What to buy if you want to build a PC

[Andrew2382]

Custom building your PC can be very cost effective and you will see huge performance gains in your system. If you enjoy gaming on your System, this should be something you look at.

Most people don't realize how easy it is to build your own computer and the money you can save by doing it. You not only save money but you can get a machine that would outperform anything in the price range you would have bought from a manufacturer such as HP, Dell, or Apple (lol)

Here's what you need

1- Case
2- Motherboard
3- Processor
4- Video Card
5- Hard Drive
6- RAM
7- PSU (Power Supply Unit)
8- Cooling system....most cases will come with fans but you can always add extra
9- DvDR/CDR drive
10- Sound Card

Thats all you need on the hardware side..the rest is software which is easy enough.

It's been a hobby of mine to build them and I also enjoy playing First Person Shooting games on my PC which is usually graphic intensive.

My system

Case-
Cooler Master CM690 ATX Mid-Tower Case- Cooler Master CM690 ATX Mid-Tower Case at TigerDirect.com
$80

Motherboard-
Gigabyte MA785GM-US2H Motherboard - AMD 785G, ATI Hybrid CrossFireX, PCIe 2.0, USB 2.0, RAID, HDMI, DVI, VGA
Gigabyte MA785GM-US2H Motherboard - AMD 785G, ATI Hybrid CrossFireX, PCIe 2.0, USB 2.0, RAID, HDMI, DVI, VGA at TigerDirect.com
$80

Processor
AMD Phenom X4 9600 Quad Core Processor
AMD Phenom X4 9600 Quad Core Processor HD960ZWCGDBOX - Black Edition, 2.30GHz, 4MB Cache, 1800MHz (3600 MT/s) FSB, Agena, Quad-Core, Retail, Socket AM2+, Processor with Fan at TigerDirect.com
$250

Video Card
XFX Radeon HD 4870 Video Card - 1024MB ( 2 of them)
Most people only need 1 video card
$150 each
$300

Hard Drive
Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EADS Hard Drive
Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EADS Hard Drive - 1TB, 32MB, SATA-300, OEM at TigerDirect.com
$90 x2- $180

RAM-
Corsair Dominator Dual Channel 4096MB
Corsair Dominator Dual Channel 4096MB PC8500 DDR2 1066MHz Memory (2 x 2048MB) at TigerDirect.com
$80

PSU
Corsair TX650W 650-Watt Power Supply
Corsair TX650W 650-Watt Power Supply - ATX, 120mm Fan, SLI-Ready, SATA-Ready, 80Plus at TigerDirect.com
$80

CD/DVD Drive
Sony AD-5240S-0B Optiarc DVDRW Drive
Sony AD-5240S-0B Optiarc DVDRW Drive - DVD+R 24X, DVD-R 24X, DVD+RW 8X, DVD-RW 6X, SATA (OEM) at TigerDirect.com
$30

Sound Card
Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio
Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio at TigerDirect.com
$40


Total Price for my system
A little bit over a grand.

Pretty much a beast of a machine...I can run any game on it..Including Crysis at max settings.

Trying to go to a manufacturer and get something similar (which you won't because they can't mix and match pieces like you can when you custom build) would be much more expensive.

My cousin spend 4 grand at Dell for a machine that doesn't come close to the performance.

If you want Value, I can give you the pieces to buy for a 400-600 machine which would run very efficently and smooth.

 

[blu]

ati & amd are garbage. you could get a better machine for cheaper/same price with intel proc and nvidia card so it doesn't suck. you could also then buy an evga card and step up in 90 days to get whatever the best is then for $100.

also tigerdirect is crap compared to newegg. everything about your post is backwards

 

[Shogun]

i do prefer nvidia cards. But, I like AMD too so...


tigerdirect and newegg is sooooo expensive.


PRICEWATCH :: Price Comparison Shopping Tool - Find the lowest prices on computers, parts, electronics, clothing and more before you buy

 

[Andrew2382]

I use both sites tiger direct and new egg...I just wasn't going to go back and forth between sites to link them. I used Tiger cause I just happened to be on the site. I buy from both sites because Tiger is cheaper on some items then New Egg and vice versa

And I could go with an Intel Chip set and Nividia chip set...however the double in price wouldn't give me double the performance.

I choose ATI because I have had 2 bad experiences with Nvidia and won't go back. I had the EVGA GTX 260 which is the competitor card to which I have now and the FPS was lower and it burnt out.

As for the processor

AMD is less expensive and easier to overclock as well as a better chip for overall gaming.

 

[Mr. H.]

Do you play any of the Medal of Honor series games?

 

[Mad Scientist]

ati & amd are garbage. you could get a better machine for cheaper/same price with intel proc and nvidia card so it doesn't suck. you could also then buy an evga card and step up in 90 days to get whatever the best is then for $100.
also tigerdirect is crap compared to newegg. everything about your post is backwards

You forgot to call him an asshole.

 

[rdean]

I got a great barebones kit from Tiger. Duel Core 3.0 processor with fan, 500 Gig hard drive, 2 gigs of ram, Nvidia card, 500 watt power supply, case for $300.

I just got a magnifying glass, spread it out on the dining room table on a clean white table cloth, put a copper wire from my wrist to the shower head (ground), put it together and started it up. Works perfect.

 

[007]

I got a great barebones kit from Tiger. Duel Core 3.0 processor with fan, 500 Gig hard drive, 2 gigs of ram, Nvidia card, 500 watt power supply, case for $300.

I just got a magnifying glass, spread it out on the dining room table on a clean white table cloth, put a copper wire from my wrist to the shower head (ground), put it together and started it up. Works perfect.

