Building computers

[recneps]

I have a question, is it really hard to build a computer? i mean is it hard to learn, and so i mean could i build a computer from components i buy with no knowledge of this. (i would learn a bit of course )

[Tony]

yes, lol If the component fits - that's the place it has to go... I'm serious, building a computer is equivalent to solving a jigsaw puzzle with as many pieces as there're computer parts.

[Dan]

yep tony is right, it is a pice of cake if u are not making the componts and just buying them. hard thing may be making shure they work together.

[Tony]

well it mostly depends on the motherboard... such as your harddrive will have no effect on your video card

so just ask some tech guy at the store if w/e component fits with the motherboard of your choice. They would give you a blank stare, wonder wtf you're talking about and say "yes"

[poly]

Computers are very simple to build, inless you make it hard.... Maybe you could give us an idea on your budget and what this computer is gonna be doing and we could head you in the right direction (parts wise)...

[recneps]

well i dont have the money yet (sent resume into McDonald's! )
Anyways, yeah what i meant was is it hard to get compatible stuff, like am i gonna start it up and its like "Error" lol.
Im going for something that is good for games, as well as programming, all that good stuff, so its gota have at least 512 ram and hd doesnt matter, and p4 processor, cdwriter (for the whole 5 times i use it )
and thats about it, oh and good vid/sound card.
my budget (im hoping is under $1000) (in other words i dont want top of the line stuff like a $500 vid card lol)

[wtd]

For the budget-minded consumer building their own computer, I'd recommend a Athlon-based system. Athlon64 would be nice, but 32-bit processors will remain mainstream for a long while, at least on the Windows side of things.

When it comes to the motherboard, look for something with Serial ATA connectors as well as regular IDE connectors. The latter will support older hard drives and optical drives, but the Serial ATA capacity will let you use the hard drives and optical drives that are going to be quite popular in the next year.

On video cards, I think anything with 64MB or more of memory is going to be sufficient for most gaming.

I'd suggest trying to secure a smaller, older hard drive to serve as a disk for your operating system, and use a larger disk to store applications and documents.

[poly]

I agree with what wtd had to say. I would go AMD Athlon system (not the 64bit cause thats a bit pricey). But seeing as you are going to have to save up the money and its going to take some time, parts will come down in price....

[shorthair]

just remeber when buying your parts and building the pc


" you only go as fast as your slowest component "

The problem with most computers seed is that one device ca ngo fas but the processor is slow ,so say the video card is real fast and you have a 300 Mhz Processor , the video card has to wait for hte processor to finish the last job before it does the new one ,so the video card is always waiting , never running at its potential


So think about Your hardwares potential and gettign the most out of all of it

[Martin]

Ordering the components isn't too bad...design your rig, post the stuff here and i'm sure there are people who can give you the thumbs up or down (like myself for example.)

As for putting it together, it's pretty straightforward...except putting a motherboard in is kinda scary. I built my computer from parts...it took about half an hour, half of which was putting in the mobo. You have to put it on these risers, so it doesn't touch the case...and the whole part feels like it's going to break in half in your hands while you do it. Other than that...pretty straightforward. The ram goes in the ram slot, the video card goes in the AGP slot and so on. You have to do a bit of connecting for the disc drives, but that's pretty easy.

Also don't work on carpet and make sure you're grounded.

[jonos]

maybe practice on an old computer, thats why i do. i bought a really old computer for 10 bucks that i have been taking apart and building for a long time and it is good practice for my good computer. make sure the ram goes in the right way, or you will fry it and that is not good :/

[poly]

I bought a computer... i mostly learnt from just figuring stuff out when i went to upgrade it, and reading helps.... I think the best thing you can do is ask at forums, tons of people, with tons of experience and we(including everybody even with just the slightest info on pc's) can tell ya how to do something and there will be numerous ways

[PaddyLong]

go for athlon 2500+ barton and like asus asv600 ... throw in a bit of ram (like 512 ddr 2700 or some thing)

[poly]

PaddyLong wrote:

go for athlon 2500+ barton and like asus asv600 ... throw in a bit of ram (like 512 ddr 2700 or some thing)

depending on when youll have this money saved up this would be a good idea....If you got the money saved up near the middle of the summer, hold off intil school starts again because ATI, AMD and other companies usually release there new toys during the end of the summer which means prices go down for the other stuff and youll be able to get a bit better things

[recneps]

k, ill keep all that in mind, and is working in the crawlspace or basement a good idea (concrete floor, little dust, constant temp?)