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02/22/2007 05:24:54 PM · #1 |
I'll admit I haven't done this since I built a 486, so I'm a little out of the loop on building a PC from barebones. So any pointers would help.
What I assume I'm looking for:
LGA775 processor socket
At least 1 PCI-Express slot and PCI slots
FSB needs to match whichever processor I decide to use.
DDR2 RAM? Obviously the more it supports the better.
No integrated video/audio..
Help me out... LOL
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02/22/2007 05:27:09 PM · #2 |
And what does this mean?
PCI Express: 1 x PCI Express x16 + 1 x PCI Express x4
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02/22/2007 05:36:36 PM · #3 |
The PCI Express x 16 is for a PCI-E graphics card, the others are for things like lan cards, sound cards, whatever.
It's pretty simple, especially with some of the tutorials out there, the main thing is take your time, and be sure to get the thermal paste properly spread on the CPU heatsink, that doesn't mean alot though.
Any questions just ask.
*Edit* I'd go for the Intel Core Duo E6600 or the E6400 if you can.
Message edited by author 2007-02-22 17:37:42. |
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02/22/2007 05:37:01 PM · #4 |
PCI Express, AFAIK is the newest iteration of interface slots. From what I've seen they are usually used for video cards and the number after the x is it's speed I think. Generally when you buy a newer video card it will specify somewhere whether it's PCI Express/AGP/PCI. Make sure that when you order a video card it also matches up to whatever interface your motherboard may have.
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02/22/2007 05:37:56 PM · #5 |
I just completed my first computer build, went off like a charm. Go to new egg and look around their forums and their product reviews. Start by picking either a motherboard or processor, and read the reviews until you find a good combination of price and features. You can narrow the search pretty quickly by feature (like LGA775 socket) and you'll pretty quickly zero in on a few choices that meet your needs. I ended up with an Intel motherboard and slighly older Intel Dual Core processor, added a 350GB SATA hard drive, a DVD RW drive, and 2GB of RAM, and put it all in an Antec case along with some other components poached from an old computer. Total cost was about $600.
*Edit - Ben's right on the E6600 or E6400, but I went with this one to save money, and its plenty fast for me.
Message edited by author 2007-02-22 17:43:13. |
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02/22/2007 05:41:28 PM · #6 |
| Tom's Hardware Guide is an excellent resource to learn about equipment and has some excellent reviews. If you have some time to do some reading it's an excellent resource. |
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02/22/2007 05:48:50 PM · #7 |
You might consider a good custom PC shop, they can help you pick components. The prices aren't much higher than building it yourself and you get the support of someone who does it for a living.
I use KC-Computers. Kevin is the owner and person you can talk to, and they have great ratings at reseller-ratings. I'm looking at a quote from him now, in fact.
Check out his reseller-ratings as well (he has a lifetime rating of 9.82 / 10!)
I am just a customer; no financial or personal ties.
Message edited by author 2007-02-22 17:53:18. |
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02/22/2007 05:50:12 PM · #8 |
why not on board audio? i've been pretty happy with my onboard audio, and it saves the expense of buying a sound card ( why buy a cheap one when the board can provide the same ). unless it's your main stereo of course, then buy an expensive sound card.
you'll probably find you save quite a bit of money if you don't aim for the newest/fastest hardware, but stay a release behind ( sort of like your camera ;).
i've had good luck with SOYO main boards.
one thing you might want to have as a feature is front USB ports. some of the boards ( been a year or so since i built one last ) have them some don't. i know there are cards you can get - but having them already installed with the BIOS config seems more logical to me.
most of the boards out there now are jumperless ( so to speak ) so it'll be a bit easier than building that 486 ;}
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02/22/2007 05:50:18 PM · #9 |
you're forgetting the PSU, pretty important and not something you want to skimp on.
Depending on what you want to use the pc for you may want to consider certain harddrives, maybe RAID options?
Also, it doesn't matter if your mainboard has integrated video/audio - you can just add your own cards and not use the integrated features |
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02/22/2007 06:09:12 PM · #10 |
Not going to be a gaming PC. Mostly Photo Editing and DPC browsing :-). My current system is maxed out and with CS3 on the horizon, I fear it's gonna choke.
My current system:
Dell 2350 2GhZ Celeron Processor.
Total supported RAM: 1GB maxed out.
2 HD's one is the factory installed 28GB drive the other a 100GB Western Digital.
NVidia PCI-based graphics with dual monitor support
Creative Audigy sound - and yes I use it as my main stereo/DVD player.
