Looking to start building first computer and need a little help.

Dude-Guru

Hello everyone, I'm a new member here and I should probably say hello before I start asking for help, so "hello everyone!" ;-)

Ok so here is the deal... I need myself a hobby because I'm out of work with an injury and my dumb a*s figures, "I might as well try to build a computer". I know two things, I love computers and I'm pretty good tinkering with things but thats about it. I don't have much experiance with computer hardware but I have some time to learn. I tried reading some websites on building a computer but I'd rather have up to date, varied opinions.

Here is what I'm doing.... because I am out of work (waiting for workers comp) I don't have a steady paycheck to spend a bunch of money up front so I'll have to buy the parts as I can. I have about $100 - $200 dollars I can spend to start up my hobby so I was figuring I would just start simple and purchase the tools I would need and a case.

Because I'm only out of work for an injury there may be a long time between the time I start and finish so I'll need to have it very upgradable. I know I'll need it to run Vista (preferably Premium). I'm not a gamer but I'll be using it as a multimedia center.

So here's my question... What should I spend my first <$200 on?

Thanks you for any help and I'll update you on my progress, seeing as I'll probably have many more questions to ask during my journey. Also I'll do my best to help out in the forums with what I can, in exchange for the help I recieve.

Thanks,
Dude Guru

P.S. I'm using Opera 9... are there any issues using this site that I should know about?

muddocktor

Welcome to the Short Medai forums, Dude Guru.

Since you plan to build this machine as funds permit, I would suggest that you start with stuff that won't get outdated quickly while you are acquiring all the parts. I would start with the case and power supply first, since they won't change any time soon.

First, before you start buying anything, you need to decide on what kind of machine you want to build and how large of a computer case you want to go with. Do you want to build a small form factor (SFF) machine or a regular size machine? Both have their advantages and disadvantages. A SFF machine has a small footprint and is easier to set up in a smaller place, but this comes at the expense of limited space inside the case and somewhat limited upgradability. A large mid tower design has room for a full sized ATX mobo, which are generally a higher performance choice than the microATX or proprietary boards that a SFF type machine uses. It's also easier to work inside the bigger case and gives extra room for premium cooling solutions for the heatsink/fan.

As for a power supply (psu), you get what you pay for. Do not go buy some cheap offbrand psu and expect it to hold up or even be able to supply stable power for your new computer. If you buy a mid tower case that has a psu in it, the psu generally isn't worth a damn, so I would suggest that you buy them separately if possible. Now when you talk SFF, you are pretty much limited in what psu that you can use in the case due to space considerations. I would stick with a psu from a reputable company such as OCZ, PC Power and Cooling (they are very expensive though), Corsair, Silverstone, Zippy, and I'm sure some others will chime up with other good choices. I would get one that is rated for at least 500+ watts with good ratings on the 12v rails.

For cases, there are several manufacturers that make some good ones and at whatever price point you can imagine. Antec, Coolermaster, Lian Li, Silverstone and Gigabyte all make some quality cases.

With these 2 items, you will quickly eat up most of your initial money outlay. Building a good machine isn't cheap, but you will have something that looks and performs much better than a cheapo Dell or HP/Compaq POS.

Just to give you an idea of a relatively inexpensive, quality case, this Coolermaster Centurian case is a decent looking case that looks to have fairly decent layout and cooling. And it won't break the bank either. But that isn't the only one that you can find in this category, so look around and ask questions.

Dude-Guru

muddocktor wrote:

Welcome to the Short Medai forums, Dude Guru.

Since you plan to build this machine as funds permit, I would suggest that you start with stuff that won't get outdated quickly while you are acquiring all the parts. I would start with the case and power supply first, since they won't change any time soon.

First, before you start buying anything, you need to decide on what kind of machine you want to build and how large of a computer case you want to go with. Do you want to build a small form factor (SFF) machine or a regular size machine? Both have their advantages and disadvantages. A SFF machine has a small footprint and is easier to set up in a smaller place, but this comes at the expense of limited space inside the case and somewhat limited upgradability. A large mid tower design has room for a full sized ATX mobo, which are generally a higher performance choice than the microATX or proprietary boards that a SFF type machine uses. It's also easier to work inside the bigger case and gives extra room for premium cooling solutions for the heatsink/fan.

