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Esherido
August 14th, 2007, 07:19 PM
Building Your Own Computer
Needs and Budget


Your needs and your budget are the deciding factors, decide what they are first before starting. (Be prepared to spend $1,500+ for a good computer.)

Hardware, Displays, and Peripherals

Well now that you've decided what you want it to do and have come up with your budget it's type to start looking. One of the best places to go (In my opinion.) is NewEgg, there catalog is really easy to use a provides a great range of options to narrow down your choices quickly and get the best compatibility. The also have tons of customer reviews, so you'll know if it's good quality or a piece of donkey-poo before you buy it.
Bottom line, read the reviews!

Hardware: This stuff makes up the innards of computers, but you probably already know this already. To get best performance and reduce head-aches, make sure to double and triple-check compatibility between all parts. A bare minimum to get would be:


Motherboard (Connects everything.)
Processor (Makes it work.)
Graphics card (Makes stuff appear on your screen.)
RAM
Hard drive
CD drive (Floppy too if you really need one.)
Case (Along with a power supply if it doesn't come with one, 400-500 watts should do for a low-power system, if your getting a lot of components you might need a more powerful one.)Displays: Pretty much the standard these days is LCD, though for real performance, display quality, and reliability CRT is still a good option. (Though they are massive.) Expect to fork out a couple Ben Franklin's for a really good monitor.

Peripherals: Not much to say about these except make sure to get a mouse and keyboard, speakers would be nice too.
Purchasing Everything

This part isn't that complicated. Make sure to double-check your parts, compatibility, and reviews; getting someone else to check would be a good idea too. After that, check around on all the stores to make sure it isn't cheaper somewhere else. But still be careful to make sure you can trust the seller.

Version 1.0

Theros
August 14th, 2007, 10:43 PM
Lol, you need to mention more price points. Otherwise, nice quick and easy. Also, say some links on specifically how to build a computer since you don't say how.

BS
August 14th, 2007, 10:47 PM
what happened to headers?

REEFˇ
August 14th, 2007, 10:57 PM
Sorry if Im confused, is this a review or a tutorial?

BS
August 14th, 2007, 11:14 PM
Review :)

Theros
August 15th, 2007, 12:43 AM
How is this a review? More like a checklist like mine

Pasquale
August 15th, 2007, 07:06 AM
yeah i woudln't call this a review.

InfestedDemon
August 15th, 2007, 07:08 AM
It should have a link to a site that you rthink has cherap prices,

Esherido
August 15th, 2007, 09:35 AM
NewEgg (http://www.newegg.com/)! That good for you ID?

@Theros, I plan to expand this some more today so don't worry.

Theros
August 15th, 2007, 09:59 AM
Also, add zipzoomfly.com and tigerdirect.com

DanontheMoon
August 15th, 2007, 12:55 PM
FrozenCPU.com for PSUs, PC Power and Cooling are one of the best, most stable, reliable brands out there. Frozen CPU also sells Swiftech cooling kits (read more at swiftnets.com), which are unbeatble by anything except phase change, and lots of CCFL lights and LED fans - after all, if you're gonna sink $2000 on a new PC it should look cool too.

Don't forget to go to pricewatch.com to check part prices first, before buying anything.

Other indispensable web resources:

OCForums.com - like Kirupa Forums, except all about computer building, hardware, customization and overclocking instead of web design/development.
And less drama. :P :lol:

Firingsquad.com, tomshardware.com, maximumpc.com
- good news sites about when to and not to splurge, great reviews.