I Want to Build my 1st Computer

[phiphika1453]

After realizing that I can have much better equipment than the crap dell sells I have decided to build my 1st computer. I have a list of questions here and would be thankful for any other advice some of you may have in helping me.

1. Is there a 2p2 for computer building?
2. Are there any good parts in my Dell 6100 that can be used for the new comp?
3. Any recomendations for brands of parts?
4. What are some of the coolest cases available?
5. Internet store for buying individual components?
6. Good video cards? (not a gamer)
7. Any good ram recomendations?

Anyway you kinda get the idea.... I am just looking for a general direction on what brand names etc. I should be buying.

Any other helpful hints would be much appreciated.

Thanks
Ben

[LeapFrog]

I have to run here soon so I will just throw out a few things quick:

If your going to build I recommend overclocking. Its really a simple process and if you pick components of reasonable quality + say $30-50 extra for a good heatsink/fan you can save hundreds. Of course there is the extra time involved in 'tweaking' your oc but IMO its completely worth it. Check out http://www.ocforums.com/ -- even if you decide not to overclock it has a wealth of info on building plus you can get an idea of what components to be looking at.

You can price and read user reviews of components at say NewEgg (which I highly recommend). Can't stress the user reviews enough, some motherboards for example have a history of DOA arrivals. Not what you want to experience after spending a few hours getting everything setup. That is the downside to building your own, just be aware that you may have to do some troubleshooting/invest more time in the project then you had intended. On the balance however, at least for myself, building is worth it.

[phiphika1453]

I guess overclocking will allow a lesser/cheaper component to operate at the same or higher capacity than a regular more expensive part?

[LeapFrog]

Essentially you are running components at a higher clock speed then they are rated for. If you keep bumping up the speed you will hit a point where the component isn't stable so you generally test up to this level then back off a bit.

[Meech]

Eh on overclocking. Way too much risk for too little gain.

Especially for somebody who's rather green on the finer points of home computer construction.

Stability >>>>>>>>>>>>&g t; 2% speed increase.

[LeapFrog]

lol my cpu is 2.66 --> 3.66. It could go 3.8 if I wanted to up the voltage. 90 dollar dual core, has had 1 reboot in 6 months. 2% gain... sigh. Thats with a $50 heat sink btw so its not some crazy setup. I think OP can handle the madness of incrementing fsb by 5 then running stability programs, repeat till value. The hard part is building the computer(research included), not overclocking it.

[LuckyTxGuy]

[ QUOTE ]
After realizing that I can have much better equipment than the crap dell sells I have decided to build my 1st computer.

[/ QUOTE ]

Without out a doubt you can build a better, nicer, fancier computer than Dell but you aren't comparing apples and apples. However, you won't build a better, nicer, fancier computer with a 17" Dell flat panel monitor for the $500 or less that Dell charges. Now if you want to build a $1,000+ machine, ya you can use better parts in a nicer case for sure, but for 95% of computer users the Dell setup will work just fine. People, especially us geeks, fall into the trap of thinking we need a bigger and better pc than we really do.

Not trying to discourage you, I'm just making a point. People are often quick to jump on Dell or HP's about making "crap" but they can't (anymore) replicate the lower end to average systems Dell sells them for the same or a lesser price, with a nice monitor, plus a one year warranty. I've build computers and I've bought many computers for myself and my customers and I've come across very very few people who really need a computer any better than what Dell can build for them.

When it comes to system parts, I'll almost guarantee Newegg.com is your best bet. I buy thousands of dollars worth of stuff from them every year and their prices including shipping are very hard to beat. Newegg also has customer reviews on their products so you can get a good feel for what stuff is quality and what isn't. I do have to admit I'd say the reviews tend to be a little more negative than they probably should be. Probably since it's easier to take the time to write a review when you're mad, rather than when it works great.

A good way to start is to go through Dell's system builder and spec out the system you really want. Then write down or print out all the specs and start at Newegg and go through part by part adding them to your shopping cart so you can get an idea of the total cost.

As for pc building sites and tutorials, there are alot out there and you'll find plenty with Google. I did find a couple right off the bad that are step by step help guides...

http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/other/144

http://www.pcmech.com/build.htm

I know this doesn't answer everything, but it's a start.

Good luck.

[Meech]

Processing power is cheap these days, I'm just not crazy about it. Void warranties, shorten processor life -- eh. I'll drop the $$ to step up the processor.

For most people the processor isn't the bottleneck anyhow.

That and I'm running an AMD dual processor now and those puppies already run hot. Heck with a beefy case fan, mongo cpu fan, and a PSU fan it still runs around 32-35 idle. Mid forties when I'm gaming.

[Meech]

[ QUOTE ]
People are often quick to jump on Dell or HP's about making "crap" but they can't (anymore) replicate the lower end to average systems Dell sells them for the same or a lesser price, with a nice monitor, plus a one year warranty.

[/ QUOTE ]

Agreed. If you only need bare-bones Dells are ok enough.

But then you run into the crap like in the other thread where you buy (what you think is) a modern system only to find out it has no AGP port. Starting to sound like the difference between Dell and eMachines are getting smaller and smaller.

[LeapFrog]

[ QUOTE ]
Processing power is cheap these days, I'm just not crazy about it. Void warranties, shorten processor life -- eh. I'll drop the $$ to step up the processor.

For most people the processor isn't the bottleneck anyhow.

That and I'm running an AMD dual processor now and those puppies already run hot. Heck with a beefy case fan, mongo cpu fan, and a PSU fan it still runs around 32-35 idle. Mid forties when I'm gaming.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well in terms of reduced processor life I've never had any problems. Seriously overvolted an old p4 and for about 2 years ran folding@home on it 24/7. It still runs fine. Obviously YRMV, but of the 5 systems I have built and overclocked I haven't had a proc failure yet. And if I did so I'm out $90 bucks after a year. Also, there are many batches of procs out there that require very little voltage bump to get spectacular results. For example, my $90 proc could be ramped up 300 mhz without even increasing voltage.

If OP is already building the computer (like I said the hard part) then he might as well overclock. Just hit up the OC forums and price a system. There are examples of high end crazy gaming rigs to the cheapest boxes that people OC and run folding@home and seti on. Done right, overclocking can end up saving money.

My setup was ~850 US (no monitor) and its almost lag free. I am currently running EVE Online, about 15 firefox windows, and a virtual machine eating up 512 meg and its quite snappy. OP could defiantly go cheaper and still have a very fast system (my ram was $300 for example).