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Help Building my First Computer

bazakbazak Member UncommonPosts: 283
in Hardware

hello, been a gamer as long as i can remember and thru that used computers all my life (my dad even built all our computers).

tbh tho i never got him to teach me anything beyond getting rid of static when ur putting one together. first off ima list all the parts i can remember and give a little detail in what id like (main reason im listing is i want confirmation on whether i remember all the parts or not).

 

a tower of course



motherboard



cpu



video card



audio card



power supply



hard drive



4 gigs minimum R.A.M.



dvd/cd drive preferably two both with disk writing capability



processor



a network card (i know its not necessary but ill need one for LAN gameing purposes)

 

want the computer to be good for mmo's, rpg's, rts, shooters, (games with really good physics engines like red faction type games). i also want to make sure the computer is ok for code compiling and animation/modeling (gonna be looking into studying that a little see if i enjoy it).

 

price range: $1000 and below preferably. (keep in mind i may not be able to buy the computer for about a month or more

 

thanks to anyone who wants to help me out

 

 

Comments

  • QuizzicalQuizzical Member LegendaryPosts: 25,501

    If you're not going to be able to buy the computer for a month or more, then wait until you can buy the computer and then come back.  What makes sense to buy today may not in a month or so.  Zambezi will probably be out in a month.  There's an off chance that Southern Islands could, too.  That changes things.

  • psyclumpsyclum Member Posts: 792

    prices will change quite abit in a month too.   even if you want to go intel/nvidia, the fact that zambezi and southern islands coming out will affect the pricing of intel and nvidia.  there are also a batch of lower cost SSD's coming out on the market lately (1st or 2nd gen controller + 25nm NAND) which may offer options that you may not have right now.  in a month, there should be some reviews and reliability reports on these newer batch of low cost SSD's

  • donoakdonoak Member UncommonPosts: 37

    Hiya here is something to read in the meantime...http://www.hardware-revolution.com/high-end-gaming-pc-august-2011-v250/

    nothing for sale here just info.

  • QuizzicalQuizzical Member LegendaryPosts: 25,501

    Originally posted by donoak

    Hiya here is something to read in the meantime...http://www.hardware-revolution.com/high-end-gaming-pc-august-2011-v250/

    nothing for sale here just info.

    That's not a $1000 budget.

  • bazakbazak Member UncommonPosts: 283

    thank you for the advice everyone, ill be back when i gots the money then. (maybe bigger budget than 1k in the end depending on a lot of things but ill save talking about the subject till the next thread when i have the money thanks all)

  • elianadidittelianadiditt Member Posts: 3

    You have to make a decision what you REALLY intend the computer to be primarily used for. A gaming computer will be a lot more expensive to build than one you use to surf the net and write papers on. Heck, I have a piece of crap laptop at work - a pentium 2 just to surf the net and write papers and process forms. A gaming computer will require a very fast CPU, quite a bit of onboard memory and a high end graphics card with a lot of graphics memory. needless to say - this will cost buckazoids.

    AMD tends to have the edge for gaming system CPUs. If you intend on building a computer to run scientific applications, databases, and other types of computing intensive business software, than an Intel system is a better choice for a CPU.

    If you just intend on being a casual gamer, then you don't need the latest and greatest CPU or motherboard. Heck I run my latest computer I built on an MSI K78N Delta 2 platinum motherboard with an Athlon 2500+ XP CPU. My graphics card isn't the highest end, but it fits the job and I can play Doom 3, Medal of Honor and other games pretty decently. Its an FX 5500 card with 128 megs of memory on the card.



    My motherboard has 1.5 GIGs of memory way more than I need.

    In addition to gaming, I am an online graduate school student as well as a full time soldier. I surf the net a lot and write quite a few papers. So what I have is great for what I do.You have to set a limit on what you're willing to spend and what you intend to do with a system. Once you have that, you can start building. My latest system has a lot of used parts that I got off ebay. You don't need a NEW CD rom, a new floppy drive, or a new sound card for example. You also don't need a humungous hard drive unless you're planning on downloading a lot of videos. Heck, my old system has two 40gb hard drives. I never got even close to filling them up.

  • Loke666Loke666 Member EpicPosts: 21,441

    Originally posted by elianadiditt

    You have to make a decision what you REALLY intend the computer to be primarily used for. A gaming computer will be a lot more expensive to build than one you use to surf the net and write papers on. Heck, I have a piece of crap laptop at work - a pentium 2 just to surf the net and write papers and process forms. A gaming computer will require a very fast CPU, quite a bit of onboard memory and a high end graphics card with a lot of graphics memory. needless to say - this will cost buckazoids.

    AMD tends to have the edge for gaming system CPUs. If you intend on building a computer to run scientific applications, databases, and other types of computing intensive business software, than an Intel system is a better choice for a CPU.