My son just got a barebones computer. Only spent like $400. Comparable HP's on Bestbuy.com are $600+.

I'm not sold on piecing one together. I kind of like it already built, and the next one I get will have a digital TV tuner built in with 1080p HD video output, as well as a Blu-ray disc drive that can write Blu-rays as well as read. Quad core with 8G of memory minimum.

 

[blu]

there is no question you save quite a bit of $ by piecing things together yourself and get way better equipment. you also get bleeding edge stuff instead of year old equipment (like dell's still selling with ddr2 memory)

also pale rider, 8gb of ram isn't that much now, grab a ddr3 board with 3 triple banks and get 12 or 24 gb

 

[Xenophon]

These days build your own isn't quite cheaper, you can buy a premade 'deal' for a few hundred and add some parts and come in way under a grand.

I built my last one 6 years ago and it still runs most things, but the processor is not first line anymore, a 'deal' PC will give you a good chip and mother board as well as other stuff you can use as spares, for the same price buying the seperate parts cost.

 

[Dis]

ati & amd are garbage. you could get a better machine for cheaper/same price with intel proc and nvidia card so it doesn't suck. you could also then buy an evga card and step up in 90 days to get whatever the best is then for $100.

also tigerdirect is crap compared to newegg. everything about your post is backwards

Provantage is usually better than Tiger and New put together.

 

[DiveCon]

ati & amd are garbage. you could get a better machine for cheaper/same price with intel proc and nvidia card so it doesn't suck. you could also then buy an evga card and step up in 90 days to get whatever the best is then for $100.

also tigerdirect is crap compared to newegg. everything about your post is backwards

you need to check out the pipeline differences between the Intel and AMD chips
unless some MAJOR changes have happened since the last time i looked, the AMD CPU has twice the pipeline the Intel CPU's do
that means the the AMD chip can process twice the data as an intel chip at the same speed

 

[Terry]

My PC is good but not top of the line and my burn-in benchmark Test were for Unreal Tournament (which is a hog on resources) as follows and I have an AMD processor.

Average FPS: 60.20 FPS
Time Spent Over 30 FPS: 99.67 percent of total benchmark time was spent above 30 FPS

 

[Terry]

My advice for any one who is building a PC and will be gaming on it, to get a very high end power supply. Most people ignore this.

 

[KittenKoder]

ati & amd are garbage. you could get a better machine for cheaper/same price with intel proc and nvidia card so it doesn't suck. you could also then buy an evga card and step up in 90 days to get whatever the best is then for $100.

also tigerdirect is crap compared to newegg. everything about your post is backwards

you need to check out the pipeline differences between the Intel and AMD chips
unless some MAJOR changes have happened since the last time i looked, the AMD CPYU has twice the pipeline the Intel CPU's do
that means the the AMD chip can process twice the data as an intel chip at the same speed

Most people like to remain willfully naive about technology, they rarely even know how a processor works. Hell, a lot of people think that just because a processor has more bits it can process more information faster.

 

[DiveCon]

ati & amd are garbage. you could get a better machine for cheaper/same price with intel proc and nvidia card so it doesn't suck. you could also then buy an evga card and step up in 90 days to get whatever the best is then for $100.

also tigerdirect is crap compared to newegg. everything about your post is backwards

you need to check out the pipeline differences between the Intel and AMD chips
unless some MAJOR changes have happened since the last time i looked, the AMD CPYU has twice the pipeline the Intel CPU's do
that means the the AMD chip can process twice the data as an intel chip at the same speed

Most people like to remain willfully naive about technology, they rarely even know how a processor works. Hell, a lot of people think that just because a processor has more bits it can process more information faster.

you also need to look at the onchip cache

 

[Midnight Marauder]

I've built my own computers since 1999. Although it's true the gap between the BYO cost and the retail cost is closing somewhat, it's still quite a gulf. I don't envision ever buying a pre-assembled, retail computer. BYO will always be cheaper and better.

Luckily, a couple of years ago I found a great computer "repair" store locally, that caters to the really tiny BYO crowd. Their buying power allows for really inexpensive computer building. They even have some "package" deals which they built themslves, and are really good values, lots of bang for the buck.

If you've never done a BYO you should really consider it for your next computer. You'll save money and have alot better machine for alot longer.

 

[007]

If I went BYO, it would probably cost me more money, because I tend to buy the higher end pieces. If I'm not given choices, I won't go hog ass wild with the cash.

 

[Shogun]

After the 486s, I built an Amd 586 (or, pentium 75 in essence), then an Amd k6-233 (before the necessity of attached pc fans and thermal compound), Then an AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 2.0GHz.


check it out.. the amd 586

amd k6-233

Amd Athlon 64 3200+

anyone remember the ole 90s Cyrix chips? WOW those were shitty.

 

[blu]

ati & amd are garbage. you could get a better machine for cheaper/same price with intel proc and nvidia card so it doesn't suck. you could also then buy an evga card and step up in 90 days to get whatever the best is then for $100.

also tigerdirect is crap compared to newegg. everything about your post is backwards

you need to check out the pipeline differences between the Intel and AMD chips
unless some MAJOR changes have happened since the last time i looked, the AMD CPU has twice the pipeline the Intel CPU's do
that means the the AMD chip can process twice the data as an intel chip at the same speed

pipeline? seriously? Those were maxed out along time ago (same with proc speed), what matters now is number of cores and how they share L2 and 3 cache between each other and Intel's core 2 * series has this done very well. AMD has been dead since the core 2 series and will stay that way along time with the release of the 32nm nehalem architecture next year.