Building your own computer?

[Heretic Apostate]

Regarding linux:
Could I run all my Windows games and applications (designed for everything from DOS 3.0 to Windows XP) on linux? That's the question. I've got hundreds (thousands?) of dollars invested, and don't want to have to start from scratch.

 

[Fenlock]

well, the short answer is no and the long answer is probably

you can get libraries for linux that emulates the win32 api. some applications will work, some wont.

personaly i dual boot between linux and windows. I use windows for games and linux for everything else. but then, i dont mind spending a whole evening trying to get something to work. and since google came around, the amount of information for linux is as easy to get as for microsoft....
but back to the topic. if you are not computer savy then go with what you know.

If you have dsl or cable connection, remember to get all patches to windows, virus scanner and firewall up and running before you connect to the internet.

/f

 

[D+1]

You do realize you're giving contradictory recommendations here, right?

Yep. But that's the nature of the beast. On one hand nobody wants to spend a lot of money. They desperately want to get a lot of computer cheaply. If their older computer is at least adequate or tolerable in some areas one can compromise the "spend money on it until it hurts" notion by say, taking ram from an old machine that will work in the new machine.

Buying a high-end machine and hanging on to it as long as possible pretty much makes keeping RAM from one box to another impossible, and keeping a hard drive impractical (my old 10GB HD would be nearly useless on my new box, with a 120 GB HD -- and that's ignoring the flip from ATA/100 to SATA).

Depends on HOW old we're talking about and how low-end those components are compared to what you want or is available. this is not a science, it's an art. I've salvaged ram plenty of times, but never hard drives until recently(only because the reason for moving up was often a unrecoverable HD crash.)

I've also sworn before never to build my own machine again because there are too many good systems out there at cheap prices, but my latest machine I once again assembled myself. I have had too many instances where I've fought with one thing or another about a system when putting it together, but I find that I must like the fight because I keep doing it against my better judgement.

 

[drothgery]

I probably won't ever do it myself, but if it weren't for the disturbing trend in favor of integrated video that's both non-upgradable and not very good on low-end OEM boxes, I'd probably advice people to buy a cheap (~$500) PC every other year, instead of doing what most people recommend, which is to buy/build an upper midrange ($1000-$1500) system every three or four years. I think you'd usually have a better system that way, and you'd spend less money.

 

[Zepherus Bane]

As bad as it sounds, a cheap e-machine or something along those lines may be your best bet.

You can build a much better machine yourself for the same price but if you don't feel comfortable figuring out what individual pieces of hardware to purchase you probably are just as likely to screw up all those expensive pieces as to get something working.

My last PC was one I pieced together buying parts from places I found on pricewatch.com and it's lasted me three years to now without any problems until I added some new hardware to capture analog and digital video and started trying to make my own DVD's, now my P4 2ghz and 512mb ram are not enough.

 

[Darth K'Trava]

and again anandtech to the rescue

CPU & Cooling  	AMD Athlon 64 2800+ (retail cooling included)  	$185
Motherboard 	MSI K8N Neo Platinum 	$125
Memory 	2 X 256MB OCZ PC3200 EL 	$126
Video Card 	128MB Sapphire Radeon 9600 Pro 	$126
Monitor 	Samsung 955DF (19") DynaFlat CRT 	$212
Computer Case 	CaseEdge TS1 Mid Tower plus 360W PSU 	$72
Sound Card 	Onboard sound 	$0
Speakers 	Logitech Z640 5.1 	$55
Networking 	Onboard 10/100/1000 Ethernet 	$0
Hard Drive 	Seagate 120GB Barracuda IV 	$85
CD-RW 	Lite-On 52x32x52x16 Combo Drive 	$42
Bottom Line 	- 	$1028

(hope this is readable)

if you remove the monitor and speakers it will cost you ~750$

Fenlock:

You can get a Radeon 9200 128MB card from Best Buy for around $100.

Get a case with at least 4 5.25" bays, 2 open 3.5" bays (for your zip drive, floppy drive) and 2 internal 3.5" bays for your hard drives. Get at least a 350W power supply. You don't have to spend booku bucks on the case, just make sure you have a good power supply.

DVD drives run abt $100 or just under at Best Buy. And you can also burn regular CDs with them. DVD burners cost a bundle of money.

Speakers: optional if you have your stereo nearby. Mine's plugged into my stereo.