    If you just intend on being a casual gamer, then you don't need the latest and greatest CPU or motherboard. Heck I run my latest computer I built on an MSI K78N Delta 2 platinum motherboard with an Athlon 2500+ XP CPU. My graphics card isn't the highest end, but it fits the job and I can play Doom 3, Medal of Honor and other games pretty decently. Its an FX 5500 card with 128 megs of memory on the card.



    My motherboard has 1.5 GIGs of memory way more than I need.

    In addition to gaming, I am an online graduate school student as well as a full time soldier. I surf the net a lot and write quite a few papers. So what I have is great for what I do.You have to set a limit on what you're willing to spend and what you intend to do with a system. Once you have that, you can start building. My latest system has a lot of used parts that I got off ebay. You don't need a NEW CD rom, a new floppy drive, or a new sound card for example. You also don't need a humungous hard drive unless you're planning on downloading a lot of videos. Heck, my old system has two 40gb hard drives. I never got even close to filling them up.

    I can't agree with you there (and I run a AMD myself). AMD is right now after Intel, it have not always been so and it will most likely change again but Intels CPUs performs better in gaming.

    That does not mean that Intel is a given choice, gaming nowadays usually depends a lot more on the graphics card than the CPU and AMD is cheaper meaning with a limited budget you can get a better GPU.

    As for the sound card, it is really something only for people who runs their steroe on the computer as well (I do), otherwise as good as all motherboards have a good enough built in system. And floppy drive? I havn't even seen one of those in years, it is just useless junk and if you install it it will activate the north bridge that actually slows down your computer a little (about 1% or so). 

    I wouldn't go for an second hand harddrive either since new drives are faster (your drives must be IDE unless their SCSI, and even if they are the controller card is expensiver than a new drive).  Besides, really old drives fails more often than new ones. And Harddrives are really cheap nowadays.

    The CD rom however is something you can use an old one if you or your friend have one lying around. Unless you for some reason needs a blue ray it have very little impact on the system to use an old one.

  • huegoblitzhuegoblitz Member Posts: 3

    1. Dude, don't forget a hard disc drive, and a couple of sticks of RAM, don't leave home without 'em. Well you can't actually leave home without them, so to speak.

    2.  

    3. Forget the Pentium 4, that's so the day before yesterday.

    4.  

    5. here's a complete online book about building a computer; http://www.pcguide.com/byop/index.htmThe hardware aspect of this is really outdated, but the overall principle is the same. Intel.com and tigerdirect.com have similar tutorials.

    6.  

    7. Building a computer is probably easier than you think.

    8. Plus you have a budget limit, so "best CPU" is relative. The best CPU that could be worked it your price range is the Intel Core 2 Duo E8400. This CPU is generally regarded as the best price vs. performance buy available at the present.

    9.  

    10. If it's a good 680 Watt supply. An honest 680 watt PSU would be enough for even most "SLI" or "Crossfire" (2 video cards) system.

    11.  

    12. Check out the "Antec 900" gaming case.
  • drazzahdrazzah Member UncommonPosts: 437

    If you are mainly going to use the pc for gaming, i would wait until the end of the year or Q1 of 2012. The new line of graphic cards, mobos, and CPUs are coming out. Also, for gaming you dont need to worry as much at what CPU you choose but rather need to care more about the GPU you choose. Any game now will most likely cause bottlenecking at the GPU first way before it full stresses your CPU out.

    image

  • hanselgoodhanselgood Member Posts: 3


    Budget PC

    The budget PC is good for a person or family that needs to surf the Web, check e-mail, and do some word processing. It will handle basic games and tasks. Generally the budget PC is comprised of some of the cheapest computer parts available, and will use onboard video and/or sound via the motherboard.

    General Recommendations:


    • AMD Dual Core Processor

    • 1GB - 2GB of RAM

    • 80GB+ Ultra IDE or SATA Hard Drive

    • Motherboard with onboard video and sound

    • Inexpensive Case and 300+ watt Power Supply

    • DVD / CD burner/drive combo

    • Inexpensive 15" - 17" LCD Monitor

    • Inexpensive Keyboard and Mouse

    • Inexpensive Speakers

    • Basic Inkjet Printer
  • tudorgordowtudorgordow Member Posts: 2

    Intel Core i3 2100- $125 

    Gigabyte H67 motherboard- $90 

    Adata DDR3 1333mhz 4Gb(2x2Gb) ram- $42 

    Westren Digital Caviar Blue 500Gb HDD- $44 

    Rosewill Challenger Case- $50 

    Optical Drive- $20 

    Sapphire Radeon HD 5830 gpu- $110 

    Antec Earthwatts Green A-380D 380w psu- $40 

    Total= $521 Combo the i3 2100 with Win 7 Pro 64 bit and Total= $635 

    Hopefully the 5830's come back in stock soon as they just went out. 



    Links: 

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115078 

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Comb [...] mbo.653334 

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128473 

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820211364 

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822136073 

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811147153 

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102878 

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817371033

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