How to build your own pc !

[Atomic Mitten]

Sorry Gryphon, but what seems to be correct ?

[Nyarlathotep]

Sorry Gryphon, but what seems to be correct ?

The IP address you provided :)

[filecore]

Well I have to say, I've built computers a few times now (I started off by upgrading, then dismantling broken ones, and finally building new ones) and it really does get easy, even if you're not too knowledgable. Just a few basic rules - ground yourself (okay, I hardly do but then I usually use crap old components anyway), and always be gentle.

Also, I have recently saved money when I built a computer, the processor was an AMD Barton 2500+, rated to 1833MHz. With a better fan than the standard one supplied (a little extra cost to get a fan), and a slightly more expensive case (for the more powerful power supply), I was able to overclock the processor from 1833 to 2GHz. Not bad, when you consider it's half the price of a faster processor.

ONLY DO THIS IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING! You need a better fan as the processor heats up more at these temperatures. However, you can get a MUCH faster processor for an incredibly cheap price if you know how to overclock; the architecture of the 2500+ is the same as the 3200+ from AMD.

Anyway enough of the technical stuff... basically what I wanted to say (before I got so horribly sidetracked!) was that it is fun building your own PC, you can get the _exact_ system that you want, and you can get it at your price - unless there's a special deal on, in which case, go for the deal and upgrade later. But it's really not as hard as you think :-)

[SurlyPIG]

Can't argue with that filecore.  Awesome guide Nyar, very helpful.  For sure I'm going to build my next PC...we've always bought from Dell because they have wonderful service, but it occured to me that for the price they charge you, if you built the computer yourself you could literally replace every single component, some of them twice, and still the cost would be more than $1000 less than if bought from any manufacturer.  And you could just buy your components under selective warranty.

If you think about it, there isn't anything that a PC manufacturer actually builds themselves, it's just assembly, BIOS setup, OS installation and program installation, which you can do on your own for thousands less!  Brilliant!  I mean you only really need:

case, fans and power supply (because sometimes these come together)

motherboard

CPU

RAM

Vid card

Sound card

keyboard

hard drive

floppy drive

CD/DVD drive(s)

mouse

monitor

NIC and/or modem

speakers

an OS + any software you deem essential

And at least a couple of these things, most of us have anyway and could use again because they aren't worth upgrading like speakers, mouse, keyboard and floppy drive.  You could practically scrounge some of those for free!  I suppose if you know what you're doing, make sure everything is ideally compatable with everything else and get good get a good warranty on components where necessary, I really don't see why you would ever do anything else!

[Nyarlathotep]

Thanks Ace. And yes, you are right, if you build your own comp, you can save money.

Before I build my comp, I usually check out several sites where they've tested hardware (like www.tomshardware.com). Building your own comp aint that difficult, it's just something you need to have done once :)

[Atomic Mitten]

The computer in my signature,I built myself after reading Docs thread. ;D

[SurlyPIG]

Nice :)

Doc sure has saved FED2Kers a lot of money...

And for anyone's next project, I heard they have HDs that can do 10,000 RPMs!

[gryphon]

SATA raptors :)

think 13.000 or 14.000 is max at this time for SCSI ?