Message edited by author 2007-02-22 18:10:18.
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02/22/2007 06:47:06 PM · #11 |
What OS are you planning to use?
You should be able to recycle your sound card and the 100gig hd, unless you want to go to a SATA hd. That's not too important for how you plan to use this box, though. |
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02/22/2007 06:49:45 PM · #12 |
you haven't mentioned the OS you want...Windows 95 or 3.1? lol
You may want to stay away from Vista for at least a year to give them time to work the kinks out.
If you're going to buy your own power supply, get one with about 85% efficiency rating.
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02/22/2007 06:53:01 PM · #13 |
Originally posted by error99:
What OS are you planning to use?
You should be able to recycle your sound card and the 100gig hd, unless you want to go to a SATA hd. That's not too important for how you plan to use this box, though. |
No, go SATA. The speed performance is worth it, prices are rock-bottom for a drive five times that capacity, and the latest WD SB16 SATA hard drives are going to seem whisper-quiet compared to your 100GB WD. |
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02/22/2007 07:05:12 PM · #14 |
For what it's worth, Alex recently built his computer using the following specs. It is dead silent - you wouldn't believe it was even on if you were in the same room.
DG965WH Intel motherboard
OCZ PC2-6400 DDR2 memory (2GB)
Core2 Duo 2.13 Ghz processor
Antec Solo case (Quiet!!)
Phantom 500 fanless power supply (Quiet!!)
Two 250 GB WD SB16 SATA hard drives in an array using the Intel board's onboard RAID
Alex uses that board's onboard graphics, but I use an ATI X1900 graphics card and it's a bad boy. |
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02/22/2007 07:14:00 PM · #15 |
LOL, I plan to stay with WinXP.... at least for now. I'm not the early adopter type when it comes to OSes.
At the moment, I'm trying to figure out which processor I'd want to go with. Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Athlon 64 X2. I think I'm getting a grasp on this stuff.
I do want SATA support, but yes the 100GB Western Digital will likely be the first HD in it.
I'm not so concerned about noise levels though, I'm usually blaring music anyway... LOL
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02/22/2007 07:14:41 PM · #16 |
That's the same mobo I used, with a similar setup (tho older processor). It would be a good choice for your needs. It only supports two ATA100 devices (DVD, CD, older hard drives), so you'd probably need tp go with a SATA drive (or 2 if you're using RAID for data mirroring). |
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02/22/2007 07:16:30 PM · #17 |
| core2 duo if you can afford it is a class above. Less power, less noise, cooler, and faster. |
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02/22/2007 07:16:44 PM · #18 |
Originally posted by Olyuzi:
..
You may want to stay away from Vista for at least a year to give them time to work the kinks out.
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no kinks.. I use it and love it .. still can't belive it
Message edited by author 2007-02-22 19:17:04.
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02/22/2007 07:21:34 PM · #19 |
Read this site before building anything:
//www.tomshardware.com/
This is THE BEST site for computer hardware review and guides.
Nick
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02/22/2007 07:36:24 PM · #20 |
I was going to replace my main system, but have been upgrading it bit by bit (perhaps replacing it would have been cheaper/better...who knows)
Building new...
Intel is faster than AMD - if you go high end. Otherwise it may not matter. I've been an AMD fan based on price/performance. I don't game, so all out speed and power it not crucial.
get lots of watts...my set up has killed one power supply and the replacement was dying, do I got a 500W unit and now things are stable again. But then I'm running 3 HDs and 2 monitors, a good video card that needs power, and my 4 USB ports are always full. So i'm loaded.
The thing now is a 'normal' C drive ( or a raptor 10,000 rpm one)and 2 matching drives for D in a RAID format. I just picked up a maxtor 200Gb 7200rpm drive for $40 at staples. That'll give me 2 of them and a 120gb (partitiioned) C drive. Assuming you put windows/programs on C and data on D 8o to 100 gb is all C needs to be. Mine is 60gb and that's plenty. Keep your data seperate! I have 148gb used...and that's with ALL my RAW files for the past 18 months (over 10,000 of them) PLUS the JPG conversions, PSDs, etc. I guess I'm saying 250Gb data drive should be plenty for most people.
RAM - get 2 Gb. Not sure about CS3, but I think CS2 has a limit on what it can acceess (1 or 1.5Gb if i recall) so with CS2 more is a waste. Faster is better, be that DDR2 or FSB speeds. I think they go to 800 these days.
video..any $100 card should be fine.
