Build Your Own PC

[wossa]

I am an idiot.

Tell me how.

It will basically be for home use. Games, burn cds, play dvd, surfing the net, personal finance, word processing, spreadsheet, etc.

I almost bought a refurbished Dell ( brand new, just returned) for $959. pentium 4, 1.7ghz, 128 ram, 80mb hard drive @7200rpm, 64MB geforce video card, CDRW. BAsic windows software - xp, norton, workssuite, etc.

no dvd, monitor, speakers, scanner or printer ( all which I want to add).

How much cheaper could I build the above? Where do you acquire the parts? Are we talking a screwdriver and plugging stuff in or is it more complicated than that?

I am on a deadline with the wife too.
\
Thanks for help and suggeastions

[BearBryant]

80 gig -$165
128 ram- pc/133 - $30
ge force- $56
sony cdrw 16x10x40- $80-$100
ATHLON 1.4 ghz cpu- $100
a good motherboard- $80
heatsink fan - $20
case w/ 300 watt power $40

total- $570


I assume you have a copy of Windows and other software from your old machine.

A little know how a you are in business.

[Lainey]

Price Watch (http://www.pricewatch.com)

If you have the time to dig through it all, this is a good place for ordering components.

[LarryD]

there are two places in charlotte i'd check out, one off westinghouse (ive only bought memory down there) and one up at harris and 77.

http://www.atd-inc.com/index.html

great service and support.

thats where i built mine.

[wossa]

Well I appreciate the advice fellas ( and ladies) but I am too lazy and too much of a procrastinaotor to tackle this one now.

My wife has started back to school and needs a PC at home NOW! DAMMIT!

I think I will try and build my next one tho.

[Kakia69]

I think I'm on Wossa's side too. Patience is supposed to be a virtue, but it's definitely not a virtue of mine. If I start applying cost to the (1) time it takes for me to acquire all the needed components; and the (2) time it takes for me to actually understand how to put it together since i'm not a techie; and the (3) time it takes for me to put it together; and 4) add gas money; i just don't see how it will help me save money. This is one of those times where knowledge helps save $$, and since i'm not trained in this arena it wouldn't help me. I'd probably have to hire someone to put it all together. And lets not forget, i'd need a toll free number to customer service for each component to solve any problems i may have...disagreements welcome.

[LarryD]

Originally posted by Wossamotta U
Well I appreciate the advice fellas ( and ladies) but I am too lazy and too much of a procrastinaotor to tackle this one now.

My wife has started back to school and needs a PC at home NOW! DAMMIT!

I think I will try and build my next one tho.

wossa, go up to ameritech -- at the link i posted -- they'll build it for you and install the software. heck, take in your old computer and they'll put all your software on the new one.

it'll cost some money, sure, but the whole point of building a computer is that you're saving big $$ over what HP, gateway, etc. charge you for one of their systems.

same with you, k.

maybe wossa can test it out and by the time he can report back, it'll be time for us to have another tbr.com party (as they will now be known) and you can drive up and pick up a new computer, then go drinking withthe boys and girls.

[PantherPaul]

test

[Superfluous_Nut]

I bought a custom PC a while back. It was just around $2k, but was much better than anything sold by larger companies. I'm pleased with it. If you know what you want, you can specify exactly what parts to use. You're also using "standard" parts instead of OEM specials that may or may not be 100% compatible with what you want to do.

Maybe I'll build my own, but from what little I did to expand my previous PC, I think I'll stick with the custom built solution. I'd tell you who I used but they're in Los Angeles so it wouldn't do you a lot of good. :)

[Intimidator Coach]

I'm going to bite the bullet and build my own. It may take a month or 2 , but i want to try it.. I'm not totally literate at this but i have good tech friends i can get advise , as i am sure i will get some here also.

I think half the battle is getting the nerve to start.

[SandMan]

I have built a couple from scratch the last 8 or 9 years. About a year ago, I priced all the parts out and I might have saved $100 bucks for what I wanted versus the deal I got from Dell.

Also, something I did for the kids and it only cost about $500 bucks is I took all the old stuff from the PC that my Dell replaced, pulled it out of the closet and went to a local Charlotte PC building company and bought a "bare bones" kit which was a high end PIII with 256 ram, 16 video and dvd player. Then all I had to do was load an old copy of win 98, plug in my old monitor, keyboard and mouse and all works well...

[mathmajors]

Originally posted by SandMan
I have built a couple from scratch the last 8 or 9 years. About a year ago, I priced all the parts out and I might have saved $100 bucks for what I wanted versus the deal I got from Dell.

Also, something I did for the kids and it only cost about $500 bucks is I took all the old stuff from the PC that my Dell replaced, pulled it out of the closet and went to a local Charlotte PC building company and bought a "bare bones" kit which was a high end PIII with 256 ram, 16 video and dvd player. Then all I had to do was load an old copy of win 98, plug in my old monitor, keyboard and mouse and all works well...

That's the way to do it, if you've got a case. Extra RAM makes up for an average processor. If you ever upgrade your existing processor with the latest, you've basically bought a new PC anyway.

[sdawg]

You can build one for less than 600 buck easy....

Case with 8 bays (for expansion) - 60 bucks
Motherboard (Abit are the best) - 140 bucks
CPU - (AMD beats Intel at every benchmark) - 1.2 FSB266 - $55
RAM - 512 PC150 - $60
CDRW - 12x10x48 - $80
40 gig HD ATA - 100 7200rpm (this is all you really need) - $100
Video card - ATI Rage 64 meg - 75
Sound card - TurtleBeach Montego - 45 bucks
mouse - Intellimouse Explorer - 35
Keyboard - $20
Zip Drive - 20 bucks
Floppy - 15 bucks
Microsoft Sidewinder gamepad - 20 bucks
19" FD Trinitron - $299

These prices are on the high end of the spectrum so you can probably take away 100-150 bucks off those prices and you're looking at a bad ass computer for around $850.

You should put together your own computer though or have someone help you. It's a great learning experience and gives you hands on experience if something bad goes in your PC. I've put together dozens for friends and family. Good Luck!:)

[meatpile]

Makes loading from scratch easy.

There's a good group down monroe close to matthews that helped me out.

I found that Sales tax is less than the ridiculous freight charged by so-called 'distributors'.

Also - I use tons of Ram. It's cheap, so why not. I'm running 512.

[SandMan]

Originally posted by sdawg
You can build one for less than 600 buck easy....

These prices are on the high end of the spectrum so you can probably take away 100-150 bucks off those prices and you're looking at a bad ass computer for around $850.



You can get what you mentioned for less than a grand... as I said, you may save $100 bucks building yourself. Also, why would you want a zip drive with a CD burner? Unless you move up to the gig which cost $99 per disk the CD will hold more than the zip...

[PantherMills]

Where's the best place to buy components considering price and reasonable S&H? Service isn't a great concern as long as it isn't broken when I get it.