.
 
I would just like to say thank you to Vinny and Spoo for your intelligent input. It is a big help for me to get specs from other people who have already done the research and actually know what they're talking about. I have spent mindless hours searching for parts and figuring out what I should get.

I will keep both of your specs in mind as I make my final decisions about what parts to buy. Even though I am not building this thing for a few months you can never plan to early. Before this thread, I didn't even know about Windows Vista or DX10. Now I can plan ahead and save myself some money.

I'm sure people are constantly asking knowledgeable people on how to build a computer. Most people, for some reason, don't like to share this knowledge. They're pricks about it. So, thank you for your time and replies!:applause:

P.S. is there any last thing you think I should know about?
 
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