PC From Scratch (how to decide)

[gunblade01]

I want to build a PC but have a hard time deciding on the hardware.
There are so many motherboards, chipset variations, socket variations,
etc... I just never know if I am buying the best, the worst, or if
each item will work well with the other.

Is there a resource that can show compatible hardware, performance,
cost? I don't want any hardware that is combined like sound and
motherboard in one or video and motherboard in one. I want each piece
separate so that I can intercange and upgrade as needed.

Any help? Thanks.

 

[Chris Hill]

On 23 Feb 2006 10:51:24 -0800, (e-mail address removed) wrote:

I want to build a PC but have a hard time deciding on the hardware.

There are so many motherboards, chipset variations, socket variations,
etc... I just never know if I am buying the best, the worst, or if
each item will work well with the other.

Is there a resource that can show compatible hardware, performance,
cost? I don't want any hardware that is combined like sound and
motherboard in one or video and motherboard in one. I want each piece
separate so that I can intercange and upgrade as needed.

Any help? Thanks.

All mainboards I've looked at have sound on them. It works, either
disable it and spend good money on a sound card or use it, it''s your
choice. If most of the options available weren't decent, they
wouldn't be available. Pick companies you trust and take your
chances. I built an amd xp3200/Epopx ep9npa+ultra, and a cheap Asus
Geforce6200 pci-express card. I'm happy.>

If you don't have anything in mind that requires a lot of money be
spent on a particular area, just go buy a computer, sounds to me like
you don't enjoy the research anyway.

 

[Vaughn]

I want to build a PC but have a hard time deciding on the hardware.
There are so many motherboards, chipset variations, socket variations,
etc... I just never know if I am buying the best, the worst, or if
each item will work well with the other.

Is there a resource that can show compatible hardware, performance,
cost? I don't want any hardware that is combined like sound and
motherboard in one or video and motherboard in one. I want each piece
separate so that I can intercange and upgrade as needed.

Any help? Thanks.

From what I've read here most of the REAL builders here will first ask
what it is you want this PC to do?

Are you aiming for fantastic Gaming, or massive number crunching on
accounts or such?

Give this info and they may be able to give not only more help, but more
better links.

beat of luck Vaughn

 

[johns]

No. There are no resources that you can trust. All of them
are vendor hypes. I recommend the following:

All in Black

First the mobo bundle from Mwave. Note the reason you
want to go with the Mwave bundle, is so you can send
the bundle back to Mwave under their RMA to test and
replace if necessary. If you buy just parts, it will take too
much time to assemble the system, and by the time
you have it done, you will be into a world of problems
with warranty ... and the companies will force you to
return each item separately to the original manufacturer
..... like the cpu to AMD ... the mobo to Gigabyte .. the
ram to Kingston. Mwave will do this too if you don't get
the assembled and tested mobo bundle.

mobo .. GA-K8NF-9 is the nForce4, 939, multi-AMD cpu
cpu ... AMD Athlon 64 3800+ Venice ( also note others )
ram .. 2 gigabytes ( single stick ) Kingston ddr400

Then the Hard Drive: SATA 300 of course:
Again you can get ripped off bad. DO NOT BUY MAXTOR.

Hitachi SATA 160 gig ( an IBM drive that will last )

Video Card .. pci-e . I highly recommend ATI, but right
now the nVidia 7800GT looks fairly good.

eVGA GF7800GT 256 ddr3 pci-e at $250 is a bargain.
Note: this card requires a minimum of a 450 watt psupply.

Case: Antec SLK1650B and see if somebody will swap
in the TruePower 480 watt psupply, and not force you to
buy the standart 350 watt supply that comes in that case.
I did that, and the TruePower supply has a 120 mm fan
which is quiet.

Floppy: Sony is good, and you DO NEED a floppy for
recovery and testing.

DVD .. ABCDEFG .... again the Mwave Sony is a good
one.

Keybd and Mouse: the Microsoft bundle is clean and
will last ( get it in Black )

Zip drive: do NOT get a zip drive.

Monitor: Viewsonic 19 inch with 8ms refresh and DVI
input ( not just analog ). You want to use the DVI.
I'm watching the Wide 20 inchers. Price is coming
down in $400 - $500 range soon.

Sound: Creative 3-speaker system .. base and 2
speakers. Any of the lower price ones are fine. You
want the base speaker to be able to fit under your
desk. The big ones will not. Hang the other 2 on the
wall behind your desk about 6 feet apart. Nice!

