I wanna build my own pc!!?!!?!

[Tstank]

Ok heres the situation.
I need a new computer and I was wondering where I could order all the parts I need. I sort of want to order it all from one place.

And do you think it would be cheaper to make one then say rather buy one from Dell or somewhere like that

[warhorse]

Of course it would be cheaper. I suggest going to www.resellerratings.com and looking at the top ranked comanies (company rankings) and go from there...

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Sitting here with my red red hat hat for the daily daily show showing.

[S_Klass]

The first question you want to ask yourself is are you comfortable building one? Are you comfortable handling basic troubleshooting/upgrading/repair once your PC is built?

If you think you are then I'll definately recommend you build your own. Usually I've found that you don't save a significant sum of money. What you do get however, is better parts for the money. While a HP or Compaq (for example) costing $1500 may contain a TNT2 card, a 40GB 5,400 RPM ATA66 drive, a Winmodem and a 220 watt PSU, your $1500 home built can have a GeForce 2 MX, a 40GB 7,200 RPM ATA100 drive, a hardware modem and a 300 watt PSU. Nice to have best of the breed components for the same price isn't it?

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-=S_Klass=- I tweak... therefore I am.

[starsky]

you can use www.pricewatch.com to check the prices. Try to find some sellers that have nice webpages and have their support numbers very clear.

Also, if you can, get as many components as you can from one seller. I've had cases where the component may cost 5$ more, but i've saved myself 10 dollars in shipping by getting them all at the same source.

I like www.buy.com for small stuff like keyboards, hubs, mice, and stuff like that. They frequently have special deals.

Good luck with your system. Let us know how it turns out.

[tarez]

Astak.com and compuplus.com are both nice places with good prices...Ihave dealt with both many times without problems, returns or otherwise.

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When in doubt break out the sledge hammer....

[Toolbox]

What are you going to use the computer for? Let us already tell you more or less how much it's going to cost and exactly what parts you're going to need.

Are you going to overclock it? Do you want extra cooling peripherals? How about joysticks and steering columns?

Let us know alright?

[gunk]

flick through some of the archives round here... crazy sh!t...

this is from a time when i knew little about h/ware but lots about linux. http://discussions.hardwarecentral.c...ML/006545.html
(how little i knew... half the stuff i didnt get )

Are you happy with ripping bits off your other computer? (floppies, cds, sound cards etc)

and everything tool said.

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Windows:

Windows Is Not Demented, Overrated Sh!t

(stupid 200 chars max...)

[grover]

Congratulations, Tstank! You've made the right decision Another great place to buy parts is at a computer show- you'll get net prices w/o shipping. (You will have to pay sales tax, though) And after you've built your own computer, you'll NEVER go back to storebought again... not to mention it's a lot cheaper and easier to upgrade since you know it intimately and can just do it piece-by-piece <g>

My advice would be to do solid research on every component before you buy it. Ask here and search deja-news, and make sure you're buying the best you can for the price and that you're not buying a lemon or something incompatible with another component. (My favored form of checking is just to read all the problems people on usenet are having- too many or too serious, and you know you don't want to risk it!) Once you know precisely what part you want to buy, it's just a matter of who's selling it cheapest! Oh, and make sure you have a net-ready computer nearby so you can troubleshoot online. And believe me- you WILL have to troubleshoot online, hehe

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Asus A7V
Duron 650@850@1.80V

[Todd a]

If you want really cheap stuff (basic mice, speekers, keyboards, genaric memory, CD ROMs...) then www.logical-source.com is not too bad. They have good prices and resonable shipping rates and carry just about everything needed for a system ,but their Mid tower ATX cases have the power supply blocking the cooling on the CPU on a full ATX board. Either get a larger case on move the power supply to the outside of the case (which I did). You cant beat $21 for a case and power supply.

You might goto www.priceline.com to get some better prices for memory and processors and www.buy.com is pretty good for better name brand parts (Keyboards, mice, hard drive, CD ROM...) and have good shipping rates and service/return policy. For heatsinks and cooling fans I'd goto www.millisec.safeshopper.com they have a fixxed $4 shipping rate and carry most of the best cooling fans for good prices.

Me personally, I'd get the Abit KT7 and a Duron 600 or an Athlon 750 and clock it to 900+Mhz. Get the cheapest CD ROM, memory (128MB) and modem. Get a Sound Bblaster Live Value (or OEM) and a good keyboard/mouse (Memorex has some good one on Buy.come for cheap). Get something like a 20GB IBM hard drive. Then get a Voodoo3 3000, GeFroce2 MX, or GeForce2 GTS. The Voodoo3 works good and is cheap the MX is fast and a great deal, and the GTS is VERY fast but expensive. Get a GlobalWin FOP32-1 and 1 or 2 92mm case fans. Get good speakers ($50+ stereo +sub minimum) and a godd 17-19" monitor. This will set you back about $1000-1500 depending on how extravigant you get.

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The COMPUTER is your FRIEND!
Happiness is manditory.

[droppage]

I agree with Todd A except that i would avoid "cheap" memory, especially if you plan on overclocking. You can get good (not the best) ram like Kingmax and Micron at places like www.mwave.com and www.computersupersale.com for $105 and $81 respectively for a 128mb PC133 stick.
(actually the Kingmax is PC150)
drop

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Drop

[This message has been edited by droppage (edited 10-31-2000).]

[zodder]

S_Klass hit it right on the head. You have to have enough experience and know-how to be able to troubleshoot, and not freak out, when you put it all together, turn it on and nothing happens (Trust me, we've all been there ) You are going to be your own tech support, but nothing makes you learn it faster than trial by fire.

If you are starting from scratch and want to buy most of your stuff from a reputable dealer, I would choose one of the biggies (Buy.com, Onvia....) so that everything goes as smoothly as possible. You don't want to be wondering where the hell your ram is after you've had everything together for 2 weeks. The premium you pay at these sites may be made up in shipping or in piece of mind. Onvia has free shipping and Buy.com has free shipping specials every once in a while.

Good luck. Building your own is a very rewarding experience.

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Sabres in 6