As for a power supply (psu), you get what you pay for. Do not go buy some cheap offbrand psu and expect it to hold up or even be able to supply stable power for your new computer. If you buy a mid tower case that has a psu in it, the psu generally isn't worth a damn, so I would suggest that you buy them separately if possible. Now when you talk SFF, you are pretty much limited in what psu that you can use in the case due to space considerations. I would stick with a psu from a reputable company such as OCZ, PC Power and Cooling (they are very expensive though), Corsair, Silverstone, Zippy, and I'm sure some others will chime up with other good choices. I would get one that is rated for at least 500+ watts with good ratings on the 12v rails.

For cases, there are several manufacturers that make some good ones and at whatever price point you can imagine. Antec, Coolermaster, Lian Li, Silverstone and Gigabyte all make some quality cases.

With these 2 items, you will quickly eat up most of your initial money outlay. Building a good machine isn't cheap, but you will have something that looks and performs much better than a cheapo Dell or HP/Compaq POS.

Just to give you an idea of a relatively inexpensive, quality case, this Coolermaster Centurian case is a decent looking case that looks to have fairly decent layout and cooling. And it won't break the bank either. But that isn't the only one that you can find in this category, so look around and ask questions.

I think I would go with a full sized case seeing as it might be a little easier for me to work on and get to everything. Also I'll need the room for upgrades. Also, I know nothing about motherboards so are there cases that are compatable with all the different manufactures? Also, I'm not sure about cooling issues but since I'm not going to be doing much gaming would I need anything other than the fan that comes with the case? I know that Vista demands a lot more out of the computer than XP does.

muddocktor

A case such as I linked to accepts all standard ATX and microATX sized motherboards and a case in that size range is also pretty easy to work inside of. So you shouldn't have any worrys about fitting the motherboard into it. As far as Vista's requirements go, the main one that you will have to meet will be in the video card department, and the minimum requirements for that are a video card that supports shader model 2.0 (last gen ATI X800 series or Nvidia 6800 series). So even a video card isn't going to break the bank if you aren't an avid gamer.

To give you an idea of what you might expect to pay for a decent psu for your system, Newegg has this 550 watt Mushkin psu for around $100 shipped.

twhite

Might I suggest an Antec SmartPower 2.0 350W psu?

I adore this psu, and it only runs about $60-$70

Thrax

You can get much better than that these days for about the same price. A 350w PSU is underwhelming for most of today's components. It is my firm belief that anyone in the market for a new PSU should get something at 550-650w from PC Power & Cooling, Enermax, FSP (Fortron), OCZ, Corsair, Silverstone, HiPer or Mushkin. These are power supplies you can take to any PC for years to come.. A <500 just isn't enough imo.

Dude-Guru

So far I haven't settled on a case... for some reason that may take more time deciding on that than any component lol.

I looked at this PSU but may need one with over 500w like thrax said.
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=273502

And I was thinking about a mobo with onboard video and audio but not sure if they are enough to run the Aero
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131014
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813135010

airbornflght

So are you planning on going AMD? since you have a socket AM2 mobo. As far as the PSU goes, I would stray away from antec, they used to be very good, but they have grown a little sketchy in the past few years. Currently I am running an OCZ PSU, which I have had for two years and the thing is still pumping out voltages just as good as it did on the first day. But anyway, seriously try to find a psu with the brand name that one of the others recommended, you cant really go wrong with one of them.

Dude-Guru

airbornflght wrote:

So are you planning on going AMD? since you have a socket AM2 mobo. As far as the PSU goes, I would stray away from antec, they used to be very good, but they have grown a little sketchy in the past few years. Currently I am running an OCZ PSU, which I have had for two years and the thing is still pumping out voltages just as good as it did on the first day. But anyway, seriously try to find a psu with the brand name that one of the others recommended, you cant really go wrong with one of them.