Monitors: shop around. You can get a 17" CRT (standard) monitor for between $100-130 nowadays. This is big enough for most things unless you like bigger monitors but remember, these things are HEAVY!!! Unless you can afford a flat-screen but they only run optimal at one set resolution.

Go on ebay and look for processor/motherboard combo packages. They're cheaper than buying the processor and motherboard separately. I got my Athlon 2700 and an ASUS motherboard for less than $200.

Make sure the motherboard has 4-5 PCI slots, one AGP slot 8x speed (for your videocard).

 

[Davek]

If you have a licenced OEM CD for Win 95 or Win 98, all you need is an ***UPGRADE*** CD of Win XP. The Win 95 or 98 Does not have to be installed, but you need to have the physical CD. That will save you a few bucks.

 

[JediSoth]

I had my system go ker-plunk a few weeks ago, and out of desperation I found myself purchasing a system from *gag* Best Buy. For $850 I got:

P4 3.0 GHz @ 800 Mhz FSB (Prescott)
512MB DDR RAM
160 GB 7,200 RPM Seagate SATA drive
8x Sony DVD+-RW drive (does DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD+RW, DVD-RW, CD-R & CD-RW)
48x CD-ROM drive
128MB PCI Express GeForce FX5300
Windows XP Home
9-in-1 front panel card reader with 2 USB 2.0 ports

It's made by a German company called Medion. Plus, it came with a $70 mail-in rebate. So, it IS possible to get a fast system for under $1000. So far, it's run everything I've thrown at it without a hitch. Of course, the only "modern" game I have in it right now is UT2004, but I'm running it at a pretty high resolution and it's smooth as silk.

JediSoth

 

[Steel_Wind]

The original poster has not mentioned yet what he wants it for.

If portability or space premium is important to you, I'd look at one of the new Shuttle Athlon mini PCs. They are tiny and work well. Premium cost for such a case/mobo combo is about $100 - but this may well be something you would appreciate. Sound and Ethernet are on board. They also are largely pre-assembled mobo/case wise, so it's a matter of:

1- pop in Ram
2- pop in CPU and clip down the shuttle cpu cooler
3- insert vid card
4 - insert Lite-on CD/RW/DVD combo
5- insert hard drive
6- plug cables in

There is only one slot for each component. It's pretty straightforward and marginally more complex than Lego or Ikea furniture building- but not much more.

Then it's install time fore the software. Off you go.

A few other points:

Shuttle system aside...

• I recommend an Asus NV8x for an Athlon Mobo.
• Athlon 2800 is the sweet spot for that CPU line right now.
• DO use the on board sound on an NForce2 chipset equipped Mobo (yes, the NV8 is an NForce2). It's *excellent* sound. Don't get a non-Nforce2 or Nforce 3 based mobo if you are getting an Athlon.
• the Samsung 19" 955DF is a good recommendation and probably the best CRT you can get price/performance right now. I would also recommend that, as have others in this thread.
• Assuming you want to play PC games on your system, do NOT get an LCD screen with 17 ms or more response time. The minimum response time for an LCD monitor to use for games is 16 ms response. You'll want at least that and preferably 12 ms. You'll also notice a 12-16ms LCD monitor costs a fair bit more. Response times are like Golf - lower is better

Moral of the story: CRT monitor is still the way to got for gaming. The Samsung 19" DF is a good buy.

Lastly - all of this advice should just illustrate to you that building a system is little more than Lego for grown ups. Take the plunge. You'll be fine.

Monitor aside, don't cannibalize your old system for the sake of a hundred dollars. Keep it intact and keep it running so you can access the web reliably for help should something go wrong when building your new one. Then you can use it as a back up system, give it to kids, family, as a second system for some head to head gaming, NWN server - whatever.

 

[The Goblin King]

When I rebuilt my box I had problems. Hopefully my experiences can help someone.

First, the power supply was way way outdated. So, I had to get a new one. I don't know exactly how old my computer was since I got it second-hand but it didn't have the plugs to put in the motherboard and video card.

After that I still couldn't get it to work so I asked a friend and found out the board was grounding out. The motherboard was touching the metal of the case and messing it up. Four little spacers later it worked like a charm.

When I got it working and started playing UT2004 I noticed it was getting hot. Really really hot. I could see the fans running but it still concerned me. Then, I realized that when I had put the video card in my wireless NIC was in the first PCI slot. It had less then half an inch of clearance between the two. What I did was move the NIC down to the last slot. After that the fan on my video card didn't seem to have to work as hard and it didn't get as hot.