Part of what stopped me from building a new system was the price came out to about $800 any which way I tried it, short of seriously cannablizing my current system, and the new one would not be significantly better than what i have now (amd 2600XP at 2Ghz, thunderbird core, 400FSB, 1 Gb DDR2 ram , XP Pro.) I'd need to reinstall windows (and most everything else) preferrably on a new HD, my video card is AGP, so I'd need a new one of those...not much could be stolen from this system to save money.
I looked at barebones systems, individual bits and pieces and what actually was cheapest was to get an HP system from OfficeMax - watch for the sales. They had a core duo 6400, 2Gb ram, 533 FSB, 250Gb HD, litscribe DVD burner, XP Media Center Edition, speakers, video, 9 or 12 or 100 (something huge) media card reader, fire wire, USB ports out the wazoo, etc, etc, and a warranty! Saw it in early november for $699. I don't think I could have bought the HD, RAM and XP for that price!
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02/22/2007 10:01:37 PM · #21 |
I build about 20 systems a year for small business' and friends. I strictly use PCdirectsource and they have been great to deal with for the past 5 years. I have had one part failure under warrenty in all this time. When my system crashed this past week I didnt hesitate to place an order with them. I generally build their AMD Barebones system for customers and just add the drives and OS that I need. Gus is their tech guy and very easy to deal with. They ship Fedex ground as their main shipper and its usually 3 days to get to my house. My new parts to replace my system will be here tomorrow. Good luck
MattO
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02/22/2007 10:03:42 PM · #22 |
Originally posted by Prof_Fate:
what actually was cheapest was to get an HP system from OfficeMax - watch for the sales. They had a core duo 6400, 2Gb ram, 533 FSB, 250Gb HD, litscribe DVD burner, XP Media Center Edition, speakers, video, 9 or 12 or 100 (something huge) media card reader, fire wire, USB ports out the wazoo, etc, etc, and a warranty! Saw it in early november for $699. I don't think I could have bought the HD, RAM and XP for that price! |
That's a path I'm looking at... but I'm thinking more about a little here, a little there approach.
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02/22/2007 10:05:06 PM · #23 |
Originally posted by MattO:
I build about 20 systems a year for small business' and friends. I strictly use PCdirectsource and they have been great to deal with for the past 5 years. I have had one part failure under warrenty in all this time. When my system crashed this past week I didnt hesitate to place an order with them. I generally build their AMD Barebones system for customers and just add the drives and OS that I need. Gus is their tech guy and very easy to deal with. They ship Fedex ground as their main shipper and its usually 3 days to get to my house. My new parts to replace my system will be here tomorrow. Good luck
MattO |
Thanks for the source Matt. I'll check them out.
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02/22/2007 10:40:07 PM · #24 |
I have to chime in on this one, I'm like MattO where I build and even maintain some PC's for friends, family and my business. Your best bet is to prob go with something like what Matt is suggesting in getting something sort of custom built, YES I know that staples and the like carry cheep HP and Dell taylor made PC's but even though there cheep there upgrade paths are usually VERY limited. A good example is the power supplies, you can NOT put an off the shelf PSU in to a Hell or HP PC as they reconfigure the wiring at the factory so you are forced in to their parts. You are much better off finding a good local store that will build you a PC to your requirements. It may cost you a little more but you will be much better off. I can recommend some parts for you if you like as I keep fairly up to date on the new hardware and of all the PC's Ive built its extremely rare to have something fail as I use quality parts the first time.
Just a side note, if you find cheep Maxtor drives kicking around its because Seagate bought Maxtor a couple months ago and shut down the company as Seagate was only interested in their manufacturing facilities. I only use westerndigital HD's, I have about 40 of them running on my network and there up 24/7 with no troubles and some have been running for 4+ years like that...
Anyway here are a few other review sites I would recommend if you want to do a little research on your own.
Oh and lastly have a look at MaximumPC magazine as they have good reviews also on new hardware and if its crap they say its crap even if the product is being advertised in the mag :) and one more just in case, monarch computers is no more even though the web site may say otherwise, they were recently shut down by the local sheriffs dept...
/babble_off
-dave
Message edited by author 2007-02-22 22:42:56.
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02/22/2007 10:54:43 PM · #25 |
Originally posted by dknourek:
/babble_off
-dave |
Babble appreciated... so what happened with the sheriff's dept. Enquiring minds wanna know :-)
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