AMD for me unless somone can give me a good reason otherwise. Oh and what about this PSU? http://www.isorm.com/product_info.php?products_id=1640
It looks a bit expensive, I didn't want to spend more that $100 but I've seeen some good reviews on it.

muddocktor

That is an excellent psu. It also has a 5 year warrantee on it too, versus most everyone else's 3 year warrantee.

As for a reason to go Intel instead of AMD, the new Core 2 Duo processors absolutely own anything AMD puts out right now, and are a reasonable price to boot. Plus, the motherboard situation for them is looking much better than a month ago and you can pay around 60 for an acceptable mobo if you aren't into overclocking very much. I go with what has the best performance for the buck myself and don't rope myself into being a fanboy of anyone's product. And in my opinion right now, Core 2 Duo is the way to go.

Dude-Guru

muddocktor wrote:

That is an excellent psu. It also has a 5 year warrantee on it too, versus most everyone else's 3 year warrantee.

As for a reason to go Intel instead of AMD, the new Core 2 Duo processors absolutely own anything AMD puts out right now, and are a reasonable price to boot. Plus, the motherboard situation for them is looking much better than a month ago and you can pay around 60 for an acceptable mobo if you aren't into overclocking very much. I go with what has the best performance for the buck myself and don't rope myself into being a fanboy of anyone's product. And in my opinion right now, Core 2 Duo is the way to go.

I was actually looking at the Core 2 Duo but I thought the cost may be a little prohibative for me right now.

Thrax

It can cost just as much or as little as an AMD configuration.

Dude-Guru

Thrax wrote:

It can cost just as much or as little as an AMD configuration.

But the AMD Dual Core is cheeper than the Core 2 Duo.

V-P

As far as cases go, I think you're kind of like me, you want it to look good to. If I'm wrong let me know, but here's a few good looking cases that are cheap, and will work with the mobo you selected.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811144151
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811146018
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811133132
The one I have:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811156175

The raidmax is the lowest quality amongst, those, but I was looking for something that looked good, and cheap. These all seem to be in your price league. I've heard that the Tsunami has really good air flow, but I'm not sure.

BTW, did newegg get rid of their power search feature?

edcentric

Welcome to S-M Dude,
Today I would build a Core2 machine. Since you won't be buying the mobo and CPU for afew months I really expect to see a lot more mobo choices as well as price drops on the CPUs.
Case and PSU are a great place to start. For the case, one of my pet issues is the location of the front connections. My case sits on the floor and USB ports at the bottom front of the case are useless. Go to some stores and look at cases. Find features that you like, and what you don't.
As far as PSU, since you won't be running the biggest video card out there and todays CPUs draw less power, I thing that a good quality 350W should be fine.
What next, well hard drive and optical drives are probably next on your list.
For the HDD this is a popular choice today, Seagate Barracuda 7200.10
You just need to select a size.
There are lots of good optical drives out there, I'll let others comment.

For your third group, DDR2 memory. You will find lots of OCZ fans here, for good reasons.

Fourth, video card. This isn't platcorm specific, but things change fast so you don't want to decide before you need to. This will be a thread of it's own, trust me on this.

So far none of these choices locks you into either Intel or AMD. Only when you look at mobo and CPU.

Have fun, look around, and ask questions.

Leonardo

Thanks, Ed, for bringing a little more reality concerning PSUs into this equation. Many system builders assume that a high performance system will include a high performance video card. It's not really that illogical of an assumption, but it's just not universal. If he isn't going high-end video, a quality 450W PSU will work great, and even have headroom to spare.

While I'm on this topic, I wanted to report on a PSU for which I sought advice here a couple weeks ago: Mascool/Nextherm 460W. This unit is better than good, it's simply superb. The attached pic is the PSU in action with a Pentium D 930 (3.0GHz) overclocked to 4.0GHz at full load. Not bad at all for a $57 PSU.

edcentric

I have Thermatake PSUs in three machines, and they all run great. I don't game, these are dedicated, overclocked folding boxes. You can often find these on sale at Newegg for less than $45.
Leo's PSU sounds like a great find.

Dude, one reason that you will find us refering to Newegg all of the time is the combination of prices and service. They really are good people to deal with and they respond quickly.