Backup system: I have a Maxtor OneTouch. Do NOT
use their backup software. Just treat the thing as a
USB thumb drive, and only turn it on when copying
stuff off your PC. I use PowerQuest DiskImage and
create the image on the D-partition of my 160 gig
.... for recovery if needed. Then I keep a copy of the
image on the USB drive ( also 160 gig ).

Modem: Win modem ... cheap ... works fine.

Cable TV: Hauppauge 350 .. great, and records
TV shows to hard drive. Puts cable TV on monitor
screen.

Joystick: Logitec 3D .. price is right .. works great.

OS: WinXP Pro is $130 at Mwave. Worth it.

Games: All the MOHAA series. All the CoD series.
Far Cry ( and patches ).

Stuff NOT TO GET:

Any ASUS mobo
Any P4 cpu ( hot and slow )
Any nVidia 6800 series
Any VIA chipset series of mobos
Anything made by ACER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

johns

 

[Bob]

I want to build a PC but have a hard time deciding on the
hardware.
There are so many motherboards, chipset variations, socket
variations,
etc... I just never know if I am buying the best, the worst, or
if
each item will work well with the other.

Is there a resource that can show compatible hardware,
performance,
cost? I don't want any hardware that is combined like sound and
motherboard in one or video and motherboard in one. I want each
piece
separate so that I can intercange and upgrade as needed.

Any help? Thanks.

http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu.html?modelx=33&model1=249&model2=237&chart=67

This is the place to teach you many things.

 

[SteveH]

No. There are no resources that you can trust. All of them
are vendor hypes. I recommend the following:

All in Black

 

[johns]

Except none of it is true, and you'll wind up throwing away
a lot of money trying to "fix" it.

johns

 

[John Doe]

I want to build a PC but have a hard time deciding on the
hardware. There are so many motherboards, chipset variations,
socket variations, etc... I just never know if I am buying the
best, the worst, or if each item will work well with the other.

Is there a resource that can show compatible hardware,
performance, cost? I don't want any hardware that is combined
like sound and motherboard in one or video and motherboard in one.
I want each piece separate so that I can intercange and upgrade
as needed.

My home built system is a perpetual continuation of upgrades. When
upgrading, I look for components that will work with the next
generation CPU/mainboard/case. In other words, if I feel like
upgrading the video card, one consideration is whether it will be
usable with the next mainboard. When ready to upgrade a basic
component like the mainboard, I salvage current parts that will work
with the new components.

Experience is a good teacher. Why not begin upgrading your current
system or buy a prefabricated system and go from there?

By the way, anybody know which original equipment manufacturer (OEM
like Dell for example) sells the most workable/upgradable systems
for prospective home builders to tinker with? Or which OEM sells
systems which are too difficult to upgrade? Mainly curious.

 

[SteveH]

Stuff NOT TO GET:

Any ASUS mobo
Any P4 cpu ( hot and slow )
Any nVidia 6800 series
Any VIA chipset series of mobos
Anything made by ACER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Absolute tosh!!!

 

[Charlie Wilkes]

Stuff NOT TO GET:

Any ASUS mobo

This is interesting. Asus has a good reputation. Why do you not like
Asus boards?

Charlie

 

[johns]

The OEMs ( like Dell ) calculate just what to put in their systems
to make them nearly impossible to upgrade in the future. They
load them with weird connectors, and cable lengths that are
difficult to find in after-market products. They underrate psupplies
so that you cannot move up to power hungry video cards. They
supply minimum ram, and put it in a reduced # of slots. They
put drives in specialized drive bays with specialized attachments.
They do not upgrade their system BIOS in a timely manner,
and that tends to cripple things like SATA 300 when the BIOS
was written for SATA 150. I've seen a DOS level format of a
SATA 300 take up to 8 hours for 60 gig, because the BIOS
is designed for SATA 150. You only have compatibility
after WinXP is installed, and only under Quick Format.

johns

 

[adsci]

read reviews (MANY MANY MANY)
read users comments
look at users rigs where ever they post them (like forum signatures)

and u'll get a glimpse what is good and what is bad.

then make a list of every component you want and try to find on every
component which manufacturers are good and which are crap.

after that go to your favourite dealer and look for the components from
your list you can afford. if you're still unsure post your rig of choice
here and look whether there is a component almost all users say its
worst and exchange it (dont give a shit on the flamewar which evolves
about some components)

buy the rig build it be happy.
thats what i did and now ive a rock solid high performance system.
but its my 5th self-build for myself.